Showing papers in "International journal of disaster risk reduction in 2016"
TL;DR: The Australian Natural Disaster Resilience Index (ANDRI) as discussed by the authors takes a top-down approach using indicators derived from secondary data with national coverage and is a hierarchical design based on coping and adaptive capacities representing the potential for disaster resilience.
Abstract: Assessment of disaster resilience using an index is often a key element of natural hazard management and planning. Many assessments have been undertaken worldwide. Emerging from these are a set of seven common properties that should be considered in the design of any disaster resilience assessment: assessment purpose, top-down or bottom-up assessment, assessment scale, conceptual framework, structural design, indicator selection, data analysis and index computation and reporting and interpretation. We introduce the design of an Australian Natural Disaster Resilience Index (ANDRI) according to the common properties of resilience assessment. The ANDRI takes a top-down approach using indicators derived from secondary data with national coverage. The ANDRI is a hierarchical design based on coping and adaptive capacities representing the potential for disaster resilience. Coping capacity is the means by which people or organizations use available resources, skills and opportunities to face adverse consequences that could lead to a disaster. Adaptive capacity is the arrangements and processes that enable adjustment through learning, adaptation and transformation. Coping capacity is divided into themes of social character, economic capital, infrastructure and planning, emergency services, community capital and information and engagement. Adaptive capacity is divided into themes of governance, policy and leadership and social and community engagement. Indicators are collected to determine the status of each theme. As assessments of disaster resilience develop worldwide, reporting of their design as standard practice will track knowledge generation in the field and enhance the relationship between applied disaster resilience assessment and foundational principles of disaster resilience.
175 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors measured community resilience of a flood prone area in Khyber Pukhthunkhwa province of Pakistan by collecting questionnaires from 280 households.
Abstract: In Pakistan, floods are recurrent phenomenon and cause heavy loss to human life, standing crops and property. Community resilience is widely used in disasters and natural hazards. This paper aims to measure community resilience of a flood prone area in Khyber Pukhthunkhwa province of Pakistan. The flood resilience indicators were first determined through extensive literature review. The primary data regarding flood resilience indicators and community resilience were then collected through questionnaires. The indicators selected in this study were given proper weights using a subjective assessment method that ultimately resulted in community resilience indices. A total of 280 households from three sample sites of Charsadda, Nowshera and Peshawar were selected through the simple random sampling technique for questionnaire survey. The results showed that the overall composite community resilience indices as well as the component community resilience indices were very low for all the three sites. This study, therefore, recommends improvement in social, economic, institutional and physical indicators of the communities through preparedness, awareness, structural and non-structural measures. The proposed measures will enhance resilience of the communities and they would be able to cope with the future flood hazards.
103 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reviewed the contribution of social capital with different empirical evidences from cases across the world and brought it into the perspective of the study area in Sundarbans, India.
Abstract: Social capital is a resource which is embedded in every community and it has been observed that it plays an important role in different stages of a disaster. Social capital can be crucial for a community to survive till outside help arrives, in event of a disaster, and many a time it is the only resource that the community can mobilize to respond and recover. This research paper reviewed the contribution of social capital with different empirical evidences from cases across the world and brought it into the perspective of the study area in Sundarbans, India. The study area is frequented by disasters like tropical cyclones and surges, it was observed that the network at the community level is crucial for survival of the community. It also was observed that social capital acts like an informal insurance in cases of small scale disasters. Social capital is more relevant in this remote study area as it compensates for the gaps in basic infrastructure and proper disaster management institutions. Thus, proper mobilization of social capital can really be an asset to communities living in remote hazardous area.
91 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a household survey was conducted in three urban communities highly impacted by flood for actual and perceived risk assessments with well-defined indicators, which revealed that due to poor socioeconomic conditions of households living in flood prone community of metropolitan city, they were more vulnerable as compared to other cities.
Abstract: Urban flooding has been an alarming issue over the past years in Asia and other countries. Pakistan has been experiencing such flooding with associated damages regularly. Understanding the degree of vulnerability and risk are essential to work out risk reduction measures. It is equally important to measure the risk perception vis-a-vis actual risk for successful implementation of preparedness initiatives. The main purpose of this paper is to understand the variation as well as the relationship between actual and perceived risk. Three cities (Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Muzaffargarh) with different population size situated in high risk flood zones of Pakistan were selected for empirical investigation. Household survey was conducted in three urban communities highly impacted by flood for actual and perceived risk assessments with well-defined indicators. Results revealed that due to poor socioeconomic conditions of households living in flood prone community of metropolitan city, they were more vulnerable as compared to other cities. In three cities, about 14% households live at high risk against 10% households with high-perceived risk. Significantly differential risks exist among the cities. Similar results have been observed in terms of perceived risk. Comparative analyses have revealed that both actual and perceived risk levels are significantly different among the cities but reflect a positive correlation in all three cities. This implies that the perceived risk increases with respect to actual risk. In the absence of hard data for actual risk assessment, perceived risk may be a good substitute for working out risk reduction measures.
