Field Of Disaster Management Research Articles

A bi-level programming approach for improving relief logistics operations: A real case in Kermanshah earthquake

Due to its location on the world dry belt, Iran is known as a disaster-prone country. Regarding such a problem, planning for relief operations in disaster situations seems significant and undeniable. The literature on disaster management has mostly defined their problems in a single-level framework, ignoring the bi-level aspect of such problems in both preparedness and response phases. However, in the context of disaster in the real world, there is normally more than one decision-maker that each of them may have their own objective. In this study, a bi-level multi-objective programming approach is extended to design a pre-positioning and distribution network under disastrous conditions considering both preparedness and response phases. The extended framework takes into account simultaneous planning for the distribution of drug, blood and relief items among disaster victims, and transferring the injured to hospital in order to diminish the adverse effects of potential disasters in the response phase. Additionally, to determine suitable candidate places for locating relief centers in the preparedness phase, a modified version of data envelopment analysis model is utilized, something that is not frequently done for facility location planning in the disaster management field. On the other hand, to solve the bi-level multi-objective programming problem with decision-makers at the upper level (the affected country) and the lower level (the international organization), a fuzzy goal programming algorithm is proposed. Furthermore, a consolidated method with respect to a novel fuzzy measure is developed to keep the considered network safe against the inherent uncertainty. Finally, the extended framework is utilized to solve a case study in Kermanshah, the province of Iran.

Standards-setting and its implementation through the classification system for international urban search and rescue teams.

The network of international urban search and rescue (USAR) teams, International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), has started its unique classification system called INSARAG External Classification (IEC) since 2005. In IEC, teams are classified into Heavy or Medium category, and as of the end of 2018, more than 50 teams have been classified. It seems that, through IEC, INSARAG successfully implements the standards such as the IN-SARAG Guidelines although the document is nonbinding. This article analyzes why IEC has got strong support from international USAR teams and what are the keys to successful implementation of standards in international emer-gency management. It concludes that it has been successful because, for example, INSARAG carefully gains a con-sensus from the member states when creating the standards, reiterates the minimum standards instead of the best practices, and sets the clear goal. The endorsement at the UN General Assembly Resolution also contributed to gaining support. Although there are some issues which need to be considered to maintain the system in the future, the lessons of the IEC model can be used for other fields of international disaster and emergency management.

Developing an Innovation Management Strategy for Educating Managers on Disaster risk reduction

In modern conditions of increasing threats, challenges, dangers and threats of various types, it is necessary to create a system of innovative training of managers. The paper considers the formation of an innovation management strategy for education of managers on disaster risk reduction and the development of methodological support for this activity. In the course of work to achieve the goal, key tasks were solved: the organizational basis for the formation of an integrated education system was justified, proposals for creating an information and organizational learning innovation were developed, and the basis for a new unified innovative information and communication educational platform was created. Methodological recommendations for innovative training of managers are proposed. The research methodology provides for the creation of innovative and technological matrixes of Executive education based on modern methods of analysis and synthesis, expert assessments, modeling, analogies, and observation. The results of the research are the main provisions of the innovation management strategy for education of managers on disaster risk reduction, organizational and methodological support for this activity. On their basis, a comprehensive system of training managers has been created, and modern training programs and practices in the field of disaster management have been introduced. Recommendations for the consolidation of key modern achievements of science and technology in the educational sphere are formulated. The study may be of interest to state authorities in the formation and implementation of the state strategy of innovative management of education of managers, which provides a high modern level of training.

DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY THROUGH SATELLITE IMAGERY BIG DATA IN DISASTER RISK REDUCTION: OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGE

The development of current massive technology plays an important role in the field of disaster risk reduction and disaster management. In particular, the issue of disruptive technology in which the emerging of new technologies comes with big disruption in many fields. For instance, the development on using satellite imagery big data for disaster management to reduce the disaster risk.The unique characteristics of big data i.e. volume, velocity, and variety stimulate this study to obtain more information on the big data processing and analyze the opportunities and challenges of satellite imagery in the case of disaster risk reduction through literature reviews. The huge amount of data and the ability for real-time analysis provide capabilities on time series analysis and possitive impact on disaster detection, monitoring, and prediction. However, such technology creates disruption due to the change on using and anlysing the data based on cloud environment. Issues on the technology uses, data security might arise. Nonetheless, the use of satellite imagery big data will remain vastly developed and is able to promote the development of satellite imagery technology.

