Disaster Site Research Articles

Operational Health Pavilions in Mass Disasters: Lessons Learned from the 2023 Earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

The massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in February 2023 killed tens of thousands of people, and most of the deceased have not yet been identified. Many victims were pulled from the rubble hours or days later, injured and in need of assistance, treatment, and food, and many have not yet been connected with their families. Armed forces, volunteers, technicians, and health workers must cooperate in synergy in these situations to ensure effective interventions and to improve resilience. Based on the lessons learned from the response efforts to this recent natural catastrophe, this brief report proposes, for the first time, an organisational model structured around five functional pavilions that can be safely set up at the edge of a disaster area. Each pavilion should run its own activities to make a vital contribution to the overall coordinated emergency response. Looking to the future, it is extremely important to apply a technical approach that leads to maximum operational synergy at a disaster site and during the first phase of a sudden-onset emergency.

GA-LNS Optimization for Helicopter Rescue Dispatch

Aviation emergency rescue has become one of the most effective means for natural disaster relief due to its flexible and timely characteristics. A reasonable emergency dispatch plan can guarantee the effective implementation of all the rescue measures. Most of previous studies in this area focused on the scheduling and routing but ignored the impact of the specific rescue process, for example the fuel consumption of various helicopters. In this paper, a multi-helicopter-multi-trip Aviation Rescue Routing Problem (ARRP) is analysed which covers the whole rescue process. In addition, a time-domain procedural simulation model is built which can consider different helicopters, refueling or not, various resource locations, multiple disaster sites and other operation factors. Based on that, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) hybridized Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) algorithm (GA-LNS) is proposed for optimization. In ARRP, single search algorithm may lead to the local optimum due to complexity. In contrast, the distance greedy strategy and the load ratio strategy are combined in GA-LNS which can fix the local optimum problem. More specifically, based on the helicopter-tagged-task-sequenced chromosome, the single-point crossover operator is used in GA and then, the worst removal strategy and the first/last insertion strategy are adopted in LNS. Finally, the numerical experiments are exercised to verify the effectiveness of the proposed GA-LNS algorithm which is compared with three traditional basic heuristic algorithms and a stateof-the-art memetic algorithm.

Possibilities of using territorial defense armities to protect the site of a mass disaster

This paper presents the most important issues concerning the use of the Territorial Defense Forces for the task of securing the site of a mass disaster. It discusses the concept and features of a mass disaster, the organization and tasks of Territorial Defense Forces, and the participation of soldiers from this formation in securing the site of a mass disaster. The aim of the article is to present the most important aspects of the participation of Territorial Defense Forces soldiers in securing the site of a mass disaster, mass events. Although the TDF issues have been present and developed in various publications in recent years, there has been no work analyzing the participation of this formation in the activities of securing a mass catastrophe of such events. In the work, classical research methods were used, including the study of sources, their analysis, criticism, heuristics and inference. Established in 2016, the Territorial Defense Forces constitute a valuable new type of the Armed Forces, which can be very useful in activities related to securing the site of a mass disaster, which is part of the crisis management system. Territorial Defense Forces soldiers can be used to help and safeguard, interrupt an incident, mitigate its effects, prevent bystanders from reaching the crash site, which has a significant impact on securing traces and evidence against their loss or distortion. The great advantage of the formation is its territoriality, because in the event of a summons to the site of a mass disaster, it can appear very quickly and, in cooperation with the relevant services, promptly take effective action.