87 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of socio-economic factors on the adoption of agricultural credit as risk management strategy by farmers in Pakistan was investigated, and a probit model was employed to explore the said relationships.
Abstract: Agriculture yield is the main source of income in all agricultural operations. It is indispensable for farmers to ascertain and then manage production risks. Agricultural credit plays an important role in farm management. It is used around the globe, and particularly in Pakistan, as an ex-ante and ex-post risk management strategy by famers. However, there is limited literature available on the adoption of agricultural credit as a risk management strategy in post floods disasters. The purpose of this paper is to study the impacts of socio-economic factors on the adoption of agricultural credit as risk management strategy by farmers in Pakistan. This study incorporates explanatory research design to investigate the causal relationship between the dependent (binary) and independent variables. Data were collected through survey and checklist from 168 farmers in the study area. Probit model was employed to explore the said relationships. Risk perception, risk attitude and access to credit were calculated for each individual and used as independent variables along with other socio-economic factors. Results from probit estimation showed that overall model was a good fit, most of the socio-economic factors were found significant. Experience, education, risk perception of heavy rains, income, distance and access to credit sources had positive relationship with the adoption of agricultural credit.
86 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the perspectives of hazards researchers, emergency management practitioners, and policymakers from New Zealand's Wellington region to understand what social resilience means at the community level, and found that the most frequently mentioned social resilience attributes are community gathering place, followed by social support, knowledge of risks and consequences, collective efficacy and sense of community.
Abstract: There is an increasing need to evaluate the underlying drivers of community resilience. Much of the existing research on resilience measurements assesses factors pertaining to a spectrum of societal domains that includes social, economic, institutional, infrastructural, and natural environments. Research has focused on the importance of social resilience – the capacity of people and communities to deal with external stresses and shocks – and how it contributes to community preparedness, disaster response, and post-disaster recovery. As a component of community resilience, social resilience has been examined by researchers across a multitude of academic disciplines. As a result, there are tremendous variations in how this concept is assessed. To better understand what social resilience means at the community level, this research examined the perspectives of hazards researchers, emergency management practitioners, and policymakers from New Zealand's Wellington region. The results of their responses revealed similarities in how social resilience is perceived across these three sectors. Overall, the most frequently mentioned social resilience attributes are community gathering place, followed by social support, knowledge of risks and consequences, collective efficacy, and sense of community. Through synthesising their responses and the literature, a core set of social resilience indicators is proposed.
86 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a forward-looking and innovative model of wildfire management focused not at the landscape, or community, or forest level but at the territory scale, which is the proposed theoretical, the context specific, and place-based operational framework.
Abstract: The current wildfire policies in European Union countries have not solved the wildfire problem and probably will not be effective in the future, as all the initiatives focus on suppression and minimize the use of fire embedded in the Traditional Ecologic Knowledge of European communities. The traditional fire use as a tool for land management has been handled and almost criminalized by an urban-centric perspective and anti-fire bias. These policies are poorly adapted to, and cannot cope with, the complex nature of the wildfire phenomenon since they neglect its social roots. This paper presents a forward-looking and innovative model of wildfire management focused not at the landscape, or community, or forest level but at the territory scale. Fire Smart Territory (FST) is the proposed theoretical, the context specific, and place-based operational framework. The grounding assumptions of FST are that fire is a dual and ambiguous process, that it is not merely a biophysical process with social overtones but a social process, and it is a complex issue which can be understood only in the coupled human and natural systems where it occurs. FST advocates that the current wildfire challenges cannot be solved by a check list of theoretically adequate procedures, but through locally understanding the wildfire problem and strategically preparing each territory to be less wildfire prone, and its inhabitants to be less vulnerable, and more resilient, in the scope of economic valorization, sustainable development, and safety of the territory resources.
84 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the farmers' attitude and perceptions of various kinds of risks to which cotton crop is exposed in Pakistan and found that majority of farmers are risk averse in nature and reported flood, excessive rainfall, increased incidents of crop diseases and higher input prices as major risks exposed to their cotton crop.
