From Regional to Local Level: An Integrated Planning Framework for Cities Facing Tsunami Risk – Alexandria Case, Egypt

Abstract

The northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea is considered the most seismically active region in the world where a tsunami can occur at any moment. Alexandria is one of the biggest and most populated cities on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and it is threatened by the tsunami. By reviewing most of the planning studies that targeted the future of Alexandria and its region, the paper finds the missing piece of an integrated planning framework that needs to be applied. The deductive method is used to infer the missing parts in the different studies to produce an integrated planning framework which consists of three phases illustrating timing response named as during, before, and after the disaster. The seven processes representing the three phases can be defined as vulnerability, assessment, planning, coping, mitigation, response, and recovery; the previous process detailed into eight stages which are named background research, communication, risk determination, command, forecasting, prediction, emergency relief and rehabilitation. The interview technique is used to get the suggestions and the feedback from urban planning experts to improve the framework. The proposed framework will be sustained and increase awareness at the institutional level about the coastal communities at risk and put forward suggestions on how to withstand natural phenomena like tsunamis and mitigate their destructive effects.