Disaster Relief Funds Research Articles

Precise assessment of flood risk and accurate allocation of disaster relief funds through a fuzzy set approach

Precise assessment of flood risk and accurate allocation of disaster relief funds through a fuzzy set approach

The impact of floods and cyclones on fiscal arrangements in India: An empirical investigation at the sub-national level

Disasters can inflict severe devastation on communities and territories at all levels of authority. With regard to the connection between floods and cyclones and their financial impact, this study seeks to refocus national and subnational research efforts. The consequences of floods and cyclones on India's budget and economy at the subnational government level are examined in this study. The study creates a physical disaster intensity index to evaluate the impact on fiscal sustainability after disasters, as the estimated damages statistics are unreliable. Between 1995 and 2018, the study integrated disaster intensity index and budgetary data to produce a panel dataset of 25 Indian states. Using Panel Vector Autoregression, the study discovers that a state's overall government expenditure goes up, and its budget deficit worsens when floods and cyclones strike. By further breaking up the fiscal variables, we could pinpoint specific areas where disasters have exerted their influence, especially in terms of decreased own tax revenue, increased social sector expenditure and capital outlay, increased outstanding liability, increased primary deficit, and reduced transfers from the centre over time. It observed that after disasters, states more prone to disasters have higher volatility in revenue generation and expenditure patterns, and a sharp increase in outstanding liabilities. This suggests a greater reliance on borrowing for disaster recovery. Less-prone states, however, show higher utilization rates of disaster relief funds, indicating better resource allocation for disaster response and recovery. The study highlights that state governments rely highly on ex-post Disaster Risk Financing instruments, especially debt financing, as national relief and response funds couldn't manage the increased spending and budget deficit from disasters. This study thus helps policymakers and governments look for more proactive disaster financing instruments and make changes in India's fiscal framework to integrate climate change considerations.

Navigating Government Funding During a Pandemic: A Study on Nonprofits’ Receipt of Disaster Relief Funds

Abstract American communities have been the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The collaboration between governments and nonprofits is needed to satisfy the needs of the American communities. This article investigates the organizational factors of nonprofits that contribute to the obtainment of government disaster relief funds in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by surveying nonprofits whose main offices were located in California. The findings show that, in general, having internal professionals in fundraising, and having previous experience in government applications contribute to the successful receipt of government relief funds. Moreover, different factors are associated with the receipt of relief funds from different levels of government. This article offers valuable insights to government and nonprofit funding relations and how their collaboration can enhance community resilience during times of disasters.

Can Bank Density Provide Insights on the Appropriation of Disaster Relief Funds? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress in conjunction with the Small Business Administration (SBA) created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help small business owners retain employees. We improve on previous literature exploring the relationship between bank density and PPP loan dispersion by implementing precisely geocoded data to map loans to commuting zones. Revisiting results in Deming and Weiler (2023), we confirm the statistically significant relationship between bank density and PPP loans per small business. We consider three distinct periods of lending to analyze how changes in the PPP loan program rules might have impacted dispersion. The coefficient in the regression of loans per small business on bank density is largest in the final wave of lending, and in commuting zones with high loan densities. This suggests that having additional bank branches in the commuting zone may have helped facilitate rapid dispersion of relief funds to high demand areas during the program.

To rebuild or not to rebuild in coastal flood zones: The effects of framing and partisan cues on public support

AbstractCoastal storms are likely to increase in frequency and become even more damaging. An unresolved policy issue is whether current residents should receive federal subsidies through such programs as the Federal Flood Insurance Program or the FEMA disaster relief program that encourage thembe encouraged to rebuild in the same locations that have suffered damage through federal subsidies such as subsidized flood insurance or the FEMA disaster relief fund. This research investigated the impact that messages framed to either support or oppose such government assistance for rebuilding had on respondent opinion. We looked at opinion on not only the rebuilding itself but also other related subjects such as the economic and environmental impacts of rebuilding in situ. The research further looked at the ways in which attributing these messages to partisan sources affected response. We found that message frames either highlighting the benefits or the costs of rebuilding had a marked impact on public opinion and that partisan source cues played a smaller role. This issue of responsibility for rebuilding is likely to continue to become even more important as climate change puts even more coastal residents at risk.

