Post-disaster Situations Research Articles

Machine Learning Based Intentional Islanding Algorithm for DERs in Disaster Management

Currently, research work is primarily dependent on the collection of large sets of data from systems and making predictions based on the knowledge obtained from the data, which is generally termed as `data mining'. These data mining algorithms are of great importance in improving the performance of different applications. In this regard, Machine Learning (ML) algorithms have been demonstrated to be excellent tools to cope with difficult problems. In this paper, a classification learner based supervised ML algorithm is proposed for intentional islanding of DERs based on the live data collected from supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system in post disaster situations. Literature presents various islanding detection techniques and also intentional islanding algorithms to address different problems in AC networks. These algorithms majorly work based on the control of current source or voltage source inverters. On the other hand, a low voltage DC distribution system allowing the removal of inverter is proposed, which is supposed to be more advantageous by reducing losses and is also economical when working with DERs. In this paper, ML based intentional islanding algorithm for DERs based low voltage DC distribution system is proposed by considering the effects of natural disasters. The learner models trained are fine tree, linear SVM, quadratic SVM and Gaussian SVM. The training of fine tree model is achieved with higher accuracy of 99.8%. The main objective of this work is to achieve a faster and accurate decision making. The performance of the ML based intentional islanding algorithm is compared with the earlier proposed artificial intelligence (AI) based intentional islanding algorithms. The AI algorithms proposed earlier are fuzzy inference systems (FIS), artificial neural networks (ANN) and adaptive network based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The comparison shows that, the decision making with ML based intentional islanding algorithm is faster and accurate than all other algorithms.

Island Futures: Caribbean Survival in the Anthropocene by Mimi Sheller

Reviewed by: Island Futures: Caribbean Survival in the Anthropocene by Mimi Sheller Joaquín Villanueva Mimi Sheller Island Futures: Caribbean Survival in the Anthropocene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020. ix + 226 pp. Illustrations, notes, references, and index. $24.95 paper (ISBN 978-1-4780-1118-7); $94.95 cloth (ISBN 978-1-4780-1012-8). I read mimi sheller's island futures with Puerto Rico as a referent. Despite being mostly about Haiti and the uneven politics of reconstruction following the 2010 earthquake, Sheller's narrative can be easily enlarged to encompass the Caribbean as a whole. As Sheller indicates, Haiti is but "a window upon a dynamic, contested, relational space in which the Anthropocene is allegorically produced" (p. 7-8). Haiti is not exceptional in that regard; it is instead one of many locations that have come to embody the "coloniality of climate change" (p. 8). Puerto Rico too, embodies the "coloniality of disaster." In that sense, this book is not just about Haiti, Puerto Rico, or the Caribbean, it is about "climate change vulnerability" and how climatic risks are "a result both of coloniality in the past and of neocolonial restructuring today" (p. 10; emphasis added). As the title of the book suggests, however, Sheller also uses the text to think about the future. Readers will encounter an unresolved temporal tension throughout the book, one that will frustrate those – like myself – who went into the text thinking that an engagement with Caribbean futures would populate most of the pages ahead. Instead, the past and the present dominate over the future. Nevertheless, the author is "increasingly driven toward a sense of futurity" (p. xiii). That sense is palpable in almost every chapter of the book which follows a similar temporal organizational format. First, the historical formation of uneven mobility regimes is presented. Second, an analysis of the present demonstrates how reconstruction efforts exacerbate the coloniality of climate change vulnerability. Lastly, the author proceeds with a brief discussion of alternative development strategies and just recovery imaginations and initiatives. The format works well as a narrative device, yet I think this form of temporal narration unintentionally reproduces the linearity of time of the modern project of progress and development whereby the past, present, and future neatly follow each other without ever touching or overlapping. In other words, the book falls short in presenting the complexities of Caribbean futures and futurity. My temporal critique is intended mostly to underscore the difficulties of breaking away with our hegemonic conceptions of time and space inherited from the fatal coupling of modernity, liberalism, and capitalism, as Ruth Wilson Gilmore would say. Sheller's Island Futures is a serious attempt to "imagine our way beyond [the Anthropocene], beyond coloniality, beyond capitalism, beyond extractive and exploitative economies and ontologies" (p. xvii). Even though the book is still partly informed by the crisis ontology that colors most research on and about the Caribbean, the temporal narration described above being one manifestation, I appreciated the author's dissatisfaction with that frame and their insistence [End Page 196] to move beyond those ontological requirements. In fact, each chapter ends with a song verse dedicated to a different Haitian Voodoo spirit or loa, suggestive of "alternative ontologies and ways of being in the world that look toward the deep past and the deep future" (p. xxiv). Island Futures brings Mimi Sheller's impressive research agendas together. It combines work on mobilities with Caribbean, island, and disaster studies to provide a theoretically rich text that is both linguistically generative and politically suggestive. For instance, I found the concept islanding effect extremely useful to understand postdisaster politics and differential power relations. As the author observed, during postdisaster situations "highly mobile foreign responders and assistance" are mobilized to the most affected areas and population, "while holding the internally displaced in place in an ongoing process of marginalization, serial displacement, and containment" (p. 36). Islanding, when conceived as an "active verb and a performative imaginary" (p. 18), provided me with new language to speak about the contradictory presence of CBS reporter David Begnaud and his mobile crew across post-Maria Puerto Rico, while hundreds of thousands of families were stranded in their own communities...

