Building Disaster Resilient Communities Research Articles

What are the “Disaster medicine” curriculum topics for public health medicine specialty training in Türkiye? A Delphi Study

ObjectivePublic health medicine specialists have unique roles in disaster risk management through prevention, preparedness, response and recovery for all kinds of disasters. A well structured and designed “disaster medicine training curriculum” would improve the efficacy and quality of playing these forementioned roles. In this study, it was aimed to determine the disaster medicine curriculum topics which should be addressed in public health medicine specialty education and training in Türkiye. MethodsAll faculty members from public health departments of medical faculties in Türkiye (238 experts) were invited to a three round Delphi study aiming to evaluate disaster medicine topics of the curriculum prepared by the International Society of Disaster Medicine (ISDM) as it is the most comprehensive curriculum ever developed. All items were rated by using a seven-point Likert scale in consecutive online questionnaires. The final consensus was determined at the end of the third round according to the consensus criteria. FindingsThe response rate for the first round was 37.8% (90 experts), with a dropout of 34.4% (59 experts) and 35.5% (38 experts) for the following rounds. For the “Medical Care” division, 35.3% of items were agreed to be included in the curriculum, while this rate was 93.2% for “Disaster Management” division, 100.0% for “Public Health” and “Education and Training in Disaster Medicine” divisions. Among all, 62.5% of items reached consensus to be included in the curriculum. ConclusionIn the end of three rounds, disaster medicine topics were evaluated with a public health perspective and the curriculum was enriched with original contributions from the experts. This agreed national curriculum for the major workforce of public health services in the country will strengthen the health workforce capacity for building disaster resilient communities and health services.

Disaster experiences and preparedness of the Orang Asli Families in Tasik Chini of Malaysia: A conceptual framework towards building disaster resilient community

This study explores disaster experiences and preparedness of the disaster affected Orang Asli families in Tasik Chini, Malaysia. Applying a qualitative research approach, this study was collected data from 10 respondents from 10 families based on convenient sampling and in-depth interview. This study utilises thematic analysis to analyse and report the data. This study revealed that Orang Asli families faced both positive and negative experiences due to disaster. Moreover, disaster preparedness of the families was found to be low. Thus, there is need an inclusive disaster preparedness policy for the Orang Asli families towards building a disaster resilient community.

COMMUNITY RESILIENCE FRAMEWORKS FOR BUILDING DISASTER RESILIENT COMMUNITY IN MALAYSIA

Disasters cannot be prevented fully but their impacts and severity can be lessened through the application of certain frameworks. However, there is currently a lack of a robust framework in building disaster resilient and sustainable communities in Malaysia. Malaysians are increasingly finding themselves not being spared from disasters especially flood. In order to keep pace with these occurring disasters in Malaysia, Community Resilience Frameworks are the backbone strategies among various stakeholders and can assure non-futile efforts for building safer and more resilient communities. Community Resilience Framework sets out the drivers, existing good practices, scopes, aims and work streams respectively for a long-term programme designed to increase the disaster resilience of communities. This paper reviews the existence of disaster resilient communities in detail. Some Community Resilience Frameworks in the context of natural disasters in Malaysia are also discussed. In this paper, literature is used as a foundation for a new insight. Document analysis method on relevant policies and literatures was adopted. It is envisaged that the findings of this study could be useful for building disaster resilient community and also closing the gaps in disaster risk reduction in Malaysia.

COMMUNITY RESILIENCE FRAMEWORKS FOR BUILDING DISASTER RESILIENT COMMUNITY IN MALAYSIA

Disasters cannot be prevented fully but their impacts and severity can be lessened through the application of certain frameworks. However, there is currently a lack of a robust framework in building disaster resilient and sustainable communities in Malaysia. Malaysians are increasingly finding themselves not being spared from disasters especially flood. In order to keep pace with these occurring disasters in Malaysia, Community Resilience Frameworks are the backbone strategies among various stakeholders and can assure non-futile efforts for building safer and more resilient communities. Community Resilience Framework sets out the drivers, existing good practices, scopes, aims and work streams respectively for a long-term programme designed to increase the disaster resilience of communities. This paper reviews the existence of disaster resilient communities in detail. Some Community Resilience Frameworks in the context of natural disasters in Malaysia are also discussed. In this paper, literature is used as a foundation for a new insight. Document analysis method on relevant policies and literatures was adopted. It is envisaged that the findings of this study could be useful for building disaster resilient community and also closing the gaps in disaster risk reduction in Malaysia.