Abstract: Cotton farmers have to deal with various kind of environmental and production risks. Risk attitude and perceptions play an important role in shaping farmers' decision regarding farm operations and management of exposed risks. Research on various aspects of managing risks in developing countries is few. Hence, keeping in view the research gap, this study aims to investigate the farmers' attitude and perceptions of various kinds of risks to which cotton crop is exposed in Pakistan. This study is based on a farm household survey of 480 farmers in six cotton belt districts of Punjab province, Pakistan. Equally Likely Certainty Equivalent (ELCE) and risk matrix methods are used to determine risk attitude and risk perceptions respectively. In addition, factor affecting farmers' attitude and perceptions are also analyzed by using probit model. The findings of the study revealed that that majority of farmers are risk averse in nature and reported flood, excessive rainfall, increased incidents of crop diseases and higher input prices as major risks exposed to their cotton crop. Furthermore, study found that age, education, location, off-farm income and access to market information are the factors which significantly (either positively or negatively) affect the farmers' risk perceptions and attitude. Study provides useful firsthand information to researchers and policy makers about the local understanding of risks to cotton crop in a developing country which could be used for research on farmers’ adaptation to exposed risks.
83 citations
TL;DR: This study describes seven principles for locating earthquake evacuation shelters and proposes a multi-criteria constraint location model that can be used to solve the location problem and concludes that the evacuation shelter location model and solution method are effective and suitable to solved the multi-Criteria shelter location problem from an urban planning perspective.
Abstract: Earthquakes are serious natural disasters that can result in significant fatalities and economic loss The building of earthquake evacuation shelters is an effective way to reduce earthquake disaster risk and protect lives Current studies on facility location models commonly overlook multiple optimal criteria from an urban planning perspective and are not suited to planning earthquake evacuation shelters In this study, we describe seven principles for locating earthquake evacuation shelters Following these principles, we propose a multi-criteria constraint location model that can be used to solve the location problem We then present an iterative method to solve the model With the support of a geographic information system (GIS), the method is composed of three steps: select candidate shelters, analyze the spatial coverage of candidate shelters and determine the shelter locations Finally, a case study is used to demonstrate the application of the multi-criteria model and the corresponding solution method for its effectiveness in planning urban earthquake evacuation shelters We conclude that the evacuation shelter location model and solution method are effective and suitable to solve the multi-criteria shelter location problem from an urban planning perspective
82 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined households' resilience to climate change and variability, and the determinants of the number and choice of adaptation measures adopted by households, and found that female-headed households and households located in Bongo district are less resilient to climate changes and variability.
Abstract: North-east Ghana is characterised by frequent droughts and floods which adversely affect farming, the primary source of livelihood for majority of households in the region. Given the rapidly changing climate, these extreme events are expected to become more pervasive. This paper assesses the capacity of farm households to deal with climate-related risks. Using survey data from 409 farm households in three districts in north-east Ghana, this study specifically examines households' resilience to climate change and variability, and the determinants of the number and choice of adaptation measures adopted by households. Results from an indicator-based climate resilience assessment indicate that female-headed households and households located in Bongo district are less resilient to climate change and variability. The results also suggest that interventions aimed at building households' climate resilience should be mostly directed at raising household income, improving food security, and asset building. To enhance resilience to climate change and variability, households have mostly adopted a combination of autonomous adaptation measures, such as altering the timing of planting, use of drought tolerant and early maturing crop varieties, and switching to crops that are less sensitive to climate stress. Employing Poisson and multivariate probit regression models, it was found that increasing farmers' knowledge of climate change as well as building the capacity of extension agents to deliver information on climate change and appropriate adaptation measures are key to successful adaptation in the study region.
81 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a survey of 164 residents of Newport Beach, California during the spring of 2014 to ascertain the current and preferred mechanisms through which individuals receive information on flood risks in their community was conducted.
Abstract: The communication of information about natural hazard risks to the public is a difficult task for decision makers. Research suggests that newer forms of technology present useful options for building disaster resilience. However, how effectively these newer forms of media can be used to inform populations of the potential hazard risks in their community remains unclear. This research uses primary data from an in-person survey of 164 residents of Newport Beach, California during the spring of 2014 to ascertain the current and preferred mechanisms through which individuals receive information on flood risks in their community. Factor analysis of survey data identified two predominant routes of dissemination for risk information: older traditional media and newer social media sources. A logistic regression model was specified to identify predictors for choosing a particular communication route. This analysis revealed that age is the central factor in predicting the sources people use to receive risk information. We follow the analysis by discussing this finding and its policy implications.
TL;DR: Systematic attempts to measure and assess recovery after recent major earthquakes are reported, to compare different methods, both quantitative and qualitative, and to assess which are more cost effective rather than detail the process of recovery after particular events.
