Disaster Management Strategies Research Articles

Against the Odds: Developing a Core Competence Framework of Social Work Practice for the Field of Disaster Management in China

Disaster plans are complex and the role of social workers can become lost amidst plans and processes. Although social workers' skill sets are desperately needed during disasters and recovery, in many disaster management strategies their roles are not acknowledged. In order to maximise their value, specific training for social workers in disaster management needs to be reinvigorated. Associate Professor Timothy Sim, Singapore University of Social Sciences, believes that current social work research in disaster management is underdeveloped, and other professionals are unclear about social workers' roles in it. His project to examine the core competence of social work in various stages of disaster management was funded by the General Research Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government. He and colleagues from China and around the world devised a new competence framework that is unique from previous attempts. The framework comprises five dimensions: knowledge, values, skills, roles and tasks, in four specific disaster management phases: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The thinking behind this novel structure is that it will help social work professionals clarify related concepts and comprehend competencies, roles and tasks for each phase of the disaster management cycle. The approach is also more comprehensive and precise than has been seen previously and will improve collaboration between social workers, governments and non-government organisations. Furthermore, the team used rigorous research methods when designing the framework, including an integrative review, in-depth interviews and a Delphi study. In addition, the team is confident the framework will have a long-term impact and could be applied to other countries and contexts.

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

Effectiveness of disaster management strategies employed by oil companies and government agencies towards oil pipeline vandalism in selected states in Niger Delta, Nigeria

The effectiveness of disaster management strategies as it relates to oil pipeline vandalism in not a job for one but for all stakeholders in the oil industry, this however necessitated the need for this study which is targeted at examining the effectiveness of disaster management strategies employed by oil companies and government agencies towards oil pipeline vandalism in selected states in the Niger Delta. The study adopted the cross sectional research design where the simple random techniques was adopted as the method for the distribution of the research instrument. The study made use of questionnaire as the research instrument which was distributed to 400 respondents sampled across the selected State, Local Government Areas and Communities but only 392 copies were completely filled and returned for the study. Hypothesis for the study was tested with the aid of the Chi-Square statistical tool. The findings of the study showed that the effectiveness of disaster management strategies adopted by government agencies and multi nationals are less effective, it also revealed that management strategies adopted by the government and its agencies is less effective for prevention/mitigation, for preparedness, response and recovery/rehabilitation activities. The study concluded that the event of vandalism has impacted negatively on the Nigeria oil production as well as economic advantage. At various administrative eras, the more the government develop new strategies to tackle vandalism, the more the vandals devise another means to carry on their activities and that various disaster management strategies adopted by oil companies and government and its agencies are either less effective or ineffective and required a change in strategy. The study however, recommends that; government and multinationals should adopt disaster management strategies that are community based, that integrates the locals in the management of pipeline vandalism to curtail incidences of pipeline vandalism and the need for government and multinational collaborations in determining and framing strategies that are effective using international best practices.

Assessment of disaster management strategies employed by oil companies and government agencies towards oil pipeline vandalism in selected states in Niger Delta Region

The study was carried out to assess disaster management strategies employed by oil companies and government agencies towards oil pipeline vandalism in selected states in the Niger Delta region. The study made use of cross sectional research design, the simple random sampling method was used in selecting the sample for the study. Using this technique, the three states was selected for the study. From among the selected states (3), three LGAs and two communities each was also selected. For this study, eighteen (18) communities representing nine (9) local government areas from three (3) states of the study Area was used for the study. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. A total of 400 respondents were used for the study, this was achieved from using the Taro Yamane formula for sample size determination, hence 400 copies of questionnaire which is the major source of data collection were administered to the respondents using the proportionate sampling technique. The study found amongst others that there have been cases of pipeline vandalism on oil companies’ infrastructure; however, they are unaware of prevent/mitigation means used by the oil corporations to prevent/mitigate the occurrence of pipeline vandalism, on the prevention/mitigation and preparedness activities engaged by government agencies, security engagement was perceived as the most adopted strategies. Activation of emergency spill response team is the response strategy adopted by government and its agencies followed by arrest of vandals/victim and medical treatment of victims. Among various strategies adopted by government and its agencies for recovery/rehabilitation, community arrest of vandals was perceived as the most adopted strategy. The study recommended that oil multinationals should synergize with credible formal community-based platforms to work out a grassroots approach to pipelines surveillance and protection.