Analyzing a queueing network of the emergency department with deteriorating health in post-disaster situations

Analyzing a queueing network of the emergency department with deteriorating health in post-disaster situations

Efficient Placement of an Aerial Relay Drone for Throughput Maximization

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication can be used in overcrowded areas and either during or postdisaster situations as an evolving technology to provide ubiquitous connections for wireless devices due to its flexibility, mobility, and good condition of the line of sight channels. In this paper, a single UAV is used as an aerial relay node to provide connectivity to wireless devices because of the considerable distance between wireless devices and the ground base station. Specifically, two path loss models have been utilized; a cellular‐to‐UAV path loss for a backhaul connection and an air‐to‐ground path loss model for a downlink connection scenario. Then, the tradeoff introduced by these models is discussed. The problem of efficient placement of an aerial relay node is formulated as an optimization problem, where the objective is to maximize the total throughput of wireless devices. To find an appropriate location for a relay aerial node that maximizes the overall throughput, we first use the particle swarm optimization algorithm to find the drone location; then, we use three different approaches, namely, (1) the equal power allocation approach, (2) water filling approach, and (3) modified water filling approach to maximize the total users’ throughput. The results show that the modified water filling outperforms the other two approaches in terms of the average sum rate of all users and the total number of served users. More specifically, in the best‐case scenario, it was observed that the average sum rate of the modified water filling is better than the equal power allocation and ensuring 100% coverage. In contrast, the water filling provides a very close average sum rate to the modified water filling, but it only provides a 28% user coverage.

Political / Power Structure and Vulnerability to Natural Disaster in North Western Pakistan

The current study tries to explore the link between the power structure and vulnerability to natural disasters like flash floods in Chitral, situated in the northwest of Pakistan. Flash floods are common in northern areas of Pakistan because of the steep nature of the terrain, melting of glaciers, and torrential rain in summer. In the Chitral district, its effects are adverse because of dwelling patterns and scarcity of safe locations for living. Ethnographic research tool, participant observation, in-depth interviews, informal talking, were used to understand the relationship between the power structure/ political structure in the district and vulnerability to flash floods and its aftermaths. Descriptive analysis technique has been used to analyze the ethnographic data. In princely state lower status people used to be compensated through land. In the locale of research, situated in upper Chitral, it has been observed that most of the low-status families are living in marginal locations making them vulnerable to flash floods. 2013 and 2015 flash floods data in the village of Reshun shows that majority of the affected families belong to low-status groups. Mainly it is the vulnerable location where these families are living. These families were not only affected more than upper-status people living in the village but the post-disaster situation was also worse for them in comparison to other parts of the village.

Disaster and Pandemic Management Using Machine Learning: A Survey.

This article provides a literature review of state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) algorithms for disaster and pandemic management. Most nations are concerned about disasters and pandemics, which, in general, are highly unlikely events. To date, various technologies, such as IoT, object sensing, UAV, 5G, and cellular networks, smartphone-based system, and satellite-based systems have been used for disaster and pandemic management. ML algorithms can handle multidimensional, large volumes of data that occur naturally in environments related to disaster and pandemic management and are particularly well suited for important related tasks, such as recognition and classification. ML algorithms are useful for predicting disasters and assisting in disaster management tasks, such as determining crowd evacuation routes, analyzing social media posts, and handling the post-disaster situation. ML algorithms also find great application in pandemic management scenarios, such as predicting pandemics, monitoring pandemic spread, disease diagnosis, etc. This article first presents a tutorial on ML algorithms. It then presents a detailed review of several ML algorithms and how we can combine these algorithms with other technologies to address disaster and pandemic management. It also discusses various challenges, open issues and, directions for future research.

