Experience Of Natural Disasters Research Articles

“Pirates of Our Spirituality”

Maya spirituality serves as a locus of enunciation for the ongoing negotiation between local expressive culture and a changing globalized society. In recent years the Mayas of Guatemala have subversively used the global market provided by tourism to survive economically, recover their cultural property, and reclaim their heritage. Lacking voice and representation in an environment that has historically threatened their way of life, they assert their heritage in order to valorize their culture. They employ public knowledge and experience of natural disasters to demonstrate not just the accuracy of the 2012 prophecies of change at the end of the Maya calendar’s long count, but also the value of the knowledge systems that produced them.La espiritualidad maya sirve como un lugar de enunciación de la negociación en curso entre la cultura local expresiva y la sociedad cambiante y globalizada. En los últimos años los mayas de Guatemala han utilizado subversivamente el mercado global provisto por el turismo para sobrevivir económicamente, recuperar su patrimonio cultural, y recuperar su patrimonio. Careciendo de voz y representación en un ambiente que históricamente ha amenazado su modo de vida, han afirmado su patrimonio con el fin de valorar su cultura. Ellos emplean el conocimiento público y la experiencia de los desastres naturales para demostrar no sólo la exactitud de las profecías del 2012 del cambio al final de la cuenta larga del calendario maya, sino también el valor de los sistemas de conocimiento que los produjo.

Landslide management in the UK—the problem of managing hazards in a ‘low-risk’ environment

The UK is a country with limited direct experience of natural disasters. Whilst landslide losses are not negligible and fatalities are rare, accounts are under-reported. Financial losses from landslides are poorly understood but likely to be considerably in excess of £10 million per year. As a result, a strategic management framework has evolved based upon small, low-impact events punctuated by occasional larger events or larger landslides affecting urban areas. We present an overview of the different landslide management mechanisms in the UK and discuss them in context of cases studies to explore their effectiveness. We conclude with three issues that may have implications for landslide management in the UK and other ‘low-risk’ countries. Firstly, the evidence base by which landslide hazards and risks are measured is insufficient and limitations in existing information need to be better understood. Secondly, existing guidance on strategic and responsive management needs to be assessed for its fitness for purpose. Thirdly, we encourage debate about the importance of near misses.

Paradoxical effects of the record-high tsunamis caused by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake on public judgments of danger

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake caused about 19,000 casualties, dead and missing, of which most resulted from the enormous subsequent tsunami. Those who survived the tsunami had evacuated to higher ground, their action reflecting the importance of public judgment in mitigating the disaster. In this study, we examined the change in the risk assessment of tsunami heights since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake among residents in western Japan, an area that was not affected by the earthquake but that has long been at risk for such natural disasters. While existing research argues that the experience of natural disasters increases the public's alertness, the results of our survey (N=733 at pre-quake and N=1036 at post-quake) showed that, after the earthquake, those who live in this area had augmented their estimations of what tsunami heights are dangerous enough to warrant evacuation. Laypersons are highly inclined to make judgments based on the numbers first presented to them. This adjustment and anchoring heuristic well explains these paradoxical results. The vast amount of media coverage of the record-breaking tsunami established an anchor and prompted people to elevate the evacuation height, altering their judgments in the direction of greater vulnerability. Considering the difficulty of subsequent adjustments, our findings indicate the importance of conveying basic information about the risks of lesser intensity natural disasters in the initial stages of reporting a record-breaking disaster to those who have not directly experienced one.

Lessons from Businesses Preparedness, Response, and Planning : Natural Disaster Experience in Texas

Lessons from Businesses Preparedness, Response, and Planning : Natural Disaster Experience in Texas

The Great East Japan earthquake in 2011; toward sustainable mental health care system

In face with a triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear power plant accident, the degrees of which are historically hardly preceded, immediate mental health countermeasure was taken by the initiative of the national and local government together with academic and clinical organizations. Based on previous experience of natural disasters, more than 50 mental health care teams have been organized and dispatched to the affected areas, scheduled by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. When 6 months have passed, the acute and temporal support system should be replaced with more sustainable local networks with aims at promoting resilience, though community psychiatric service should be developed as well. Existing guidelines should be respected but actually it tended to be only partially recognized. In Fukushima prefecture, where nuclear plant accident occurred, its mental health impact is most concerned and long-term follow-up of the residents' health has been being planned.

