Disaster Management Authority Research Articles

The Language of Trauma Narrative Communication Management

Trauma experiences or post-traumatic disorders prove to be an uprising phenomenon faced by people around the globe. This paper examines the language of trauma studies in two textbooks authored by a prominent trauma analysis expert who has been in the field for more than 20 years. This paper posits that the study or content analysis of trauma narratives discourse textbooks could contribute to self-efficacy beliefs especially in communication management. Using the corpus-based approach, essential keywords, and a word list of the essential language of trauma headwords are identified. Thus, with the 209 identified headwords, the development of the new word list specifically to trauma narratives discourse has been facilitated. The production of the word list of the language of trauma is aimed to assist disaster risk management researchers and authorities in identifying the ‘sensitive’ traumatic keywords to be or not to be narrated to the affected people in community-based studies. Thus, this study entails insightful concepts to the creation of a trauma narrative essential word because of its meaningful application. In conclusion, the article presents the keywords found to be associated closely with trauma narrative textbooks insights and proposes a coping alternative to the community or academia from a linguistics and communication management point of view.

Towards sustainable cities and communities: Is psychological preparedness include in the disaster risk reduction policy framework in Indonesia

Indonesia geographical location that surrounded by Australia plate, Pacific plate, and Eurasia plate has made the country exposed to disasters. Natural hazard that often happen in Indonesia are flood, volcanic eruption, earthquake, landslide, land fire, cyclone, extreme wave. The impact of disaster was devastating economically, socially and psychologically for affected community as well for the whole nation. Indonesia National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has noted that average losses caused by disaster is 30 trillion rupiah per year. Studies found that preparing individual to face disaster could help to reduce the impact of the disaster. However, the effort is still not enough and yet Indonesia is still suffering a great loss due to disasters. The disaster preparedness program that was available was mostly focused in technically prepare people and neglect the importance of psychologically prepare people to face disaster. The purpose of the study is to analyse current disaster risk reduction policy framework in Indonesia, examine whether the current policy framework has address and includes psychological preparedness for disaster and propose a solution for designing appropriate policy to reduce psychological impact of disaster.

The Future Prospects of a Dental DVI Task Force in India

I would like to offer my gratitude to the team of Journal of Indo Pacific Academy of Forensic Odontology for providing me with the opportunity to share my views based on my experience as a Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team member in Nepal. Natural disasters are a major national concern. India ranks among the top ten countries in the world in terms of disaster fatalities. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is India's principal disaster management authority. The Disaster Management Act of 2005 was established on September 27, 2006. The NDMA establishes rules for disaster management in India. To deal with disasters in India, NDMA is in charge of creating policies, laying down guidelines and best practices, and coordinating with the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs).

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping and Their Rainfall Thresholds Model in Tinalah Watershed, Kulon Progo District, Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia

Landslide often occurred in Tinalah watershed, Kulon Progo District, every year. The frequency of landslide events is increasing after high rainfall intensity. Some factors control landslides such as slope gradient, land use, geological structure, slope hydrology, and geological condition. This research has an objective to develop the susceptibility map of Tinalah watershed and to identify the rainfall threshold to trigger a landslide. The development of the susceptibility map using frequency ratio method with four parameters including slope, type of rock, land use, and lineament density. The landslide data were collected during the field survey and from regional disaster management authority (BPBD) Kulon Progo. Rainfall data were collected from BMKG and GSMap. Soil analysis also was conducted to develop a numerical model to verify the rainfall threshold value. The result shows a high susceptibility of the landslide area is dominated in Tinalah watershed. The rainfall threshold for the low susceptibility of the landslide zone is I=490.14 D-1.404with 5-7 days antecedent rain. The rainfall threshold for medium susceptibility map is I=164.32D-0,689 3-7 days antecedent rain. Moreover, the rainfall threshold for the high susceptibility of the landslide zone is 111.62 D-0.779, with 2-7 days antecedent rain.