Spatial-temporal evolution mechanism and efficiency evaluation of drought resilience system in China

The frequent occurrence of drought events poses significant challenges to regional sustainable development. Assessing regional drought resilience and efficiency is beneficial for governments to allocate disaster relief funds effectively and assist regions in enhancing their disaster resilience capabilities. In this study, we construct a “social-economic-environmental-institutional” drought resilience assessment framework to reveal the temporal and spatial evolution mechanism and spatial autocorrelation of drought resilience, explore the main factors influencing the evolution of this spatial pattern and the strength and interaction mechanisms among such influencing factors. And build a model from the perspective of input and output, use the SBM-DEA model to evaluate the efficiency of drought resistance, and reveal the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of drought resistance in different regions. The results show that China's drought resilience over the past 10 years has increased by an average index value of 13.14%, showing an overall increasing trend. The drought resilience level of coastal provinces in eastern China is relatively higher, while the resilience level in the inland northwest region is relatively lower. China's drought resilience has significant positive spatial correlation, the development of resilience is in a relatively stable spatial pattern. The H–H aggregation area is distributed in the southeastern coastal area, while the L-L aggregation area is distributed in western China, and the east-west difference is significant. Environmental indicators, such as annual average rainfall and annual average temperature, are the main factors causing spatial differentiation in drought resilience in the China, and the interaction between influencing factors is greater than the impact of a single factor. The drought resilience efficiency of provinces in the inland northwest and southeastern coastal areas is relatively high, while that of provinces in the southwest and northeast is relatively low. China's drought resilience efficiency still needs to be improved. Our research findings offer insights into the development of drought resilience in China, providing support for understanding disaster risk assessment and sustainable development.

Analyzing the Socio-economic Impact of the COVID-19 Disaster Relief Funds on the Type and Target: Focusing on the Perception of Social and Economic Effectiveness in Chungbuk, Korea

This research aims to comprehensively examine the economic and social effects by analyzing the perception of disaster relief funds for provincial residents focusing on Chungbuk. As a result of the study, it was found that the policy effectiveness of the disaster relief funds had a direct influence on the effectiveness of disaster relief funds, policy satisfaction, and policy attitude. In particular, it was found that the overall policy effectiveness and economic effectiveness were affected by the perception of the effectiveness of disaster relief funds. However, social effectiveness was found to be relatively affected by policy satisfaction. Considering the analysis results, it is interpreted that the point of attention in determining the policy effectiveness is affected by the possibility and effectiveness of policy means. And, it is judged that the perception of social effectiveness, which is a factor in judging the subjective area, is highly related to policy satisfaction, which is distinguished from the achievement of policy goals. Therefore, detailed content design of disaster relief funds is necessary by considering not only economic effectiveness but also social value and policy satisfaction management such as community recovery and government trust.

