Disaster Risk Management Cycle Research Articles

Identifying obstacles encountered at different stages of the disaster management cycle (DMC) and its implications for rural flooding in Pakistan

The world has seen a number of natural hazards, but among them, floods are perhaps the most frequent devastating natural hazard, resulting in more human causalities and financial losses. Rural inundation has become an issue of concern in various parts of the world, including Pakistan. Over the past few decades, it has been hard for local institutions and rural populations to recover from the trauma inflicted by these events. The disaster risk management cycle is a well-known tool for coping with disasters and their consequences. Yet, the DRM cycle efficacy has been questioned in various rural settings. Thus, this paper applied a programmatic strategy to understand the challenges disaster management authorities and communities face in managing flood risks through the conventional disaster management cycle in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. The study objective was accomplished by using both qualitative and exploratory research designs. Four communities (namely, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, and Dera Ismail Khan) with a historical record of flooding were chosen for focus group discussion (32 in total) using a purposive sampling method. Additionally, 31 key informant interviews were undertaken from pertinent local disaster risk management institutions. We employed a thematic analysis to classify responses and obstacles into the various stages of the disaster management cycle. The findings of this study from interviews and focus groups provided some new insight into the conventional DRM cycle. The issues and challenges encountered by institutions and the community members were divided into four stages: 1-mitigation, 2-preparedness, 3-rescue and relief (R&R), and 4-rehabilitation and recovery (R&R). Based on the findings, it seems that local disaster management institutions still rely on reactive strategies and deal with flood hazards on an ad hoc basis. Poor governance and a lack of responses for present development trajectories were also highlighted as reasons why flood risk management is still challenging. There is an urgent need to perform susceptibility and risk assessments for multiple hazards and develop specialized plans that follow disaster risk reduction principles and adaptation to climate change. This study recommends incorporating resilience and adaptation to climate change into the current disaster management cycle to prevent or reduce future hazards and risks in rural areas.

Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Standards for Hospitals

Background: Hospitals play an important role in protecting the health and survival of people during disasters. Despite the development of risk management programs worldwide in recent years, hospital preparedness in disasters is low and one reason for that is the lack of hospital standards for disaster preparedness. This study aims to develop hospital accreditation standards for hospital disaster risk management based on national and international experiences. Materials and Methods: We used a mixed-method explanatory sequential approach. At first, a comparative study was conducted and the disaster risk management (DRM) hospital standards were extracted from 10 selected countries, namely the United States, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Denmark. Standards were analyzed according to the DRM life cycle and the most comprehensive framework was chosen. For national experiences, purposeful semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 experts in disastrous events in the country and continued until the saturation stage. In addition, Graneheim and Landman’s contractual content analysis method was used for data analysis. After combining international standards and national experiences, the proposed standards were introduced and the content validity index and content validity ratio were done by 25 experts. Results: Differences were observed in the quality and quantity of the selected countries’ DRM standards. The national accreditation standards of the United States, Australia, and Canada had comprehensive standards and covered all aspects of the disaster risk management cycle. A total of 27 standards from the International Standards Review and 31 standards from interviews were added (a total of 58 standards). The content validity results of the standards were within acceptable limits. After editing and determining the measurement criteria, the final standards were introduced. Conclusion: This study introduces comprehensive DRM standards based on international and national documents and experiences that can be useful for policymakers and accreditation organizations in both developed and developing countries for hospital evaluation. This is also useful for hospitals as a roadmap for promoting preparedness in disasters.

National Documents Analysis of Risk Communication in Iran: Based on Disaster Risk Management Cycle

Background: Risk communication is a complex, multifaceted process that plays a significant role in disaster management. One of the criticisms of Iran's health system risk communication is the existence of legal gaps and deficiencies in upstream documents. Objectives: This research evaluated national documents to identify and assess the legislative gap in health system risk communication. Methods: This research is a gap analysis study using the qualitative content analysis method. National documents from 2002 to 2022 related to disaster management were collected. Documents were entered into the blueprint designed by the researcher and analyzed. Results: In the present study, 58 documents due to disaster management were extracted. After the initial review, 36 documents involving 266 items concentrating on risk communication were included in the research. In initial thematic analysis, 47 approvals due to the mitigation phase (five subcategories of information, education and public awareness, infrastructure development, community engagement, and preparation and maintenance of information systems), 61 approvals due to the preparedness phase (nine subcategories of monitoring, information and maintenance of database, creation and maintenance of network and communication infrastructure, coordination, organizational training, planning, determining level of access to information, communication, monitoring and evaluation), 133 approvals due to the response phase (11 subcategories of information management, informing, communication management, media management, trust building, organization and coordination, appointing a spokesperson, monitoring and control, use and management of social media, content production, and supply and maintenance of equipment and infrastructure), 25 approvals due to the phase of rehabilitation and reconstruction (four subcategories of documentation, information, training, and community engagement). Conclusions: The field of risk communication has been mentioned according to the revision and updating of documents in recent years, but in these documents, many aspects of risk communication were dim; therefore, experts in the field of disaster management should pay more attention to a review of these papers and the creation of a special document on risk communication.

