Coastal hazard vulnerability assessment along the coast of Pranburi – Sam Roi Yot, Yrachuap Khiri Khan province

Abstract

Pranburi - Sam Roi Yot coastal area consists of various coastal landforms such as rocky coasts, beaches, mangroves, and estuaries. These include several important places such as natural resources, tourist attractions, and significant economic areas of the province. In addition, there are a broad range of land use in this region, including agriculture, conservation, residence, hotels, and resorts. However, this coastal area is vulnerable to natural disasters, which can damage the local ecosystem and population. The objective of this study is to assess the physical damage from coastal hazards by using the Coastal Hazard Wheel (CHW) approach and also to estimate the coastal vulnerability by using the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Moreover, land use analysis was also performed to identify the land use type in the high vulnerability zone. The result of the physical damage assessment by CHW method found that most of the study area exhibited a storm surge-flooding hazard at a very high level of 27 km long (73 percent of the total length of the study area). Subsequently, coastal erosion is the second substantial hazard in this area, a distance of 21 km (55 percent of the total area). The result of the coastal vulnerability assessment by CVI method found that a very high level is located at the southern part of the study area, which has a length of 9 km (24 percent of the total area). In terms of CVI combined with AHP approach, it was discovered that the vulnerability class, particularly a very high level, was reduced in distance to 20% of the study area. The parameters that have significant influence include a coastal slope, geomorphology and shoreline change rate. Finally, from the land use analysis, within 1 km from the coastline, agricultural land use occupied the most areas at a very high vulnerability level, 47 percent, followed by urban land use, 24 percent. This urban zone will be the most affected area by natural disasters as it continues to expand, especially in the beach area, a major tourist attraction.