
Benni ThiebesGerman Committee for Disaster Reduction - DKKV · Head Office
Benni Thiebes
PhD
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150
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Introduction
I have worked on hazard and risk management with a focus on landslides and early warning systems at Uni Bonn, Uni Vienna, Nanjing Normal Uni and eurac research. I have carried out consultancies for GIZ and UNESCAP. I do some teaching at Uni Bonn and Vienna.
At present, I am Managing Director at the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (Deutsches Komitee Katastrophenvorsorge e.V., DKKV).
Additional affiliations
Publications
Publications (150)
Recent landslide events demonstrate the need to improve landslide forecasting and early warning capabilities in order to reduce related risks and protect human lives. In this thesis, local and regional investigations were carried out to analyse landslide characteristics in the Swabian Alb region, and to develop prototypic landslide early warning sy...
Most of the damage from wildfires is due to extreme events that represent less than 2 per cent of the total number of fires. These events, for which neither ecosystems nor communities are adapted , can have significant socioeconomic and ecological consequences. This is why it is now time to develop appropriate risk reduction strategies and minimize...
Purpose
Despite the widespread use and application of resilience, much uncertainty about the conceptualization and operationalization in the context of tourism destinations still exists. The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual elaboration on destination resilience and to introduce a model for an improved understanding of the concept....
The city of Yangon, Myanmar, is located in a disaster-prone area of Southeast Asia. To reduce the risk of natural hazards, relevant frameworks of the UN, ASEAN and Myanmar’s national and local levels focus on making citizens more resilient by improving their ability to anticipate, prevent, absorb and transform risks of disasters. Those documents’ c...
The joint research project 'Multiple Risk Management of Extreme Events in fast growing
(Mega)cities in Myanmar' (MYrisk, formerly RiskUrbMyanmar) works towards establishing a holistic disaster risk management in Yangon and further cities in Myanmar and to improve preparedness and response strategies. The project is funded by the German Ministry of...
Bilder von gebrochenen Deichen, überfluteten Straßen, vollgelaufenen Kellern und Rettungskräften im Dauereinsatz: In den vergangenen Tagen und Wochen haben intensive, langanhaltende Regenfälle zu großflächigen Überflutungen geführt. Zuerst im Saarland und Rheinland-Pfalz, nun in weiten Teilen Süddeutschlands. Auch abseits von Gewässern können kurze...
Die Flutkatastrophe im Juli 2021 verursachte in Deutschland sowohl die höchsten Schäden als auch die meisten Todesopfer in den letzten 60 Jahren. So einschneidend die Konsequenzen der Ereignisse sind, so wichtig ist es, diese in der Breite aufzuarbeiten. Zum Jahrestag der Flut veröffentlichte das Deutsche Komitee Katastrophenvorsorge e.V. einen umf...
In vielen Regionen des Globalen Südens stellt der Tourismus eine wichtige Einnahmequelle dar. Jedoch ist die Tourismusindustrie mit zahlreichen Risiken wie z.B. den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels, globalen Pandemien oder sozialen Konflikten konfrontiert. Um zunehmenden Risiken und immer häufiger auftretenden Krisenereignissen auch in Tourismusdestin...
Kernaussagen • Die institutionelle Risiko-und Krisenkommunikation in Yangon ist sehr hierarchisch und bidirektional aufgebaut. • Eine Vernetzung zwischen lokalen zivilgesellschaftlichen Organisationen und administrati-ven Akteuren kann die Risikokommunikation verbessern. • Die Möglichkeiten sozialer Medien für die Risiko-und Krisenkommunikation wur...
In disaster-prone countries, it is of great concern that societies as a whole, as well as households and individuals, should become as resilient to disasters as possible. In Myanmar, with its frequent natural hazards like floods, cyclones and droughts and its high probability of earthquakes, raising awareness of and preparedness for disasters is of...
Resilience has become a very important concept in disaster research and disaster management. In this context, critical infrastructures are important elements to support and protect a society and strengthen its resilience. Critical infrastructure, defined as physical structures, facilities, networks and further assets, provides services essential to...
Various regions in Europe were hit by extreme rainfall from July 12 to 19, 2021 generated by a quasi-stationary atmospheric low pressure system named “Bernd”. The mainly affected areas were two federal states in western Germany and adjacent regions in Belgium. The July flood was the costliest natural disaster in Germany in recent history, with loss...
