Natural Disasters Research Articles

Expensive Tastes and Living in High-Risk or Hazardous Areas: Claims to Compensation

In this paper, I defend a position contrary to a popular view of distributive justice. Residents of flood-prone or otherwise hazardous areas, like the Gulf South of the United States, receive substantial amounts of aid, paid through taxes on people living elsewhere in the US, after natural disasters that frequent the region. In popular discourse, some argue that we have reason not to (re)build in high-risk or hazardous areas, like the Gulf South. Instead, these residents, and others in similarly situated regions, should “relocate.” If residents choose to stay, then the government and taxpayers do not owe them financial compensation to rebuild. Against that view, I argue that egalitarians commit to compensating many such people. However, I propose broadening our understanding of ‘compensation’ and going forward, focus on agency-enhancing efforts as compensation instead of solely relying on standard post-disaster financial compensation, as current policies generally do. Later in the paper, I offer a metric and tiered system that proposes alternatives to the standard compensation and claim that agency-enhancing compensation aligns with the egalitarian’s commitment to compensate individuals following a natural disaster. I conclude that a tiered system and a broader compensation approach provides egalitarians with more options than the current standard compensation allows.

Earthquake, flood and resilience management through spatial planning, decision and information system

Assessment and planning of crisis management with the natural disasters approach include many components. In this regard, floods and earthquakes are some of the fundamental pillars in this field. With this view, paying attention to the current and future planning and research priorities of the world shows that crisis management in flood-prone and earthquake-prone areas and increasing resilience are the most important priorities for sustainable development studies and planning in the world. The western region of Iran (Lorestan province) has a special place due to the prominent features of flood and seismicity. This study aims to investigate the current situation regarding floods and earthquakes and increase the resilience of settlements with emphasis on the study area. After studying the current structure of flood and earthquake zoning according to multi-factor criteria, zoning was performed based on the integration of GIS and AHP information systems, and at the output of the work, high-risk settlements were determined separately for rural and urban areas with geographical coordinates, and then areas with low, very low, medium, high, and very high resilience were presented separately for rural and urban settlements. Also, after analyzing the SWOT model, strategies to increase the resilience of settlements to floods and earthquakes were presented. The study method of this research and the results, strategies, and operational options presented while being used in the study area are also applicable in other areas.

Prioritization of emergency assembly points in a campus using grey p-median linear programming model

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a scenario-based grey methodology using clustering and optimizing with imprecise and uncertain body size data in an emergency assembly point area to assign the people on a campus to reach the emergency assembly points under uncertain disaster times.Design/methodology/approachGrey clustering and a new grey p-median linear programming model are developed to determine which units to assign to the pre-determined assembly points for a main campus in case of a disaster. The models have two scenarios: 70 and 100% occurrence capacities of administrative and academic personnel and students.FindingsIn this study, the academic and administrative units have been assigned to determine five different emergency assembly points on the main campus by using the numbers of the academic and administrative personnel and student and distances of the units to the assembly point areas of each other. The alternative solutions are obtained effectively by evaluating capacity utilization rates in the scenarios.Practical implicationsIt is often unclear when disasters can occur and therefore, a preliminary preparation time must be required to minimize the risk. In the case of natural, man-made (unnatural) or technological disasters, the people are required to defend themselves and move away from the disaster area as soon as possible in a proper direction. The proposed assignment model yields a final solution that effectively eliminates uncertainty regarding the selection of emergency assembly points for administrative and academic staff as well as students, in the event of disasters.Originality/valueGrey clustering suggests an assignment plan and concurrently, an investigation is underway utilizing the grey p-median linear programming model. This investigation aims to optimize various scenarios and body sizes concerning emergency assembly areas. All campus users who are present at the disaster in units of the campus are getting uncertainty about which emergency assembly point to use, and with this study, the vital risks aim to be ultimately reduced with reasonable plans.