The Italian experience and its contribution to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in reinforcing cultural heritage protection through the Proculther project

Purpose. The aim of the article is to explain how the Italian response capacities for the safeguarding of cultural heritage at risk of disaster has been enhanced over the past twenty-five years and how it has contributed to raising the awareness of this issue at international level. Approach/methodology. For this purpose, the main steps made in the last decades by Italy in including the protection of cultural heritage among other emergency issues are described below. In fact, Italy has made many efforts in the past decades to improve the emergency management of cultural heritage, paying particular attention to preparedness, prevention and response actions. Since the end of the past century, dedicated training courses have been organized at all levels as well as local, national and international exercises with specific scenarios dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage at risk of disaster in order to test specific procedures needed to ensure this type of response. In the meantime, the drafting of standard operating procedures specifically addressing the protection of vulnerable cultural heritage emerged as a result of a keen collaboration between the Italian Ministry of Culture (Italian acronym MiC) and the National Civil Protection Department (Italian acronym DPC). Findings. In this process of constant evolution of operational and technical capacities aimed at reducing the risk of cultural heritage disasters, the combination of past experience and acquired competences of Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, ICCROM and Fondazione Villa Montesca has prompted the launch of the PROCULTHER project, co-funded by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO). Value. The project aims to support and complement the efforts made by the European Union to strengthen cooperation between the EU Member States and Participating States in this field. In this sense, by pooling together European civil protection capacities and capabilities and providing for common standards enabling certified and well-equipped teams to work interchangeably when a disaster strikes, the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), is an essential and effective system aimed at allowing a stronger and more coherent collective response. Under this framework, the project is promoting, for the first time, the development of a common European methodology, tools and capacities in order to include the protection of cultural heritage in the disaster risk management cycle and to ensure structured collaboration among cultural heritage and civil protection stakeholders at local, national and European level.

Collection, Standardization and Attribution of Robust Disaster Event Information—A Demonstrator of a National Event-Based Loss and Damage Database in Austria

Loss and damage databases are essential tools within the disaster risk management cycle for making informed decisions. However, even in data-rich countries such as Austria, no consistent and curated multi-hazard database is available. Based on the requirements of the United Nations, the European Union, as well as on national demands to deal with disaster impacts, we conceived and set up a demonstrator for a consistent multi-hazard national event-based loss and damage database that addresses event identification, loss accounting and disaster forensics according to international standards. We built our database on already existing data from administration and federal agencies and formulated a process to combine those data in a synergetic way. Furthermore, we tested how earth observation and weather data could help to derive more robust disaster event information. Our demonstrator focuses on two Austrian federal provinces, three hazard types—floods, storms and mass movements—and the period between 2005 and 2018. By analyzing over 140.000 single event descriptions, we conclude that—despite some limitations in retrospective data harmonization—the implementation of a curated event-based national loss and damage database is feasible and adds significant value compared to the usage of single national datasets or existing international databases such as EM-DAT or the Risk Data Hub. With our demonstrator, we are able to support the national risk assessment, the national Sendai Monitoring and federal disaster risk management with the provision of best possible harmonized loss and damage information, tailored indicators and statistics as well as hazard impact maps on the municipality scale.

A comprehensive review of the articles published in the field of health in emergencies and disasters in Iran.