재난대응의 단순화 방안에 관한 연구

On October 29, 2022, when the end of the long social distancing that began with COVID-19 was visible, we again looked at the terrible reality that we did not want to face in South Korea. We must pay attention to the fact that it was a disaster that could be sufficiently prevented and managed regardless of cause and effect. In the meantime, Korea has been through various social disasters that can't be found in the world. Things like the collapse of Sampoong Department Store, the Daegu subway disaster, and the Sewol ferry disaster, all of which are difficult to enumerate. At that time, we have prepared laws and systems and reorganized the organization to prevent such absurd disasters from happening again. A manual for numerous disaster response was also created, and an education and training system was prepared to compare with the past. But in the end, the disaster that could have been prevented happened again. Rather than making something new and hasty, we need to take time to really seriously look at what is the problem and what needs to be changed.
 In the meantime, we have looked at disasters too fragmentarily only by their scale. Disasters have multiple sides. In particular, disasters in modernized societies are quite complex and require the intervention of various administrative agencies and social personnel. Even if you don't, you need to think about whether it's right to create an additional manual again in a complicated and too diverse manual. Now, the manual should be simplified based on authority and responsibility. It should not happen to study manuals at disaster sites where 1 minute 1 second is urgent.
 The existing legal system, which is divided into natural and social disasters, also needs to be overhauled. While talking about the importance of complex disasters, maintaining a legal system that requires response organizations to move separately is inevitably defenseless against various multiple and complex disasters that will occur in the future. The goal should not be to figure out the number of victims at the disaster site and prepare a recovery headquarters, but to prevent more victims from occurring.

Optimal Computation Offloading in Collaborative LEO-IoT Enabled MEC: A Multiagent Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach

Recently, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based Internet of Things (LEO-IoT) becomes attractive for computation offloading in mobile-edge computing (MEC) since it can overcome terrain obstacles, such as in depopulated villages and disaster sites. However, it is extremely hard to allocate bandwidth and power resources jointly with multiple users and satellites. In this paper, we study offloading in collaborative LEO-IoT where satellites forward data from users to the MEC server, with the goal of making offloading fast and energy efficient. To achieve this goal, we first define the data offloading in collaborative LEO-IoT as an optimization problem with resource constraints. Then we formulate the optimization problem as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDP), which differs from the existing Markov Decision Processes (MDP) work for the offloading scenario. We further propose a novel Multi-Agent Information Broadcasting and Judging (MAIBJ) algorithm to allocate resources in a collaborative manner. Finally, extensive experiments are conducted with various configurations and the results show that MAIBJ can shorten at least 33% of transmission latency and save at least 42% of energy consumption compared with several baseline algorithms.

Spatial Distribution of Flood Vulnerability in Langkat Regency, North Sumatera Province, Indonesia

Deforestation has a real impact on increasing the level of disaster risk, especially flooding. The real impact of the flood disaster is experienced by Langkat Regency community, North Sumatera Province, Indonesia. The impact of flooding is physical, social, economic, and environmental losses that are perceived directly by the community close to the disaster site. The objective of this study is to analyze the distribution of flood vulnerability levels in Langkat Regency, North Sumatera Province. Determination of the distribution of the flood vulnerability level area used spatial modeling with a scoring method with several variables, including rainfall, land slope, soil texture, land use, landform, and riparian buffers. The distribution of flood vulnerability areas is mostly at very low level with the percentage of the area reaching 53% of the Langkat Regency area. The three districts that have the widest high - very high flood vulnerability levels are Wampu District covering an area of 63,805.92 ha or 14.56%, of the total area of Langkat Regency, Pematang Jaya District covers 78,882.02 ha or 18.01% and Hinai District covers an area of 70,311.41 ha with or 16.05%. This study offers suggestions that the spatial distribution data of flood vulnerability level areas can be developed into an early warning system, for making rapid disaster response procedures.

Development of a Logistics System for Disaster Medical Container Operations Using Drones and GIS

Introduction:To quickly operate a temporary hospital using disaster medical containers in the event of a large-scale disaster, dozens of large trailers must be quickly brought to the disaster site. This study aims to establish a logistic system for transporting and installing containers using drones and GIS.Method:By linking drones and GIS, a theoretical model was created to quickly determine routes and installation sites for large trailers transporting medical containers from candidate routes simulated in advance by taking into account hazard maps and road conditions.Results:Using this system, it is possible to(1) Establish whether the roads planned to be passed through are passable.By narrowing down candidate routes through preliminary simulations that overlay hazard maps and roads that are passable for large trailers, it is possible to narrow down the routes that need to be confirmed. Immediately after a disaster, a drone can be used to confirm road damage, flooding, landslides, etc., and map them on the GIS to determine the extent to which they are passable.(2) Identify locations that take into account demand and safety.Locations that are close to the disaster area, safe, and in demand for medical care can be determined and identified based on the population mesh and the damage situation.Conclusion:GIS and drones have a high affinity and are used in various ways. However, there is still no linkage between GIS and drones adapted to medical care and logistics at disaster sites in Japan. This system is indispensable to comprehensively determine the safety and demand of roads and installation sites.

