Disaster Experience Research Articles

CEO's Childhood Experience of Natural Disaster and CSR Activities.

Interest in the drivers of firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) is growing. However, little is known about the influence of a CEO's childhood experience of natural disasters on CSR. Using archival data, we explore this relationship by offering three mechanisms that may account for how the CEO's childhood experience of natural disaster is related to their CSR. More specifically, while prior research has established a positive relationship based on the post-traumatic growth theory, we show that the dual mechanisms of prosocial values and a CEO's risk aversion explain the positive relationship. We further find that the positive relationship is stronger (1) when CEOs have longer career horizons and (2) when community social capital is high. This study contributes to both research and managerial implications on the topics of CEO's childhood experience and CSR. In particular, this study advances the upper echelon theory by revealing that a CEO's childhood experience of natural disaster is a useful yet relatively underexplored variable that can help explain the substantial variations in firms' CSR. Moreover, we emphasize that a CEO's career horizons and level of community social capital are important variables that further amplify the effect of a CEO's childhood experience of natural disaster on the firm's CSR commitment.

Examining the Impact of Disaster Experience with Winter Storm Uri and Climate Change Risk Perceptions on Support for Mitigation Policy

In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri swept across the central and eastern United States bringing extreme cold, widespread power outages, and rolling blackouts throughout Texas. This storm prompted climate change to emerge as a major topic of controversy and conversation with scientists and the public alike, and many began to think about the impacts of climate change. Risk communication experts have suggested prior disaster experience is a key mechanism of understanding how risk perceptions are shaped, and ultimately, on how individuals arrive at a judgment, evaluation, or attitude toward information and situations. Drawing from risk communication scholars, we examined the role of prior disaster experience, risk perceptions of climate change, and individual characteristics on its relationship with support for climate change mitigation policy. To do so, we sourced a Qualtrics public opinion panel of residents who lived in Texas during Winter Storm Uri (n = 486) to answer a series of questions related to prior disaster experience, their climate change risk perceptions, and their support of climate change mitigation policy. We conducted two hierarchical regression models to examine how prior disaster experience and climate change risk perceptions predicted support for policy. We found the inclusion of prior disaster experience provided a significant change in the respondents support for climate change mitigation policy. Although academic conversations in agricultural communications have started to explore the varying opinions of climate change, there is much more research needed in this area to fully explore the dynamic and complex phenomena of climate change.

Are Nurses Ready for a Disaster in Turkey? A Hospital Case.

In Turkey, which is a land of disasters, it is vital for nurses to be prepared before a disaster, and to exhibit an effective attitude and behavior during it. Having a large number of casualties during a disaster may cause inadequacies in receiving basic health care in the hospital. This study was conducted in a descriptive and cross-sectional style to determine the disaster preparedness and preparedness perceptions of nurses. Data were collected with the Personal Information Form and Nurses' Perception of Disaster Preparedness Scale (NPDPS). Nurses' disaster experience, drill experience, and perusal of the disaster plan positively affected the perception of disaster. The disaster preparedness of the institution positively affected the perception of disaster preparation. A significant difference was determined between the requests for information regarding disaster education and NPDPS. A statistically significant relationship was found between terrorist attacks, earthquake exposure, and the total scale score of NPDPS. Consequently, nurses and health institutions, whose responsibilities become graver in disasters, have duties such as providing treatment and medical support. Therefore, it was suggested that disaster nursing and disaster management should have been included in the in-service training of nurses.

Current Situation of Disaster Preparedness for Effective Response in Japanese Special Needs Schools.

Schools may serve as shelters in the event of a disaster, but little is known about the requirements of children with disabilities in such situations. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate disaster preparedness in Japanese special needs schools depending on the designation of welfare shelters. A questionnaire was distributed to schools nationwide. The respondents (authorities from 531 schools) answered questions about their jobs, disaster experiences, the school type, its students' disabilities, its designation as a welfare shelter, its evacuation readiness, and the items of a disaster prevention awareness scale. Differences in preparedness among schools and the relationship between preparedness and designation as a welfare shelter were determined. Most respondents had never experienced a natural disaster. Schools had insufficient resources to cope with disasters. While the majority (68.2%) had resources for children to stay overnight, a substantial minority of schools (31.8%) did not. No differences were found in preparedness among schools with different types of children with disabilities. Schools designated as welfare shelters were significantly better prepared than others. Special needs schools in Japan have limited disaster preparedness. The designation of schools as welfare shelters may increase their preparedness for disasters.