Keine andere Hochwasserkatastrophe in Deutschland verursachte jemals so hohe Schäden wie die Flutkatastrophe im Juli 2021 und seit der Sturmflut in Hamburg vor 60 Jahren führte kein Hochwasser zu so vielen Todesopfern. So einschneidend die Konsequenzen der Ereignisse sind, so wichtig ist es, diese in der Breite aufzuarbeiten, um daraus für zukünfti...
Der dynamische städtische Wirtschaftsraum mit seiner Bevölkerungs- und Infrastrukturdichte unterliegt spezifischen Risiken. Eine adäquate Vorsorge für alle städtischen Bevölkerungsgruppen erfordert eine vernetzte Ausrichtung auf multiple Risiken.
Recent crisis events and disasters, such as the 2021 flood disaster in Germany highlight the fact, that the management of multi-risks remains a challenge for risk managers and decision-makers even in highly developed countries. Nevertheless, over the past decade, new and innovative methods for data collection, analyses and communication have emerge...
Die Themen Warnung und Alarmierung der Bevölkerung hatten in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten keinen hohen Stellenwert in Deutschland. Erst durch den erstmals wieder durchgeführten, bundesweiten Warntag im September 2020, bei dem die Alarmierung allerdings nicht wie geplant funktioniert hat bzw. durchgeführt werden konnte, erhielt das
Thema wieder mehr...
The German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV) is the largest platform for disaster risk reduction in Germany and has been promoting prevention and disaster risk reduction in science, practice, and politics since the beginning of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction in 1990. The overarching leitmotif of the DKKV is the streng...
Resilience has become important in disaster preparedness and response. Unfortunately, little is known about resilience at the household level. This study presents the results of a survey into individual and household level preparedness to disaster events in Yangon, Myanmar, which is prone to natural disasters such as tropical cyclones, flooding, an...
Die SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie stellt für Deutschland eine der größten bevölkerungsschutzrelevanten Herausforderungen der letzten Jahrzehnte dar. Seit der weltweiten Ausbreitung der Covid-19-Erkrankungen Ende 2019 und Anfang 2020 sind alle gesellschaftlichen Bereiche betroffen und oftmals durch Maßnahmen eingeschränkt. Dadurch ist deutlich geworden, dass...
Die SARS-CoV-2-Pandemie sowie die verheerenden Starkregenereignisse und die daraus resultierende Hochwasserkatastrophe im Juli 2021 zeigten unverkennbar, welche Schäden Naturgefahren und Extremereignisse verursachen können. Allein die aufeinander folgenden Dürrejahre 2018, 2019 und 2020 sowie die verheerenden Waldbrände in Schweden 2018 und Südeuro...
The present paper discusses key aspects of managerial human factors in research, specifically when implementing decision support systems in the context of Humanitarian Logistics. It is framed as a follow-up of an Operations Research-based project developing a decision support framework for relief distribution in the event of a catastrophic blackout...
Dieser Bevölkerungsschutz befindet sich heute einmal mehr im Wandel. Zunehmende extreme Ereignisse wie die Corona-Pandemie, die Hochwasserereignisse vor allem in Rheinland-Pfalz und Nordrhein-Westfalen im Sommer 2021 oder die Waldbrände in Südeuropa unterstreichen die hohe Bedeutung des Bevölkerungsschutzes in
Deutschland. Bisherige Strategien wer...
Pandemie und Hochwasserkatastrophe
The purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together recent studies related in particular to landslide monitoring and data analysis [...]
Die Flutkatastrophe im Juli 2021 hat weite Teile von Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) und Rheinland-Pfalz (RLP) betroffen und dort massive Schäden mit mehr 180 Todesfällen verursacht. Damit stellt die Flutkatastrophe 2021 das tödlichste wasserbezogene Katastrophenereignis seit der Hamburger Sturmflut 1962 (Heßler & Kehrt, 2014) mit 340 Toten dar. Besonder...
Resilience has become important in disaster preparedness and response. Unfortunately, little is known about resilience at the household level. This study presents the results of a survey into individual and household level preparedness to disaster events in Yangon, Myanmar, which is prone to natural disasters such as tropical cyclones, flooding, an...
