A critical comparative review of emergency and disaster management in the Arab world

Osama F Al Kurdi

doi:10.1108/jbsed-02-2021-0021

Abstract

PurposeThe Arab world is made up of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These countries are subjected to many social, economic, political and geographical vulnerabilities contributing to increased risks or ineffective emergency and disaster management. This paper examines these vulnerabilities, how they may impact the country's ability to face disasters, and how they can improve disasters' overall management.Design/methodology/approachThe author selected Qatar, Oman to represent the Arab oil-rich countries, while Jordan, Egypt and Morocco to represent non-oil rich countries. The research was conducted in a qualitative, inductive systematic literature review based on a well-established systematic literature review methodology. Selected literature was based on its recency and the countries in question.FindingsThe review reveals population gaps that could threaten the social system in the event of a disaster in countries like Qatar and Oman. The majority of the countries lack community engagement and pre-planning for emergency preparedness due to social and cultural barriers. Other nations like Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are prone to long-lasting economic challenges due to lack of resources, mismanagement or corruption. The paper also highlights the need to raise the educational attainment among citizens to understand disaster risk reduction.Originality/valueThis study utilized the research method developed by Williams et al. (2017) to present a comprehensive systematic and comparative review of disaster management in the Arab world. Considering that disaster and emergency management has remained disproportionately unexplored in the Arab world, this paper reviewed several vulnerabilities and how those vulnerabilities may affect disaster and emergency management efforts in the Arab countries.

Highlights

The total number of disasters worldwide has nearly doubled since the 1980s
A highly urbanized Arab world spread across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region means that the population’s future growth will primarily occur in already-populated cities (Serageldin et al, 2012)
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the expert in these matters, suggests that Egypt is the recipient of a significant amount of humanitarian funds, mostly issued through “the European Commission, the Regional Development and Protection Programme (RDPP), the EU-Africa Trust Fund, and the EU Regional Trust Fund for the Syria Crisis” (OCHA, 2019, in Humanitarian Response Operations)

Summary

Introduction

The total number of disasters worldwide has nearly doubled since the 1980s. Disasters can strike any country regardless of economic status; developing countries sustain the worst impact (Coppola, 2015). To ensure appropriate representation from the 22 Arab countries, the researcher determined how they are all interrelated in terms of national backgrounds, hazards, political state, economy, security issues, disasters and emergency management similarities and differences. The report ranks each of the world’s countries in terms of overall risk, with sub-rankings of exposures, social vulnerability, susceptibility to hazards, lack of capacity to cope and inability to adapt. Three of the top impacts are three of the highest events likely to occur, making climate action failure, biodiversity loss and extreme weather both with high impact and high risk One example of these risks is that each of the countries investigated for this study is already exceeding more than 100% of the available renewable water resources (World Health Organization, 2002). Central contract and control Issues relating to geology (such as earthquakes) Issues relating to weather

Funding Funding and business advice

Findings

Conclusion