A Review of the Current Status of Japanese Encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh, India

Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is an arboviral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. It is a disease of the poor and young (less than 15 years of age) in rural settings with maximum probabilities of their exposure to mosquitoes that are zoophilic. The disease pattern reflects a large proportion of subclinical cases to a small proportion with disease manifestations. It becomes fatal in U.P. in about 40% of the cases (due to seizures) in the absence of early treatment and leads to sequelae in one-third of the cases. Nearly half of the states of India are endemic for Japanese Encephalitis. Both the Govt of India and the State Govt have taken up the disease seriously and made all possible multi-sectoral approaches/ efforts to contain the menace of the disease. Rehabilitation centres have been established in the affected districts to provide physio and speech therapy. Even National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) participated to generate awareness among the community against the dreadful disease. With all efforts, a plateau-like situation of the disease has been reached over the years. More coordinated efforts are required in tackling this problem. The environmental conditions will govern the spread of the virus along with the vector. The present article reflects an overview of the problem of JE and efforts made so far to tackle this disease and make the younger generation aware of their contribution through open field of the research in restricting the spread of the disease as well as complete cure of the seizures due to JE.

Natural Disasters in Pakistan and Media Coverages. A Comparative Study of Pakistani English and Urdu Newspaper.

Pakistan is frequently facing Natural disasters in every passing year and media play a vital role in enlighten and update the public about calamities and its several impacts. This study was conducted to analyse Pakistani English and Urdu newspaper comparative coverage about Natural disaster in Pakistan. The data for this study were collected from four newspapers (The Nation, The News, Nawa-i-Waqt & Jang) during period of 8 year 2010 to 2017. A content analysis was conducted to identify the coverage frequency of articles related to two issues of Natural disaster (flood & drought) in Pakistan. The research has been accomplished under the theoretical framework of Agenda Setting Theory and Social Responsibility Theory. The study finding revealed that Pakistani Urdu newspaper gave more coverage as compare to English newspapers and it is also found that all English & Urdu press highlighted issue of flood more as compared to issue of drought. The research indicates that Pakistani newspapers play a dynamic role in making alertness about research issues of natural disaster in Pakistan. The study suggests that print media must cooperate with disaster management authorities for the betterment of early warnings system, precautionary measures, and disaster relief activities.
 Key Words: Natural disaster, Media coverages, Content analysis

Vulnerability and Adaptation to Flood Hazards in Rural Settlements of Limpopo Province, South Africa

Climate change has increased the frequency of extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall leading to floods in several regions. In Africa, rural communities are more vulnerable to flooding, particularly those that dwell in low altitude areas or near rivers and those regions affected by tropical storms. This study examined flood vulnerability in three rural villages in South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province and how communities are building resilience and coping with the hazard. These villages lie at the foot of the north-eastern escarpment, and are often exposed to frequent rainfall enhanced by orographic factors. Although extreme rainfall events are rare in the study area, we analyzed daily rainfall and showed how heavy rainfall of short duration can lead to flooding using case studies. Historical floods were also mapped using remote sensing via the topographical approach and two types of flooding were identified, i.e., those due to extreme rainfall and those due to poor drainage or blocked drainage channels. A field survey was also conducted using questionnaires administered to samples of affected households to identify flood vulnerability indicators and adaptation strategies. Key informant interviews were held with disaster management authorities to provide additional information on flood indicators. Subsequently, a flood vulnerability index was computed to measure the extent of flood vulnerability of the selected communities and it was found that all three villages have a ‘vulnerability to floods’ level, considered a medium level vulnerability. The study also details temporary and long-term adaptation strategies/actions employed by respondents and interventions by local authorities to mitigate the impacts of flooding. Adaptation strategies range from digging furrows to divert water and temporary relocations, to constructing a raised patio around the house. Key recommendations include the need for public awareness; implementation of a raft of improvements and a sustainable infrastructure maintenance regime; integration of modern mitigations with local indigenous knowledge; and development of programs to ensure resilience through incorporation of Integrated Development Planning.