Effects of Conformity Bias Caused by Evacuation Order on Risk Evaluation

We have found that various cognitive biases would interfere with evacuation behavior during a disaster, and this have caused many casualties. In this study, we focused on the conformity bias, one of the cognitive biases, which is introduced by evacuation order sentences with information about other residences’ behavior, to facilitate evacuation behavior. In the experiment, we presented the evacuation order sentences, and pictures which depict the scene of disaster, or normal situation. Participants evaluated the degree of risk for the picture, and degree of necessity of evacuation from the scene. Our results demonstrated that the conformity bias would facilitate evacuation especially for the low-risk situation. In addition, we found that judgments of the need for evacuation can be predicted by the rating of the degree of danger, disaster experience, sense of crisis about disasters, and the other-personality-orientations of the participants.

Thinking on Effective Methods of Successful Prediction of Geological Hazards in Shaanxi, China

In the process of human survival and development, it is inevitable to transform the original state of the world, thus forming a contradiction between the earth and the earth. The violent form of this contradiction is geological disasters. Geological disasters pose a threat to human life and property, and cause damage caused by natural or human factors, often causing casualties. The destruction process of geological disasters is usually a gradual process, showing many pre-disaster symptoms, such as local landslides, surface cracks, building deformation, tree skew, and ground sound. Evacuation can be avoided in advance according to the disaster precursors, so as to avoid casualties and achieve successful prediction. By reviewing the general situation of geological disasters in Shaanxi Province and the casualties in 2020, the difficulties in the prevention and control of geological disasters are summarized. In view of these difficulties, an on-site investigation, visit and analysis of geological disaster points and successful forecast points in Shaanxi Province in 2020 were conducted. In addition, combined with actual cases and years of work experience, the successful prediction experience of geological disasters was discussed from 8 aspects. Finally, the “Regulations on the Reward for Successful Geological Disaster Forecasting in Shaanxi Province” was revised in order to improve the successful prediction ability of geological disasters in Shaanxi Province and even the whole country, provide reference for future prevention and control of geological disasters, and effectively protect the safety of people’s lives and property.

Analyzing resilience in a sample population as a novel qualifier for triage in psychological first aid

The human capability to adapt in response to disaster is remarkable. Psychological first aid (PFA) is a method to preserve and nurture resilience after a disaster or traumatic experience and is a comparable first response strategy to medical first aid. Contrary to medical first aid, however, studies suggest that Rapport/Reflective listening, Assessment, Prioritization, Intervention, and Disposition-based PFA, or RAPID-PFA, the most prominent method of PFA today, does not utilize a system of triage, where degrees of urgency are assigned to victims during care. Understanding whether different people experience resilience differently is necessary in understanding whether triage could benefit PFA’s application in the field. Using data from 281 participants, we calculated resilience using a novel quantitative method of resilience analysis: a formula-based resilience index. We hypothesized that 1) younger individuals would be less resilient than older ones, 2) women would be more resilient than men, and 3) individuals of different races would be equally resilient. Our results showed that, while race did not affect resilience, people of different ages and different legal sexes do exhibit different levels of resilience. Children and adolescents scored lowest of all age subcategories and – contrary to our hypothesis - women scored lower on the resilience index than men. These findings suggest that age and sex may act as predictors of vulnerability for use in PFA triage. To supplement these findings before applications in the field, we should conduct further longitudinal studies with larger sample populations using the same methodology.