Abstract: This paper reports systematic attempts to measure and assess recovery after recent major earthquakes. The aim is to compare different methods, both quantitative and qualitative, and to assess which are more cost effective rather than detail the process of recovery after particular events. The paper also discusses how resilience relates to recovery. The methods trialled are all capable of measuring the speed, and to some extent the quality, of recovery, but the merits of each depends on the resources available and the level of detail or precision required. The recommended approach is to use the methods in combination. Specifically satellite imagery analysis can be combined with ground survey, social audit and published data to develop a spatial-temporal geo-database that can be used to monitor recovery. To date, however, it would appear to be challenging to measure resilience. An approach might be to attempt to isolate the factors underlying resilience and focus on measuring these. This might be achieved by analysing recovery after a wide variety of events and building models of resilience based on these factors. These predictions of resiliencey for a wide range of countries at risk might then be compared with the speed and quality recovery after future events.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the provision of catastrophe insurance by the public sector in the US, France, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and its absence in the Netherlands, where flood risk is viewed as a national security concern.
Abstract: In the light of the rising cost of natural disasters we review the provision of catastrophe insurance by the public sector in the US, France, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, and its absence in the Netherlands, where flood risk is viewed as a national security concern. We do this in the context of the Australian home insurance market where insurers increasingly employ risk-reflective, multi-peril premiums as new technology allows them to better understand their exposure to risk. Motivations behind government pools vary by country, as do hazard profiles. In the US, for example, pools have usually arisen in the face of market failure of private sector insurance following a significant natural disaster; the initial concern has been the provision of affordable insurance rather than disaster risk reduction. Government pools have certain advantages over the private sector including their ability to raise funds post-event, but face financial unsustainability given political intervention to maintain affordability of cover in high-risk areas. In Australia, it is too early to judge whether risk-based premiums are leading to better land-use planning and increased mitigation spending, but in the case of northern Australia, a region that faces flooding and tropical cyclone risks, rising premiums are causing concern in Government. Nonetheless, the corollary seems self-evident, i.e. in the absence of transparency about the cost of risk, there is no incentive on the part of homeowners, local councils or land developers to improve the ‘riskscape'; insurers are the only actors with immediate financial incentives to acknowledge these risks.
TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic literature review from 1986 to 2013 examines social conflicts resulting from natural disasters, and a three-dimensional analysis, Description-Theme-Mechanism, is used to combine and analyze the current state of research, with the ultimate goal of clarifying the concept of social conflicts arising from the natural disasters.
Abstract: Natural disasters often result in fatalities, injuries, diseases and other negative physical and mental health effects. Indirectly, disasters can result in social grievances and resource scarcities which can trigger social conflicts. Despite the many natural disaster studies, however, little attention has been devoted to the study of conflicts following a natural disaster. Through a systematic literature review from 1986 to 2013, this paper examines social conflicts resulting from natural disasters. In this paper, a three-dimensional analysis, Description-Theme-Mechanism, is used to combine and analyze the current state of research, with the ultimate goal of clarifying the concept of social conflicts arising from natural disasters, summarizing existing research on the links between natural disasters and social conflicts, determining any significant rules and trends, and providing recommendations and directions for future research. Language: en
TL;DR: In this article, a two-stage stochastic program is developed for the solution of the problem to minimize the total distance traveled, the unmet demand and the total number of facilities (considering the potential difficulties to access the facilities), where facility allocation and service decisions are performed in the first and second stages, respectively.
Abstract: In this paper, we consider the problem of temporary disaster response facility allocation for temporary or short-term disaster relief operations, propose a solution approach and illustrate it with an earthquake case study in Turkey. A two-stage stochastic program is developed for the solution of the problem to minimize the total distance traveled, the unmet demand and the total number of facilities (considering the potential difficulties to access the facilities), where facility allocation and service decisions are performed in the first and second stages, respectively. An earthquake case study developed by the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (mostly referred as AFAD in Turkey) is used to test our model. We use five different scenarios, each representing a different after-disaster situation (i.e., traffic conditions, time etc.), with its respective probability of occurrence, to model the demand uncertainty for relief supplies. We first solve the deterministic model for each scenario, and then, the corresponding stochastic program. In addition to the defined objectives of the model, quality of each solution is analyzed in terms of average walking distance, demand satisfaction rate and average facility utilization.
TL;DR: In this paper, a three-step solution approach is developed for the selection and design of new refugee camp sites based on geographic, social, infrastructural and risk related criteria.
Abstract: After domestic turbulence in Syria on 2011, many Syrian refugees have migrated to Turkey in progressive amounts. Turkey provides temporary protection for these refugees both in and out of refugee camps. Approximately 10% of the refugees stay at the refugee camps according to statistics of Ministry of Interior Directorate General of Migration Management. These events reveal the need for additional refugee camps. In this shift from emergency to stable phase, scientific based selection and design methods are beneficial for the situation. Thus, a three-step solution approach is developed. Firstly, various geographic, social, infrastructural and risk related criteria are determined for 10 southeastern cities in Turkey which are very close to Syrian border. Secondly, these criteria are entered into geographic information system (GIS) software to assign a refugee camp siting availability score. Lastly, indicators are prioritized using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and potential refugee camp sites are ranked using technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). As a result, 15 new refugee camp sites are offered considering the pre-determined indicators. The model definitely shows that suggested alternative camp locations are more suitable than the current camps.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effects of socioeconomic factors on risk attitudes of farmers in a flood-prone area of Pakistan and found that the majority of farmers were risk averse in nature.