Analyzing Joshimath’s sinking: causes, consequences, and future prospects with remote sensing techniques

The Himalayas are highly susceptible to various natural disasters, such as the tectonically induced land deformation, earthquakes, landslides, and extreme climatic events. Recently, the Joshimath town witnessed a significantly large land subsidence activity. The phenomenon resulted in the development of large cracks in roads and in over 868 civil structures, posing a significant risk to inhabitants and infrastructure of the area. This study uses a time-series synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometry-based PSInSAR approach to monitor land deformation utilizing multi-temporal Sentinel-1 datasets. The line of sight (LOS) land deformation velocity for the Joshimath region, calculated for the year 2022–2023 using a PSInSAR-based approach, varies from − 89.326 to + 94.46 mm/year. The + ve sign indicates the LOS velocity/displacement away from the SAR sensor, whereas − ve sign signifies the earth's movement towards the SAR sensor in the direction of LOS. In addition, the study investigates feature tracking land displacement analysis using multi-temporal high-resolution Planet datasets. The result of this analysis is consistent with the PSInSAR results. The study also estimated the land deformation for the periods 2016–2017, 2018–2019, and 2020–2021 separately. Our results show that the Joshimath region experienced the highest land deformation during the year 2022–2023. During this period, the maximum land subsidence was observed in the north-western part of the town. The maximum LOS land deformation velocity + 60.45 mm/year to + 94.46 mm/year (2022–2023), occurred around Singhdwar, whereas the north and central region of the Joshimath town experienced moderate to high subsidence of the order of + 10.45 mm/year to + 60.45 mm/year (2022–2023), whereas the south-west part experienced an expansion of the order of 84.65 mm/year to − 13.13 mm/year (2022–2023). Towards the south-east, the town experienced rapid land subsidence, − 13.13 mm/year to − 5 mm/year (2022–2023). The study analyzes the causative factors of the observed land deformation in the region. Furthermore, this work assesses the ground conditions of the Joshimath region using UAV datasets acquired in the most critically affected areas such as Singhdhaar, Hotel Mountain View, Malhari Hotel, and Manoharbagh. Finally, the study provides recommendations and future prospects for the development policies that need to be adopted in the critical Himalayan regions susceptible to land deformation. The study suggests that land deformation in the region is primarily attributed to uncontrolled anthropogenic activities, infrastructural development, along with inadequate drainage systems.

Environmentally associated colour divergence does not coincide with population structure across Lesser Antillean anoles

Abstract Species distributed across heterogeneous environments may undergo local adaptation, which can be limited by the homogenizing effects of gene flow. Lesser Antillean anoles exhibit dorsal colour variation associated with dramatic shifts in environment across small spatial scales, providing an excellent system for studying the maintenance of local adaptation despite ongoing gene flow. The 1995 Soufriere Hills eruption on Montserrat provides an opportunity to understand how natural disasters may influence the evolution of insular species. Thus, our study had two main objectives. First, we collected genetic, phenotypic, and environmental data to investigate whether environmentally associated dorsal coloration reflects underlying population structure in three species of Lesser Antillean anoles. Second, we examined the short-term evolutionary consequences of volcanism by comparing pre- and posteruption samples of Anolis lividus using multilocus sequence data. We found all three species exhibited genetic isolation-by-distance but not isolation-by-environment. Furthermore, phenotypic differences within each species were not predicted by genetic distances, suggesting gene flow across colour morphs. We confirmed the repopulation of A. lividus in the impacted area and found genetic diversity equivalent to pre-eruption sampling. Our findings contribute to our understanding of local adaptation in spatially small-scale systems and the impact of catastrophic natural disasters on population structure.

Sedimentary records of giant landslide-dam breach events in western Sichuan, China