Reflections on measuring the soundness of the digital storytelling method applied to three Cape Flats vulnerable communities affected by drought, fire and flooding in Cape Town

Aligned to the Sendai framework, the UKRI GCRF Water and Fire research project aims to co-produce knowledge with residents of three vulnerable communities in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town to generate adaptive solutions that strengthen resilience against the environmental disasters of drought, flooding and fire outbreaks. To achieve this aim, the research team employed household surveys and participatory visual methods including digital storytelling (DST), community mapping and photovoice with residents of three affected communities. This paper focuses on validating the DST method used in the ‘Water and Fire’ project and interrogates how well the DST process conforms to six types of validity, namely, participatory, intersubjectivity, catalytic, contextual, ethical and empathic validity as guided by the International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research (ICPHR). Twenty-five digital stories on the overarching theme of resilience were produced by 25 Cape Flats residents.We suggest that participatory validity was achieved through participants making decisions about the stories and details they wanted to share. Intersubjective validity was fostered by involving community advisory members in DST process design, through co-conceptualizing resilience with participants and by evaluating the DST experience. Catalytic validity was achieved when participants screened their digital stories in shared learning spaces to convey how they respond to and live with disasters at numerous community and policy engagement events. Contextual validity was met by exploring relevant environmental disasters affecting the Cape Flats communities. Ethical validity was attained by creating safe and supportive spaces, enabling dynamic informed consent and transferring ownership of the digital stories to the story tellers. Connecting participants through collective sharing of individual disaster experiences, lessons-learned and adaptive strategies fostered empathy.We recommend complementing DST methods with other research methods like surveys, and focus group discussions, while evaluating the transformative potential of the DST process and stakeholder engagement events, to enable better catalytic validity. We advocate for collaborative and inclusive approaches with vulnerable communities alongside stakeholders and statutory bodies in multi-stakeholder engagement events. We conclude that digital stories are an effective and valid conduit for knowledge co-production with vulnerable communities in the context of climate change resilience as these methods create opportunities for affected communities to raise their concerns and share their experiences.

Long-term Health Risks of Cancer in Ukraine: Insights from the 2011 Fukushima Triple Disaster Experience.

The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War and the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan have many similarities, such as mass evacuation, family separation, difficulty in accessing necessary medical care, and reduced health priorities. Although several studies have reported concerns about the short-term health impacts of the war on patients with cancer, little has been noted about the long-term effects it may cause. Given the experience of the Fukushima accident, it is important to establish a long-term support system for patients with cancer in Ukraine.

Salience and Persistent Reference Dependence: The Lasting Effect of Disaster Experience on the Mental Account of Risk

Salience and Persistent Reference Dependence: The Lasting Effect of Disaster Experience on the Mental Account of Risk

재난피해자의 회복수준에 대한 지역공동체 회복탄력성의 조절효과

This study examines the moderating effect of community resilience on the relationship between disaster damage types and recovery level of disaster victims. It was conducted with the aim of seeking ways to enhance community resilience from the perspective of community welfare. It means, intended to examine the mitigation effect of community resilience on the negative relationship between disaster damage experience and recovery level. Community resilience is one of the important concepts in disaster management. It is one of the social resources needed when community experiences a crisis such as a disaster. This study was using the data from ‘2021 Disaster Victims Damage and Recovery research on the actual condition' of National Disaster Management Institute(NDMI). The data came from a sample 1,807 respondents(household) who experienced disasters in south korea, from 2018 to 2020. The program ’SPSS WIN 25.0’ was used for descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation and regression analysis. The research results are as follows. First, it was found that economic, psychological, physical, and daily difficulties from the disaster experiences had a negative (-) significant effect on the level of recovery. Second, it was found that community resilience had a significant moderating effect on the negative relationship between economic and psychological damage and the level of recovery among disaster damage experiences. This study is meaningful in that it empirically confirmed that it is necessary to enhance the resilience of the local community in order to increase the level of recovery of disaster victims. In order to enhance the resilience of the community, social welfare practices of the local community were proposed.

재난관리 성과로서 주민참여 의의와 정책적 대안모색의 탐색적 연구

This study aims to explore policy alternatives that consider various stakeholders and participants for disaster management from the perspective that disasters are socially embedded. In other words, the performance of disaster management can be defined by the voluntary participation of local residents, which is the process and result of disaster management, along with the existing discussions that have been understood as administrative management capabilities and output indicators. This is because voluntary and active participation of residents in disasters lead to the recovery and growth of the community. In this research, the influencing factors that make residents participate in disaster management were examined and different results from the existing administrative capabilities were derived. It was found that the direct damage experience of disasters, the perception of personal or regional risks to disasters, regional conflicts due to disasters, the rapidity of disaster information, and the political independence of disaster organizations were important to promote the voluntary and active participation in disaster management.