THE ROLE OF THE SRI LANKAN ARMY IN POST-DISASTER SITUATIONS IN TERMS OF PROVIDING HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

This studys primary purpose is to identify the factors affecting Sri Lankan military personnels behavioural patterns while providing humanitarian assistance in post-disaster situations. The study has used both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Interviews were done with a few military personalities in a qualitative approach, and the answers were analysed using discourse analysis. The researcher has used a structured questionnaire in the quantitative method. A sample size of 308 military personalities has participated. Independent two-sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and structural equational modelling were used. The main factors of the research, which are attitude towards behaviour, social norms, self-efficacy, knowledge and practice, were identified using the discourse analysis method. Gender, training gained by the military personnel, difficulties encountered by them, and their work experience years failed to affect humanitarian assistance significantly. In structural equational modelling, social norms, knowledge, and practice significantly affected humanitarian aid. However, attitude towards behaviour and self-efficacy did not show any significant effect on humanitarian assistance. This study will provide the necessary information for policymakers and military institutions in Sri Lanka to develop military personnel skills in post-disaster situations. Moreover, this researchs findings will help the individuals, especially the researchers, conduct studies in the same field.

Designing efficient communication infrastructure in post-disaster situations with limited availability of network resources

In the aftermath of a large-scale disaster, such as an earthquake, existing telecommunication (e.g., cellular towers) and other public infrastructures (e.g., power lines, roads, etc.) are often severely damaged. This prevents the seamless exchange of situational awareness and rescue/relief based information between the volunteers, shelter points, and the coordination center. A temporary communication infrastructure utilizing smartphones, communication towers, drones, smart badges, etc., commonly referred to as network resources, can be formed, which promises to bridge the communication gap between various stakeholders in the disaster area and enable timely information exchange between them. However, the efficacy of such networks is often challenged by the limited availability of network resources in the disaster area. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose to design, develop, and test a novel strategy that intelligently deploys the limited network resources in the disaster area, and thus, creates an efficient temporary communication infrastructure in such resource-constrained post-disaster situations. We formulate the network resource deployment (ResDep) problem as an integer linear programming optimization problem and show that it is NP-Hard. Next, we propose a near-optimal polynomial-time heuristic solution for solving it. Our extensive simulation study on top of ONE simulator and proof-of-concept pilot deployment study, both based on our university, National Institute of Technology — Durgapur, India, reveal that the proposed heuristic performs nearly as well as that of the optimal solution (computed using Gurobi optimizer), and outperforms its variant and baseline approaches when compared in terms of end-to-end network latency and message delivery.

Transportation impact assessment following a potential Alpine fault earthquake in New Zealand

The Alpine fault, one of the major fault systems in New Zealand, extends over 600 km in the South Island. There is a high probability of a rupture in the next 50 years, meaning that the next large earthquake on the Alpine Fault is likely to occur within our, or our children’s, lifetime. This is predicted to result in severe damage to the built environment, especially to infrastructure. To estimate the performance of the road network impacted by an Alpine Fault Magnitude 8 earthquake scenario, this research developed a generalizable methodology to simulate post-disaster transportation impacts on a large regional road network. This included the base model development and model calibration, as well as validation in a post-disaster situation. Post-disaster corridor and district trip analyses were undertaken using the outputs of the dynamic assignment, including mean travel time, total travel time, total travelled distance, and flow. The result of corridor analysis shows the significant increase in flow and total travel time on SH1 between Marlborough and SH7, and SH6 connecting Nelson to Marlborough one day and one week after the impact. The trip analysis of one day, one week, six months, and beyond six months after the earthquake indicates that around 2.02%, 1.16%, 0.39%, and 0.13% of total trips, respectively, cannot occur due to accessibility issues. Almost all of the inter-district trips from the three main impacted districts, namely Buller, Westland, and Grey, would be cancelled for at least one week after the earthquake with the impact on operational performance still ongoing. Trips that can occur typically face a significant increase in travelled distance and, consequently, travel time. The outputs from this model will provide emergency response and transportation organisations with critical information regarding the performance of the network following an Alpine Fault Magnitude 8 earthquake.

