Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme Research Articles

Disaster risk reduction for whom? The gap between centrally planned Disaster Management Program and people's risk perception and adaptation

Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is gaining popularity to address the increasing threat of climate change. People living in high disaster-prone impoverished areas can benefit from risk reduction interventions and subsequent adaptation of new technologies and behavior if those interventions diminish the perceived risk of disaster. Perceived risk of disaster plays an important role in influencing adaptive behavior. Disaster risk reduction interventions therefore can be benefitted from inclusive local consultation during the planning and implementation of the risk reduction interventions by taking local people's perceived risk of disaster into account. We studied a national-level disaster risk reduction program called ‘The comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP)’ in Bangladesh to understand the linkage between risk reduction interventions, perceived risk of disaster, and adaptation. Following a mixed-method approach, we collected quantitative administrative data, interviewed local people, and conducted Focus Group Discussions in two disaster-prone neighboring coastal unions of Bangladesh. We have found that if risk reduction interventions designed by the central government are not aligned with the perceived risk of the local people, the implementation of these interventions does not reduce perceived risk significantly, and consequently, people do not adopt new technologies and behavior to increase their resilience to climate change shocks. Furthermore, people's valuation of a risk reduction intervention in reducing the perceived risk of disasters does not change after an actual disaster takes place insinuating the relative accuracy and robustness of local people's assessment of such interventions. We also found that risk reduction interventions implemented in a holistic way addressing multiple sources of risks can reduce perceived risk significantly. Lastly, we demonstrated that reducing perceived risk is a necessary condition but is not sufficient to encourage adaptation. Our study can contribute to improving the design and implementation of large-scale risk-reduction interventions implemented at the community level.

How Far Disaster Management Implemented Toward Flood Preparedness: A Lesson Learn from Youth Participation Assessment in Indonesia

Flood is a common and frequent natural disaster in many countries that causes huge economic losses and casualties every year. Youth participation in flood disaster management (FDM) has not been much explored, especially in the non-prone area but contributing to flooding resilience. Therefore, this study aims to identify youth participation in disaster management to help an improvement in preparedness action. The research was conducted using a qualitative model: case study research, involving 191 young people aged 14-35-years in 16 sub-districts in Semarang City. The data, including youth’s action, knowledge, and participation in FDM, was collected using Google Form, observation, and interview, then statistically analyzed using Mann-Whitney’s test and path analysis. The results show the respondents in flood-affected areas are more actively participating in flood disaster management action because of their experience in facing flooding. Also, the planning step is significantly influenced by the FDM implementation. The planning process is the main defining factor in disaster management successfulness and essentially affecting mitigation, rehabilitation, and evaluation steps. The level of youth participation is deemed necessary to be increased to develop a more comprehensive disaster management program according to regional needs. We suggest that FDM should be transformed into disaster awareness which is delivered through education, socialization, training, and/or flood disaster response simulations.

Seismic damage assessment using RADIUS and GIS: A case study of Sylhet City, Bangladesh

Seismic risk of urban areas around the world is a major concern to stakeholders due to the potential losses of lives and extensive damage to infrastructure that can occur following an earthquake. As risk mitigation resources are limited, a method for assessing risk and prioritizing structures for seismic retrofit at a city or regional scale is required. Scenario-based seismic damage prediction can be used by decision-makers for identifying the riskiest structures that can be prioritized for risk mitigation to optimize the use of available resources. In this case study, for the first time, seismic damage estimation is performed for Sylhet City Corporation (SCC), Bangladesh by integrating Risk Assessment tools for Diagnosis of Urban areas against Seismic disasters (RADIUS) and Geophysical Information System (GIS). Building structures, infrastructure, and soil type information for SCC from a recent study performed by the local government under the framework of the Comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP) are used. The building inventory and other information in the study area are divided into 1.0 × 1.0 square km grids and the information is mapped into RADIUS. Two scenario earthquakes are chosen to perform damage estimation of existing buildings and infrastructures. The study reveals that the two scenario earthquakes (Mw 8.0 from Dauki Fault and Mw 7.6 from Plate Boundary Fault 2) can result in extensive damage and a high number of casualties in the SCC area. The integrated GIS and RADIUS approach provides useful information for decision making in the seismic risk mitigation plan of the city.

