Education issues in disaster medicine: summary and action plan.

Science.gov (United States)

Armour, S J; Bastone, P; Birnbaum, M; Garrett, C; Greenough, P G; Manni, C; Ninomiya, N; Renderos, J; Rottman, S; Sahni, P; Shih, C L; Siegel, D; Younggren, B

2001-01-01

Change must begin with education. Theme 8 explored issues that need attention in Disaster Medicine education. Details of the methods used are provided in the introductory paper. The chairs moderated all presentations and produced a summary that was presented to an assembly of all of the delegates. The chairs then presided over a workshop that resulted in the generation of a set of action plans that then were reported to the collective group of all delegates. Main points developed during the presentations and discussion included: (1) formal education, (2) standardized definitions, (3) integration, (4) evaluation of programs and interventions, (5) international cooperation, (6) identifying the psychosocial consequences of disaster, (7) meaningful research, and (8) hazard, impact, risk and vulnerability analysis. Three main components of the action plans were identified as evaluation, research, and education. The action plans recommended that: (1) education on disasters should be formalized, (2) evaluation of education and interventions must be improved, and (3) meaningful research should be promulgated and published for use at multiple levels and that applied research techniques be the subject of future conferences. The one unanimous conclusion was that we need more and better education on the disaster phenomenon, both in its impacts and in our response to them. Such education must be increasingly evidence-based.

Disaster recovery plan for Automation Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Owens, M.J.

1997-06-01

Automation Technology provides a multitude of data processing and network services to the Environmental Restoration Contract (ERC). These services include: personal computers, local and wide area networks, and Internet and intranet support and services. ERC employees and client personnel receive these services primarily from the Data Center located on the ground floor in the Bechtel Corporate Center at 3350 George Washington Way, Richland, Washington. Centralized databases, server-based software, and network services for the Bechtel Local Area Network reside on servers located in the Data Center. The data communication circuits supported in this center allow for the transmission of business information to and from all project locations in the Hanford Site complex. The loss of one or more of these functions would seriously impact the ability of the ERC to conduct business and bring a virtual standstill to many ERC employees'' activities. Upon declaration of disaster by the Contingency Manager and the Disaster Recovery Coordinator, the disaster recovery plan will be implemented. 24 tabs

Natural Disasters: Planning for Psychological First Aid.

Science.gov (United States)

Wynn, Stephanie T

Natural disasters leave survivors suffering physically, psychologically, and spiritually. An EF4 tornado on April 27, 2011, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, known as April's Fury, raised the question of how mental health practitioners (MHPs) might respond to address psychological needs, rather than being exclusively assigned to offer physical support immediately following a disaster. This article proposes planning ahead for MHPs to provide psychological first aid (PFA) in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe. Combating psychological issues early will hopefully help reduce the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or prolonged grief disorder (PGD) in survivors.

Disaster Response and Planning for Libraries.

Science.gov (United States)

Kahn, Miriam B.

Providing a customized disaster response plan to assist libraries in quick recovery, this resource also outlines step to minimize damage and protect materials before trouble strikes. The first section of the book, "Response," contains information how to handle small jobs in-house and suggestions for working with contractors--with an…

Media framing of natural disasters in Kwazulu-Natal province: Impact of contigency plans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bethuel Sibongiseni Ngcamu

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This study explores how the media frame disaster contingency plans which include preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery of the KwaZulu-Natal province before, during and in the aftermath of natural disasters. The province has been stricken by natural disasters. Although newspapers report the disasters they fail to give details of disaster contingency plans that should be available to those who are susceptible to, and the victims of disasters. Based on a content analysis of 114 online newspaper articles between 2000 and 2013 to examine how the media framed the KZN government’s disaster contingency plans. This study concludes that the highest occurrence of disasters (71% was from 2011 onwards as compared to previous years, and most of these were associated with areas that are susceptible to floods (34%. The findings of the study highlight that the media placed an emphasis on disaster response (41% over preparedness (24% and mitigation (7%. The outcomes suggest that newspaper organisations need to appoint a designated reporter responsible for disaster management issues. This is relevant because this study conveys findings that have the potential to persuade government and newspaper organisations to collaborate and to ensure that their officials are multi-skilled and able to cover all phases of disaster management in their articles, in order for these to be understood at all levels of society. This study further adds to the growing body of knowledge regarding quality journalism that meets its objectives.

Plan of disaster prevention in district of Shizuoka Prefecture countermeasures to nuclear power. 1984 ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

Based on the basic act for disaster countermeasures, this plan aimes at establishing the necessary system concerning the countermeasures for preventing the disaster due to the release of a large quantity of radioactive substances from the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station, Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc., determining the measures to be taken for disaster prevention, and striving for the safety of inhabitants by executing the deskworks and services of the disaster prevention related to nuclear power synthetically and purposefully. The general matters concerning the disaster prevention in the district of Shizuoka Prefecture are determined in the ''Plan of disaster prevention in the district of Shizuoka Prefecture (General countermeasures)'', but in view of the peculiarity of nuclear power disaster, the peculiar matters are to be determined in this plan. The general rules on the works of respective disaster prevention organizations, the countermeasures for preventing nuclear power disaster, the emergency countermeasures to nuclear power disaster, the countermeasures to Tokai earthquakes and the countermeasures for restoration after nuclear power disaster are stipulated. (Kako, I.)

Lessons from disaster: Creating a business continuity plan that really works.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatton, Tracy; Grimshaw, Eleanor; Vargo, John; Seville, Erica

Business Continuity Planning (BCP) is well established as a key plank in an organisation's risk management process. But how effective is BCP when disaster strikes? This paper examines the experiences of organisations following the 2010-11 Canterbury, New Zealand earthquakes. The study finds that BCP was helpful for all organisations interviewed but more attention is needed on the management of societal and personal impacts; development of employee resilience, identification of effective crisis leaders; right-sizing plans and planning to seize opportunities post-disaster.

An Exploratory Qualitative Inquiry of Key Indicators on IT Disaster Recovery Planning

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Brian

2016-01-01

Disaster recovery planning is a crucial component to maintaining a business's economic stability. However, it is unclear how key performance indicators (KPIs) are perceived in the emergency medical service (EMS) industry during the disaster recover planning process. The problem addressed in this study was to understand KPIs and their components.…

Healthcare logistics in disaster planning and emergency management: A perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

VanVactor, Jerry D

2017-12-01

This paper discusses the role of healthcare supply chain management in disaster mitigation and management. While there is an abundance of literature examining emergency management and disaster preparedness efforts across an array of industries, little information has been directed specifically toward the emergency interface, interoperability and unconventional relationships among civilian institutions and the US Department of Defense (US DoD) or supply chain operations involved therein. To address this imbalance, this paper provides US DoD healthcare supply chain managers with concepts related to communicating and planning more effectively. It is worth remembering, however, that all disasters are local - under the auspice of tiered response involving federal agencies, the principal responsibility for responding to domestic disasters and emergencies rests with the lowest level of government equipped and able to deal with the incident effectively. As such, the findings are equally applicable to institutions outside the military. It also bears repeating that every crisis is unique: there is no such thing as a uniform response for every incident. The role of the US DoD in emergency preparedness and disaster planning is changing and will continue to do so as the need for roles in support of a larger effort also continues to change.

School District Information Technology Disaster Recovery Planning: An Explanatory Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Shaun L.

2017-01-01

Despite research and practitioner articles outlining the importance information technology disaster plans (ITDRPs) to organizational success, barriers have impeded the process of disaster preparation for Burlington County New Jersey school districts. The purpose of this explanatory qualitative case study was to understand how technology leader…

Draft Updates to the Planning for Natural Disaster Debris Guidance and to Related Documents

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is requesting comment on the draft update of the Planning for Natural Disaster Debris Guidance, along with two other documents. This Guidance is an update of the Planning for Natural Disaster Debris guidance that EPA published in March 2008.

Planning for post disaster recovery: Lesson learnt from flood events in Kelantan Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Rani, Wan Nurul Mardiah Wan Mohd; Nifa, Faizatul Akmar Abdul; Ismail, Mohd Noorizhar; Khalid, Khairin Norhashidah

2017-10-01

As the frequency of disaster occurrence increases, the world cities today are getting more difficult in terms of the management of the event. One of the most discussed issues today is the management of the post-disaster recovery that involves several stages such as the planning, management of multiple stakeholders, restoration, reconstruction and delivery. It is important to note that input from related stakeholders is necessary to make the right decision during this most critical period. In the process of building back after a disaster, it is important to ensure the newly constructed infrastructures are built to be more resilient and able to withstand a certain level of disaster recurrence. Elements of disaster risk reduction should be incorporated in the planning, redesign, construction and the operation of the built environment. In Malaysia, the disaster management has been the responsibility of the Disaster Management and Relief Committee that consists of agencies at the central, state and local levels. This is to ensure that all aspects are being considered and to be more effective in managing the situation.

The contribution of ineffective urban planning practices to disaster and disaster risks accumulation in urban areas: the case of former Kunduchi quarry site in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benedict F. Malele

2009-04-01

Full Text Available This study examined the link between urban planning practices and disaster risks. The study used the former Kunduchi Quarry Site within the City of Dar es Salaam to demonstrate how laxity in enforcing the laid down planning rules, regulations and procedures facilitates the accumulation and occurrence of disaster risks and disasters in urban areas. This undermines one of the central roles of urban planning, which is to protect the lives of people from disaster risks and disasters. In exploring this, the study specifically focused on understanding the rules, regulations and procedures of planning in Tanzania; the extent to which they are followed and, where they are not followed, their implications for disaster risks and disasters; the coping initiatives adopted by local communities to reduce risks and their level of success or failure; and finally the drawing of lessons and recommendations for disaster risk reduction in urban areas. Strongly emerging from this study is the finding that although planning rules and regulations do exist, they are not enforced. As a result urban communities suffer from disaster risks and disasters caused by unregulated activities. The study analyzed the coping initiatives that urban communities apply to reduce disaster risks in their areas. It noted that, while a range of “coping” responses could be observed, these are not lasting solutions to the disaster risks being faced. Sustainable solutions seem to be known by the local community but they are not adopted for fear of compromising or undermining their existing livelihood strategies.

Inclusion of Disaster Resiliency in City/Neighborhood Comprehensive Plans

Science.gov (United States)

2017-09-01

phenomena or, in other words, the “impact of our behaviors toward places, thus influencing whether and how we might participate in local planning efforts...why resiliency from natural disasters must be included in all comprehensive plans . To prove the importance of this theory , I used GIS to locate...or pasture.270 Clarke County’s plan supports the theory that hazard mitigation inclusion in comprehensive plans is due to areas with flooding

Translating disaster resilience into spatial planning practice in South Africa: Challenges and champions

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Willemien van Niekerk

2013-03-01

Full Text Available It is highly likely that hazards and extreme climatic events will occur more frequently in the future and will become more severe – increasing the vulnerability and risk of millions of poor urbanites in developing countries. Disaster resilience aims to reduce disaster losses by equipping cities to withstand, absorb, adapt to or recover from external shocks. This paper questions whether disaster resilience is likely to be taken up in spatial planning practices in South Africa, given its immediate developmental priorities and challenges. In South Africa, issues of development take precedence over issues of sustainability, environmental management and disaster reduction. This is illustrated by the priority given to ‘servicing’ settlements compared to the opportunities offered by ‘transforming’ spaces through post-apartheid spatial planning. The City of Durban’s quest in adapting to climate change demonstrates hypothetically that if disaster resilience were to be presented as an issue distinct from what urban planners are already doing, then planners would see it as insignificant as compared to addressing the many developmental backlogs and challenges. If, however, it is regarded as a means to secure a city’s development path whilst simultaneously addressing sustainability, then disaster resilience is more likely to be translated into spatial planning practices in South Africa.

Disaster Recovery Planning as part of Business Continuity Management

OpenAIRE

Pinta, Jan

2011-01-01

Nowadays, a well functioning ICT infrastructure belongs to the most critical factors of companies across all branches of business. An importance of ensuring the continued operation of information systems, or the rapid recovery of the systems in the case of emergency, has increased. These needs require creating business continuity management plan and disaster recovery planning. This paper describes the creation of emergency and recovery plans and setting recovery objectives significantly affec...

Food selection criteria for disaster response planning in urban societies.

Science.gov (United States)

Wien, Michelle; Sabaté, Joan

2015-05-12

Nutrition professionals that have menu planning and disaster management responsibilities should consider factors that have transcended from ancient to current times, in addition to recognizing societal trends that have led to our current increased vulnerability in the event of a disaster. Hence, we proceeded to develop a set of "Disaster Response Diets" (DRDs) for use in urban societies inclusive of the aforementioned considerations. A three-phase multidimensional approach was used to identify food groups suitable for creating a set of DRDs. Phase One consisted of calculating the percent daily nutrient intake and Drewnowski's naturally nutrient rich (NNR) score for an individual or mean composite for one serving of food from 11 specific food groups. In Phase Two, in addition to nutrient density, the 11 food groups were evaluated and scored based on the following DRD planning criteria: storage and handling properties, preparation ease and, cultural acceptance/individual tolerance. During Phase Three, three DRDs were developed based upon the data retrieved from Phases one and two. In Phase One, the NNR scores ranged from 2.1 for fresh fruits to 28.1 for dry cereals, a higher score indicating a higher nutrient density. During Phase Two, a maximum score of 12 was possible based on appropriateness for a disaster situation. Five plant-based food groups (dry cereals, nuts, dried fruits, grains and legumes) achieved a score ranging between 7 and 12, whereas the five fresh food groups were deemed ineligible due to sanitation and perishability concerns. During Phase Three, three DRDs (milk-inclusive, milk-free and Grab-and-Go) were developed as benchmarks for disaster response planning. Plant-based DRDs are universally acceptable and tolerated across cultures and religions. Therefore, we suggest nutrition professionals consider using a plant-based approach for creating DRDs for public health institutions and organizations.

Technology disaster response and recovery planning a LITA guide

CERN Document Server

Mallery, Mary

2015-01-01

Featuring contributions from librarians who offer hard-won advice gained from personal experience, this compendium leads readers through a step-by-step process of creating a library technology disaster response and recovery plan.

Towards More Nuanced Classification of NGOs and Their Services to Improve Integrated Planning across Disaster Phases

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Vivian L. Towe

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs are being integrated into U.S. strategies to expand the services that are available during health security threats like disasters. Identifying better ways to classify NGOs and their services could optimize disaster planning. We surveyed NGOs about the types of services they provided during different disaster phases. Survey responses were used to categorize NGO services as core—critical to fulfilling their organizational mission—or adaptive—services implemented during a disaster based on community need. We also classified NGOs as being core or adaptive types of organizations by calculating the percentage of each NGO’s services classified as core. Service types classified as core were mainly social services, while adaptive service types were those typically relied upon during disasters (e.g., warehousing, food services, etc.. In total, 120 NGOs were classified as core organizations, meaning they mainly provided the same services across disaster phases, while 100 NGOs were adaptive organizations, meaning their services changed. Adaptive NGOs were eight times more likely to report routinely participating in disaster planning as compared to core NGOs. One reason for this association may be that adaptive NGOs are more aware of the changing needs in their communities across disaster phases because of their involvement in disaster planning.

Planning for chronic disease medications in disaster: perspectives from patients, physicians, pharmacists, and insurers.

Science.gov (United States)

Carameli, Kelley A; Eisenman, David P; Blevins, Joy; d'Angona, Brian; Glik, Deborah C

2013-06-01

Recent US disasters highlight the current imbalance between the high proportion of chronically ill Americans who depend on prescription medications and their lack of medication reserves for disaster preparedness. We examined barriers that Los Angeles County residents with chronic illness experience within the prescription drug procurement system to achieve recommended medication reserves. A mixed methods design included evaluation of insurance pharmacy benefits, focus group interviews with patients, and key informant interviews with physicians, pharmacists, and insurers. Most prescriptions are dispensed as 30-day units through retail pharmacies with refills available after 75% of use, leaving a monthly medication reserve of 7 days. For patients to acquire 14- to 30-day disaster medication reserves, health professionals interviewed supported 60- to 100-day dispensing units. Barriers included restrictive insurance benefits, patients' resistance to mail order, and higher copay-ments. Physicians, pharmacists, and insurers also varied widely in their preparedness planning and collective mutual-aid plans, and most believed pharmacists had the primary responsibility for patients' medication continuity during a disaster. To strengthen prescription drug continuity in disasters, recommendations include the following: (1) creating flexible drug-dispensing policies to help patients build reserves, (2) training professionals to inform patients about disaster planning, and (3) building collaborative partnerships among system stakeholders.

Why natural disaster planning scenarios are often so disastrously wrong.

Science.gov (United States)

Verosub, K. L.

2017-12-01

Taken together the four hurricanes that impacted the United States in the summer of 2017 demonstrate the difficulties involved in trying to plan for any natural disaster, not simply a major hurricane. They also highlight the extraordinary degree to which small and/or random variations in initial conditions can have enormous consequences on the outcome of an event and on the ability of a society to respond to it. For example, if Harvey had been moving faster, it would have meant less rainfall and hence less flooding in the Houston area whereas a slight change in the path of Irma would have significantly affected which portions of the Florida peninsula would have experienced greater or lesser devastation. In the case of Marie, hurricane intensity and path as well as the terrain in Puerto Rico and the inherent state of its infrastructure greatly complicated relief and recovery efforts there. An additional factor that makes planning scenarios so difficult to develop is that major natural disasters can often be analyzed as a sequence of events. At each juncture in the sequence, the event might evolve along two or more very different pathways, which can lead to different outcomes. Sometimes, as with Nate, an event evolves more or less "as expected" and the planning scenario does what it was supposed to do, namely, help people respond to the event. But to a much greater extent than is usually recognized, small or random variations can drive an event off its expected trajectory and into a response realm that "no one could have foreseen." Even worse is when those small or random variations allow an event to bifurcate and follow two or more different pathways simultaneously, leading to a cascading disaster that totally overwhelms whatever planning and preparation has been put in place. Perhaps the main lessons to be learned from these storms is that planning for any disaster requires greater recognition of the importance of small or random factors and greater appreciation of

Planning for chemical disasters at Point Lisas, Trinidad and Tobago

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathur, M.N.

1995-01-01

No major chemical disaster has taken place so far in Trinidad and Tobago. Even so, in view of the numerous hazards that the various chemical handling plants deal with at Point Lisas, the country has to be prepared to deal with chemical disasters. The country's emergency preparedness plan for chemical disasters aims to localize the emergency, if possible, eliminate it and minimize the effects of the accident on people and property. The hazards of ammonia, hydrogen, chlorine, hydrocarbons and methanol release can have devastating effects on the workers and the residents in the vicinity of the plants. The Emergency Plan identifies an Emergency Co-ordinating Officer who would take command of the off-site activities and coordinate the activities of Works Management, Local Authority, Police, Fire Services, Defence Force, Health Authority and Factory Inspectorate. Resources of fire fighting, medical treatment, telecommunications, waste management and public education have to be enhanced immediately. In the long term a new fire station and a new county hospital have to be built, some housing settlements have to be phased out and non-essential staff relocated

Best Buy: Planning for Disaster

Science.gov (United States)

Sachs, Adam; Ellis, Kerry; Sachs, Adam

2008-01-01

When a 1981 tornado in Minnesota revolutionized the retail approach of Sound of Music, which later changed its name to the now very familiar Best Buy, those who founded the company never imagined that a series of hurricanes twenty years later would also help give it a cutting-edge lead in customer service and disaster planning. That original "Tornado Sale'' introduced low prices in a "no-frills" environment that gave the company higher sales than the industry average and paved the way to a new business model. But before Best Buy could find the silver lining of these new storm clouds., it needed to survive them by planning for the destructive weather that plagued Florida during the summer of 2004. Having seen the power of listening to its employees and customers, Best Buy now seeks to capture their thoughts and feedback about other elements of the business.

Business Continuity Planning for Nursing Schools: Preparation for Potential Disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Zerwic, Julie J; Rosen, Denise

2016-01-01

Nursing schools are vulnerable to disasters, ranging from pandemics to weather emergencies, fires, and acts of terrorism. To ensure minimal disruptions to teaching, provision of care, research, and other critical missions, nursing faculty and administrative leaders should develop a business continuity plan. The business continuity plan can help faculty, students, and administration identify critical functions and alternative plans if an emergency occurs. We offer our experience as a guide for other nursing schools.

Becoming Resilient: Disaster Planning and Recovery: NREL Experts Assist Before and After a Disaster (Fact Sheet)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hotchkiss, E.

2014-08-01

This fact sheet provides information on how private industry; federal, state, and local governments; non-profit organizations; and communities can utilize NREL's expertise, tools, and innovations to incorporate energy efficiency and renewable energy into the planning, recovery, and rebuilding stages of disaster.

Emergency Response Planning to Reduce the Impact of Contaminated Drinking Water during Natural Disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Natural disasters can be devastating to local water supplies affecting millions of people. Disaster recovery plans and water industry collaboration during emergencies protect consumers from contaminated drinking water supplies and help facilitate the repair of public water system...

Planning cultural heritage protection is easier than managing an actual disaster

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zdena Rosická

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Efficient preparedness is easier to carry out comparing to dealing with consequences of disasters, anthropogenic incidents and other emergencies. Most disasters are water related, i.e. the result of flooding due to high water, water used to extinguish the fire, etc. Cultural heritage as a whole is exposed to attack from natural weathering processes, pollutants as well as water-origin disasters, fires, arson, theft, landslides or extreme weather events. In case of a disaster or any other emergency, unfortunately, no one can afford to wait for all the data and information to be entirely completed in order to make conclusions and survive a disastrous attack. When a disaster occurs and a historical object is affected, decisions must me made fast about rescue priorities, which items to save and which to sacrifice; there must be available priority lists, working guides for salvage teams as well as a disaster plan, updated lists of human resources, suppliers and service providers, lists of types and number of vehicles including passable roads available in case the movable cultural heritage evacuation becomes urgent. Emergency-response officials must be trained in measures to ensure relevant handling, conservation and care.

Disasters And Minimum Health Standards In Disaster Response

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sibel GOGEN

Full Text Available Millions of people are affected by natural or man made disasters all over the world. The number of people affected by disasters increase globally, due to global climate changes, increasing poverty, low life standards, inappropriate infrastructure, lack of early response systems, abuse of natural sources, and beside these, nuclear weapons, wars and conflicts, terrorist actions, migration, displacement and population movements. 95 % of life loss due to disasters are in the underdeveloped or developing countries. Turkey is a developing country, highly affected by disasters. For coping with disasters, not only national action plans, but also International Action Plans and cooperations are needed. Since all the disasters have direct and indirect effects on health, applications of minimal health standarts in disaster response, will reduce the morbidity and mortality rates. In this paper, water supplies and sanitation, vector control, waste control, burial of corpses, nutrition and minimum health standards in disaster response, are reviewed. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2004; 3(12.000: 296-306

A regional, market oriented governance for disaster management: A new planning approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Blackstone, Erwin A; Hakim, Simon; Meehan, Brian

2017-10-01

This paper proposes a regional competitive governance and management of response and recovery from disasters. It presents problems experienced in major disasters, analyzes the failures, and suggests how a competitive system that relies on private and volunteer regional leaders, personnel, and capital can improve preparation, response and recovery efforts over the existing government system. A Public Choice approach is adopted to explain why government often fails, and how regional governance may be socially more efficient than the existing federal- state-local funded and managed disaster system. The paper suggests that the federal role might change from both funding and supplying aid in disasters to merely funding disaster recovery efforts. When a disaster occurs, available businesses and government resources in the region can be utilized under a competitive system. These resources could replace existing federal and state inventories and emergency personnel. An independent regionally controlled and managed council, which also develops its own financial resources, and local volunteer leaders are key for success. The paper suggests a new planning method that utilizes the statistical Factor Analysis methodology to derive an efficient organizational and functional model to confront disasters. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Rapid Disaster Evaluation System (RaDES): A Plan to Improve Global Disaster Response by Privatizing the Assessment Component.

Science.gov (United States)

Iserson, Kenneth V

2017-09-01

Emergency medicine personnel frequently respond to major disasters. They expect to have an effective and efficient management system to elegantly allocate available resources. Despite claims to the contrary, experience demonstrates this rarely occurs. This article describes privatizing disaster assessment using a single-purposed, accountable, and well-trained organization. The goal is to achieve elegant disaster assessment, rather than repeatedly exhorting existing groups to do it. The Rapid Disaster Evaluation System (RaDES) would quickly and efficiently assess a postdisaster population's needs. It would use an accountable nongovernmental agency's teams with maximal training, mobility, and flexibility. Designed to augment the Inter-Agency Standing Committee's 2015 Emergency Response Preparedness Plan, RaDES would provide the initial information needed to avoid haphazard and overlapping disaster responses. Rapidly deployed teams would gather information from multiple sources and continually communicate those findings to their base, which would then disseminate them to disaster coordinators in a concise, coherent, and transparent way. The RaDES concept represents an elegant, minimally bureaucratic, and effective rapid response to major disasters. However, its implementation faces logistical, funding, and political obstacles. Developing and maintaining RaDES would require significant funding and political commitment to coordinate the numerous agencies that claim to be performing the same tasks. Although simulations can demonstrate efficacy and deficiencies, only field tests will demonstrate RaDES' power to improve interagency coordination and decrease the cost of major disaster response. At the least, the RaDES concept should serve as a model for discussing how to practicably improve our current chaotic disaster responses. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Land Use Planning and Disaster: A European Perspective From Spain

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Juli Ponce

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The study deals with the role of EU and EU Member States in relation to disasters and land use planning. It considers how land use planning can evaluate and manage risks to avoid disasters, paying special attention to the European use of precautionary principle, sometimes explained with the sentence “Better safe than Sorry”. The analysis uses especially, but not only, the example of the Spanish legal system taking into account its inclusion in the more general EU legal system. The study also considers public responsibility in preventing disasters and possible consequences of maladministration when taking planning decisions, using real Spanish cases. Finally, the article explores the possibilities of planning as a tool to prevent disasters in relation to two specific areas: location of nuclear plants and new developments regarding the prevention of crime and terrorist attacks by means of urban planning (the so called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. El estudio analiza el papel de la Unión Europea (UE y los Estados miembros de la UE en relación con los desastres y la planificación del uso del suelo. Se describe cómo la planificación del uso del suelo puede evaluar y gestionar los riesgos para evitar desastres, prestando especial atención al uso europeo del principio de precaución, a veces resumido en la frase “Más vale prevenir que curar”. El análisis utiliza especialmente, pero no sólo, el ejemplo del sistema jurídico español, teniendo en cuenta su inclusión en el sistema legal general de la UE. El estudio también tiene en cuenta la responsabilidad pública en la prevención de desastres y las posibles consecuencias de la mala administración cuando se toman decisiones de planificación, a través de casos reales españolas. Por último, el artículo explora las posibilidades de la planificación como una herramienta para prevenir desastres en relación a dos áreas específicas: la ubicación de centrales

Holistic Disaster Risk Evaluation for the Urban Risk Management Plan of Manizales, Colombia

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Martha Liliana Carre(n)o; Omar-Darío Cardona; Alex H.Barbat; Dora Catalina Suarez; María del Pilar Perez; Lizardo Narvaez

2017-01-01

Disaster risk depends on both the physical vulnerability and a wide range of social,economic,and environmental aspects of a society.For a better risk understanding,a holistic or integrated perspective was considered when risk was assessed for the city of Manizales,Colombia.This assessment accounts not only for the expected physical damage and loss,but also for the socioeconomic vulnerability factors that favor secondorder effects in a disaster.This comprehensive approach allows the identification of different aspects related to physical vulnerability,social fragility,and lack of resilience that can be improved,thus enhancing integrated disaster risk management actions.The outcomes of this comprehensive assessment are currently being used as input to update the disaster risk management plan of Manizales.

Is your automated system disaster proof?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baird, P.W.; Priest, S.A.

1990-01-01

Disaster-proofing a system has four basic steps: (1) development of a disaster recovery plan; (2) creation and enforcement of procedures for developing and maintaining off-site back-ups for data, vital records, and documentation; (3) a performance test of the disaster recovery plan; and (4) the on-going maintenance of a plans currency and the periodic testing of the plant. The development of a complete disaster recovery plan has many elements: the operating environment for the system; the criteria under which an off-site recovery would be initiated; the back-up schedule and locations of all data; vital records and documentation; the steps required to recover the system; and any modifications necessitated by the off-site operating environment. Creation and enforcement of procedures for developing and maintaining current backups for all data, vital records, and documentation in a designated off-site location represent the second and most crucial step for ensuring an automated system can successfully survive a disaster. To effectively test any plan, a disaster scenario must be developed and performed by a disaster recovery team required to recover and operate the system in the off-site environment using nothing more than the disaster recovery plan and off-site information and data. Finally, the last step for ensuring that a system can survive a disaster is the maintenance of the plans currency and the continued performance of disaster recovery tests. As the environment surrounding a system changes a disaster recovery plan must be updated to reflect these changes. Equally important to the maintenance of currency is the on-going performance of disaster recovery tests on a periodic basis

Environmental management and emergency preparedness plan for Tsunami disaster along Indian coast

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P Chandramohan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The 26 December 2004 Tsunami generated by the submarine earthquake in Andaman Sea with the magnitude of 9.2 Richter scale triggered the worst destruction, widespread inundation and extensive damage in terms of life and property along the Tamil Nadu coast and Andaman Nicobar Group of Islands. The shoreline features like dunes, vegetation and steepness of beaches played vital role in attenuating the impact of Tsunami from destruction. While the low-level Marina beach experienced minimum inundation, the coast between Adyar and Cooum was inundated heavily. As the present generation of India was not aware of Tsunami, the emergency plan and preparedness were zero and so the loss of human life was huge. In this article, the authors describe the Tsunami occurred in India on 26 December 2004 and its impacts on morphology. The appropriate Emergency Preparedness plan and the Disaster Management Plan in case of reoccurrence of such natural disaster are discussed.

Public Comment Period Open for the Draft Update to the Planning for Natural Disaster Debris Guidance and to Related Documents

Science.gov (United States)

EPA is requesting comment on the draft Planning for Natural Disaster Debris Guidance, and two other documents. The Guidance is an update of the Planning for Natural Disaster Debris guidance that EPA published in March 2008.

