Civil Emergency Research Articles

Planning transport functions following a major Wellington, New Zealand, earthquake

Wellington’s (New Zealand) current road network has some clear vulnerabilities in the event of a major earthquake. Following such an event, the metropolitan area would be cut off by way of existing land routes for around 4 months (until the completion of construction of a key road into the region). Planning has been led by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) and the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (WREMO) on initiatives to recover transport functions and avoid a potential humanitarian crisis. This has required close engagement with various utility providers, including road network providers and port and airport authorities, along with ferry operators and logistics organisations. While the recovery of the airport will provide quick access for passengers and light cargo, the recovery of the roll-on–roll-off (Roro) ferries, with their innate flexibility of use, will enable larger-scale freight to be brought into the region. The uncertainties around the availability of resilient infrastructure for the Roros to moor up to has led to assessments of the potential use of barges and pontoons which would allow unloading of the Roros. This paper describes the process by which MCDEM and WREMO have worked with the respective stakeholders to develop emergency plans.

History Matters

This essay surveys the degree to which racism has been a dominant theme – indeed, often the single most important theme – of all American history. It shaped the Constitution, dominated Congressional and judicial controversies during the first six decades of the 19th century, and then continued to shape the country’s politics, economy, and social structure all the way through the present. This essay also emphasizes the degree to which black resistance of racism was a constant, taking on different forms depending on the politics and culture of the times, but always present. It discusses the emergence of the modern civil rights movement in the years after World War II, but argues that, notwithstanding the legislative and judicial gains made as a result of that movement, racism remains a central and structural reality in America to this day, most notably visible in the mass incarceration of blacks, and the economic and social inequalities that continue to be pervasive in contemporary America.

Multi-stage volcanic island flank collapses with coeval explosive caldera-forming eruptions

Volcanic flank collapses and explosive eruptions are among the largest and most destructive processes on Earth. Events at Mount St. Helens in May 1980 demonstrated how a relatively small (<5 km3) flank collapse on a terrestrial volcano could immediately precede a devastating eruption. The lateral collapse of volcanic island flanks, such as in the Canary Islands, can be far larger (>300 km3), but can also occur in complex multiple stages. Here, we show that multistage retrogressive landslides on Tenerife triggered explosive caldera-forming eruptions, including the Diego Hernandez, Guajara and Ucanca caldera eruptions. Geochemical analyses were performed on volcanic glasses recovered from marine sedimentary deposits, called turbidites, associated with each individual stage of each multistage landslide. These analyses indicate only the lattermost stages of subaerial flank failure contain materials originating from respective coeval explosive eruption, suggesting that initial more voluminous submarine stages of multi-stage flank collapse induce these aforementioned explosive eruption. Furthermore, there are extended time lags identified between the individual stages of multi-stage collapse, and thus an extended time lag between the initial submarine stages of failure and the onset of subsequent explosive eruption. This time lag succeeding landslide-generated static decompression has implications for the response of magmatic systems to un-roofing and poses a significant implication for ocean island volcanism and civil emergency planning.

From protection to coordinated preparedness: A genealogy of critical infrastructure in Canada

This article provides a genealogy of the governance of critical infrastructure in Canada. We focus in particular on a largely unknown and unexamined civil defense initiative introduced during World War II that sought to count, categorize and, under declaration of a national emergency, directly protect what were then known as ‘vital points’ from sabotage. Our analysis recounts major episodes and turning points in the deployment of this organizational apparatus by the various institutions responsible for civil defence and emergency management in which it was embedded. In the latter sections of this article we show how the problem of critical infrastructure was decoupled from the exercise of exceptional emergency power and reconstituted in the form of what we refer to as ‘coordinated preparedness’, through which the governance of critical infrastructure is accomplished in ways that are compatible with the constitutionalization of Canada’s emergency power. We conclude by considering what the governance of critical infrastructure in Canada reveals for critical understandings of emergencies and emergency power.

