Forest-related disasters Three case studies and lessons for management of extreme events FORESTRY WORKING PAPER 17 ISSN 2664-1062 Forest-related disasters Three case studies and lessons for management of extreme events FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2020 Required citation: van Hensbergen, H. and Cedergren, J. 2020. Forest-related disasters – Three case studies and lessons for management of extreme events. Forestry Working Paper No. 17. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb0686en The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 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However more than half of the trees remained standing and retained some branches. ©FAO/Claus Eckelmann iii Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................viii Acronyms and abreviations ...................................................................................... ix Executive summary ................................................................................................... xi 1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 About this report ....................................................................................................... 1 About disasters .......................................................................................................... 2 2 Forests, forestry and disasters ..................................................................... 7 Causal factors and their impacts............................................................................... 8 Forest fire ................................................................................................................. 10 Flood and tsunami ....................................................................................................11 Tempest .................................................................................................................... 14 Forests as victims of disaster ................................................................................... 17 Forests as providers of goods and services ................................................................... 17 Forest disasters and timber supply ................................................................................18 Forests as disaster mitigation .................................................................................. 25 Typology of forest-related disasters ....................................................................... 25 Impacts on critical infrastructure ............................................................................ 26 3 The events .....................................................................................................31 Storm Gudrun/Erwin, Sweden (2005) ..................................................................... 31 Before the storm .............................................................................................................32 Storm impact ...................................................................................................................36 Short-term response .......................................................................................................38 Long-term impacts and responses .................................................................................40 Analysis and policy implications of the storm ..............................................................44 The Tohoku tsunami, Japan (2011) .......................................................................... 46 Impact on trees................................................................................................................47 Trees as mitigation ..........................................................................................................48 The Central Chile fire (2017) .................................................................................... 51 Before the disaster ..........................................................................................................52 Development of the fires................................................................................................53 iv Immediate response ........................................................................................................56 Impacts of the fire ...........................................................................................................57 Short-term responses ......................................................................................................59 Long-term responses....................................................................................................... 61 Analysis and policy implications ....................................................................................63 Lessons learned ........................................................................................................ 64 4 Managing forest-related disasters ............................................................. 69 Strategic approach to forest disaster ..................................................................... 73 Disaster preparedness ............................................................................................. 73 Information and communication frameworks ..............................................................73 Organizational capacity .................................................................................................. 74 Organizational interaction .............................................................................................76 Immediate response ................................................................................................ 77 Actions during the event ................................................................................................77 Actions immediately following the event .....................................................................77 Actions in the weeks after the event ............................................................................80 Long-term responses ............................................................................................... 80 Policy responses ...............................................................................................................81 Build Back Better