Creation of inpatient capacity during a major hospital relocation: lessons for disaster planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Jen, Howard C; Shew, Stephen B; Atkinson, James B; Rosenthal, J Thomas; Hiatt, Jonathan R

2009-09-01

To identify tools to aid the creation of disaster surge capacity using a model of planned inpatient census reduction prior to relocation of a university hospital. Prospective analysis of hospital operations for 1-week periods beginning 2 weeks (baseline) and 1 week (transition) prior to move day; analysis of regional hospital and emergency department capacity. Large metropolitan university teaching hospital. Hospital census figures and patient outcomes. Census was reduced by 36% from 537 at baseline to 345 on move day, a rate of 18 patients/d (P emergency operations was unchanged. Hospital admissions were decreased by 42%, and the adjusted discharges per occupied bed were increased by 8% (both P capacity to absorb new patients was limited. During a period in which southern California population grew by 8.5%, acute care beds fell by 3.3%, while Los Angeles County emergency departments experienced a 13% diversion rate due to overcrowding. Local or regional disasters of any size can overwhelm the system's ability to respond. Our strategy produced a surge capacity of 36% without interruption of emergency department and trauma services but required 3 to 4 days for implementation, making it applicable to disasters and mass casualty events with longer lead times. These principles may aid in disaster preparedness and planning.

Planning Emergency Shelters for Urban Disaster Resilience: An Integrated Location-Allocation Modeling Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laijun Zhao

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In recent years, extreme natural hazards threaten cities more than ever due to contemporary society’s high vulnerability in cities. Hence, local governments need to implement risk mitigation and disaster operation management to enhance disaster resilience in cities. Transforming existing open spaces within cities into emergency shelters is an effective method of providing essential life support and an agent of recovery in the wake of disasters. Emergency shelters planning must identify suitable locations for shelters and reasonably allocate evacuees to those shelters. In this paper, we first consider both the buildings’ post-disaster condition and the human choice factor that affect evacuees’ decision, and propose a forecasting method to estimate the time-varying shelter demand. Then we formulate an integrated location-allocation model that is used sequentially: an emergency shelter location model to satisfy the time-varying shelter demand in a given urban area with a goal of minimizing the total setup cost of locating the shelters and an allocation model that allocates the evacuees to shelters with a goal of minimizing their total evacuation distance. We also develop an efficient algorithm to solve the model. Finally, we propose an emergency shelters planning based on a case study of Shanghai, China.

Are master plans effective in limiting development in China's disaster-prone areas?

OpenAIRE

Kim, Saehoon; Rowe, Peter G.

2013-01-01

The effectiveness of urban master plans in limiting development in a disaster-prone area of China was empirically investigated by measuring cities’ land-cover changes against their master plans. If a master plan serves as guidance for urban polices that reduce property loss from earthquakes, floods, landslides,land subsidence, and rises in sea level, it will substantially limit urban development in areas at risk from environmental hazards. An environmental risk map weighted toward valuable...

When a disaster strikes without warning: how effective is your response plan?

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Steiner, P J

2001-01-01

When an outside high-pressure natural gas line was cut near the intakes to a hospital's ventilation system, gas was quickly dispersed throughout the building. The facility's disaster management plan faced a real-life test.

A Look At The Upper Level Planning System And Its Management Through Disaster Management In Turkey

OpenAIRE

Kanlı, İ. Bakır

2003-01-01

In this study the planning and management systems in our country have been examined in the scope of disaster management and in a trio system relationship. The systems’ points of handicap have been established in the frame of reason-result and suggestions have been made regarding the reconstruction of the system. It is very important that the planning system work efficiently in a hierarchical structure to reduce the effects of disasters. Our cities will be much healthier and safer places when ...

Regional approach to building operational level capacity for disaster planning: the case of the Eastern Africa region.

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Bazeyo, W; Mayega, R W; Orach, G C; Kiguli, J; Mamuya, S; Tabu, J S; Sena, L; Rugigana, E; Mapatano, M; Lewy, D; Mock, N; Burnham, G; Keim, M; Killewo, J

2013-06-01

The Eastern Africa region is regularly affected by a variety of disasters ranging from drought, to human conflict and population displacement. The magnitude of emergencies and response capacities is similar across the region. In order to strengthen public health disaster management capacities at the operational level in six countries of the Eastern Africa region, the USAID-funded leadership project worked through the HEALTH Alliance, a network of seven schools of public health from six countries in the region to train district-level teams. To develop a sustainable regional approach to building operational level capacity for disaster planning. This project was implemented through a higher education leadership initiative. Project activities were spear-headed by a network of Deans and Directors of public health schools within local universities in the Eastern Africa region. The leadership team envisioned a district-oriented systems change strategy. Pre-service and in-service curricula were developed regionally and district teams were formed to attend short training courses. Project activities began with a situational analysis of the disaster management capacity at national and operational levels. The next steps were chronologically the formation of country training teams and training of trainers, the development of a regional disaster management training curriculum and training materials, the cascading of training activities in the region, and the incorporation of emerging issues into the training curriculum. An evaluation model included the analysis of preparedness impact of the training program. The output from the district teams was the creation of individual district-level disaster plans and their implementation. This 4-year project focused on building operational level public health emergency response capacity, which had not previously been part of any national program. Use of the all-hazard approach rather than a scenario-based contingency planning led to the

The Great East Japan Earthquake: a need to plan for post-disaster surveillance in developed countries

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Jeffrey Partridge

2011-12-01

Full Text Available After a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck north-eastern Japan in March 2011, the public health system, including the infectious disease surveillance system, was severely compromised. While models for post-disaster surveillance exist, they focus predominantly on developing countries during the early recovery phase. Such models do not necessarily apply to developed countries, which differ considerably in their baseline surveillance systems. Furthermore, there is a need to consider the process by which a surveillance system recovers post-disaster. The event in Japan has highlighted a need to address these concerns surrounding post-disaster surveillance in developed countries.In May 2011, the World Health Organization convened a meeting where post-disaster surveillance was discussed by experts and public health practitioners. In this paper, we describe a post-disaster surveillance approach that was discussed at the meeting, based on what had actually occurred and what may have been, or would be, ideal. Briefly, we describe the evolution of a surveillance system as it returns to the pre-existing system, starting from an event-based approach during the emergency relief phase, a syndromic approach during the early recovery phase, an enhanced sentinel approach during the late recovery phase and a return to baseline during the development phase. Our aim is not to recommend a specific model but to encourage other developed countries to initiate their own discussions on post-disaster surveillance and develop plans according to their needs and capacities. As natural disasters will continue to occur, we hope that developing such plans during the “inter-disaster” period will help mitigate the surveillance challenges that will arise post-disaster.

EDs in the Midwest and South activate disaster plans as deadly tornadoes sweep through the region.

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2012-05-01

Hospitals in the Midwest and South activated their disaster plans in early March to deal with a phalanx of powerful tornadoes that leveled several small towns and killed at least two dozen people. Some hospitals had to activate plans for both internal and external disasters as their own facilities were threatened. One small critical-access hospital in West Liberty, KY, sustained significant damage and had to evacuate its patients to another facility. All the hospitals credit their disaster plans and practice drills with helping them to manage the crisis as efficiently as possible. Morgan County ARH Hospital in West Liberty, KY, went for several days without an operational lab or radiology department, but staff kept the ED open for absolute emergencies. Margaret Mary Community Hospital (MMCH) in Batesville, IN, received six tornado victims, but it was prepared for many more. Administrators credit advanced warning of the storms with helping them to prepare effectively, as well as to coordinate their response with other hospitals in the area. As a level 1 trauma center, the University of Louisville Hospital in Louisville, KY, received all the most seriously injured patients in the region, even while the facility itself was under a tornado warning. Staff had to route families away from the glassed-in waiting room to the basement until the tornado warning had passed. At one point during the crisis, there were 90 patients in the hospital's ED even though the department is only equipped with 29 beds. Administrators at Huntsville Hospital in Huntsville, AL, encouraged colleagues to take advantage of smaller-scale emergencies to activate parts of their disaster plans, and to focus disaster preparation drills on their hospital's top hazard vulnerabilities.

InaSAFE applications in disaster preparedness

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Pranantyo, Ignatius Ryan; Fadmastuti, Mahardika; Chandra, Fredy

2015-04-01

Disaster preparedness activities aim to reduce the impact of disasters by being better prepared to respond when a disaster occurs. In order to better anticipate requirements during a disaster, contingency planning activities can be undertaken prior to a disaster based on a realistic disaster scenario. InaSAFE is a tool that can inform this process. InaSAFE is a free and open source software that estimates the impact to people and infrastructure from potential hazard scenarios. By using InaSAFE, disaster managers can develop scenarios of disaster impacts (people and infrastructures affected) to inform their contingency plan and emergency response operation plan. While InaSAFE provides the software framework exposure data and hazard data are needed as inputs to run this software. Then InaSAFE can be used to forecast the impact of the hazard scenario to the exposure data. InaSAFE outputs include estimates of the number of people, buildings and roads are affected, list of minimum needs (rice and clean water), and response checklist. InaSAFE is developed by Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the Australian Government, through the Australia-Indonesia Facility for Disaster Reduction (AIFDR), in partnership with the World Bank - Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). This software has been used in many parts of Indonesia, including Padang, Maumere, Jakarta, and Slamet Mountain for emergency response and contingency planning.

Preparing for Disaster: Taking the Lead

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Colber, Judith

2008-01-01

In this article, Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness describes disasters in relation to five phases that may serve as a helpful framework for planning disaster response: (1) before the disaster (pre-disaster); (2) during the disaster (intra-disaster); (3) immediately after the disaster (immediate…

Rapid Visual Site Analysis for Post-disaster Landscape Planning: Expanding the Range of Choice in a Tsunami-affected Town in Japan

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James Wescoat

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Problem statement In post-disaster situations, it is often necessary to undertake rapid visual site reconnaissance to characterise patterns of damage and identify reconstruction opportunities and constraints. Rapid visual site analysis can occur over a period of hours to days rather than weeks to months. The time constraint is often necessary to assess the viability of initial reconstruction scenarios and help broaden the range of choice among site planning options. Rapid assessment can also minimise the use of scarce local post-disaster resources during the initial reconnaissance phases of planning. Because it involves visual methods rather than equipment-intensive survey techniques, it serves as an initial scoping of alternatives. It may follow emergency shelter response planning methods (for example, Sphere Project, 2011, ch 4 and be followed by more comprehensive site mapping and screening. This action–research project reviews the literature on post-disaster site analysis with an emphasis on the tsunami-affected area of north-eastern Japan. Because research on rapid visual site analysis in post-disaster contexts is limited, we combined field-based site analysis methods, adapted for post-disaster planning, with visual methods for assessing seismic and tsunami hazards.

Disaster mitigation: initial response.

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Kennedy, George; Richards, Michael; Chicarelli, Michael; Ernst, Amy; Harrell, Andrew; Stites, Danniel

2013-01-01

The objective of this review is to stimulate the reader's considerations for developing community disaster mitigation. Disaster mitigation begins long before impact and is defined as the actions taken by a community to eliminate or minimize the impact of a disaster. The assessment of vulnerabilities, the development of infrastructure, memoranda of understanding, and planning for a sustainable response and recovery are parts of the process. Empowering leadership and citizens with knowledge of available resources through the planning and development of a disaster response can strengthen a community's resilience, which can only add to the viability and quality of life enjoyed by the entire community.

Hospital organizational response to the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island: implications for future-oriented disaster planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maxwell, C.

1982-01-01

The 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, caused severe organizational problems for neighboring health care institutions. Dauphin County, just north of TMI, contained four hospitals ranging in distance from 9.5 to 13.5 miles from the stricken plant. Crash plans put into effect within 48 hours of the initial incident successfully reduced hospital census to below 50 per cent of capacity, but retained bedridden and critically ill patients within the risk-zone. No plans existed for area-wide evacuation of hospitalized patients. Future-oriented disaster planning should include resource files of host institution bed capacity and transportation capabilities for the crash evacuation of hospitalized patients during non-traditional disasters

Opioid Substitution Treatment Planning in a Disaster Context: Perspectives from Emergency Management and Health Professionals in Aotearoa/New Zealand

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Denise Blake

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST is a harm reduction strategy enabling opiate consumers to avoid withdrawal symptoms and maintain health and wellbeing. Some research shows that within a disaster context service disruptions and infrastructure damage affect OST services, including problems with accessibility, dosing, and scripts. Currently little is known about planning for OST in the reduction and response phases of a disaster. This study aimed to identify the views of three professional groups working in Aotearoa/New Zealand about OST provision following a disaster. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 service workers, health professionals, and emergency managers in OST and disaster planning fields. Thematic analysis of transcripts identified three key themes, namely “health and wellbeing”, “developing an emergency management plan”, and “stock, dose verification, and scripts” which led to an overarching concept of “service continuity in OST preparedness planning”. Participants viewed service continuity as essential for reducing physical and psychological distress for OST clients, their families, and wider communities. Alcohol and drug and OST health professionals understood the specific needs of clients, while emergency managers discussed the need for sufficient preparedness planning to minimise harm. It is concluded that OST preparedness planning must be multidisciplinary, flexible, and inclusive.

Opioid Substitution Treatment Planning in a Disaster Context: Perspectives from Emergency Management and Health Professionals in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Science.gov (United States)

Blake, Denise; Lyons, Antonia

2016-01-01

Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) is a harm reduction strategy enabling opiate consumers to avoid withdrawal symptoms and maintain health and wellbeing. Some research shows that within a disaster context service disruptions and infrastructure damage affect OST services, including problems with accessibility, dosing, and scripts. Currently little is known about planning for OST in the reduction and response phases of a disaster. This study aimed to identify the views of three professional groups working in Aotearoa/New Zealand about OST provision following a disaster. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 service workers, health professionals, and emergency managers in OST and disaster planning fields. Thematic analysis of transcripts identified three key themes, namely “health and wellbeing”, “developing an emergency management plan”, and “stock, dose verification, and scripts” which led to an overarching concept of “service continuity in OST preparedness planning”. Participants viewed service continuity as essential for reducing physical and psychological distress for OST clients, their families, and wider communities. Alcohol and drug and OST health professionals understood the specific needs of clients, while emergency managers discussed the need for sufficient preparedness planning to minimise harm. It is concluded that OST preparedness planning must be multidisciplinary, flexible, and inclusive. PMID:27834915

Business continuity and disaster management within the public service in relation to a national development plan.

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Ferguson, Cliff

2018-01-01

Within South Africa, few public service departments understand the concepts of business continuity management (BCM) and what it takes to implement a well-constructed business continuity plan. Likewise, few of these entities understand the purpose of designing and maintaining resilient systems that are immune to incidents. This paper discusses the integration of the South African Disaster Management Act 2002, the Disaster Management Framework and the National Development Plan, linking these to BCM, through a resilience period model, as a means for the implementation of resilience strategies. The goals of the National Development Plan are outlined with a view to how resilience can be achieved in each. A resilience period model has been advocated for the implementation of projects within the public sector in order to provide continuity and sustainability.

Social media and disasters: a functional framework for social media use in disaster planning, response, and research.

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Houston, J Brian; Hawthorne, Joshua; Perreault, Mildred F; Park, Eun Hae; Goldstein Hode, Marlo; Halliwell, Michael R; Turner McGowen, Sarah E; Davis, Rachel; Vaid, Shivani; McElderry, Jonathan A; Griffith, Stanford A

2015-01-01

A comprehensive review of online, official, and scientific literature was carried out in 2012-13 to develop a framework of disaster social media. This framework can be used to facilitate the creation of disaster social media tools, the formulation of disaster social media implementation processes, and the scientific study of disaster social media effects. Disaster social media users in the framework include communities, government, individuals, organisations, and media outlets. Fifteen distinct disaster social media uses were identified, ranging from preparing and receiving disaster preparedness information and warnings and signalling and detecting disasters prior to an event to (re)connecting community members following a disaster. The framework illustrates that a variety of entities may utilise and produce disaster social media content. Consequently, disaster social media use can be conceptualised as occurring at a number of levels, even within the same disaster. Suggestions are provided on how the proposed framework can inform future disaster social media development and research. © 2014 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014.

Security and privacy preserving approaches in the eHealth clouds with disaster recovery plan.

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Sahi, Aqeel; Lai, David; Li, Yan

2016-11-01

Cloud computing was introduced as an alternative storage and computing model in the health sector as well as other sectors to handle large amounts of data. Many healthcare companies have moved their electronic data to the cloud in order to reduce in-house storage, IT development and maintenance costs. However, storing the healthcare records in a third-party server may cause serious storage, security and privacy issues. Therefore, many approaches have been proposed to preserve security as well as privacy in cloud computing projects. Cryptographic-based approaches were presented as one of the best ways to ensure the security and privacy of healthcare data in the cloud. Nevertheless, the cryptographic-based approaches which are used to transfer health records safely remain vulnerable regarding security, privacy, or the lack of any disaster recovery strategy. In this paper, we review the related work on security and privacy preserving as well as disaster recovery in the eHealth cloud domain. Then we propose two approaches, the Security-Preserving approach and the Privacy-Preserving approach, and a disaster recovery plan. The Security-Preserving approach is a robust means of ensuring the security and integrity of Electronic Health Records, and the Privacy-Preserving approach is an efficient authentication approach which protects the privacy of Personal Health Records. Finally, we discuss how the integrated approaches and the disaster recovery plan can ensure the reliability and security of cloud projects. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Blueprints for Disaster: Balancing Secrecy and Transparency of Government Continuity Plans

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-01

ISO/IEC 31010:2009; COSO 2004; and OCEG “Red Book” 2.0: 2009. Institute of Risk Management , “ Risk Management Standards,” accessed June 26, 2015...Information Act (FOIA), protective security, risk management , Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21), National Security Presidential Directive 51 (NSPD...BLUEPRINTS FOR DISASTER: BALANCING SECRECY AND TRANSPARENCY OF GOVERNMENT CONTINUITY PLANS Stephen Scott Vollbrecht State Risk Manager for

Assessment of disaster preparedness among emergency departments in Italian hospitals: a cautious warning for disaster risk reduction and management capacity.

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Paganini, Matteo; Borrelli, Francesco; Cattani, Jonathan; Ragazzoni, Luca; Djalali, Ahmadreza; Carenzo, Luca; Della Corte, Francesco; Burkle, Frederick M Jr; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi

2016-08-15

Since the 1990s, Italian hospitals are required to comply with emergency disaster plans known as Emergency Plan for Massive Influx of Casualties. While various studies reveal that hospitals overall suffer from an insufficient preparedness level, the aim of this study was to better determine the preparedness level of Emergency Departments of Italian hospitals by assessing the knowledge-base of emergency physicians regarding basic disaster planning and procedures. A prospective observational study utilized a convenience sample of Italian Emergency Departments identified from the Italian Ministry of Health website. Anonymous telephone interviews were conducted of medical consultants in charge at the time in the respective Emergency Departments, and were structured in 3 parts: (1) general data and demographics, (2) the current disaster plan and (3) protocols and actions of the disaster plan. Eighty-five Emergency Departments met inclusion criteria, and 69 (81 %) agreed to undergo the interview. Only 45 % of participants declared to know what an Emergency Plan for Massive Influx of Casualties is, 41 % believed to know who has the authority to activate the plan, 38 % knew who is in charge of intra-hospital operations. In Part 3 physicians revealed a worrisome inconsistency in critical content knowledge of their answers. Results demonstrate a poor knowledge-base of basic hospital disaster planning concepts by Italian Emergency Department physicians-on-duty. These findings should alert authorities to enhance staff disaster preparedness education, training and follow-up to ensure that these plans are known to all who have responsibility for disaster risk reduction and management capacity.

Schools As Post-Disaster Shelters: Planning and Management Guidelines for Districts and Sites.

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California State Office of Emergency Services, Sacramento.

This guidebook outlines a method for preparing school facilities and personnel in the event that schools are needed for disaster shelters. It serves as a blueprint for planning and preparedness. Chapter 1 provides descriptions of actual incidents in which California schools served as emergency shelters. Chapter 2 describes schools' legal…

New Map Symbol System for Disaster Management

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Marinova, Silvia T.

2018-05-01

In the last 10 years Bulgaria was frequently affected by natural and man-made disasters that caused considerable losses. According to the Bulgarian Disaster Management Act (2006) disaster management should be planned at local, regional and national level. Disaster protection is based on plans that include maps such as hazard maps, maps for protection, maps for evacuation planning, etc. Decision-making and cooperation between two or more neighboring municipalities or regions in crisis situation are still rendered difficult because the maps included in the plans differ in scale, colors, map symbols and cartographic design. To improve decision-making process in case of emergency and to reduce the number of human loss and property damages disaster management plans at local and regional level should be supported by detailed thematic maps created in accordance with uniform contents, map symbol system and design. The paper proposes a new symbol system for disaster management that includes a four level hierarchical classification of objects and phenomena according to their type and origin. All objects and phenomena of this classification are divided into five categories: disasters; infrastructure; protection services and infrastructure for protection; affected people and affected infrastructure; operational sites and activities. The symbols of these categories are shown with different background colors and shapes so that they are identifiable. All the symbols have simple but associative design. The new symbol system is used in the design of a series of maps for disaster management at local and regional level.

Enhancing Global Health Security: US Africa Command's Disaster Preparedness Program.

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Morton Hamer, Melinda J; Reed, Paul L; Greulich, Jane D; Beadling, Charles W

2018-03-07

US Africa Command's Disaster Preparedness Program (DPP), implemented by the Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine, partnered with US Government agencies and international organizations to promote stability and security on the African continent by engaging with African Partner Nations' (PN) civil and military authorities to improve disaster management capabilities. From 2008 to 2015, DPP conducted disaster preparedness and response programming with 17 PNs. DPP held a series of engagements with each, including workshops, strategic planning, developing preparedness and response plans, tabletop exercises, and prioritizing disaster management capability gaps identified through the engagements. DPP partners collected data for each PN to further capacity building efforts. Thus far, 9 countries have completed military pandemic plans, 10 have developed national pandemic influenza plans, 9 have developed military support to civil authorities plans, and 11 have developed disaster management strategic work plans. There have been 20 national exercises conducted since 2009. DPP was cited as key in implementation of Ebola response plans in PNs, facilitated development of disaster management agencies in DPP PNs, and trained nearly 800 individuals. DPP enhanced PNs' ability to prepare and respond to crises, fostering relationships between international agencies, and improving civil-military coordination through both national and regional capacity building. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 11).

System-level planning, coordination, and communication: care of the critically ill and injured during pandemics and disasters: CHEST consensus statement.

Science.gov (United States)

Dichter, Jeffrey R; Kanter, Robert K; Dries, David; Luyckx, Valerie; Lim, Matthew L; Wilgis, John; Anderson, Michael R; Sarani, Babak; Hupert, Nathaniel; Mutter, Ryan; Devereaux, Asha V; Christian, Michael D; Kissoon, Niranjan

2014-10-01

System-level planning involves uniting hospitals and health systems, local/regional government agencies, emergency medical services, and other health-care entities involved in coordinating and enabling care in a major disaster. We reviewed the literature and sought expert opinions concerning system-level planning and engagement for mass critical care due to disasters or pandemics and offer suggestions for system-planning, coordination, communication, and response. The suggestions in this chapter are important for all of those involved in a pandemic or disaster with multiple critically ill or injured patients, including front-line clinicians, hospital administrators, and public health or government officials. The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) consensus statement development process was followed in developing suggestions. Task Force members met in person to develop nine key questions believed to be most relevant for system-planning, coordination, and communication. A systematic literature review was then performed for relevant articles and documents, reports, and other publications reported since 1993. No studies of sufficient quality were identified upon which to make evidence-based recommendations. Therefore, the panel developed expert opinion-based suggestions using a modified Delphi process. Suggestions were developed and grouped according to the following thematic elements: (1) national government support of health-care coalitions/regional health authorities (HC/RHAs), (2) teamwork within HC/RHAs, (3) system-level communication, (4) system-level surge capacity and capability, (5) pediatric patients and special populations, (6) HC/RHAs and networks, (7) models of advanced regional care systems, and (8) the use of simulation for preparedness and planning. System-level planning is essential to provide care for large numbers of critically ill patients because of disaster or pandemic. It also entails a departure from the routine, independent system and

The current state of affairs for disaster planning for a nuclear terrorist attack.

Science.gov (United States)

Goffman, Thomas E

2009-01-01

The author presents current thinking on the effects of an atomic bomb blast from a medical point of view and will argue that current US Federal plans for a nuclear disaster are simply crude, insufficient, disarticulated, and principally relies on martial law as a means of crowd control. The simple physics of a fusion reaction bomb is discussed along with the plans of other countries, apparently "secret"American plans, which show a poor knowledge of the physics of nuclear bombs as well as poor insight into what will be needed to help the maximum number of citizens. An alternative plan involving computer modeling and educating the public to the effects of a fission explosion are presented. The key issue of statewide planning is discussed, as the Federal government has dumped medical problems on "the local level."

An HIT Solution for Clinical Care and Disaster Planning: How One health Center in Joplin, MO Survived a Tornado and Avoided a Health Information Disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Peter; Jacobs, Feygele

2012-01-01

Since taking office, President Obama has made substantial investments in promoting the diffusion of health information technology (IT). The objective of the national health IT program is, generally, to enable health care providers to better manage patient care through secure use and sharing of health information. Through the use of technologies including electronic health records, providers can better maintain patient care information and facilitate communication, often improving care outcomes. The recent tornado in Joplin, MO highlights the importance of health information technology in the health center context, and illustrates the importance of secure electronic health information systems as a crucial element of disaster and business continuity planning. This article examines the experience of a community health center in the aftermath of the major tornado that swept through the American Midwest in the spring of 2011, and provides insight into the planning for disaster survival and recovery as it relates to patient records and health center data.

Natural disasters and the lung.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Bruce; Alatas, Mohammad Fahmi; Robertson, Andrew; Steer, Henry

2011-04-01

As the world population expands, an increasing number of people are living in areas which may be threatened by natural disasters. Most of these major natural disasters occur in the Asian region. Pulmonary complications are common following natural disasters and can result from direct insults to the lung or may be indirect, secondary to overcrowding and the collapse in infrastructure and health-care systems which often occur in the aftermath of a disaster. Delivery of health care in disaster situations is challenging and anticipation of the types of clinical and public health problems faced in disaster situations is crucial when preparing disaster responses. In this article we review the pulmonary effects of natural disasters in the immediate setting and in the post-disaster aftermath and we discuss how this could inform planning for future disasters. © 2011 The Authors. Respirology © 2011 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

The Australian Natural Disaster Resilience Index

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Thoms, Martin

2016-04-01

The Australian Natural Disaster Resilience Index Martin Thoms, Melissa Parsons, Phil Morley Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, Geography and Planning, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia. Natural hazard management policy directions in Australia - and indeed internationally - are increasingly being aligned to ideas of resilience. Resilience to natural hazards is the ability of individuals and communities to cope with disturbance and adversity and to maintain adaptive behaviour. Operationalizing the measurement and assessment of disaster resilience is often undertaken using a composite index, but this exercise is yet to be undertaken in Australia. The Australian Natural Disaster Resilience Index is a top-down, national scale assessment of the resilience of communities to natural hazards. Resilience is assessed based on two sets of capacities: coping and adaptive capacities. Coping capacity relates to the factors influencing the ability of a community to prepare for, absorb and recover from a natural hazard event. Adaptive capacity relates to the arrangements and processes that enable adjustment through learning, adaptation and transformation. Indicators are derived under themes of social character, economic capital, infrastructure and planning, emergency services, community capital, information and engagement and governance/leadership/policy, using existing data sets (e.g. census data) or evaluation of policy and procedure (e.g. disaster management planning). A composite index of disaster resilience is then computed for each spatial division, giving national scale coverage. The results of the Australian Natural Disaster Resilience Index will be reported in a State of Disaster Resilience report, due in 2018. The index is co-designed with emergency service agencies, and will support policy development, planning, community engagement and emergency management.

An Observation Task Chain Representation Model for Disaster Process-Oriented Remote Sensing Satellite Sensor Planning: A Flood Water Monitoring Application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao Yang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available An accurate and comprehensive representation of an observation task is a prerequisite in disaster monitoring to achieve reliable sensor observation planning. However, the extant disaster event or task information models do not fully satisfy the observation requirements for the accurate and efficient planning of remote-sensing satellite sensors. By considering the modeling requirements for a disaster observation task, we propose an observation task chain (OTChain representation model that includes four basic OTChain segments and eight-tuple observation task metadata description structures. A prototype system, namely OTChainManager, is implemented to provide functions for modeling, managing, querying, and visualizing observation tasks. In the case of flood water monitoring, we use a flood remote-sensing satellite sensor observation task for the experiment. The results show that the proposed OTChain representation model can be used in modeling process-owned flood disaster observation tasks. By querying and visualizing the flood observation task instances in the Jinsha River Basin, the proposed model can effectively express observation task processes, represent personalized observation constraints, and plan global remote-sensing satellite sensor observations. Compared with typical observation task information models or engines, the proposed OTChain representation model satisfies the information demands of the OTChain and its processes as well as impels the development of a long time-series sensor observation scheme.

Geographic Information System Technology Leveraged for Crisis Planning, Emergency, Response, and Disaster Management

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, A.; Little, M. M.

2013-12-01

NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) is piloting the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology that can be leveraged for crisis planning, emergency response, and disaster management/awareness. Many different organizations currently use GIS tools and geospatial data during a disaster event. ASDC datasets have not been fully utilized by this community in the past due to incompatible data formats that ASDC holdings are archived in. Through the successful implementation of this pilot effort and continued collaboration with the larger Homeland Defense and Department of Defense emergency management community through the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data Working Group (HIFLD WG), our data will be easily accessible to those using GIS and increase the ability to plan, respond, manage, and provide awareness during disasters. The HIFLD WG Partnership has expanded to include more than 5,900 mission partners representing the 14 executive departments, 98 agencies, 50 states (and 3 territories), and more than 700 private sector organizations to directly enhance the federal, state, and local government's ability to support domestic infrastructure data gathering, sharing and protection, visualization, and spatial knowledge management.The HIFLD WG Executive Membership is lead by representatives from the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs - OASD (HD&ASA); the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Protection and Programs Directorate's Office of Infrastructure Protection (NPPD IP); the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Integrated Working Group - Readiness, Response and Recovery (IWG-R3); the Department of Interior (DOI) United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Program (NGP), and DHS Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Planning in emergencies and disasters

African Journals Online (AJOL)

surgical training - although this mainly comprises the clinical aspect of it. A disaster is a large-scale emergency and thus involves many other disciplines other than medical. In the last .... old, refugees and migrants .... Thought should be put into the preservation, dignity ... especially rescue workers and volunteers, working in.