A Qualitative Insight into Gendered Vulnerabilities: A Case Study of the Shishper GLOF in Hunza Valley, Pakistan

Gendered vulnerability from women’s point of view has gained popularity in disaster studies in recent decades especially in the Global South. The positioning of women in society during normal times gives rise to vulnerabilities that are revealed when a disaster strikes. These vulnerabilities are often deep-rooted in societal makeup, cultural and traditional norms, and the economic fabric of society. In the context of Pakistan, the role of women in disaster risk reduction programs is still an under-researched area. In this paper, the gendered vulnerability progression in one of the mountain rural communities of Hassanabad in Hunza Valley (Northern Pakistan) is analyzed post-Shishper glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF) in 2019 and 2020. The study uses empirical qualitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with men and women of different age groups within Hassanabad village. A thematic gendered analysis unveiled several interlinked social, economic, and institutional vulnerabilities. The gendered transitional phase of Hassanabad society positively indicates women’s involvement in different spheres of life, including disaster management and mitigation. However, the lack of gender consideration on a formal institutional level exacerbates the gendered vulnerabilities in Hassanabad village. The case study of Hassanabad demonstrated that women not only have an awareness of hazards but are also willing to participate proactively in disaster mitigation activities. Therefore, to reduce community vulnerability and yield long-term positive outcomes of disaster management and mitigation strategies, women must be involved at the formal institutional levels.

Abrupt new realities amid the disaster landscape as one crisis gives way to crises

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the roles of sudden change and social disruption in the disaster landscape that shapes the environment of tourism destinations when hazards intersect with human systems.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on the social science literature on disasters and crises. To this end, this paper provides an overview of the role abrupt changes have in transforming the tourism and hospitality industries.FindingsThis paper serves as a call to seek bold solutions that bring about industry best practices while fostering local community stakeholders in a more integrated way to build a more resilient future.Originality/valueThe disaster landscape provides opportunities to advance new structures, norms, cultural beliefs and collaborations that can foster resilience. This paper highlights the need to integrate resilience in the form of disaster management, recovery and organizational continuity strategies in the post-COVID-19 hospitality and tourism industries.

ANALISIS KEBUTUHAN MASYARAKAT TERDAMPAK BANJIR ROB: STUDI KASUS KOTA PEKALONGAN

This paper identifies the needs of victims affected by tidal flooding. In addition, it explores people's expectations of government policies in resolving tidal floods. The research was conducted in Pekalongan City which includes four sub-districts. Data were obtained through observation,questionnaires, interviews, documentation, and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) . From the distribution of questionnaires obtained 100 respondents. The FGD was held by inviting government agencies in Pekalongan City and having involvement in the problem of tidal flooding. The results of the study show that the needs of the community affected by the tidal flood that must be met on a priority basis include: basic food needs, health needs, survival needs, spiritual and (religious) needs. From the results of the F GD, it was concluded that each agency had worked according to its duties. However, coordination and consolidation need to be improved. From this research, priority needs and disaster management strategies can be drawn that can be used for handlingKeywords: Pekalongan City; tidal flood, disaster mitigation; refugee needs

Community Flood Resilience Categorization Framework

Coupled with climate change, the expansive developments of urban areas are causing a significant increase in flood-related disasters worldwide. However, most flood risk analysis and categorization efforts have been focused on the hydrologic features of flood hazards (e.g., inundation depth, extent, and duration), rarely considering the resulting long-term losses and recovery time (i.e., the community's flood resilience). This paper aims at developing a data-driven community flood resilience categorization framework that can be utilized for the development of realistic disaster management strategies and proactive risk mitigation measures to better protect urban centers from future catastrophic flood events. This approach considers key resilience goals such as the robustness of the exposed community and its recovery rapidity. Such categorization that calls on the two resilience means, namely resourcefulness and redundancy, can empower decision makers to learn from past events and guide future resilience strategies. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed framework, a data-driven framework was applied on historical mainland flood disaster records collected by the US National Weather Services between 1996 and 2019. Descriptive analysis was conducted to identify the features of this dataset as well as the interdependence between the different variables considered. To further demonstrate the utilization of the developed data-driven framework, a spatial analysis was conducted to quantify community flood resilience across different counties within the affected states. Beyond the work presented in this paper, the developed framework lays the foundation to adopt data driven approaches for disasters prediction to guide proactive risk mitigation measures and develop community resilience management insights.

