Disaster Risk Reduction Practices Research Articles

Pathways of multi-hazard post-disaster housing reconstruction among Ivatan Indigenous households

Most disaster-affected populations face the complex task of reconstructing their dwellings with minimal or no external support. However, not much is known about the self-initiated reconstruction pathways of households, especially among Indigenous groups needing to address the competing impacts of multiple hazards. We conducted a case study analysis based in Itbayat, Batanes in the Philippines to understand the housing reconstruction trajectories of the Ivatan Indigenous households after the 2019 earthquakes that redefined their typhoon-resilient construction practices. Using interviews and focus group discussions, factors affecting the reconstruction process were elicited. Then, using concept maps, we explored the linkages of these factors leading to the adoption of the emergent housing outputs. We found that the emergence of new housing typologies that displaced the vernacular architecture was influenced by the compounded urgency to reconstruct houses, perceptions of housing safety influenced by the seismic events, the nature of aid provided alongside households’ financial capacity, and the regulatory barriers affecting traditional resource extraction. To achieve structural housing safety, this study demonstrates the need for policies that enable and guide reconstruction in emergency contexts, as well as systems to channel aid to provide equitable opportunities to build back safer. Additionally, the role of local governance is shown to leverage the use of existing indigenous construction practices salient for rebuilding. This study builds upon the heightened imperatives in the disaster risk reduction practice and policy environments to focus on the multi-hazard realities affecting communities and the use of local and indigenous knowledge to reduce disaster impacts.

Disaster Awareness and Preparedness and Disaster Risk Reduction Practices among Secondary Schools

Inevitable disasters pose a concealed threat that school leaders must address to prevent calamity and safeguard lives and assets. This study determined the disaster risk reduction awareness in selected secondary schools, aiming to mitigate current risks and enhance the resilience of vulnerable institutions. This study uses a quantitative approach. The research employed online surveys to gauge disaster risk reduction management among 50 secondary school heads and teachers in Northern Puerto Princesa City, Philippines. The findings revealed a high level of awareness among respondents, highlighting the importance of implementing programs like budget allocation for DRRM activities, student-led hazard mapping, and collaboration with local government units and NGOs. In conclusion, strengthening disaster risk reduction management and fostering partnerships are recommended for secondary schools to enhance preparedness and resilience.

A paradigm shift in disaster management: Incorporating a human rights-based approach to disaster risk reduction.

Understanding disasters as socially constructed events represents a departure from current and historic ways in which disasters are characterized, requiring a focal shift in thinking from forces of nature toward social order. Changing societal reactions to evolving natural occurrences restores disasters within the social order, introducing law as an essential framework in approaching disasters as injustices as opposed to misfortunes. International attention is starting to shift strategies intended to reduce risks to natural or man-made hazards and increasing attention on methods toward minimizing their impact known as disaster risk reduction (DRR). DRR is "a policy aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development." The development of normative frameworks to reinforce disaster governance is a significant component in enhancing disaster management systems. Disaster law is an emerging tool to regulate "governance, ethics, and decisions on the demands of a sustainable, inclusive, and healthy planet." International legal frameworks heavily influence disaster prevention and preparedness with an increased central focus on implementing International Human Rights Law in DRR practices. Legal structures protecting human rights in DRR initiatives positively obligate states to take proper and necessary actions to prevent harm from future disasters. The application of human rights standards fosters the paradigm shift from evaluation of the hazards impact toward assessments of states' negligence of risks. Interactions among the natural environment, socio-demographics, and the built environment are strong predictors for disaster losses, thus "the regulatory potential for avoiding disasters and reducing their consequence is obvious." Preventative action becomes a crucial element if the catalyst of the disaster event is failure to adequately prepare and social vulnerability. Disaster law encompasses participation, damage control, and local habitat management as mandatory conditions of governance, assigning criminal liability to public administrators' negligence toward disaster planning and/or enforcement. Disaster law produces a "sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective model for addressing disasters," empowering communities to participate in disaster management efforts, one of the strongest methods of building resilience and reducing risk to disasters.