Keyword: help! Online resources for disaster preparedness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Amadie H; Cushman, Margaret J

2002-01-01

Health care organizations such as home care agencies should have post-disaster contingency plans in place that include contacts with the local, county, or state emergency management office, local branch of the Red Cross, and a clearly identified point person within the agency to coordinate disaster response efforts. Home care agencies must plan for the far-reaching effects that disasters can have on people in the community. This article provides some online resources to help you, your organization, and your family prepare for unexpected events.

Rotorcraft Use in Disaster Relief and Mass Casualty Incidents - Case Studies

Science.gov (United States)

1990-06-01

Disaster Relief and Mass 6. Performing Organization Code C asuallty Incidents- C ase Studies 8._P rfo minOr ani ati nR porNo 7. Author (s) 8...disaster planning process; and 3) produce a color video tape promoting the need for and the use of rotorcraft and heliports in disaster relief. 17...disaster prepaLedness ageicies for use in the integration of local helicopter assets into the disaster planning process; and 3) produce a color video tape

An UAV scheduling and planning method for post-disaster survey

Science.gov (United States)

Li, G. Q.; Zhou, X. G.; Yin, J.; Xiao, Q. Y.

2014-11-01

Annually, the extreme climate and special geological environments lead to frequent natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, floods, etc. The disasters often bring serious casualties and enormous economic losses. Post-disaster surveying is very important for disaster relief and assessment. As the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing with the advantage of high efficiency, high precision, high flexibility, and low cost, it is widely used in emergency surveying in recent years. As the UAVs used in emergency surveying cannot stop and wait for the happening of the disaster, when the disaster happens the UAVs usually are working at everywhere. In order to improve the emergency surveying efficiency, it is needed to track the UAVs and assign the emergency surveying task for each selected UAV. Therefore, a UAV tracking and scheduling method for post-disaster survey is presented in this paper. In this method, Global Positioning System (GPS), and GSM network are used to track the UAVs; an emergency tracking UAV information database is built in advance by registration, the database at least includes the following information, e.g., the ID of the UAVs, the communication number of the UAVs; when catastrophe happens, the real time location of all UAVs in the database will be gotten using emergency tracking method at first, then the traffic cost time for all UAVs to the disaster region will be calculated based on the UAVs' the real time location and the road network using the nearest services analysis algorithm; the disaster region is subdivided to several emergency surveying regions based on DEM, area, and the population distribution map; the emergency surveying regions are assigned to the appropriated UAV according to shortest cost time rule. The UAVs tracking and scheduling prototype is implemented using SQLServer2008, ArcEnginge 10.1 SDK, Visual Studio 2010 C#, Android, SMS Modem, and Google Maps API.

Library as safe haven disaster planning, response, and recovery a how-to-do-it manual for librarians

CERN Document Server

Halsted, Deborah D; Wilson, Daniel T

2014-01-01

Libraries have always played a special role in times of disaster by continuing to provide crucial information and services. The Stafford Act of 2011, a federal government directive, designates libraries as among the temporary facilities delivering essential services, making a Continuity of Operations Plan imperative for libraries. Peppered with informative first-person narratives from librarians recounting emergency situations, Halsted, Clifton, and Wilson cover such topics as:An eight-step approach to developing a risk assessment planHow to draft a one-page service continuity planInformation

Waiting for Disasters: A Risk Reduction Assessment of Technological Disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Rovins, Jane; Winningham, Sam

2010-05-01

This session provides a risk reduction/mitigation assessment of natural hazards causation of technological disasters and possible solution. People use technology in an attempt to not only control their environment but nature itself in order to make them feel safe and productive. Most strategies for managing hazards followed a traditional planning model i.e. study the problem, identify and implement a solution, and move on to the next problem. This approach is often viewed as static model and risk reduction is more of an upward, positive, linear trend. However, technological disasters do not allow risk reduction action to neatly fit this upward, positive, linear trend with actual or potential threats to the environment and society. There are different types of technological disasters, including industrial accidents; pipeline ruptures; accidents at power, water and heat supply systems and other lines of communication; sudden collapse of buildings and mines; air crashes; shipwrecks; automobile and railway accidents to name a few. Natural factors can play an essential role in triggering or magnifying technological disasters. They can result from the direct destruction of given technical objects by a hazardous natural process such as the destruction of an atomic power plant or chemical plant due to an earthquake. Other examples would include the destruction of communications or infrastructure systems by heavy snowfalls, strong winds, avalanches. Events in the past ten years clearly demonstrate that natural disasters and the technological disasters that accompany them are not problems that can be solved in isolation and risk reduction can play an important part. Risk reduction was designed to head off the continuing rising financial and structural tolls from disasters. All Hazard Risk Reduction planning was supposed to include not only natural, but technological, and human-made disasters as well. The subsequent disaster risk reduction (DRR) indicators were to provide the

Methodology identification in mass disasters

OpenAIRE

Ampudia García, Omar

2014-01-01

Major disasters in Perul ack from a treatment plan and adapt to the current reality. Were rare and limited to natural disasters such as major earthquakes, floods, torrential rains, erupting volcanoes, and so on.At first these disasters were limited to certain geographic areas ingeneral,but with the advancement of science and technology these events have soared alarming lyas rail crashes, plane crashes, car crashes going at high speed,and if we add the attacks by fundamentalist groups with car...

Case Study of Resilient Baton Rouge: Applying Depression Collaborative Care and Community Planning to Disaster Recovery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robin Keegan

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Addressing behavioral health impacts of major disasters is a priority of increasing national attention, but there are limited examples of implementation strategies to guide new disaster responses. We provide a case study of an effort being applied in response to the 2016 Great Flood in Baton Rouge. Methods: Resilient Baton Rouge was designed to support recovery after major flooding by building local capacity to implement an expanded model of depression collaborative care for adults, coupled with identifying and responding to local priorities and assets for recovery. For a descriptive, initial evaluation, we coupled analysis of documents and process notes with descriptive surveys of participants in initial training and orientation, including preliminary comparisons among licensed and non-licensed participants to identify training priorities. Results: We expanded local behavioral health service delivery capacity through subgrants to four agencies, provision of training tailored to licensed and non-licensed providers and development of advisory councils and partnerships with grassroots and government agencies. We also undertook initial efforts to enhance national collaboration around post-disaster resilience. Conclusion: Our partnered processes and lessons learned may be applicable to other communities that aim to promote resilience, as well as planning for and responding to post-disaster behavioral health needs.

Pediatric disaster preparedness of a hospital network in a large metropolitan region.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrer, Rizaldy R; Balasuriya, Darshi; Iverson, Ellen; Upperman, Jeffrey S

2010-01-01

We describe pediatric-related emergency experiences and responses, disaster preparation and planning, emergency plan execution and evaluation, and hospital pediatric capabilities and vulnerabilities among a disaster response network in a large urban county in the West Coast of the United States. Using semistructured key informant interviews, the authors conducted qualitative research between March and April 2008. Eleven hospitals and a representative from the community clinic association agreed to participate (86 percent response rate) and a total of 22 key informant interviews were completed. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti.v.5.0, a qualitative analytical software program. Although hospitals have infrastructure to respond in the event of a large-scale disaster, well-established disaster preparedness plans have not fully accounted for the needs of children. The general hospitals do not anticipate a surge of pediatric victims in the event of a disaster, and they expect that children will be transported to a children's hospital as their conditions become stable. Even hospitals with well-established disaster preparedness plans have not fully accounted for the needs of children during a disaster. Improved communication between disaster network hospitals is necessary as incorrect information still persists.

"Women and children first". Introducing a gender strategy into disaster preparedness.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyers, M

1994-02-01

Women have been included in development strategies, but women's issues and women's involvement have been missing from centrally planned government programs of disaster relief. The axiom of putting women and children first has been lost in the maelstrom of immediate need planning without consideration of consequences. The UN developed a training manual and seminars for disaster management. Included in one of the UN manuals are directives that emphasized priorities for nine main components of disaster relief: 1) vulnerability assessment, 2) planning, 3) institutional framework, 4) information systems, 5) resource base, 6) warning systems, 7) response mechanisms, 8) public education and training, and 9) rehearsals. Gender issues should be addressed for each of these components. The question of whether gender was included in a disaster assessment must be answered. Male planners may not be sufficiently informed of how women are affected; therefore, women need to be consulted at the planning stage. A national ministry of women should be involved in disaster relief planning. Women's needs and coping strategies must be accounted for in data-gathering instruments. Emergency supplies must include gynecological and obstetric supplies. The media must be able to reach women and children with disaster warnings. Relief plans must consider whether women will be unduly burdened by the strategy. The inclusion of women in disaster relief efforts not only helps women in crises but helps to break down gender inequalities and imbalances in general.

Post-disaster psychosocial services across Europe: The TENTS project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Witteveen, A. B.; Bisson, J. I.; Ajdukovic, D.

2012-01-01

At present post-disaster activities and plans seem to vary widely. An adequate estimation of the availability of post-disaster psychosocial services across Europe is needed in order to compare them with recently developed evidence-informed psychosocial care guidelines. Here we report on the results...... of a cross-sectional web-based survey completed in 2008 by two hundred and eighty-six representatives of organizations involved in psychosocial responses to trauma and disaster from thirty-three different countries across Europe. The survey addressed planning and delivery of psychosocial care after disaster......, methods of screening and diagnosis, types of interventions used, and other aspects of psychosocial care after trauma. The findings showed that planning and delivery of psychosocial care was inconsistent across Europe. Countries in East Europe seemed to have less central coordination of the post...

Administrative issues involved in disaster management in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaur, Jagdish

2006-12-01

India as a country is vulnerable to a number of disasters, from earthquakes to floods. Poor and weaker members of the society have always been more vulnerable to various types of disasters. Disasters result in unacceptably high morbidity and mortality amongst the affected population. Damage to infrastructure and reduction in revenues from the affected region due to low yield add to the economic losses. Poor co-ordination at the local level, lack of early-warning systems, often very slow responses, paucity of trained dedicated clinicians, lack of search and rescue facilities and poor community empowerment are some of the factors, which have been contributing to poor response following disasters in the past. The first formal step towards development of policies relating to disaster care in India was the formulation of the National Disaster Response Plan (NDRP) which was formulated initially by the Government of India for managing natural disasters only. However, this was subsequently amended to include man-made disasters as well. It sets the scene for formulating state and district level plans in all states to bring cohesiveness and a degree of uniform management in dealing with disasters. A National Disaster Management Authority has been constituted which aims to provide national guidelines and is headed by the Prime Minister of India. It is the highest decision-making body for the management of disasters in the country. The authority has the responsibility for co-ordinating response and post-disaster relief and rehabilitation. Each state is required to set up Disaster Management Authorities and District Disaster Management Committees for co-ordination and close supervision of activities and efforts related to the management of disasters.

Resilience in disaster research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahlberg, Rasmus; Johannessen-Henry, Christine Tind; Raju, Emmanuel

2015-01-01

This paper explores the concept of resilience in disaster management settings in modern society. The diversity and relatedness of ‘resilience’ as a concept and as a process are reflected in its presentation through three ‘versions’: (i) pastoral care and the role of the church for victims...... of disaster trauma, (ii) federal policy and the US Critical Infrastructure Plan, and (iii) the building of resilient communities for disaster risk reduction practices. The three versions aim to offer characteristic expressions of resilience, as increasingly evident in current disaster literature....... In presenting resilience through the lens of these three versions, the article highlights the complexity in using resilience as an all-encompassing word. The article also suggests the need for understanding the nexuses between risk, vulnerability, and policy for the future of resilience discourse....

Stories after disaster survival: Preparing, heeding warnings, and self-reliance.

Science.gov (United States)

Killian, Timothy S; Moon, Zola K; McNeill, Charleen C; Person-Michener, Joanna; Garrison, M E Betsy

The purpose of the study was to examine the content of stories told by people personally impacted by disasters. Semistructured, qualitative interviews. Northwest part of a mid-south state. Fourteen disaster survivors who were recruited through their attendance at an emergency preparedness-related fair. Interview schedule based on previous research using the family resilience framework. Three themes emerged: prior emergency preparation, heeding warnings of impending disaster, and rural self-reliance. Participants had made prior emergency preparedness plans, but their personal experiences led to them adjusting their plans, or making more relevant plans for future disasters. Participants expressed the importance of sharing their experiences with family and community members, expressing hope that others would learn, vicariously rather than first-hand, from their experiences.

Republic of Senegal Disaster Preparedness and Response Exercise: Lessons Learned and Progress Toward Key Goals.

Science.gov (United States)

Morton Hamer, Melinda J; Jordan, John J; Reed, Paul L; Greulich, Jane D; Gaye, Dame B; Beadling, Charles W

2017-04-01

The Republic of Senegal Disaster Preparedness and Response Exercise was held from June 2-6, 2014, in Dakar, Senegal. The goal was to assist in familiarizing roles and responsibilities within 3 existing plans and to update the National Disaster Management Strategic Work Plan. There were 60 participants in the exercise, which was driven by a series of evolving disaster scenarios. During the separate Disaster Management Strategic Work Plan review, participants refined a list of projects, including specific tasks to provide a "road map" for completing each project, project timelines, and estimated resource requirements. Project staff administered a survey to conference participants. A total of 86% of respondents had improved knowledge of Senegal disaster plans as a result of the exercise. A total of 89% of respondents had a better understanding of their ministry's role in disaster response, and 92% had a better understanding of the role of the military during a pandemic. Participants also generated ideas for disaster management system improvement in Senegal through a formal "gap analysis." Participants were in strong agreement that the exercise helped them to better understand the contents of their disaster response plans, build relationships across ministerial lines, and effectively enhance future disaster response efforts. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:183-189).

Desastres, ordem social e planejamento em defesa civil: o contexto brasileiro Disasters, social order and civil defense planning: the Brazilian context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Norma Valencio

2010-12-01

discourse and the civil defense practices in the Brazilian context. First of all, it describes the main approaches of the sociology of disasters: the minimal consensus, the polarity and dichotomy, and shows one approach about the relationship between unequal development, vulnerability and civil defense planning. The present situation in Brazilian cities is of restriction to land access and it results in an increase in disasters. If changes do not occur in State's planning, with the adoption of new strategies explicitly formulated to break up the ideological point of view that subjects the poor groups, the disasters will continue happening. In the present structural dimension of planning, the Brazilian civil defense system classifies the vulnerable groups without considering social complexity. Disasters do not completely destroy the existing social systems, but they are capable of maintaining continuous processes of social indifference. Thus, the paper concludes by emphasizing the development of a participatory agenda in civil defense planning and decision-making processes.

Rural Community Disaster Preparedness and Risk Perception in Trujillo, Peru.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Matthew; Grahmann, Bridget; Fillmore, Ariel; Benson, L Scott

2017-08-01

Introduction Disasters will continue to occur throughout the world and it is the responsibility of the government, health care systems, and communities to adequately prepare for potential catastrophic scenarios. Unfortunately, low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) are especially vulnerable following a disaster. By understanding disaster preparedness and risk perception, interventions can be developed to improve community preparedness and avoid unnecessary mortality and morbidity following a natural disaster. Problem The purpose of this study was to assess disaster preparedness and risk perception in communities surrounding Trujillo, Peru. After designing a novel disaster preparedness and risk perception survey based on guidelines from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC; Geneva, Switzerland), investigators performed a cross-sectional survey of potentially vulnerable communities surrounding Trujillo, Peru. Data were entered and analyzed utilizing the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap; Harvard Catalyst; Boston, Massachusetts USA) database. A total of 230 study participants were surveyed, composed of 37% males, 63% females, with ages ranging from 18-85 years old. Those surveyed who had previously experienced a disaster (41%) had a higher perception of future disaster occurrence and potential disaster impact on their community. Overall, the study participants consistently perceived that earthquakes and infection had the highest potential impact of all disasters. Twenty-six percent of participants had an emergency supply of food, 24% had an emergency water plan, 24% had a first aid kit at home, and only 20% of the study participants had an established family evacuation plan. Natural and man-made disasters will remain a threat to the safety and health of communities in all parts of the world, especially within vulnerable communities in LMICs; however, little research has been done to identify disaster perception

Managing Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNA)

OpenAIRE

Jones, Brett

2010-01-01

This knowledge note provides an overview of the post-disaster assessment process, extracting lessons learned in the East Asia Pacific Region (EAP) and presenting best practices from recent assessments. The note explains the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) methodology, and outlines: (i) the assessment triggers, (ii) key steps in assessment planning, and (iii) dos and don'ts in assessm...

Natural disasters and dialysis care in the Asia-Pacific.

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, Nicholas A; Wolley, Martin; Liew, Adrian; Nakayama, Masaaki

2015-12-01

The impact of natural disasters on the provision of dialysis services has received increased attention in the last decade following Hurricane Katrina devastating New Orleans in 2005. The Asia-Pacific is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes, tsunami, typhoons (also known as cyclones and hurricanes) or storms and flooding. These events can seriously interrupt provision of haemodialysis with adverse effects for patients including missed dialysis, increased hospitalization and post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, haemodialysis patients may need to relocate and experience prolonged periods of displacement from family and social supports. In contrast to haemodialysis, most literature suggests peritoneal dialysis in a disaster situation is more easily managed and supported. It has become apparent that dialysis units and patients should be prepared for a disaster event and that appropriate planning will result in reduced confusion and adverse outcomes should a disaster occur. Numerous resources are now available to guide dialysis units, patients and staff in preparation for a possible disaster. This article will examine the disaster experiences of dialysis units in the Asia-Pacific, the impact on patients and staff, methods employed to manage during the disaster and suggested plans for reducing the impact of future disasters. © 2015 Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology.

Multi-Satellite Observation Scheduling for Large Area Disaster Emergency Response

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, X. N.; Tang, H.; Wu, L. X.

2018-04-01

an optimal imaging plan, plays a key role in coordinating multiple satellites to monitor the disaster area. In the paper, to generate imaging plan dynamically according to the disaster relief, we propose a dynamic satellite task scheduling method for large area disaster response. First, an initial robust scheduling scheme is generated by a robust satellite scheduling model in which both the profit and the robustness of the schedule are simultaneously maximized. Then, we use a multi-objective optimization model to obtain a series of decomposing schemes. Based on the initial imaging plan, we propose a mixed optimizing algorithm named HA_NSGA-II to allocate the decomposing results thus to obtain an adjusted imaging schedule. A real disaster scenario, i.e., 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, is revisited in terms of rapid response using satellite resources and used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method with state-of-the-art approaches. We conclude that our satellite scheduling model can optimize the usage of satellite resources so as to obtain images in disaster response in a more timely and efficient manner.

Records and Information Disaster Preparedness in Selected ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study looked at the availability of rules and regulations governing access to and use of records; threats to records management; disaster response plan; extent to which organizations are committed in four major stages of disaster management in organizations in Uganda. In gathering the data, structured questionnaire ...

Variations in disaster evacuation behavior: public responses versus private sector executive decision-making processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Drabek, T E

1992-06-01

Data obtained from 65 executives working for tourism firms in three sample communities permitted comparison with the public warning response literature regarding three topics: disaster evacuation planning, initial warning responses, and disaster evacuation behavior. Disaster evacuation planning was reported by nearly all of these business executives, although it was highly variable in content, completeness, and formality. Managerial responses to post-disaster warnings paralleled the type of complex social processes that have been documented within the public response literature, except that warning sources and confirmation behavior were significantly affected by contact with authorities. Five key areas of difference were discovered in disaster evacuation behavior pertaining to: influence of planning, firm versus family priorities, shelter selection, looting concerns, and media contacts.

Health care logistics: who has the ball during disaster?

Science.gov (United States)

Vanvactor, Jerry D

2011-05-10

In contemporary organizations, a wide gamut of options is available for sustaining and supporting health care operations. When disaster strikes, despite having tenable plans for routine replenishment and operations, many organizations find themselves ill-prepared, ill-equipped, and without effective mechanisms in place to sustain operations during the immediate aftermath of a crisis. Health care operations can be abruptly halted due to the non-availability of supply. The purpose of this work is to add to a necessary, growing body of works related specifically to health care logistics preparedness and disaster mitigation. Logistics management is a specialized genre of expertise within the health care industry and is largely contributive to the success or failure of health care organizations. Logistics management requires extensive collaboration among multiple stakeholders-internal and external to an organization. Effective processes and procedures can be largely contributive to the success or failure of organizational operations. This article contributes to the closure of an obvious gap in professional and academic literature related to disaster health care logistics management and provides timely insight into a potential problem for leaders industry-wide. One critical aspect of disaster planning is regard for competent logistics management and the effective provision of necessary items when they are needed most. In many communities, there seems to be little evidence available regarding health care logistics involvement in disaster planning; at times, evidence of planning efforts perceptibly end at intra-organizational doors within facilities. Strategic planners are being continually reminded that health care organizations serve a principal role in emergency preparedness planning and must be prepared to fulfill the associated possibilities without notification. The concern is that not enough attention is being paid to repeated lessons being observed in disasters and

Disaster recovery: mitigating loss through documentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Boisvert, Sue

2011-01-01

Flood, fire, tornado, hurricane. Whatever the cause, natural or man-made, the result on an organization can be devastating. Planning and preparation for disaster must include significant attention to disaster recovery. The ability to produce documentation of what existed, what was damaged, recovery costs and income losses will be essential to the claims adjustment process. This article discusses strategies for creating a historical record, leveraging contemporaneous incident command documentation and working with contractors to identify and record disaster-related expenses. © 2011 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

Science-Driven Approach to Disaster Risk and Crisis Management

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail-Zadeh, A.

2014-12-01

Disasters due to natural extreme events continue to grow in number and intensity. Disaster risk and crisis management requires long-term planning, and to undertake that planning, a science-driven approach is needed to understand and assess disaster risks and to help in impact assessment and in recovery processes after a disaster. Science is used in assessments and rapid modeling of the disaster impact, in forecasting triggered hazards and risk (e.g., a tsunami or a landslide after a large earthquake), in contacts with and medical treatment of the affected population, and in some other actions. At the stage of response to disaster, science helps to analyze routinely the disaster happened (e.g., the physical processes led to this extreme event; hidden vulnerabilities; etc.) At the stage of recovery, natural scientists improve the existing regional hazard assessments; engineers try to use new science to produce new materials and technologies to make safer houses and infrastructure. At the stage of disaster risk mitigation new scientific methods and approaches are being developed to study natural extreme events; vulnerability of society is periodically investigated, and the measures for increasing the resilience of society to extremes are developed; existing disaster management regulations are improved. At the stage of preparedness, integrated research on disaster risks should be developed to understand the roots of potential disasters. Enhanced forecasting and early warning systems are to be developed reducing predictive uncertainties, and comprehensive disaster risk assessment is to be undertaken at local, regional, national and global levels. Science education should be improved by introducing trans-disciplinary approach to disaster risks. Science can help society by improving awareness about extreme events, enhancing risk communication with policy makers, media and society, and assisting disaster risk management authorities in organization of local and regional

Review: Health Management in Disasters with Focusing on Rehabilitation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamid Reza Khankeh

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Disasters should never be considered as routine. Disasters of any kind—natural or manmade—clearly disrupt the normal functioning of any community and frequently overwhelm both personal and community resources. In the post-disaster context, following the initial shock of the disaster, returning lives and livelihoods to normalcy becomes a primary concern of the affected communities and nations. Traditionally, this has been known as the recovery and rehabilitation phase, where "normalcy" refers to the return of the community to the state it was in prior to the disaster event. Rehabilitation is this process of returning the community to “normal” that may extend for many years and involves the physical, social and economic components of the community. Disasters can take on a life of their own, therefore being prepared is the single most effective way to improve outcomes. Proper pre-event planning and providing mechanisms for resource coordination are critical which will be resulted a successful response. It should focus on increasing the participation of civil authorities in order to reestablish local authorities. In order to develop safer communities with fewer deaths, physical injuries, and psycho-social trauma following disasters, health systems must be capable of providing a coordinated response during disasters and of delivering effective mitigation and preparedness programs before disaster impact. The health sector has a vested interest and a key role in this process. In addition, prior to the occurrence of disasters, national, provincial, and local planning should be blueprinted by managers. The public must be educated regarding the importance of individual and family preparation for disaster

Perceptions of disaster preparedness among older people in South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Myoungran; Lee, Mijung; Tullmann, Dorothy

2016-03-01

Older people are a major vulnerable population. During disasters, given their physical frailty, lower social status, loss of medications and medical care, the vulnerability of older people increases. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of older people in Korea on various aspects of disaster preparedness to better understand their special needs and to facilitate appropriate disaster planning. The study was qualitative and used focus group interviews with 12 older people in one major city and one rural area of South Korea. Four themes were identified by the analysis of the interviews: defenceless state, reality of accepting limitations, strong will to live, importance of disaster preparedness governmental efforts for the older people. Findings indicated that preparation of shelters and transportation was critical to help older people survive in times of disasters and suggested that there should be active involvement of the government in terms of disaster planning, managing and preparing older people for disasters. In addition, healthy older people can be assets to disaster relief efforts by providing practical and emotional support for the most fragile older people. Older people can also provide knowledge of their special needs to the government to improve their disaster response policy. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Disaster waste management: A review article

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Charlotte; Milke, Mark; Seville, Erica

2011-01-01

Depending on their nature and severity, disasters can create large volumes of debris and waste. The waste can overwhelm existing solid waste management facilities and impact on other emergency response and recovery activities. If poorly managed, the waste can have significant environmental and public health impacts and can affect the overall recovery process. This paper presents a system overview of disaster waste management based on existing literature. The main literature available to date comprises disaster waste management plans or guidelines and isolated case studies. There is ample discussion on technical management options such as temporary storage sites, recycling, disposal, etc.; however, there is little or no guidance on how these various management options are selected post-disaster. The literature does not specifically address the impact or appropriateness of existing legislation, organisational structures and funding mechanisms on disaster waste management programmes, nor does it satisfactorily cover the social impact of disaster waste management programmes. It is envisaged that the discussion presented in this paper, and the literature gaps identified, will form a basis for future comprehensive and cohesive research on disaster waste management. In turn, research will lead to better preparedness and response to disaster waste management problems.

Flood disaster preparedness: a retrospect from Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Science.gov (United States)

Siders, C; Jacobson, R

1998-01-01

Natural disasters often come without warning. The clinical, financial, and business risks can be enormous. Grand Forks' (ND) healthcare systems experienced a flooding disaster of unprecedented proportions in April of 1997. Planned and practiced disaster and evacuation procedures can significantly reduce a healthcare facilities' risk to life, health, and safety. This article retrospectively analyzes disaster preparation and the complete evacuation of the facilities' patients.

Hospital disaster emergency preparedness: A study of Onandjokwe ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study explored disaster emergency preparedness at Onandjokwe Lutheran Hospital in Northern Namibia. It utilized quantitative and qualitative research methods, using a self-administered questionnaire, semi-structured key informant interviews, and a hospital disaster plan checklist. A stratified sample of 120 ...

A report on disaster prevention trainings of nuclear energy, in fiscal year 2000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nomura, Tamotsu; Katagiri, Hiromi; Akiyama, Takashi; Kikuchi, Masayuki

2001-05-01

Trainings on nuclear disaster prevention are often planned and practiced since early times at the nuclear energy relating organizations on many courses. A training carried out in fiscal year 2000 by the Emergent Assistance and Training Center in the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute is decided to a portion on disaster prevention measure at a viewpoint of 'Crisis Management' which is essential element in present disaster prevention measure to fall short at present. In concrete, a crisis management training for nuclear disaster prevention (senior and business courses), an emergent publicity response training, and a disaster prevention training planning training were designed and decided. These trainings were established according to experiences accumulated by inter-company crisis management learning, and were constructed by containing items relating to respective special knowledge, conditions on chemical plants and disaster prevention measure system in U.S.A. and Europe, and so on. Here was described on design and practice of training plan, and practice of the trainings. (G.K)

Disaster Management: Mental Health Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Math, Suresh Bada; Nirmala, Maria Christine; Moirangthem, Sydney; Kumar, Naveen C

2015-01-01

Disaster mental health is based on the principles of 'preventive medicine' This principle has necessitated a paradigm shift from relief centered post-disaster management to a holistic, multi-dimensional integrated community approach of health promotion, disaster prevention, preparedness and mitigation. This has ignited the paradigm shift from curative to preventive aspects of disaster management. This can be understood on the basis of six 'R's such as Readiness (Preparedness), Response (Immediate action), Relief (Sustained rescue work), Rehabilitation (Long term remedial measures using community resources), Recovery (Returning to normalcy) and Resilience (Fostering). Prevalence of mental health problems in disaster affected population is found to be higher by two to three times than that of the general population. Along with the diagnosable mental disorders, affected community also harbours large number of sub-syndromal symptoms. Majority of the acute phase reactions and disorders are self-limiting, whereas long-term phase disorders require assistance from mental health professionals. Role of psychotropic medication is very limited in preventing mental health morbidity. The role of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) in mitigating the mental health morbidity appears to be promising. Role of Psychological First Aid (PFA) and debriefing is not well-established. Disaster management is a continuous and integrated cyclical process of planning, organising, coordinating and implementing measures to prevent and to manage disaster effectively. Thus, now it is time to integrate public health principles into disaster mental health.

Temporary disaster debris management site identification using binomial cluster analysis and GIS.

Science.gov (United States)

Grzeda, Stanislaw; Mazzuchi, Thomas A; Sarkani, Shahram

2014-04-01

An essential component of disaster planning and preparation is the identification and selection of temporary disaster debris management sites (DMS). However, since DMS identification is a complex process involving numerous variable constraints, many regional, county and municipal jurisdictions initiate this process during the post-disaster response and recovery phases, typically a period of severely stressed resources. Hence, a pre-disaster approach in identifying the most likely sites based on the number of locational constraints would significantly contribute to disaster debris management planning. As disasters vary in their nature, location and extent, an effective approach must facilitate scalability, flexibility and adaptability to variable local requirements, while also being generalisable to other regions and geographical extents. This study demonstrates the use of binomial cluster analysis in potential DMS identification in a case study conducted in Hamilton County, Indiana. © 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014.