Design and assessment of pro-poor financial soft policies for expanding cities

Recent major earthquake disasters have highlighted the effectiveness of financial soft policies (e.g., earthquake insurance) in transferring seismic risk away from those directly impacted and complementing ‘hard’ disaster risk mitigation measures (e.g., structural retrofit). However, the benefits of existing financial soft policies are often not guaranteed. This may be attributed to: (1) their low penetration rate (e.g., in the case of earthquake insurance); (2) the fact that they typically neglect the explicit needs of low-income sectors in (developed and developing) modern societies, who are often disproportionately impacted by natural-hazard driven disasters; and/or (3) their failure to consider the time-dependent nature of urban exposure. We contribute towards addressing these shortcomings by proposing a flexible framework for designing and assessing bespoke, people-centred, household-level, compulsory financial soft policies (including conventional earthquake insurance, disaster relief fund schemes, income-based tax relief schemes, or a combination of these) across cities under rapid urban expansion. The proposed framework leverages the Tomorrow’s Cities Decision Support Environment, which aims to facilitate pro-poor disaster-risk-informed urban planning and design in developing country contexts. The framework specifically enables decision makers to strategically design and then assess the pro-poorness of mandatory soft policies, using financial impact metrics that discriminate losses on the basis of income. We showcase the framework using the hypothetical expanding city, “Tomorrowville”, successfully identifying pro-poor seismic-risk-related financial soft policies for different instances in the lifetime of the urban system.

Representations of disaster victimhood: Framing suffering and loss after the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake

AbstractThis article seeks to address a thematic thread that remains relatively unexplored in historical disaster research—victimhood—through an analysis of publications by disaster relief funds and their supporters in the aftermath of the 1934 earthquake in Bihar in northern India. By examining the representations of victimhood, I aim to explore the historical significance of perceptions and constructions of victimhood in the late colonial period. Based on photographs, illustrations, and descriptions of suffering in images and texts, the article suggests that constructions of victimhood effectively relied on imagery that contained, on the one hand, an absence of bodies and, on the other, a feminized anthropomorphization of suffering. The narratives underlying such depictions of earthquake victims are based on a constitution of victimhood that relied on contemporary historical and culturally founded imageries. The analysis of images and texts focuses on how representations of disaster victims were effective in communicating suffering to audiences. I tentatively argue that historically and culturally founded tropes of what constituted a victim formed along two narratives of victimhood that appealed to a colonial and a nationalist readership respectively. These conceptualizations of victimhood formed the basis for collecting aid for relief and reconstruction, rather than the loss of life, dispossession, social marginalization, and displacement suffered by victims of the earthquake.

재난지원금 지급에 대한 일별 소비 반응 분석

This study examines the effects of first COVID-19 emergency relief funds on local consumption in Jeju. We utilize daily data on credit card transactions and conduct empirical analyses using the GMM and VAR methodologies. The main results are as follows. First, during the period from January to August 2020, the increase in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases across the country significantly reduced Jeju residents’ card spending in Jeju. Second, we find strong evidence that the COVID-19 emergency relief funds affect the consumption of Jeju residents positively. The influence of the subsidy, which is considered as temporary income, on Jeju residents’ consumption was estimated to be lower than the that of tourists' spending, which could be considered as ordinary income. Third, the card spending of Jeju residents increased significantly at the time of the announcement of the government’s plan ahead of actual payments of the disaster aids. That is supportive evidence that consumption depends on the expected income. Lastly, when the Jeju-type disaster subsidy shock occurred, the response of Jeju residents' card consumption was immediate, whereas in the case of the government-type, the increase in consumption was delayed. This difference in the impulse responses might be due to the difference in the payment target, method, and timing between the two COVID-19 disaster relief funds.

In Case You Haven't Heard…

The American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APAF) recently awarded Languages of Care a $20,000 multi‐year grant from its Ukraine Disaster Relief Fund, a July 27 APAF news release stated. This grant will specifically support Languages of Care's work to translate and provide mental‐health‐related resources and supports in Ukraine. The Ukraine Disaster Relief Fund is designed to support human services organizations that address the mental health and well‐being of Ukrainian refugees, as well as those who are still in harm's way inside the country. Languages of Care supports crisis survivors, relief workers, and mental health practitioners by translating high‐quality, clinically reviewed and culturally sensitive resources into the languages most suitable for the community in need. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Languages of Care has been providing translated resources to refugees on the ground through evacuee transports and local organizations, and to mental health providers in many countries that accept refugees. With this grant, Languages of Care plans to support projects translating disaster mental health training and trauma‐informed teacher and school psychologist training into Ukrainian, Polish and Romanian.