Understanding memory transmission in disaster risk reduction practices: A case study from Japan

“Disasters strike when they have faded from memory”, is a powerful quote from the Japanese geophysicist Terada Torahiko (1878–1935). This sentence, often used when addressing the need to improve disaster resilience, is a powerful reminder of the role that local memories of past disasters play in ensuring the safety of communities exposed to hazards. Twelve years from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET) that hit Japan Tohoku's East Coast, this article aims at understanding how the transmission of local knowledge and experiences of past disasters contributes to increasing community resilience to tsunami risks. Based on field research along the coast of the Japanese prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, this study analyses 11 semi-structured in-depth interviews, to investigate the role of memory transmission in preparing for tsunami risks such as the GEJET. The data was analysed following a narrative approach and through thematic coding with the use of NVivo. Coding structures led to the identification of disaster memory transmission practices in the case study areas and allowed the testing of the relevance of the theoretical framework to community disaster resilience studies. Results are aligned with the theoretical framework and show that disaster memorials are more likely to influence community resilience if passed down using a combination of oral transmission and interpretation together with the use of backup memory archives and physical objects. Such practices are recommended as they allow both the communicability and durability of lessons-learned. Transmitting and maintaining a constant interaction between these two forms of memory is the responsibility of those institutions that oversee the keeping alive of memories, by continuously repurposing and renewing them while engaging with exposed communities.

Empowering local response and community-based disaster mitigation through legislative policies: Lessons from the Kerala floods of 2018-19.

The present paper draws on a series of qualitative studies exploring civic response and community resilience post the 2018-19 floods in Kerala, India. Data were triangulated from multiple sources and -perspectives-community leaders and key informants, rescue and relief volunteers, and survivors. This viewpoint paper aims to highlight the critical role of local volunteerism in disaster mitigation and preparedness, the cost of gaps in emboldening community response, and to suggest actionable means of maximizing civilian potential through legislative policies. The local populace are the first responders at disaster sites and play a vital role in disaster mitigation. Knowledge about local geography, community, and readily accessible resources enables community members to respond efficiently, unlike state deployed disaster task forces who need to be scaffolded into these sites. Liaisons between the state and civilian responders are necessary for informed and time-e-fficient response. Insights gleaned from interviews with the participants offer several suggestions for streamlining administrative channels and structural reforms in governance. Community response can be emboldened by adopting policies that formalize civilian participation in the state's disaster mitigation systems. Decentralization of authority to local self-governance bodies and acknowledgment of local expertise is key to fostering disaster resilient communities. This paper argues that empowering local stakeholders through legislative reforms can bridge existing gaps between community-action focused research recommendations and policy in practice. It provides a framework and actionable measures toward actualizing the call for society-inclusive disaster risk reduction practices.

Territorial Digital Twins: A key for increasing the community resilience of fragile mountain inner territories?

AbstractAreas suffering territorial imbalances are at risk, as climate change and inherent social‐spatial vulnerabilities bring uncertainty over their capacity to achieve sustainable development. To enable policy‐makers' vision for them, the paper proposes adopting digitally‐enhanced disaster risk reduction practices which promote civic engagement and evidence‐based decision‐making. The study introduces the concept of Territorial Digital Twins (TDTs) demonstrating the potential benefits of networking distributed information resources and enabling their integration in two paradigmatic Italian inner mountain areas, which are linked to different priorities of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (SFDRR). This contribution argues the importance of complementing the technical approach with the social perspective in the development of TDTs oriented at increasing the community resilience of territorially imbalanced areas. It then illustrates the usefulness of exploiting TDTs (from photogrammetry, GIS mapping, Space Syntax analysis) to overcome the barriers to the SFDRR, and enable its effective implementation in localities.

Identifying different frames of resilience–vulnerability nexus in disaster study

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to investigate how vulnerability and resilience have been constructed in the disaster literature to unpack the resilience–vulnerability nexus. This study identifies four different frames of the resilience–vulnerability nexus in the disaster literature: opposite, overlap, separate, and inclusion. It points out that the concepts of disaster resilience and vulnerability share some conceptual underpinnings but have incompatible conceptualizations in their emerging phases, states, diving mechanisms, relationships with hazards, and modes of depiction. Accordingly, we suggest that it is theoretically possible to reframe disaster vulnerability and resilience as gradable antonyms, at least in the dimension of capacity or loss potential. We note how there has been little theoretical work addressing the resilience–vulnerability nexus within the field of disaster research. The arguments presented in this article thus have the potential to aid disaster researchers and disaster risk reduction (DRR) practitioners who might be confused regarding the relationship between resilience and vulnerability. This study may also be conducive to bridging the gap between academic study and DRR practice by facilitating dialog between the disaster vulnerability and resilience research communities.