Performance of district disaster management teams after undergoing an operational level planners' training in Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Orach, Christopher Garimol; Mayega, Roy William; Woboya, Vincent; William, Bazeyo

2013-06-01

Uganda is vulnerable to several natural, man-made and a hybrid of disasters including drought, famine, floods, warfare, and disease outbreaks. We assessed the district disaster team's performance, roles and experiences following the training. The disasters most commonly experienced by the district teams were epidemics of diseases in humans (7 of 12), animals (epizoonotics) (3 of 12) and crops (3 of 12); hailstorms and floods (3 of 12). The capabilities viewed most useful for management of disasters were provision of health care services (9/12) and response management (8 of 12). The capability domains most often consulted during the disasters were general response management (31%), health services (29%) and water and sanitation (17%). The skills areas perceived to be vital following the training were response to epidemics 10/12, disaster management planning 8/12, hazards and vulnerability analysis 7/12 and principles of disaster planning 7/12 respectively. Main challenges mentioned by district teams were inadequacy of finance and logistics, lack of commitment by key partners towards disaster preparedness and response. The most common disaster experienced disasters related to outbreaks of diseases in man, animals and crops. The most frequently applied capabilities were response management and provision of emergency health services. The activities most frequently implemented following disaster management teams training were conducting planning meetings, refinement of plans and dissemination of skills gained. The main challenges were related to limited budget allocations and legal frameworks for disaster management that should be addressed by both central and local governments.

Renovating animal facilities to withstand disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Cartwright, Jim; Contratto, Jim; Gould, Nathan; Freeman, William

2013-10-01

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, new attention has been drawn to planning for and mitigating the effects of disasters on laboratory animal facilities. A number of design approaches and solutions can be easily incorporated into a new vivarium, enhancing its ability to withstand and recover from a disaster. Renovating a vivarium poses special challenges, however. Existing conditions in the project area may dictate which approaches or solutions are feasible, and retrofitting is often more complex and expensive than incorporating the same features into new construction. The authors explain how project design teams can evaluate the types of disasters that a renovated facility will need to address and develop a design strategy that responds to these disasters in the most effective way.

Role of Actors and Gender Factor in Disaster Management

Science.gov (United States)

Gundogdu, Oguz; Isik, Ozden; Ozcep, Ferhat; Goksu, Goksel

2014-05-01

In Turkey, the discussions in the modern sense about disaster management begun after the 1992 Erzincan and the 1995 Dinar earthquakes, faulting in terms of features and effects. These earthquakes are "Urban Earthquakes'' with effects and faulting charectristics, and have led to radical changes in terms of disaster and disaster management. Disaster Management, to become a science in the world, but with the 1999 Izmit and Duzce earthquakes in Turkey has begun to take seriously on the agenda. Firstly, such as Civil Defense and Red Crescent organizations, by transforming its own, have entered into a new organizing effort. By these earthquakes, NGO's have contributed the search-rescue efforts in the field and to the process of normalization of life. Because "the authority and responsibilities" of NGO's could not be determined, and could not be in planning and scenario studies, we faced the problems. Thus, to the citizens of our country-specific "voluntary" has not benefited enough from the property. The most important development in disaster management in 2009, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) has been the establishment. However, in terms of coordination and accreditation to the target point has been reached yet. Another important issue in disaster management (need to be addressed along with disaster actors) is the role of women in disasters. After the Golcuk Earthquake, successful field works of women and women's victimization has attracted attention in two different directions. Gender-sensitive policies should be noted by the all disaster actors due to the importance of the mitigation, and these policies should take place in laws, regulations and planning.

Assessing Disaster Preparedness Among Select Children's Summer Camps in the United States and Canada.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Megan; Sielaff, Alan; Bradin, Stuart; Walker, Kevin; Ambrose, Michael; Hashikawa, Andrew

2017-08-01

Children's summer camps are at risk for multiple pediatric casualties during a disaster. The degree to which summer camps have instituted disaster preparedness is unknown. We assessed disaster preparedness among selected camps nationally for a range of disasters. We partnered with a national, web-based electronic health records system to send camp leadership of 315 camp organizations a 14-question online survey of disaster preparedness. One response from each camp was selected in the following order of importance: owner, director, physician, nurse, medical technician, office staff, and other. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A total of 181 camps responses were received, 169 of which were complete. Camp types were overnight (60%), day (21%), special/medical needs (14%), and other (5%). Survey respondents were directors (52%), nurses (14%), office staff (10%), physicians (5%), owners (5%), emergency medical technicians (2%), and other (12%). Almost 18% of camps were located >20 mi from a major medical center, and 36% were >5 mi from police/fire departments. Many camps were missing emergency supplies: car/booster seats for evacuation (68%), shelter (35%), vehicles for evacuation (26%), quarantine isolation areas (21%), or emergency supplies of extra water (20%) or food (17%). Plans were unavailable for the following: power outages (23%); lockdowns (15%); illness outbreaks (15%); tornadoes (11%); evacuation for fire, flood, or chemical spill (9%); and other severe weather (8%). Many camps did not have online emergency plans (53%), plans for children with special/medical needs (38%), methods to rapidly communicate information to parents (25%), or methods to identify children for evacuation/reunification with parents (40%). Respondents reported that staff participation in disaster drills varied for weather (58%), evacuations (46%), and lockdowns (36%). The majority (75%) of respondents had not collaborated with medical organizations for planning. A

Satellite Application for Disaster Management Information Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Okpanachi, George

Abstract Satellites are becoming increasingly vital to modern day disaster management activities. Earth observation (EO) satellites provide images at various wavelengths that assist rapid-mapping in all phases of the disaster management cycle: mitigation of potential risks in a given area, preparedness for eventual disasters, immediate response to a disaster event, and the recovery/reconstruction efforts follo wing it. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) assist all the phases by providing precise location and navigation data, helping manage land and infrastructures, and aiding rescue crews coordinate their search efforts. Effective disaster management is a complex problem, because it involves many parameters, which are usually not easy to measure and even identify: Analysis of current situation, planning, optimum resource management, coordination, controlling and monitoring current activities and making quick and correct decisions are only some of these parameters, whose complete list is very long. Disaster management information systems (DMIS) assist disaster management to analyse the situation better, make decisions and suggest further actions following the emergency plans. This requires not only fast and thorough processing and optimization abilities, but also real-time data provided to the DMIS. The need of DMIS for disaster’s real-time data can be satisfied by small satellites data utilization. Small satellites can provide up-to-data, plus a better media to transfer data. This paper suggests a rationale and a framework for utilization of small Satellite data by DMIS. DMIS should be used ‘’before’’, ‘’during’’ and ‘’after’’ the disasters. Data provided by the Small Satellites are almost crucial in any period of the disasters, because early warning can save lives, and satellite data may help to identify disasters before they occur. The paper also presents’ ‘when’’, �

A dynamic model for costing disaster mitigation policies.

Science.gov (United States)

Altay, Nezih; Prasad, Sameer; Tata, Jasmine

2013-07-01

The optimal level of investment in mitigation strategies is usually difficult to ascertain in the context of disaster planning. This research develops a model to provide such direction by relying on cost of quality literature. This paper begins by introducing a static approach inspired by Joseph M. Juran's cost of quality management model (Juran, 1951) to demonstrate the non-linear trade-offs in disaster management expenditure. Next it presents a dynamic model that includes the impact of dynamic interactions of the changing level of risk, the cost of living, and the learning/investments that may alter over time. It illustrates that there is an optimal point that minimises the total cost of disaster management, and that this optimal point moves as governments learn from experience or as states get richer. It is hoped that the propositions contained herein will help policymakers to plan, evaluate, and justify voluntary disaster mitigation expenditures. © 2013 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2013.

Disaster waste management: a review article.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Charlotte; Milke, Mark; Seville, Erica

2011-06-01

Depending on their nature and severity, disasters can create large volumes of debris and waste. The waste can overwhelm existing solid waste management facilities and impact on other emergency response and recovery activities. If poorly managed, the waste can have significant environmental and public health impacts and can affect the overall recovery process. This paper presents a system overview of disaster waste management based on existing literature. The main literature available to date comprises disaster waste management plans or guidelines and isolated case studies. There is ample discussion on technical management options such as temporary storage sites, recycling, disposal, etc.; however, there is little or no guidance on how these various management options are selected post-disaster. The literature does not specifically address the impact or appropriateness of existing legislation, organisational structures and funding mechanisms on disaster waste management programmes, nor does it satisfactorily cover the social impact of disaster waste management programmes. It is envisaged that the discussion presented in this paper, and the literature gaps identified, will form a basis for future comprehensive and cohesive research on disaster waste management. In turn, research will lead to better preparedness and response to disaster waste management problems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emergency Management for Disasters in Malaysian Hotel Industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AlBattat Ahmad Rasmi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to identify major emergencies that have the potential to place Malaysian hotels in emergency and disaster situations; investigate how hotels were prepared for emergencies, how they manage and overcome emergencies when occurred; and limitations and factors influencing successful emergency planning and adoption emergency management in Malaysian hotels. Face-to-face interview with managers from three, four and five star hotels from different backgrounds: local; regional; and International in Kuala Lumpur, Subang, and Putrajaya are undertaken. The result revealed that Malaysian hotels are exposed to a wide range of natural and man-made disasters. Malaysian hotels lack proactive emergency planning and a lot of constraints which impede successful emergency planning for disasters in the hotel industry in Malaysia, with emphasizing on the relevant authority’s role to demonstrate emergency management to hotels convincing them to adopt such practices, so they can be able to cope with emergencies effectively.

Natural disasters and gender dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Roder, Giulia; Tarolli, Paolo

2016-04-01

. Men, on the other side, feel more often prepared to overcome the crises, but what emerges from the stress and the losses caused by disasters are different types of violence (self-harm and interpersonal violence). It is therefore necessary to recognize violence and mental health pathologies as part of the negative consequences that occur after natural disasters and that can be part of people's vulnerability if those events recur frequently. Living conditions, demographic, economic attributes, behaviours and beliefs reflect gender power relations in the disaster context. Failing to recognize it, may lead to inefficient community-based risk management plans. Gender dynamics in the disaster context should be the interest not only of non-governmental and/or international organizations. They should be a priority for researchers that have to contribute more in their studies to find a gendered differentiation, without limiting gender to an isolated attribute. This will help public authorities to develop sensitive management plans in order to let the disaster relief an easy process to achieve. This work will contribute to the scientific recognition of gender in the disaster management context, in order to raise further investigations on this topic. World Bank (2010) Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Reports.

The Swiss disaster management plan for coping with the aftermath of radiological dispersal devices - ''dirty bomb'' operational concept

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoffel, F.; Blaettler, M.; Leonardi, A.

2009-01-01

In 2007 the Swiss Federal Commission for NRBC Protection released a disaster management plan for coping with the aftermath of radiological dispersal devices. This paper summarises the basic concept and outlines the relevant bodies and agencies as well as their responsibilities. It also sets out the strategy to monitor radioactive contamination and the measures to prevent public radiation exposure. (orig.)

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 disaster recovery guide

CERN Document Server

Ward, Peter

2013-01-01

The style and approach of the book is an easytoread SharePoint admin guide. This is not a stepbystep instruction book, but rather a guide on how to implement and execute a disaster recovery plan to your SharePoint environment.This book is great for both SharePoint and SQL administrators new to the SharePoint 2013 architecture, and who are looking to get a good grounding in how to use implement a solid disaster recoveryrecovery plan. It's assumed that you have some experience in SharePoint and Windows Server and, as well be familiar with SQL.

Disaster Governance for Community Resilience in Coastal Towns: Chilean Case Studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Villagra

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to further our understanding of a characteristic of Community Resilience known as Disaster Governance. Three attributes of Disaster Governance—redundancy, diversity, and overlap—were studied in four coastal towns in southern Chile that are at risk of tsunamis. Overall, we explored how different spatial structures of human settlements influence Disaster Governance. Using the Projective Mapping Technique, the distribution of emergency institutions (N = 32 and uses given to specific sites (e.g., for refuge, sanitary purposes and medical attention were mapped. Content and GIS analyses (Directional Distribution and Kernel Density Index were used to explore the dispersion and concentration of institutions and uses in each town. Disaster Governance was found to be highly influenced by decisions taken during regional, urban, and emergency planning. Governance is better in towns of higher order in the communal hierarchical structure. Most of the emergency institutions were found to be located in central and urban areas, which, in turn, assures more redundancy, overlap, and diversity in governance in the event of a tsunami. Lack of flexibility of emergency plans also limits governance in rural and indigenous areas. While the spatial relationships found in this study indicate that urban sectors have better Disaster Governance than rural and indigenous sectors, the influence of resource availability after tsunamis, the role and responsibility of different levels of governments, and the politics of disaster also play an important role in Disaster Governance for determining Community Resilience. These findings shed light on emergency planning and aspects of the Disaster Management cycle.

Disaster Governance for Community Resilience in Coastal Towns: Chilean Case Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Villagra, Paula; Quintana, Carolina

2017-09-14

This study aimed to further our understanding of a characteristic of Community Resilience known as Disaster Governance. Three attributes of Disaster Governance-redundancy, diversity, and overlap-were studied in four coastal towns in southern Chile that are at risk of tsunamis. Overall, we explored how different spatial structures of human settlements influence Disaster Governance. Using the Projective Mapping Technique, the distribution of emergency institutions (N = 32) and uses given to specific sites (e.g., for refuge, sanitary purposes and medical attention) were mapped. Content and GIS analyses (Directional Distribution and Kernel Density Index) were used to explore the dispersion and concentration of institutions and uses in each town. Disaster Governance was found to be highly influenced by decisions taken during regional, urban, and emergency planning. Governance is better in towns of higher order in the communal hierarchical structure. Most of the emergency institutions were found to be located in central and urban areas, which, in turn, assures more redundancy, overlap, and diversity in governance in the event of a tsunami. Lack of flexibility of emergency plans also limits governance in rural and indigenous areas. While the spatial relationships found in this study indicate that urban sectors have better Disaster Governance than rural and indigenous sectors, the influence of resource availability after tsunamis, the role and responsibility of different levels of governments, and the politics of disaster also play an important role in Disaster Governance for determining Community Resilience. These findings shed light on emergency planning and aspects of the Disaster Management cycle.

Study of Earthquake Disaster Prediction System of Langfang city Based on GIS

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Meng; Zhang, Dian; Li, Pan; Zhang, YunHui; Zhang, RuoFei

2017-07-01

In this paper, according to the status of China’s need to improve the ability of earthquake disaster prevention, this paper puts forward the implementation plan of earthquake disaster prediction system of Langfang city based on GIS. Based on the GIS spatial database, coordinate transformation technology, GIS spatial analysis technology and PHP development technology, the seismic damage factor algorithm is used to predict the damage of the city under different intensity earthquake disaster conditions. The earthquake disaster prediction system of Langfang city is based on the B / S system architecture. Degree and spatial distribution and two-dimensional visualization display, comprehensive query analysis and efficient auxiliary decision-making function to determine the weak earthquake in the city and rapid warning. The system has realized the transformation of the city’s earthquake disaster reduction work from static planning to dynamic management, and improved the city’s earthquake and disaster prevention capability.

Hospital planning for weapons of mass destruction incidents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Perry Ronald

2006-01-01

Full Text Available As terrorists attacks increase in frequency, hospital disaster plans need to be scrutinized to ensure that they take into account issues unique to weapons of mass destruction. This paper reports a review of the literature addressing hospital experiences with such incidents and the planning lessons thus learned. Construction of hospital disaster plans is examined as an ongoing process guided by the disaster planning committee. Hospitals are conceived as one of the components of a larger community disaster planning efforts, with specific attention devoted to defining important linkages among response organizations. This includes the public health authorities, political authorities, prehospital care agencies, and emergency management agencies. A review is completed of six special elements of weapons of mass destruction incidents that should be addressed in hospital disaster plans: incident command, hospital security, patient surge, decontamination, mental health consequences, and communications. The paper closes with a discussion of the importance of training and exercises in maintaining and improving the disaster plan.

Disaster imminent--Hurricane Hugo.

Science.gov (United States)

Guynn, J B

1990-04-01

Response to a disaster situation depends upon the type of circumstances presented. In situations where the disaster is the type that affects the hospital as well as a wide surrounding area directly, the hospital and pharmacy itself may be called upon to continue functioning for some period of time without outside assistance. The ability to function for prolonged periods of time requires the staff to focus on the job at hand and the administrative staff to provide security, compassion, and flexibility. Plans for a disaster of the nature of a hurricane require that attention be paid to staffing, medication inventories, supplies, and services being rendered. Recognition of the singular position occupied by a hospital in the community and the expectations of the local population require that hospitals and the pharmacy department have the ability to respond appropriately.

Analysis of Jordan's Proposed Emergency Communication Interoperability Plan (JECIP) for Disaster Response

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Alzaghal, Mohamad H

2008-01-01

... country. It is essential to build a robust and interoperable Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure before the disaster, which will facilitate patch/restore/reconstruct it when and after the disaster hits...

a Study of Co-Planing Technology of Spaceborne, Airborne and Ground Remote Sensing Detecting Resource, Driven by Disaster Emergency Task

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, F.; Chen, H.; Tu, K.; Wen, Q.; He, J.; Gu, X.; Wang, Z.

2018-04-01

Facing the monitoring needs of emergency responses to major disasters, combining the disaster information acquired at the first time after the disaster and the dynamic simulation result of the disaster chain evolution process, the overall plan for coordinated planning of spaceborne, airborne and ground observation resources have been designed. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of major disaster observation tasks, the key technologies of spaceborne, airborne and ground collaborative observation project are studied. For different disaster response levels, the corresponding workflow tasks are designed. On the basis of satisfying different types of disaster monitoring demands, the existing multi-satellite collaborative observation planning algorithms are compared, analyzed, and optimized.

A team approach to preparing for hurricanes and other disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Kendig, Jim

2009-01-01

Applying lessons learned in Hurricane Floyd in 1999, a three-hospital system located on Florida's exposed Space Coast was able to better deal with the devastation caused by hurricanes in 2004 and make changes in its plans to better prepare for the named storms which hit its area in 2008. Each new disaster, the author points out, brings with it new challenges which have to be considered in disaster planning.

Disaster risk assessment pattern in higher education centers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Omidvari

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Disasters are one of the most important challenges which must be considered by every management system. Higher education centers have high disaster risk because of their risk factors (existence of historical and scientific documents and resources and expensive laboratory equipment in these centers emphasizes the importance of disaster management. Moreover, the existence of young volunteers of human resources in universities urges the necessity of making these people familiar with disaster management rules and responses in emergency conditions. Creating appropriate tools for disaster management assessment makes it correct and precise in higher education systems using the presented conceptual model. The present model was planned so as to cover three phases which exist before, during, and after disaster. Studies were performed in one of the largest higher education centers in Tehran: Science and Research Branch of Islamic Azad University Campus. Results showed high-risk disasters in these centers which must be taken into consideration continuously. The objective of this study was to create appropriate patterns of disaster risk management in these centers.

Challenges Encountered During the Veterinary Disaster Response: An Example from Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Garde

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Large-scale disasters have immeasurable effects on human and animal communities. Evaluating and reporting on the response successes and difficulties encountered serves to improve existing preparedness documents and provide support to those in the process of developing plans. Although the majority of disasters occur in low and middle income nations, less than 1% of the disaster literature originates from these countries. This report describes a response to a disease outbreak in domestic dogs in Dichato, Chile following the 2010 earthquake/tsunami. With no national plan coordinating the companion animal response, there was a chaotic approach among animal welfare organizations towards rescue, diagnosis, treatment and record-keeping. Similar to the medical response following the 1985 earthquake near Santiago, we experienced problems within our own teams in maintenance of data integrity and protocol compliance. Loss of infrastructure added complications with transportation, communications and acquisition of supplies. Similar challenges likely occur in most disasters, but can be reduced through pro-active planning at national and local levels. There is sufficient information to support the human and animal welfare benefits of including companion animals in national planning, and lessons learned through this and other experiences can assist planners in the development of comprehensive and locally relevant contingency plans.

Households’ Natural Disaster Preparedness: A View from a Second Class Municipality in a Developing Country

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo T. Bagarinao

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The increasing frequency of natural disasters occurrence and severity of climate change impacts in recent years makes disaster preparedness a vital decision among households especially in developing countries like the Philippines. The study was conducted to characterize households' respondents through the use of selected socio-demographic variables. It also aimed to determine their adoption of pre-determined disaster preparedness plans and if an empirical relationship could be established between the adoption of a plan and the selected household socio-demographic variables. Using a stimulus-response framework, a natural disaster preparedness survey protocol with emphasis on households' preparedness plans was developed and implemented from May-July 2015 in one of the typhoon and flood-prone municipalities in the Philippines. With 577 respondents, the average households in the study site consist of 5 members, are below estimated poverty threshold, and residing in the area for more than 30 years. There is variability on the relationships between the socio-demographic characteristic of the respondents and their decision to adopt disaster preparedness plans. These findings call for the expansion of the current climate change adaptation and disaster risk management programs and initiatives of the municipality to include enhancement of households' capacity to prepare and deal with impacts of natural disasters.

Global or local construction materials for post-disaster reconstruction? Sustainability assessment of 20 post-disaster shelter designs

OpenAIRE

Zea Escamilla, E.; Habert, G.

2015-01-01

This data article presents the life cycle inventories of 20 transitional shelter solutions. The data was gathered from the reports 8 shelter designs [1]; 10 post-disaster shelter designs [2]; the environmental impact of brick production outside of Europe [3]; and the optimization of bamboo-based post-disaster housing units for tropical and subtropical regions using LCA methodologies [4]. These reports include bill of quantities, plans, performance analysis, and lifespan of the studied shelter...

Travelling without a helmet: tourists' vulnerabilities and responses to disasters in Indonesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Rindrasih, Erda; Hartmann, Thomas; Witte, Patrick; Spit, Tejo; Zoomers, Annelies

2018-03-13

Tourists are particularly vulnerable when natural disasters occur in regions that they are visiting. It is assumed that they lack awareness and understanding of the actions that they need to take in such circumstances. This study examines the responses of tourists in times of disaster, building on empirical data collected through large-scale surveys conducted in Bali and Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2015. Both are important tourist destinations in the country that have suffered major disasters in recent years. The different types of responses to these events are framed using a grid/group analysis stemming from cultural theory. The study resulted in three key findings: (i) current disaster management planning largely follows a single rationale; (ii) tourists are not a homogeneous group, but rather a complex, diverse, and dynamic body of stakeholders; and (iii) the focus of disaster management planning should shift from a single rationale to a polyrational methodology. Disaster managers need to consider, therefore, these different aspects in the context of preparedness. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

A Situational Analysis of Priority Disaster Hazards in Uganda ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Poverty, gender, lack of information, and lack of resilience measures were some of the factors promoting vulnerability to disasters. Conclusion: As Uganda develops a disaster risk reduction and response plan, it ought to prioritize epidemics of infectious diseases, drought/famine, conflicts and environmental degradation as ...

Challenges of the New Zealand healthcare disaster preparedness prior to the Canterbury earthquakes: a qualitative analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Shaqsi, Sultan; Gauld, Robin; Lovell, Sarah; McBride, David; Al-Kashmiri, Ammar; Al-Harthy, Abdullah

2013-03-15

Disasters are a growing global phenomenon. New Zealand has suffered several major disasters in recent times. The state of healthcare disaster preparedness in New Zealand prior to the Canterbury earthquakes is not well documented. To investigate the challenges of the New Zealand healthcare disaster preparedness prior to the Canterbury earthquakes. Semi-structured interviews with emergency planners in all the District Health Boards (DHBs) in New Zealand in the period between January and March 2010. The interview protocol revolved around the domains of emergency planning adopted by the World Health Organization. Seventeen interviews were conducted. The main themes included disinterest of clinical personnel in emergency planning, the need for communication backup, the integration of private services in disaster preparedness, the value of volunteers, the requirement for regular disaster training, and the need to enhance surge capability of the New Zealand healthcare system to respond to disasters. Prior to the Canterbury earthquakes, healthcare disaster preparedness faced multiple challenges. Despite these challenges, New Zealand's healthcare response was adequate. Future preparedness has to consider the lessons learnt from the 2011 earthquakes to improve healthcare disaster planning in New Zealand.

Risk and Disaster Management: From Planning and Expertise to Smart, Intelligent, and Adaptive Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Benis, Arriel; Notea, Amos; Barkan, Refael

2018-01-01

"Disaster" means some surprising and misfortunate event. Its definition is broad and relates to complex environments. Medical Informatics approaches, methodologies and systems are used as a part of Disaster and Emergency Management systems. At the Holon Institute of Technology - HIT, Israel, in 2016 a National R&D Center: AFRAN was established to study the disaster's reduction aspects. The Center's designation is to investigate and produce new approaches, methodologies and to offer recommendations in the fields of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and to disseminate disaster's knowledge. Adjoint to the Center a "Smart, Intelligent, and Adaptive Systems" laboratory (SIAS) was established with the goal to study the applications of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Risk and Disaster Management (RDM). In this paper, we are redefining the concept of Disaster, pointing-out how ICT, AI, in the Big Data era, are central players in the RDM game. In addition we show the merit of the Center and lab combination to the benefit of the performed research projects.

Mainstreaming disaster resilience into planning practice in South Africa: challenges and champions

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Faling, W

2012-07-01

Full Text Available has become a mainstream idea in disaster reduction. As vulnerability to disasters progressively increases, an urban risk divide is developing in cities that is unjust, polarised, divided and fragmented. The poor are largely priced out of safe areas...

Psychosocial Rehabilitation: Some Lessons Learned From Natural Disaster in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fardin Alipour

2016-01-01

Conclusion: Lack of awareness of mental and social problems of affected people after disaster is one of the most important barriers in successful and stable rehabilitation. Psychosocial Rehabilitation requires a suitable structure and planning for all stages of disaster management. 

Disaster medicine. A guide for medical care in case of disasters. 3. rev. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weidringer, J.W.

2003-01-01

This guide was first published in 1982. The 2003 edition takes account of new research, of practical experience in natural disasters, and of the organisational plans of the German civil service units. All factors are considered which are important for successful medical care in case of natural disasters, large-scale accidents, and war. Among the new issues that are considered in this volume is the new European situation with regard to national safety, the new German legislation on civil safety, the hazards of an increasingly technological society, and the options and requirements for protection of the population in case of emergencies. After the Chernobyl accident, the focus in the field of nuclear radiation has shifted to radiation protection problems. There are new chapters on stress management during and after emergency shifts which take account of the experience gained in major disasters. (orig.)

DATA MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK OF DRONE-BASED 3D MODEL RECONSTRUCTION OF DISASTER SITE

OpenAIRE

Kim, C.; Moon, H.; Lee, W.

2016-01-01

To rescue peoples in the disaster site in time, information acquisition of current feature of collapsed buildings and terrain is quite important for disaster site rescue manager. Based on information about disaster site, they can accurately plan the rescue process and remove collapsed buildings or other facilities. However, due to the harsh condition of disaster areas, rapid and accurate acquisition of disaster site information is not an easy task. There are possibilities of further ...

Rebuilding After Disaster: Going Green from the Ground Up

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

none,

2009-10-01

This how-to guide describes ways to turn a disaster into an opportunity to rebuild with greener energy technologies. Covers such topics as the importance of energy, options for communities, instructions for developing an energy plan, and other considerations. This guide is intended for the community leaders who have experienced a disaster.

Stealth and Natural Disasters: Science, Policy and Human Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Kieffer, S. W.

2008-12-01

.S., or their counterparts in other places globally. Knowledge of stealth disasters is not universal at the scale now required for global attention. Pre-planning can allay the impacts of stealth disasters, or possibly even prevent them. It is imperative that a new Congress and new Administration be informed of the need to respond to both the near-term natural disasters, and to immediately institute thoughtful planning to ally or prevent the stealth disasters.

Emergency imaging after a mass casualty incident: role of the radiology department during training for and activation of a disaster management plan

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berger, Ferco H.; Körner, Markus; Bernstein, Mark P.; Sodickson, Aaron D.; Beenen, Ludo F.; McLaughlin, Patrick D.; Kool, Digna R.; Bilow, Ronald M.

2016-01-01

In the setting of mass casualty incidents (MCIs), hospitals need to divert from normal routine to delivering the best possible care to the largest number of victims. This should be accomplished by activating an established hospital disaster management plan (DMP) known to all staff through prior

'Schismo-urbanism': cities, natural disaster, and urban sociology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kammerbauer, Mark

2013-07-01

This paper examines a city and a natural disaster, specifically New Orleans, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina of August 2005. Recovery here is ongoing and the process of return is incomplete, with long-term dislocation to other cities in the United States, such as Houston, Texas. The question arises as to how planning and stratification influence evacuation and return/dislocation and how they result in a particular practice of adaptation. This interrelated process is conceptually integrated and termed 'schismo-urbanism' and is analysed within a multidimensional theoretical framework to evaluate aspects of urban sociology and natural disasters. Empirical research is based on a quantitative and qualitative mixed-method case study. Data were collected during two rounds of field research in New Orleans and Houston in 2007 and 2009. As a comparative socio-spatial study of affected and receptor communities, it makes a novel theoretical and methodological contribution to research on urban disasters in the context of continuing and rapid social change, and is targeted at disaster researchers, planning theorists and practitioners, and urbanists. © 2013 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2013.

Art of disaster preparedness in European union: a survey on the health systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Djalali, Ahmadreza; Della Corte, Francesco; Foletti, Marco; Ragazzoni, Luca; Ripoll Gallardo, Alba; Lupescu, Olivera; Arculeo, Chris; von Arnim, Götz; Friedl, Tom; Ashkenazi, Michael; Fischer, Philipp; Hreckovski, Boris; Khorram-Manesh, Amir; Komadina, Radko; Lechner, Konstanze; Patru, Cristina; Burkle, Frederick M; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi

2014-12-17

Naturally occurring and man-made disasters have been increasing in the world, including Europe, over the past several decades. Health systems are a key part of any community disaster management system. The success of preparedness and prevention depends on the success of activities such as disaster planning, organization and training. The aim of this study is to evaluate health system preparedness for disasters in the 27 European Union member countries. A cross-sectional analysis study was completed between June-September 2012. The checklist used for this survey was a modified from the World Health Organization toolkit for assessing health-system capacity for crisis management. Three specialists from each of the 27 European Union countries were included in the survey. Responses to each survey question were scored and the range of preparedness level was defined as 0-100%, categorized in three levels as follows: Acceptable; Transitional; or Insufficient. Response rate was 79.1%. The average level of disaster management preparedness in the health systems of 27 European Union member states was 68% (Acceptable). The highest level of preparedness was seen in the United Kingdom, Luxemburg, and Lithuania. Considering the elements of disaster management system, the highest level of preparedness score was at health information elements (86%), and the lowest level was for hospitals, and educational elements (54%). This survey study suggests that preparedness level of European Union countries in 2012 is at an acceptable level but could be improved. Elements such as hospitals and education and training suffer from insufficient levels of preparedness. The European Union health systems need a collective strategic plan, as well as enough resources, to establish a comprehensive and standardized disaster management strategy plan. A competency based training curriculum for managers and first responders is basic to accomplishing this goal. Disaster medicine; Disaster preparedness

Latino Disaster Vulnerability: The Dissemination of Hurricane Mitigation Information among Florida's Homeowners

Science.gov (United States)

Peguero, Anthony A.