Chinese youth and alternative narratives of volunteering

Over the past 20 years, volunteering has developed as a new field for governmental control and regulation of an emergent civil society. This article draws on interviews with 60 young volunteers in southern China, mostly university students and recent graduates. I contrast their experiences in off-campus, youth-led voluntary associations with the officially approved student organizations of normal university life. I argue that the instrumental organization of volunteers characterizes the party-state’s efforts to funnel youthful enthusiasm and compassion into particular political projects and officially prescribed goals. Unhappy with the ‘formalistic’ nature of these activities, youth engaging in bottom–up volunteer initiatives articulate other priorities, including a strong desire for meaningful, personal engagement that state-led programmes and university student organizations are typically unable to provide.

Postanak države i prvi oblici policijske organizacije u starom veku

State formation involves a long historical period. At the beginning of this period, the first forms of military-political institutions of power were formed. The first forms of police function and organization should also be sought within these institutions. The first forms of police authority and organization had the function of protecting the political order of the government. By the time it would also get its contemporary dimension and segment - combating against various forms of deviant behaviour of individuals and protecting the legal order. Fully functional and organizational separation of the police came in a modern epoch, with the emergence of modern state administration, but the first forms of police function can be identified at the very beginning of the emergence and development of the state. Of course, this conclusion implies that the police function is viewed as the function that serves to preserve the legal order through law enforcement. Only in this way it is possible to recognize it in all the authorities that performed such a function, regardless of whether it is a specialized body or the first, rudimentary forms of power within primitive societies. However, only by the emergence of civilization and the first cities-states, and then the empire, there is a clear indication of the differentiated structure of state power, and within it the structure of state administration. In this segment, the first specialized organs of executive power appear, who get the role that can still be recognized as a police function in modern society.

Evaluating the feasibility of maintaining Web 2.0 communications during civil emergencies

Evaluating the feasibility of maintaining Web 2.0 communications during civil emergencies

Evaluating the feasibility of maintaining Web 2.0 communications during civil emergencies

Maintaining communications across disconnected networks can be a troubling issue, particularly since existing solutions are highly theoretical or have unrealistic hardware requirements. As a result, CANDICE was designed with the aim of allowing extensible accessible facilitation of internet connections in environments not suited to reliable communications – particularly hostile zones. Unfortunately, current web development trends (including a heavier emphasis on user interaction and asynchronous data transfer) ensure that less useful content is accessible without an uninterrupted internet connection. By evaluating the operation of CANDICE in retrieving popular websites, types of content that are well-suited to transmission over disrupted networks can be determined.

ZHANG ZHONGPEI 張忠培 (1934–2017)

AbstractProfessor Zhang Zhongpei was a field archeologist, a Professor of archaeology at Jilin University, and a highly valued Ph.D. director of scores of students. He served in many influential capacities including as the Director of the Palace Museum in Beijing. Among archaeologists he is known through his many publications on regional cultures and through his twenty-year membership on the State Bureau of Cultural Relics which granted permits for archaeological projects that reshaped our understanding of the emergence of Chinese civilization. Zhang Zhongpei passed away at the age of eighty-three on July 3, 2017 in Beijing.

Работа в структурах медицинских служб гражданской обороны и чрезвычайных ситуаций как составная часть квалификационной категории врача-психиатра

