Disaster Information Research Articles

Preparing multilingual disaster communication for the crises of tomorrow: A conceptual discussion

This paper offers a conceptual discussion about how multilingualism can provide an unusual yet effective disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy in multilingual societies. Language barriers (or disaster linguicism) in disasters can be deadly. The general approach to respond to, and solve, this issue is to disseminate disaster information in multilingual formats or to use bi-/multilingual interpreters and (automated) translators. However, this paper raises issues with these conventional “solutions” to disaster linguicism. Since the root causes of disaster linguicism create unique social vulnerability for Indigenous/Tribal, Minority and Minoritized peoples and languages (ITMs), any serious attempt at DRR must reckon with these structural and ideological factors. Multilingualism, incorporating translanguaging, are the preferred theoretical framework and policy responses for progressing effective and sustainable solutions. Unlike conventional approaches to multilingualism, this seeks to develop multi-directional communication schemes by producing more community translators who can translanguage in order to both empower bi-/multilinguals and to decentralize social power.

Community-Based Disaster Health Management Approaches: A Systematic Literature Review

Background: Community-based interventions can be effective due to the active participations of communities in pre- and post-disaster planning and management. Effective community-based disaster management for health promotion can be achieved by learning from the successful local and international experiences of community participations. Thus, this study is aimed to identify the community active participation approaches which were effective in promoting the health of disaster-affected communities.
 Methods: This systematic review was conducted and reported based on PRISMA guideline. Web of Sciences, PubMed and Scopus were searched using the selected keywords. The inclusion criteria were all forms of published articles which studied the approaches of community active participations for improving their health in disasters. The selection of articles was conducted using the titles and abstracts. Data analysis was done based on the categorization of different community-based disaster management approaches.
 Results: 10 articles were finally selected out of 2843 documents generated by initial search. Asian countries considered community involvements in disaster management the most (40%). The most community active participations in disaster management were conducted in the recovery phase (80%). Approaches of community-based disaster management for the health promotion were two-way university-community participation, focusing on empowering specific community groups, governance, and localizing community participation as well as strengthening social networks.
 Conclusion: Considering the capacities of academic institutions for active participation in community-based disaster management according to the Yokohama, Hyogo and Sendai Framework is highly suggested. Further research is needed to explore the challenges of community communication and information in disasters.

Classification of Seismaesthesia Information and Seismic Intensity Assessment by Multi-Model Coupling

Earthquake disaster assessment is one of the most critical aspects in reducing earthquake disaster losses. However, traditional seismic intensity assessment methods are not effective in disaster-stricken areas with insufficient observation data. Social media data contain a large amount of disaster information with the advantages of timeliness and multiple temporal-spatial scales, opening up a new channel for seismic intensity assessment. Based on the earthquake disaster information on the microblog platform obtained by the network technique, a multi-model coupled seismic intensity assessment method is proposed, which is based on the BERT-TextCNN model, constrained by the seismaesthesia intensity attenuation model, and supplemented by the method of ellipse-fitting inverse distance interpolation. Taking four earthquakes in Sichuan Province as examples, the earthquake intensity was evaluated in the affected areas from the perspective of seismaesthesia. The results show that (1) the microblog data contain a large amount of earthquake information, which can help identify the approximate scope of the disaster area; (2) the influences of the subjectivity and uneven spatial distribution of microblog data on the seismic intensity assessment can be reduced by using the seismaesthesia intensity attenuation model and the method of ellipse-fitting inverse distance interpolation; and (3) the accuracy of seismic intensity assessment based on the coupled model is 70.81%. Thus, the model has higher accuracy and universality. It can be used to assess seismic intensity in multiple regions and assist in the formulation of earthquake relief plans.

OlaRout: Optimal dropbox deployment based cluster routing for post disaster information exchange in a smart city

OlaRout: Optimal dropbox deployment based cluster routing for post disaster information exchange in a smart city

Report finds increasing support for humanitarian aid among young donors

New research from the United States Agency for International Development's Center for International Disaster Information shows that the number of people in the United States donating to humanitarian aid is on the rise. Per the agency's research, more than one‐third (36%) gave to humanitarian aid groups in 2022, up from 2018, when 32% of people reported making such donations.