Abstract: Farmers are confronted with several sources of climatic risks. As such, their risk attitudes play an important role in farm management decisions. Few studies have attempted to explore farmers' risk attitudes in flood-prone areas. This study examines the effects of socio-economic factors on risk attitudes of farmers in a flood-prone area of Pakistan. The data were collected from 168 subsistence farmers through a standardized questionnaire. The farmers were selected through multi-stage sampling techniques. For farmers' risk attitude measurement, Equally Likely Certainty Equivalent (ELCE) method and a cubic utility function were employed. Risk perceptions of farmers were measured by the risk matrix technique. A Logit model was employed to investigate the effects of socio-economic factors on farmers' risk attitudes. The findings of the study reveal that the majority of farmers were risk averse in nature. The results for the logit model show that education, experience, farmers' group, landholding size, off-farm income, and risk perceptions of floods significantly affect the risk attitude of farmers. The study provides useful insights into the most important factors affecting the risk attitude of farmers. The results have implications for policy makers in providing farmers with accurate risk mitigating and management tools, such as agricultural credit and crop insurance, to cope with climatic risks.
TL;DR: A review of the literature on humanitarian operations and crisis/disaster management in order to identify the current research and to provide direction for future research in this growing field is presented in this paper.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to review the literature on humanitarian operations and crisis/disaster management in order to identify the current research and to provide direction for future research in this growing field. Articles from supply chain management, disaster management, and economics were reviewed, keywords were identified within a disaster management lifecycle framework, and a lexical analysis of the articles was conducted. The analysis reveals that previous research has primarily focused on humanitarian operations, with researchers adapting established supply chain methodologies to improve humanitarian disaster response. While this has benefited humanitarian organizations in their ability to respond to disasters with greater efficiency, it also clarifies that there has been little research done on humanitarian development, the overlooked part of humanitarian operations. This finding suggests the need for future research to focus on the role that humanitarian development plays in reducing future social and economic disaster losses.
TL;DR: The DRIB Index as discussed by the authors provides a tool to help assess, visualise and communicate different levels of exposure, vulnerability and risk in Brazil, which may sensitise public and political decision-makers towards the important topic of disaster risk and climate change adaptation.
Abstract: The DRIB Index- Disaster Risk Indicators in Brazil - provides a tool to help assess, visualise and communicate different levels of exposure, vulnerability and risk in Brazil. The index may sensitise public and political decision-makers towards the important topic of disaster risk and climate change adaptation. This article aims to explore the feasibility and usefulness of such a national risk index that considers both natural hazard phenomena and social vulnerability. The exposure to natural hazards was assessed by using four indicators that describe the exposure of people towards landslides, floods, droughts and sea level rise. Whereas vulnerability dimension consists of susceptibility, coping capacity and adaptive capacity was calculated on the basis of 32 indicators which comprise social, economic and environmental conditions of a society. The county comparison provides an initial ranking of exposure and vulnerability. Specific analysis of coping and adaptation capacities also indicates that risk or vulnerability are not pre-defined conditions, but rather are constructed by societies exposed to natural hazards. The results of the DRIB Index were mapped and classified by means of a GIS system to show different patterns of exposure, vulnerability and risk on global scale. The national perspective of risk clearly shows that the vulnerability of a society or a country is not the same as exposure to natural hazards. The information provided by the DRIB Index highlights the need for preventive measures towards Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in the country as a whole, but also at regional and local scales. The results showed that the risk is strongly interwoven with social-economic and cultural conditions and normal everyday life, as well as with the performance of state institutions dealing with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), in other words, vulnerability. Spatial trends of disaster risk and vulnerability, products of this research, also have stressed the serious social inequalities between and within regions of the country, which result in barriers to the development of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)in Brazil as a whole.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined 36 selected community resilience assessment tools to find out if they are suitable for adequately addressing the four abilities of resilience, i.e., the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from and more successfully adapt to adverse events.
