Disaster Management Strategies Research Articles

Assessment of the Characteristics of Recent Major Wildfires in the USA, Australia and Brazil in 2018–2019 Using Multi-Source Satellite Products

This study analysed the characteristics of the recent (2018–2019) wildfires that occurred in the USA, Brazil, and Australia using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fires (AF), fire radiative power (FRP, MW) and burned area (BA) products. Meteorological and environmental parameters were also analysed. The study found various patterns in the spatial distribution of fires, FRP and BA at the three sites, associated with various vegetation compositions, prevailing meteorological and environmental conditions and anthropogenic activities. We found significant fire clusters along the western and eastern coasts of the USA and Australia, respectively, while vastly distributed clusters were found in Brazil. Across all sites, significant fire intensity was recorded over forest cover (FC) and shrublands (SL), attributed to highly combustible tree crown fuel load characterised by leafy canopies and thin branches. In agreement, BA over FC was the highest in the USA and Australia, while Brazil was dominated by the burning of SL, characteristic of fire-tolerant Cerrado. The relatively lower BA over FC in Brazil can be attributed to fuel availability and proximity to highly flammable cover types such as cropland, SL and grasslands rather than fuel flammability. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of wildfires in various regions and the underlying environmental and meteorological causal factors, towards better wildfire disaster management strategies and habitat-specific firefighting.

Man-made Disaster Prevention using Waste Management Hierarchy and Disaster Management Cycle

The amount of construction waste generated is enormous due to the growth of the construction activities, which might lead to serious environmental problems. This is also including the construction waste that was generated from the natural disaster. This potential human-made disaster has been receiving worldwide attention and becomes a significant concern across nations. Thus, many studies on the effectiveness of construction waste management practices have been done. However, statistics do not show any improvement in the number of construction waste production. This paper aims to investigate the state of the art of construction waste management practice in Malaysia and the human-made disaster management strategies that feasible to be applied. Data were collected using the semi-structured interview with the key informants of the construction professional service providers in Malaysia and analyzed through thematic content analysis. An in-depth conceptualization and a new theoretical insight are developed on the strategy to prevent this human-made disaster caused by the construction waste. Findings from the cross-sectional content analysis and cognitive mapping propose a new human-made disaster management strategy in the construction caused by the construction waste that suits to Malaysian context.

Pandemic stricken cities on lockdown. Where are our planning and design professionals [now, then and into the future

Chinese cities have been placed upon lockdown in early 2020 in an attempt to contain the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), as increasingly huge demands are being placed upon Chinese and international health professionals to address this pandemic. Surprisingly, planning and design professionals are absent in the discourses about existing and post−COVID-19 strategies and actions even though previous pandemics historically revealed major impacts on the urban fabric from social and economic perspectives. This paper is a call for action for international architectural and urban organisations to include pandemics and similar in their disaster management strategies. This need is very evident in their need to better design creative and relevant protocols in partnership with health discipine organisations, and so that their applied deployment in pandemic stricken cities can be effected integrated seamlessly within normal city environment planning activities and also in incident situations like containing the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Disaster-Resistant Community: An examination of developmental differences

Flood disaster-resistant community projects, which are viewed as a non-infrastructure disaster management strategy, have been implemented to encourage residents to participate in community-based disaster management programs in Taiwan. Although this strategy provides many benefits in principle, there is no agreement on what it develops, and its practice varies. In this paper, first, the concept of a disaster-resistant community is refined, building two definitional dimensions: resources and consensus-based emergency management. Based on these dimensions, the current development of a disaster-resistant community is introduced and distinguished from other categories: passive dependency, resource utilization, proactive preparedness, and comprehensive integrated plan. The main characteristics of each category are provided. The model of a disaster-resistant community enables community practitioners and public managers to assess their relative perspectives to bottom-up emergency management approaches, and the model provides considerable information to stakeholders. The disaster-resistant community matrix can notify ongoing theory building and practical experimentation to fill the current literature gap, refine the indicators of emergency management practice, and provide suggestions for voluntary participation in the community-based emergency management process.