SISTEM INFORMASI GEOGRAFIS PEMETAAN BENCANA ALAM DI PROVINSI SULAWESI TENGAH

Natural disaster is an event related to natural phenomena that causes damage to a location on a small to large scale. According to data from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), the number of disasters that occurred in Central Sulawesi in 2016–2020 totaled 251 cases. Determining the location of natural disasters will be one of the factors to facilitate government access in solving problems. Until now, the government does not have a Geographic Information System (GIS) in the form of mapping the location points of natural disasters that have occurred. Based on the problems above, a website-based information system was created, namely "Geographical Information System for Mapping the Central Sulawesi Natural Disaster. The aim is to provide information to the public, so that it can facilitate agencies in distributing information to the public in finding disaster information. Based on the results of the analysis using GIS using a questionnaire, the average results of the two variables were obtained, with an assessment of the first variable of 81.8% and the second variable of 89.4%. The average value of the two variables leads to a very good opinion,

Hail climatology and its possible attributions in Beijing, China: 1980-2021

Hail hazards have caused severe losses and threatened the safety of residents in Beijing, the Chinese capital city. A refined analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of hailstorms in Beijing can help to evaluate the risk of hail and guide the operations of hail prevention. The distribution of weather stations is relatively sparse to figure out the fine distribution of hail events. Therefore, a quality-controlled dataset of disaster information data reported from information reporters is used to analyze the fine temporal and spatial distributions of hail days and events in Beijing from 1980 to 2021 in this study. Hail events and hail days show an obvious downward trend with years from 1981 to 2010, while hail events show a strong upward trend from 2011 to 2021. The seasonal pattern of hail events shows a unimodal distribution from March to October, and the peak appears in June. Most of the hail events occurred from 14:00 to 21:00, while the highest counts appeared from 15:00 to 17:00. More and larger hails occurred in the northwestern mountains rather than southeastern plains in Beijing, highly correlated with the topography. Both total and severe hails hit the mountain area statistically earlier than the plain area. The most frequent hours of hails in the northwestern area and southeastern area were concentrated in the range of 13:00—17:00 and 16:00—20:00 CST, respectively. This time delay is due to the initiation location and movement direction of the convective storms. The influence of ENSO on warm season hails is positive in Beijing, which has a lag of 3 months or longer. The arctic oscillation has a negative correlation with hail days in each month from May to September.

Rapid mapping of seismic intensity assessment using ground motion data calculated from early aftershocks selected by GIS spatial analysis

Following a major earthquake, disaster information services must deliver accurate damage assessment results during the emergency ‘black box’ phase when data is scarce. Seismic intensity maps contain crucial information for determining the damage in the affected area. For earthquakes with Mw between 5.5 and 7, this study proposes using GIS analysis to mine aftershock events in early aftershock sequences that are closely related to the mainshock fault, and then using these events to generate seismic intensity assessment maps. Regression curves were first obtained using a nonparametric method (rLowess) to analyse the geographical coordinates of early aftershocks. Then, a buffer of 1 or 1.5 km radius was made for the curve, and the aftershocks in the buffer were used to calculate the predicted peak ground velocity (PGV) values over a specific km-grid range. Finally, rapid mapping of seismic intensity was assessed based on the intensity scale. This straightforward and repeatable method employs seismic station data obtained shortly after the mainshock. The assessed seismic intensity accurately reflects the location and extent of the hardest hit areas and can be cross-referenced with geophysical results to accurately assess the damage in the affected areas.

The health burden of natural and technological disasters in Brazil from 2013 to 2021

Disasters deeply impact the health of the affected population and the economy of a country. The health burden of disasters in Brazil is underestimated and more studies are needed to underpin policies and actions for disaster risk reduction. This study analyzes and describes disasters that occurred in Brazil from 2013 to 2021. The Integrated Disaster Information System (S2iD) was accessed to obtain demographic data, disaster data according to Brazilian Classification and Codification of Disasters (COBRADE), and health outcome data (number of dead, injured, sick, unsheltered, displaced, and missing individuals and other outcomes). Database preparation and analysis were performed in Tableau. In total, 98.62% (50,481) of the disasters registered in Brazil from 2013 to 2021 are natural, with a significant increase in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a biological disaster. This disaster group also caused the highest number of deaths (321,111), as well as injured (208,720) and sick (7,041,099) people. By analyzing data for each geographic region, we observed differences regarding disasters frequency and their health outcomes. In Brazil, climatological disasters are the most frequent (23,452 events) and occur mainly in the Northeast region. Geological disasters have the highest lethality, which are more common in the Southeast; however, the most common disasters in the South and Southeast are those of the meteorological and hydrological groups. Therefore, since the greatest health outcomes are associated with disasters predicted in time and space, public policies for the prevention and management of disasters can reduce the impacts of these events.