Introduction: Landslide-dammed lake outburst floods (LLOFs) are common natural disasters in high-mountain regions, posing serious safety threats to residents’ livelihoods and properties and causing major damage to engineering facilities. Giant landslides and river damming events commonly occur in the Eastern Tibetan Plateau in southwestern China. Dam failure generate LLOFs that form outburst deposits (ODs). This phenomenon is particularly common in some giant ancient landslide-dammed lakes.Methods: This study conducted a detailed investigation of the sedimentary characteristics of large-scale landslide-dammed lake outburst deposits in the Diexi Reach of the Upper Minjiang River and Tangjiashan Reach of the Tongkou River Basin, West Sichuan Plateau, China. Meanwhile, typical evidence of high-energy ODs was recorded.Results and Discussion: The longitudinal distribution of these ODs is similar to an elongated fan-shaped terrace along the river channel, presenting a distinctive sedimentary disordered–sub-ordered–ordered sequence from upstream to downstream. Several typical units of “sedimentary facies” are developed in the OD profiles, such as boulder units deposited by high-energy outburst flood (OF) events and the gravel and sand units representing pulsating-flow sedimentary environments during the recession stage. The grain size frequency curves are bimodal, and the granularity accumulated curves are upward convex, which reflect that the detrital characteristics of the sediment source area are mainly composed of coarse gravel and boulders. This indicates that the coarse gravel sediment gradually become decreased from upstream to downstream. Moreover, the OD hydrodynamic intensity displays a gradual weakening, and sediment sorting is improved. From upstream to the downstream, the mean particle-size and sorting of the ODs gradually decrease. The skewness become larger, and the kurtosis of the ODs is distributed in all the types. In addition, the different combinations of quartz sand surface microtextures indicate the transformation from high-to low-energy impacts over a short distance, which is controlled by flood hydrodynamics and regime.Significance: These sedimentary characteristics of ODs explain the hydrodynamic changes during the propagation of OFs, and are also important records for distinguishing between ODs, and “normal” floods.

Medicine in the 21st Century: How Not to Lose the Art of Healing?

In our time of advanced technologies, the Internet, and the enormous acceleration of all areas of humanitarian activity, medical scientists make outstanding discoveries and innovations that revolutionize diagnostic approaches and treatment options, improve patient care, and enrich the way to a healthier world. Is there still a place for the art of medicine in the era of innovations and artificial intelligence? Although modern technology in the field of medicine with computerization of every aspect (including electronic medical records, laboratory data entry, images, patients' monitoring systems, etc.), young physicians, while embracing that innovation, should be trained in the development of clinical thinking and the establishment of personalized connections to the patients. Young physicians should be taught to adopt the ability to see, hear, and feel a patient's problems, formulate optimal management, and be empathetic to the patient's emotions and suffering. Communication skills are a key to successful medical practice and a part of "the Introduction to Clinic" course in almost all medical schools, but a substantial lack of time in clinical settings creates new challenges for communication between medical students, clinical teachers, and patients in medical schools. In many areas around the world, including Ukraine, this problem has been aggravated by wars, epidemics, pandemics, and natural disasters. At the same time, developing clinical observational skills remains an integral part of medical education and the basis of medical art. The art of a careful physical exam should not be lost behind a computer screen. Dnipro State Medical University has traditions of integrating centuries-old world historical experiences of teaching the art of healing into the philosophical concept of forming the critical clinical thinking of medical students. Our medical school has incorporated "diagnosing the canvas" into its curriculum. A thematic gallery of diagnostic symptoms and signs from great artists of all times and peoples has been created, expanding the young physicians' educational horizons in clinical thinking, empathy, and mercy.

Assessment of Dar es Salaam's resilience to climate change disasters using the Climate Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI)

Climate change is becoming an increasingly significant issue in Africa, and the need for climate resilience assessment has intensified. Dar es Salam is one of Africa's emerging megacities. With a population of over seven million, which continues to grow, there is an urgent need to understand the city's ability to deal with natural disasters. The Climate Disaster Resilience Index (CDRI) was used in this study to assess the city's ability to withstand and cope with climatic hazards. The Index was quantified using sets of dimensions (social, physical, economic, natural, and institutional), with various parameters indicating the city's abilities, strengths, and vulnerabilities to potential climate‐related disasters. Despite being moderately resilient to climate change disasters, the results of our study indicate that the city's economic and institutional features obtained the lowest scores and the least resilience level. The study's findings provide a perspective on aspects of the city management sectors in terms of resilience and which should be given greater consideration in order to strengthen the city's current and future resilience.