A community resilience index for Norway: An adaptation of the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC)

In recent years, building disaster resilient communities has become a primary objective of crisis management institutions across the globe, as a resilient community is likely to suffer fewer losses and recover more quickly when faced with an adverse event. However, in order to strengthen a community's resilience, one needs to first establish a baseline, an initial measure that can be used to compare communities and to track changes over time. This article presents such a baseline, a community resilience index, for Norway. Following the approach outlined by the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC), the article constructs a hierarchical index, using 47 indicators divided into six subdomains, to describe the resilience capacities of the Norwegian municipalities. The results show considerable variations in the relative levels of resilience. Most markedly, there seems to be a north-south divide; i.e., many of the northern municipalities having lower levels of overall resilience and many of the southern municipalities having higher levels of overall resilience. These initial observations are further analysed by deconstructing the overall index into its components to identify driving forces behind the overall resilience score. To validate the results, the resilience scores are compared to previously established vulnerability metrics. The resilience and vulnerability metrics are then used to identify potential low-risk (high resilience, low vulnerability) and high-risk (low resilience, high vulnerability) areas across Norway.

Framework Considerations for Community Resilient Towards Disaster in Malaysia

Abstract Natural disaster has led to adversity resulted from its physical (immediate on-set) and social (long-term) impact. Physical impacts majorly involved human casualties and loss or damages to properties and infrastructure. Meanwhile, among social impacts to society are the psychosocial, socio-demographic, socioeconomic, and socio-politic disturbances. Reducing the risk and impact of the disaster therefore, requires various efforts to prepare and empower the community through the implementation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) during and after a disaster as it is proven that the community themselves are first responders when disasters strike. An excellent example would be the Kobe earthquake where most of the victims survived due to prompt actions taken by members of their community. This indicates that a well-informed community i.e. with high level of awareness and sound knowledge on disaster preparedness and mitigation played crucial role in preventing greater incident of human casualties and reduce socio-economic loss to the community. Therefore, building a resilient community has become part of DRR initiatives. Review of literature, however, suggests that there are gaps in implementation due to lack of understanding of resilient community concept and suitable community-based approach in promoting a community resilience spirit towards disaster. This paper is prepared to discuss the framework considerations for building disaster resilient community in Malaysia from three (3) perspectives of DRR namely; (1) resilient community’s main capitals; (2) key drivers to community resilience and; (3) key deliverables of disaster-resilient community.

Who Participates in Building Disaster Resilient Communities: A Cluster-Analytic Approach.

The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience project is a community-based program to improve disaster resilience. We collected baseline measures of resilience-related attitudes and practices among targeted communities prior to the implementation of the intervention. This study identified community disaster resilience behavior patterns and assessed their associations with sociodemographic and social cognitive characteristics. Telephone surveys during summer 2013. Sixteen communities in Los Angeles County (2 per service planning area). The address-based sample of adults (≥18) was selected to be representative of 2010 census tracts in each of the communitiesMAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:: We examined relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, social cognitive factors, and participation in community disaster resilience activities. Three clusters of community resilience behavior patterns emerged. Cluster distribution significantly differed across several sociodemographic and social cognitive factors. Participants who were African American, Hispanic, had higher education, income, self-efficacy, trust in the public health department, civic engagement, and social capital were significantly associated with being in the cluster most active in resilience-building activities. The results confirm that there are distinct community resilience behavior patterns. These patterns vary according to population characteristics, which supports audience segmentation approaches and developing a range of emergency preparedness programs targeted to the strengths and weaknesses of the different audience segments.

Sustainable Hazard Mitigation: Exploring the Importance of Green Infrastructure in Building Disaster Resilient Communities

Natural disasters continue to plague the United States, undermining the nation’s ability to build disaster resilient communities. Although structural and non-structural mitigation measures are currently in place to lessen the impact natural disasters have on society, little attention has been given to the construction of green infrastructure as a sustainable hazard mitigation strategy. The purpose of this article is to explore the benefits of green infrastructure as a sustainable hazard mitigation strategy and offer recommendations to public sector entities to build disaster resilient communities.