The Economics of Natural and Unnatural Disasters, edited by William Kern

The Economics of Natural and Unnatural Disasters, edited by William Kern, 2010, Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 143 pp. ISBN: 978-0-88099-362-3. Several high-profile disasters have rocked the world in recent years. The 2010 Haitian earthquake killed over 200,000 people, and the 2011 tsunami in Japan destroyed several hundred billion dollars of property and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. Before these tragedies, Hurricane Katrina leveled much of New Orleans. With questions of how to plan for and rebuild from these natural disasters firmly in the public eye, William Kern has assembled a very timely volume that should help inform the debate. Tackling topics ranging from assessments of public policy's impact on disaster planning to the costs incurred in current tornado avoidance practices, The Economics of Natural and Unnatural Disasters surveys several areas of interest in a manner most ideal for those looking for an accessible introduction to disaster economics. After an introduction by editor Kern summarizing the work to follow, Chapter 2 begins with an essay by Howard Kunreuther and Erwann Michel-Kerjan advocating long-term contracts for natural disaster insurance. The authors begin by noting the increasing relevance of natural disaster insurance due to a trend toward urbanization and general movement to hazard-prone coastal counties, which raises the damages associated with any particular natural disaster. Kunreuther and Michel-Kerjan also argue that, given trends over recent years, climate change will trigger more disasters in these areas, thus making insurance even more important. While this point is debatable, considering other researchers (e.g., Pielke, 2005) find no increasing trend in hurricane destructiveness after accounting for urbanization and movement toward coasts, the underlying idea--that the need for disaster insurance is becoming more prominent--is a good one. The authors then proceed with a novel recommendation: long-term disaster insurance contracts that, when signed, attach to the property and bind both homeowners and insurers to a fixed premium for a defined period of 10 or 25 years. Such contracts prevent suboptimal levels of insurance from homeowners regularly underestimating the chance of a disaster, coupled with short time horizons or budget constraints. Long-term contracts bind the homeowner to coverage, at the same time avoiding the contracting costs associated with annual policies and lengthening homeowners' time horizons to undertake efficient preventative measures that pay back only over the long term. In the authors' view, a particularly promising chance to implement this policy is the national flood insurance program. The authors provide only enough of the picture to be provocative and encourage thought along unconventional lines. Several questions arising from a binding longterm disaster insurance policy spring to mind: Why is the time horizon alignment to ensure efficient preventative measures necessary for natural disaster insurance but not other insurance lines, such as property, health, or automobile insurance? With insurance contracts attached to property, what can a buyer do and who would best be served by greater or less coverage? And will consumers react to long-term fixed rates by submitting more claims with the knowledge that insurers cannot respond by raising prices? As the authors further develop this exciting topic, no doubt we will find answers to these questions and more. In the next chapter, Anthony Yezer contributes insights into economic effects from changes in expectations of disasters. Yezer first discusses how property values incorporate disaster expectations, which are generally based on past natural disaster experience. As disasters increase or decrease in occurrence rate or severity, these expectations shift over time. However, property values cannot factor in unexpected disasters, so it is precisely these disasters that can cause the most economic harm. …

Effects of Interactions among Social Capital, Income and Learning from Experiences of Natural Disasters: A Case Study from Japan

