Urban downburst vulnerability and damage assessment from a case study in Argentina
This paper presents a study of the damage pattern caused by a severe storm consisting of a downburst, a type of gustnado, and a tornado on Bell Ville, Argentina. Two damage surveys were conducted, one involving around 4000 questionnaires, which afforded both quantitative and qualitative insights about the damage on infrastructure, building components, and trees. Key findings include the identification of the most vulnerable urban elements which represented a significant portion of overall damage. Damage interdependencies among urban elements were also identified. The findings gained in this study help to characterize the vulnerability of this and similar cities for the most frequent intensity of downbursts, and along with some general recommendations which are also presented, they can inform local building codes, land-use regulations, and community development ordinances for cities facing this type of hazard in order to increase resilience.