KNOWLEDGE REGARDING COVID- 19 AMONG THE ADOLESCENT STUDENTS

Speaking to WHO personnel who are based in all states/UTs in India, via video conference in April 2020, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare said, “WHO is an important partner in our ght against the COVID-19. I really value guidance and contributions made by the WHO in containing spread of COVID-19 across the country.” The WHO Country Ofce for India (WCO India) has been working closely with the Government of India (GoI) to step-up preparedness and response measures for COVID-19, including surveillance and contact tracing, laboratory testing, risk communications and community engagement, hospital preparedness, infection prevention and control, and implementation of containment plan at all three levels of the health system – national, state and district. The entire eld presence, including the National Public Health Surveillance Project, consisting of more than 2000 personnel has been fully re-purposed to support the government to overcome this challenge. At the national level, WCO India is providing technical support to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) through the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) and working closely with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Disaster Management Authority and NITI Aayog. WHO teams are also supporting National and State Governments in ensuring essential health services such as immunisation, reproductive maternal newborn child and adolescent health (RMNCAH), non-communicable diseases and priority communicable diseases are available. Thus the investigator would like to take up the present study to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding use of contraception methods among female students. Objectives Of The Study: 1. To assess the knowledge regarding covid -19 amongadoloscent students. Method: The research approach adopted for the study was quantitative evaluative and the research design wasdescriptive survey design. By using non-probability, purposive sampling 100 adoloscent students from D. Y. PATILJunior college, Kolhapur. Structured knowledge questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge of adoloscent students regarding covid -19.The data was collected on socio demographic variables and knowlwdge questionnaire on Covid-19.After obtaining permission from the principals of junior colleges, Data were analyzed by using mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range. Results: After analysis of knowledge scores among 100 adoloscent students regarding covid -19 .Maximum number of 88 (88%) adolescent students had average knowledge and minimum 12 (12%) adolescent students had good knowledge While 0 (0%) adolescent students had poor knowledge Among 100 adolescent student. Interpretation And Conclusion: The present study revealed that Overall test of knowledge regarding the Covid -19 among adolescent students was average.

Household evacuation preparation time during a cyclone: Random Forest algorithm and variable degree analysis

Household evacuation preparation time is important to ensure safe and successful evacuations and is essential for the estimation of the total evacuation time during a disaster. Previous research has shown that machine learning can provide a higher prediction accuracy, especially using the random forest model. However, no studies have investigated predictions of household evacuation preparation time considering the safe evacuation of coastal communities during cyclone disasters. This study proposes a methodology to predict household evacuation preparation time following demographic and behavioral input variables based on a random forest algorithm focusing on cyclones. In addition, this research analyzes the variable importance and partial dependence plot to identify the key influential factors that affect household evacuation preparation time. A case study was conducted in Gabura Union, Shaymnagar Upzila in Bangladesh regarding cyclone Bulbul in 2019 to gather demographic and behavioral data for a preparation time simulation. The prediction results showed efficient assessment of household evacuation preparation time prediction, meriting application for cases of future disasters. Our results show that the most important factors that impact household evacuation preparation time are evacuation companions and age, followed by shelter distance, income, and shelter type. The results of the prediction model can assist emergency response and evacuation planners and national disaster management authorities in developing and improving effective evacuation plans that take household evacuation preparation time into consideration for future disasters.

A numerical study of submarine–landslide–generated tsunami and its propagation in Majene, West Sulawesi

On 14th January 2021, there was a devastating earthquake (Mw 6.2) hit Mamuju and Majene, West Sulawesi, Indonesia at 18.28 UTC. According to National Disaster Management Authority, this event causes 84 casualties and 279 houses were damaged. The Sulawesi Island is situated in a very complex tectonic region, there are several thrusts and faults along the area such as Majene Thrust, Palu-Karo Thrust, Matano Fault, and Tolo Thrust that can lead to tectonic activities. One of the largest earthquakes was a 7.9 Mw in 1997 generated from North Sulawesi Megathrust that caused a catastrophic tsunami. Moreover, there were 9 tsunami events in the Makassar Strait from the year 1800 to 1999. In this research, three different scenarios of the tsunami in Majene were applied to obtain the tsunami elevation. Makassar Strait could be potentially generated tsunami wave from submarine landslides due to its steep bathymetry that will impact the coastline at Sulawesi and Kalimantan, so it is necessary to model the tsunami propagation using submarine landslide as the tsunami generation. The volume of submarine landslide had been used in tsunami submarine landslide modelling as an input. Those are included the height, width and length of the submarine landslide volume. Furthermore, the domain bathymetry was obtained from National Bathymetry (BatNas) with spacing grid of 300 m × 300 m. The submarine landslide coordinate is also needed as a source of tsunami at 2.98°S and 118.94°E. The slide angle and slope angle are also inputted in this modelling with three experimental volumes, namely 1 km3, 0.8 km3, and 0.5 km3. This submarine landslide tsunami modelling used the Non-Hydrostatic WAVE Model (NHWAVE) method to obtain tsunami wave generation. The result from NHWAVE model will be used for initial elevation of tsunami wave propagation using the Fully Nonlinear Boussinesq wave model - Total Variation Diminishing (FUNWAVE - TVD) method. The highest initial tsunami elevation value at each observation point obtained from the NHWAVE model occurred at point 18 (the closest location to the earthquake source), which is around 0.4 –1.2 m. The FUNWAVE simulation result is the tsunami wave propagation for 180 minutes later. In the 180th minute, the tsunami wave was still propagating towards the north of Sulawesi Island to the east of Kalimantan Island.