Abstract: Resilience is now a ubiquitous concept in many science and policy circles. It is a polysemic concept that has been defined differently in different disciplines and contexts. An often used definition, in the context of community resilience, is provided by the National Academies. According to this definition resilience is “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from and more successfully adapt to adverse events” (the four abilities). Over the past two decades various tools have been developed for assessing community resilience. This study examines 36 selected community resilience assessment tools to find out if they are suitable for adequately addressing the four abilities of resilience. A framework, identifying various measures that can contribute to addressing each of the four resilience abilities is developed. Evaluating selected tools using this framework indicates only few of them are reasonably suitable for addressing measures related to the four resilience abilities. Overall performance of the selected tools is particularly poor in terms of addressing measures related to absorption and adaptation abilities. Detailed results related to performance of each tool are provided. Developers can use these results to understand shortcomings of their assessment tools and address them in the revised versions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated how the interplay of institutions, community power structures, and human agency shape adaptive capacity of wetland communities and concluded that in designing development interventions to enhance adaptive capacity, consideration must be given to the diverse range of skills and educational development among the local population.
Abstract: Studies on disaster risk reduction primarily centers on the research streams of vulnerability and resilience. The concept of adaptive capacity is central to both streams of study and has profound implications for disaster risk reduction. Drawing insights from both streams, we examined the adaptive capacity of wetland communities with regards to flash flood disasters. Focusing on societal dimensions, we investigated how the interplay of institutions, community power structures, and human agency shape adaptive capacity of wetland communities. We employed the “dominant-less dominant” research methodological framework, and followed a 4-tier study design: i) a household survey, ii) a semi-structured questionnaire survey, iii) oral history interviews, and iv) key informant interviews. Our findings revealed that wetland communities in the region are highly vulnerable to flash flood hazards. Local community members were conditioned, chiefly by the asymmetrical social power structure, to feel helpless in the face of natural disasters. Their reactive recovery measures have resulted in maladaptation and in their becoming passive towards risk mitigation for future floods. However, transformative patterns were also observed in a large proportion of the population, wherein community members modified or changed their behavior to achieve longer-term sustainability and risk mitigation. We concluded that in designing development interventions to enhance adaptive capacity, consideration must be given to the diverse range of skills and educational development among the local population.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the perception of communal farmers towards the effects of drought, given the social and economic circumstances of residents in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and the results revealed that perceptions held by communal farmers indicate that they receive inadequate government support for drought risk reduction, they do not consider social networks as being effectively involved in reducing drought risk, there is a system of gender stereotyping among the farmers, psychological stress affects their farm activities, and they experience high levels of stock theft and insecurity in their farming.
Abstract: O.R. Tambo District is vulnerable to the effects of drought, given the social and economic circumstances of residents in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The communal farmers of O.R. Tambo District engage in crop and livestock farming activities in pursuit of their livelihoods. Economic reliance on agriculture and the depletion of resources increase their vulnerability to drought. The lack of adequate resources to prepare for and respond to drought has led to high drought vulnerability. The main aim of this study is to analyse the perception of communal farmers towards drought. This study is based on primary data collected from 87 communal farmers following a structured questionnaire survey, purposive sampling method procedures, and the creation of a perception index. The results revealed that perceptions held by communal farmers indicate that (i) they receive inadequate government support for drought risk reduction, (ii) they do not consider social networks as being effectively involved in drought risk reduction, (iii) there is a system of gender stereotyping among the farmers with discrimination against women, (iv) psychological stress affects their farm activities, and (v) they experience high levels of stock theft and insecurity in their farming. The study recommends that there should be coordination and collaboration among all role players. This includes coordination between monitoring agencies in terms of reliable early warning data, communicated in a comprehensive way to decision-makers, farmer's organisations and private sector. Collaboration with government departments at national and provincial level should also be strengthened. This includes collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) at national level, provincial Departments of Agriculture, National and Provincial Disaster Management Centres (NDMC and PDMC), Department of Water Affairs (DWA), South African Weather Service (SAWS) and the South African Police Service (SAPS). This coordination and collaboration will help to strengthen strategies which target enhancing communal farmers’ awareness of the importance of social networking, role of government, level of security, stress and gender equality. The result of this study will directly contribute to the development of South African drought plan which is currently under formulation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focused on factors influencing adaptive capacity of households and individuals and described level of preparedness to natural disaster occurrences, and found that households making use of unapproved dump sites for solid waste disposal, those with inferior roof construction materials, and those located in the rural areas were more likely to experience increased severe negative effects from natural disasters occurrences.