Disaster and crises management strategy

The aim of the research is to deepen the preparation and early warning of all types of disasters, natural and artificial ones, considering the scarcity of resources and the difficulty of acting during and after disasters. The research discussed the mechanism of preparedness at various stages of disasters and the justification for including such a practical plan. A historical background was presented, the most important terms of disaster reduction were defined. The research also clearly discussed a vision of the disaster reduction effect from a purely environmental point of view. Many disasters are caused by excessive human exploitation of the environment or neglect of environmental resources. Which led to the inability of some ecosystems to withstand, therefore, collapsed and the disaster occurred.The practical part, questioner was designed to assess the potential of Local Government and individuals to plan ahead, especially with the recent threat of flood, earthquakes and wars. The findings showed that there should be more efforts to cope the deficit in the adoption of mechanisms of disaster risk reduction in the stages (before - after - during) at the institutional and community level.The second area of the practical part included the review of the experiences of 10 countries that had experienced natural disasters or wars and the impact of these crises on them compared with their readiness, infrastructure and social awareness. Data were introduced in the linear regression model and an inverse relationship was found between the inclusion of plans and the extent of damage caused by the disaster. The greater the readiness, the less harm and vice versa, which proves the hypothesis of research.

Understanding the efficiency of social media based crisis communication during hurricane Sandy

Rapid communication during extreme events is one of the critical aspects of successful disaster management strategies. Due to their ubiquitous nature, social media platforms are expected to offer a unique opportunity for crisis communication. In this study, about 52.5 million tweets related to hurricane Sandy posted by 13.75 million users are analyzed to assess the effectiveness of social media communication during disasters and identify the contributing factors leading to effective crisis communication strategies. Efficiency of a social media user is defined as the ratio of attention gained over the number of tweets posted. A model is developed to identify more efficient users based on several relevant features. Results indicate that during a disaster event, only few social media users become highly efficient in gaining attention. In addition, efficiency does not depend on the frequency of tweeting activity only; instead it depends on the number of followers and friends, user category, bot score (controlled by a human or a machine), and activity patterns (predictability of activity frequency). Since the proposed efficiency metric is easy to evaluate, it can potentially detect effective social media users in real time to communicate information and awareness to vulnerable communities during a disaster.

Indicator Based Assessment of Integrated Flood Vulnerability Index for Brunei Darussalam

Since the beginning of human civilization, the flood is always connected with extensive destruction of properties and loss of lives. The intensity of flood-related disasters is increasing day by day due to the rapid increase in development activities, changes in land-use land-cover, population growth, unplanned urbanization, and above all, the driving force resulting from climate change and climate variability. Therefore, researchers are paying increased attention to floods with particular focus on flood vulnerability. The present study is a pioneer attempt on indicator-based flood vulnerability assessment for Brunei Darussalam. In this study, an integrated approach towards vulnerability assessment has been proposed, considering hydrological, environmental, social, and economic aspects of different districts of Brunei Darussalam. Indicators are generated and incorporated to visualize the vulnerability map of the country. The findings of the study can be used to identify the vulnerability status of different regions in Brunei, used to reduce the vulnerability and also to minimize disaster risk by allocating more resources for vulnerable districts. The results of the study will also be helpful in deriving better disaster management strategies for the country.