Efficient Multimedia Content Transmission Model for Disaster Management using Delay Tolerant Mobile Adhoc Networks

Natural and manmade disasters such as earthquakes, floods, unprecedented rainfall, etc. pose several threats to our society. The citizens upload disaster information in the form of multimedia content such as pictures, audio, and videos. Efficient information and communication framework are critical for disaster management. Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANET) have been used effectively for disaster management. However, Disaster management prerequisites following Quality of Service (QoS) requirements such as bandwidth, high delivery ratio, low overhead, and minimal latency; however, the existing data transmission scheme induces high latency and overhead among intermediate devices; In order to meet the QoS requirement of disaster management applications in this paper, High Delivery Efficiency and Low Latency Multimedia Content Transmission (HDELL-MCT) scheme for MANETs is presented. Then, an improved buffer management scheme is presented for meeting disaster management performance and latency prerequisites. The experiment is conducted using ONE Simulator, the outcome shows the HDELL-MCT scheme achieves very good performance considering different QoS metrics such as improving delivery ratio by 38.02%, reducing latency by 7.53% and minimizing hop communication overhead by 65.1% in comparison with existing multimedia content transmission model.

How to Prepare for Food and Life Supplies of Employees that Ensure the Business Continuity Plan under Disaster Threats and Risks

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of methods for equipping employees with food and necessities to ensure Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) under the threat and risk of disasters. Although employee food and livelihoods are essential to implementing a BCP in the event of a disaster, more research needs to be conducted on this method. For this study, participants will be divided into two teams and given a lecture and an exercise to simulate a disaster so that they can visualize it step by step. Then a comparative study is conducted before and after the exercise, as well as a comparative study of the disparity in the amount of disaster information between the two teams. The results of this experiment show that this method motivates participants to participate and effectively selects food and daily necessities that companies should be prepared to provide. It was also found that individuals share and discuss specific information with the team, enhancing the effectiveness of the selection process.

Development of an Automatic Chronological Record Creation System Using Voice AI to Facilitate Information Aggregation and Sharing in the Event of a Disaster

Abstract Objective: In the event of a disaster, the chain of command and communication of each relevant agency is important. In this study, a chronological record creation system using voice AI (V-CRS) was developed, and an experiment was conducted to determine whether the obtained information could be quickly and easily summarized in chronological order. Methods: After a lecture by Japanese Disaster Medical Assistant (DMAT) Team members and 8 medical clerks on how to use the developed tool, a comparison experiment was conducted between manual input and V-CRS utilization of the time to compile disaster information. Results: Results proved that V-CRS can collect information gathered at headquarters more quickly than handwriting. It was also suggested that even medical clerks who have never been trained to record information during disasters could record information at the same speed as trained DMAT personnel. Conclusion: V-CRS can transcribe audio information even in situations where technical terms and physical units must be recorded, such as radiation disasters. It has been proven that anyone can quickly organize information using this method, to some extent.

시각장애인의 재난 인식 및 지원 욕구에 관한 연구

This study aimed to explore in depth the perceptions and special needs of blind people regarding disaster response through their lived experiences. A qualitative study was conducted using in-depth interviews with four groups of social workers or organization practitioners, who were visually impaired and had disaster-related experiences. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis, through which the following five main themes were derived: (1) disaster perception and meaning from the perspective of blind people; (2) characteristics and difficulties that the blind face in disaster response; (3) the necessity of and considerations in developing a disaster response manual; (4) the expansion of disaster response education and training; and (5) social support needs such as accessible disaster information. The implications of this study and practical suggestions for establishing a disaster response system for the blind are discussed, and suggestions for future research are presented. This study is meaningful in providing essential information for the development of support services and policies for the blind.

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.

Volcanic crisis communication: The case of the Mt. Merapi eruption emergency response

This study aims to explore the local government's implementation of volcanic crisis communication during the emergency response to the eruption of Mount Merapi in Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This research used a case study method with a qualitative-descriptive approach and data were collected through interviews, field observations, and documentation. The results of study showed that the implementation of volcanic crisis communication can be explained in terms of information sources, message production and distribution, communication channels, and the affordability and speed of information. During the emergency response period, the Regional Disaster Management Agency has implemented a volcano crisis communication model based on the established standard operating procedures; however, several field findings showed a number of weaknesses in its implementation, such as in the flow of information and communication, which was still very bureaucratic and inflexible, and the lack of complete and fast information. On the other hand, the community has a more straightforward and flexible communication and information system to meet their own information needs regarding the Mount Merapi Eruption disaster. The communication pattern is supported by local wisdom and the role of religious and community leaders who are still believed to be credible sources of information. Communities have also succeeded in establishing independent communication channels to share disaster information by leveraging social networks and traditional media. This research provides an academic and practical contribution to develop the volcanic crisis communication studies in Indonesia.