IntroductionIran is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. A research-based approach is essential to reduce the effects of disasters and provide effective responses. This study aims to review the articles published in the field of emergencies and disasters in Iran.Methodsa combination of descriptive and qualitative content analysis using Hsieh and Shannon´s method was done. Since the first and most well-known specialized journal in the field of emergencies and disasters in Iran is the Health in emergencies and Disasters Quarterly (HDQ), all articles published in this journal were examined in terms of theme and scientometric indicators.Resultsregarding the type of research, 103 were quantitative (66.5%), 18 were qualitative (11.6%), and 4 (2.6%) were performed by mixed method. Most of the articles (n=116, 76.3%) were original research. The most frequently studied risk was traffic accidents (n=17, 10.96%) followed by earthquakes (n=10, 6.45%) and floods (n=8, 5.16%). In terms of theme and content, 103 published articles were related to one of the 4 main phases of the disaster risk management cycle where most of them were related to preparedness (n=48, 46.6%) followed by mitigation (n=26, 25.24%), response (n=20, 19.42%), and recovery (n=9, 8.47%) phases.Conclusionalthough there are studies related to the four phases of disaster risk management cycle in Iran, most of them are related to assessing preparedness followed by mitigation. In addition, qualitative and mixed studies could have more significant contribution to this field of research, accelerating this process requires the development of disaster research methodology training and researcher training programs as well as their organized and financial support.

Exploring awareness and application of disaster risk management cycle (DRMC) from stakeholder's perspective

PurposeThe disaster risk management cycle (DRMC) is a part of the important efforts designed to handle disaster risk. DRMC contains the following four phases: response, recovery, mitigation and preparedness. This paper aims to determine the awareness of stakeholder on DRMC and to explore the application of DRMC from stakeholder’s perspective.Design/methodology/approachDisaster is an extreme event that causes heavy loss of life, properties and livelihood. Every year, Malaysia has been affected by disasters, whether natural or manmade. DRM is the management of resources and the responsibility for dealing with all aspects of an emergency. An effective DRM requires a combination of knowledge and skills. Questionnaires were distributed to the construction industry players and flood victims.FindingsResults obtained on the basis of the survey revealed that a majority of respondents are unaware of DRMC. In addition, combination of professional and non-professional respondent’s perspectives in each phase of DRMC and effects of disaster are presented by the hierarchy.Originality/valueThe study of DRMC is commonly about the explanation or comparison of the concept but infrequently in the application of the DRMC. This study will fill the gap between theory and application of DRMC. The study aimed to determine whether the construction industry player and community aware of DRMC and to explore DRMC of flood event from perspective of industry players and flood victims. From this comparison, the management can create a better cycle of disaster management to handle various type disaster and to anticipate disaster risks.

Disaster management cycle and its application for flood risk reduction in urban areas of Pakistan

The disaster risk management cycle is a recognized instrument for managing disaster events and their impacts. However, the usefulness of the cycle has become questionable in diverse urban settings. Thus, this research uses a pragmatic approach to identify challenges in the effectiveness of the conventional disaster risk management cycle and its phases in the context of urban flooding in Pakistan. Institutions involved in flood risk management were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Three focus group discussions were also held to understand the viewpoints of selected communities. Thematic analysis was used to categorize views and responses under each phase. The analysis reveals that, despite the advent of disaster risk reduction strategies, local institutions are still relying on reactive approaches and are managing flood risk on an ad-hoc basis. Weak governance and limited corrective measures for existing development patterns are making it difficult to manage flood risks. There is an urgent need to perform multi-hazard vulnerability and risk assessment, and develop specific strategies under the philosophies of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. This study recommends the inclusion of climate change adaptation and resilience in the current management cycle for reducing future urban risks.

Disaster risk governance for district-level landslide risk management in Bangladesh

The Government of Bangladesh has been successful in reducing death rates from tropical cyclones. However, in recent years, landslides have been a significant hazard, especially in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh. For example, the landslides of 2017 killed 110 people in Rangamati district. These deaths have raised an important question: whether district disaster risk governance at the local level is effective enough to mitigate the impact of landslide disasters? Based on literature review, nine good characteristics of disaster risk governance were selected (accountability, participation, collaboration, transparency, information sharing, shared decision making, communication, leadership and shared resources) to assess the effectiveness of district disaster risk governance for landslides underpinned by the disaster risk management cycle. These characteristics were assessed by interviewing 18 members of the Rangamati's District Disaster Management Committee. Policy documents were also reviewed to study the devolution of disaster risk governance urged by the Hyogo Framework and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The findings suggest that the four principles (viz. accountability, participation, collaboration, and leadership) function satisfactorily during the response, evacuation, rescue and relief phases compared to the other five principles. The findings also suggest that the national Disaster Management Regulatory Framework and the Disaster Management Institutions are conducive to promote local disaster risk governance. However, there are challenges with regard to collaboration within and between state and non-state actors. As such, context specific recommendations are provided to improve collaboration and effectiveness with implications for other disaster-prone districts in Bangladesh.