Seismic Risk Perception in Al-Marj, Libya: A Case Study after the 1963 Earthquake

Individual beliefs, knowledge, and perception play a vital role in understanding and coping with the consequences of earthquakes. These perceptions then mold the broader perceptions of risk and danger held by communities, which ultimately create public policy. This survey study was designed and conducted to assess the perceptions of seismic hazard and risk of earthquake survivors and residents in Al-Marj, Libya—a city razed in a 1963 tremor. In 2019, 364 earthquake survivors and residents were surveyed for their knowledge and perception of earthquakes. Surveys were conducted in Arabic and included demographic and narrative questions in addition to Likert-scaled responses. A number of predictable, surprising, and valuable correlations were found. It was found that during earthquakes most respondents prayed to Allah, or did nothing, in comparison to escape, seeking shelter, or running for help. The majority believed their neighborhoods were unsafe while questions illiciting some aspect of quake recurrence caused a complete refusal to answer; they commented “I do not know” or “only God knows”. Most respondents did not consider preparation to be important, but younger respondents were relatively more prepared. Surprisingly, highly educated respondents were less prepared, however, they also attributed earthquakes to tectonic slipping and not divine retaliation or retribution. However, less-educated respondents stated “I do not know”, “Allah punishes”, or “Allah tests the believers”. Most participants considered themselves well-informed about earthquakes from popular media sources (internet, TV, magazines). These findings were vital in gaining an insight into hazard perception and high-risk behavior in a seismically active region like Libya. When natural hazard recurrence (i.e. earthquakes) are better understood, then the potential consequences of injury, damages, and deaths may be assessed, and an overall plan to produce sustainable disaster management strategies and decrease risk can be created and implemented.

Disaster management strategy for avoiding the future losses by a slope failure at Nanhuan road, Fuxin area, Northeast China

Many surrounding areas in the vicinity of failed slope at Nanhuan road, Fuxin area, Northeast China are witnessed as the signs of disaster. The observed settlement as wastage of an active mass in the area has been observed after the excessive precipitation in 2012 (May to October) which caused infrastructural damages (Roads at the top and bottom of the failure zone), agricultural fields and residential areas. Therefore, the paper proposes examining this subject. An extensive field investigation was conducted in the area of Fuxin, west of Liaoning province China. It is recommended and suggested that a series of disaster prevention and both structural and non-structural mitigation measures with the involvement of government and local community are required, to be prepared in advance for avoiding the future economic loss as well as the impending disaster in the area. This paper also highlights the need of investigation in response mechanism and forward planning for awareness initiatives: to avoid the future hazard in the remotest failure zones of Fuxin area, Northeast China.

How Social Workers Can Use a Human Rights Approach to Disasters: Lessons Learned from the International Community

Disaster management strategies have often relied on a humanitarian approach which responds to societal needs through the use of support and assistance. A growing trend has been to apply a human rights approach to disaster management, which emphasizes human dignity, participation, equitable use of resources, transparency, accountability, and the obligations of governments to protect people’s rights during disasters. In this paper, I introduce the reader to the human rights approach, and international human rights bodies that have operated during disasters, as well as to the international laws and guidelines that have been produced by these bodies in relation to disasters. Then I examine the ways in which a human rights approach has been used during disaster mitigation, preparation, response and recovery efforts, and how a human rights approach can be enhanced in these efforts in the future. Finally, I make a case for why social workers should consider using a human rights approach to disaster management, and discuss how social work practitioners, researchers, and advocates can promote this approach in their disaster-related work.

Modelling residential habitability and human displacement for tsunami scenarios in Christchurch, New Zealand

Understanding the potential impacts of a large tsunami on a coastal region enables better planning of disaster management strategies. Potential housing damage, habitability, human displacement and sheltering needs are key concerns for emergency managers following tsunami events. This article presents a novel approach to address these requirements. We first review available literature on factors influencing residential habitability, human displacement and sheltering needs following disasters. Existing models are reviewed to identify lessons, gaps and opportunities that can inform the development of a new model. We then present a new model for estimating habitability, displacement and sheltering needs for tsunami (HDS-T). The model uses an additive scoring system incorporating both physical and demographic factors, weighted according to their relative influence. We demonstrate application of HDS-T through the case study of three tsunami scenarios affecting the coastal city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The results are time-varying, reflecting the response and early recovery phase of the tsunami events. For the largest scenario, 14,695 residents are displaced on the first day, with 1795 displaced residents requiring sheltering assistance. The number of displaced residents reduces to 9014 on Day 4, 7131 on Day 7, and 4366 at the time point of one month. HDS-T is designed to be adaptable to other natural hazards and contexts, such as earthquakes.