Abstract: Much of the strategies employed in managing natural disasters in Nigeria have been reactive, while efforts at embracing preparedness have been lean. Evidence from literature as well as global experiences however shows that factors which increase adaptive capacity to disasters are ex-ante risk reducing strategies. In this light, the study focuses on factors influencing adaptive capacity of households and individuals and describes level of preparedness to natural disaster occurrences. A sample of 1116 individuals was obtained from six states spread across the geopolitical zones of Nigeria for a questionnaire survey. With the use of a binary logit model, we attempt to explain the severity or non-severity of the negative effects of natural disaster outcomes using adaptive capacity/vulnerability variables. The results show that households making use of unapproved dump sites for solid waste disposal, those with inferior roof construction materials, and those located in the rural areas were more likely to experience increased severe negative effects from natural disaster occurrences. Moreover, factors such as a lack of personal savings, agriculture based livelihoods and a single income source increased the odds of experiencing severe negative effects from natural disasters for individuals. We also discuss coping strategies adopted by individuals and households in the aftermath of natural disasters. Much of these represent informal mechanisms and we find that some of these strategies may not be entirely beneficial to individuals and households in the long run.
TL;DR: A case study was conducted using the 2012 and 2013 Colorado wildfires and the 2010 Haitian earthquake as discussed by the authors, which revealed that in today's society, we are globally connected through the Internet such that social media and disaster managers in all countries can benefit from the use of crowdsourcing.
Abstract: A case study was conducted using the 2012 and 2013 Colorado wildfires and the 2010 Haitian earthquake. Academics from universities that are part of the Department of Homeland Security Centers of Excellence and senior leaders within the Colorado Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management were interviewed about the use of crowdsourcing during disaster operations. The resultant data was analyzed and the themes of control, verification, and usage emerged as key components of successful crowdsourcing operations. The study revealed that in today's society, we are globally connected through the Internet such that social media and disaster managers in all countries can benefit from the use of crowdsourcing.
TL;DR: Simplicity and repeatability of the algorithm are the main factors from the user’s point of view, considering these criteria, the GA is more favorable than the BA in finding the optimum location of relief centers and in allocating of the parcels to them.
Abstract: One of the important steps in the earthquake disaster management is the establishment of temporary relief centers, to provide the basic helps and support in short time. Finding optimum location for these centers with adequate covering of the urban areas is not a trivial problem. The meta-heuristic algorithms are promising methods, capable of solving such complex optimization problems. The goal of this research was to compare the performance of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Bees Algorithm (BA) in finding the optimum location of relief centers and in allocating of the parcels to them. In order to limit the search space, GIS was used for selecting a few candidate sites that satisfy the initial conditions and criteria. Then, the two algorithms were used to select nine optimum sites among the candidates and to allocate the parcels to them, while minimizing the sum of all distances between centers and parcels. To calibrate the parameters of the algorithms, a simple simulated data set was used. Having proper values for those parameters, the algorithms were tested on the real data of the study area. The results showed that the convergence of the BA was rather gradual, while the trend for GA was relatively stepwise. Both algorithms showed high levels of repeatability. For both the simulated and real data, GA showed to be faster than BA. Simplicity and repeatability of the algorithm are the main factors from the user’s point of view. Therefore, considering these criteria, the GA is more favorable than the BA.
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparison between students' behavior under normal conditions and under emergency circumstances is made to identify the differences between the two, and the differences are quantitatively analyzed through regression modeling.
Abstract: One of the critical challenges in the development of evacuation models for pedestrian crowds is the lack of complementary data under emergency conditions. Specifically, the study of evacuation behavior of students in schools has been limited in the literature. This paper analyzes school students' emergency evacuation behavior in earthquakes using data extracted from videos of real emergency evacuation. A comparison between students' behavior under normal conditions and under emergency circumstances is made to identify the differences. These differences are quantitatively analyzed through regression modeling. Overall, students' behavior under normal conditions is stable as expected. The cumulative curve of the number of departures can be modeled as a linear function. Differently, students' emergency evacuation behavior is much more chaotic. Four stages - reaction, acceleration, linearity and saturation - are identified, which form a convex cumulative curve rather than a linear one. It is also found that, under emergency circumstances, students' reaction time increases substantially, and the mean value as well as the variance of the number of departures per second becomes much larger. However, the reaction time is comparatively lower than those observed from previous studies on adults. Moreover, we could not observe the highly competitive behavior or 'faster is slower effect' as predicted from previous mathematical models. These results provide useful practical knowledge towards the development of mathematical models intended to simulate the emergency evacuation behavior of students in schools. Language: en
TL;DR: The influence of disasters on chronic heath persists beyond the initial disaster period, affecting people's health for months to years, and investment to tackle modifiable underlying determinants could aid disaster risk management, improve medium and long-term health outcomes from disasters, and build community resilience.