2006-01-01

When a natural or man-made disaster strikes, there is usually little time for citizens to prepare and protect themselves. In September 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Defense implemented a National Response Plan dealing with many forms of disaster. However, when a disaster hits, not all citizens are equally prepared or protected. A sample of…

11. Strategic planning.

Science.gov (United States)

2014-05-01

There are several types of planning processes and plans, including strategic, operational, tactical, and contingency. For this document, operational planning includes tactical planning. This chapter examines the strategic planning process and includes an introduction into disaster response plans. "A strategic plan is an outline of steps designed with the goals of the entire organisation as a whole in mind, rather than with the goals of specific divisions or departments". Strategic planning includes all measures taken to provide a broad picture of what must be achieved and in which order, including how to organise a system capable of achieving the overall goals. Strategic planning often is done pre-event, based on previous experience and expertise. The strategic planning for disasters converts needs into a strategic plan of action. Strategic plans detail the goals that must be achieved. The process of converting needs into plans has been deconstructed into its components and includes consideration of: (1) disaster response plans; (2) interventions underway or planned; (3) available resources; (4) current status vs. pre-event status; (5) history and experience of the planners; and (6) access to the affected population. These factors are tempered by the local: (a) geography; (b) climate; (c) culture; (d) safety; and (e) practicality. The planning process consumes resources (costs). All plans must be adapted to the actual conditions--things never happen exactly as planned.

Hazard responses in the pre-industrial era: vulnerability and resilience of traditional societies to volcanic disasters and the implications for present-day disaster planning

Science.gov (United States)

Sangster, Heather

2014-05-01

events and how characteristic methods of coping have developed to enhance resilience, and reduce vulnerability. The aim of this paper is reflective of this research frontier and with the use of Mount Vesuvius, Italy, as a case study, this paper summarises: the characteristics of the eruptions that occurred during the long nineteenth century (i.e. those that occurred in 1794, 1822, 1855, 1861, 1872, 1906 and 1929); the particularities of the societal responses over time and the role of the authorities; and, the important lessons this history holds for the management of present-day disaster planning. In order to reduce disaster susceptibility and increase what is termed, resilience or capacity, the more deep-rooted causes of vulnerability need to be addressed.

Chinese nurses' relief experiences following two earthquakes: implications for disaster education and policy development.

Science.gov (United States)

Wenji, Zhou; Turale, Sue; Stone, Teresa E; Petrini, Marcia A

2015-01-01

Disasters require well trained nurses but disaster nursing education is very limited in China and evidence is urgently required for future planning and implementation of specialized disaster education. This describes the themes arising from narratives of Chinese registered nurses who worked in disaster relief after two major earthquakes. In-depth interviews were held with 12 registered nurses from Hubei Province. Riessman's narrative inquiry method was used to develop individual stories and themes, and socio-cultural theory informed this study. Five themes emerged: unbeatable challenges; qualities of a disaster nurse; mental health and trauma; poor disaster planning and co-ordination; and urgently needed disaster education. Participants were challenged by rudimentary living conditions, a lack of medical equipment, earthquake aftershocks, and cultural differences in the people they cared for. Participants placed importance on the development of teamwork abilities, critical thinking skills, management abilities of nurses in disasters, and the urgency to build a better disaster response system in China in which professional nurses could more actively contribute their skills and knowledge. Our findings concur with previous research and emphasize the urgency for health leaders across China to develop and implement disaster nursing education policies and programs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive analysis of information dissemination in disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, N.; Huang, H.; Su, Boni

2016-11-01

China is a country that experiences a large number of disasters. The number of deaths caused by large-scale disasters and accidents in past 10 years is around 900,000. More than 92.8 percent of these deaths could be avoided if there were an effective pre-warning system deployed. Knowledge of the information dissemination characteristics of different information media taking into consideration governmental assistance (information published by a government) in disasters in urban areas, plays a critical role in increasing response time and reducing the number of deaths and economic losses. In this paper we have developed a comprehensive information dissemination model to optimize efficiency of pre-warning mechanics. This model also can be used for disseminating information for evacuees making real-time evacuation plans. We analyzed every single information dissemination models for pre-warning in disasters by considering 14 media: short message service (SMS), phone, television, radio, news portals, Wechat, microblogs, email, newspapers, loudspeaker vehicles, loudspeakers, oral communication, and passive information acquisition via visual and auditory senses. Since governmental assistance is very useful in a disaster, we calculated the sensitivity of governmental assistance ratio. The results provide useful references for information dissemination during disasters in urban areas.

Disaster Vulnerability in South Korea under a Gender Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Gunhui

2017-04-01

The most affected natural disaster has been flooding in South Korea, however, many unexpected natural disasters cause by snow or drought have become severe due to the climate change. Therefore it is very important to analyze disaster vulnerability under the unexpected climate condition. When the natural disaster happens, in many cases, female was more damaged than male because of the cultural and physical limitations. Disaster is never gender neutral. For example, four times as many female as male died in Indonesia tsunami. Therefore, it is very important to consider gender sensitivity in the disaster vulnerability to mitigate effects on the female. In this study, the current disaster management guideline in South Korea is investigated in the gender perspective and compared to the other countries. As a result, gender analysis in the disaster preparedness and response is not implemented in South Korea. Thus, the gender balanced disaster management guideline is newly proposed. Also, the disaster vulnerability considering gendered factors are evaluated and analyzed in the urban area. Acknowledgement This research was supported by Support Program for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and future Planning(No. 2016H1C3A1903202)

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN LOCAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT: A PANACEA TO ALL LOCAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT ILLS?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela van der Berg

2015-11-01

Full Text Available It is anticipated that the occurrence and intensity of disasters will increase globally and in South Africa where typical disasters include droughts, floods, extreme hailstorms, gales, fires and earthquakes, as well as sinkholes arising from mining activity in dolomitic areas. Disasters such as these result in human suffering and damage to the resources and infrastructure on which South Africans rely for their survival and the maintenance of their quality of life. Section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 affords to everyone the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health and well-being. It may be argued that a person's sense of environmental security in relation to the potential risks and dangers of disaster falls within the scope of the protection provided by section 24. The responsibility to intervene for the protection of the interests inherent in the constitutional environmental right lies with the government of South Africa. Disaster management specifically is a functional area of competence of national and provincial government, but practice has shown that the actual implementation of and planning for disaster management happens in the local government sphere. Against the backdrop of these introductory discussions and, given the fact that several municipalities in South Africa are under-resourced, this article very specifically aims to critically discuss and describe from a legal perspective the potential and function of public-private partnerships (PPPs between local government (municipalities and the private sector (such as industries in fulfilling the legally entrenched disaster management mandate of municipalities. Through a critical evaluation of some existing PPPs, this article illustrates that the private sector has a key role to play in assisting municipalities to fulfil their legally entrenched disaster management mandate.

Companion Animals, Natural Disasters and the Law: An Australian Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

White, Steven

2012-08-27

This article examines the regulation of companion animal welfare during disasters, with some context provided by two recent major disaster events in Australia. Important general lessons for improved disaster management were identified in subsequent inquiries. However, the interests of companion animals continue to be inadequately addressed. This is because key assumptions underpinning disaster planning for companion animals-the primacy of human interests over animal interests and that individuals will properly address companion animal needs during times of disaster-are open to question. In particular these assumptions fail to recognise the inherent value of companion animals, underestimate the strong bond shared by some owners and their animals and, at the same time, overestimate the capacity of some owners to adequately meet the needs of their animals.

Report focuses on improving resilience to disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2012-08-01

“Disaster resilience is everyone's business,” states a new report that calls for a series of local and national measures to increase resilience in the face of an increasingly costly toll from natural disasters to human lives and the economy. In 2011 natural disasters were responsible for damages in the United States exceeding $55 billion, and costs could increase with more people and structures located in harm's way and with the effects of extreme events, according to the report, Disaster Resilience: A National Imperative, issued by a committee of the U.S. National Academies on 1 August. Among the recommendations is for federal government agencies to incorporate national resilience as an organizing principle to guide federal government actions and programs. The report defines resilience as “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events.”

Tsunami disaster risk management capabilities in Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Marios Karagiannis, Georgios; Synolakis, Costas

2015-04-01

Greece is vulnerable to tsunamis, due to the length of the coastline, its islands and its geographical proximity to the Hellenic Arc, an active subduction zone. Historically, about 10% of all world tsunamis occur in the Mediterranean region. Here we review existing tsunami disaster risk management capabilities in Greece. We analyze capabilities across the disaster management continuum, including prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Specifically, we focus on issues like legal requirements, stakeholders, hazard mitigation practices, emergency operations plans, public awareness and education, community-based approaches and early-warning systems. Our research is based on a review of existing literature and official documentation, on previous projects, as well as on interviews with civil protection officials in Greece. In terms of tsunami disaster prevention and hazard mitigation, the lack of tsunami inundation maps, except for some areas in Crete, makes it quite difficult to get public support for hazard mitigation practices. Urban and spatial planning tools in Greece allow the planner to take into account hazards and establish buffer zones near hazard areas. However, the application of such ordinances at the local and regional levels is often difficult. Eminent domain is not supported by law and there are no regulatory provisions regarding tax abatement as a disaster prevention tool. Building codes require buildings and other structures to withstand lateral dynamic earthquake loads, but there are no provisions for resistance to impact loading from water born debris Public education about tsunamis has increased during the last half-decade but remains sporadic. In terms of disaster preparedness, Greece does have a National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) and is a Member of UNESCO's Tsunami Program for North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas (NEAM) region. Several exercises have been organized in the framework of the NEAM Tsunami Warning

Disaster Research

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Given the tendency of books on disasters to predominantly focus on strong geophysical or descriptive perspectives and in-depth accounts of particular catastrophes, Disaster Research provides a much-needed multidisciplinary perspective of the area. This book is is structured thematically around key...... approaches to disaster research from a range of different, but often complementary academic disciplines. Each chapter presents distinct approaches to disaster research that is anchored in a particular discipline; ranging from the law of disasters and disaster historiography to disaster politics...... and anthropology of disaster. The methodological and theoretical contributions underlining a specific approach to disasters are discussed and illustrative empirical cases are examined that support and further inform the proposed approach to disaster research. The book thus provides unique insights into fourteen...

D Applications in Disaster Mitigation and Management: Core Results of Ditac Project

Science.gov (United States)

Kaptan, K.; Kavlak, U.; Yilmaz, O.; Celik, O. T.; Manesh, A. K.; Fischer, P.; Lupescu, O.; Ingrassia, P. L.; Ammann, W. J.; Ashkenazi, M.; Arculeo, C.; Komadina, R.; Lechner, K.; Arnim, G. v.; Hreckovski, B.

2013-08-01

According to statistical data, natural disasters as well as the number of people affected by them are occurring with increasing frequency compared to the past. This situation is also seen in Europe Union; So, Strengthening the EU capacity to respond to Disasters is very important. This paper represents the baseline results of the FP-7 founded DITAC project, which aims to develop a holistic and highly structured curriculum for responders and strategic crisis managers. Up-to-date geospatial information is required in order to create an effective disaster response plan. Common sources for geospatial information such as Google Earth, GIS databases, and aerial surveys are frequently outdated, or insufficient. This limits the effectiveness of disaster planning. Disaster Management has become an issue of growing importance. Planning for and managing large scale emergencies is complex. The number of both victims and relief workers is large and the time pressure is extreme. Emergency response and triage systems with 2D user interfaces are currently under development and evaluation. Disasters present a number of spatially related problems and an overwhelming quantity of information. 3D user interfaces are well suited for intuitively solving basic emergency response tasks. Such tasks include commanding rescue agents and prioritizing the disaster victims according to the severity of their medical condition. Further, 3D UIs hold significant potential for improving the coordination of rescuers as well as their awareness of relief workers from other organizations. This paper describes the outline of a module in a Disaster Management Course related to 3D Applications in Disaster Mitigation and Management. By doing this, the paper describes the gaps in existing systems and solutions. Satellite imageries and digital elevation data of Turkey are investigated for detecting sites prone to natural hazards. Digital image processing methods used to enhance satellite data and to produce

Pediatric issues in disaster management, part 2: evacuation centers and family separation/reunification.

Science.gov (United States)

Mace, Sharon E; Sharieff, Ghazala; Bern, Andrew; Benjamin, Lee; Burbulys, Dave; Johnson, Ramon; Schreiber, Merritt

2010-01-01

Although children and infants are likely to be victims in a disaster and are more vulnerable in a disaster than adults, disaster planning and management has often overlooked the specific needs of pediatric patients. We discuss key components of disaster planning and management for pediatric patients including emergency medical services, hospital/facility issues, evacuation centers, family separation/reunification, children with special healthcare needs, mental health issues, and overcrowding/surge capacity. Specific policy recommendations and an appendix with detailed practical information and algorithms are included. The first part of this three part series on pediatric issues in disaster management addresses the emergency medical system from the field to the hospital and surge capacity including the impact of crowding. The second part addresses the appropriate set up and functioning of evacuation centers and family separation and reunification. The third part deals with special patient populations: the special healthcare needs patient and mental health issues.

A situational analysis of priority disaster hazards in Uganda: findings from a hazard and vulnerability analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayega, R W; Wafula, M R; Musenero, M; Omale, A; Kiguli, J; Orach, G C; Kabagambe, G; Bazeyo, W

2013-06-01

Most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have not conducted a disaster risk analysis. Hazards and vulnerability analyses provide vital information that can be used for development of risk reduction and disaster response plans. The purpose of this study was to rank disaster hazards for Uganda, as a basis for identifying the priority hazards to guide disaster management planning. The study as conducted in Uganda, as part of a multi-country assessment. A hazard, vulnerability and capacity analysis was conducted in a focus group discussion of 7 experts representing key stakeholder agencies in disaster management in Uganda. A simple ranking method was used to rank the probability of occurance of 11 top hazards, their potential impact and the level vulnerability of people and infrastructure. In-terms of likelihood of occurance and potential impact, the top ranked disaster hazards in Uganda are: 1) Epidemics of infectious diseases, 2) Drought/famine, 3) Conflict and environmental degradation in that order. In terms of vulnerability, the top priority hazards to which people and infrastructure were vulnerable were: 1) Conflicts, 2) Epidemics, 3) Drought/famine and, 4) Environmental degradation in that order. Poverty, gender, lack of information, and lack of resilience measures were some of the factors promoting vulnerability to disasters. As Uganda develops a disaster risk reduction and response plan, it ought to prioritize epidemics of infectious diseases, drought/famine, conflics and environmental degradation as the priority disaster hazards.

Experiments Toward the Application of Multi-Robot Systems to Disaster-Relief Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-01

EW LiDAR15 with a Dynamixel servo . This Hokuyo LiDAR has a 270◦ field of view, 30-m range, and 1-mm resolution. Accurate state information is achieved...in disaster-relief scenarios. 28 8. References 1. Murphy RR. Disaster robotics. MIT Press ; 2014. 2. Guizzo E. Fukushima robot operator writes tell-all...Control Conference; 28. LaValle SM. Planning algorithms. Cambridge university press ; 2006. 29. Likhachev M. Search-Based Planning Library. https

Medical rehabilitation after natural disasters: why, when, and how?

Science.gov (United States)

Rathore, Farooq A; Gosney, James E; Reinhardt, Jan D; Haig, Andrew J; Li, Jianan; DeLisa, Joel A

2012-10-01

Natural disasters can cause significant numbers of severe, disabling injuries, resulting in a public health emergency and requiring foreign assistance. However, since medical rehabilitation services are often poorly developed in disaster-affected regions and not highly prioritized by responding teams, physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) has historically been underemphasized in global disaster planning and response. Recent development of the specialties of "disaster medicine" and "disaster rehabilitation" has raised awareness of the critical importance of rehabilitation intervention during the immediate postdisaster emergency response. The World Health Organization Liaison Sub-Committee on Rehabilitation Disaster Relief of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine has authored this report to assess the role of emergency rehabilitation intervention after natural disasters based on current scientific evidence and subject matter expert accounts. Major disabling injury types are identified, and spinal cord injury, limb amputation, and traumatic brain injury are used as case studies to exemplify the challenges to effective management of disabling injuries after disasters. Evidence on the effectiveness of disaster rehabilitation interventions is presented. The authors then summarize the current state of disaster-related research, as well as lessons learned from PRM emergency rehabilitation response in recent disasters. Resulting recommendations for greater integration of PRM services into the immediate emergency disaster response are provided. This report aims to stimulate development of research and practice in the emerging discipline of disaster rehabilitation within organizations that provide medical rehabilitation services during the postdisaster emergency response. Copyright © 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health Management in Disasters in Iran: A Qualitative Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Nakhaei

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Background:  Disaster  management  relies  on  the  prediction  of  problems  and  providing necessary preparations at the right time and place. In this study, researchers intended to explore previous experiences of health disaster management. Materials and Methods: This study conducted using qualitative content analysis method. Participants  were  selected  purposefully  and  data  were  collected  through  interviews, observation, and relevant documents. Results: Transcribed data from 18 interviews, field notes, and other documents were analyzed. In data analysis, “reactive management” was emerged as the main theme. It included some categories such as “exposure shock,” “nondeliberative relief,” “lack of comprehensive health disaster plan,” “lack of preparedness,” and “poor coordination in health service delivery” as well as contextual factors. Conclusion: The results clarified deep perception of participants’ experiences about health management in disasters. The professionals and nonprofessionals’ emotion-based reactions and behaviors, if accompanied with deficiencies in planning and preparedness, can lead to ineffective services and aggravate the damages

Legal preparedness: care of the critically ill and injured during pandemics and disasters: CHEST consensus statement.

Science.gov (United States)

Courtney, Brooke; Hodge, James G; Toner, Eric S; Roxland, Beth E; Penn, Matthew S; Devereaux, Asha V; Dichter, Jeffrey R; Kissoon, Niranjan; Christian, Michael D; Powell, Tia

2014-10-01

Significant legal challenges arise when health-care resources become scarce and population-based approaches to care are implemented during severe disasters and pandemics. Recent emergencies highlight the serious legal, economic, and health impacts that can be associated with responding in austere conditions and the critical importance of comprehensive, collaborative health response system planning. This article discusses legal suggestions developed by the American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) Task Force for Mass Critical Care to support planning and response efforts for mass casualty incidents involving critically ill or injured patients. The suggestions in this chapter are important for all of those involved in a pandemic or disaster with multiple critically ill or injured patients, including front-line clinicians, hospital administrators, and public health or government officials. Following the CHEST Guidelines Oversight Committee's methodology, the Legal Panel developed 35 key questions for which specific literature searches were then conducted. The literature in this field is not suitable to provide support for evidence-based recommendations. Therefore, the panel developed expert opinion-based suggestions using a modified Delphi process resulting in seven final suggestions. Acceptance is widespread for the health-care community's duty to appropriately plan for and respond to severe disasters and pandemics. Hospitals, public health entities, and clinicians have an obligation to develop comprehensive, vetted plans for mass casualty incidents involving critically ill or injured patients. Such plans should address processes for evacuation and limited appeals and reviews of care decisions. To legitimize responses, deter independent actions, and trigger liability protections, mass critical care (MCC) plans should be formally activated when facilities and practitioners shift to providing MCC. Adherence to official MCC plans should contribute to protecting

Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Man-Made Hazards, Vulnerability Factors, and Risk to Environmental Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Eddy, Christopher; Sase, Eriko

2015-01-01

The objective of this article was to examine the environmental health implications of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster from an all-hazards perspective. The authors performed a literature review that included Japanese and international nuclear guidance and policy, scientific papers, and reports on the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters while also considering all-hazards preparedness rubrics in the U.S. The examination of the literature resulted in the following: a) the authors' "All-Hazards Planning Reference Model" that distinguishes three planning categories-Disaster Trigger Event, Man-Made Hazards, and Vulnerability Factors; b) the generalization of their model to other countries; and c) advocacy for environmental health end fate to be considered in planning phases to minimize risk to environmental health. This article discusses inconsistencies in disaster planning and nomenclature existing in the studied materials and international guidance and proposes new opportunity for developing predisaster risk assessment, risk communication, and prevention capacity building.

Water resources management strategy for Pakistan in case of nuclear disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, A.M.

1990-01-01

In Pakistan, no management strategy existed for combating major disasters. A nuclear disaster involves the emission of insidious radiations which can cause different cancers if ingested with water. The water supplies in Pakistan are managed by local water boards or Water and Power Development Authority. A plant called Karachi Emergency Relief Plant (KERP) has been formulated for overcoming natural and nuclear disasters in Karachi. This plan does not consider the radioactive pollution of water supplies separately. It can be made more effective with certain improvements and used as a model for managing nuclear disasters in other cities of Pakistan. (author)

Australasian emergency nurses' willingness to attend work in a disaster: a survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Arbon, Paul; Ranse, Jamie; Cusack, Lynette; Considine, Julie; Shaban, Ramon Z; Woodman, Richard J; Bahnisch, Laura; Kako, Mayumi; Hammad, Karen; Mitchell, Belinda

2013-05-01

The type of disaster, individual demographic factors, family factors and workplace factors, have been identified in the international, multidisciplinary literature as factors that influence a person's willingness to attend and assist in their workplace during a disaster. However, it is unknown if these factors are applicable to Australasian emergency nurses. The research aims to determine the extent to which Australasian emergency nurses are willing to attend their workplace in a disaster. This research was exploratory and descriptive study design, using online and paper based surveys as a means of data collection. Australasian emergency nurses from two Australasian emergency nursing colleges and four Australian hospitals were recruited to participate. Data analysis was conducted using both descriptive and inferential statistics. In total, 451 Australasian emergency nurses participated in this research. Participants were more willing to attend their workplace during a conventional disaster (p ≤ 0.001), if they worked full-time (p = 0.01), had received formal education pertaining to disasters (p ≤ 0.001), had a family disaster plan (p = 0.008), did not have children (p = 0.001) and worked in an environment in which they perceived their colleagues, managers and organisation to be prepared. The factors that influenced Australasian emergency nurses to attend their workplace in a disaster were similar to that described in the international multidisciplinary literature. Of particular note, improving disaster knowledge and skills, having a family disaster plan and improving the perceptions of the nurses' workplace preparedness can enhance the nurses' willingness to assist in a disaster. Copyright © 2013 College of Emergency Nursing Australasia Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preparation and response in case of natural disasters: Cuban programs and experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Mas Bermejo, Pedro

2006-01-01

Inadequate preparation for national disasters is frequently particularly devastating in lower income countries. The Cuba's location has a diversity of potential natural disasters, including hurricanes, non-tropical depressions, tropical storms, tropical cyclones, and severe local storms, all with intense rains and winds, earthquakes and droughts. Cuban preparation, at all levels, is geared to these predominant threats. Planning for natural disasters is integral to the political and economic life of Cuba, nationally and locally. On several occasions, United Nations (UN) officials have pointed to Cuba as a model for developing countries preparing for hurricanes and other natural disasters. A global policy for managing the risks of natural disasters could improve continuity of assistance for development and reduce the necessity of humanitarian aid. Planning in advance of disasters is a feasible way of helping people, by reducing expenses of emergencies, recuperation, and reconstruction. As climate changes accelerate, many researchers fear a period of irreversible and uncontrollable change. While the atmosphere continues to warm, it generates more intense rains, more frequent heat waves, and more ferocious storms. Thus, achieving better protection of developing countries from an increasing onslaught of natural disasters will only grow in importance. Even though Cuba's contribution to know-how has been recognized by United Nations' officials, progress toward more adequate preparation worldwide has been slow. To support other countries beyond conveying the lessons, Cuba now offers specially trained personnel to cooperate immediately with any country suffering a natural disaster.

Risk Management and Disaster Recovery in Public Libraries in South Australia: A Pilot Study

Science.gov (United States)

Velasquez, Diane L.; Evans, Nina; Kaeding, Joanne

2016-01-01

Introduction: This paper reports the findings of a study of risk management in public libraries. The focus of the research was to determine whether the libraries had a risk management and disaster plan for major disasters. Method: A qualitative study was done to investigate risk management and disaster recovery in public libraries in South…

The issues and challenges of disaster managements: a case study of Pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qamar-ul-Islam; Anjum, G.A.; Shahzad, M.

2005-01-01

Pakistan is prone to floods, earthquakes, droughts and cyclonic storms, floods are by far most frequent hazard and can have devastating effects. With the swelling of the rivers, heavy flooding occurs mostly in the bet lands where great destructions occur to lives and livelihoods. Punjab, North Western Frontier Province and some parts of Sind are also frequently hit by floods. Pakistan also suffers from frequent earthquakes of small and medium magnitudes. The period 1975-2001 records 14 cyclones. The coastal areas of Sind are most vulnerable. The economic losses are heavy with over 75,000 houses destroyed and crops and agricultural land inundation. The provincial governments and the local administration provide relief in calamities. The role of federal government is to assist in terms of resource gaps. There is no disaster management policy except for the National Disaster Plan prepared by Emergency Relief Cell (ERC). However respective plans and planning in the bar and bet lands have been suggested so that challenges of disasters can be controlled. At community levels Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) can play their considerable role to challenges of disasters at union council, tehsil and district level. (author)

Bridging the sanitation gap between disaster relief and development.

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Ka-Man; Ramirez, Claudia; Liu, Weilong; Kirilova, Darina; Vick, David; Mari, Joe; Smith, Rachel; Lam, Ho-Yin; Ostovari, Afshin; Shibakawa, Akifumi; Liu, Yang; Samant, Sidharth; Osaro, Lucky

2015-10-01

By interpreting disasters as opportunities to initiate the fulfilment of development needs, realise the vulnerability of the affected community and environment, and extend the legacy of relief funds and effort, this paper builds upon the concept linking relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD) in the sanitation sector. It aims to use a composite of case studies to devise a framework for a semi-hypothetical scenario to identify critical components and generic processes for a LRRD action plan. The scenario is based on a latrine wetland sanitation system in a Muslim community. Several sub-frameworks are developed: (i) latrine design; (ii) assessment of human waste treatment; (iii) connective sanitation promotion strategy; and (iv) ecological systems and environmental services for sanitation and development. This scenario illustrates the complex issues involved in LRRD in sanitation work and provides technical notes and references for a legacy plan for disaster relief and development. © 2015 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2015.

Flash flood disasters analysis and evaluation: a case study of Yiyang County in China

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Haichen; Zhang, Xiaolei; Li, Qing; Qin, Tao; Lei, Xiaohui

2018-03-01

Global climate change leads to the more extreme precipitation and more flash flood disasters, which is a serious threat to the mountain inhabitants. To prevent flash flood disasters, China started flash flood disaster control planning and other projects from 2006. Among those measures, non-engineering measures are effective and economical. This paper introduced the framework of flash flood disaster analysis and evaluation in China, followed by a case study of Yiyang County.

Emergency-control planning in the vicinity of large-scale technical plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindackers, K.H.

1982-01-01

In 7 theses, the author shows the most important aspects of disaster control planning: 1) The planning of disaster control measures should not be the object of a licencing procedure. 2) On site allocation or planned determination of sites for potentially hazardous plants it shall be examined whether disaster control measures can be performed sufficiently. 3) Planning of disaster control measures must not be based on detailed accident scenarios. 4) It should be limited to a few day's duration after the accident has occurred. 5) Special attention should be dedicated to the problems of - information and communications, - decision-taking procedures and translation of decicions into action, - practical realization of measures. 6) The bodies charged with planning and implementation must have appropriate personnel and material. 7) Only adequate exercises can guarantee planned disaster control measures to engage under conditions of severity. (HSCH) [de

Disaster Metrics: A Comprehensive Framework for Disaster Evaluation Typologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Diana F; Spencer, Caroline; Boyd, Lee; Burkle, Frederick M; Archer, Frank

2017-10-01

Introduction The frequency of disasters is increasing around the world with more people being at risk. There is a moral imperative to improve the way in which disaster evaluations are undertaken and reported with the aim of reducing preventable mortality and morbidity in future events. Disasters are complex events and undertaking disaster evaluations is a specialized area of study at an international level. Hypothesis/Problem While some frameworks have been developed to support consistent disaster research and evaluation, they lack validation, consistent terminology, and standards for reporting across the different phases of a disaster. There is yet to be an agreed, comprehensive framework to structure disaster evaluation typologies. The aim of this paper is to outline an evolving comprehensive framework for disaster evaluation typologies. It is anticipated that this new framework will facilitate an agreement on identifying, structuring, and relating the various evaluations found in the disaster setting with a view to better understand the process, outcomes, and impacts of the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions. Research was undertaken in two phases: (1) a scoping literature review (peer-reviewed and "grey literature") was undertaken to identify current evaluation frameworks and typologies used in the disaster setting; and (2) a structure was developed that included the range of typologies identified in Phase One and suggests possible relationships in the disaster setting. No core, unifying framework to structure disaster evaluation and research was identified in the literature. The authors propose a "Comprehensive Framework for Disaster Evaluation Typologies" that identifies, structures, and suggests relationships for the various typologies detected. The proposed Comprehensive Framework for Disaster Evaluation Typologies outlines the different typologies of disaster evaluations that were identified in this study and brings them together into a single

Natural disaster management in India with focus on floods and cyclones

Science.gov (United States)

Thattai, Deeptha V.; Sathyanathan, R.; Dinesh, R.; Harshit Kumar, L.