The Integration of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support and Disaster Risk Reduction: A mapping and Review.

The field of disaster and emergency management has shifted in focus towards the goal of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). However, the degree to which the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) field has followed this trend is relatively unknown. Therefore, the objectives of this review were to identify relevant projects, materials, and publications relating to MHPSS and DRR integration and define current domains of action in this integration. A review was conducted using a two-pronged approach for data collection. This approach included 1) a mapping exercise eliciting relevant documentation and project descriptions from MHPSS actors, and 2) a database and internet literature search. The mapping exercise was conducted between January and November 2019, while the literature search was completed in March 2019. The majority of identified materials concerned actions of capacity and systems building; preparedness; policy development, consensus building, and awareness raising; school- and child-focused DRR; inclusive DRR; and resilience promotion. Results also suggested that relatively little consensus exists in terms of formal definitions of and frameworks or guidance for integrating MHPSS and DRR. Moreover, domains of action varied in terms of current implementation practices and empirical evidence. Materials and projects are reviewed and discussed in terms of implications for advancing the integration of DRR and MHPSS and expanding MHPSS approaches to include building better before emergencies.

Bouncing Back and Jumping Forward: Scoping the Resilience Landscape of International Sports Events And Implications for Events and Festivals

The purpose of this conceptual article is to critically scope the resilience landscape to help better understand how future studies on international sports events and venues could be informed by existing work in disaster management and resilience studies. The article suggests that within the differing benchmarks currently used to define and classify major international sports events, at present crises and disaster management considerations are largely ignored or underestimated. The article reviews previous research in crisis and disaster management, highlighting the potential for closer synergies between both sport and events studies and crisis and disaster management fields. It contributes new knowledge through the introduction of an international sports events (ISEs) resilience continuum to assist with better understanding resilience. The broader implications for events and festivals are highlighted. Although the interdisciplinary study of crisis, disasters, and emergency management has become increasingly sophisticated, the identification of synergies and useful concepts in relation to both sport and events studies to inform these areas is still at an early stage of development. This article adds to the limited body of knowledge on sports events resilience, and in doing so highlights potential avenues for future research in both sport and events, in terms of both theory and practice.

A new mathematical modelling for relief operation based on stochastic programming

The number of natural disasters and the people affected by them has increased over recent years. In the last two decades, the field of disaster management and humanitarian logistics has earned more attention. Design of relief logistic network as a strategic decision and relief distribution as an operational decision are the most important activities for disaster operation management before and after a disaster. Since related information can be updated after disaster, we consider a relief helicopter to satisfy the lack of inventory in different depots. In the proposed mathematical model, pre-disaster decisions are determined according to different scenarios in a two stage optimisation scheme. Moreover, we present a meta-heuristic algorithm based on particle swarm optimisation (PSO) as a solution method. Finally, the model for two stages of disaster management is established for several instances. Computational results based on three approaches confirm that the proposed model has proper performance.

Developing Drought Planning Components to Secure Community Resilience

Although we have made great efforts to reduce drought impacts, socio-economic damage has increased in recent years due to climate change, which has led to increasing frequency and intensity of drought. However, a community that has strong resilience to drought can recover, even from a long-lasting extreme drought, without severe damage. In the field of disaster management, resilience is the ability of a community to return to pre-disaster conditions. To ensure the resilience of a community, systematic drought planning is needed. Even though it is not possible to fully eliminate drought impacts, they can be reduced through systematic approaches such as drought planning. Drought planning requires linkages among sectoral and organizational measures to minimize vulnerabilities. In South Korea, water resources management is quite important because annual rainfall is concentrated during the summer monsoon season, so continuous monitoring and drought analysis are needed during the spring dry season. During the last several decades, the paradigm of drought response has changed and various measures have been implemented. This study analyzed the contents of the national drought plan in comparison with the state drought guidelines of the United States and lessons learned from extreme droughts in 2014–2015. In addition, we investigated how to ensure community resilience to droughts, including robustness, redundancy, rapidity, and resourcefulness. In conclusion, we proposed six essential components that form the basic framework of comprehensive regional drought planning in South Korea: monitoring, vulnerability analysis, mitigation, response, management, and updating.