Saving for Natural Disasters: Evidence From Pennsylvania Local Governments

For all governments—federal, state, or local—natural disasters impose significant costs. Among the three, local governments typically respond first using their own resources. Thus, a proactive fiscal mechanism providing resources for initiating disaster response (e.g., emergency debris removal, medical services, rescue) appears necessary, especially for governments vulnerable to disasters. This study explores the role of natural disasters on fiscal savings strategy using data collected by Pennsylvania municipal executives via our Pandemic Management Survey. Following our findings, Pennsylvania local governments appear to weigh both their experiences and preparedness level to face a disaster. While more disaster experiences motivated fiscal savings accumulation, lower savings were retained among prepared governments. As such, disaster learning and adaptation not only could limit loss of life and property, but also lead to an efficient fiscal savings strategy.

BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS OF DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FOR CAREGIVERS OF PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA

Abstract Emergency preparedness for disasters such as hurricanes is critical. A common feature of disasters is their disruption of daily life, which is magnified for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). It is critically important to understand more about disaster preparedness for those with ADRD and the informal caregivers responsible for their safety. We conducted individual interviews between April and September, 2021. The sample included 50 family caregivers of persons with dementia (11 Hispanic, 12 Black, 27 White), who were asked about their disaster experiences, concerns about future disasters and level of preparedness. Interviews were transcribed and coded using a team coding approach. Initial analysis identified three main themes, 1) caregivers attitudes about the importance of disaster preparedness, 2) what makes it difficult to prepare, and 3) facilitators of preparedness. Results have the potential to guide program development to improve preparedness among diverse caregivers of persons with ADRD.

The Proximity of Disaster Experiences and Financial Preparedness for Emergencies in the US.

This study investigated how the proximity of disaster experience was associated with financial preparedness for emergencies. The data used were from the 2018 National Household Survey, which was administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The working sample included 4779 respondents. Logistic Regression showed that the likelihood of setting aside emergency funds tended to be the highest between 2-5 years after experiencing a disaster, which declined slightly but persisted even after 16 years. Recent disaster experience within 1 year did not show a significant impact, indicating a period of substantial needs. However, the proximity of disaster experience did not significantly affect the amount of money set aside. It is suspected that increased risk perception related to previous experiences of disasters is more relevant to the likelihood of preparing financially; whereas other capacity-related factors such as income and having a disability have more effect on the amount of money set aside.

Economic recovery through multisector management resources in small and medium businesses in China

In China, the idea of business continuity management (BCM) resources rapidly growing however few studies arranged on the subject and found insufficiently addressing the issue related to the natural resources. As a result, the current study attempts to seek to provide a deeper knowledge of existing Small and medium-sized Enterprises' BCM practices and provide focus on the need to help these businesses for economic recovery. Top executives from 150 Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises filled in an online survey over the period of 2015–2020. After it the findings have been formulated. Chinese SME disaster (particularly COVID-19) experiences have been revealed in the report, but a lack of business continuity planning is also evident along with an inability to construct a documented plan. Despite the fact that SMEs resources have varying BCM information and training requirements, the findings show that a company's assessed disaster management, BCM expertise and training requirements are linked to its size, operational duration disaster experiences and economic recovery. According to the report, it is thus critical to help small enterprises, especially those located in disaster-prone regions. Public and private sector involvement is equally vital in promoting BCM practices among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study has provided recommendations for the betterment of business management side by side with futures' research.

CEOs' early-life disaster experience and corporate earnings quality: Focusing on the Great Chinese Famine.

This paper aims to examine the impact of CEOs' early-life disaster experiences on corporate earnings quality. We proxy the disaster experience with whether CEOs lived through the Great Chinese Famine and the famine intensity they experienced. The results indicate that CEOs' early-life famine experience is significantly positively associated with corporate earnings quality, and the famine effects are more obvious for CEOs who experienced the famine at adolescent ages. Further tests show that the famine experience effects are more pronounced in companies with high investor protection and cross-listing and with CEOs who have a relatively high level of education or background in economic management. The findings suggest CEOs would bear the imprint of an adverse early-life experience, which has risk aversion and learning effects on their decision making in corporate earnings information disclosure.