SDG Final Decade of Action: Resilient Pathways to Build Back Better from High-Impact Low-Probability (HILP) Events

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a blueprint for global peace and prosperity, while conserving natural ecosystems and resources for the planet. However, factors such as climate-induced weather extremes and other High-Impact Low-Probability (HILP) events on their own can devastate lives and livelihoods. When a pandemic affects us, as COVID-19 has, any concurrent hazards interacting with it highlight additional challenges to disaster and emergency management worldwide. Such amplified effects contribute to greater societal and environmental risks, with cross-cutting impacts and exposing inequities. Hence, understanding how a pandemic affects the management of concurrent hazards and HILP is vital in disaster risk reduction practice. This study reviews the contemporary literature and utilizes data from the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) to unpack how multiple extreme events have interacted with the coronavirus pandemic and affected the progress in achieving the SDGs. This study is especially urgent, given the multidimensional societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic amidst climate change. Results indicate that mainstreaming risk management into development planning can mitigate the adverse effects of disasters. Successes in addressing compound risks have helped us understand the value of new technologies, such as the use of drones and robots to limit human exposure. Enhancing data collection efforts to enable inclusive sentinel systems can improve surveillance and effective response to future risk challenges. Stay-at-home policies put in place during the pandemic for virus containment have highlighted the need to holistically consider the built environment and socio-economic exigencies when addressing the pandemic’s physical and mental health impacts, and could also aid in the context of increasing climate-induced extreme events. As we have seen, such policies, services, and technologies, along with good nutrition, can significantly help safeguard health and well-being in pandemic times, especially when simultaneously faced with ubiquitous climate-induced extreme events. In the final decade of SDG actions, these measures may help in efforts to “Leave No One Behind”, enhance human–environment relations, and propel society to embrace sustainable policies and lifestyles that facilitate building back better in a post-pandemic world. Concerted actions that directly target the compounding effects of different interacting hazards should be a critical priority of the Sendai Framework by 2030.

‘Lifestyle drift’ in disaster risk reduction practices magnifies inequities for high-risk populations

High-risk populations are at disproportionate risk when disasters occur because of the vulnerable social circumstances and settings in which they live. Emergency Managers (EMs) and Emergency Social Services Directors (ESSDs) work to support individual and community resilience in all phases of the disaster management cycle. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the current practices and challenges experienced by EMs and ESSDs in Canada, in supporting community resilience and high-risk populations in the context of disaster risk reduction (DRR). EMs and ESSDs (n ​= ​21) from six Canadian provinces were interviewed. Through thematic analysis, three themes were identified and a model was developed to show how the themes interconnect. The themes included: 1) Individual level interventions magnify inequities and lead to ‘lifestyle drift’, 2) Resilience can be supported upstream by addressing social vulnerabilities, and 3) Inclusive engagement empowers high-risk populations but is challenging to implement. ‘Lifestyle Drift’ permeates DRR practices and has unique implications for high-risk populations, whose basic needs are already challenged. Both top-down and bottom-up interventions can reduce the demands placed on emergency services in the hours after a disaster. However, bottom-up interventions, such as a ‘whole community’ approach are more likely to foster asset literacy, adaptive capacity, and social justice —and ultimately support resilience of high-risk populations.

Translating hazards: multilingual concerns in risk and emergency communication

ABSTRACT Communicating the potential impact of local hazards in multilingual contexts reduces risks. Drawing the readers’ attention to the terminology shaping the global disaster risk reduction agenda and underpinning many activities in the international humanitarian sector, the article introduces multiple facets of multilingual risk communication about hazards. Subdivided into three sections, the article presents factors that influence current studies and may advance future research into translating information concerning hazards and the risks they pose, as part of disaster reduction practices. The first section considers relationships between key terms influencing disaster risk reduction practices, as these terms create terminological barriers to enabling a broader understanding of local hazards among at-risk multilingual communities. The second section reflects on risk communication practices around education on hazards in relation to linguistic preparedness. The third section illustrates how key grey literature deems multilingual risk communication important while it struggles to reconcile the need to exploit existing technologies to enhance resources for multilingual communication, with the absolute need for trust in the information. The conclusions map the field and the Special Issue, supported by a References list intended to draw the readers’ attention to key perspectives that may stimulate and encourage future research focused on translating hazards.