Best Practice Program Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) PT. Pertamina RU II Production Sungai Pakning

The Commitment of one of the state companies PT. Pertamina in implementing Social and Environmental Responsibility (TJSL) is realized in various CSR activities covering the fields of education, health, environment, infrastructure, community empowerment, disaster management, and special assistance. The realization of activities is carried out by all working units of Pertamina's CSR functions, both at the head office, unit operations, and subsidiaries such as the Sungai Pakning Refinery Unit (RU) II Production. Pertamina implements CSR programs for people, planet and profit (3P) purposes. This goal is the focus of Pertamina in running its operations, where products are developed and services provided care about environmental sustainability, especially the earth for the interests and future of future generations. Pertamina's CSR focuses on four issues that become its pillars, namely: Pertamina Cerdas, Pertamina Sehati, Pertamina Hijau, and Pertamina Berdikari. This article is the result of research conducted with qualitative methods with a participatory approach.

Rank-Oriented Disaster Management: The Korean Experience

ABSTRACT Rank is the position or standing in the Korean field of disaster management, whereas ability is the competence or required proficiency in carrying out appropriate disaster management. This paper aims to examine the ways to improve emphasis on rank in Korea for the ultimate goal of increasing related productivity. A qualitative content analysis with the support of descriptive approach has been used as the main methodology. With respect to this, rank-oriented disaster management has been systematically compared with ability-oriented disaster management via the five stakeholders, namely the public officials, businessmen, researchers, volunteers, and local community. The key tenet is that the nation needs to change its current rank-oriented disaster management into ability-oriented disaster management as a form of cultural change. This paper, as a pioneer study, rigorously discusses the issue of rank versus ability in the Korean field of disaster management.

Review of Big Data and Processing Frameworks for Disaster Response Applications

Natural hazards result in devastating losses in human life, environmental assets and personal, and regional and national economies. The availability of different big data such as satellite imageries, Global Positioning System (GPS) traces, mobile Call Detail Records (CDRs), social media posts, etc., in conjunction with advances in data analytic techniques (e.g., data mining and big data processing, machine learning and deep learning) can facilitate the extraction of geospatial information that is critical for rapid and effective disaster response. However, disaster response systems development usually requires the integration of data from different sources (streaming data sources and data sources at rest) with different characteristics and types, which consequently have different processing needs. Deciding which processing framework to use for a specific big data to perform a given task is usually a challenge for researchers from the disaster management field. Therefore, this paper contributes in four aspects. Firstly, potential big data sources are described and characterized. Secondly, the big data processing frameworks are characterized and grouped based on the sources of data they handle. Then, a short description of each big data processing framework is provided and a comparison of processing frameworks in each group is carried out considering the main aspects such as computing cluster architecture, data flow, data processing model, fault-tolerance, scalability, latency, back-pressure mechanism, programming languages, and support for machine learning libraries, which are related to specific processing needs. Finally, a link between big data and processing frameworks is established, based on the processing provisioning for essential tasks in the response phase of disaster management.

Seçilmiş Ülkelerde Lisans ve Lisansüstü Düzeyde Afet Yönetimi Eğitimlerinin Analizi

Dünyada kentleşmenin artışına bağlı olarak, afetlerin meydana geliş sıklıklarının ve etkilerinin gösterdiği artış, sürekli gelişen ve değişen bir alan olarak afet yönetiminin, kamu yönetiminin temel ilgi ve çalışma alanlarından birisi olarak değerlendirilmesini gerekli kılmaktadır. Çok disiplinli bir çalışma alanı olarak afet yönetimi; hem fen bilimlerinin hem de sosyal bilimlerin yöntem ve uygulamalarından faydalanarak kendisine özgü bir yönetim modeli üretmekte; afetlerin öncesi, sırası ve sonrasında yapılması gereken bütün faaliyetleri kendi disiplini altında bir araya getirmektedir. Afet yönetiminin bu çok disiplinli yapısı, teoride ve uygulamada, farklı disiplinlerden teorisyen ve uygulayıcıların da bir arada çalışması gerekliliğini doğurmaktadır. Bu gereklilik afet yönetimi içerisindeki yönetim uygulamalarının önemini artırmakla birlikte, afet yöneticilerinin de alana özgü eğitimlerini önemli kılmaktadır. Bu çalışma, afet yönetimi teori ve uygulamalarında başarılı kabul edilen dünya örnekleriyle Türkiye uygulamalarının karşılaştırmalı bir analizini sunma amacını taşımaktadır. Bu kapsamda, seçilmiş ülkelerde afet yönetimi alanında lisans ve lisansüstü düzeydeki eğitimler incelenerek Türkiye’deki akademik eğitimlerle karşılaştırılarak değerlendirilecek; elde edilen bulgular neticesinde eğitimlerin, afet yönetimi uygulamalarına olan katkıları tartışmaya açılacaktır.