Landslide Monitoring using Inclinometer with Micro Electromechanical System (MEMS)

Being located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and a tectonically active country, Indonesia has to cope with the constant risk of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods and landslides. Landslides and other mass movements are serious geo-environmental hazards in Indonesia. Following report from the Indonesia National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB), landslides are among high disaster death toll throughout the archipelago. It claimed 248 lives last year alone. The number of landslides in Indonesia increase steadily to 376 in 2014 from 291 in 2012. Hence, landslide monitoring system is required to determine style of landslide movement, for risk and even emergency risk management assessments and to assist with the design of mitigation works. A landslide instrumentation program including an inclinometer is designed for landslide monitoring. The inclinometer, or tilt sensor, is an instrument used for measuring slope, tilt, or inclination. In this paper we use Micro Electromechanical System (MEMS) as a sensor to measure changes in an angle. Then information is transferred to a central server soon after real-time accelerations are monitored. A data logger also used as a data recording. With low-cost MEMS accelerometers, the results show this instrument is able to provide reliable ground-motion data in network-scale deployments.

COVID-19 pandemic and disaster preparedness in the context of public health laws and policies

Background: The Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), 2004 addresses disaster preparedness, disease surveillance, disease data to respond to epidemics. The 12th Five Year Plan envisages disease surveillance for district-level laboratories and epidemic-centric diagnostic centers in consultation with the National Informatics Centers (NIC) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Objectives: These health policies need a critical appraisal in the COVID-19 pandemic and disaster preparedness in India’s system. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) pandemic cum disaster mitigation strategy analysed from risk mitigation to public health emergency in disaster management. The three-tier network labs and diagnostic centers, disease surveillance and disaster preparedness examined critically in the context of Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005. Methodology: The methodology of the study derives from European disaster management response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) India Chapter and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) disaster management strategies utilized as model for the epidemic and pandemic control. The SIR epidemiological model for the COVID-19 mortality applied in the emergency paradigm of health care system in COVID-19 pandemic. Results: COVID-19 pandemic and disaster preparedness in India revolves around the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 and Epidemic Diseases Act (EDA), 1897 Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005, and Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. The sordid and wise experiences for the Disaster Management and COVID-19 pandemic culminate into 5 Ps Disaster Management adopted by India.5 It spells out the proof of concept with social experiment, proactive approach, people management, partnership, preparation, and collaboration. Conclusion: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) assumes a pivotal role in controlling the infection and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic under the WHO Guideline of the disaster management cycle having a multi-component approach. The COVID-19 pandemic and disaster preparedness in India’s health system moved from risk mitigation to public health emergency in disaster management. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.20(5) 2021 p.41-48

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on community lifelines

PurposeThe authors present the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on community lifelines. The state machinery has several departments to secure essential lifelines during disasters and epidemics. Many countries have formed national disaster management authorities to deal with manmade and natural disasters. Typical lifelines include food, water, safety and security, continuity of services, medicines and healthcare equipment, gas, oil and electricity supplies, telecommunication services, transportation means and education system. Supply chain systems are often affected by disasters, which should have alternative sources and routes. Doctors, nurses and medics are front-line soldiers against diseases during pandemics.Design/methodology/approachThe COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how much we all are connected yet unprepared for natural disasters. Political leaders prioritize infrastructures, education but overlook the health sector. During the recent pandemic, developed countries faced more mortalities, fatalities and casualties than developing countries. This work surveys the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health, energy, environment, industry, education and food supply lines.FindingsThe COVID-19 pandemic caused 7% reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during global lockdowns. In addition, COVID-19 has affected social fabric, behaviors, cultures and official routines. Around 2.84 bn doses have been administrated, with approximately 806 m people (10.3% of the world population) are fully vaccinated around the world to date. Most developed vaccines are being evaluated for new variants like alpha, beta, gamma, epsilons and delta first detected in the UK, South Africa, Brazil, USA and India. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all sectors in society, yet this paper critically reviews the impact of COVID-19 on health and energy lifelines.Practical implicationsThis paper critically reviews the health and energy lifelines during pandemic COVID-19 and explains how these essential services were interrupted.Originality/valueThis paper critically reviews the health and energy lifelines during pandemic COVID-19 and explains how these essential services were interrupted.

