DéPOS

The initial feedback from areas impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria shows that the quantities of waste largely disrupted the waste management service (UN Environment / OCHA Joint Unit, 2017). In October 2017, the Grandes Cayes Ecosite in Saint-Martin received the equivalent of two and a half years of normal waste collection. These figures, common in such disasters, have been observed in the past. Experience also shows that waste management is a major issue in the post-crisis phase.

The DéPOs project specifically addresses the problem of post-hurricane waste management. It enables work with experienced partners and brings together multiple skills, thus approaching the problem from complementary angles: predictive quantification of waste deposits and characterization, integrated waste management, and spatial modeling. DéPOs emphasizes applied research that helps build methodological and specific knowledge for improved post-disaster management.

This research project proposes engaged research in the affected territories and contributes to the field of research on spatialized risks and post-crisis resilience. Beyond the hazard/vulnerability pair, DéPOs provides knowledge on the implementation of resilience through planning, organizational adaptation, and the functioning of sociotechnical systems under exceptional constraints. In normal times, the waste management service is important for the functioning of territories; it becomes essential after a hurricane.

As part of this project, IMSE worked on estimating waste volumes (Ruas, Lhomme, Lamour, 2021) and on designing simulation software for damage and waste collection (Ruas, Lhomme, Truong, 2022). You can find the code, an installation guide, and tutorials with data at the following address: https://github.com/quythytruong/depos_outils_simu

Partners: Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, Le Mans Université, Avignon Université, IFSTTAR, Association Robin des Bois, and Université de Mons (associated international partner). Website: https://www.laburba.com/recherches/depos/#c4875

Publications:

Ruas A., Lhomme S., Truong Q.-T., 2022, Simulation pour améliorer la collecte de déchets post-ouragan, Risques urbains, Numéro 1, Vol 6, DOI: 10.21494/ISTE.OP.2022.0902 - ISSN: 2516-1857

Ruas A., Lhomme S., Lamour M., 2021, Localisation et estimation des volumes de déchets suite à l’ouragan Irma à Saint-Martin DOI: 10.21494/iste.op.2021.0634 Risques urbains 2021 Vol 4(1)