Abstract: Disasters cause a wide range of health impacts. Although there remains a need to understand and improve acute disaster management, a stronger understanding of how health is affected in the medium and longer term is also required to inform the design and delivery of measures to manage post-disaster health risks, and to guide actions taken before and during events which will also lead to reduction in health impact. Social determinants exert a powerful influence on different elements of risk, principally vulnerability, exposure and capacity, and thus, on people's health. As disaster health data and research has tended to focus on the short-term health impacts, no systematic assessment of the social determinants of the mid- to long-term health impacts of disasters has been identified. We assessed the chronic health impacts of disasters and explored the potential socioeconomic determinants of health impact through a systematic review. Our findings, based on 28 studies, highlighted that regardless of health outcomes and event types, the influence of disasters on chronic heath persists beyond the initial disaster period, affecting people's health for months to years. Using the World Health Organization's conceptual framework for the social determinants of health, we identified a total of 35 themes across the three conceptual domains (determinants related to the socioeconomic and political context, structural determinants, and intermediate determinants) as potentially influencing disaster impact. Investment to tackle modifiable underlying determinants could aid disaster risk management, improve medium and long-term health outcomes from disasters, and build community resilience.
TL;DR: The risk-based planning approach (RBPA) as mentioned in this paper is a practical innovation in land use planning that assists local and regional scale planners to incorporate risk into land-use planning decisions.
Abstract: The traditional land use planning approach for addressing natural hazards in New Zealand has been based on the likelihood of an event occurring, with little consideration of the consequences associated with natural hazard events. This has led to decisions that place developments and communities at risk. Local government planning authorities who want to transition to risk-based planning face a number of challenges, including: how to satisfactorily define acceptable, tolerable and intolerable risk; how to incorporate the views of stakeholders and affected communities; and how to ensure that potentially controversial decisions over land use options are robust and defensible. This paper describes a practical innovation in land use planning that assists local and regional scale planners incorporate risk into land use planning decisions. Termed the ‘Risk-Based Planning Approach’ (RBPA), the objective of this framework is to provide local government planners with a process that responds to the key challenges they face in adopting a risk-based approach. It includes strategies to guide engagement and communication with key stakeholders both across local government and with affected communities; it supports a full assessment of the consequences, as well as likelihood, of natural hazard events; and it enables natural hazard policies to be monitored for their effectiveness in either holding-the-line or in reducing risks. In this paper we review how the RBPA provides for innovation in land use planning. In particular we note how its development with input from planners has ensured its applicability and consistency with statutory planning requirements and we examine an early case of its use in practice. This case demonstrates how a regional planning agency further innovated based on the RBPA, to provide robust and defensible decisions around acceptable, tolerable and intolerable levels of risk for their region.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identified the underlying causes and damages caused by 2010 flash flood, which is considered one of the worst hydrological disasters in the country (Pakistan). Questionnaire based survey and structured interviews were conducted to investigate physical and economic damages in the selected case study Dir Valley.
Abstract: This paper identifies the underlying causes and damages caused by 2010 flash flood, which is considered one of the worst hydrological disasters in the country (Pakistan). Questionnaire based survey and structured interviews were conducted to investigate physical and economic damages in the selected case study Dir Valley. Global Positioning System (GPS) survey was also conducted to acquire location of damages and Geographical Information System (GIS) is used to visualize land use, land cover and damage data. Buffer analysis is used to delineate the effected strata on both sides of Panjkora River to assess the flood damages. Climate change phenomenon along with peculiar topography of the region are considered as the underlying causes as monsoon winds interacted with the jet stream abnormally causing unprecedented high intensity rainfall in the valley. The steep topography of the area caused rain water to accumulate rapidly in the Panjkora River, overpowering the withholding capacity of the river. The phenomenon resulted in severe flash flood which annihilated whatever came in its way. Upper zone in the target area is badly affected by flood with maximum damaged houses and human causalities followed by lower zone with high number of damaged bridges. This study will bring the attention of disaster management and other relevant authorities to focus on flood risk reduction by enhancing the retention capability of watershed in upstream areas that will reduce the risk in low lying areas.
TL;DR: In this paper, the flood recovery strategies adopted by the manufacturing SMEs to recover from the floods in the Pathumthani province in Thailand were analyzed. But the authors focused on ascertaining the impacts and coping mechanisms of flood disaster to vulnerable SMEs.
Abstract: Recovery from floods is not only related to achieving the state of normalcy but also to pave the way for future development and growth of the business after a devastating impact on business by floods. This study focuses on the flood recovery capacities adopted by the flood affected SMEs in the Pathumthani province of Thailand. Thailand is a middle income country prone to natural hazards with a major risk from the floods. The affected population comprises of all sectors of the society such as business. The SMEs contribute a major share in the GDP of Thailand and are to be protected from the disastrous impacts of the reoccurring floods. This paper analyses the flood recovery strategies adopted by the manufacturing SMEs to recover from the floods in the Pathumthani province in Thailand. It is focused on ascertaining the impacts and coping mechanisms of flood disaster to vulnerable SMEs in the Pathumthani province.