Community-based leadership in disaster resilience: The case of small island community in Hagonoy, Bulacan, Philippines

There are limited studies on the role that community-based leadership plays in small island communities to achieve disaster resilience. Hence, this research sought to address the gap. Utilizing the toolkit for measuring community disaster resilience (MCDR) by GOAL, the study examined factors that contribute to or impede the successes of community-based leadership of the people of Pugad Island in the Philippines to achieve disaster resilience. Research findings reveal the interplay of the strengths and limitations in the practice of disaster risk reduction (DRR) among the community-based leadership of Pugad which fostered and hindered the achievement of their community disaster resilience. Such interplay revolved around the wins and limits on the practice of community leadership, upholding of human rights, funding for community-based DRR plans, partnerships with external development actors, and inclusion of vulnerable groups, including women, in DRR. Recommendations were given in the study to foster more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable means to prepare the people of Pugad for impending hazards and further enhance their community disaster resilience. Such recommendations are also applicable to small island communities facing similar challenges in the Asia-Pacific and equatorial regions of the world.

Disaster response network analysis in rural Temerloh, Pahang communities during the Malaysia 2020-2021 flood

Disaster risk reduction practices can be viewed as a collaborative environment managed by a diverse group of stakeholders including governments, private sectors and non-governmental organizations and research institutes as well as local communities. Insufficient collaboration and failure to coordinate across groups can lead to unsuccessful disaster recovery efforts. This study investigates the organizational roles and collaboration network among governmental and community organizations participating in Malaysia 2020-2021 flood response in rural Temerloh, Pahang. Social network analysis was conducted using Gephi open-source software to examine the general patterns of structures and the characteristics of the networks of stakeholders. News reports and organizational situation reports about the inter-organizational interaction and collaboration of stakeholders were identified using the manual coding analysis and analysed using Gephi, a social network analysis open-source software. The analysed results were ranked based on the categories of the centrality parameter, which highlights the extent of collaboration of key stakeholders in the network. The findings of this study indicate Malaysian Civil Defence (APM) and local government have high degree and betweenness centralities in the network. The number of private sectors active in disaster response was minimal, as were their centralities within the network, where they ranked last in every network measure. Rural communities and victims had lower betweenness centrality scores showed they had low network influence. NGOs are less involved in disaster response but are more involved in relief efforts such as cleaning muddy houses, recruiting medical and non-medical volunteers to help flood victims, distributing cleaning and healthcare supplies, and giving meals.

Undoing disaster colonialism: a pilot map of the pandemic's first wave in the Mapuche territories of Southern Chile

PurposeThe authors use media research and crowdsourced mapping to document how the first wave of the pandemic (April–August 2020) affected the Mapuche, focussing on seven categories of events: territorial control, spiritual defence, food sovereignty, traditional health practices, political violence, territorial needs and solidarity, and extractivist expansion.Design/methodology/approachResearch on the effects of the pandemic on the Mapuche and their territories is lacking; the few existing studies focus on death and infection rates but overlook how the pandemic interacts with ongoing processes of extractivism, state violence and community resistance. The authors’ pilot study addresses this gap through a map developed collaboratively by disaster scholars and Mapuche journalists.FindingsThe map provides a spatial and chronological overview of this period, highlighting the interconnections between the pandemic and neocolonialism. As examples, the authors focus on two phenomena: the creation of “health barriers” to ensure local territorial control and the state-supported expansion of extractive industries during the first months of the lockdown.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors intersperse our account of the project with reflections on its limitations and, specifically, on how colonial formations shape the research. Decolonising disaster studies and disaster risk reduction practice, the authors argue, is an ongoing process, bound to be flawed and incomplete but nevertheless an urgent pursuit.Originality/valueIn making this argument, the paper responds to the Disaster Studies Manifesto that inspires this special issue, taking up its invitation to scholars to be more reflexive about their research practice and to frame their investigations through grounded perspectives.