ROLE OF INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE IN MANAGING FLOODS PROJECTS

Climate change is increasing the frequency of disasters in the world. Accordingly, disaster management strategies are also changing. The UN has focused on acknowledging the Indigenous Knowledge in disaster management strategies. In this study, the village Khursheed in District Sargodha has been focused due to facing frequent floods since decades. They have developed some methods to counter floods. The study was qualitative containing three focus group discussions and thirty interviews, reveals that villagers have devised their own flood forecast and early warning systems. The indigenous methods of constructions of buildings and agricultural techniques have rendered the village more resilient. The elevated spiritual level has enhanced their immune system to face floods. The government needs to devise local level disaster management strategies which should incorporate indigenous and modern knowledge.

Effect of bed roughness on tsunami bore propagation and overtopping

The accurate modelling of overtopping of coastal defences by tsunami waves is of vital importance for the formulation of disaster management strategies. To improve knowledge of this phenomena the authors conducted experiments on coastal structure overtopping using bores that were generated by a dam-break mechanism. Three types of structures were tested, namely a coastal dyke, a wall, and a wall of infinite height. The results highlight the necessity to consider the energy present in a bore to determine if a structure will be overtopped or not. As a result of these experiments an empirical formula to determine the height of overtopping given the incident bore height and velocity was validated. The study highlights the importance of clearly modelling the velocity and Froude number of a tsunami. Such experiments should be conducted on rough beds, for which a suitable Manning's n seems to be around 0.06 sm-1/3. The study also contrasted the results obtained to those of the ASCE7 method, and concludes that the Manning's n values recommended in ASCE7 are probably too low.

A Proposed Mining Based Business Continuity Information System for Educational Institutes

It has become an essential element for all organizations to be engaged in a more deliberate transform for prevention, protection, preparedness, mitigation and reaction to Business Continuity Management (BCM) and recovery. It is becoming risky for the organization to reply of disaster plan which targets to minimize the causes of the disruption. An organization should take a proactive approach to reduce the likelihood as well as the probability of the disruptions. It involves the development of advanced measures and actions that enable the organization to take action in such a way that the critical and essential functions of business could continue according to the predefined level of change and disruption. Recovering from disruptions is a challenge; it relies on an emergency response plan or uses disaster management strategies that were previously used. BCM is considered mandatory to provide a systematic approach towards crisis response in order to increase organizational resilience capability. It is necessarily required by the organization to protect its reputation, brand, value adding activities and stakeholders’ interests. This paper proposes an intelligent framework that applies the business continuity management process on an educational institute which reveals the stakeholder awareness of the business continuity level in their organization. In order to successfully formulate the proposed framework, the research went through a set of phases. The research presented the whole process phases for developing the proposed framework which is based on applying the suitable technique in each phase to guarantee a suitable performance with ensuring the results’ validity. The research used 93% confidence, Z = 1.98 with error margin E = 0.03 for sampling selection and the determined association were 94% confidence for 93 rules. Finally, the research discussed the recommendations for successful crisis management process with the support of intelligent techniques.

The Medical, Public Health, and Emergency Response to the Impact of 2017 Hurricane Irma in Cuba.