2017-07-01

Disasters are of two major kinds, natural and manmade, and affect the community. Natural disasters are caused by natural earth processes like floods, droughts, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes and epidemics. Manmade disasters occur due to chemical spills, accidents, terrorism activities etc. India is prone to almost all the major natural disasters. The high population density combined with poor preparedness, planning and management, and rescue and relief measures inevitably lead to huge losses of lives and property every year in the country. This paper analyses the disaster management policy of India and its implementation using two recent case studies - one where a relative degree of success has been achieved (cyclones) and the other where we are still struggling to have even a basic preparedness system in place (floods).

Katrina's Legacy: Processes for Patient Disaster Preparation Have Improved but Important Gaps Remain.

Science.gov (United States)

Icenogle, Marjorie; Eastburn, Sasha; Arrieta, Martha

2016-11-01

Ensuring continuity of care for patients with chronic illness, who are elderly or indigent presents unique challenges after disasters; this population has fewer financial resources, is less likely to evacuate, has limited access to recovery resources and is significantly dependent on charitable and government-funded institutions for care. This study expands a previous investigation of the extent to which healthcare providers in coastal Mississippi and Alabama have made changes to facilitate continued care to these populations after disasters. Key informants representing healthcare and social services organizations serving health-disparate residents of the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast were interviewed regarding disaster preparation planning for the period of 2009-2012. Interview transcripts were qualitatively coded and analyzed for emerging themes using ATLAS.ti software. Participant organizations have implemented changes to ensure continuity of care for patients with chronic illness in case of disasters. Changes include patient assistance with predisaster preparation and training; evacuation planning and assistance; support to find resources in evacuation destinations; equipping patients with prescription information, diagnoses, treatment plans and advance medications when a disaster is imminent; multiple methods for patients to communicate with providers and more mandated medical needs shelters. Patients whose chronic conditions were diagnosed post-Katrina are more likely to underestimate the need to prepare. Further, patients' lack of compliance tends to increase as time passes from disasters. Although changes were implemented, results indicate that these may be inadequate to completely address patient needs. Thus, additional efforts may be needed, underscoring the complexity of adequate disaster preparation among disparate populations. Copyright © 2016 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Simulating and Communicating Outcomes in Disaster Management Situations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal Lichter

2015-09-01

Full Text Available An important, but overlooked component of disaster managment is raising the awareness and preparedness of potential stakeholders. We show how recent advances in agent-based modeling and geo-information analytics can be combined to this effect. Using a dynamic simulation model, we estimate the long run outcomes of two very different urban disasters with severe consequences: an earthquake and a missile attack. These differ in terms of duration, intensity, permanence, and focal points. These hypothetical shocks are simulated for the downtown area of Jerusalem. Outcomes are compared in terms of their potential for disaster mitigation. The spatial and temporal dynamics of the simulation yield rich outputs. Web-based mapping is used to visualize these results and communicate risk to policy makers, planners, and the informed public. The components and design of this application are described. Implications for participatory disaster management and planning are discussed.

Living with disasters: social capital for disaster governance.

Science.gov (United States)

Melo Zurita, Maria de Lourdes; Cook, Brian; Thomsen, Dana C; Munro, Paul G; Smith, Timothy F; Gallina, John

2017-10-24

This paper explores how social networks and bonds within and across organisations shape disaster operations and strategies. Local government disaster training exercises serve as a window through which to view these relations, and 'social capital' is used as an analytic for making sense of the human relations at the core of disaster management operations. These elements help to expose and substantiate the often intangible relations that compose the culture that exists, and that is shaped by preparations for disasters. The study reveals how this social capital has been generated through personal interactions, which are shared among disaster managers across different organisations and across 'levels' within those organisations. Recognition of these 'group resources' has significant implications for disaster management in which conducive social relations have become paramount. The paper concludes that socio-cultural relations, as well as a people-centred approach to preparations, appear to be effective means of readying for, and ultimately responding to, disasters. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Rebuilding After Disaster: Going Green from the Ground Up (Revised) (Brochure)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2009-10-01

20-page "how-to" guide describing ways to turn a disaster into an opportunity to rebuild with greener energy technologies. It covers such topics as the importance of energy, options for communities, instructions for developing an energy plan, and other considerations. This guide is intended for the community leaders who have experienced a disaster.

[Impact of a disaster preparedness training program on health staff].

Science.gov (United States)

Parra Cotanda, Cristina; Rebordosa Martínez, Mónica; Trenchs Sainz de la Maza, Victoria; Luaces Cubells, Carles

2016-09-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a disaster preparedness training program in a Paediatric Emergency Department (PED). A quasi-experimental study was conducted using an anonymous questionnaire that was distributed to health care providers of a PED in a tertiary paediatric hospital. The questions concerned the disaster plan (DP), including theoretical and practical aspects. Questionnaires were distributed and completed in January 2014 (period 1) and November 2014 (period 2). The disaster training program includes theoretical and practical sessions. A total of 110 questionnaires were collected in period 1, and 80 in period 2. Almost three-quarters (71.3%) of PED staff attended the theoretical sessions, and 43.8% attended the practical sessions. The application of this training program significantly improved knowledge about the DP, but no improvement was observed in the practical questions. PED staff felt more prepared to face a disaster after the training program (15.5% vs. 41.8%, Ptraining program improved some knowledge about the disaster plan, but it has not improved responses in practical situations, which may be due to the low attendance at practical sessions and the time between the training program and the questionnaires. Copyright © 2015 Asociación Española de Pediatría. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The role of microcredit in reducing women's vulnerabilities to multiple disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Ray-Bennett, Nibedita S

2010-01-01

This article explores the relationship between microcredit and vulnerability reduction for women-headed households in'multiple disasters'. Here multiple disasters are understood as disasters that occur in one specific place and cause severe devastation. The case study covers the super-cyclone in 1999, floods in 2001 and 2003, and drought in 2002 in Orissa, India. The study entailed eight months fieldwork and interviews with several governmental and non-governmental officials and 12 women-headed households from different social castes. The findings suggest that microcredit is a useful tool to replace women's livelihood assets that have been lost in multiple disasters. But inefficient microcredit delivery can cause microdebts and exacerbate caste, class and gender inequalities. It is posited that microcredit delivery cannot achieve vulnerability reduction for women in multiple disasters unless it is complemented by effective financial services, integrated policy planning and disaster management between government, non-governmental organisations and the community.

The Hyogo Framework for Action and its implications for disaster management and reduction in Africa

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dejo Olowu

2010-04-01

Full Text Available At the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, Hyogo, Japan, in January 2005, the international community adopted a 10-year plan to make the world safer from disasters. The resultant Hyogo Framework for Action is the global blueprint for disaster risk reduction with the goal of substantially reducing disaster losses in human lives and socio-economic assets. What is the signi!cance of the HFA for the adoption of disaster prevention, management and risk reduction frameworks in African States? Since 2005, what has been the attitude of African States to the promise of the HFA? In terms of policy and planning, how should African States engage the HFA towards securing human lives and properties against natural and human-induced disasters? With the myriad challenges of mass poverty and underdevelopment across Africa, what implications does the HFA hold for disaster risk reduction and management in African States? This article attempts to address this plethora of questions, drawing on lessons learned in Africa and beyond. The article examines the background of the HFA and its progress in shaping the global policy agenda towards disaster management and reduction. While the article acknowledges some of the inherent weaknesses in the promise of the HFA, it nonetheless accentuates its inimitable implications for broad legal and policy strategies towards ameliorating the usual horrific aftermath of disasters in Africa.

Creation of a Collaborative Disaster Preparedness Video for Daycare Providers: Use of the Delphi Model for the Creation of a Comprehensive Disaster Preparedness Video for Daycare Providers.

Science.gov (United States)

Mar, Pamela; Spears, Robert; Reeb, Jeffrey; Thompson, Sarah B; Myers, Paul; Burke, Rita V

2018-02-22

Eight million American children under the age of 5 attend daycare and more than another 50 million American children are in school or daycare settings. Emergency planning requirements for daycare licensing vary by state. Expert opinions were used to create a disaster preparedness video designed for daycare providers to cover a broad spectrum of scenarios. Various stakeholders (17) devised the outline for an educational pre-disaster video for child daycare providers using the Delphi technique. Fleiss κ values were obtained for consensus data. A 20-minute video was created, addressing the physical, psychological, and legal needs of children during and after a disaster. Viewers completed an anonymous survey to evaluate topic comprehension. A consensus was attempted on all topics, ranging from elements for inclusion to presentation format. The Fleiss κ value of 0.07 was obtained. Fifty-seven of the total 168 video viewers completed the 10-question survey, with comprehension scores ranging from 72% to 100%. Evaluation of caregivers that viewed our video supports understanding of video contents. Ultimately, the technique used to create and disseminate the resources may serve as a template for others providing pre-disaster planning education. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 5).

Minimum initial service package (MISP) for sexual and reproductive health in disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Lisam, Suchitra

2014-12-01

This paper is based on a presentation given at the Evidence Aid Symposium, on 20 September 2014, at Hyderabad, India. The paper provides background about how the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) got conceived as a humanitarian health response that adopts human right approach, based on core principles driven by needs of adolescent girls and women, and having respect for their values, ethics and morals. Good practices across nations documented by Inter-Agency Working Groups (IAWGs) on Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Crisis has supported the provision of essential SRH care services to adolescent girls and women in humanitarian crisis and in disasters. Secondary desk review is used to document the lessons learnt and good practices followed and documents for SRH. These essential SRH care services are to be provided as "Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP)" for implementation at the outset of disaster. The Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response incorporated the MISP for SRH as a minimum standard of care in disaster response with a goal to reduce mortality, morbidity and disability among populations affected by crises, particularly women and girls. Disaster prone countries are expected to roll out MISP to improve humanitarian response and emergency preparedness systems. The East Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region including India have rolled out MISP starting from 2011 (EECA) and from 2013-2014 onwards in India across cities such as Chennai, Patna, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Faridabad and Calcutta. Across India, through these national and state level trainings, nearly 600 people from NGOs, institutions, and government agencies were developed as national level trainers and resource persons for MISP who could advocate for RH in emergencies, apply core techniques provided in the MISP, apply coordination skills for the implementation of MISP and develop an action plan to integrate RH and Gender Based Violence (GBV) into Disaster

The Samarco Disaster in Brazil: challenges for biodiversity conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haruf Salmen Espindola

2016-12-01

Full Text Available On November 5, 2015, Brazil and the world noticed the environmental disaster caused by the disruption of Fundão dam (Samarco / Vale / BHP Billiton in Mariana, Minas Gerais. The disaster's impact was not restricted to dam’s immediately downstream areas, where caused destruction of human settlements, but also impacted waterways, farmland, economic activities, drinking water supply to cities and biodiversity. The State Park of Rio Doce (PERD, the main remnant of the Atlantic Forest from Minas Gerais state faced a threat not predicted in his management plan. So, this article is dedicated to the history and importance of the PERD, to the Samarco/Vale/BHP disaster and to impacts on this Conservation Unit. Therefore, it discusses disaster impacts to human life and biodiversity, because ecological conditions even imply on opportunities and obstacles to Social Processes.

Strategy of seismic disaster prevention plan of gas supply system in Great Tehran, Iran

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mohammadi, A.M.; Yousefi Pour, M.R. [Greater Tehran Gas Company, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Yanou, Y.; Ogawa, Y.; Yamada, H. [Osaka Gas Co. Ltd., Osaka (Japan)

2004-07-01

Iran has suffered many devastating earthquakes. Tehran is surrounded by active faults including the North Tehran Fault and the South Ray Fault, making the city extremely vulnerable to large earthquakes. This paper proposes and outlines the basic anti-earthquake measures that would protect Greater Tehran Gas Company's (GTGC) gas supply systems from large earthquakes. Anti-earthquake measures focusing on reinforcing existing facilities and disaster prevention are detailed in this paper. The paper shows step-by-step procedures for the construction of a disaster-prevention system. The paper concludes that: GTGC's gas pipeline networks have high quake-resistance because they include welded steel pipes or polyethylene pipes; a gas remote shutoff system or gas automatic shut-off system should be installed as emergency measures in GTGC's earthquake disaster prevention measures; practical and actual training is also very important for all authorities, experts, engineers and staff involved in earthquake disaster prevention measures. 2 refs., 3 figs.

Blending science and community voices for multi-scale disaster risk ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper documents the experience of CARE International in Ethiopia in facilitating bottom-up approaches to promote community-led disaster risk management and climate change adaptation planning through a participator scenario planning (PSP) methodology. PSP is a coordinated approach which leverages a variety ...

Social capital and disaster preparedness among low income Mexican Americans in a disaster prone area.

Science.gov (United States)

Reininger, Belinda M; Rahbar, Mohammad H; Lee, Minjae; Chen, Zhongxue; Alam, Sartaj R; Pope, Jennifer; Adams, Barbara

2013-04-01

Examination of social capital and its relationship to disaster preparedness has grown in prominence partially due to world-wide need to effectively respond to terrorist attacks, viral epidemics, or natural disasters. Recent studies suggested that social capital may be related to a community's ability to plan for and respond to such disasters. Few studies, however, have examined social capital constructs among low income populations living in disaster prone areas and accounted for the influence of social capital at the individual and community level. We examined social capital as measured by perceived fairness, perceived civic trust, perceived reciprocity and group membership. We undertook a multistage random cluster survey in three coastal counties in Texas (U.S.) noted for their high levels of poverty. Individuals from 3088 households provided data on social capital, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, and self-reported level of preparedness for a hurricane. We used multivariable logistic regression to test potential associations between social capital measures and disaster preparedness. After adjusting for age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, education, employment, household income, acculturation, self-reported health, special needs persons in household, household size, and distance to the shore we found a higher prevalence of preparedness among individuals who reported the highest perception of fairness [AOR = 3.12, 95% CI: (1.86, 5.21)] compared to those individuals who reported lowest perceptions of fairness. We also found a higher prevalence of preparedness [AOR = 2.06; 95% CI: (1.17, 3.62)] among individuals who reported highest perceptions of trust compared to individuals who reported lowest perceptions of trust. Perceived reciprocity and group membership were not associated with preparedness. These results extend previous findings on social capital and disaster preparedness and further characterize social capital's presence among a low

Indispensable disaster countermeasures and resiliency in the age of complex disasters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirose, Hirotada

2012-01-01

We live in the age of complex disasters. One disaster brings about new disaster in succession like dominoes. Disaster chain does not always stand in a line and propagate in two-dimensional extend to focus on social fragility. Later disaster would cause larger damages. The East Japan disaster was a typical complex one derived from hazards of earthquakes, tsunamis and reactor accidents, which would have significant effects on Japanese society for the future. Disaster countermeasures and resilience were important especially for 'slow onset type disaster' such as tsunami or reactor accident, which had lead-time to cause damage after initiation of hazard. Hazard simulation was beneficial for disaster countermores but not well developed to use for hazard prediction. It would be wrong and eventually lose public's trust to appear safe in uncertain state of disaster not so as to cause panic to the society. When facing a danger, people enter a 'normal bias' state and fail to adequately prepare for a disaster. People could not respond without imagination of disaster. It was highly important for coping with a disaster to perceive a hazard definitely in the age of complex disasters. (T. Tanaka)

Cloud Standby: Disaster Recovery of Distributed Systems in the Cloud

OpenAIRE

Lenk , Alexander; Tai , Stefan

2014-01-01

International audience; Disaster recovery planning and securing business processes against outtakes have been essential parts of running a company for decades. As IT systems became more important, and especially since more and more revenue is generated over the Internet, securing the IT systems that support the business processes against outages is essential. Using fully operational standby sites with periodically updated standby systems is a well-known approach to prepare against disasters. ...

International Charter `Space and Major Disasters' Collaborations

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, B. K.

2017-12-01

The International Charter aims at providing a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to national disaster authorities of countries affected by natural or man-made disasters. Each of the sixteen Member Agencies has committed resources to support the objectives of the Charter and thus helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property, getting critical information into the hands of the disaster responders so that they can make informed decisions in the wake of a disaster. The Charter Member Agencies work together to provide remotely sensed imagery to any requesting country that is experiencing a natural or man-made disaster. The Space Agencies contribute priority satellite taskings, archive retrievals, and map production, as well as imagery of the affected areas. The imagery is provided at no cost to the affected country and is made available for the immediate response phase of the disaster. The Charter also has agreements with Sentinel Asia to submit activation requests on behalf of its 30+ member countries and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UN OOSA) and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)/ United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) to submit activations on behalf of United Nations relief agencies such as UNICEF and UNOCHA. To further expand accessibility to the Charter Member Agency resources, the Charter has implemented the Universal Access initiative, which allows any country's disaster management authority to submit an application, attend a brief training session, and after successful completion, become an Authorized User able to submit activation requests without assistance from Member Agencies. The data provided by the Charter is used for many purposes including damage assessments, reference maps, evacuation route planning, search and rescue operations, decision maker briefings, scientific evaluations, and other response activities.

Public opinion on Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirose, Hirotada

2013-01-01

This article showed trend of public opinion on nuclear power after Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, for which the survey had been done five times under the same method and inquiries. Most unreliable source of information at disaster was government ministries and offices, whose unreliability sharply increased from 20% to about 50% after 3 months later and one year later after March 11 and reliability after 2 year and 5 months later (August 2013) was not high and almost comparable with unreliability of 27%. Nuclear disaster was most serious cause of Great East Japan earthquake disaster (60%) and not entirely ended due to such increase of contaminated water. Public opinion survey in August 2013 showed nuclear power stoppage totaled about 80% with immediate of about 30% and phaseout of about 50%, and possibility of occurrence of another nuclear accident comparable with Fukushima disaster was almost 80% with a belief not only earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorism but also human errors might initiate nuclear disaster if nuclear power restarted. Future most serious disaster would be earthquake (50%) and nuclear disaster (35%). Nuclear accident preparedness of government and local government was not enough (58% and 24%) and nothing (33% and 24%). Residents within UPZ (Urgent Protection action Planning Zone) of 30 km radius could not evacuate safely (57%) and entirely (22%). If government and local government encouraged damaged residents to come home with declaration of safety for evacuation area of nuclear accident, damaged residents might not return almost (46%) and entirely (9%). Notwithstanding people's strong feeling against nuclear power, LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) promoting nuclear power won an overwhelming victory at the election of House of Councilors in July 2013. Public opinion survey in August 2013 showed most important issue of voters was party's image (25%), economic measures (20%) and candidate's personality (13%), and nuclear power policy was only 5%. (T

Companion Animals, Natural Disasters and the Law: An Australian Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven White

2012-08-01

Full Text Available This article examines the regulation of companion animal welfare during disasters, with some context provided by two recent major disaster events in Australia. Important general lessons for improved disaster management were identified in subsequent inquiries. However, the interests of companion animals continue to be inadequately addressed. This is because key assumptions underpinning disaster planning for companion animals—the primacy of human interests over animal interests and that individuals will properly address companion animal needs during times of disaster—are open to question. In particular these assumptions fail to recognise the inherent value of companion animals, underestimate the strong bond shared by some owners and their animals and, at the same time, overestimate the capacity of some owners to adequately meet the needs of their animals.

A Method for Formulizing Disaster Evacuation Demand Curves Based on SI Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yulei Song

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The prediction of evacuation demand curves is a crucial step in the disaster evacuation plan making, which directly affects the performance of the disaster evacuation. In this paper, we discuss the factors influencing individual evacuation decision making (whether and when to leave and summarize them into four kinds: individual characteristics, social influence, geographic location, and warning degree. In the view of social contagion of decision making, a method based on Susceptible-Infective (SI model is proposed to formulize the disaster evacuation demand curves to address both social influence and other factors’ effects. The disaster event of the “Tianjin Explosions” is used as a case study to illustrate the modeling results influenced by the four factors and perform the sensitivity analyses of the key parameters of the model. Some interesting phenomena are found and discussed, which is meaningful for authorities to make specific evacuation plans. For example, due to the lower social influence in isolated communities, extra actions might be taken to accelerate evacuation process in those communities.

Risk assessment of storm surge disaster based on numerical models and remote sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qingrong; Ruan, Chengqing; Zhong, Shan; Li, Jian; Yin, Zhonghui; Lian, Xihu

2018-06-01

Storm surge is one of the most serious ocean disasters in the world. Risk assessment of storm surge disaster for coastal areas has important implications for planning economic development and reducing disaster losses. Based on risk assessment theory, this paper uses coastal hydrological observations, a numerical storm surge model and multi-source remote sensing data, proposes methods for valuing hazard and vulnerability for storm surge and builds a storm surge risk assessment model. Storm surges in different recurrence periods are simulated in numerical models and the flooding areas and depth are calculated, which are used for assessing the hazard of storm surge; remote sensing data and GIS technology are used for extraction of coastal key objects and classification of coastal land use are identified, which is used for vulnerability assessment of storm surge disaster. The storm surge risk assessment model is applied for a typical coastal city, and the result shows the reliability and validity of the risk assessment model. The building and application of storm surge risk assessment model provides some basis reference for the city development plan and strengthens disaster prevention and mitigation.

The Department of Defense's Role in Disaster Recovery

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Arn, Mark R

2006-01-01

... logistical operations on a moment's notice." This paper will examine the historical role of the armed forces in disaster management, the current response plans as well as existing legislation that employ the Department of Defense (DoD...

Living with risk. A global review of disaster reduction initiatives. Preliminary version

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

In recent years the world has witnessed an interminable succession of disasters - floods, storms, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions and wildfires that have claimed many thousands of lives, caused material losses in the tens of billions of dollars, and inflicted a terrible toll on developing countries in particular, where disasters divert attention and resources needed desperately to escape poverty. Communities will always face natural hazards, but today's disasters are often generated by, or at least exacerbated by, human activities. At the most dramatic level, human activities are changing the natural balance of the earth, interfering as never before with the atmosphere, the oceans, the polar ice caps, the forest cover and the natural pillars that make our world a livable home. But we are also putting ourselves in harm's way in less visible ways. At no time in human history have so many people lived in cities clustered around seismically active areas. Destitution and demographic pressure have led more people than ever before to live in flood plains or in areas prone to landslides. Poor land-use planning; environmental mismanagement; and a lack of regulatory mechanisms both increase the risk and exacerbate the effects of disasters. Living with risk: a global review of disaster reduction is the first comprehensive effort by the United Nations system to take stock of disaster reduction initiatives throughout the world. Coordinated by the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), the report discusses current disaster trends, assesses policies aimed at mitigating the impact of disasters, and offers examples of successful initiatives. It also recommends that risk reduction be integrated into sustainable development at all levels - global, national and local. Most of all, Living with risk shows that we are far from helpless in the face of natural hazards. Early warning and risk reduction measures have been important factors in

[Disaster nursing and primary school teachers' disaster-related healthcare knowledge and skills].

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Fu-Chih; Lei, Hsin-Min; Fang, Chao-Ming; Chen, Jiun-Jung; Chen, Bor-An

2012-06-01

The World Bank has ranked Taiwan as the 5th highest risk country in the world in terms of full-spectrum disaster risk. With volatile social, economic, and geologic environments and the real threat of typhoons, earthquakes, and nuclear disasters, the government has made a public appeal to raise awareness and reduce the impact of disasters. Disasters not only devastate property and the ecology, but also cause striking and long-lasting impacts on life and health. Thus, healthcare preparation and capabilities are critical to reducing their impact. Relevant disaster studies indicate children as a particularly vulnerable group during a disaster due to elevated risks of physical injury, infectious disease, malnutrition, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Primary school teachers are frontline educators, responders, and rehabilitators, respectively, prior to, during, and after disasters. The disaster prevention project implemented by the Taiwan Ministry of Education provides national guidelines for disaster prevention and education. However, within these guidelines, the focus of elementary school disaster prevention education is on disaster prevention and mitigation. Little guidance or focus has been given to disaster nursing response protocols necessary to handle issues such as post-disaster infectious diseases, chronic disease management, and psychological health and rehabilitation. Disaster nursing can strengthen the disaster healthcare response capabilities of school teachers, school nurses, and children as well as facilitate effective cooperation among communities, disaster relief institutes, and schools. Disaster nursing can also provide healthcare knowledge essential to increase disaster awareness, preparation, response, and rehabilitation. Implementing proper disaster nursing response protocols in Taiwan's education system is critical to enhancing disaster preparedness in Taiwan.

Survey of Hospital Employees' Personal Preparedness and Willingness to Work Following a Disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Brice, Jane H; Gregg, David; Sawyer, Dalton; Cyr, Julianne M

2017-08-01

Little is known about the personal readiness of hospital staff for disasters. As many as 30% of hospital staff say that they plan not to report for work during a large-scale disaster. We sought to understand the personal disaster preparedness for hospital staff. Surveys were distributed to the staff of a large academic tertiary-care hospital by either a paper-based version distributed through the departmental safety coordinators or a Web-based version distributed through employee e-mail services, depending on employee familiarity with and access to computer services. Surveys assessed the demographic variables and characteristics of personal readiness for disaster. Of the individuals who accessed the survey, 1334 (95.9%) enrolled in it. Women made up 75% of the respondents, with a mean age of 43 years. Respondents had worked at the hospital an average of 9 years, with the majority (90%) being full-time employees. Most households (93%) reported ≤4 members, 6% supported a person with special medical needs, and 17% were headed by a single parent. A small number (24%) of respondents reported an established meeting place for reuniting households during a disaster. Many reported stockpiling a 3-day supply of food (86%) and a 3-day supply of water (51%). Eighteen percent of respondents were not aware of workplace evacuation plans. Most respondents were willing to report to work for natural disasters (eg, tornado, snowstorm; all categories >65%), but fewer respondents were willing to report during events such as an influenza epidemic (54%), a biological outbreak (41%), a chemical exposure, (40%), or a radiation exposure (39%). Multivariate analysis revealed being female, having a child in the household younger than 6 years old, and having a child in school lowered the likelihood of being willing to report to work in two or more event types, whereas pet ownership, being a clinical healthcare worker, and being familiar with the work emergency plan increased the likelihood

Learning from mega disasters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Greve, Anni

In Tokyo building on ruins has been its sine qua non ever since the city turned into an enormous urban formation in the seventeenth century: ‘The trauma of urban collapse has been so severe for us in Japan, the inevitability of destruction and rebirth’ (Arate Isozaki 2006 ). But March 2011...... the earthquake was 45 times as great as the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake in the Tokyo area, which killed approximately 140.000 people. Even though Japan is considered one of the best-prepared countries in the world for handling major disasters the reality of a large nuclear disaster proved to be far worse than...... what was planned for. This paper presentation discusses “The Great East Japan Earthquake” of 2011 with particular focus on what happens to social relations and cultural norms, when uncertainty and crisis is something people are living through and living in....

Call for action for setting up an infectious disease control action plan for disaster area activities: learning from the experience of checking suffering volunteers in the field after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Kenzo; Kodama, Mitsuya; Kanda, Hideyuki

2013-12-01

After the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11th, 2011, a journalist visited the disaster area with febrile symptoms and was diagnosed with measles of the D genotype, which is not indigenous to Japan. After continuing activities in disaster areas and Tokyo, 11 measles cases were reported, some of which were identified as genotype D. Meanwhile non-profit activities directed towards volunteers were offered including interviews to screen for subjective symptoms, check body temperature and advise volunteers to refrain from working in shelter areas during the period of sickness. As a consequence, disease transmission was controlled among volunteers. In disaster areas, anyone can be an infection vector. In order to prevent transmission of infectious diseases, a field action plan, which includes body temperature checks and standard precautions should be formulated and put into place. If the action plans are shared among local governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), they can become a norm and be expected to control infectious disease transmission.

Non-structural Components influencing Hospital Disaster Preparedness in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Samsuddin, N. M.; Takim, R.; Nawawi, A. H.; Rosman, M. R.; SyedAlwee, S. N. A.

2018-04-01

Hospital disaster preparedness refers to measures taken by the hospital’s stakeholders to prepare, reduce the effects of disaster and ensure effective coordination during incident response. Among the measures, non-structural components (i.e., medical laboratory equipment & supplies; architectural; critical lifeline; external; updated building document; and equipment & furnishing) are critical towards hospital disaster preparedness. Nevertheless, over the past few years these components are badly affected due to various types of disasters. Hence, the objective of this paper is to investigate the non-structural components influencing hospital’s disaster preparedness. Cross-sectional survey was conducted among thirty-one (31) Malaysian hospital’s employees. A total of 6 main constructs with 107 non-structural components were analysed and ranked by using SPSS and Relative Importance Index (RII). The results revealed that 6 main constructs (i.e. medical laboratory equipment & supplies; architectural; critical lifeline; external; updated building document; and equipment & furnishing) are rated as ‘very critical’ by the respondents. Among others, availability of medical laboratory equipment and supplies for diagnostic and equipment was ranked first. The results could serve as indicators for the public hospitals to improve its disaster preparedness in terms of planning, organising, knowledge training, equipment, exercising, evaluating and corrective actions through non-structural components.

The Design of Data Disaster Recovery of National Fundamental Geographic Information System

Science.gov (United States)

Zhai, Y.; Chen, J.; Liu, L.; Liu, J.

2014-04-01

With the development of information technology, data security of information system is facing more and more challenges. The geographic information of surveying and mapping is fundamental and strategic resource, which is applied in all areas of national economic, defence and social development. It is especially vital to national and social interests when such classified geographic information is directly concerning Chinese sovereignty. Several urgent problems that needs to be resolved for surveying and mapping are how to do well in mass data storage and backup, establishing and improving the disaster backup system especially after sudden natural calamity accident, and ensuring all sectors rapidly restored on information system will operate correctly. For overcoming various disaster risks, protect the security of data and reduce the impact of the disaster, it's no doubt the effective way is to analysis and research on the features of storage and management and security requirements, as well as to ensure that the design of data disaster recovery system suitable for the surveying and mapping. This article analyses the features of fundamental geographic information data and the requirements of storage management, three site disaster recovery system of DBMS plan based on the popular network, storage and backup, data replication and remote switch of application technologies. In LAN that synchronous replication between database management servers and the local storage of backup management systems, simultaneously, remote asynchronous data replication between local storage backup management systems and remote database management servers. The core of the system is resolving local disaster in the remote site, ensuring data security and business continuity of local site. This article focuses on the following points: background, the necessity of disaster recovery system, the analysis of the data achievements and data disaster recovery plan. Features of this program is to use a

Patterns and Limitations of Urban Human Mobility Resilience under the Influence of Multiple Types of Natural Disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qi; Taylor, John E

2016-01-01

Natural disasters pose serious threats to large urban areas, therefore understanding and predicting human movements is critical for evaluating a population's vulnerability and resilience and developing plans for disaster evacuation, response and relief. However, only limited research has been conducted into the effect of natural disasters on human mobility. This study examines how natural disasters influence human mobility patterns in urban populations using individuals' movement data collected from Twitter. We selected fifteen destructive cases across five types of natural disaster and analyzed the human movement data before, during, and after each event, comparing the perturbed and steady state movement data. The results suggest that the power-law can describe human mobility in most cases and that human mobility patterns observed in steady states are often correlated with those in perturbed states, highlighting their inherent resilience. However, the quantitative analysis shows that this resilience has its limits and can fail in more powerful natural disasters. The findings from this study will deepen our understanding of the interaction between urban dwellers and civil infrastructure, improve our ability to predict human movement patterns during natural disasters, and facilitate contingency planning by policymakers.