Kritische Infrastrukturen (KRITIS) sind aufgrund ihrer Versorgungsleistung mit kritischen Dienstleistungen und Gütern für das Funktionieren der Gesellschaft grundlegend. Die starke Abhängigkeit von KRITIS-Leistungen und die hohe Anfälligkeit von KRITIS gegenüber einer Vielzahl von Gefahren (z. B. Naturgefahren, Terroranschlag) macht ihren Schutz zu...
While in 1990 about 2.3 billion of the world’s population (43%) lived in urban areas, in 2030 more than 5.1 billion people (56%) are expected to live as urban residents in cities worldwide (WBGU 2016, UN DESA 2019). In Southeast Asia since about 2020, more than half of the population is living in urban areas. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, the...
The pamphlets were developed and designed by the experts and city partners of the RiskUrbMyanmar project consortium for the distribution among the population in Myanmar. Content and wording were culturally adapted to the Myanmar context and were written in a language easy to understand for non-experts. With the distribution of the pamphlets among t...
The pamphlets were developed and designed by the experts and city partners of the RiskUrbMyanmar project consortium for the distribution among the population in Myanmar. Content and wording were culturally adapted to the Myanmar context and were written in a language easy to understand for non-experts. With the distribution of the pamphlets among t...
Climate change including the more frequent occurrence and increased intensity of extreme climate events are important drivers of disaster events. This causality is accompanied by the fact that long-term impacts of climate change are connected with a high-level of uncertainty: complex interactions, feedback loops and underlying nonlinear effects tha...
This paper describes a new simulation-based optimization framework for developing and assessing relief distribution strategies following a disaster where citizen's relocation is necessary. This work has been conceptualized and is currently being developed with and for experts in the field of disaster and security management, in order to tackle the...
The Upper Minjiang catchment is located at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and is frequently affected by landslides. The two main triggering factors in the region are rainfall and high magnitude seismic shocks, such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. In this paper, we present a comparison study of pre-conditioning factors that drive the spa...
Shallow landslide processes in geologically prone areas are recognised to pose threat to both human life and property. As precipitation is one of the main triggers for landslides, hydro-meteorological interrelationships and related future changes regarding frequency and magnitude of landslide processes in particular are of major interest. Long-term...
Disasters disrupt normalcy and present challenges for development policies. The impacts of any disaster–whether triggered by climate change, natural hazards or other man-made events–can be compounded by decisions that intentionally or unintentionally amplify rather than reduce damage. Disasters have impacts across all sectors, necessitating multi-...
Disasters disrupt normalcy and present challenges for development policies. The impacts of any disaster–whether triggered by climate change, natural hazards or other man-made events–can be compounded by decisions that intentionally or unintentionally amplify rather than reduce damage. Disasters have impacts across all sectors, necessitating multi-...
This paper presents the etymology of the term resilience and examines the different approaches to it. In this context, a closer look is taken on the definitions and concepts of engineering resilience and ecological resilience.
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission provides synthetic aperture radar (SAR) acquisitions over large areas with high temporal and spatial resolution. This new generation of satellites providing open-data products has enhanced the capabilities for continuously studying Earth surface changes. Over the past two decades, several studies have demonstrated...
The ESPREssO Vision Paper is one of the key outcomes of the project. Its aim is to support the preparation of the Horizon Europe Framework Programme 2021-2030 by identifying some future research challenges in the field of natural hazards and disaster risk management, in relation to the priorities defined by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Re...
As a final product, the ESPREssO project has compiled a comprehensive set of guidelines, synthesizing the findings from the many, and diverse, activities of the consortium. The guidelines are based on best practices identified in the Action Data Base; on recommendations identified in literature as well as in our national reports; and on the many us...
Dieser Bericht stellt den Beitrag des ESPREssO-Projekts „Enhancing Synergies for Disaster Prevention in the European Union“ zu einer neuen strategischen Vision für DRR und CCA in Europa und zur Förderung neuer Ideen für die Ausrichtung und Zielsetzung der Naturgefahrenforschung und Politik der nächsten zehn Jahre dar.
Im Rahmen des Projekts wurden...
Le document d’orientation ESPREssO vise à soutenir la préparation du Programme-cadre Horizon Europe en identifiant les futurs défis de la recherche dans le domaine des risques naturels et de la gestion des risques, en relation avec les priorités définies par le Cadre d'action de Sendai pour la réduction des risques de catastrophe et le plan d'actio...