In 2017, Cuba was pummeled by Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest and most devastating Atlantic basin hurricanes in history. Twelve of Cuba's 15 provinces and 90 percent of the population were affected, and there was island-wide loss of electrical power. Despite the significant damage, ongoing economic hardships, and the political realities that required Cuba to handle the situation without response support from other nations, Cuba's recovery was swift and effective. Cuba's disaster self-sufficiency and timely response to Hurricane Irma was grounded on 5 decades of disaster planning coupled with ongoing evolution of disaster risk reduction and management strategies. While the central command center, with local dispatch response teams, and mandated citizen engagement are features unique to Cuba's political structure, in this study, we highlight 5 defining attributes of Cuba's hurricane response that can constructively inform the actions of other island and coastal nations vulnerable to Atlantic tropical cyclones. These attributes are: (1) actively learning and incorporating lessons from past disaster events, (2) integrating healthcare and public health professionals on the frontlines of disaster response, (3) proactively engaging the public in disaster preparedness, (4) incorporating technology into disaster risk reduction, and (5) infusing science into risk planning. In terms of hurricane response, as a geopolitically isolated nation, Cuba has experienced particular urgency when it comes to protecting the population and creating resilient infrastructure that can be rapidly reactivated after the onslaught of storms of ever-increasing intensity. This includes planning for worsening future disaster scenarios based on a clear-eyed appreciation of the realities of climate change.

Assessment of climatic variability risks with application of livelihood vulnerability indices

The study applies vulnerability index models to appraise livelihood vulnerability to climate change of human communities living in coastal fronts of some selected mouzas of Namkhana Block part of the Indian Sundarbans. Primary household surveys (528 households in seven mouzas) are carried out to procure data on indicators of socio-demographic profile, livelihood strategies, health, food, water, social networks, natural disaster and climatic fluctuations. The data then have been processed by indices like livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) and livelihood vulnerability index-intergovernmental panel on climate change (LVI-IPCC) to evaluate and compare vulnerabilities of mouzas currently suffering from physical processes like coastal erosion, embankment breaching and flood events. The research outcome implies that Baliara and Iswaripur mouzas are highly vulnerable (LVI score > 0.600 and LVI-IPCC score > 0.170); Narayanpur, Mousuni, Kusumtala mouzas are moderately vulnerable (LVI score 0.540–0.600 and LVI-IPCC score 0.060–0.170); and Bagdanga, Patibania mouzas are least vulnerable (LVI score > 0.540 and LVI-IPCC score < 0.060) to changing climate phenomena. The foremost reasons behind higher vulnerability are greater exposure to climatic fluctuation, natural hazards and higher sensitivity to improper access to food, health, water and finally lower adaptive capacity in terms of poor socio-demographic profile and livelihood security. Findings of the study provide a deeper understanding of people’s perception, adaptation and their ever-increasing vulnerability to changing climate. This approach based on indicators emphasizes sectors that necessitate particular intercession to design management plans for threatened communities. Such type of pragmatic approach of study formulates reliable methodology to quantify vulnerability and develop disaster management strategies to increase the resilience of vulnerable coastal people to climate change.

An assessment of flood vulnerability and adaptation: A case study of Hamutsha-Muungamunwe village, Makhado municipality.

This study assesses flood vulnerability, levels of vulnerability, determinants of flood vulnerability and coping strategies for flood hazards. The vulnerability and resilience of the local communities are key concepts in this study. Most households are vulnerable to flood hazards. It is therefore important to measure their levels of vulnerability and assess their responses for current and future planning. A flood vulnerability index was used to measure the extent of flood vulnerability. Key informant interviews, field surveys and household questionnaires were used to collect the data. The results show that vulnerability to flood in this community is determined by the nature of soil, dwelling type, employment, education and amount of rainfall in a season. Social and economic components scored higher than the physical environment, while social factors are higher than the economic factors. Contextual coping strategies in this community were temporary relocation, evacuation to a safe area and waiting for government and neighbours to help. The study recommends that public awareness campaigns, early warning systems and improved disaster management strategies must take into consideration differentiated levels of vulnerability and community coping mechanisms and preferences.