Optimization Modeling and Decision Support for Wireless Infrastructure Deployment in Disaster Planning and Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bartolacci, Michael R.; Mihovska, Albena D.; Ozceylan, Dilek

2013-01-01

Natural disasters and emergencies create the need for communication between and among the affected populace and emergency responders as well as other parties such as governmental agencies and aid organizations. Such communications include the dissemination of key information such as evacuation...... orders and locations of emergency shelters. In particular, the coordination of efforts between responding organizations require additional communication solutions that typically rely heavily on wireless communications to complement fixed line infrastructure due to the ease of use and portability. While...... the deployment of temporary mobile networks and other wireless equipment following disasters has been successfully accomplished by governmental agencies and network providers following previous disasters, there appears to be little optimization effort involved with respect to maximizing key performance measures...

The importance of secondary trauma exposure for post-disaster mental disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Kessler, R C; McLaughlin, K A; Koenen, K C; Petukhova, M; Hill, E D

2012-03-01

Interventions to treat mental disorders after natural disasters are important both for humanitarian reasons and also for successful post-disaster physical reconstruction that depends on the psychological functioning of the affected population. A major difficulty in developing such interventions, however, is that large between-disaster variation exists in the prevalence of post-disaster mental disorders, making it difficult to estimate need for services in designing interventions without carrying out a post-disaster mental health needs assessment survey. One of the daunting methodological challenges in implementing such surveys is that secondary stressors unique to the disaster often need to be discovered to understand the magnitude, type, and population segments most affected by post-disaster mental disorders. This problem is examined in the current commentary by analyzing data from the WHO World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys. We analyze the extent to which people exposed to natural disasters throughout the world also experienced secondary stressors and the extent to which the mental disorders associated with disasters were more proximally due to these secondary stressors than to the disasters themselves. RESULTS. Lifetime exposure to natural disasters was found to be high across countries (4.4-7.5%). 10.7-11.4% of those exposed to natural disasters reported the occurrence of other related stressors (e.g. death of a loved one and destruction of property). A monotonic relationship was found between the number of additional stressors and the subsequent onset of mental disorders CONCLUSIONS. These results document the importance of secondary stressors in accounting for the effects of natural disasters on mental disorders. Implications for intervention planning are discussed.

Disaster mythology and fact: Hurricane Katrina and social attachment.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, Binu; Mawson, Anthony R; Payton, Marinelle; Guignard, John C

2008-01-01

Misconceptions about disasters and their social and health consequences remain prevalent despite considerable research evidence to the contrary. Eight such myths and their factual counterparts were reviewed in a classic report on the public health impact of disasters by Claude de Ville de Goyet entitled, The Role of WHO in Disaster Management: Relief, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction (Geneva, World Health Organization, 1991), and two additional myths and facts were added by Pan American Health Organization. In this article, we reconsider these myths and facts in relation to Hurricane Katrina, with particular emphasis on psychosocial needs and behaviors, based on data gleaned from scientific sources as well as printed and electronic media reports. The review suggests that preparedness plans for disasters involving forced mass evacuation and resettlement should place a high priority on keeping families together--and even entire neighborhoods, where possible--so as to preserve the familiar and thereby minimize the adverse effects of separation and major dislocation on mental and physical health.

Post Disaster Assessment with Decision Support System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

May Florence J. Franco

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The study aimed to develop an online system that would expedite the response of agencies after disaster strikes; generate a list of the kinds and volume of relief aids needed per family affected for a fair, precise and timely distribution; implement community-based ICT by remotely gathering all the necessary data needed for disaster assessment; and adhere to ISO 9126 standards. The system was designed to calculate the effects of disaster in human lives and economy. Integrated into the system were Goggle Maps, Mines and GeoSciences Bureau Hazard Maps, SMS sending features, best passable routes calculations, and decision support on the needs that has to be addressed. The system was made live at pdrrmcguimaras.herokuapp.com to allow remote data entry. The functionality and usability of the system were evaluated by 19 potential users by computing for the arithmetic Mean and Standard Deviation of the survey. The result showed that most of them strongly agreed that the system is acceptable based on these criteria. A group of IT experts also evaluated the system’s conformance to ISO 9126 standards using the same method. The result showed that majority of them strongly agreed that the system conforms to this international standard. The system is seen as a valuable tool for the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC for it could help expedite the assessment of the effects of disasters and the formulation of response plans and strategies.

Special populations: care of the critically ill and injured during pandemics and disasters: CHEST consensus statement.

Science.gov (United States)

Dries, David; Reed, Mary Jane; Kissoon, Niranjan; Christian, Michael D; Dichter, Jeffrey R; Devereaux, Asha V; Upperman, Jeffrey S

2014-10-01

Past disasters have highlighted the need to prepare for subsets of critically ill, medically fragile patients. These special patient populations require focused disaster planning that will address their medical needs throughout the event to prevent clinical deterioration. The suggestions in this article are important for all who are involved in large-scale disasters or pandemics with multiple critically ill or injured patients, including frontline clinicians, hospital administrators, and public health or government officials. Key questions regarding the care of critically ill or injured special populations during disasters or pandemics were identified, and a systematic literature review (1985-2013) was performed. No studies of sufficient quality were identified. Therefore, the panel developed expert opinion-based suggestions using a modified Delphi process. The panel did not include pediatrics as a separate special population because pediatrics issues are embedded in each consensus document. Fourteen suggestions were formulated regarding the care of critically ill and injured patients from special populations during pandemics and disasters. The suggestions cover the following areas: defining special populations for mass critical care, special population planning, planning for access to regionalized service for special populations, triage and resource allocation of special populations, therapeutic considerations, and crisis standards of care for special populations. Chronically ill, technologically dependent, and complex critically ill patients present a unique challenge to preparing and implementing mass critical care. There are, however, unique opportunities to engage patients, primary physicians, advocacy groups, and professional organizations to lessen the impact of disaster on these special populations.

Committee Opinion No. 726: Hospital Disaster Preparedness for Obstetricians and Facilities Providing Maternity Care.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

Large-scale catastrophic events and infectious disease outbreaks highlight the need for disaster planning at all community levels. Features unique to the obstetric population (including antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and neonatal care) warrant special consideration in the event of a disaster. Pregnancy increases the risks of untoward outcomes from various infectious diseases. Trauma during pregnancy presents anatomic and physiologic considerations that often can require increased use of resources such as higher rates of cesarean delivery. Recent evidence suggests that floods and human-influenced environmental disasters increase the risks of spontaneous miscarriages, preterm births, and low-birth-weight infants among pregnant women. The potential surge in maternal and neonatal patient volume due to mass-casualty events, transfer of high-acuity patients, or redirection of patients because of geographic barriers presents unique challenges for obstetric care facilities. These circumstances require that facilities plan for additional increases in necessary resources and staffing. Although emergencies may be unexpected, hospitals and obstetric delivery units can prepare to implement plans that will best serve maternal and pediatric care needs when disasters occur. Clear designation of levels of maternal and neonatal care facilities, along with establishment of a regional network incorporating hospitals that provide maternity services and those that do not, will enable rapid transport of obstetric patients to the appropriate facilities, ensuring the right care at the right time. Using common terminology for triage and transfer and advanced knowledge of regionalization and levels of care will facilitate disaster preparedness.

Making cities resilient: Increasing resilience to disasters at the local level.

Science.gov (United States)

Albrito, Paola

2012-01-01

Half of humanity is now living in cities, according to the United Nations Population Division. The urban population exceeded the rural for the first time in 2008, and by 2050 urbanisation will rise to 70 per cent with increased urban risk. 'Today, 100 cities are in control of 30 per cent of the world's economy.' The need for maintenance and upkeep of these cities makes safety measures for their citizens crucial. In this context, urban risk, city planning and the role of local governments in dealing with risk reduction have been recognised as key factors to build communities resilient to disasters. While many local governments have taken action to reduce vulnerability, especially when it comes to government organising capacity to deal with disasters, much remains to be done. Disaster risk has become an acute and increasingly urban issue. Poorly-planned urban environments, weak urban governance, an old and fragile infrastructure, and rapid population growth have increased pressure on the urban environment and triggered exposure to disaster risk. More and more people are settling in potential danger zones such as flood plains, volcanic flanks or earthquake faults and coastal areas. They do so because planners and local governments fail to provide alternatives, or because they cannot afford safer land. Local government officials are confronted with the threat of disasters daily, and need improved access to policies and tools to cope with them effectively.

Fear of Terrorism and Preparedness in New York City 2 Years After the Attacks: Implications for Disaster Planning and Research

Science.gov (United States)

Boscarino, Joseph A.; Adams, Richard E.; Figley, Charles R.; Galea, Sandro; Foa, Edna B.

2009-01-01

Objectives To help improve disaster planning and research, we studied psychosocial predictors of terrorism fear and preparedness among New York City residents after the World Trade Center disaster (WTCD). Method We conducted a random cross-sectional survey of 1,681 adults interviewed 2 years after the WTCD. Participants were living in New York City at the time of the attack and exposed to ongoing terrorist threats. Results We found 44.9 percent (95% confidence interval [CI] = 41.9−47.9) of residents were concerned about future attacks and 16.9 percent (95% CI = 14.7−19.3) reported a fear level of “10” on a 10-point analog scale. Furthermore, 14.8 percent (95% CI = 12.8−17.0) reported they had made some plans for a future attack, a significant increase from the previous year. In addition, although 42.6 percent (95% CI = 39.6−45.7) indicated that they would likely wait for evacuation instructions following a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack, 34.4 percent (95% CI = 31.5−37.3) reported they would evacuate immediately against official advice. Predictors of high terrorism fear in a multivariate model included Hispanic ethnicity (odds ratio [OR] = 2.0, P = .006), lower education (OR = 4.4, P terrorism threats, terrorism fear and preparedness were related to socioeconomic factors, mental health status, terrorism exposure levels, and exposure to stressful life events. PMID:17041297

Teaching Disaster Risk Management: Lessons from the Rotman School of Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ANDRÁS TILCSIK

Full Text Available This article describes how disaster risk management topics are taught at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and thus highlights opportunities for developing similar course modules on disaster risk management at other institutions. An undergraduate and MBA elective course, titled Catastrophic Failure in Organizations, contains four modules that are directly relevant to disaster risk management. The first module focuses on the need to move from risk indifference to risk sensitivity. The second module considers the importance of business continuity and crisis management plans and explores their common shortcomings. The third module uses a case study to examine the topic of prospective risk management. The fourth module focuses on the vulnerability of supply chains and other complex systems to disaster risk. The article describes the details of implementing these modules and discusses opportunities for further integration of disaster risk management topics in other parts of the curriculum.

Landscape planning for a safe city

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ishikawa

2002-06-01

Full Text Available To create a safe city free from natural disasters has been one of the important criteria in city planning. Since large cities have suffered from large fires caused by earthquakes, the planning of open spaces to prevent the spread of fires is part of the basic structure of city planning in Japan. Even in the feudal city of Edo, the former name of Tokyo, there had been open spaces to prevent fire disasters along canals and rivers. This paper discusses the historical evolution of open space planning, that we call landscape planning, through the experiences in Tokyo, and clarifies the characteristics and problems for achieving a safe city.

Disaster risk reduction and sustainable development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khurshedi, N.

2005-01-01

During the past four decades, natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, and slides, tsunami tropical cyclones and other severe storms, tornadoes and high winds, river floods and coastal flooding, wildfire and associated haze drought, sand/dust storms, and insect infestations have caused major loss of human lives and livelihoods, the destruction of economic and social infrastructure, as well as environmental damages. Economic losses have increased almost ten times during this period. As it happen in recent Asia Tsunami, in which over 2, 00,000 people reportedly killed, estimated five million homeless, and resulted in massive displacement of population and extensive damage to infrastructure. The escalation of severe disaster events triggered by natural hazards and related technological and environment disasters is increasingly threatening both sustainable development and poverty-reduction initiatives. The loss of human lives and the rise in the cost of reconstruction efforts and loss of development assets has forced the issue of disaster reduction and risk management higher on the policy agenda of affected governments as well a multilateral and bilateral agencies and NGOs. For this Disaster risk reduction-.strategies are aimed at enabling societies at risk to become engaged in the conscious management of risk and the reduction of vulnerability. The adoption of appropriate development policies can reduce disaster risk. These policies should be gender sensitive and need the necessary political commitment. They involve the adoption of suitable regulatory and other legal measures, institutional reform, improved analytical and methodological capabilities, financial planning, education and awareness. (author)

Disaster Risk Management In Business Education: Setting The Tone

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JUAN PABLO SARMIENTO

Full Text Available Looking for windows of opportunity to mainstream disaster risk management within business education, in 2015, the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction's (UNISDR Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE, partnered with Florida International University's Extreme Events Institute (FIU-EEI and 12 international leading business schools. This partnership began with a call for White Papers to propose innovative approaches to integrate cutting edge disaster management content into business education programs and other academic offerings, based on seven themes or niches identified: (1 Strategic Investment and Financial Decisions; (2 Generating Business Value; (3 Sustainable Management; (4 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility; (5 Business Continuity Planning; (6 Disaster Risk Metrics; and (7 Risk Transfer. In March 2016, an international workshop was held in Toronto, Canada to present the White Papers prepared by the business schools, and discuss the most appropriate approaches for addressing the areas of: teaching and curriculum; professional development and extension programs; internships and placement; research opportunities; and partnerships and collaboration. Finally, the group proposed goals for advancing the implementation phase of the business education initiatives, and to propose mechanisms for monitoring and follow-up.

Atmospheric natural disasters in Serbia: Management experience and economic effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikolić Jugoslav

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Natural disasters occur as a result of an action of natural forces and represent limitations in spatial planning and efficient spatial development, with different consequences in terms of scope on humans, living things and tangible property. Consequences can be ecological, economic, in terms of health, demographic, social, psychological, etc. Weather modification management involves policies, methods, techniques and technologies that affect atmospheric features in order to make atmospheric water useful for humans, while eliminating its negative effects. Highly significant risk of natural disasters in Serbia is related to hailstorm disasters and droughts as atmospheric elementary disasters. The goal of this paper is to present certain methodologies and experience in Serbia in the weather modification management, mainly in the hailstorm processes. This paper provides analysis and critical review of the methodology of an action, with the analysis of the economic benefits. Cost-benefit analysis of a hail suppression project in Serbia was performed. The results point to the economic justification of some aspects of artificial influence on weather disasters.

Analysis of tsunami disaster map by Geographic Information System (GIS): Aceh Singkil-Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Farhan, A.; Akhyar, H.

2017-02-01

Tsunami risk map is used by stakeholder as a base to decide evacuation plan and evaluates from disaster. Aceh Singkil district of Aceh- Indonesia’s disaster maps have been developed and analyzed by using GIS tool. Overlay methods through algorithms are used to produce hazard map, vulnerability, capacity and finally created disaster risk map. Spatial maps are used topographic maps, administrative map, SRTM. The parameters are social, economic, physical environmental vulnerability, a level of exposed people, parameters of houses, public building, critical facilities, productive land, population density, sex ratio, poor ratio, disability ratio, age group ratio, the protected forest, natural forest, and mangrove forest. The results show high-risk tsunami disaster at nine villages; moderate levels are seventeen villages, and other villages are shown in the low level of tsunami risk disaster.

Social Participation and Disaster Risk Reduction Behaviors in Tsunami Prone Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Witvorapong, Nopphol; Muttarak, Raya; Pothisiri, Wiraporn

2015-01-01

This paper examines the relationships between social participation and disaster risk reduction actions. A survey of 557 households in tsunami prone areas in Phang Nga, Thailand was conducted following the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes. We use a multivariate probit model to jointly estimate the likelihood of undertaking three responses to earthquake and tsunami hazards (namely, (1) following disaster-related news closely, (2) preparing emergency kits and/or having a family emergency plan, and (3) having an intention to migrate) and community participation. We find that those who experienced losses from the 2004 tsunami are more likely to participate in community activities and respond to earthquake hazards. Compared to men, women are more likely to prepare emergency kits and/or have an emergency plan and have a greater intention to migrate. Living in a community with a higher proportion of women with tertiary education increases the probability of engaging in community activities and carrying out disaster risk reduction measures. Individuals who participate in village-based activities are 5.2% more likely to undertake all three risk reduction actions compared to those not engaging in community activities. This implies that encouraging participation in community activities can have positive externalities in disaster mitigation. PMID:26153891

How do Japanese escape from TSUNAMI? - Disaster Prevention Education through using Hazard Maps

Science.gov (United States)

Sakaue, Hiroaki

2013-04-01

learning a hazard map. I have used a comment paper to evaluate the following competencies: 1. Students can understand the mechanism of tsunami formation and its potential for damage. 2. Students can read the hazard map. 3. Students can explain or describe a detailed plan for disaster prevention. In conclusion, many students could read hazard maps and describe a detailed plan for disaster prevention. In other words, through developing mapping skills, geography students can contribute to developing abilities for Disaster Prevention Education and building a sustainable society. Disaster Prevention Education has many requirements. For example, the MEXT working group says that Disaster Prevention Education teaching should not only deliver knowledge but also develop students' problem solving competency, and that it is important to incorporate this education within each subject area in the school.

To create and built urban environment for disaster mitigation; Saigai ni tsuyoii toshi kankyo no sozo no tameni

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murozaki, Masuteru [Kobe University, Kobe (Japan)

1999-06-10

Learning from disaster of the Hanshin{center_dot}Awaji Earthquake, the need for building disaster preventing town is explained. Scheme of planning, urban planning is badness> is prevalent among the townspeople. Administrations also tend to think light of hardware, and they treate approaches lightly in which safety of hardwares of town structures is secured. There are basic questions such as learning cases of reconstruction in advanced cities, understanding that problem is in hardware rather than in software, and removing biases on disaster prevention. It is necessary that persons concerning construction give them positive solutions as problems of themselves. (NEDO)

The Tous Dam Disaster of 1982: Risk communication and the origins of integrated flood risk management in Spain

Science.gov (United States)

Serra-Llobet, A.; Tàbara, J.; Sauri, D.

2012-12-01

The failure of Tous dam on the Júcar River near Valencia in 1982 was one of the most important socio-natural disasters in 20th century Spain. The death toll of 25 would have been much greater had not a local dam manager anticipated the failure and alerted mayors of a failure, before it actually occurred. The Tous Dam failure occurred a week before the first democratic elections in Spain after the Franco dictatorship, it received extensive coverage in the media. As a result, this disaster triggered a paradigm change in the way disaster risks were perceived and managed at multiple levels of government in Spain. Many factors, often of a qualitative and organisational nature, affect (vertical and horizontal) communication in disaster risk reduction learning and planning at the community level. Through interviews with key actors and stakeholders, content analysis of scientific literature, review of historical and media accounts, and analysis of legislation and regulation, we documented changes that resulted from the Tous Dam failure: (1) A process of institutional development, which led to the growth, and increase in complexity of the organisations involved both in vertical and horizontal communication of disaster risk reduction. (2) Actions taken and experiences gained in dealing with disaster risk reduction in the Tous area were used as a benchmark to develop new strategies, as well as new mechanisms for communication and planning in other territories and other risk domains in Spain.We identify three main stages from 1980s to present in the evolution of disaster risk reduction planning in the area, which show a progressive shift towards a more integrated and preventative approach: (1) After the collapse of the Tous Dam, disaster risk reduction strategies in Spain focused on improving preparedness in order to reduce short-term risks. (2) Disaster management in the 1990s was strongly influenced by international initiatives (e.g. the UN International Decade for Natural

Increasing emergency medicine residents' confidence in disaster management: use of an emergency department simulator and an expedited curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Franc, Jeffrey Michael; Nichols, Darren; Dong, Sandy L

2012-02-01

Disaster Medicine is an increasingly important part of medicine. Emergency Medicine residency programs have very high curriculum commitments, and adding Disaster Medicine training to this busy schedule can be difficult. Development of a short Disaster Medicine curriculum that is effective and enjoyable for the participants may be a valuable addition to Emergency Medicine residency training. A simulation-based curriculum was developed. The curriculum included four group exercises in which the participants developed a disaster plan for a simulated hospital. This was followed by a disaster simulation using the Disastermed.Ca Emergency Disaster Simulator computer software Version 3.5.2 (Disastermed.Ca, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) and the disaster plan developed by the participants. Progress was assessed by a pre- and post-test, resident evaluations, faculty evaluation of Command and Control, and markers obtained from the Disastermed.Ca software. Twenty-five residents agreed to partake in the training curriculum. Seventeen completed the simulation. There was no statistically significant difference in pre- and post-test scores. Residents indicated that they felt the curriculum had been useful, and judged it to be preferable to a didactic curriculum. In addition, the residents' confidence in their ability to manage a disaster increased on both a personal and and a departmental level. A simulation-based model of Disaster Medicine training, requiring approximately eight hours of classroom time, was judged by Emergency Medicine residents to be a valuable component of their medical training, and increased their confidence in personal and departmental disaster management capabilities.

Re-establishing clean water in a disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Fournier, Chris

2011-09-01

When a disaster occurs, water systems can be overwhelmed with sediment, chemicals, microbes, and other harmful organisms. Dialysis clinics need to have disaster management plans and protocols in place to meet the demands of any situation. During emergency events, such as large widespread natural disasters, it is necessary to have the support of outside resources to keep the clinic operating or to aid in returning it to service as quickly and as safely as possible. Before proceeding with any medical treatments that use water, such as dialysis, facilities should address five different response actions to establish the safety and effectiveness of their water system. Test the water quality prior to treating patients. Make sure the system is working properly by performing critical water tests. Compare all results with pre-disaster data to help spot any warning signs. Inspect the water system, including all connections, timers, and settings. Consider contacting your water treatment vendor for additional verification and support. Be sure to closely monitor the water system equipment; make sure it is not overwhelmed by staying in touch with local water authorities. They may "shock" their distribution system to regain compliance. Make every effort to conserve water during this time. Change the water system. If the central water system has been compromised, consider using portable RO units or portable exchange DI tanks. Finally, moving your patients to another facility may be the only alternative, so work with other local facilities unaffected by the disaster.

Global or local construction materials for post-disaster reconstruction? Sustainability assessment of 20 post-disaster shelter designs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E. Zea Escamilla

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This data article presents the life cycle inventories of 20 transitional shelter solutions. The data was gathered from the reports 8 shelter designs [1]; 10 post-disaster shelter designs [2]; the environmental impact of brick production outside of Europe [3]; and the optimization of bamboo-based post-disaster housing units for tropical and subtropical regions using LCA methodologies [4]. These reports include bill of quantities, plans, performance analysis, and lifespan of the studied shelters. The data from these reports was used to develop the Life Cycle Inventories (LCI. All the amounts were converted from their original units (length, volume and amount into mass (kg units and the transport distance into ton×km. These LCIs represent the production phases of each shelter and the transportation distances for the construction materials. Two types of distances were included, local (road and international (freight ship, which were estimated based on the area of the country of study. Furthermore, the digital visualization of the shelters is presented for each of the 20 designs. Moreover, this data article presents a summary of the results for the categories Environment, Cost and Risk and the contribution to the environmental impact from the different building components of each shelter. These results are related to the article “Global or local construction materials for post-disaster reconstruction? Sustainability assessment of 20 post-disaster shelter designs”[5

Global or local construction materials for post-disaster reconstruction? Sustainability assessment of 20 post-disaster shelter designs.

Science.gov (United States)

Zea Escamilla, E; Habert, G

2015-09-01

This data article presents the life cycle inventories of 20 transitional shelter solutions. The data was gathered from the reports 8 shelter designs [1]; 10 post-disaster shelter designs [2]; the environmental impact of brick production outside of Europe [3]; and the optimization of bamboo-based post-disaster housing units for tropical and subtropical regions using LCA methodologies [4]. These reports include bill of quantities, plans, performance analysis, and lifespan of the studied shelters. The data from these reports was used to develop the Life Cycle Inventories (LCI). All the amounts were converted from their original units (length, volume and amount) into mass (kg) units and the transport distance into ton×km. These LCIs represent the production phases of each shelter and the transportation distances for the construction materials. Two types of distances were included, local (road) and international (freight ship), which were estimated based on the area of the country of study. Furthermore, the digital visualization of the shelters is presented for each of the 20 designs. Moreover, this data article presents a summary of the results for the categories Environment, Cost and Risk and the contribution to the environmental impact from the different building components of each shelter. These results are related to the article "Global or local construction materials for post-disaster reconstruction? Sustainability assessment of 20 post-disaster shelter designs"[5].

Promoting Disaster Science and Disaster Science Communities as Part of Sound Disaster Preparedness

Science.gov (United States)

McNutt, M. K.

2015-12-01

During disasters, effectively engaging the vast expertise of the academic community can help responders make timely and critical decisions. A barrier to such engagement, however, is the cultural gap between reward systems in academia and in the disaster response community. Responders often are focused on ending the emergency quickly with minimal damage. Academic scientists often need to produce peer reviewed publications to justify their use of time and money. Each community is used to speaking to different audiences, and delivering answers on their own time scales. One approach to bridge this divide is to foster a cohesive community of interdisciplinary disaster scientists: researchers who focus on crises that severely and negatively disrupt the environment or threaten human health, and are able to apply scientific methods in a timely manner to understand how to prevent, mitigate, respond to, or recover from such events. Once organized, a disaster science community could develop its own unique culture. It is well known in the disaster response community that all the preparation that takes place before an event ever occurs is what truly makes the difference in reducing response time, improving coordination, and ultimately reducing impacts. In the same vein, disaster scientists would benefit from consistently interacting with the response community. The advantage of building a community for all disasters, rather than for just one type, is that it will help researchers maintain momentum between emergencies, which may be decades or more apart. Every disaster poses similar challenges: Knowing when to speak to the press and what to say; how to get rapid, actionable peer review; how to keep proprietary industry information confidential; how to develop "no regrets" actions; and how to communicate with decision makers and the public. During the Deepwater Horizonspill, I personally worked with members of the academic research community who cared not whether they got a peer

Towards a politics of disaster response: presidential disaster instructions in China, 1998-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Peng; Chen, Chunliang

2018-04-01

China's disaster management system contains no law-based presidential disaster declarations; however, the national leader's instructions (pishi in Chinese) play a similar role to disaster declarations, which increase the intensity of disaster relief. This raises the question of what affects presidential disaster instructions within an authoritarian regime. This research shows that China's disaster politics depend on a crisis threshold system for operation and that the public and social features of disasters are at the core of this system. China's political cycle has no significant impact on disaster politics. A change in the emergency management system has a significant bearing on presidential disaster instructions, reflecting the strong influence of the concept of rule of law and benefiting the sustainable development of the emergency management system. In terms of disaster politics research, unlocking the black box of China's disaster politics and increasing the number of comparative political studies will benefit the development of empirical and theoretical study. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF GEO-PROCESSING MODELS FOR THE AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF REMEDIATION PLAN AND NAVIGATION DATA TO USE IN INDUSTRIAL DISASTER REMEDIATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Lucas

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces research done on the automatic preparation of remediation plans and navigation data for the precise guidance of heavy machinery in clean-up work after an industrial disaster. The input test data consists of a pollution extent shapefile derived from the processing of hyperspectral aerial survey data from the Kolontár red mud disaster. Three algorithms were developed and the respective scripts were written in Python. The first model aims at drawing a parcel clean-up plan. The model tests four different parcel orientations (0, 90, 45 and 135 degree and keeps the plan where clean-up parcels are less numerous considering it is an optimal spatial configuration. The second model drifts the clean-up parcel of a work plan both vertically and horizontally following a grid pattern with sampling distance of a fifth of a parcel width and keep the most optimal drifted version; here also with the belief to reduce the final number of parcel features. The last model aims at drawing a navigation line in the middle of each clean-up parcel. The models work efficiently and achieve automatic optimized plan generation (parcels and navigation lines. Applying the first model we demonstrated that depending on the size and geometry of the features of the contaminated area layer, the number of clean-up parcels generated by the model varies in a range of 4% to 38% from plan to plan. Such a significant variation with the resulting feature numbers shows that the optimal orientation identification can result in saving work, time and money in remediation. The various tests demonstrated that the model gains efficiency when 1/ the individual features of contaminated area present a significant orientation with their geometry (features are long, 2/ the size of pollution extent features becomes closer to the size of the parcels (scale effect. The second model shows only 1% difference with the variation of feature number; so this last is less interesting for

Renal services disaster planning: lessons learnt from the 2011 Queensland floods and North Queensland cyclone experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, David W; Hayes, Bronwyn; Gray, Nicholas A; Hawley, Carmel; Hole, Janet; Mantha, Murty

2013-01-01

In 2011, Queensland dialysis services experienced two unprecedented natural disasters within weeks of each other. Floods in south-east Queensland and Tropical Cyclone Yasi in North Queensland caused widespread flooding, property damage and affected the provision of dialysis services, leading to Australia's largest evacuation of dialysis patients. This paper details the responses to the disasters and examines what worked and what lessons were learnt. Recommendations are made for dialysis units in relation to disaster preparedness, response and recovery. © 2012 The Authors. Nephrology © 2012 Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology.