Building-Back-Better in Post-Disaster Recovery: Lessons Learnt from Cyclone Idai-Induced Floods in Zimbabwe

This study evaluated the build-back-better considerations in post-disaster recovery, following the devastation of Chipinge and Chimanimani communities by Cyclone Idai-induced floods in 2019. Conducted in 2020, the study assessed the impact of Cyclone Idai-induced floods on communities in Chipinge and Chimanimani Districts of Zimbabwe; evaluated the build-back-better considerations; and analyzed the lessons learned. Based on a qualitative approach and case study design, the study depended on focus group discussions, interviews, and researcher observations to gather data from 85 participants. The findings indicate that Cyclone Idai-induced floods seriously impacted human lives, infrastructure, and livelihoods of communities that had been living with flood risk and vulnerability. Build-back-better considerations were absent in much of the post-disaster recovery effort to address the cyclone disaster impact. There are important early lessons for both practitioners and community members to learn from the Cyclone Idai event. These lessons still can inform policy and disaster risk reduction practice in the medium and long term. Build-back-better should be a mandatory objective in the recovery from any disaster impact. Continuous training is also recommended to improve the disaster knowledge of stakeholders and increase local ability to cope with future disaster events.

The Alignment of Australia’s National Construction Code and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Achieving Resilient Buildings and Communities

The risks associated with extreme weather events induced by climate change are increasingly being recognized, and must be addressed through each country’s construction regulations, building codes, and standards. Ensuring that buildings and cities are resilient against disasters is becoming more important. Few studies have analyzed the impact of global polices and frameworks in reducing disaster risks and increasing resilience in built environments. This research reviews disasters associated with climate change in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, analyzing how Australia’s National Construction Code is aligned with the framework and the potential implications for reducing disaster risk. Decision-makers in construction companies in Sydney, Australia, were surveyed. The results show there is a statistically significant link among the National Construction Code, the Sendai Framework, and building resilience. The Sendai Framework is an effective mediator in this three-pronged relationship that can further enhance building resilience in Australia. Stakeholders in the construction industry will need to incorporate disaster risk reduction practices, especially authorities, such as local governments, building commissioners, and building certifiers that are responsible for the approval, quality, and defects mitigation of development applications and best practices. Overall, implementation of the Sendai Framework will help develop more regulations and standards for resilient buildings, set targets, and make improvements over time in the Australian construction industry.

Mitigating trafficking of migrants and children through disaster risk reduction: Insights from the Thailand flood

Thailand's flood of 2011 was devastating for the communities and inhabitants of the country, affecting approximately 13 million people and causing damages totaling THB 1.43 trillion (46.5 billion USD). The presence of a natural hazards disaster such as this can magnify individuals' vulnerability to human trafficking, or mitigate it depending on the disaster risk reduction practices of the surrounding community. The Sendai Framework is the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's international framework for these situations, outlining targets and priorities for action to reduce negative outcomes, such as trafficking, from natural events. This study aimed to understand how a disaster risk reduction and preparedness lens, based on the Sendai Framework, in the context of the humanitarian response to this 2011 flood, could inform human trafficking prevention efforts for future disasters. Qualitative methodology, utilizing a content analysis approach, was employed. It was found that migrant workers and children were at the greatest risk for trafficking, and resiliency efforts by communities and families, in conjunction with coordinated initiatives by NGOs and the government, were essential in preserving individuals' well-being. Further, the Sendai Framework is a promising tool to address these areas of disaster response in which the windows of opportunity for traffickers can be closed and those at high trafficking risk can be protected. As disasters continue to occur, there remains a strong need to bring forth a more systematic disaster risk reduction and resilience-enhancing approach to trafficking prevention.

External stakeholders’ attitudes towards and engagement with local knowledge in disaster risk reduction: are we only paying lip service?

In the research and policy environment, local knowledge (LK) is increasingly seen as an important component of building the resilience of communities and delivering sustainable disaster risk reduction (DRR) approaches tailored to local contexts. Many studies focus on documenting LK in different contexts; however, far less emphasis has been given to understanding how external stakeholders (i.e. government, NGOs, consultants) engage with and perceive the value of LK for DRR. Through an intepretivist epistemology and a case study research design, this paper sets out to fill in this gap by engaging with external stakeholders involved with community-based flood risk management in Malawi. It bases its findings on a thematic analysis of qualitative data collected through focus group discussions (n = 7) and key informant interviews (n = 69) conducted in 2016 and 2017. The findings show that although there is an appreciation of the importance of LK in rhetoric, its inclusion in DRR practice remains limited. The strong dichotomy between local and scientific knowledge persists and it has led to the further marginalisation of LK. The international policy and research push for LK in DRR is therefore not translated to realities on the ground. To the best of our knowledge, this presents one of the first studies of external stakeholders' attitudes of LK and how these influence its overall position in DRR. The paper calls for further development of knowledge co-production processes that will be based on giving equal weight, recognition and importance to LK.