Pemanfaatan Sistem Informasi Edukasi Mitigasi Bencana pada KSR PMI Unit Markas Majene

The availability of information related to disasters is one of the efforts so that the public better understands the actions that must be taken to minimize the risks that occur. However, the availability of this information, especially in the Majene Regency area, is currently still quite minimal. In fact, Majene is one of the areas with a fairly high Disaster Risk Index. This activity embraces the Voluntary Corps (KSR) PMI Majene Headquarters Unit as a partner considering that KSR is one of the organizations engaged in the humanitarian field and actively participates in disaster management. The activities carried out include the use of a disaster education information system by providing training to KSR members in managing the system and creating disaster education content. The results of the activities obtained show an increase in the ability of KSR members in terms of management and content creation using Canva and hopes that the disaster education information system that has been built can continue to be used for the dissemination of disaster information.

Vulnerability-based regionalization for disaster management considering storms and earthquakes

Existing approaches to risk assessment in natural disasters usually suffer from information specificity and data density. For example, road vulnerability assessment requires disaster information on the neighbors of all road segments, but weather stations may be far from such locations. The widely used intensity–duration–frequency analysis is too rough to overcome the tradeoff between estimation accuracy and reliability for assessing road vulnerability. Therefore, this study proposes a machine learning method to replace the frequency-style vulnerability with an intelligent measure, which will enhance the assessment by predicting the missing weather information at all road segments. Compared with conventional interpolation methods, our Markov chain random field kriging can reliably estimate the ungauged information when available stations are distributed asymmetrically. Therefore, our model contributes to the assessment methods by providing accurate and reliable vulnerability information for the transportation network under contemporary changing weather conditions. Through elaborate proofs to demonstrate the theoretical validity of our mathematical results, empirical results are also presented for application to practical governance. The empirical accuracy of 0.3 normalized root mean square error for disasters of storms and earthquakes is sufficient to convince local authorities to change their existing methods. The resulting regionalization in road network vulnerability is also tailor-made for practical applicability.

Multiperiod Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Path Planning With Dynamic Emergency Priorities for Geohazards Monitoring

Advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology provide an opportunity for geohazards monitoring in harsh environments, thereby reducing man-hours and corresponding risks. Due to the limited duration, UAV can hardly visit all the scattered geohazard sites (GSs) in one trip. Therefore, GSs with higher emergency priorities should be monitored first in earlier trips. In this article, we formulate a multiperiod UAVs path planning problem with dynamic emergency priorities for monitoring GSs, in which the emergency levels of GSs change dynamically according to the latest disaster information. An effective solution strategy for this problem selects GSs that must be monitored and accesses more optional GSs within the limited UAV's duration time, after distinguishing them according to emergency priorities. We therefore propose a heuristic algorithm based on the adaptive large neighborhood search. We finally present a real-world case for demonstration and validation.

Spatio-temporal analysis of leptospirosis in Brazil and its relationship with flooding.

Leptospirosis is a serious public health problem in Brazil, which can be observed after flooding events. Using an exploratory mixed clustering method, this ecological study analyzes whether spatial-temporal clustering patterns of leptospirosis occur in Brazil. Data from the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) were used to calculate the prevalence of leptospirosis between 2007 and 2017 in all counties of the country. Clustering techniques, including spatial association indicators, were used for analysis and evaluation of disease yearly spatial distribution. Based on Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) with Empirical Bayesian rates detected spatial patterns of leptospirosis ranging from 0.137 (p = 0.001 in 2009) to 0.293 (p = 0.001 in 2008). Over the whole period, the rate was 0.388 (p = 0.001). The main pattern showed permanence of leptospirosis clusters in the South and emergence and permanence of such clusters in northern Brazil. The municipalities with leptospirosis cases and at least one flood occurrence registered in the Brazilian Integrated Disaster Information System were incorporated into the LISA cluster map with Empirical Bayesian rates. These counties were expected to exhibit clustering, not all did. The results of the cluster analysis suggest allocation of health resources in areas with leptospirosis clustering.

SIGAP Application Quality Through Webqual Analysis

In this study, the SIGAP application is deemed necessary to be investigated and dissected more deeply, because in the last few years there are still many people who do not know the functions and uses of the SIGAP application as the first natural disaster response application in Sidoarjo Regency. This study uses quantitative methods and uses an approach through statistical data. This study focuses on volunteers who have downloaded the SIGAP application. Researchers set 88 people as a sample to be later developed into statistical data. By using the technique of Non Probability Sampling, data collection in this study using questionnaires and observations. This study uses descriptive statistical analysis techniques. The resulting quality of the total value reached 75.4%. the interaction dimension got an average effect of 75.7%, and the overall dimension got an average value of 75.5%. These four dimensions fall into the Good category. This can be interpreted that the overall quality of the Spry application in the community is good. The Sigap application for disaster information is of good quality which is presented to disaster response volunteers and the community in general. In addition, valid information, which can be accessed by all people and receiving very fast responses or responses from the Sidoarjo Regency BPBD, is a boost to public confidence that the Sigap application is a good disaster application in Sidoarjo Regency.