Introduction : the predicted increase in anthropogenic, technogenic, social, military, possible space disasters and emergencies attracts the attention of health organizers, doctors of specialists and especially psychologists and psychiatrists in connection with the need to provide assistance to the victims, as well as to develop principles, strategies and tactics, methods and means of providing timely psycho-psychiatric care. The aim of the work: was to justify the need for the psychiatrist to prepare for work in emergency situations of catastrophes, natural disasters and terrorist acts. Materials and methods : five qualifying works of a psychiatrist of the highest category are analyzed: 1997 (analysis of work for 1994–1996); 2002 (1999–2001); 2008 (2005–2007); 2013 (2010–2012) and 2018 (2015–2017) for the work of the Medical Service of Civil Defense (MSCD) and emergency situations as an integral part of the mandatory requirements for the execution of documents when they are submitted to the Attestation Commission for the assignment of qualification medical category in psychiatry. The depth of the study was 24 years. Methodical approaches were used: system, complex, dynamic, normative, quantitative and situational. Methods of analysis included: historical, analytical and comparison. Methods were used: groupings, continuous and selective observations. Results : the work of a psychiatrist in the structure of MSCD and ES is analyzed from the standpoint of: 1. Personal participation in the development of educational and methodological and lecture materials for the preparation of the population for action in the context of civil defense and emergencies; 2. The actions of the doctor in the workplace in a medical institution with possible «everyday» emergencies; 3. Work in the medical-nursing brigade of the civil defense system; 4. Participation in the structure of psycho-psychiatric care for the population in emergencies. Conclusions 1. In accordance with normative legal documents and official duties, a psychiatrist must provide psychiatric assistance to the population in emergency situations and know the organization and activities of the medical service of civil defense. 2. A psychiatrist for successful work should undergo special training in the basic modules of the Psychological and Psychiatric Service of the Emergency Situations: 1) The Department of Anonymous Psychological and Psychiatric Assistance by telephone; 2) an advisory visiting team of psycho-psychiatric care; 3) Department of psychological and psychiatric care; 4) Cabinet of psychological and psychiatric care. 3. Medical workers who survived emergencies should be treated as victims, who need comprehensive psycho-psychiatric care and careful corporate support, with a gradual return to normal occupational loads. 4. The contingent of professional rescuers under conditions of emergencies is exposed to the extreme factors of the current situation and is a risk group for the development of affective spectrum disorders. They may experience psycho-pathological disorders of exogenous organic origin with a tendency to gradually formulate variants of psycho-organic syndrome and polysystemic psychosomatic disorders. 5. The multifaceted work of a psychiatrist in the MSCD system and the emergency situation should be a weighty additional argument in favor of a positive decision on awarding the qualification category declared by him.

Семантичний зсув службової архітектури

The article is devoted to the analysis of the functional architecture signification mode. The distinction between functional architecture and symbolic one is determined on the basis of Hegelian approach. This shift generates not only another way of organizing signifiers, but the emergence of a fundamentally different way of relations with the signified, which actually forms a marked semantic shift. Using strategies of semantic analysis to the material of G. Hegel’s aesthetics allows not only expand the horizons of applied semantics, but also understand the patterns of formation of art and aesthetic process in general. In our opinion, G. Child’s definition of monumental architecture as a criterion for the emergence of civilization (in the evolutionary sense of the term), requires Hegelian refinement concerning classic architecture. In the latter one, in comparison with the symbolic one, the following semantic shift is carried out: organization of syndicators already has a greater degree of freedom in it (even before the cultivation of the forms construction), and therefore their artistic transformation becomes possible. Also, the classic culture has a referent, and therefore it has a significant implementation structure. The measure of differentiation of the symbolic value and utilitarian one shows the possibility of its seniority in the logic of cultural development. Exchange measurements of buildings become possible only in the era of a high degree of cultural differentiation in general (and therefore the architecture remains in the conditions of redistribution, and not just as an exchange of goods). Also, for a long time it remained the subject of "demonstrative consumption". Consequently, functional architecture is the result of complex cultural synthesis, in contrast to the syncretism of the symbolic architecture cultural practice. Their organizational separation marks an important semantic shift that we have been trying to describe. In particular, the construction of the Egyptian pyramids of the Ancient kingdom as burial chambers testifies to the cessation of the existence of its own symbolic architecture, according to G. Hegel. It is in the aesthetic analysis of the differences in symbolic architecture that this classic of philosophical thought departs from the speculative nature of its absolute idealism and understanding of art as the first stage of an absolute spirit, as well as it opens the methodological perspectives of semantic analysis.