Finance Commissions and Disaster Risk Funding: A Paradigm Shift in Methodology by Fifteenth Finance Commission

Disaster risk financing has been in practice since the Second Finance Commission in the form of a Margin Money Scheme. Later, it was replaced with a Calamity Relief Fund and a National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF)/National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF). These funds were based on expenditure-based funding, from which a state is provided relief funds based on its past expenditure. There have been a lot of discrepancies as states like Uttarakhand, with high hazard risk vulnerability, received ₹1,158 crore, and Haryana, comparatively a less hazard risk vulnerability state, received ₹1,699 crore for 2015–2020 from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). States and other agencies like National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have been demanding, for replacing this expenditure-based funding with a state-specific hazard/disaster risk vulnerability for a long time. The Fifteenth Finance Commission addressed this long-standing demand by incorporating an innovative methodology for disaster risk funding. It made a slight departure from the past method and included area, population and disaster risk index for calculating a state’s share in disaster risk funding. This article analytically examines the past and present methodologies of disaster risk funding by applying quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Disaster Vulnerability and Resilience of Foreigners in South Korea

The purpose of this study is to assess the level of disaster vulnerability of foreigners in Korea and identify the relationship between economic support, educational support, disaster resource support, information support, psychological support and disaster resilience of foreigners and suggested a strategy to improve disaster resilience. As a result of the analysis, it was found that economic support, educational support, disaster resource support, information support, psychological support has a significant effect on disaster resilience of foreigners. Based on these research results, the policy implications to improve disaster resilience are as follows. First, it is necessary to give disaster relief fund to foreigners. Second, it is necessary to provide disaster information in as many languages as possible. Third, it is necessary to explain the essentials of disaster evacuation and the location of the shelter through the manual. Fourth, it is necessary to provide psychological services to foreigners.

Economic crises and fiscal measures in South Korea: Asian Financial Crisis, Global Financial Crisis, and COVID-19

ABSTRACT . This study conducts a changes-in-changes analysis to identify the adverse effects of three economic crises and the countercyclical stabilisation effect of the welfare system in South Korea. First, the crises commonly delivered disproportionate effects and the economically vulnerable experienced more severe damages. Second, even though the welfare system has better mitigated negative impacts during the recent crises thanks to welfare expansion, it still provided limited coverage and insufficient benefits. Therefore, the Korean government introduced the Emergency Disaster Relief Funds as the first-ever one-off universal benefit, but it did not mitigate early damages and had temporary positive effects.

Social Media Networking as a Coping Strategy Amid the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Case of Migrant Women in Limpopo, South Africa

ABSTRACT The article explores the use of social media networking as a coping strategy among migrant women during the national lockdown in Limpopo, South Africa. This followed the government’s implementation of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which enforced strict regulations including closure of businesses, restricted movement, banning of informal trade and a wide range of social activities to curb the spread of the virus. While these actions were necessary to deal with the imminent threat of the pandemic, they had unintended effects on the livelihood of vulnerable groups such as migrant women who rely on informal work such as street vending, hair dressing and other menial jobs to fend for their families. Beyond disruption of their mode of economic survival, this was compounded by migrants’ non-eligibility to access social grants or benefits from the Disaster Relief Fund. This yielded unprecedented psychosocial uncertainties with increased potential for distress resulting from food insecurity, unstable accommodation, and isolation due to closed borders. Qualitative data were collected based on snowballed in-depth interviews with migrant women to saturation levels. Inference to the social presence and media richness theories was made to explicate the relationship between social media utilities and participants’ actions. The findings reveal that, migrant women relied on social media networking, particularly WhatsApp to receive updates on lockdown regulations; facilitate psychosocial support and empathise with fellow migrants elsewhere in the country; share survival strategies, and mobilise donations to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of the lockdown among migrant women in the province.