The Utilization of Hospital-Based Decontamination Facility for Chemical Incidents

Introduction:The constraints of performing prehospital decontamination in mass casualty incidents involving the release of chemical agents at disaster sites in modern cities are notable. Compounding this are highly built-up urban areas with significantly high population density and traffic congestion. This places the burden of performing such decontamination on nearby healthcare facilities. Based on this need, public hospitals in Singapore have been equipped with decontamination facilities. We present a review of the utilization of this facility at our institution.Method:A retrospective review of the utilization of the hospital decontamination station (HDS) was carried out, noting its frequency, purpose, and outcomes.Results:Since its construction, the HDS has been deployed successfully many times a year for both routine training and disaster preparedness exercises. Despite the lockdown measures due to Covid-19, with concomitant reduction in social and economic activity, the HDS was activated five times for decontamination of chemical contaminated casualties. It is fortunate that, although HDS training activities were curtailed during this period, emergency department (ED) staff were still able to function effectively using prior experience, donning chemical protective suits, and performing decontamination. The semi-automated HDS facilitated rapid deployment which contributed to ease of use of this resource for timely decontamination of casualties with good outcomes.Conclusion:Chemical incidents resulting in contaminated casualties are uncommon events. Nonetheless hospitals must be prepared to deal with this situation in a timely manner. The rapidly deployable HDS has become an important resource and an operationally ready solution for dealing with chemical contaminated casualties presenting at short notice to the ED. Regular training and deployment exercises utilizing the HDS provide staff familiarity critical to overall readiness for chemical incidents. This strategy provides a reliable countermeasure in an all-hazards approach to disaster preparedness at the hospital.

NGO-led Disaster Response Through the Use of Interdisciplinary Teams

Introduction:Japan is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The government has traditionally taken the lead during disaster responses, but now NGOs have begun to play an active role in disaster response. Peace Winds Japan (PWJ), is the first Japanese NGOs to utilize medical teams, search-and-rescue dogs, and disaster response in conjunction with one another. The presentation will be focused on operations and lessons learned.Method:Initially, the NGO only supported disaster-affected areas, both domestic and abroad, by providing relief supplies. However, in 2010 they began training rescue dogs to perform life-saving search-and-rescue operations immediately after sudden onset disasters. In 2014 NGO dispatched rescue dogs and a disaster response team for the first time at the Hiroshima landslide disaster. A medical team was added in 2018, and since then has sent out teams to ten other disaster sites, including West Japan Flood in 2018 and Ukraine Crisis as an international EMT in 2022.Results:One of the strengths of the organization is the ability to respond quickly by using aviation and maritime transport. They operate two helicopters and one vessel and can promptly and effectively transport patients and resources. Eight critical patients were transported from the hospital by helicopter during the West Japan Flood.Conclusion:Furthermore, joint rescue drills were conducted with both public and private organizations, and continue to seek ways for collaboration and cooperation in disaster settings.

Readiness of Emergency Medical Teams of Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps for Response to Natural Disasters in Sri Lanka