TOWARDS A FAST, LOW-COST INDOOR MAPPING AND POSITIONING SYSTEM FOR CIVIL PROTECTION AND EMERGENCY TEAMS

Abstract. Civil protection and emergency teams work usually under very risky conditions that endanger their lives. One of the factors contributing to such risks is the lack of knowledge about their physical environment, especially when working indoors. Mapping and location indoor and outdoor technologies exist; for outdoors, very good levels of precision and accuracy may be obtained using offthe- shelf equipment; on the other side, and although good solutions for indoor environments are available, these require some extra pre-deployed infrastructure in the area to navigate, which is unacceptable in the case of emergency teams. It may be said, then, that no mature indoor + outdoor integrated solution providing the appropriate precision and accuracy for the purposes of emergency teams exist. In this paper, the assessment of a set of currently available sensors (IMUs, RGB-D cameras, GNSS receivers) and algorithms is presented to show that it is already possible to build such a solution relying on them – providing that appropriate (indoor) lightning and texture conditions exist.

Assessing the Extent to Which the UK’s National Risk Register Supports Local Risk Management

This paper examines how a national risk register supports the implementation of disaster risk management practices at a local level. We present a case study of the UK’s National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies and explore stakeholder understanding, views, perceptions, opinions, and application within the East of England. A semi-structured interview methodology was adopted for this paper with 14 key stakeholders from across the East of England interviewed. Thematic coding analysis was used to structure the results against a set of research questions. Interviewees were found to be largely unaware of the National Risk Register, and as such its usefulness as a risk management tool is limited. In particular, restricted local resources, limited understanding of risk, and a lack of actionable strategies were highlighted as barriers to action. Opportunities for capacity building at the local level, sharing best practice, and improved risk communication were all identified. The National Risk Register could be used to improve risk management at local levels but more engagement with it at a local level is required.

Changes in Norway’s societal safety and security measures following the 2011 Oslo terror attacks

This paper characterizes changes in Norway’s civil protection and emergency preparedness five years after the Oslo and Utøya terror attacks. Data from 48 interviews conducted in the period 2014–2016 with civil servants within different levels of the justice sector were qualitatively analyzed. The inductive analysis shows four main changes made related to Norway’s civil protection and emergency preparedness within the Ministry of Justice and Public Security: (1) a change in risk perception regarding awareness of security-related risks; (2) the generation of several plans and measures; (3) structural changes at various levels within the justice sector; and (4) increased resources allocated to societal safety and security. The changes following the Oslo terror attacks were not solely in response to the terror attacks, but also the result of previous and subsequent events and reports. The current organization of public administration, however, still fosters siloed thinking and turf wars around the principle of responsibility and each sector’s respective area of expertise. Most of the implemented changes can be characterized as structural; diagnoses made after the terror attacks pointed at cultural aspects.

The role played by the armed forces for protection of the civilian population as part of humanitarian crises management. The Romanian approach

&lt;i&gt;Th e actions of the military structures to protect the civilian population have evolved from air defence operations to complex missions of “human security”, based on prevention and intervention in any civil emergency situation facing a community. Our prospective undertakings have highlighted the necessity to integrate traditional civil defence actions with modern actions taken to manage emergencies against all kinds of hazards.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;i&gt;Th e profound transformations of contemporary society and of the military body, in the context of the new risks and threats to the international security environment, required the remodelling of the role of the military instrument.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;i&gt;Th e consequences of the combined military and non-military risks and threats can seriously aff ect the capacity to respond to evolutionary forms of their manifestation by diminishing the human, technical, material and fi nancial resources, the sudden decrease of the standard of living and the citizens’ trust in the state institutions with a decisional role in the fi eld of national security.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;i&gt;Th us, in order to accomplish the specifi c missions of these circumstances, the main question is: under what conditions can the armed forces cooperate with the civil protection structures, as well as with the other elements of national public security and safety system, focused on fi ghting against risk and threats specifi c to emergency situations?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;i&gt;In this respect, this paper intends to present a number of particular aspects regarding the role and relevance of military intervention in humanitarian crisis management for the protection of the civilian population along with other specialist structures.&lt;/i&gt;

Energy and the Anthropocene: security challenges and solutions

This paper explores the role that energy regimes, and the search for energy security, has had in shaping humans and their societies, and the effects thereof. Energy enrolments through the domestication of plants and animals and the extraction and burning of increasingly energy- rich fuels enabled humans to build ever more productive and formidable societies, but also more complex and divided ones. Social stratification, combined with the new risks caused by the more intense interactions and entanglements that emerged between humans and nature, has culminated in the global environmental crises that humans are now facing. We conclude by arguing that an escape route from the destructive consequences that fossil fuel energy regimes have had for humans and their ecological security is provided by the emergence of electrical civilizations and the potential this provides for integrating energy and ecological securities.