Arctic humanitarianism for post-disaster settlement and shelter

PurposeThis paper explores Arctic post-disaster situations by focusing on settlement and shelter in Arctic humanitarian contexts.Design/methodology/approachPrinciples of post-disaster settlement and shelter are examined for the Arctic and then for the case study of Svalbard, Norway.FindingsEstablished principles apply in the Arctic, but are not easy to implement. Limited practical experience exists, and some Arctic humanitarian situations require much more investigation to understand how to deal with the post-disaster settlement and shelter process.Originality/valueSetting an agenda for aspects of the principles and practices of Arctic humanitarianism.

IoT-enabled autonomous system collaboration for disaster-area management

Timely investigating post-disaster situations to locate survivors and secure hazardous sources is critical, but also very challenging and risky. Despite first responders putting their lives at risk in saving others, human-physical limits cause delays in response time, resulting in fatality and property damage. In this paper, we proposed and implemented a framework intended for creating collaboration between heterogeneous unmanned vehicles and first responders to make search and rescue operations safer and faster. The framework consists of unmanned aerial vehicles &#x0028 UAVs &#x0029 , unmanned ground vehicles &#x0028 UGVs &#x0029 , a cloud-based remote control station &#x0028 RCS &#x0029 . A light-weight message queuing telemetry transport &#x0028 MQTT &#x0029 based communication is adopted for facilitating collaboration between autonomous systems. To effectively work under unfavorable disaster conditions, antenna tracker is developed as a tool to extend network coverage to distant areas, and mobile charging points for the UAVs are also implemented. The proposed framework&#x02BC s performance is evaluated in terms of end-to-end delay and analyzed using architectural analysis and design language &#x0028 AADL &#x0029 . Experimental measurements and simulation results show that the adopted communication protocol performs more efficiently than other conventional communication protocols, and the implemented UAV control mechanisms are functioning properly. Several scenarios are implemented to validate the overall effectiveness of the proposed framework and demonstrate possible use cases.

Phi Phi Revisited. A Continuation of Disaster Vulnerability?

ABSTRACT This study develops previous research conducted into disaster vulnerability on Phi Phi Island, which resulted in the development of a detailed framework of vulnerability factors intertwined with factors of political economy presenting a post-disaster situation that was highly vulnerable and non-conducive to sustainability. The paper proposes future research directions for identifying and mitigating destination vulnerability. Whilst there has been limited research undertaken from a tourism development perspective in the intervening years, that which exists points again to overtourism and a lack of sustainability. There is growing evidence to suggest that tourist satisfaction has been diminishing for a long time now and that vulnerability has been recreated, creating the conditions for a future disaster.

Analysis of the relationship between earthquake-related losses and the frequency of child-directed emotional, physical, and severe physical abuse in Haiti

BackgroundChild abuse is a public health and human rights issue that is prevalent worldwide. All forms of abuse against children can have negative physical and mental health consequences. Under post-disaster situations, where there is a potential for increased stress and decreased social support among caregivers, the risk of child abuse may be higher. ObjectiveTo explore the association between earthquake-related losses (family-related and property-related) and the experience of emotional, physical, and severe physical child abuse in the household for children aged 2–14 in Haiti. MethodsA nationally representative sample of Haitian households from the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) was used. Descriptive analyses were summarized using frequencies and measures of central tendency. Associations between earthquake-related loss and child abuse was assessed using log-binomial regression modelling. ResultsTwo years following the earthquake, and after considering potentially confounding variables, death of a household member was associated with a higher likelihood of a child being victim to emotional (RR = 1.11, 95 % CI: 1.05−1.17) and severe physical abuse (RR = 1.50, 95 % CI: 1.15−1.96). Conversely, injury of a household member was associated with a lower likelihood of a child experiencing emotional abuse (RR = 0.93, 95 % CI: 0.87−0.99). ConclusionsThere were associations between earthquake-related losses and some forms of child abuse; the results were not consistent across all exposures and outcomes. The high prevalence of reported child abuse indicates a need for interventions to reduce child abuse in homes overall. There is also need for further research into the aetiology and influences specific to different types of abuse.