Development of New Products for Climate Change Resilience in South Africa—The Catastrophe Resilience Bond Introduction

Climate change has brought several natural disasters to South Africa in the form of floods, heat waves, and droughts. Neighbouring countries are also experiencing tropical cyclones, almost on a yearly basis. The insurance sector is faced with an increased level of climate change risk with individuals, corporates, and even the government approaching it for financial cover. However, with an increased level of competition in the insurance sector, (re)insurers must engage in massive product research and development. Therefore, this paper looks at the possibility of the insurance industry developing new products in the form of catastrophe resilience bonds (CAT R Bonds). A qualitative approach is used following content analysis of (re)insurers’ product development policies, marketing documents, company reports, and risk management reports as well as the Conference of Parties 27 and 28 resolution papers. The findings reveal that (re)insurers’ underwriting capacity, reinsurance protection, and innovative and creative product development increase because of CAT R Bonds. CAT R Bonds enhance the interaction between the capital market and money market, thereby giving speculative investors another investment option. Increased investment into new product development such as CAT R Bonds must continue in South Africa in pursuit of climate change resilience goals.

To the question of the constitutional and legal regulation of ensuring the right to education in the conditions of modern crisis situations

In the context of an increasing number of crisis events, such as natural disasters, epidemics, terrorist attacks, armed conflicts and states of war, ensuring access to quality education becomes extremely important for maintaining the stability of society and developing civil capacity. Within the scope of this scientific work, international and national legal norms that guarantee educational rights in crisis situations are analyzed, as well as practical aspects of their implementation are considered. Special attention is paid to measures aimed at ensuring access to education for all sections of society, including vulnerable population groups. Issues of managing the educational process in crisis conditions are also studied, including the impact of crisis situations on the organization of teaching methods and educational institutions in general. It was established that, in order to ensure proper access to education in Ukraine, we consider it expedient to implement and observe the following aspects: providing comprehensive access to education, which involves not only the creation of conditions for distance learning, but also the supply of high-quality Internet services, the necessary devices and infrastructure for the implementation of the educational process in conditions of war. For full-time education, the priority is the reconstruction of schools and the construction of shelters with the possibility of continuing the educational process in conflict conditions; provision of psychological and social support to children and adults who survived war or conflict, within the framework of educational programs; development and implementation of innovations in the field of education, in particular, the introduction of cloud-based learning environments, electronic journals, as well as an emphasis on the development of skills in the field of digital technologies for preparation for future professional activities; ensuring cyber security of data to protect personal information and prevent unauthorized access; involvement of parents and relatives of children in a certain part of pedagogical duties; development of special educational programs for Ukrainian children abroad; cooperation with international organizations and partners to ensure the necessary resources and financing of educational projects; improvement of pedagogical approaches aimed at raising a tolerant and peaceful society. the implementation of «peace education», which involves the inclusion of the study of the history of conflicts and wars in the curricula, the development of conflict resolution skills and cooperation between countries and cultures, as well as the involvement of students in discussions and projects aimed at supporting peace.

Random and time-persistent depositional processes in turbidite successions: an example from the marine deep-water Aoshima Formation (Neogene, Kyushu Island, southwest Japan)

ABSTRACT The deposits of flood- and earthquake-derived subaqueous sediment gravity flows represent a significant fraction of lacustrine and deep-sea sedimentary successions, thus providing a valuable record of such natural disasters. The magnitude of these events and the thickness of the associated deposits are considered to follow a lognormal or power-law frequency distribution, whilst that of time intervals between subsequent events appear to be best approximated by a Poisson model, indicative of a random, time-independent phenomenon. However, the debate on whether the sedimentary record of these natural disasters is governed by randomness alone or whether there is some underlying stratigraphic ordering is still unsettled and requires detailed time-series analysis. This study consists of a time-series analysis of mudstone- and sandstone-dominated turbidite successions offshore a fan-delta system in the Neogene Aoshima Formation that belongs to the sedimentary fill of the forearc basin of southwest Japan. The formation consists of a monotonous alternation of very fine- to medium-grained sandstones capped by hemipelagic mudstones and, more rarely, by turbidite mudstones. The results show that the autocorrelation function of the time series suggests quasi-periodic variability in the upper sandstone-dominated part, whereas the lower mudstone-dominated part shows a white-noise-like pattern. Rescaled range analysis shows that the number of events per unit time in the lower part is characterized by a random time series, such as Brownian noise with a Hurst exponent of 0.5. In contrast, the thickness of event beds of the lower part and the thickness and the number of events of the upper part are persistent time series with a Hurst exponent > 0.5. These results suggest that the number of turbidite depositional events in the mudstone-dominated part indicates random timing, whereas its thickness time series and the sandstone-dominant part are not governed by simple stochastic processes but are affected by sea-level changes, sediment transport dynamics, and other factors such as, for example, seafloor topography.