Comparative analysis of heart rate variability of cadets of the higher educational institution of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters

Here we report the results of comparative analysis of the heart rate variability of cadets of the educational institution of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters of 1st and 5th courses which entered in 2011 and in 2016. It is established, that all cadets have the prevalence of parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system in modulation of the heart rate. There are no significant differences between main parameters of the heart rate variability in cadets entered in 2011 and in 2016. Thus, the total spectra power of the of heart rate variability was 6854±1708 and 6885±1712 ms2/Hz, the ratios of lowand high-frequency components were 0,6±0,2 and 0,67±0,22 сonventional units, parasympathetic reactivity indexes of the autonomic nervous system (coefficient 30/15) were 1,4±0,07 and 1,5±0,08 сonventional units, respectively. After 5 years of training the graduates of 2016 (entered in 2011) had significantly improved functional state, their functional reserves were increased, and ratios of heart rate variability for professional adaptation had been formed as more effective compared with graduates of 2011 (entered in 2006). The first group has total spectra power as 8115,77±942,44 ms2/Hz, the second group – 3582,37±383,14 ms2/Hz, the ratio of lowand high-frequency components was 0,97±0,14 and 0,80±0,12 сonventional units, respectively. All of this indicates that cadets had a moderate sympathicotonia, which persisted at the level of a stable trend in the performance of the low intensity functional test (active orthostatic test). The ratios of lowand high-frequency components after the active orthostatic test were 5,0±0,75 сonventional units in group of 2016 vs. 3,28±0,59 сonventional units in group of 2011 (р0,01). The centralization index characterizing the involvement of ergotropic mechanisms of central nervous system in maintaining homeostasis for graduates of 2011 was 3,11±0,63, and for graduates of 2016 – 5,04±0,92 (р0,1), which showed the formation of steady processes related to professional and hyperadaptational background. The reactivity index of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system (coefficient 30/15) in graduates of 2011 and 2016 was almost the same and equaled 1,40±0,04 and 1,41±0,05 сonventional units, respectively, and therefore did not significantly affect the heart rate variability.

Regionally Constant but Societally VariedBeyond the Nasca Lines: Ancient Life at La Tiza in the Peruvian Desert. By Christina A. Conlee. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016.

Regionally Constant but Societally VariedBeyond the Nasca Lines: Ancient Life at La Tiza in the Peruvian Desert. By Christina A. Conlee. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016.

The Hongshan Culture, Phenomena and Issues

The Hongshan Culture, Phenomena and Issues

Restraining Forced Marriage

Although long a component of international women’s human rights platforms, forced marriage is only presently gaining attention as a critical problem in the United States. In recent years, a number of states have considered legislation to redress forced and child marriage, most by increasing the minimum age to marry and/or mandating judicial approval of marriages involving minors. Although civil marriage reform is important, it alone is insufficient to combat forced marriage. Even where civil marriage is limited to adults, minors remain vulnerable to forced customary, religious, common law marriages, and marriages consecrated abroad. Further, intended spouses of all ages remain vulnerable to conduct intended to coerce their consent to marry. To prevent and redress forced marriage, potential victims need ready access to emergency civil injunc- tive relief. Civil protection orders are the central civil injunctive remedy relied upon to address intimate partner violence, rape, and stalking in the United States. The expedited and flexible remedies of civil protection orders could also help combat forced marriages; however, common legal standards create barriers to relief for those vulnerable to forced marriage. This Article is the first to undertake a detailed evaluation of the viability of civil protection orders to prevent and redress forced marriage. Although protection orders show promise as a tool to prevent and redress forced marriage in many states, the nuances of the governing legal standards reduce the practical utility of the remedy for those who lack expert guidance. To enhance the accessibility of protection orders in the context of forced marriage, this article proposes that states create a new forced marriage protection order like that established in the United Kingdom to address the specific needs of those facing this problem.