Managing a natural disaster: actionable insights from microblog data

ABSTRACT Social media message boards have become a critical source of information during mass emergencies/disasters, leading to appropriate human action. The use of platforms like Twitter to share information about unfolding crises and social media adoption by governments for communication has increased interest in developing rounded disaster management strategies. Although scholarly works exist for modeling human-traits as social media usage predictors, seminal works on using social media as a predictor for human behavior are rare. This paper aims to identify pertinent information communicated amidst a disaster to unearth linguistic and thematic features that make tweets popular and attract human involvement. This research is based on the calamities during the last decade in the Indian subcontinent. We apply computational intelligence to identify features that make a tweet popular during a disaster. Our research suggests that Tweet popularity attracting human action in a disaster is affected by communication style over social media.

Disaster management using deep learning on social media

ABSTRACT The main goal of this proposed work is to provide solutions for disaster management using deep learning algorithms on social media images. The MNIST dataset was used to initially build the deep learning models. The images were trained using LeNet5, VGG13, VGG 16 and LSTM deep learning models. Later a dataset containing 3460 images were taken from social media. The labels earthquake, wildfire and floods were used to achieve classification results. The images were trained and validated using LSTM, VGG13 and VGG16. The performance of the algorithms is compared and the disaster response technique is generated based on the image classification and disaster management strategies are provided based on classification.

Panic Buying and Consumption Displacement during COVID-19: Evidence from New Zealand

Panic buying and hoarding behavior is a significant component of crisis- and disaster-related consumption displacement that has received considerable attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding such purchasing and stockpiling behavior provides critical information for government, disaster managers and the retail sector, as well as policy makers to adjust crisis response strategies and to better understand disaster management, including preparedness and response strategies. This study examines consumer purchasing behavior, retail spending and transactional data for different retail sectors between January 2017 and December 2020 using data for the greater Christchurch region in New Zealand. Once COVID-19-related panic buying began, overall spending increased sharply in anticipation of lockdowns. Transactional spending increased and subsided only slowly to a level higher than pre lockdown. The magnitude of the panic buying event far exceeded historical seasonal patterns of consumer spending outside of Christmas, Easter and Black Friday, although daily spending levels were comparable to such consumption events. The results of the study highlight the importance of comparing panic buying to other events in terms of purchasing motivations and also considering that so-called panic buying may contribute to greater individual and household resilience. The volume of sales alone is not adequate to define panic buying. Instead, the extent of divergence from the normal daily spending value per retail transaction of a given population provides a much more accurate characteristic of panic buying.

A Scientometric Review of Urban Disaster Resilience Research.

Natural disasters and human-made disasters are threatening urban areas globally. The resilience capacity of the urban system plays an important role in disaster risk response and recovery. Strengthening urban disaster resilience is also fundamental to ensuring sustainable development. Various practices and research for enhancing urban disaster resilience have been carried out worldwide but are yet to be reviewed. Accordingly, this paper gives a scientometric review of urban disaster resilience research by using CiteSpace. The time span (January 2001–January 2021) was selected and divided into three phases based on the number of publications. In addition, according to keyword statistics and clustering results, the collected articles are grouped into four hotspot topics: disaster risk reduction, specific disaster resilience research, resilience assessment, and combination research. The results show that most of the existing research is in the first two categories, and articles in the second and fourth categories both show a high growth rate and could be further research directions. The review indicates that urban disaster resilience is essential for a city’s sustainable development. Moreover, the findings provide scholars a full picture of the existing urban disaster resilience research which can help them identify promising research directions. The findings can also help urban government officials and policymakers review current urban disaster management strategies and make further improvements.

Disaster Management During Tropical Storm Karen: The Story of Trinidad Extension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the weather-related disaster preparedness and response strategies of agricultural extension professionals in Trinidad during Tropical Storm Karen (TSK). Trinidad faces perennial flooding, and Trinidad extension professionals have often been involved in the management of weather-related disasters. TSK was contextualized as a case study, and a qualitative approach was used to investigate the lived experiences of the extension professionals who directly assisted with managing the event. Semi-structured interview data were collected, along with concept maps and participant-rendered drawings. Each interview was compared with the participant’s concept map and drawing, while the constant comparative technique was used to evaluate the interview data among the participants to derive themes. Data were collected remotely using internet platforms due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Findings indicated that disaster preparedness was strategized through field activities, including collecting data and providing disaster advice to clients. Disaster responsiveness was strategized through field actions, primarily through field evaluations for subsidy claims. In addition, related to disaster response, extension professionals faced various challenges in responding to TSK, most notably, the inability to access appropriate transportation. The findings of this study can guide the government of Trinidad and Tobago in bolstering the disaster management strategies of the country, as well as inform regional disaster management plans in other Caribbean countries.