A framework for reconstruction of road infrastructure after a disaster

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the main aspects requiring immediate attention in the post-disaster reconstruction of road infrastructure, thereby providing a major synthesis, which advances the understanding in this important area.Design/methodology/approachLiterature and empirical evidence obtained from documents and semi-structured interviews with 28 respondents of three case study districts in Aceh, Indonesia was analysed using NVivo 10. The findings were validated through triangulation with the literature and consultation with the experts in the field of disaster management and road infrastructure.FindingsThe authors propose a framework for the reconstruction of road infrastructure, which respond to the peculiarities of road projects in a post-disaster setting. The framework comprises various components requiring detailed attention in the reconstruction process and describes their position in the road project and disaster management cycle.Originality/valueThe framework fills the gap in the body of knowledge with regard to road infrastructure reconstruction in a post-disaster context. For the first time, this paper recognises the importance of local government capacity in the Aceh Province with regard to the sustainability of the post-disaster reconstruction assets.

Health Risks and Challenges in Earthquake Responders in Nepal: A Qualitative Research.

While the impact of disasters is strongly felt by those directly affected, they also have significant impact on the mental and physical health of rescue/relief workers and volunteers during the response phase of disaster management. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 experts in the field of disaster management from Nepal, inquiring specifically about the impact of the 2015 mega-earthquake on the mental and physical health of rescue/relief workers and volunteers. A thematic approach was used to analyze the results. These were used to assess the applicability of a previously developed conceptual framework which illustrates the hazards and risk factors affecting disaster response workers and the related hazard mitigation approaches. The findings suggested a relationship between the type of injuries to responders and the type of disaster, type of responder, and vulnerability of location. The conceptual framework derived from literature was verified for its applicability with a slight revision on analysis of experts' opinion based on particular context and disaster setting. Technical skills of responders, social stigma, governance, and the socio-economic status of the affected nation were identified as critical influencing factors to heath injuries and could be minimized utilizing some specific or collective measures targeted at the aforementioned variables. Some geographic and weather-specific risks may be challenging to overcome. To prevent or minimize the hazards for disaster relief workers, it is vital to understand the variables that contribute to injuries. Risk minimization strategies should address these critical factors.

Evaluating ecosystem-based natural disaster management

Not many rigorous researches have studied on how ecosystems have interacted with the occurrence of natural disaster. This article aims to evaluate the role of ecosystems in the field of natural disaster management with the ultimate goal of reducing its various impacts. Qualitative content analysis has been utilized as the principal methodology. Additionally, the ecosystem low-awareness approach has been compared with the ecosystem integration approach with respect to international institutions, national governments, business corporations, non-government organizations, and local communities. The most significant finding is that the field needs to transform its ecosystem low-awareness approach into the integration approach while addressing international networks, scientific research, holistic thinking, sustainability, and education. As a contribution, this article presents a more comprehensive evaluation of the issue of ecosystem regarding natural disaster management (as a common frame) than previous studies.

Design and Analysis of a Lightweight Context Fusion CNN Scheme for Crowd Counting.

Crowd counting, which is widely used in disaster management, traffic monitoring, and other fields of urban security, is a challenging task that is attracting increasing interest from researchers. For better accuracy, most methods have attempted to handle the scale variation explicitly. which results in huge scale changes of the object size. However, earlier methods based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) have focused primarily on improving accuracy while ignoring the complexity of the model. This paper proposes a novel method based on a lightweight CNN-based network for estimating crowd counting and generating density maps under resource constraints. The network is composed of three components: a basic feature extractor (BFE), a stacked à trous convolution module (SACM), and a context fusion module (CFM). The BFE encodes basic feature information with reduced spatial resolution for further refining. Various pieces of contextual information are generated through a short pipeline in SACM. To generate a context fusion density map, CFM distills feature maps from the above components. The whole network is trained in an end-to-end fashion and uses a compression factor to restrict its size. Experiments on three highly-challenging datasets demonstrate that the proposed method delivers attractive performance.