UAV Assisted Spatiotemporal Analysis and Management of Bushfires: A Case Study of the 2020 Victorian Bushfires

Australia is a regular recipient of devastating bushfires that severely impacts its economy, landscape, forests, and wild animals. These bushfires must be managed to save a fortune, wildlife, and vegetation and reduce fatalities and harmful environmental impacts. The current study proposes a holistic model that uses a mixed-method approach of Geographical Information System (GIS), remote sensing, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)-based bushfire assessment and mitigation. The fire products of Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are used for monitoring the burnt areas within the Victorian Region due to the 2020 bushfires. The results show that the aggregate of 1500 m produces the best output for estimating the burnt areas. The identified hotspots are in the eastern belt of the state that progressed north towards New South Wales. The R2 values between 0.91–0.99 indicate the fitness of methods used in the current study. A healthy z-value index between 0.03 to 2.9 shows the statistical significance of the hotspots. Additional analysis of the 2019–20 Victorian bushfires shows a widespread radius of the fires associated with the climate change and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) phenomenon. The UAV paths are optimized using five algorithms: greedy, intra route, inter route, tabu, and particle swarm optimization (PSO), where PSO search surpassed all the tested methods in terms of faster run time and lesser costs to manage the bushfires disasters. The average improvement demonstrated by the PSO algorithm over the greedy method is approximately 2% and 1.2% as compared with the intra route. Further, the cost reduction is 1.5% compared with the inter-route scheme and 1.2% compared with the intra route algorithm. The local disaster management authorities can instantly adopt the proposed system to assess the bushfires disasters and instigate an immediate response plan.

Living with Earthquakes: Educating masses through earthquake awareness: North East (NE) India perspective

Earthquake is one of the most frightening and destructive phenomena of nature. The northeast India region, as well as its adjoining South-Asian neighbours including Myanmar and Bangladesh, is tectonically and seismically most active. The region categorized under the highest level of seismic hazard potential: Zone V, of the seismic zonation map of India, has experienced nearly 22 large (M ≥7.0) and two great earthquakes (M S ∼ 8.7) in the past 130 years. All these earthquakes caused wide-spread damage over the region. In the recent past, with rapid urbanization combined with a significant population rise as compared to those times when these great/large earthquakes occurred, the seismic vulnerability index has increased manifold. The situation demands widespread dissemination of seismic hazard and preparedness information via community engagement and highlighting on potentially tragic consequences of earthquakes by conducting extensive mock drill exercises & earthquake awareness programmes. In this paper, the role and efforts of the statuary bodies in the region, such as National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and CSIR – Northeast Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST) and societal program of Academy of Scientific and Innovative research, to mitigate and minimize seismic hazard by extensive dissemination of earthquake information, via scientific scenario and impact assessment, is holistically compiled.

Hotspot Analysis of Structure Fires in Urban Agglomeration: A Case of Nagpur City, India

Fire Service is the fundamental civic service to protect citizens from irrecoverable, heavy losses of lives and property. Hotspot analysis of structure fires is essential to estimate people and property at risk. Hotspot analysis for the peak period of last decade, using a GIS-based spatial analyst and statistical techniques through the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) and Getis-Ord Gi* with Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation is performed, revealing fire risk zones at the city ward micro level. Using remote sensing, outputs of hotspot analysis are integrated with the built environment of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) to quantify the accurate built-up areas and population density of identified fire risk zones. KDE delineates 34 wards as hotspots, while Getis-Ord Gi* delineates 17 wards within the KDE hotspot, the central core areas having the highest built-up and population density. A temporal analysis reveals the maximum fires on Thursday during the hot afternoon hours from 12 noon to 5 p.m. The study outputs help decision makers for effective fire prevention and protection by deploying immediate resource allocations and proactive planning reassuring sustainable urban development. Furthermore, updating the requirement of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to build urban resilient infrastructure in accord with the Smart City Mission.

