Snow-Disaster Risk Zoning and Assessment in Heilongjiang Province

Heilongjiang Province is located in the northeast region of China, with the country’s highest latitude. It has long and cold winters, and a temperate monsoon climate. Its unique geographic location and climatic conditions make it the second largest stable snow-covered region in China. The winter snow period starts in October and ends in April of the following year. Therefore, the long-term accumulation of snow causes road obstructions and low-temperature frost damage, which seriously affects local economic development and human safety. This study adopts snow parameters (e.g., snow depth and snow-cover period), natural environmental factors (e.g., elevation and slope), and socioeconomic factors (e.g., gross domestic product and light index). On the basis of the disaster risk assessment theory, we constructed a disaster risk index from four aspects (i.e., disaster risk, susceptibility, vulnerability, and disaster prevention and mitigation). Then, we performed snow-disaster risk zoning and an assessment in Heilongjiang Province. The main findings are as follows: the snow-disaster risk in the northern and eastern regions of Heilongjiang Province was high; the central and northern regions were highly sensitive to disasters; the main urban areas were highly vulnerable; and the economically developed regions had strong disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities. Overall, the spatial distribution of the snow-disaster risk followed a decreasing trend from east to west. High-risk areas were distributed in the east and northwest (covering 34.3% of the entire Heilongjiang Province area); medium-risk areas were distributed in the north and center (accounting for 45.2% of the entire Heilongjiang Province area); and low-risk areas were concentrated in the west (constituting 20.5% of the entire Heilongjiang Province area).