Victim detection platform in IoT paradigm

SummaryThe advent of Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm is having a great ripple effect in the field of disaster management as well as many other areas. Victim detection has been studied as rescuer‐ or victim‐oriented approach, which utilises the IoT advanced technologies, but they have weaknesses according to disaster types. In this paper, we propose a Victim Detection Platform (VDP) architecture combining both approaches using various advanced technologies such as IoT, drone and edge/cloud computing to offer higher quality services, which ultimately result in swifter, better responses and more lives saved. First, we have reviewed related literature regarding three crucial issues (ie, multi‐modal evaluation for reliable data, edge‐based real‐time response, and privacy‐preserved Big Data analysis) to satisfy the service. In order to achieve these important aspects, the VDP architecture is described along with roles/relations of technologies and concepts leveraged to and data sources considered in the platform. To explore the realisation possibility of the proposed approach in real disasters, a validation scenario considering the critical issues and details in a victim detection task is illustrated, and then appropriate techniques, which will be utilised in the proposed VDP, and its justifications are discussed. Finally, we debate how the techniques are harmonised in the VDP and what the challenges are.

Needs Assessment for Standardized Educational Program for Iranian Medical Students in Crisis and Disaster Management

Introduction:Early education and training are mandatory to raise the knowledge and awareness of the healthcare staff. Iran is a disaster prone area with a high number of emergencies. This study aimed to assess the need for disaster and emergency management education for Iranian medical students. Methods:Using two-round Delphi technique in 2017, 15 experts within the field of disaster and emergency management were asked for their opinions concerning the education required for Iranian medical students. Highly important educational domains and their sub-domains selected with an agreement of above 70-80% were prioritized by AHP technique. Results:Of 41 identified and prioritized educational subjects, four main groups were obtained: 1) crisis and disaster primary concepts, 2) disease control skills, 3) management skills, and 4) medical care skills. The medical care skills had the highest priority (with a weight of 0.546), compared to other areas after the final analysis. Conclusion:Different areas of competency are needed to raise awareness and preparedness in medical students in combating crisis and disasters. We propose a curriculum for Iranian medical students and suggest it to be used for other professionals, who are involved in the process of disaster management.

The importance of indicator weights for vulnerability indices and implications for decision making in disaster management

Decision makers in the field of disaster management have many tools at their disposal to assist them in making informed decisions. They make use of the available information to set priorities, choose adequate local adaptation measures and make decisions regarding land use and emergency planning. As far as the vulnerability assessment of buildings is concerned, a wide range of methods can be found in the literature. However, some methods (e.g. vulnerability curves) require a large amount of empirical data that are not always available. An alternative solution is the development of vulnerability indices. In this paper, two relative vulnerability indices (PTVA-3 and PTVA-4) designed for the assessment of vulnerability of buildings to tsunamis are applied. The case study area is located in Apulia (Italy). Although no historic record of tsunamis is available for the area, geological investigations have shown that the area has been affected by tsunamis in the past. The two methods use different weighting for the indicators considered for the vulnerability index leading to different results. In this way, the importance of the weighting of indicators and its implication in decision making is shown. Moreover, the study offers the opportunity of an overall assessment of the use of indicators in vulnerability assessment, their advantages and drawbacks as well as potential improvements of indicator-based methods.

LIGHTER-THAN-AIR (LTA) UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM (UAS) CARRIER CONCEPT FOR SURVAILLANCE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has many advantages in the fields of SURVAILLANCE and disaster management compared to space-borne observation, manned missions and in situ methods. The reasons include cost effectiveness, operational safety, and mission efficiency. This has in turn underlined the importance of UAS technology and highlighted a growing need in a more robust and efficient unmanned aerial vehicles to serve specific needs in SURVAILLANCE and disaster management. This paper first gives an overview on the framework for SURVAILLANCE particularly in applications of border control and disaster management and lists several phases of SURVAILLANCE and service descriptions. Based on this overview and SURVAILLANCE phases descriptions, we show the areas and services in which UAS can have significant advantage over traditional methods.