Comparative Analysis of COVID-19 Pandemic Response

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the responses to the COVID-19 among Korea, USA, Japan, Germany, and France. To compare responses to COVID-19, five criteria were adopted: disaster relief funds, social distancing and wearing masks, overseas arrivals, vaccination, and school and student quarantine. The results was summarized and presented as follows.
 First, most countries provided disaster relief funds and extended national and local tax payment deadlines. Second, most countries have guidelines for a safe distance to be 1~2m, and wearing a mask is mandatory. Third, the complete vaccination rates of each country shows that USA is 58.7%, Korea 77.2%, Japan 75.2%, France 68.7%, and Germany 67.4%. Fourth, all countries imposed entry bans from China, and the behavioral restrictions were relaxed to allow entry with confirmation of vaccination. Fifth, most countries had "online platforms", "take-home packages", "televisions", "cell phones" and "radios" during school closures.”

The effects of COVID-19 and response measures on poverty, household income and household consumption expenditure in South Korea

PurposeIn response to the pandemic, the Korean government introduced fiscal measures: including the Emergency Disaster Relief Funds which is the first-ever universal benefit in Korea. This paper identifies the effects of the measures on poverty, household income and household consumption expenditure under the disproportionate effect of the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThis study analysed the Korea Household Income and Expenditure Survey (KHIES) with Changes-in-Changes at five percentiles (5, 25, 50, 75 and 95%) instead of Difference-in-Differences (DD) because the parallel trends assumption of DD cannot be investigated due to the recent KHIES redesign. In addition, it also exmined the effects on vulnerable groups (e.g. female, elderly and young households).FindingsCOVID-19 has had prompt and disproportionate effects on the vulnerable, such as low-income, female and elderly households. However, the government measures had a limited effect. First, the measures could not mitigate the initial income reduction and only had temporary positive effects on income and consumption expenditure. Second, young households tended to save the relief instead of present consumption. Lastly, education disparity was observed at 25 and 50%. Therefore, this study suggests that response measures need to be sustainable and concentrated on the vulnerable.Originality/valueA large literature estimated effects on either household income or household consumption expenditure, and focused on macroeconomic indices (e.g. marginal propensity to consumption). This study analysed both income (poverty) and consumption expenditure and found policy implications for better welfare system in an economic downturn.

Dramaturgi Pelaku Fraud Bertopeng Kebaikan dan Berselimut Dusta: Studi Kasus Dana Bencana Alam Organisasi Nirlaba

The research is intended to reveal the meaning behind the practice of fraud in natural disaster funds in a non-profit organization, where the practice of fraud in a non-profit organization is not a foreign subject. The practice can be traced from every activity carried out. In the phenomenon that occurs in non-profit organizations, there are hidden practices behind and behind it can be found the causes of fraud. Dramaturgy theory is used in this study to reveal the activities of interaction with each other as well as the performance of a drama and prove a play of life presented by a handful of individuals and groups of people to seek attention. This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach. The case study approach is considered very appropriate to be used in this study, because in this study it focuses on one case that occurred, namely the phenomenon of hidden practices in the form of masks of kindness and shrouded in lies behind the fraud of natural disaster relief funds in non-profit organizations. The data collection technique used observation, independent interview, and documentation study. The results of this study found the causes of hidden practices behind the fraud of natural disaster relief funds in organizations, where what is said to be the cause of these causes is a lack of supervision, a profit-seeking culture, the existence of opportunities or opportunities. the level of fraud in non-profit organizations which include; establishment of an internal audit team, regular supervision, establishment of anti-fraud policies, embedding the value of religiosity.

