Natural Disaster Preparedness Research Articles

160: A Survey of Military Personnel and Civilians to Assess Individual Preparedness for Domestic Terrorist Attacks and Natural Disasters

In the post-9/11 world, a premium has been placed on domestic disaster response initiatives. The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the existence and content of civilian and military family disaster preparedness plans and supplies based on the recommendations by the American Red Cross and Department of Homeland Security.

The Threat of Communicable Diseases Following Natural Disasters: A Public Health Response

Natural disasters, such as the recent Indian Ocean tsunami, can have a rapid onset, broad impact, and produce many factors that work synergistically to increase the risk of morbidity and mortality caused by communicable diseases. The primary goal of emergency health interventions is to prevent epidemics and improve deteriorating health conditions among the population affected. Morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases can be minimized providing these intervention efforts are implemented in a timely and coordinated fashion. This article presents a review of some of the major issues relevant to preparedness and response for natural disasters.

The European geoportal––one step towards the establishment of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure

The European Geoportal has been identified as one of the building blocks of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI). The vision of the EU Geoportal is to allow users to discover, understand, view, access, and query geographic information of their choice from the local level to the global level, for a variety of uses, such as environmental policy development and impact assessment, land use planning, natural disasters preparedness, monitoring, and response. The EU Geoportal will facilitate links and coherence with many institutional servers and portals and will provide on-line access to collections of spatial data and services supplied by multiple public and private organisations. This paper presents some of the work associated with the establishment of an ESDI, and the requirements for the EU Geoportal. The prototype version of the EU Geoportal demonstrates the feasibility to link distributed geographic information services but at the same time reveals a number of challenges that need to be considered in the path towards interoperability. The current obstacles related to technological interoperability issues are discussed in detail and proposals are made for the next steps to be taken to speed up the implementation of the ESDI.

The European geoportal––one step towards the establishment of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure

The European Geoportal has been identified as one of the building blocks of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI). The vision of the EU Geoportal is to allow users to discover, understand, view, access, and query geographic information of their choice from the local level to the global level, for a variety of uses, such as environmental policy development and impact assessment, land use planning, natural disasters preparedness, monitoring, and response. The EU Geoportal will facilitate links and coherence with many institutional servers and portals and will provide on-line access to collections of spatial data and services supplied by multiple public and private organisations. This paper presents some of the work associated with the establishment of an ESDI, and the requirements for the EU Geoportal. The prototype version of the EU Geoportal demonstrates the feasibility to link distributed geographic information services but at the same time reveals a number of challenges that need to be considered in the path towards interoperability. The current obstacles related to technological interoperability issues are discussed in detail and proposals are made for the next steps to be taken to speed up the implementation of the ESDI.

Mainstreaming disaster mitigation: Challenges to organisational learning in NGOs

This paper discusses the implications for organisational learning of recent research on NGO activity in natural disaster mitigation and preparedness. It identifies several institutional and other barriers to NGO learning. However, personal networks in NGOs are often strong, and determined and well-placed individuals can push significant innovations through. Greater emphasis on this human factor may be the key to mainstreaming disaster mitigation and other new or marginal approaches to development.

NGO initiatives in risk reduction: an overview.

NGOs appear to be well placed to play a significant role in natural disaster mitigation and preparedness (DMP), working, as they do, with poorer and marginalised groups in society. However, there is little information on the scale or nature of NGO DMP activities. This paper reports the findings of a study seeking to address that gap. It confirms that NGOs are involved in a diverse range of DMP activities but that a number of them are not labelled as such. Moreover, evidence of the demonstrable quality and benefits of DMP involvement is poor. The paper concludes that a number of problems need to be overcome before DMP can be satisfactorily mainstreamed into NGO development and post-disaster rehabilitation programmes. However, there are some early indications of momentum for change.

Natural disaster preparedness, environmental degradation and sustainable development in Kenya

Lack of disaster preparedness has remained one of Kenya’s enduring development challenges for decades. The El Nino rains which flooded most parts of the country between 1997 and 1998, and the prolonged drought during the year 2000 have both led to massive displacement of populations, loss of lives, destruction of property, water and energy crises, and the collapse of vital infrastructure. Most of the disaster response initiatives in Kenya have tended to be adhoc, uncoordinated and short-term measures, mainly in the form of emergency relief services to the worst affected areas. However, disaster and environmental management ought to integrate disaster preparedness measures and recovery operations into ongoing development programs for

Social and Cultural Aspects of Natural Hazards Perception and Response

ABSTRACTFocus groups conducted in two urban areas in New Zealand explored perceptions of natural hazards and disaster preparedness. The groups were structured by socio‐economic status, gender, age, and cultural background. Participants were generally aware of likely major hazard events but few maintained emergency kits or had prepared emergency plans. People held an optimistic attitude, believing they could cope with disaster. Differences amongst the groups included the inability of lower socio‐economic groups to afford emergency kits or insurance and evidence of strong supportive networking among Maori and Samoan groups.