IoT Solutions with Artificial Intelligence Technologies for Precision Agriculture: Definitions, Applications, Challenges, and Opportunities

The global agricultural sector confronts significant obstacles such as population growth, climate change, and natural disasters, which negatively impact food production and pose a threat to food security. In response to these challenges, the integration of IoT and AI technologies emerges as a promising solution, facilitating data-driven decision-making, optimizing resource allocation, and enhancing monitoring and control systems in agricultural operations to address these challenges and promote sustainable farming practices. This study examines the intersection of IoT and AI in precision agriculture (PA), aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of their combined impact and mutually reinforcing relationship. Employing a systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, we explore the synergies and transformative potential of integrating IoT and AI in agricultural systems. The review also aims to identify present trends, challenges, and opportunities in utilizing IoT and AI in agricultural systems. Diverse forms of agricultural practices are scrutinized to discern the applications of IoT and AI systems. Through a critical analysis of existing literature, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how the integration of IoT and AI technologies can revolutionize PA, resulting in improved efficiency, sustainability, and productivity in the agricultural sector.

Remote Sensing and Modeling of the Cryosphere in High Mountain Asia: A Multidisciplinary Review

Over the past decades, the cryosphere has changed significantly in High Mountain Asia (HMA), leading to multiple natural hazards such as rock–ice avalanches, glacier collapse, debris flows, landslides, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Monitoring cryosphere change and evaluating its hydrological effects are essential for studying climate change, the hydrological cycle, water resource management, and natural disaster mitigation and prevention. However, knowledge gaps, data uncertainties, and other substantial challenges limit comprehensive research in climate–cryosphere–hydrology–hazard systems. To address this, we provide an up-to-date, comprehensive, multidisciplinary review of remote sensing techniques in cryosphere studies, demonstrating primary methodologies for delineating glaciers and measuring geodetic glacier mass balance change, glacier thickness, glacier motion or ice velocity, snow extent and water equivalent, frozen ground or frozen soil, lake ice, and glacier-related hazards. The principal results and data achievements are summarized, including URL links for available products and related data platforms. We then describe the main challenges for cryosphere monitoring using satellite-based datasets. Among these challenges, the most significant limitations in accurate data inversion from remotely sensed data are attributed to the high uncertainties and inconsistent estimations due to rough terrain, the various techniques employed, data variability across the same regions (e.g., glacier mass balance change, snow depth retrieval, and the active layer thickness of frozen ground), and poor-quality optical images due to cloudy weather. The paucity of ground observations and validations with few long-term, continuous datasets also limits the utilization of satellite-based cryosphere studies and large-scale hydrological models. Lastly, we address potential breakthroughs in future studies, i.e., (1) outlining debris-covered glacier margins explicitly involving glacier areas in rough mountain shadows, (2) developing highly accurate snow depth retrieval methods by establishing a microwave emission model of snowpack in mountainous regions, (3) advancing techniques for subsurface complex freeze–thaw process observations from space, (4) filling knowledge gaps on scattering mechanisms varying with surface features (e.g., lake ice thickness and varying snow features on lake ice), and (5) improving and cross-verifying the data retrieval accuracy by combining different remote sensing techniques and physical models using machine learning methods and assimilation of multiple high-temporal-resolution datasets from multiple platforms. This comprehensive, multidisciplinary review highlights cryospheric studies incorporating spaceborne observations and hydrological models from diversified techniques/methodologies (e.g., multi-spectral optical data with thermal bands, SAR, InSAR, passive microwave, and altimetry), providing a valuable reference for what scientists have achieved in cryosphere change research and its hydrological effects on the Third Pole.