Framing of Youth as a high-risk population in Canadian disaster news media

Community disaster risk reduction practices have been tested repeatedly in the past decade. In Canada, for example, Ottawa-Gatineau and cities across Alberta have experienced numerous disasters, garnering widespread media coverage. Along with their families, youth were impacted by these disasters, but they also contributed to the response and recovery efforts in their communities. In this paper, we present a critical discourse analysis of the journalistic coverage of five Canadian disasters, including the Alberta floods (2013), Fort McMurray wildfires (2016), Ottawa-Gatineau flooding (2017 and 2019), and the Ottawa-Gatineau tornadoes (2018). This study is part of a broader project focused on the representation of high-risk populations in disaster-media. In this paper we discuss how disaster-media portrays youth, and their contributions to disaster preparedness, response and recovery. We inductively analyzed 259 articles across the five disasters to identify and document the patterns of discourse in news media around youth in a disaster context. Our findings reveal that the Canadian disaster news media framed youth using fives lenses: 1) the vulnerable status of youth; 2) youth as passive bystanders; 3) adult-centered narratives in media coverage of disasters: children as a burden on adults; 4) youth as active agents – jumping into adulthood; and 5) youth as a ‘legitimizing criteria’ in disaster response. The results of our study point to a need for a shift in the framing of youth in disasters to highlight their assets and actual/potential roles in disaster risk reduction efforts. Media can help to shift the narrative around youth by avoiding reductive, one-dimensional representation of youth as vulnerable victims.

Incorporating Mental Health Research into Disaster Risk Reduction: An Online Training Module for the Hazards and Disaster Workforce.

There is an expansive and growing body of literature that examines the mental health consequences of disasters and large-scale emergencies. There is a need, however, for more explicit incorporation of mental health research into disaster risk reduction practices. Training and education programs can serve as a bridge to connect academic mental health research and the work of disaster risk reduction practitioners. This article describes the development and evaluation of one such intervention, the CONVERGE Disaster Mental Health Training Module, which provides users from diverse academic and professional backgrounds with foundational knowledge on disaster mental health risk factors, mental health outcomes, and psychosocial well-being research. Moreover, the module helps bridge the gap between research and practice by describing methods used to study disaster mental health, showcasing examples of evidence-based programs and tools, and providing recommendations for future research. Since its initial release on 8 October 2019, 317 trainees from 12 countries have completed the Disaster Mental Health Training Module. All trainees completed a pre- and post-training questionnaire regarding their disaster mental health knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests demonstrated a significant increase in all three measures after completion of the training module. Students, emerging researchers or practitioners, and trainees with a high school/GED education level experienced the greatest benefit from the module, with Kruskal–Wallis results indicating significant differences in changes in knowledge and skills across the groups. This evaluation research highlights the effectiveness of the Disaster Mental Health Training Module in increasing knowledge, skills, and attitudes among trainees. This article concludes with a discussion of how this training can support workforce development and ultimately contribute to broader disaster risk reduction efforts.

The role of “not for profits” (NFPs) in disaster preparedness in Aotearoa New Zealand

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to highlight the role of not-for-profit (NFP) organisations in enhancing disaster preparedness. The authors set out to understand their perspectives and practices in regard to disaster preparedness activities to support people who live precarious lives, especially those who live as single parents who are the least prepared for disasters.Design/methodology/approachThe research draws on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 staff members, either in a group setting or individually, from seven NFP organisations, who were located in Ōtautahi (Christchurch) and Kaiapoi in Aotearoa New Zealand. These participants were interviewed eight years after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.FindingsFour key narrative tropes or elements were drawn from across the interviews and were used to structure the research results. These included: “essential” support services for people living precarious lives; assisting people to be prepared; potential to support preparedness with the right materials and relationships; resourcing to supply emergency goods.Originality/valueThis research contributes to disaster risk reduction practices by advocating for ongoing resourcing of NFP groups due to their ability to build a sense of community and trust while working with precarious communities, such as single parents.