Ces recommandations combinées au document d’Orientation ESPREssO (délivrable D5.5
« ESPREssO Vision Paper ») forment les conclusions du projet ESPREssO - « Enhancing
synergies for disaster prevention in the European Union » (Améliorer les synergies
pour la prévention des catastrophes au sein de l‘Union européenne), une mesure de
coordination et de...
Diese Leitlinien stellen gemeinsam mit dem ESPREssO Visionspapier (Arbeitsergebnis
D5.5 „ESPREssO Visionspapier“) das Endergebnis des ESPREssO-Projekts „Enhancing
Synergies for Disaster Prevention in the European Union“ dar, einer Koordinations- und
Unterstützungsmaßnahme, die im Rahmen des Programms H2020 von DG RESEARCH
finanziert wurde. Das ESPr...
This video displays the results of the ESPREssP Vision paper and the ESPREssO Guidelines.
Watch the video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzlRkZH7BnE
Landslide forecasting and early warning has a long tradition in landslide research and is primarily carried out based on empirical and statistical approaches, e.g., landslide-triggering rainfall thresholds. In the last decade, flood forecasting started the operational mode of so-called ensemble prediction systems following the success of the use of...
On the regional scale, investigations on future landslide can broadly be distinguished in spatial or temporal analyses, i.e. landslide susceptibility or hazard maps, and landslide triggering rainfall thresholds. Even though both approaches have its uses e.g. in spatial planning, risk management and early warning, they also have limitations. Suscept...
Presentation of main results of consultancy report for UNESCAP on landslide early warning systems.
From the wide range of methods available to landslide researchers and practitioners for monitoring ground displacements, remote sensing techniques have increased in popularity. Radar interferometry methods with their ability to record movements in the order of millimeters have been more frequently applied in recent years. Multi-temporal interferome...
The project LEMONADE (LandslidE MOnitoriNg And Data intEgration) aims to combine different techniques investigating their benefits and drawbacks. We present the different techniques used to monitor the active Corvara landslide located in the Italian Dolomites. Satellite remote sensing products allow covering the whole landslide providing 1D displac...
In rivers, temporary dams formed by landslides, rock falls or debris flows pose a severe threat to human life, public infrastructure and private assets. Besides the on-site impacts from the mass movement itself, these phenomena can cause disastrous off-site impacts by backwater inundation or catastrophic outburst floods. These secondary fluvial haz...
This study presents the results of an experimental application of a multi-method measurement concept for the monitoring of alpine mass movements. Satellite-borne differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) was applied as the key technology. To improve the information contents of the DInSAR displacement data for an individual mass...
Remote and close range sensing are well-suited methods for monitoring natural hazards such as landslides. In particular, assessing the behavior and the dynamics of landslides through aerial imagery can considerably reduce the social and economic impacts of such events. UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) with digital cameras on board represent an effici...
River blockages by mass movements such as landslides caused some of the most severe flood events in history. The formation and failure of landslide dams can be interpreted as a cascade of linked geomorphological and hydrological phenomena. This work wants to contribute to a better understanding of “unexpected” hazard scenarios such as landslide dam...
Early warning of natural hazards is a topic being increasingly addressed by scientists and demanded by stakeholders responsible for hazard and risk management. In contrast to Early Warning Systems (EWS) for e.g. floods, landslides pose a more challenging problem that is related to the more complex behaviour of the involved processes. In addition, l...
Multi-temporal image cross-correlation is a method for tracking moving features and can therefore be used for quantitative assessments of surface displacements. Accuracies of up to 1/8th of the original image geometric resolution can be achieved. We present the results of an analysis carried out on Corvara landslide located in the Italian Dolomites...
Landslides and other Geological Hazards in Active Volcanic Environment
Despite the advantages of Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) methods for quantifying landslide deformation over large areas, some limitations remain. These include for example geometric distortions, atmospheric artefacts, geometric and temporal decorrelations, data and scale constraints, and the restriction that only 1-di...
In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been more frequently utilised to study geomorphological and natural hazard processes, including gravitational mass movements such as landslides. UAVs can be equipped with different sensors, e.g. photo cameras and laser scanners, and the data that can be achieved can substantially improve the mon...
Corvara landslide in the Italian Dolomites is slow-moving landslide on which extensive research activities have been carried out since the 1990ies, including sub-surface techniques (e.g. drillings, piezometers and inclinome-ters), surface methods (e.g. geomorphological mapping and GPS measurements), and remote sensing techniques (e.g. multi-tempora...