Multi-temporal Monitoring for Road Slope Collapse by Means of LUTAN-1 SAR Data and High Resolution Optical Data

Abstract. Collapse is one of the most destructive natural disaster, being sudden, frequent, and highly concealed, causing large-scale damage. On August 10, 2023, the slope of 108 national highway in Weinan, Shaanxi Province collapsed. The lower edge of the collapse slope body is the Luohe river, and the collapse body rushes into the river to form a barrier lake. Remote sensing technique can provide multiple dimensional information for disaster emergency and management. Lutan-1 SAR satellites are the first group L-band SAR constellation for multiple applications in China. Owing to the precise orbit control ability and high revisit characteristics for Lutan-1 SAR satellites, surface deformation monitoring with centimeter even millimeter accuracy may be achieved. Based on the multi-temporal pre-disaster and post-disaster Lutan-1 SAR data and high resolution optical data, the collapse information including the pre-disaster and post-disaster were extracted and analysed. From July 11 to 27, 2023, the pre-collapse deformation was obtained with the maximum value of 6 cm, and obvious deformation occurred before the collapse. Lutan-1 monitored results pre-collapse can provide certain information for disaster early identification. From July 27 to August 24, 2023, due to the serious incoherence caused by large deformation and ground changes, effective deformation information cannot be obtained based on the InSAR technique. In addition, the collapse information was clearly extracted by the high resolution optical data acquired pre-collapse and post collapse. After the collapse, significant deformation was extracted from August 24 to September 21 with the maximum value of 6 cm, indicating that obvious deformation still occurred over the collapse area. Through the analysis for the series results obtained by SAR and optical data, it is favourable for disaster emergency and management.

Multi-Objective Evcuation Planning Model Considering Post-Earthquake Fire Spread: A Tokyo Case Study

As an integral part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is essential for human safety and city sustainability. In recent years, natural disasters, which have had a tremendous negative impact on economic and social development, have frequently occurred in cities. As one of these devastating disasters, earthquakes can severely damage the achievements of urban development and impact the sustainable development of cities. To prepare for potential large earthquakes in the future, efficient evacuation plans need to be developed to enhance evacuation efficiency and minimize casualties. Most previous research focuses on minimization of distance or cost while ignoring risk factors. We propose a multi-objective optimization model with the goal of reducing the risk during the evacuation process, which is called the risk reduction model (RRM). Problem-specific indicators for screening optimal solutions are introduced. The research selects the Ogu area in Tokyo as a case study, where there is a relatively high density of wooden structures, increasing the risks of building collapse and fire spread after an earthquake, and is based on a two-phase evacuation flow that considers secondary evacuation for fire response. The results indicate that, in this case, RRM can, in most situations, reduce the risk level during the evacuation process and improve evacuation efficiency and success rate without significantly increasing the total evacuation distance. It proves to be superior to the traditional distance minimization model (DMM), which prioritizes minimizing the total distance as the objective function.

Addressing the prevalence and impact of PTSD after natural disasters in the Caribbean population

Addressing the prevalence and impact of PTSD after natural disasters in the Caribbean population

Missing persons and infrastructures of search and identification

People go missing all over the world, but the reasons for disappearances are enormously diverse. Some people are intentionally disappeared by the state: totalitarian and military governments as well as various paramilitary and criminal organizations have used enforced disappearances as a tactic to control the population and create submissive citizens or subjects though fear and insecurity. Both civilians and soldiers disappear invariably in the chaotic circumstances of war and armed conflict. Some people disappear in natural catastrophes or fatal accidents; some disappear of their own free will. Whatever the reason for disappearance, it disturbs the everyday flow of life in families and communities, and in many places, it creates anomalies for modern state bureaucracies. Unaccounted-for absences give rise to search practices, but the circumstances of search are radically different in different places and different contexts of disappearance. One way to approach these differences is to analyse the infrastructures of search in each site. I am especially interested in the entanglement of the local with the global, and of the spatial reach of search infrastructures . Moreover, I consider the significance of the material affordances of some infrastructural forms, especially of the DNA as the key tool for identification. I make some observations on how the entanglements of local and transnational investment and the material affordances of the techniques allow some of the disappeared to be found and identified, while others stay more ‘disappearable’ (Laakkonen 2022).