Assessment of environmental governance in disaster vulnerability context of rural Bangladesh

AbstractBangladesh faces many climate‐driven hazards due to its geophysical position and is more vulnerable than most developing countries. The natural resources‐based livelihood of the riverine island (char) dwellers is frequently hampered by the adverse effect of environmental changes. This study intends to assess the status of environmental governance for protecting disaster‐prone communities in Bangladesh. Geographically isolated disaster‐prone riverine island areas of northern Bangladesh have been purposively selected for this study. A qualitative method has been applied to explore the extent of governmental intervention. The intervention of environmental governance has been measured by assessing the role of government in disaster management by engaging with a state, market, and community for char community. In addition, secondary data were used to substantiate the argument. This study reveals that environmental governance initiatives are not enough to protect char dwellers from frequent hazards and fail to ensure livelihood resilience. The status of environmental governance in char areas is very poor, weak, inactive, and unable to address the present problem and future challenges. The article suggests that a comprehensive disaster management strategy should be implemented in the char areas through strengthening local government capacity.

Assessing disaster risk by integrating natural and socio-economic dimensions: A decision-support tool

The paper provides a conceptual framework for a multi-dimensional assessment of risk associated to natural disasters. The different components of risk (hazard, exposure, vulnerability and resilience) are seen in a combined natural and socio-economic perspective and are integrated into a Disaster Risk Assessment Tool (DRAT). The tool can be used to support disaster management strategies, as well as risk mitigation and adaptation strategies at very disaggregated geographical or administrative scales. In this paper, we illustrate the features of the DRAT and we apply the tool to 7556 Italian municipalities to map their multidimensional risk. DRAT can be particularly useful to identify hotspots that are characterized by high hazard, exposure and vulnerability and by low resilience. In order to identify hotspots, we perform a cluster analysis of the Italian municipalities in terms of their risk ranking based on DRAT. We also suggest how the tool may be exploited within the processes of disaster risk policy.

Strategic framework of Unmanned Aerial Systems integration in the disaster management public organisations of the Dominican Republic

In the Caribbean region, there is a significant yearly number of natural events incidents. The impact of those events has affected the well-being, social and economic structures of the countries in this region. The investment in disaster management strategies is a fundamental decision to the region for improving capabilities, understanding the liabilities, dealing with the disaster stages, and integrating systems and tools to obtain greater results in resilience strategies. Therefore, information technology and robotics have played an effective role bringing innovation to the traditional approaches by improving the capabilities of personnel and serving as a catalyst to rapid data collection tools for effective decision-making during disastrous situation, as has been the case of the Dominican Republic. The organic adoption process of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) has represented a large step forward regarding this matter. Examples of the adoption process occur based on their flexibility in their regulatory context, funding investments in testing the applications of UAS, such as surveying, delivering medical samples and spray disinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are only some mature applications that address a future-proofing concept as well as the integration into a typical institutional workflow. Therefore, this paper aims to be an introductory guide for decision and policymakers, educators and technicians to reduce the scepticism, lack of knowledge and know-how in the adoption of reliable, practical and effective tools by providing a combination of theories from socio-technical systems (socio-technical change impact model (SCI)) and organisational level (technology-organisational-environmental) frameworks of the UAS adoption process for natural events, tasks and critical roles in disaster management taking into account the Dominican Republic context. Qualitative case of study was evaluated from 7 organisations involved to disaster management in the Dominican Republic, and a semi-structured interview were used to approach the adoption process of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) in these organisations.The findings of these studies reveal the lessons learned from the internal strategies and policies in the adoption process between public and private institutions. The task of capturing images and videos has been shown to be a faster way to acquire data, which allow infrastructure projects to tend to be a significant benefit at the moment of applying UAS for 3D reconstructions and simulations of seismic behaviour, and finally, identification of inaccessible vulnerable areas after disasters. Other tasks, such as search and rescue, are also mentioned. Recommendations for policymakers are related to establish guidance for learning organisations approaches on focusing on digitalisation of cities through UAS applications. Other context can be benefit from the lessons and can also beas an additional complement of the Regional Comprehensive Disaster Management Framework of 2014–2024.