Introduction:Sri Lanka has been divided into 26 districts. These 26 districts are Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambanthota, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Rathnapura, Kegalle, Badulla, Monaragala, Puttalam and Kurunegala. Ten key natural disasters have been identified in Sri Lanka as important to develop response capacity. These natural disasters are coastal erosion, cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, epidemics, floods, forest fires, landslides, lightning and tsunamis. Five battalions of the Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps (SLAMC) have been established in various parts of Sri Lanka. These battalions are named 1 SLAMC, 2(V) SLAMC, 3 SLAMC, 4 SLAMC and 5 SLAMC. The Army Hospital, Army Base Hospitals (ABH), and Medical Reception Stations have been located in various parts of Sri LankaMethod:Each battalion and hospital have Emergency Medical Teams (EMTs) for response to disasters. An EMT consists of: one medical officer, two nurses, two nursing assistants and one ambulance with a driver. There are two EMTs in each battalion and each ABH. The Army hospital has three EMTs.Results:1 SLAMC is responsible for responding to disasters in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Rathnapura, Kegalle, Kurunegala and Puttalam. 2(V) SLAMC is responsible for responding to disasters in Hambanthota, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Monaragala. 3 SLAMC will respond to disasters in Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaitivu. 4 SLAMC will respond to disasters in Jaffna and Kilinochchi dis. 5 SLAMC is responsible for disasters arising in Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara. When disasters happen in adjacent districts, hospitals will respond to those disasters.Conclusion:EMTs will be deployed to the disaster site as soon as possible and do treatments for casualties by staying seven days. The number of EMTs depends on the magnitude of the disaster.

A Study on Improving the Competency of Disaster Management in Nonprofit Sector

The purpose of this study is to suggest a direction for strengthening the competency of the non-profit sector, which plays an increasingly important role in the disaster management process. First of all, problems in the current public-private partnership were reviewed, and the direction of cooperative governance centered on the non-profit sector was presented. In addition, the study emphasized alternatives to strengthen the capabilities of volunteer organizations, which are representative non-profit organizations at disaster sites. Above all, disaster volunteer organizations need to secure a professional and differentiated status as a key decision-making stakeholder at disaster sites. As a result, the directions of change to strengthen the competency of the non-profit sector are organizational redesign through overall job analysis of the organization, securing expertise in disaster types occurring in the region, establishing one direction based on strategic planning. In addition, activation of communication to build trust with local residents and sophisticated decision-making and analysis skills will be required.

Responding to Natural Disasters on Twitter Social Media to Comparative Analysis of User Behavior and Geospatial Information Content in Indonesia and the United States

Disasters are a series of events that threaten, disrupt people's lives and livelihoods which are caused by natural, non-natural and human factors, resulting in casualties, environmental damage, losses and psychological impacts. Natural disasters have prompted Twitter social media users to upload information about the conditions of areas affected by natural disasters in pictures or only text of the disaster site. At that time, the researcher proposed to analyze the behavior of Twitter social media users towards education levels in Indonesia and the United States. This research provides an overview of the facts about the content shared on Twitter social media, and provides a solution for the extraction of geospatial content on Twitter social media. From the processing of data from Twitter social media, it can be seen that there is no difference in the relationship between Twitter social media users and education levels in Indonesia and the United States and more geospatial information content in the United States than in Indonesia.

Tourists’ national identity at heritage sites of natural disasters

Cultivating national identity at dark heritage sites is of national significance and important for one's sense of belonging. Chinese national identity seems to be a quintessential case to investigate, given nation-building is central to the development of dark heritage tourism in China. However, there is a lack of systematic and in-depth understanding of the factors associated with the construction of national identity among visitors. Drawing on self-categorisation theory, this paper explores visitors' perception of national identity in a dark heritage context of natural disasters. Built on the analysis of 83 semi-structured interviews from two different dark heritage sites in China, a conceptual model illustrating the salience of national identity was developed. The model indicates that Chinese national identity could be facilitated by external stimuli and national identity attributes. The salient national identity is accompanied by emotional reactions and positive evaluation of the national group. The findings might provide managerial insights into nation-building practice and endeavours through dark heritage of natural disasters.

Emergency Material Scheduling Optimization Method Using Multi-Disaster Point Distribution Approach

The outbreak of multiple disaster sites during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has presented challenges due to varying access time intensity, population density, and medical resources at each site. To address these issues, this study focuses on 13 districts and counties in Wuhan, China. The importance of each research area is analyzed using the improved PageRank and TOPSIS algorithms to determine the optimal site selection plan. Additionally, a particle swarm algorithm is used to construct an emergency material dispatching model that targets both distribution and site selection costs to solve the multi-distribution center dispatching problem. The results suggest that constructing 10 distribution centers can satisfy the demand for epidemic prevention and control in Wuhan city while saving costs associated with site selection and material distribution. Compared to the previous optimal solution, the distribution and site selection costs under the optimal solution decreased by 27.9% and 17.82%, respectively. This approach can serve as a basis for dispatching emergency materials during public health emergencies.