ANALYTICAL FRAGILITY CURVES FOR REINFORCED CONCRETE BUILDING USING SINGLE POINT SCALED SPECTRUM MATCHED GROUND MOTION ANALYSES

Seismic performance is obtained for a five-storied reinforced concrete frame building performing non-linear dynamic time history analyses. Performance of the building was obtained as a mean of fragility function of spectral acceleration. Earthquake ground motion records are selected from online source considering local earthquake faults scenario proposed in Comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP) and then scaled to fit with Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) 1993 design response spectra. Since the structure is considered as typical reinforced concrete ordinary moment resisting frame located in Bangladesh, mechanical properties and other associated parameters are chosen according to Bangladeshi perspective. Each ground motion spectrum is matched with design code spectrum at fundamental time period of the building. Non-linear static pushover analysis is performed to determine damage states from pushover curve. Four damage states (from slight to collapse) are defined based on simplified assumptions. A set of dynamic time history analyses are carried out in order to obtain probability density function of the displacement demand correspond to different level of ground motions. Cumulative distribution of each associated damage states allows deriving fragility curves. Finally four fragility curves are obtained for four damge grades (slight, moderate, severe and collapse).

Participatory Vulnerability Reduction (PVR): an urban community-based approach for earthquake management

Participation of local people during any disaster is enormous. They possess better knowledge and information about their own community than anyone else from the outside. This study proposes Participatory Vulnerability Reduction (PVR), a community-based approach for disaster management. The concept of PVR was applied to an urban community of Dhaka city (Ward no. 06 of Dhaka North City Corporation) which has been identified by the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme as one of the most vulnerable areas of the city for earthquake. PVR consists three steps, and in each step, different participatory urban appraisal tools were used. In the first step, the community people assessed the earthquake vulnerability. It was found that some certain parts of the study area are highly vulnerable due to lack of accessibility to the critical facilities, inadequacy of open space, poor construction practice and unsuitable soil condition for building construction. This was followed by analyzing the root causes and effects of these problems. Structural fragility of the buildings, construction of settlements by filling the low-lying areas and development of slums beside taller buildings are the three major causes behind the above vulnerable issues. In the second step, capacity of the community was assessed in terms of resources and their organizational structure. In the final step, local people developed the strategies to overcome the vulnerability and a community-based organizational set up was proposed to coordinate the collective actions. Although developed in local context, application of PVR is not limited for earthquake and it can be replicated for other communities as well.

Assessment of Urban Physical Seismic Vulnerability Using the Combination of AHP and TOPSIS Models: A Case Study of Residential Neighborhoods of Mymensingh City, Bangladesh

Mymensingh, one of the oldest municipalities of Bangladesh, is at great risk against earthquakes because three major faults viz. Dauki fault, Madhupur fault, and Sylhet-Assam fault are located around it, and possesses liquefaction susceptible soil type. The city has great significance from the economic and administrative point of view and recently declared as the 8th administrative division of Bangladesh which directly stimulates the unplanned future expansion. Considering the potentiality of haphazard development and high seismic risk, it is crucial to assess the seismic vulnerability for taking the judicious decision regarding risk reduction measures for the city. The study combines Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method (TOPSIS) and Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) models to assess the seismic vulnerability of residential neighborhoods of Mymensingh city as the probability of death and damage is remarkable in residential neighborhoods than other land use types. A combined quantitative methodology of AHP-TOPSIS is used in this study to quantify 13 important qualitative and quantitative factors of earthquake vulnerability, decided on expert opinions. The data of 13 vulnerability factors are collected from the Mymensingh Strategic Development Plan (MSDP, 2011-2031) database, done under Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP)-II during 2012-2014. Geographic Information System is used in this study to analyze and mapping of seismic vulnerability. Results indicated that 37 residential neighborhoods are very highly vulnerable, 55 neighborhoods are highly vulnerable, 75 neighborhoods are moderately vulnerable and 74 neighborhoods are in the low vulnerable category.