Collaboration and communication

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of Participatory Action Research (PAR), reporting on a collaboration, communication and disaster resilience workshop in Sydney, Australia. The goal of the workshop was to explore the challenges that organisations perceive as blockages to building community disaster resilience; and, through collaborative practitioner-led activities, identify which of those challenges could be best addressed through a deeper engagement with communication research. Design/methodology/approach – The authors link communication, collaboration and disaster resilience through the lens of PAR, detailing how communication and resilience experts can collaborate to improve disaster prevention, management and mitigation practice. Findings – The authors identify a number of theoretical considerations in understanding horizontal and vertical interfaces for improved communication. The authors also highlight how practical collaborative workshops can draw on communication researchers to facilitate collaborative resilience activities. PAR is shown to help move participant focus from resolving inter/intra-organisational tensions to facilitating public good, offering evidence-based recommendations which will foster a more reflexive and communicative approach to building disaster resilient communities. Research limitations/implications – This paper does not seek to apply community resilience to the general public, no community representatives were present at the workshop. This does not mean that the focus is on organisational resilience. Rather the authors apply PAR as a way to help organisations become more engaged with PAR, communication research and collaborative practice. PAR is a tool for organisations to use in building community resilience, but also a means to reflect on their practice. Whilst this should help organisations in building more resilient communities the take up of practice by participants outside of the workshop is a matter for future research. Practical implications – This method of collaborative resilience building could significantly improve the shared responsibility amongst key organisations, mobilising skills and building awareness of integrated resilience thinking in practice for stakeholders in disaster management activities. Originality/value – This paper provides original evidence-based research, showing the linkages between communication theory, collaboration practice and the tools used by organisations tasked with building community resilience. This innovative synthesis of skills can aid in building PAR led disaster resilience across prevention, preparation and mitigation activities for all potential hazards, threats and/or risks, however, it will be particularly of interest to organisations engaged in community resilience building activities.

International Policy Framework for Building Disaster Resilient Community: The Case of Sleman

World has experienced the great losses during various disasters in this decade. Therefore, building disaster resilient community has become a main agenda nowdays. Following the Indian Ocean Tsunami on late 2004, the stakeholders raise their commitments to hold up the progress of disaster risk reduction by optimizing various parties’ role in all levels on reducing the disaster risk. Furthermore, development is necessary to be mainstreamed in order to achieve disaster resilience effectively. In the case of Indonesia, the disaster management has been transformed into higher stage – not only by providing the programs in all stages of disaster managementi (pra-disaster, emergency situation, and post-disaster), but also by linking the disaster managemnet program with development program, aftermath of the adaption and adoption process of international framework on disaster risk reduction. Furthermore, the author will analyze the program which has attached both development and disaster management through the pilot program, called Destana (Disaster Resilient Village), and has initiated on 2012. Therefore, in order to evaluate the program conducted by Indonesia government, the author will identify the implementation in the local level.

Women's Empowerment in Building Disaster Resilient Communities

Nepal is one of the 20 most disaster-prone countries in the world. Unequal access to and control over resources by women also add to Nepal's vulnerability. Rautahat district faces many hazards every year, such as floods, fire, epidemics, and cold waves. Floods displace more than 756 families temporarily each year. Women are considered the most vulnerable group in disaster situations due to several factors, such as illiteracy, poverty, lack of awareness, social taboos, domestic and other violence, lack of access to and control over resources, low influence and decision-making capacity and so on. Disaster risk reduction, as a multi-hazard approach, is directly linked to community resiliency. It covers all aspects of development identified by local communities. With the objective of empowering women for leadership skills in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), via the Nepal Red Cross Society, we established six Women Empowerment Centers (WEC) in the Village Development Committees (VDCs). The project has equipped them with several training inputs. WEC members have had several tangible achievements by mobilizing community people in the sector of disaster management and by coordinating with other agencies for the technical expertise they need.

Commentary on Building Disaster Resilient Communities

Commentary on Building Disaster Resilient Communities