Multi-hazard early warnings ; the importance of managing stakeholders for effective disaster response

Stakeholders in Disaster Management are those individuals or organizations that may contribute to, be affected by or can be influenced in all the phases of the disaster risk management cycle [1]. They can be government agencies, private organizations, media, NGOs/donors, emergency insurers services and the public.

Development of a generic concept to analyze the accessibility of emergency facilities in critical road infrastructure for disaster scenarios: exemplary application for the 2017 wildfires in Chile and Portugal

Natural hazards such as earthquakes, floods, or wildfires pose a serious threat to road infrastructure. Especially in emergency situations, the society depends on the road infrastructure to maintain its functionality in terms of evacuation and accessibility to emergency facilities. In this paper, we develop a generic, multi-scale concept to analyze the accessibility to emergency facilities in critical road infrastructure for natural disaster scenarios. We follow a modular approach: The basic module evaluates the accessibility of emergency facilities by calculating an accessibility index. Other modules enable the calculation of a grid-based index and the generation of a degraded network based on a natural disaster scenario. OpenStreetMap serves as a free-to-use and worldwide available database for the road network and the emergency facility location. The concept is applied exemplarily for two wildfire scenarios of different geographic scales: the January 2017 Wildfires in the BioBio and Maule region located in central Chile and the June 2017 Wildfires in central Portugal. An impact analysis of the wildfires on the accessibility of emergency facilities is performed and evaluated. As a result, the concept provides a valuable and data-sparse decision aid tool for regional planners and disaster control. It can be used in different stages of the disaster risk management cycle. In the mitigation and preparation phase, places with poor accessibility can be identified. In the short-term response phase after a disaster, the quick identification of critical and disconnected road network parts assists disaster control in planning a possible reaction strategy.

Disaster risks from economic perspective: Malaysian scenario

Throughout the years, economic and mortality losses suffered as a result of intensified disaster events have been on the upward trajectory. Holistic assessment of disaster risks from economic perspective however has been partial at best. Thus, this study aims to recognize disaster risk factors in respect to economic perspective considered as crucial by construction industry stakeholders in Kelantan from an actual flood disaster scenario. It is also intended to find common aspects that the major disaster risk factors pertaining to disaster risk management may share; and to evaluate the influences of disaster management cycle posed to respective risk factors from economic perspective cited by the stakeholders. Specifically, this paper presents evidence using a quantitative analysis for identifying and ranking the disaster risk factors from economic perspective in respect to disaster management cycle via a focus group discussion consisting of key stakeholders from the construction industry. The results reflect that, in overall, damages and losses are the most recognized risk factor with 42.97% reoccurrences and this type of risk factor was also the leading risk factor cited by the participants in three of the four disaster management cycle phases discussed. Categorization and ranking of the risk factors could allow formulation of a much comprehensive disaster risk management processes and policies especially in respect to economic perspective where most damages and losses usually occur. The outcome of this study provides a basis for responsible agencies in identifying the important risk factors from the economic perspective to be considered when planning for new development or recovering from disaster events. Overall, this paper contributes to the knowledge of economic elements of a disaster risk management cycle.

Adaptations to Drought in Lamongan Municipality

Lamongan Municipality suffered from drought which damaged 12,519 hectares/year from 2004 to 2011. The drought caused failure to paddy harvesting and limited clean water supply. The Current adaptations are only prioritizing and reducing water use. In addition, changing on farming method is one of the adaptations as well. These adaptations are inadequate to decrease the impacts of drought. Thus, this paper proposes effective adaptations to drought in Lamongan. To propose effective adaptations, we analyze potential drought areas in the municipality by using overlay and a raster calculator in ArcMap based on SPI Value. Afterward, we assess current adaptations by using Guttman scale to 100 respondents. Finally, we propose effective adaptations for every stage of disaster risk management cycle by using descriptive analysis. 15 out of 27 regencies in Lamongan Municipality suffer from the moderate drought. In total, those areas cover 15,107.9 hectares. The analysis of Guttman scale identifies that the current adaptations are in a reactive form of responses. As a result, we propose some effective adaptations which include selecting paddy seeds, providing economic incentives for water use reductions, and activating community savings as well as community friendly EWS (Early Warnig System).