In the case of near-field tsunami emergencies, evacuation is considered the most important and effective method to save human lives. While significant efforts have been carried out to examine tsunami evacuation within the urban built environment, challenges remain on delivering a more detailed examination of the latter’s suitability for this task, and on addressing different scales of analysis. Along these lines, this paper draws upon a multi-scale framework for examining resilience of the urban form, to carry out a multi-scale tsunami evacuation analysis of the Great Valparaíso Metropolitan Area (GVMA) and the city of Viña del Mar, Chile, supported by both LCD and agent-based modeling approaches. The results show a significant macro-scale tsunami exposure of some areas in the territory, particularly in the Población Vergara and downtown neighborhoods. In line with this, the meso-scale evacuation analysis shows moderate escape rates (as low as 61.4%) in these areas. Moreover, the comparison between the models’ outcomes show that micro-scale vulnerabilities can potentially increase evacuation travel times by roughly 11%. These results, however, are noticeably dependent on the modeling choice.

Cities are increasingly becoming hot-spots for nature-originated disasters. While the role of the urban built environment in fostering disaster resilience has been recognized for some time, it has been difficult to translate this potential into practice. This is especially challenging in the case of rapid onset crises such as near-field tsunamis when appropriate urban forms must support the populations' ability to autonomously carry out safe and timely responses. In this respect, much of current research remains focused on large-scale elements of urban configuration (streets, squares, parks, etc.,) through which people move during an emergency. In contrast, the critical micro-scale of evacuees' experiences within the built environment is not commonly examined. This paper addresses this shortfall through a macro- and micro-scale analysis of a near-field tsunami scenario affecting the city of Viña del Mar, Chile, including a mixed-methods approach that combines computer-based models and fieldwork. The results show significant macro-scale tsunami vulnerability throughout major areas of the city, which nonetheless could be mitigated by existing nearby high ground and an urban form that allows short evacuation times. However, micro-scale outcomes show comparatively deficient spatial conditions that during an emergency might lead to dangerous outcomes including bottlenecks, falls and panic. Vertical evacuation, in turn, is confirmed as a suitable option for reducing vulnerability, but further examination of each shelter's characteristics is required.

Cities are increasingly becoming hot-spots for nature-originated disasters. While the role of the urban built environment in fostering disaster resilience has been recognized for some time, it has been difficult to translate this potential into practice. This is especially challenging in the case of rapid onset crises such as near-field tsunamis, when appropriate urban forms have to support the populations’ ability to autonomously carry out safe and timely responses. In this respect, much of current research remains focused on large-scale elements of urban configuration (streets, squares, parks, etc.) through which people move during an emergency. In contrast, the critical micro-scale of evacuees’ experiences within the built environment is not commonly examined. This paper addresses this shortfall through a macro- and micro-scale analysis of a near-field tsunami scenario affecting the city of Viña del Mar, Chile, including a mixed-methods approach that combines computer-based models and fieldwork. The results show significant macro-scale tsunami vulnerability throughout major areas of the city, which nonetheless could be mitigated by existing nearby high ground and an urban form that allows short evacuation times. However, micro-scale outcomes show comparatively deficient spatial conditions that during an emergency might lead to dangerous outcomes including bottlenecks, falls and panic. Vertical evacuation, in turn, is confirmed as a suitable option for reducing vulnerability, but further examination of each shelter’s characteristics is required.

Evacuation is the most important and effective method to save human lives during a tsunami. In this respect, challenges exist in developing quantitative analyses of the relationships between the evacuation potential and the built-environment and geographical attributes of coastal locations. This paper proposes a computer-based modelling approach (including inundation, evacuation, and built-environment metrics), followed by multivariate regressive analysis, to estimate how those attributes might influence the expected tsunami death ratios of seven Chilean coastal cities. We obtained, for the examined variables, their average values to different thresholds of the death ratio. Also, our statistical analysis allowed us to compare the relative importance of each metric, showing that the maximum flood, the straightness of the street network, the total route length, and the travel time can have a significant impact on the expected death ratios. Moreover, we suggest that these results could lead to spatial planning guidelines for developing new urban areas into exposed territories (if this expansion cannot be restricted or discouraged) or retrofitting existing ones, with the final aim of enhancing evacuation and therefore increasing resilience.

Tsunami evacuation drills are helpful tools aimed at reinforcing procedures and practices to reduce disaster risk, especially for vulnerable populations like school-age children. While the predictive value of evacuation drill data has been pointed out, challenges exist in enhancing the scientific examination of this information, with the final aim of improving proactive preparedness and scenario-based evacuation strategies. We address this gap by delivering a mixed-method approach that combines ground-collected data and tsunami and evacuation computer-based modelling, using as a case study the evacuation drill performance of four K-12 schools in the cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, Chile. Our main objective was to critically assess the efficacy of the drill-based evacuation procedures of the schools by comparing them in the light of a likely worst-case tsunami scenario (based on historical data from the 1730 event) in these areas. Our findings show that, although a large number of evacuees from the schools could rapidly achieve evacuation to safe locations, complete evacuation (that is, 100% of evacuees reaching the shelter) is only achievable if the Evacuation Onset Times (i.e. the time, relative to the earthquake, of the first evacuee departing from the school) are shorter than demanding threshold values (between 4 and 14 min), as the result of the tsunami’s short arrival time and rapid inland penetration. Hence, we suggest complementing existing national-level protocols with a more detailed, case-by-case management approach, comprising a more precise tsunami inundation modelling and a focus on the characteristics of each of the schools (relative to the student body composition such as age and others, the staff, and the geomorphological conditions of its location). Moreover, we suggest that tsunami evacuation drills in Chile pose significant research opportunities yet to be fully grasped.