Creeping hazards: A forgotten framework for transformability and resilience

Geohazards have generally been understood and defined as events that take place on short human timescales, from milliseconds to a several months. However, both human- and naturally-induced events can develop and occur over the course of several years or longer. “Creeping hazards”-a term used as early as 1979 (Klinteberg, 1979) and referenced, though sparingly, in subsequent works (Gunn, 1990; Alexander, 1991; Jarman and Kousmin, 1994; Alexander, 1995; Vlek, 2005; Thomalla et al., 2006)-are a subset of events that exhibit the characteristics of geohazards (i.e., in terms of vulnerability, risk, and exposure). The primary distinction of a creeping hazard is that it is protracted over a relatively long period of time (Jarman and Kousmin; Grigg, 1996) and may be indicative of a system in disequilibrium. Just as with a common geohazards, creeping hazards often result in a permanent “uprooting” of communities (Thomalla et al.; Klinteberg). The resilience regime for a system producing this class of geohazard may be better understood as one of transformation rather than adaptation, because the equilibrium state is changing (Walker et al., 2004).