Investigation of efficiency and effectiveness of the existing disaster management frameworks in Sri Lanka

In the recent past Sri Lanka has experienced several significant natural disasters. Above all others, the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 had a devastating effect on more than one million people. With the aim of effectively managing all phases of a disaster and to enhance the resilience of the community, the Disaster Management Act was passed in 2005 to provide necessary immediate legal provisions, and was later revised into a national policy. Furthermore, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) was also established. At present, the DMC and all the line agencies focus on disaster management functions under the ministry of disaster management. The comprehensive disaster management program was prepared in 2014 and it is to be used up until 2018. Furthermore, it was proposed to identify mechanisms to integrate the Sendai Framework into the Sri Lankan national disaster management framework. However, during recent disasters, the DMC and the disaster management framework was under severe criticism from the public as well as the technical community. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing disaster management framework in Sri Lanka in managing all phases of a disaster. Since the main governing policy for the DM and Disaster Risk Reduction in Sri Lanka is the Sri Lanka National Disaster Management Policy (SLNDMP), it was investigated whether the policy is applied effectively and efficiently. In addition, alignment with comprehensive global frameworks like the Sendai Principles was checked in parallel to identify its alignment with global standards. SLNDMP was evaluated against seven criteria, which were identified after carefully analyzing the requirements of the Sendai Framework. Applications of the SLNDMP was evaluated with respect to three disaster incidents which occurred recently; the collapse of the garbage dump in Meethotamulla on April 2017, the Colombo floods and the Aranayake landslide during May 2016. In addition, some of the 37 points indicated in the SLNDMP were also considered in this study. Finally, recommendations were provided for improvements to the policy.

Integration of Value Management (VM) Process in Bangladesh: Disaster Management (DM) projects

Over the past decades global leaders and communities’ attention have increased to the management of natural and human induce disasters because of significant intensity and frequency of disasters all over the world. Now a day’s disaster and its management have intersected and transcend country’s local boundaries and geographical area. From the time immemorial Bangladesh is one of the worst and wide varieties of disaster victim countries in this world which are tropical cyclones, floods, tornadoes, storm surges, river and coastal erosion, torrential rains, earthquake, droughts, epidemics and arsenic contamination. The main reasons behind this are – geographical location, multiplicity of rivers, land characteristics, coastal morphology and the monsoon climate. For that reason so many projects and programs are running in this country to face the problem and manage hazards. Critical learning from over decades with many programs and projects a mentionable initiatives “Comprehensive Disaster Management Program” (CDMP) in Bangladesh is a holistic collaborative effort of GoB, UNDP, DFID and a host of stakeholders. But overall result is still unsatisfactory. To overcome (DM) problems and establish an effective DM system in Bangladesh, it is important to evaluate current systems and projects structures. In contemporary world (VM) as a tool is now widely accepted for offering more values of the projects by engaging stakeholders at all stages of a project. VM always gives more emphasis on people’s participation from policy making to implementation. One of the most important matters in VM is quality assurance of project. Before initiating DM project, it also set plan or actions, workshops for feedback from all level stakeholders, assess needs, follow up meeting, training etc. to improve merit and adequate confidence about optimally fulfilling the customer’s expectation which carry out the spirit of VM. VM tools and techniques are generally used by practitioners to instigate projects providing support and adding value. So, for establishing an effective DM system in Bangladesh integration VM techniques in different stages of DM projects is very much essential.

Comprehensive planning and the role of SDSS in flood disaster management in Malaysia

PurposeTo present a comprehensive flood management plan for Malaysia, the various planning stages and the proponents of the plan. It is also to expound and highlight the importance of spatial information technology in the strategy and to outline the critical decision‐making at various levels of the plan.Design/methodology/approachA review of flood disaster management aimed at providing an insight into the strategies for a comprehensive flood disaster management for Malaysia. Discussion of the framework of a spatial decision support system (SDSS) and its role in decision‐making in a comprehensive disaster management plan.FindingsProvides information about a proposed comprehensive disaster management program for Malaysia and highlight the role of SDSS in improving decision‐making. It recognizes the strength of SDSS in the collection and processing of information to speed up communication between the proponents of the disaster management program. A well‐design SDSS for flood disaster management should present a balance among capabilities of dialog, data and modeling.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has outlined the links and components of SDSS and not its development processes; this may limit the used of this paper in in‐depth study of the development if SDSS. Some source for detail study of the development of SDSS have, however, been cited.Practical implicationsThis paper is a very useful source of information about the preparation of a comprehensive disaster management program. It also sheds light on the role of SDSS in improving and speeding up communication between the various proponents of the program. Researcher and students will fine, it provides general guidelines and framework for disaster planning and management.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills flood disaster study need for developing a comprehensive disaster management program. It presents the framework of SDSS, the interrelationship between their various components and how they play a role in decision‐making.