Environmental Justice in the Urban Landscape

Environmental justice is a crucial subfield within environmental politics. Environmental justice studies have often been focussed on sites of natural disasters; however, more recently the scope of environmental justice study has been expanded to include environmental justice in urban locations. First, this paper contains a literature review of prominent scholarly articles within the field of environmental justice, including historical examples of environmentally unjust policies, and the factors influencing environmental injustice. Next, this paper examines case studies of environmental hazards within North America. Finally, this paper makes policy recommendations to mitigate environmental injustice through a Canadian federal context such as mandating the creation of environmental justice assessments, in the Canadian provincial context, by encouraging the creation of an environmental justice framework, as well as through a municipal context, by encouraging the creation of an environmental justice assessment to create equity within city planning.

140 Scoping Review of the Health Effects of Youth Due to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Use the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program Health Effects Library to identify the breadth and depth of research on the health effects of youth due to exposures from the events of September 11, 2001, to track the research trajectories by study population, and to identify gaps and define needs for future research. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We selected references from the WTC Health Effects Library. This curated library includes research publications that measure, report, or discuss health effects of 9/11 at the three disaster sites. Articles included had to evaluate people under 18 years old on 9/11/2001, including those in-utero. Of the 1,813 references considered, 195 were included in our study. Data from each reference was extracted using DistillerSR software and organized in four topics: overview, methods, conditions, and results. Each publication was abstracted independently by a team of two health scientists and conflicts were resolved by the four-person team. All data was then exported from DistillerSR into Microsoft Excel for analysis. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The 195 articles included were published between 2002 through 2021, of which 29 were funded by the WTC Health Program. The study population represented ranged from in-utero to 18 years old. Research trajectories will be developed by assessing chronological research by outcome groups (physical, mental and behavioral, interventions, and biomarkers), study population categories, as well as exposure location and mechanism. Demographic data extracted will be used to assess whether there are disparities in the research conducted to date for this population and if so, in what areas. Research recommendations and clinical implication extracted from references will be used to assess whether more recent research has addressed research from the early post 9/11 years. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: WTC research strengthens our understanding of 9/11 health effects and provides a way to improve healthcare for the people afflicted from 9/11 exposures. The anticipated results from this scoping review can lead us to identify past research challenges and current knowledge gaps that the Program can address in future research grants.

Extreme High Step Climbing: Nonlinear Analysis of a Highly-Deformable- Tracked Robot

The mobility on rough terrain is a crucial factor in designing rescue robots. Rubbles scattered across disaster site obstruct the robots, which may limit search areas and disturb rapid rescue. To improve mobility in such situations, we proposed a novel mobile mechanism, called mono-wheel track (MW-track), which is an elastic track driven by a single wheel without passive wheels. This mechanism demonstrated high mobility on step-shaped obstacles by using a self-adaptive track. However, the principle underlying this mechanism is still unclear. Herein, we provide a model of track deformation that estimates step-climbing capability, based on large-deformation analysis of the nonlinear beam. The model was evaluated by comparing 1) the curve geometry of the theoretical track with the actual leaf spring and 2) the theoretical value of the climbable height with the actual value measured by step-climbing tests using a mobile robot with the MW-track mechanism. Furthermore, several tests were conducted under various ground friction and track stiffness conditions to investigate their effect on climbable step height. The mechanism for target step height was determined through the model and tests. The model affords a mechanical procedure to determine design parameters for target obstacles.

