Tom Robinson

I am a COFUND sponsored Junior Research Fellow (2015 - 2018) researching earthquake disaster risk management (DRM), with a focus on Nepal. My interests also branch into Geographic Information Systems (GIS), scenario planning, disaster & emergency management, and coseismic (earthquake-generated) landsliding.

My current work focusses on modelling the losses from earthquake scenarios for Nepal in order to identify priority areas for pre- and post-event logisitics planning. By using multiple earthquake scenarios I hope to identify locations that experience large losses in multiple scenarios that can then be targetted for resilience building and logistics planning. By altering building conditions and typologies in the initial scenarios I also hope to test various building strengthening approaches and their costs v. benefits.

This also includes landslide modelling that relies on understanding the processes that cause landslides during earthquakes. A large proportion of my work therefore involves GIS to analyse past coseismic landsliding events in order to devise models that predict the spatial distribution of landslide hazard. In conjunction with this I am also interested in critical infrastructure risk assessments.

I completed my PhD in 2014 at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. My thesis explored the potential for coseismic landsliding during a major earthquake in the South Island, identifying the scale of landsliding expected, the implications for erosion in the Southern Alps, and the exposure of critical infrastructure, particularly State Highways. As part of my PhD I worked extensively with the NZ Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM), work that culminated in the development of one of New Zealand's most comprehensive disaster scenarios to date. This has resulted in a strong interest in emergency management and scenario planning, and particularly the use of co-produced knowledge between certified and non-certified experts.

As well as working in Nepal and New Zealand, I have also undertaken research in Kyrgyzstan, California, Sichuan (China), and Taiwan.

Research Interests
Earthquakes and Landslides
Natural Hazards and Disasters
Disaster Risk Management
Loss and Risk Assessments
Civil Defence and Emergency Management
Scenario Planning
Mountain and Landscape Processes