A survey on households’ resilience to landslide hazard in Murree hills of Pakistan

Landslides frequently occur in the Himalayan part and often cause loss to human life, houses and other infrastructure. Community resilience is extensively employed in studying hazards and disasters. In this paper, we tried to assess resilience of households in a landslide affected area of Pakistan. Indicators and their concerned variables regarding resilience to landslides were identified through literature and then the primary data about these indicators were collected through questionnaire survey from 200 randomly selected households. Overall landslides resilience is the cumulative effect of the four constituent indicators including social, economic, institutional and physical. Each constituent indicator comprised of relevant variables. Weights were assigned to the selected variables using subjective assessment method based on a percentage scale ranging from 01. A variable resilience index was first calculated for each variable and then indices for each of the four constituent indicators were calculated using average method. Finally, the composite resilience index was also calculated from the values of the constituent indicators using average method. The analysis revealed low values of resilience for rural fringe as compared to urban fringe and inner city. This research stresses the need to enhance the physical, institutional, economic and social indicators of the households. The study recommends that disaster management authorities should play their role for enhancing resilience of the households through appropriate measures in this landslide prone area of Pakistan.

First response of emergency health care system and logistics support in an earthquake

BACKGROUND: An earthquake is an event that differs from any other disaster because it requires a multidisciplinary approach and affects all the people in the region where it occurs. The presented research aims to present healthcare, search and rescue, logistics and support to the magnitude 6.6 Elazığ earthquake by literaturę sight. This research also provides analysis of local and nearby support provided by Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (DEMA) (AFAD), 112 Emergency Health Services and National Medical Rescue Team (NMRT) (UMKE), equipment, timely manner and staff in the earthquake of Elazıg on 24.01.2020. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 1942 people, including 120 NMRT Teams (821 NMRT staff) and 276 staff 112 Ambulance teams, were assigned for medical rescue. RESULTS: Victims: 12 injured and 5 exitus, who were triaged by 112 and NMRT teams, were pulled from the wreckage and transported to the hospitals within the first 30 minutes. CONCLUSION: As in the Elazığ earthquake, the coordinated and cooperative work of all search and rescue and first aid teams of the region appeared to be one of the most important factors in reducing the mortality and morbidity of earthquake victims and maintaining life comfort.

Determination of priority locations for the implementation of rice farming insurance: a case study on disaster hazards in Cilacap regency

In 2018, Cilacap Regency produced a total of 793,265 tons of rice, and was the second largest producer of the commodity in Central Java Province, after Grobogan Regency. However, Cilacap is very prone to flooding, thus is grouped into the high flood hazard category. The aim of this study is to determine the rice fields that need to be included in the Rice Farming Business Insurance program. It was conducted using an overlay and weighting or scoring method. The data were the Flood and Drought Hazard Maps obtained from the National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB), and the Rice Field Map obtained from the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG). The results showed that 17,251 ha of the rice farm land were in the priority I category, while 60,742 and 223 ha(s), were in the Priority II and III categories respectively. Furthermore, the sub-district that was most affected by the flood and drought was Kawunganten. In conclusion, the results can be used in the creation of priority policies for the Rice Farmers Business Insurance program

DEVELOPMENT OF A GEO-ANALYTICS PLATFORM FOR POST-DISASTER GROUND ASSESSMENT

Abstract. Earthquake is a frequently encountered natural hazard and can cause losses of lives and assets. In order to understand the nature of seismic hazards and the risks sourced from them, careful investigations are needed by using diverse geoinformation types. Thanks to the availability of multi-platform and high-resolution geospatial datasets, vast amount of geodata can be collected and analyzed for obtaining timely information on land’s surface before and after an earthquake event; and to assist the disaster management authorities and first responders for supporting the mitigation efforts. On January 24, 2020, an earthquake with Mw 6.8 occurred in Elazig Province, Turkey; caused 41 deaths and damaged the buildings and infrastructure. Although various geodatasets could be collected and processed by the geomatics experts, their utilization by other stakeholders, such as geoscientists, local authorities, and citizens remained limited due to the accessibility issues, and high complexity in their visualization, processing and interpretation. In this study, a web-based platform called EQ4D was designed and implemented to present the multi-sensor and multi-platform 4D data to the stakeholders, and to allow for basic geo-analytical processes such as change detection, 3D surface measurements, etc. Cesium JS and Potree libraries were employed for 3D visualization. PostGIS spatial database management system was used for storing and managing the data, and for performing spatial queries. Currently EQ4D is suitable for the use of geoscientists, and can be further customized for generic use at similar geohazards and developed for the use of inexperienced users, such as citizen scientists.