COVID-19 긴급재난지원금이 복지태도에 미치는 영향 - 성별에 따른 정책효능감 조절효과를 중심으로 -

본 연구는 COVID-19와 같은 사회경제적 위기 상황에서 국가에서 시행된 1차 재난지원금이 복지태도에 어떠한 영향을 주었으며, 그러한 관계에서 정책효능감의 조절효과를 확인하고자 진행된 연구이다. 조사대상은 1차 긴급재난 지원금을 수령하고 지출한 경험이 있는 전국의 20세~69세 성인을 대상으로 온라인 조사방식을 활용하였으며, 총 435명의 자료를 분석에 활용하였다. 분석결과 재난지원금 만족도는 여성보다 남성의 평균점수가 높게 나타났다. 모든 모형에서 재난지원금 만족도는 복지태도에 유의미한 영향을 미치는 요인으로 나타났으며, 사회정책에 대한 개인적 경험은 복지태도에 영향을 준다는 정책피드백 이론(policy feedback theory)이 본 연구에서도 확인되었다. 재난지원금 만족도와 복지태도와의 관계에서 정책효능감의 조절효과를 검증한 결과 전체 모형과 남성 모형에서 재난지원금 만족도와 정책효능감이 복지태도에 영향을 주는 요인으로 확인되었으나 정책효능감의 조절효과는 없는 것으로 나타났다. 여성 모형에서도 재난지원금 만족도와 정책효능감은 복지태도에 영향을 주는 요인으로 확인되었으며, 정책효능감은 부적(-)조절효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과에 대해 실천적, 정책적 대안을 제시하고자 한다.

Korean Families’ Response to COVID-19-Related Policy Measures

본 연구는 코로나19 대응 정책의 적절성과 효과성을 평가하는 기초 연구로, 만 20~64세 성인(461명)을 대상으로 2020년 5월과 11월 두 차례에 걸쳐 정책에 대한 인지도, 이용 정도, 이용 만족도 및 요구도를 살펴보고자 STATA 14.0 프로그램을 이용하여 기술통계치와 쌍체 t 값을 구하였다. 연구를 통해 도출한 결론은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 인지도가 높은 정책은 1차 때는 긴급재난지원금, 유연근무제, 긴급돌봄지원 등이었으며, 2차 때는 유연근무제, 통신비, 긴급돌봄지원이었다. 둘째, 이용한 정책은 1차 때는 긴급재난지원금이었으며, 2차 때는 긴급재난지원금신청이 없어지면서 정책 이용 비율이 낮아졌다. 셋째, 이용 만족도가 높은 정책은 1차 때는 아동돌봄쿠폰, 긴급재난지원금 등이었으나 2차 때는 긴급돌봄지원과 아동돌봄쿠폰 등이었다. 넷째, 정책 요구도는 1, 2차 조사에서 유사하게 일자리 공급/유지, 소득지원 등에 대한 요구가 높았다. 그러나 일부 정책에서는 1, 2차 사이에 요구도가 달라졌는데, 노인돌봄, 가족상담 및 교육 요구도는 더 높아진 반면, 소득지원 및 가족여가 지원은 더 낮아졌다. 그리고 미취학자녀가 있는 가족에서 코로나19 관련 정책에 대한 요구도가 가장 높았다. 이처럼 코로나19의 장기화에 따라 시간의 변화 및 가족 특성에 맞는 정책이 필요하다.This study aims to examine Korean families’ response to COVID-19-related policies in terms of awareness and utilization. The adequacy of these policies is also assessed by examining satisfaction towards and demand for them. An analysis of data collected from 461 people surveyed in May and November of 2020 showed that respondents were aware of COVID-19-related policy measures in the following order: 1) emergency disaster relief fund, followed by 2) a flexible work system and 3) the urgent childcare support measure. The most utilized policy measure was the emergency disaster relief fund. Satisfaction was high in May towards the temporary cash assistance measure, and in November towards the care services measure. The policy demand for elderly care and family counseling and education increased between May and November, while the policy demand for cash assistance and family leisure support decreased. In particular, the policy demand from families with preschool children was higher than that from families with school-age children. This study suggests that COVID-19-related policy measures should accommodate the different and evolving needs of different households based on family characteristics as the pandemic progresses.