Yamamura E. Effects of interactions among social capital, income and learning from experiences of natural disasters: a case study from Japan, Regional Studies. This paper explores how and the extent to which social capital has an effect on the damage resulting from natural disasters. It also examines whether the experience of a natural disaster affects individual and collective protection against future disasters. There are three major findings. (1) Social capital reduces the damage caused by natural disasters. (2) The risk of a natural disaster makes people more apt to cooperate and, therefore, social capital is more effective to prevent disasters. (3) Income is an important factor for reducing damage, but hardly influences it when the scale of a disaster is small. Yamamura E. L'effet de l'interaction entre le capital social, le revenu, et l'apprentissage des expériences des désastres naturels: étude de cas du Japon, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à examiner comment et jusqu'à quel point le capital social a un effet sur les dégâts qui résultent des désastres naturels. On examine aussi si, oui ou non, l'expérience d'un désastre naturel touche la protection individuelle et collective contre les désastres futurs. On en a tiré trois conclusions importantes. (1) Le capital social réduit les dégâts dus aux désastres naturels. (2) La menace d'un désastre naturel rend les gens plus susceptibles de coopérer et, par la suite, le capital social s'avère plus efficace pour empêcher les désastres. (3) Le revenu est important pour la réduction des dégâts, mais n'est guère important au moment où l'échelle du désastre est faible. Capital social Apprentissage Désastre naturel Yamamura E. Die Effekte von Wechselwirkungen zwischen Sozialkapital, Einkommen und Lernen aus den Erfahrungen von Naturkatastrophen: Eine Fallstudie aus Japan, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird analysiert, wie und in welchem Ausmaß sich Sozialkapital auf den Schaden durch Naturkatastrophen auswirkt. Ebenso wird untersucht, ob sich die Erfahrung einer Naturkatastrophe auf den individuellen und kollektiven Schutz vor künftigen Katastrophen auswirkt. Im Wesentlichen gibt es hierbei drei Ergebnisse. (1) Das Sozialkapital verringert den Schaden durch Naturkatastrophen. (2) Das Risiko einer Naturkatastrophe erhöht die Bereitschaft zur Zusammenarbeit, weshalb das Sozialkapital stärker zur Prävention von Katastrophen beitragen kann. (3) Das Einkommen stellt einen wichtigen Faktor zur Verringerung von Schäden dar, hat aber kaum einen Einfluss darauf, wenn der Umfang der Katastrophe gering ausfällt. Sozialkapital Lernen Naturkatastrophen Yamamura E. Efectos de las interacciones entre el capital social, los ingresos y las lecciones aprendidas de desastres naturales: estudio del caso de Japón, Regional Studies. En este artículo analizamos cómo y en qué medida tiene el capital social un efecto en los daños causados por desastres naturales. También examinados si la experiencia de un desastre natural afecta a la protección individual y colectiva contra futuros desastres. En general, existen tres resultados principales. (1) El capital social reduce el daño causado por desastres naturales. (2) El riesgo de un desastre natural aumenta la predisposición de las personas a cooperar y, por tanto, el capital social es más eficaz para prevenir desastres. (3) Los ingresos representan un factor importante a la hora de reducir los daños pero apenas influyen cuando la escala de un desastre es pequeña. Capital social Lecciones Desastre natural

Tsunami: Building the nation through reciprocity while reconstructing the affected areas in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's experience of natural disasters has previously been confined to isolated events that have taken place in the form of landslides and floods. Being located in a non-vulnerable zone Sri La...

Economic Lessons of the Kobe Earthquake

The earthquake that struck the Japanese port city of Kobe on January 17, 1995, was the most severe quake ever to strike a modern urban area. It has become the most studied, analyzed, and discussed natural disaster in history. What I propose to add to this dialogue is an economist's overview of what he saw in Kobe 19 months after the event and what he learned during the ensuing 6 months.

Coordinated Emergency Management: The Challenge of the Chronic Technological Disaster

Providing effective emergency response and mitigating the impact of disaster requires the ability to act and knowledge of what to do. Chronic technological disasters present a special challenge to emergency management because authority to act on this type of disaster agent is diffuse and often lodged within a variety of agencies operating at different levels of government. Moreover, knowledge of the likely chain of events for technological disaster is still in its infancy, when compared to the rich research base that exists for natural disaster. The authors argue that the emerging literature on chronic technological disaster reveals systematic and important differences between the reality of this type of disaster and what conventional wisdom based on natural disaster experience says about technological disaster. This study addresses characteristics of chronic technological disasters and examines how the nature of technological disaster affects the practice of emergency management.

Natural disaster mitigation: Environmental approaches in Tonga and Algeria

The mitigation of natural disasters essentially depends upon the identification and adjustment of human ecological processes contributing to conditions of vulnerability. The analysis of vulnerability requires the local study of political, social, and economic processes which have contributed, and are contributing, to a vulnerable condition in a hazardous environment. One of the few similarities between Tonga and Algeria is a continuing experience of natural disaster after independence from previous colonial administrations. In two very different but complementary projects, ways are identified for the adjustment of assumed or inherited priorities for development, to take practical account of continuing hazards. The high vulnerability of rural areas is a factor common to both countries, as well as to many others. The analysis of conditions and systems in two dissimilar countries may have begun a process of implementation, one which must necessarily follow theoretical analysis for the realisation of practical value. The degree and nature of disaster impact is conditioned as much by normally prevailing conditions and systems as by the manifestation of natural hazard. Direct experience of hazardous environments, and of problems caused by disaster, must be made to result in the creation of multi-disciplinary environmental policies for disaster mitigation, inclusive of small scale development and education and training programmes for continued implementation. Comprehensive and simultaneous strategies for disaster avoidance, disaster resistance, and disaster accomodation must be made integral components of local development planning.