Disaster experiences, associated problems and lessons in southwestern coastal Bangladesh: exploring through participatory rural appraisal to enhance resilience

ABSTRACT The southwestern coastal part of Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to different kinds of disasters due to the changing climatic conditions. With the lenses of rural communities here an approach to examine how were the different disasters experiences, what lesson they learnt and what are their present disaster associated problems and stakeholder’s networks they rely on to enhance their resilience. Qualitative data were collected through participatory rapid rural appraisal (100–150 persons), field observation, 12 focus group discussions (25–40 people/FGD), and key informant interviews (25 people) in four southwestern coastal districts and nine coastal villages of Bangladesh. Results showed that since long back to date drinking water crisis, poor roads, poverty, poor sanitation, and health problems are the main identified disaster-associated problems. After learning lessons from previous disaster experiences, the community people have improved and changed their practices mainly by storing emergency foods, house construction, and increasing disaster awareness. However, the coastal communities are combating with the problems that have both direct and indirect association with poor infrastructures. Therefore, the coastal communities urge and sketched for a better stakeholders’ supports and networks to minimize their problems and thus to enhance communities’ disaster resilience.

The impact of climatic disaster on corporate investment policy

Extreme weather events have been occurring in recent years with high frequency and resulting in enormous physical and monetary damages. There is a large strand of literature illustrating how past disaster experiences alter individuals’ behavioral decisions in the future, leading them to make inappropriate decisions. In view of this, the main topic of this research is to explore whether companies choose to pursue stability and low risk after experiencing catastrophes. By investigating the impact of 33 U.S. hurricanes and 4 tropical cyclones on U.S. public companies’ investment policies, the empirical results reveal that firms located in disaster regions reduce their investment and capital expenditures during the post-disaster period. We further implement several robustness tests regarding subsample analyses, the propensity-score matching sample, and excluding the impact associated with the 2008 global financial crisis. Evidence of the robustness tests remain consistent and conjecture that companies indeed are inclined to behave more conservatively after experiencing climatic disasters.

Exploring deaf students’ disaster awareness and preparedness in U.S. higher education settings: Implications for university-level DRR policy and programming

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) communities in the US are underserved during climate and human-caused disasters. While it is necessary for first responders, who are often hearing, to receive additional training, it is important to recognize that DHH individuals themselves are critical leaders in disaster preparedness and response in their communities. This paper examines DHH college students’ disaster awareness and knowledge through a cross-sectional survey protocol adapted from the Disaster Knowledge Instrument (Catedral Mamon, 2017). The survey pertains to disaster awareness, and was administered via a written English online survey platform, from October 1 to November 1, 2019, to DHH students attending a university in the Mid-Atlantic United States that is specifically designed for educating DHH students. Results consisted of 205 DHH participants with 58.5% (n = 120) identifying as white and 59.5% (n = 122) as female. Findings indicated significant differences in disaster experiences and awareness with respect to reported gender identities and racial and ethnic identities. Gender, in particular, had an extremely high correlation with disaster experiences, with 93.7% of the survey sample (n = 205) having experienced one or more disasters in their lifetime. Gender also significantly predicted knowledge about disaster preparedness and readiness, disaster awareness, and disaster risk perception. The analysis developed in this article demonstrates that while DHH college students may be aware of disaster and emergency related phenomena, students do not appear to possess an actionable foundation of knowledge to prepare for and mitigate disaster impacts. Moreover, it is not clear where students received the information they are reporting, as there is an extreme scarcity of data on disaster and emergency training for DHH serving primary, secondary, and higher education settings–including at the university where this study was conducted. Ultimately, the article identifies that a robust research program is needed to ascertain the current status of disaster education and training initiatives for DHH students. Such research is necessary for understanding the kinds of disaster preparedness activities taking place with DHH students, how effective they are, and to identify recommendations for policy and programmatic inputs. These activities could serve as a foundation for quality and equitable disability inclusive emergency planning and training of DHH community members, including those working and studying in educational institutions.