THE JOINT RESEARCH PROJECT ANKOMMEN – EXPLORATION USING AUTOMATED UAV AND UGV

Abstract. Disasters such as floods, large fires, landslides, avalanches, or forest fires are often inevitable and cannot be fully prevented, but their impact can be minimized with sound disaster management strategies aided by the latest technological advancements. A key factor affecting these strategies is the time, where any delay can result in dramatic consequences and potentially human losses. Therefore, a quick situation report of the disaster is highly demanded, but still not an easy task because - in most cases - a priori known spatial information like map data or geo-databases, are outdated. In addition, visual and geometric information on the current situation is needed to help rescue teams and first responders. From this point of view, we came up to the main idea of the joint research project ANKommEn and its extension ANKommEn 2 (german acronym for Automated Navigation and Communication for Exploration). The project idea embodies an exploratory investigation to be smart in providing correct and timely geodata that can help in emergency cases; especially in support decision making in emergency risk management. For this purpose, automated unmanned systems, both ground (UGV) and airborne (UAV), are being developed to provide up-to-date information of rescue scenarios.

Social Protection for Elderly in Emergency (Case Study: Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia)

Yogyakarta Special Region in 2012 had the highest percentage of elderly population in Indonesia (13.04%), in 2020 it is predicted to reach 14.7%, and in 2030 it will reach 19.5%. The government in Yogyakarta Special Region needs to make a responsive policy of the increase in number of elderly people, considering that the elderly with various problems faced will become vulnerable in the event of a disaster. This study aims to develop a disaster management strategy oriented to social protection for the elderly in emergency. The research focused on Yogyakarta Special Region with the main consideration that Yogyakarta Special Region has the highest proportion of elderly people in Indonesia and has various potential disasters. Data collection techniques in this study used the method of observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), and documentation studies. The data that has been collected then analyzed descriptive qualitatively. The research find that disaster management strategic for realizing social protection for the elderly in emergencies include: (1) establishing a coordination mechanism and legal framework for disaster risk reduction, (2) integrating the concept of disaster risk on all regional and resource development rules and plans, (3) improving the flow and effective ways to share information about disaster, (4) increasing public awareness of disaster impacts and risks, and (5) integrating relation between multi-stakeholder and involving the real role of community where living in disaster-prone areas. The form of participatory social services to support the realization of social protection for the elderly in an emergency condition are directed through home care services, assisting productive economic empowerment, mentoring religious activities, and mentoring psycho-emotional activities.

DEVELOPMENT OF A GEODATABASE FOR EFFICIENT REMOTE SENSING DATA MANAGEMENT IN EMERGENCY SCENARIOS

Abstract. Disasters such as floods, large fires, landslides, avalanches, or forest fires are often inevitable and cannot be fully prevented, but their impact can be minimized with sound disaster management strategies aided by the latest technological advancements. A key factor affecting these strategies is the time, because any delay can result in dramatic consequences and potentially human losses. Therefore, a quick geo-situation report of the disaster is highly demanded, but still not an easy task because – in most cases – a priori known spatial information like map data or geodatabases, are outdated, and anyway won’t provide an overview on the current situation. This paper provides an exploratory investigation to be smart in providing correct and timely geodata that can help in emergency cases; especially in support decision making in emergency and risk management. In particular, issues related to geodatabase design and visualization of a variety of geodata available play a key role when it comes to efficient data deployment and usability. To this end, a significant part of this research will be devoted to develop a concept for a geodatabase design and dataset management that helps assessing a disaster risk through a potential provision of data needed. Based on this consideration, the proposed concept is to create multi-disciplinary integrated geodatabases as well as an easy-to-use graphical user interface to access the obtained data. To address this concept, hard- and software solutions are being developed through the joint research project ANKommEn and its extension ANKommEn2. In those projects two automated unmanned systems, that is an aerial UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and a ground based UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), are being developed to provide up-to-date information of rescue scenarios. Within this paper, highlights about the two project parts will be briefly presented, and then the current state of the art in geospatial database management, followed by focusing on Postgres-based database management connected with QGIS, and finally current results like a Web Map Service will be discussed.