The DPRK’s Triple Disaster: Failure of Governance, Flooding, and Drought

북한에서는 많은 인권 침해 행위들이 여전히 만연하는 가운데, 북한주민들은 반복되는 자연재해로 인해 더욱 고통 받고 있다. 이는 종종 심각한 인권위기를 초래하는 상황으로 이어진다. 북한정권이 재난이후 상황을 적절히 대응하지 못함에 따라 반복되어지는 자연재해에 대한 취약성은 더욱 증가 하는 현실이다. 본 논문은 나쁜 거버넌스로 인해 반복적으로 발생해온 자연재해, 즉 홍수와 가뭄과 같은 재난으로부터 발생한 인도주의의 위기현상들을 분석한다. 또한, 본 논문은 2018년부터 2019년 사이의 최근 홍수와 가뭄으로 인해 발생한 인도주의의 위기현상에 대한 북한내부 및 국제사회의 대응들을 분석한다. 그렇게 함으로써, 본 논문은 현재 북한정권이 국제사회의 원조활동들에만 크게 의존하는 경향이 있는 반면, 재난에 영향을 받는 북한주민들을 적절하게 지원하거나 재난대응의 능력이 현저히 부족하다는 점을 주장한다. 실제로, 현재 북한정권은 국제사회 인도주의의 지원활동에 대해 부정적인 입장을 취하거나 허용하지 않음으로써 국제사회 인도주의 지원활동 전반에 부정적인 효과를 낳고 있다. 따라서, 북한정권은 재난 후 대응 거버넌스를 개선하는데 상당한 노력을 기울여야할 뿐만 아니라, 동시에 향후 재난에 영향을 받을 더 많은 북한주민들의 생명들을 구할 수 있도록 국제사회의 구호 활동을 더 많이 허용해야 할 필요성이 있다.The citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), already enduring many human rights violations, further suffer because of recurrent natural disasters, which have often led to humanitarian crises. Vulnerability to these disasters has increased as the DPRK regime has continually failed to manage post-disaster situations adequately. This paper examines humanitarian crises in the DPRK in the aftermath of recurrent natural disasters such as floods and droughts, which have largely arisen from bad governance. This paper further examines both domestic and international responses to the humanitarian crises arising from the floods and droughts that occurred between 2018 and 2019. This examination explores how the DPRK regime has tended to rely heavily on the aid operations of international humanitarian organizations because it would otherwise lack the capacity to adequately assist disaster-affected citizens. This paper argues that the regime’s current policy has nonetheless been counterproductive in relation to international humanitarian assistance in the region. The DPRK should reconsider its policy by making a considerable effort to improve post-disaster governance and allowing greater access to international humanitarian operations so that more disaster- affected citizens can be saved in future crises.

The potential for computational IT tools in disaster relief and shelter design

The expanding use of IT has brought an increase in productivity to the world of business, industry and commerce. However, this is not mirrored by an equivalent growth in the use of IT by aid agencies in post-disaster situations. We report a pioneering two-stage study which tested the appetite for the increased use of computational IT tools in this sector, assessed their level of usefulness and whether they can be practically implemented. Thirty aid workers across nineteen countries were surveyed on their use of IT and computational tools in shelter design and provision. The key finding was that none of the participants used any building simulation tools or software packages in any of the design stages of shelter construction. Using this result, two example tools were created—one assessing daylighting and the other environmental impact. A second survey involving 48 aid workers was then carried out to record their experience of using the new tools and 97% of the participants identified a need for such shelter design tools. The majority felt that the new tools were useful and that they would like to use similar tools in their work, most of them preferring tools in the form of web applications. It is concluded that humanitarian workers in the shelter sector are very willing to adopt IT-based computational tools in their work and would appreciate doing so, but only if they have access to suitably simple tools which are quick to use and easy to learn.

Scenario-based seismic vulnerability and hazard analyses to help direct disaster risk reduction in rural Weinan, China

Seismic vulnerability and hazard analyses play a significant role in comprehensive risk mitigation and seismic emergency planning, especially for the rural Weinan prefecture in northwestern China with a complex construction infrastructure and a high population density. Traditional methods assessing potential physical seismic damage prior to an earthquake are providing an incomplete picture for seismic risk assessments and post-disaster situations, and are insufficient for local authorities to plan mitigation strategies effectively. This study presents a novel perspective on scenario-based seismic vulnerability and hazard assessment. First, an in situ survey was carried out in three villages, Helan, Zhaojia, and Dongyu Village in the plain, loess, and mountain area respectively. Then, a quantitative analysis of building vulnerability and associated human homelessness under different seismic intensities was conducted based on the RISK-UE vulnerability index method. Finally, we estimated and analyzed other seismic impact scenarios. Results showed that the mean building vulnerability index is 0.69, 0.70, and 0.76 for Helan, Zhaojia, and Dongyu Village, respectively. Considering the possible displaced populations, Dongyu Village will have the highest proportion of homeless people. If an earthquake causes intensity greater than VII, Dongyu Village would suffer landslides and isolated-communication. The residents would have to rely on self-rescue and mutual rescue. These findings can be a potential guide to decision making in disaster risk reduction in rural Weinan.