Disaster management strategies and relation of good governance for the coastal Bangladesh

Although Bangladesh’s immense steps in preparing the disaster management policies following the values of good governance issue, the quantity to which these policies have productively been executing at the local level remnants mostly unknown. The objectives of this investigation were dual: firstly, to inspect the roles and efficiency of the local-level governance and disaster management organization, and lastly, to recognize the obstacles to the execution of national the policies and Disaster-Risk-Reduction guidelines at the local community level. The authors applied qualitative research and case Study approach, using techniques from the Participatory Rural Appraisal toolbox to collect data from local community members as well as government and NGO officials. From the finding of the study, it was revealed that interactive disaster governance, decentralization of disaster management, and compliance by local-level institutions with good governance principles and national policy guidelines can be extremely effective in reducing disaster-loss and damages. According to coastal community members, the local governments have generally failed to uphold good governance principles, and triangulated data confirm that the region at large suffers from rampant corruption, political favoritism, lack of transparency and accountability and minimal inclusion of local inhabitants in decision-making – all of which have severely impeded the successful implementation of national disaster-management policies. This study contributes to these research gaps, with identification of further research agenda in these areas. The paper deals with International Sendai Framework that called for enhancement of local level community resilience to disasters. Thus, it contributes to numerous policy and practice areas relating to good disaster governance. The study identified the specific manifestations of these failures in coastal communities in Bangladesh. These results underscore the vital need to address the wide gap between national DRR goals and the on-the-ground realities of policy implementation to successfully enhance the country’s resilience to climate change-induced disasters.

Disaster mitigation and its strategies in a global context - a state of the art

Disaster is an inherent part of the environment and society gets hampered with the frequent disasters which affects the human life/living organisms, properties/materials and economy of the country. Literature on the natural and manmade disasters involving high risks is examined and pre or post disaster activities are studied. Recent studies state that, the disasters mostly occur due to the man-made effects rather than natural causes. In order to manage the disasters caused by both unnatural and natural means, some mitigation strategies should be followed, that result in vulnerability reduction minimizing the losses and damages. This paper mainly focuses on giving wide knowledge on various strategies that have been used to manage the natural disasters from the studies carried out by many researchers and scientists. The mitigation planning for various sectors such as Engineering and Construction, Physical, Economical, Societal, Management and Institution have been clearly insighted and reported in this paper [9]. Mitigation measurements, sub divided into active and passive are identified and also described in this paper. Proposed disaster management strategies in terms of Preparedness cycle, Mitigation cycle, Response phase and Recovery phase have been clearly defined and presented. A brief overview of disaster mitigation and scope of the Indian scenario are presented in this paper.

Komunikasi Kebencanaan: Suatu Strategi Dalam Membangun Masyarakat Sadar Bencana Pada BPBD Kota Mataram

A disaster is an event that threatens and disrupts people's lives and livelihoods which are caused, both by natural and / or non-natural factors as well as human factors, resulting in human casualties, environmental damage, property loss and psychological impacts. According to Law Number 24 of 2007 concerning Disaster Management, disasters are classified into three parts; natural disasters, non-natural disasters and social disasters. The impact of disasters, especially natural disasters, varies from the moment of occurrence to post-disaster. Referring to the series of earthquake events in Lombok on 29 July 2018 (M6.4), 5 August 2018 (M7.0) and 19 August 2018 (M6.9), until 1 September 2018 has claimed 564 victims and suffered losses with the total rough count reached IDR 12.15 trillion. The impact of the earthquake is a lesson for the government and related agencies, in this case the Mataram City BPBD to better prepare disaster management strategies in a mature and planned manner. This study aims to determine the disaster communication strategy of the Mataram City BPBD in building a disaster-aware Mataram community using qualitative methods. The results of the research also show, among others: (1) Determination of communicators / community leaders as a credible source; (2) Selection of messages that are easy to understand; (3) Selection of disaster reporting media; (4) Mapping communication barriers in building disaster-aware communities

Use of deep learning models in street-level images to classify one-story unreinforced masonry buildings based on roof diaphragms

In this paper, we explore the potential of convolutional neural networks to classify street-level imagery of one-story unreinforced masonry buildings (MURs) according to the flexibility of the roof diaphragm (rigid or flexible). This information is critical for vulnerability studies, disaster risk assessments, disaster management strategies, etc., and is of great relevance in cities where unreinforced masonry is the most common building typology or where the majority of the population resides in such buildings. Our contribution could be useful for local governments of cities in developing countries seeking to significantly reduce the number of deaths caused by disasters. Our research results indicate that VGG19 is the convolutional neural network architecture with the best performance, with an accuracy of 0.80, a precision of 0.88, and a recall of 0.84. The results are encouraging and could be used to reduce the amount of resources (both human and economic) for the development of detailed exposure models for unreinforced masonry buildings.