재난현장 소방지휘관 지휘 능력 향상을 위한 교육·훈련 지휘능력지표 개선에 관한 연구

The critical issue of the lack of command ability of fire commanders who exercise independent command authority throughout the entire disaster process continues to be raised by firefighting organizations, the media, and disaster researchers. Therefore, this study aims to secure the fire commander’s ability to command a disaster site to prevent damage to firefighters working in the field, the purpose of this study is to suggest improvement plans limited to the command capability indicators in terms of education and training that can demonstrate successful command in the entire process of disaster response operations to prevent the spread of damage through early disaster responnes. The research method sets seven major research and analysis indicators such as information analysis/situation judgment ability, on-site situation judgment ability, command/control ability, contingency response ability, resource management ability, leadership, and knowledge of related knowledge, which are the core command competencies of commanders. We quantitatively analyzed whether the set indicators were reflected in the jop training process in firefighting, maritime police, and police training institutions, which are public officials organizations for specific positions. As a result of the analysis, the fire department, the on-site commander of the fire department, is required to have a higher level of command ability than the fire brigade, but the same command ability index was set as that of the fire brigade. In particular, it was found that in the fire department, which is performing the important duties of the regional emergency control group compared to the fire brigade and the fire department, acquisition of expertise, response to contingency situations, and information analysis judgment werw not even set in the command capability index, It was analyzed that firefighting had the lowest rate of reflection of the 7 key indicators of direct competency in the curriculum compared to the Coast Guard and the police. In conclusion, compared to the maritime police and the police, the seven core indicators of the on-scene commander’s command ability in the fire service are significantly insufficient in the reflection rate of the command competency indicators that suggest the direction of order to strengthen the command competency of firefighting field commanders, the command competency development competency and command capability index must be developed and reconfigured as soon as possible, and then the competency elements must be designed in detail to correct and supplement the insufficient competency within a short period of time. This is because education and training without a clear goal and direction are nothing more than a building in that cannot carry out the mission assigned to the organizations. Firefighting develops a process in which non-executives can participate in the process of non-executive participation, such as the police job training process, and prepares for unexpected developments of disasters. It is suggested that the entire shift be centered on virtual reality actual experience, such as acquiring, analyzing, and judging scientific disaster information that can be done. when the proposal is implemented, it is necessary to operate the process of conducting a preliminary evaluation of the fire commander’s 7 command ability indicators, develop a command ability index reflecting the evaluation results, and conduct a command ability test after completion of the course, and continue to revise and supplement according to the achievement of command ability.

The Participation of Disaster Medical Assistance Team Members in Response to Disasters and Related Factors

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the presence of Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) members at the site of disasters and related factors
 Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on all 178 DMAT members in Iran in 2020. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data, which consisted of 20 questions. On a preappointed time, DMAT members were called for disaster by receiving a text message and asked to come to a pre-appointed place. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics, included chi-square test.
 Results: Only 29% of the members responded to the call and showed up at the place. There were significant relationships between being a clinical member, membership in similar organizations, experience of work in disasters, worries about the health of the child, responsibility for taking care of an old family member, believing the disaster site’s safety and security and the availability of personal protective equipment in the disaster site with the status of response to disaster call.
 Conclusion: Overall, the response rate to call was very low, which indicates the need to take measures to improve it. Continuing training and providing safety at disaster areas and support for family members will increase the presence at work in disasters

The dogs of Chernobyl: Demographic insights into populations inhabiting the nuclear exclusion zone.

The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster initiated a series of catastrophic events resulting in long-term and widespread environmental contamination. We characterize the genetic structure of 302 dogs representing three free-roaming dog populations living within the power plant itself, as well as those 15 to 45 kilometers from the disaster site. Genome-wide profiles from Chernobyl, purebred and free-breeding dogs, worldwide reveal that the individuals from the power plant and Chernobyl City are genetically distinct, with the former displaying increased intrapopulation genetic similarity and differentiation. Analysis of shared ancestral genome segments highlights differences in the extent and timing of western breed introgression. Kinship analysis reveals 15 families, with the largest spanning all collection sites within the radioactive exclusion zone, reflecting migration of dogs between the power plant and Chernobyl City. This study presents the first characterization of a domestic species in Chernobyl, establishing their importance for genetic studies into the effects of exposure to long-term, low-dose ionizing radiation.