Quantifying asbestos fibers in post-disaster situations: Preventive strategies for damage control

When buildings that contain asbestos collapse, harmful asbestos fibers can spread in large quantities. It is critical to control this scattering as quickly as possible to protect residents and workers. Rescue and recovery operations in post-disaster situations usually take a lot of time. Therefore, experiments were conducted to evaluate and control the scattering of asbestos fibers. First, the concentration of asbestos fibers released from broken pieces of asbestos cement roofing sheet (ACRS) was measured over time. Next, the broken pieces were classified into three groups (A: no coating, B: water coating; C: asbestos stabilizer coating) and the amount of asbestos fiber released over time was measured to determine the efficiency of asbestos fiber control using water and asbestos stabilizer. The concentration of asbestos fibers generated from broken ACRS was 0.162 f/cc on average. The asbestos fiber control efficiencies of water and asbestos stabilizer showed similar patterns in the early stage. However, the efficiency of the water coating rapidly decreased after 9 h, whereas the asbestos stabilizer coating showed high efficiency even after 36 h. The results of this study will contribute to the establishment of plans for protecting workers and survivors more safely in disaster sites while controlling asbestos fibers.

RDSP: Rapidly Deployable Wireless Ad Hoc System for Post-Disaster Management.

In post-disaster scenarios, such as after floods, earthquakes, and in war zones, the cellular communication infrastructure may be destroyed or seriously disrupted. In such emergency scenarios, it becomes very important for first aid responders to communicate with other rescue teams in order to provide feedback to both the central office and the disaster survivors. To address this issue, rapidly deployable systems are required to re-establish connectivity and assist users and first responders in the region of incident. In this work, we describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a rapidly deployable system for first response applications in post-disaster situations, named RDSP. The proposed system helps early rescue responders and victims by sharing their location information to remotely located servers by utilizing a novel routing scheme. This novel routing scheme consists of the Dynamic ID Assignment (DIA) algorithm and the Minimum Maximum Neighbor (MMN) algorithm. The DIA algorithm is used by relay devices to dynamically select their IDs on the basis of all the available IDs of networks. Whereas, the MMN algorithm is used by the client and relay devices to dynamically select their next neighbor relays for the transmission of messages. The RDSP contains three devices; the client device sends the victim’s location information to the server, the relay device relays information between client and server device, the server device receives messages from the client device to alert the rescue team. We deployed and evaluated our system in the outdoor environment of the university campus. The experimental results show that the RDSP system reduces the message delivery delay and improves the message delivery ratio with lower communication overhead.

Sex trafficking, prostitution, and increased HIV risk among women during and after the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Women might be at increased risk of HIV infection after a disaster situation due to several interlinked environmental and social factors, such as increased sex trafficking and prostitution, in resource-limited settings. However, this information has not been clearly understood. Based on the review of available gray and peer-reviewed evidence, the present debate paper summarizes potential factors for increasing women’s HIV risk during/after two earthquakes that hit Nepal in 2015. Poverty and socio-economic crisis, displacement and reduced social capital, increased rate of sex trafficking and prostitution, and poor access to health care seem to be the factors to increase women’s HIV risk in the earthquake-affected areas of Nepal. There is a lack of essential empirical evidence on environmental and social factors (e.g. increased sex trafficking and prostitution) that are linked with women’s HIV risk in the post-disaster phase. Therefore, the factors and interactions discussed should be further studied potentially in disaster-affected areas so that locally and culturally salient and sustainable relief and reconstruction strategies, which include strategies for preventing HIV risk in post-disaster situations, can be developed.

A multi-period humanitarian logistics model considering limited resources and network availability

Increased frequency of natural disasters keeps reminding us of the importance of effective pre-planning for the post-disaster situation. Efficient and timely humanitarian logistics can make a difference between life and death of the affected people and reduce trauma. Often marked with limited resources and partially available network capacity, post-disaster response mostly fails to address the needs of all affected people. This paper presents a humanitarian logistics model that considers the limited availability of resources, equity of distribution and the available residual capacity of road network in a multi-period optimization environment. A case study based on the Minato ward of Osaka city is presented, where a mega scale Nankai trough earthquake has been predicted in near future. Using scenario analysis, the case study illustrates determination of efficient depot location, critical infrastructure and supply strategy.