Kekeringan: Kelangkaan Pangan dan Kriminalitas di Lamongan, 1892-1940

This paper aims to explain the natural disaster of drought which influenced the decline in the economy and high crime in Lamongan. This paper uses historical research methods which include the stages of topic selection, heuristics, verification, interpretation, and historiography by paying attention to the focus of the study on urban issues, especially environmental and social history. Based on research results, it is known that the drought in Lamongan was caused by climate anomalies and erratic climate change. This drought has had various impacts, ranging from a lack of water supply for agriculture, scarcity of food to the rise of crime such as theft. The efforts to overcome drought were carried out by the colonial government with the cooperation of local residents, such as carrying out repairs to reservoirs, holding prayer events, and joint celebrations to ask God for help. Even though this drought disaster cannot be avoided, its impact can be minimized with mitigation efforts.

Tracing Infrastructure and its Evolution in the Search for the Missing in Poland

Every day around the globe, people go missing for any number of reasons. Some disappearances are intentional, others are enforced by oppressive political regimes or the result of natural disasters. Whatever the reason, these disappearances produce family ruptures and anxieties, and require a search to establish, at the very least, whether the missing person is dead or alive. In Poland, the number of reported disappearances gradually rose to 20 000 by 2018. (For comparison, other countries’ figures vary widely due to the diverse contexts and calculations used—for instance, Finland records 700–800 missing incidents annually, while in the UK there are over 300 000.) The increase in Poland’s figures results from the sheer growth in disappearances given the ease of movement and rising socioeconomic pressures, bringing with them health issues, debt, and family conflicts. The increase in disappearance figures also results from an increased willingness among families to report missing persons and a willingness among the police to accept such reports. I associate the rising sociopolitical recognition of disappearances in Poland with the expansion of tracing infrastructure, which I define as the interlocking assembly of state and nonstate agents, institutions, and technologies engaged in the search for missing persons.

Research on Optimization of Financial Performance Evaluation of Energy Enterprises under the Background of Low-Carbon Economy

The development of human society and the production and operation activities of enterprises have brought about global warming, resulting in frequent natural disasters. It has become the consensus of all countries in the world to develop a green and low-carbon economy. Under this background, enterprises, as the main body of economic activities, especially energy industry enterprises, should optimize and upgrade the traditional production and operation mode with high pollution, high consumption, and low output to a high-efficiency and low-pollution mode, and pay attention to the co-ordinated development of economic benefits, social benefits, and ecological benefits. Financial performance evaluation indicators have become the main basis for senior leaders of energy industry enterprises to make decisions and evaluate the low-carbon economic benefits of enterprises. This paper constructs a set of financial evaluation index systems of energy industry enterprises under the background of a low-carbon economy from four dimensions: profitability, asset quality, debt risk, and business growth. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to measure the comprehensive contribution of financial indicators of low-carbon production and operation. The purpose of this study is to provide scientific financial management decisions for energy enterprises to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and low-carbon operation under the background of a low-carbon economy. The research results show that the comprehensive evaluation index system after the traditional financial evaluation index of energy industry enterprises is integrated with the evaluation index of a low-carbon economy can help enterprises make more correct and effective financial decisions in the process of survival, development, and growth, and, at the same time, the financial evaluation index of a low-carbon economy should pay more attention to the indicators with a higher comprehensive contribution, so as to effectively promote the low-carbon operation efficiency of enterprise production, management, and sales. Compared with other research results, this paper innovatively constructs a financial management decision-making index system for measuring the low-carbon operation of energy enterprises in theory, which has important value in guiding energy enterprises to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and low-carbon operation in practice.