Missouri K-12 school disaster and biological event preparedness and seasonal influenza vaccination among school nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Rebmann, Terri; Elliott, Michael B; Artman, Deborah; VanNatta, Matthew; Wakefield, Mary

2015-10-01

School preparedness for bioevents, such as emerging infectious diseases, bioterrorism, and pandemics, is imperative, but historically has been low. The Missouri Association of School Nurses members were sent an online survey during the 2013-2014 school year to assess current bioevent readiness. There were 15 and 35 indicators of school disaster and bioevent preparedness, respectively. Multivariate linear regressions were conducted to delineate factors associated with higher school disaster and bioevent preparedness scores. In total, 133 school nurses participated, with a 33.6% response rate. On average, schools had fewer than half of the disaster or bioevent indicators. Disaster and bioevent preparedness scores ranged from 1-12.5 (mean, 6.0) and 5-25 (mean, 13.8), respectively. The least frequently reported plan components included bioterrorism-specific psychological needs addressed (1.5%, n = 2), having a foodservice biosecurity plan (8.3%, n = 11), and having a liberal sick leave policy for bioevents (22.6%, n = 30). Determinants of better bioevent preparedness include perception that the school is well prepared for a pandemic (P = .001) or natural disaster (P nurse being on the disaster planning committee (P = .001), and school being a closed point of dispensing (P < .05). Schools are underprepared for biological events and are not on track to meet state and national biological preparedness goals. Copyright © 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Social Vulnerability to Natural Disasters on a County Scale in Henan Province

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Shanfeng HE; Liping DU; Xiuhua GAO

2016-01-01

Social vulnerability evaluation is of important significance to analyzing risks of natural disasters to human society and economy. By using expert investigation and AHP method,12 indicators from four aspects( population,economy,infrastructure and disaster prevention and mitigation capacity) are selected to assess social vulnerability to natural disasters on a county scale in Henan Province. The results show that the population vulnerability and economic vulnerability to natural disasters in the eastern region is generally higher than in the western region,while the areas with high infrastructure vulnerability are mainly located in the northwest; the disaster prevention and mitigation capacity in northwest is higher than in east and south,and this capacity of various districts is obviously higher than that of counties; in terms of the spatial pattern,social vulnerability to natural disasters is roughly higher in a belt from northeast to southwest,and lower on both sides of the belt. The results can provide scientific basis for disaster risk management and disaster prevention and mitigation planning in Henan Province.

Database of geo-hydrological disasters for civil protection purposes

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Blahůt, Jan; Poretti, I.; De Amicis, M.; Sterlacchini, S.

2012-01-01

Roč. 60, č. 3 (2012), s. 1065-1083 ISSN 0921-030X Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z30460519 Keywords : disaster database * civil protection * risk scenarios Subject RIV: DB - Geology ; Mineralogy Impact factor: 1.639, year: 2012

A EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK FOR RECORDING AND SHARING DISASTER DAMAGE AND LOSS DATA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Corbane

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The recently adopted ‘Sendai Framework for Action on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030’ sets the goals to reduce loss of life, livelihood and critical infrastructure through enhanced national planning and international cooperation. The new Framework is expected to enhance global, regional and national efforts for building resilience to disasters, across the entire disaster management cycle (prevention, preparedness, response and early recovery. Improved monitoring and accountability frameworks, relying on harmonized disaster loss data will be required for meeting the targets and for capturing the levels of progress across different scales of governance. To overcome the problems of heterogeneous disaster data and terminologies, guidelines for reporting disaster damage and losses in a structured manner will be necessary to help national and regional bodies compile this information. In the European Union, the Member States and the European Commission worked together on the establishment of guidelines for recording and sharing disaster damage and loss data as a first step towards the development of operational indicators to translate the Sendai Framework into action. This paper describes the progress to date in setting a common framework for recording disaster damage and loss data in the European Union and identifies the challenges ahead.

Progress and challenges of disaster health management in China: a scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Shuang; Clark, Michele; Hou, Xiang-Yu; Zang, Yuli; FitzGerald, Gerard

2014-01-01

Despite the importance of an effective health system response to various disasters, relevant research is still in its infancy, especially in middle- and low-income countries. This paper provides an overview of the status of disaster health management in China, with its aim to promote the effectiveness of the health response for reducing disaster-related mortality and morbidity. A scoping review method was used to address the recent progress of and challenges to disaster health management in China. Major health electronic databases were searched to identify English and Chinese literature that were relevant to the research aims. The review found that since 2003 considerable progress has been achieved in the health disaster response system in China. However, there remain challenges that hinder effective health disaster responses, including low standards of disaster-resistant infrastructure safety, the lack of specific disaster plans, poor emergency coordination between hospitals, lack of portable diagnostic equipment and underdeveloped triage skills, surge capacity, and psychological interventions. Additional challenges include the fragmentation of the emergency health service system, a lack of specific legislation for emergencies, disparities in the distribution of funding, and inadequate cost-effective considerations for disaster rescue. One solution identified to address these challenges appears to be through corresponding policy strategies at multiple levels (e.g. community, hospital, and healthcare system level).

The NASA Applied Science Program Disasters Area: Disaster Applications Research and Response

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, J. J.; Lindsay, F. E.; Stough, T.; Jones, C. E.

2014-12-01

The goal of the Natural Disaster Application Area is to use NASA's capabilities in spaceborne, airborne, surface observations, higher-level derived data products, and modeling and data analysis to improve natural disaster forecasting, mitigation, and response. The Natural Disaster Application Area applies its remote sensing observations, modeling and analysis capabilities to provide hazard and disaster information where and when it is needed. Our application research activities specifically contribute to 1) Understanding the natural processes that produce hazards, 2)Developing hazard mitigation technologies, and 3)Recognizing vulnerability of interdependent critical infrastructure. The Natural Disasters Application area selects research projects through a rigorous, impartial peer-review process that address a broad spectrum of disasters which afflict populations within the United States, regionally and globally. Currently there are 19 active projects in the research portfolio which address the detection, characterization, forecasting and response to a broad range of natural disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and ash dispersion, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, tornado damage assessment, oil spills and disaster data mining. The Disasters team works with federal agencies to aid the government in meeting the challenges associated with natural disaster response and to transfer technologies to agencies as they become operational. Internationally, the Disasters Area also supports the Committee on Earth Observations Working Group on Disasters, and the International Charter on Space and Disasters to increase, strengthen, and coordinate contributions of NASA Earth-observing satellites and applications products to disaster risk management. The CEOS group will lead pilot efforts focused on identifying key systems to support flooding, earthquake, and volcanic events.

Committee Opinion No. 726 Summary: Hospital Disaster Preparedness for Obstetricians and Facilities Providing Maternity Care.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

Large-scale catastrophic events and infectious disease outbreaks highlight the need for disaster planning at all community levels. Features unique to the obstetric population (including antepartum, intrapartum, postpartum and neonatal care) warrant special consideration in the event of a disaster. Pregnancy increases the risks of untoward outcomes from various infectious diseases. Trauma during pregnancy presents anatomic and physiologic considerations that often can require increased use of resources such as higher rates of cesarean delivery. Recent evidence suggests that floods and human-influenced environmental disasters increase the risks of spontaneous miscarriages, preterm births, and low-birth-weight infants among pregnant women. The potential surge in maternal and neonatal patient volume due to mass-casualty events, transfer of high-acuity patients, or redirection of patients because of geographic barriers presents unique challenges for obstetric care facilities. These circumstances require that facilities plan for additional increases in necessary resources and staffing. Although emergencies may be unexpected, hospitals and obstetric delivery units can prepare to implement plans that will best serve maternal and pediatric care needs when disasters occur. Clear designation of levels of maternal and neonatal care facilities, along with establishment of a regional network incorporating hospitals that provide maternity services and those that do not, will enable rapid transport of obstetric patients to the appropriate facilities, ensuring the right care at the right time. Using common terminology for triage and transfer and advanced knowledge of regionalization and levels of care will facilitate disaster preparedness.

Disaster-induced displacement in the Caribbean and the Pacific

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mo Hamza

2017-10-01

Full Text Available People in Small Island Developing States are particularly vulnerable to displacement by disaster. Governments in the Caribbean and the Pacific need urgently to do more risk management and planning, rather than focusing almost exclusively on response and relocation.

Health management in past disasters in Iran: A qualitative study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Nakhaei

2014-06-01

Background: Disaster management is relied on prediction of problems and providing necessary preparations in right time and place. In this study researchers intended to explore passed experiences of health disaster management. Method: This study conducted using qualitative content analysis methods. Participants were selected purposefully and data were collected through interviews, observation, and other documents. Results: Transcribed data from 18interviews, field notes and other documents were analyzed. In data analysis reactive management was emerged as main theme. It was included some categories such as ‘exposure shock’, ‘non deliberative relief’, ‘lack of comprehensive health disaster plan’, ‘lack of preparedness’, and ‘poor coordination in health service delivery’ and contextual factors. Discussion: The results clarified deep perception of participants’ experiences about health management in disasters. The professionals' and non-professionals' emotion-based reactions and behaviors, if accompanied with deficiencies in planning and preparedness, can lead to ineffective services, and aggravates the damages.

Preparedness of Iranian Hospitals Against Disasters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asefzadeh

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Context Over the past decade the number of accidents and disasters has been growing around the world. In addition to damaging communities and infrastructures, unexpected disasters also affect service providers. This study aimed to evaluate the readiness of hospitals when confronted with unexpected disasters. Evidence Acquisition The present study was a simple review article, which was conducted via searching different sites, such as: Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct and PubMed, using different key words such as: Disasters, Crisis, Hospital and preparedness. The relationship between the articles found in relation to our subject was investigated through the title and abstract of articles. The relationship between the articles, which were found in relation to our subject, was investigated through the title and abstract of the articles. Our search included papers published during the period between 2007 and 2015 and we only considered studies that measured the preparedness of hospitals in critical conditions. Among the 30 articles, which were found, 17 were excluded from the study due to lack of relevant data. Hence, 15 papers, which were of proper design and robust data analysis, were included in the current study. Results Hospital preparedness in disaster was evaluated in three dimensions: structural, non-structural factors and vulnerability management performance. A total of readiness of hospitals in three dimensions was mediocre. Conclusions Overall, the results derived from these studies indicated that hospital safety levels in most of the surveyed hospitals were moderate. Although the situation in hospitals is not critical, there is a need to plan and take appropriate measures to improve the safety level of the hospitals.

From Leaders, For Leaders: Advice From the Lived Experience of Leaders in Community Health Sector Disaster Recovery After Hurricanes Irene and Sandy.

Science.gov (United States)

Craddock, Hillary A; Walsh, Lauren; Strauss-Riggs, Kandra; Schor, Kenneth

2016-08-01

Hurricanes Sandy and Irene damaged and destroyed homes, businesses, and infrastructure, and recovery after these storms took years. The goal of this article was to learn from the lived experience of local-level decision-makers actively involved in the long-term disaster recovery process after Hurricanes Irene and Sandy. Respondents provided professional recommendations, based on their experience, to assist other organizations in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals actively involved in recovery from Hurricane Irene or Hurricane Sandy in 5 different communities. Transcripts were qualitatively analyzed. Respondents' advice fell into 5 main categories: planning and evaluation, education and training, fundraising and donations management, building relationships, and disaster behavioral health. The lived experience of those in disaster recovery can provide guidance for planning, education, and training both within and outside their communities in order to better respond to and recover from future disasters. These data help to facilitate a community of practice by compiling and sharing the lived experience of leaders who experienced large-scale disasters, and the outcomes of this analysis help to show what areas of planning require special attention in the phases of preparedness, response, and recovery. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:623-630).

Management of disasters and complex emergencies in Africa: The challenges and constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Aliyu, Alhaji

2015-01-01

Natural and man-made catastrophes have caused significant destruction and loss of lives throughout human history. Disasters accompany a wide variety of events with multiple causes and consequences often leading to a cascade of related events. African continent has not been spared of these events. A new phenomenon in the continent is terrorism that is fuelled by globalization of arms trade and has contributed significantly to escalation of conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) resulting in complex emergencies and destruction of socioeconomic structures. The aim of this paper is to review relevant papers on management of disasters and complex emergencies in Africa and the challenges and constraints against the background of a weakened health system. Systematic search of published literature was conducted between 1990 and 2013. Grey literature (technical reports, government documents), published peer review journals, abstracts, relevant books and internet articles were reviewed. The review revealed that the frequency of both natural and man-made disasters in Africa is escalating. Complex emergencies are also on the increase since the Rwandan crisis in 1994. The impact of these events has overstretched and overwhelmed the health care system that is least prepared to handle and cope with the surge capacity and also render normal services. In conclusion, there is an urgent need for national emergency agencies/departments across Africa to develop a robust emergency preparedness and response plan. Every hospital most have a disaster management committee with flexible disaster management plan to respond to these catastrophes. There is a need for curriculum review in tertiary institutions across SSA to introduce and or expand training in disaster management.

Pediatric disaster response in developed countries: ten guiding principles.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandenburg, Mark A; Arneson, Wendy L

2007-01-01

Mass casualty incidents and large-scale disasters involving children are likely to overwhelm a regional disaster response system. Children have unique vulnerabilities that require special considerations when developing pediatric response systems. Although medical and trauma strategies exist for the evaluation and treatment of children on a daily basis, the application of these strategies under conditions of resource-constrained triage and treatment have rarely been evaluated. A recent report, however, by the Institute of Medicine did conclude that on a day-to-day basis the U.S. healthcare system does not adequately provide emergency medical services for children. The variability, scale, and uncertainty of disasters call for a set of guiding principles rather than rigid protocols when developing pediatric response plans. The authors propose the following guiding principles in addressing the well-recognized, unique vulnerabilities of children: (1) terrorism prevention and preparedness, (2) all-hazards preparedness, (3) postdisaster disease and injury prevention, (4) nutrition and hydration, (5) equipment and supplies, (6) pharmacology, (7) mental health, (8) identification and reunification of displaced children, (9) day care and school, and (10) perinatology. It is hoped that the 10 guiding principles discussed in this article will serve as a basic framework for developing pediatric response plans and teams in developed countries.

Prioritization of Disasters and Their Management in Rwanda ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

East African Journal of Public Health ... are particularly linked to the geographic, historical and socio-cultural aspects of the country. ... These included review of records (country policies and policy briefs, ... Although disaster risk reduction has been integrated into sustainable policies and plans, most districts do not have ...

Training of nuclear disasters at Fukui prefecture in 2002

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takayama, Hiromi; Yoshioka, Mitsuo; Hayakawa, Hironobu

2004-01-01

A large scale of training of nuclear disasters was carried out by Fukui prefecture, reference cities, towns, organizations and residents in Japan on November 7, 2003. Its abstract, the nuclear disaster measures system of Fukui and the emergency monitoring system, the principle and characteristics of nuclear disaster measure plans and emergency monitoring, abstract of training of the emergency monitoring from fiscal 2000 to 2002 are described. On the training of emergency monitoring in fiscal 2003, abstract, assumption of accident, training contents and evaluation are stated. Table of training schedule of emergency monitoring, measurement results of the fixed points, Ohi nuclear power plant accident scenario, the conditions of the plant at accident, forecast and simulation of effective dose by external exposure, change of space dose rate at the fixed observation points, measurement values of monitoring cars are illustrated. (S.Y.)

Conceptualizing Cold Disasters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauta, Kristian Cedervall; Dahlberg, Rasmus; Vendelø, Morten Thanning

2017-01-01

In the present article, we explore in more depth the particular circumstances and characteristics of governing what we call ‘cold disasters’, and thereby, the paper sets out to investigate how disasters in cold contexts distinguish themselves from other disasters, and what the implications hereof...... are for the conceptualization and governance of cold disasters. Hence, the paper can also be viewed as a response to Alexander’s (2012a) recent call for new theory in the field of disaster risk reduction. The article is structured in four overall parts. The first part, Cold Context, provides an overview of the specific...... conditions in a cold context, exemplified by the Arctic, and zooms in on Greenland to provide more specific background for the paper. The second part, Disasters in Cold Contexts, discusses “cold disasters” in relation to disaster theory, in order to, elucidate how cold disasters challenge existing...

Disaster in Crisis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Illner, Peer

initiatives and bottom-up organising as the preferred method to combat disaster. Once construed as strictly a responsibility of the state, the mitigation and management of disasters has shifted since the 1970s into a matter for civil society: a shift which has been heralded as progressive, democratic...... the banner of disaster. Focussing on the modifications to disaster management in the United States between 1970 and 2012, I show how the inclusion of civil society in the provision of aid services was accompanied by a structural withdrawal of the state from disaster relief and other welfare services. I...... contextualise this withdrawal in the US government’s general turn to austerity in response to the economic crisis of the 1970s. My account couples the notion of disaster with that of economic crisis on the one hand and structural violence on the other to examine disasters as a specific problem for social...

Contingency planning in southern Africa: Events rather than processes?

OpenAIRE

Elias Mabaso; Siambabala B. Manyena

2013-01-01

With the increasing frequency, magnitude and impact of disasters, there is growing focus on contingency planning as a tool for enhancing resilience. Yet, there is little empirical evidence that reflects on the practice of contingency planning systems within the context of disaster risk reduction. This article explores the practice of contingency planning in southern Africa, focussing on Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A qualitative comparative analysis informed by fieldwork ...

Protecting Consumers from Contaminated Drinking Water during Natural Disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Natural disasters can cause damage and destruction to local water supplies affecting millions of people. Communities should plan for and designate an authorized team to manage and prioritize emergency response in devastated areas. Sections 2.0 and 3.0 describe the Environmental...

Merging Remote Sensing and Socioeconomic Data to Improve Disaster Risk Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Yetman, G.; Chen, R. S.; Huyck, C. K.

2015-12-01

Natural disasters disproportionately impact developing country economies while also impacting business operations for multi-national corporations that rely on supplies and manufacturing in affected areas. Understanding natural hazard risk is only a first step towards preparedness and mitigation—data on facilities, transportation, critical infrastructure, and populations that may be exposed to disasters is required to plan for events and properly assess risks. Detailed exposure data can be used in models to predict casualty rates, aggregate estimates of building damage or destruction, impacts on business operations, and the scale of recovery efforts required. These model outputs are useful for disaster preparedness planning by national and international organizations, as well as for corporations and the reinsurance industry seeking to better understand their risk exposure. Many of these data are lacking for developing countries. Rapid assessment in areas with minimal data for disaster modeling is possible by combing remote sensing data, sample data on construction methods, facility and critical infrastructure data, and economic and demographic census information. This presentation focuses on the methods used to fuse the physical and socioeconomic data by presenting the results from two projects. The first project seeks to improve earthquake risk assessments in Asia using for the reinsurance industry, while the second project builds an integrated exposure database across five countries in Africa for use by international development organizations.

Education in Disaster Management and Emergencies: Defining a New European Course.

Science.gov (United States)

Khorram-Manesh, Amir; Ashkenazi, Michael; Djalali, Ahmadreza; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi; Friedl, Tom; von Armin, Gotz; Lupesco, Olivera; Kaptan, Kubilay; Arculeo, Chris; Hreckovski, Boris; Komadina, Radko; Fisher, Philipp; Voigt, Stefan; James, James; Gursky, Elin

2015-06-01

Unremitting natural disasters, deliberate threats, pandemics, and humanitarian suffering resulting from conflict situations necessitate swift and effective response paradigms. The European Union's (EU) increasing visibility as a disaster response enterprise suggests the need not only for financial contribution but also for instituting a coherent disaster response approach and management structure. The DITAC (Disaster Training Curriculum) project identified deficiencies in current responder training approaches and analyzed the characteristics and content required for a new, standardized European course in disaster management and emergencies. Over 35 experts from within and outside the EU representing various organizations and specialties involved in disaster management composed the DITAC Consortium. These experts were also organized into 5 specifically tasked working groups. Extensive literature reviews were conducted to identify requirements and deficiencies and to craft a new training concept based on research trends and lessons learned. A pilot course and program dissemination plan was also developed. The lack of standardization was repeatedly highlighted as a serious deficiency in current disaster training methods, along with gaps in the command, control, and communication levels. A blended and competency-based teaching approach using exercises combined with lectures was recommended to improve intercultural and interdisciplinary integration. The goal of a European disaster management course should be to standardize and enhance intercultural and inter-agency performance across the disaster management cycle. A set of minimal standards and evaluation metrics can be achieved through consensus, education, and training in different units. The core of the training initiative will be a unit that presents a realistic situation "scenario-based training."

Ethical Responsibility of Governance for Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction with Development

Science.gov (United States)

Parkash Gupta, Surya

2015-04-01

The development in the public as well as the private sectors is controlled and regulated, directly or indirectly by the governments at federal, provincial and local levels. If this development goes haphazard and unplanned, without due considerations to environmental constraints and potential hazards; it is likely to cause disasters or may get affected by disasters. Therefore, it becomes an ethical responsibility of the people involved in governance sector to integrate disaster risk reduction with development in their administrative territories through enforcement of appropriate policies, guidelines and regulatory mechanisms. Such mechanisms should address the social, scientific, economic, environmental, and legal requirements that play significant role in planning, implementation of developmental activities as well as disaster management. The paper focuses on defining the ethical responsibilities for the governance sector for integrating disaster risk reduction with development. It highlights the ethical issues with examples from two case studies, one from the Uttarakhand state and the other Odhisa state in India. The case studies illustrates how does it make a difference in disaster risk reduction if the governments own or do not own ethical responsibilities. The paper considers two major disaster events, flash floods in Uttarakhand state and Cyclone Phailin in Odhisa state, that happened during the year 2013. The study points out that it makes a great difference in terms of consequences and response to disasters when ethical responsibilities are owned by the governance sector. The papers attempts to define these ethical responsibilities for integrating disaster risk reduction with development so that the governments can be held accountable for their acts or non-actions.

Radiation accident/disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kida, Yoshiko; Hirohashi, Nobuyuki; Tanigawa, Koichi

2013-01-01

Described are the course of medical measures following Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) Accident after the quake and tsunami (Mar. 11, 2011) and the future task for radiation accident/disaster. By the first hydrogen explosion in FNPP (Mar. 12), evacuation of residents within 20 km zone was instructed, and the primary base for measures of nuclear disaster (Off-site Center) 5 km afar from FNPP had to work as a front base because of damage of communicating ways, of saving of injured persons and of elevation of dose. On Mar. 13, the medical arrangement council consisting from stuff of Fukushima Medical University (FMU), National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Nuclear Safety Research Association and Prefectural officers was setup in residents' hall of Fukushima City, and worked for correspondence to persons injured or exposed, where communication about radiation and between related organizations was still poor. The Off-site Center's head section moved to Prefectural Office on Mar. 15 as headquarters. Early in the period, all residents evacuated from the 20 km zone, and in-hospital patients and nursed elderly were transported with vehicles, >50 persons of whom reportedly died mainly by their base diseases. The nation system of medicare for emergent exposure had consisted from the network of the primary to third facilities; there were 5 facilities in the Prefecture, 3 of which were localized at 4-9 km distance from FNPP and closed early after the Accident; and the secondary facility of FMU became responsible to all exposed persons. There was no death of workers of FNPP. Medical stuff also measured the ambient dose at various places near FNPP, having had risk of exposure. At the Accident, the important system of command, control and communication was found fragile and measures hereafter should be planned on assumption of the worst scenario of complete damage of the infrastructure and communication. It is desirable for Disaster Medical Assistance Team which

Disaster mitigation science for Earthquakes and Tsunamis -For resilience society against natural disasters-

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneda, Y.; Takahashi, N.; Hori, T.; Kawaguchi, K.; Isouchi, C.; Fujisawa, K.

2017-12-01

Destructive natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis have occurred frequently in the world. For instance, 2004 Sumatra Earthquake in Indonesia, 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake in China, 2010 Chile Earthquake and 2011 Tohoku Earthquake in Japan etc., these earthquakes generated very severe damages. For the reduction and mitigation of damages by destructive natural disasters, early detection of natural disasters and speedy and proper evacuations are indispensable. And hardware and software developments/preparations for reduction and mitigation of natural disasters are quite important. In Japan, DONET as the real time monitoring system on the ocean floor is developed and deployed around the Nankai trough seismogenic zone southwestern Japan. So, the early detection of earthquakes and tsunamis around the Nankai trough seismogenic zone will be expected by DONET. The integration of the real time data and advanced simulation researches will lead to reduce damages, however, in the resilience society, the resilience methods will be required after disasters. Actually, methods on restorations and revivals are necessary after natural disasters. We would like to propose natural disaster mitigation science for early detections, evacuations and restorations against destructive natural disasters. This means the resilience society. In natural disaster mitigation science, there are lots of research fields such as natural science, engineering, medical treatment, social science and literature/art etc. Especially, natural science, engineering and medical treatment are fundamental research fields for natural disaster mitigation, but social sciences such as sociology, geography and psychology etc. are very important research fields for restorations after natural disasters. Finally, to realize and progress disaster mitigation science, human resource cultivation is indispensable. We already carried out disaster mitigation science under `new disaster mitigation research project on Mega

Structuring Disaster Recovery Infrastructure Decisions: Lessons from Boulder County's 2013 Flood Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Clavin, C.; Petropoulos, Z.

2017-12-01

Recovery phase decision making processes, as compared to mitigation and response phase decision making processes, require communities make significant financial and capital decisions in the months after a disaster. Collectively, these investments may significantly contribute to the resilience of a community to future hazards. Pre-disaster administrative decisions are well-established within existing planning processes. Post-event recovery requires community decision makers to quickly evaluate technical proposals and manage significant recovery financial resources to ensure their community rebuilds in a manner that will be more resilient to future events. These technical and administrative hurdles in the aftermath of a disaster create a challenging atmosphere to make sound, scientifically-informed decisions leading to resilient recovery. In September 2013, a 1,000-year rain event that resulted in flooding throughout the Front Range of Colorado, significantly impacting Boulder County. While the event is long past, disaster recovery efforts still continue in parts of Boulder County. Boulder County officials formed a county collaborative that adapted the NIST Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems to facilitate a goals-based multi-criteria decision making process. Rather than use hazard-based information to guide infrastructure design, the county's decision process established time-to-recovery goals for infrastructure systems that were used as criteria for project design. This presentation explores the decision-making process employed by Boulder County to specify design standards for resilient rebuilding of infrastructure systems and examine how this infrastructure planning model could be extrapolated to other situations where there is uncertainty regarding future infrastructure design standards.

Space systems for disaster warning, response, and recovery

CERN Document Server

Madry, Scott

2015-01-01

This SpringerBrief provides a general overview of the role of satellite applications for disaster mitigation, warning, planning, recovery and response. It covers both the overall role and perspective of the emergency management community as well as the various space applications that support their work. Key insights are provided as to how satellite telecommunications, remote sensing, navigation systems, GIS, and the emerging domain of social media are utilized in the context of emergency management needs and requirements. These systems are now critical in addressing major man-made and natural disasters. International policy and treaties are covered along with various case studies from around the world. These case studies indicate vital lessons that have been learned about how to use space systems more effectively in addressing the so-called “Disaster Cycle.” This book is appropriate for practicing emergency managers, Emergency Management (EM) courses, as well as for those involved in various space applica...

Preparedness for Protecting the Health of Community-Dwelling Vulnerable Elderly People in Eastern and Western Japan in the Event of Natural Disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsukasaki, Keiko; Kanzaki, Hatsumi; Kyota, Kaoru; Ichimori, Akie; Omote, Shizuko; Okamoto, Rie; Kido, Teruhiko; Sakakibara, Chiaki; Makimoto, Kiyoko; Nomura, Atsuko; Miyamoto, Yukari

2016-01-01

We clarified the preparedness necessary to protect the health of community-dwelling vulnerable elderly people following natural disasters. We collected data from 304 community general support centres throughout Japan. We found the following in particular to be challenging: availability of disaster-preparedness manuals; disaster countermeasures and management systems; creation of lists of people requiring assistance following a disaster; evacuation support systems; development of plans for health management following disasters; provision of disaster-preparedness guidance and training; disaster-preparedness systems in the community; disaster information management; the preparedness of older people themselves in requiring support; and support from other community residents.

Appropriate Natural Disaster Handling Policy To Guarantee Effectiveness Of Post-Disaster Assistance

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Widyawati Boediningsih

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Indonesia is a very rich country fascinating the beauty of the panoramic so attract much foreign tourists to come and see its beauty. Furthermore Indonesia is a country that often experience natural disasters ranging from floods mount erupted until to Tsunami Indonesia Located in a geographical location that is prone to disaster. Disasters can be caused by both natural and behavioral factors that are not responsible for utilizing and managing natural resources and the environment. In some areas of Indonesia disasters examples that hit the country. So far there are available disaster management regulation tools namely Law Number 24 Year 2007 which provides disaster management framework Pre-disaster comprehend emergency response and post-disaster. Although the law has outlined comprehensive disaster management provisions so far is still focused on the emergency response period. Further actions such as mitigation rehabilitation and reconstruction appear not to be a top priority of disaster management activities. Other issues that are still scattered are coordination rescue aid appropriateness of assistance and distribution spread evenly. Institutional On the mandate of Law 242007 also institutional had been formed National Disaster Management Agency BNPB at the local level throughout and Indonesia.BNPB also set up a technically existing technical unit UPTD of 12 units. A BNPB Institution supported by trained human resources HR trained to be deployed to even the most difficult terrain.

Safe disposal and recycling of water disaster debris in pakistan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Latif, A.

2014-01-01

Depending upon the nature, the disaster may produce large masses of debris. Waste masses from single disaster integrate to larger magnitude annually. This will ultimately causes the extra work load on personnel and reflects the poor existing debris management facilities. Besides, it will take longer time to rehabilitate the debris exaggerated regions. The study focuses on 2 main cases of disaster i.e. earthquake of 2005 and flood of 2010 in Pakistan. Complete analysis involve two stages: the first stage involve development of disaster and disaster debris effects guidance whereas the second stage involves the development of set of criteria to make efficient environment and positive impacts of successful debris managing scheme. Such principles were employed to evaluate efficiency of debris managing scheme for detailed analysis. The discussion of the detailed analysis depicts methodology which assists the disaster managers, planners and researcher to simply multitude of work. Moreover, the disaster and disaster debris influence direction, the effect evaluation criterion and managing criteria have been established having the effect they can be virtually put into service for prospect debris managing scheme, planning and retort. With respect to character and strictness, calamity may make high magnitude of waste. By keeping in view the precedent calamities in the United States (US), concluded that in few situations produced waste masses approximately five to fifteen times more than yearly waste production rate from a single occasion. Same results were revealed by subsequent tsunami of Indian Ocean. Such kind of large masses may effects the existing solid debris management system and human resources. Major disaster yields large masses of debris in few hours or sometimes even in minutes. The volume of disaster debris depends upon the magnitude of trees ball up, indemnity to houses, business, services etc. The disaster remaining may be equally large in metropolitan and non

A review of competencies developed for disaster healthcare providers: limitations of current processes and applicability.

Science.gov (United States)

Daily, Elaine; Padjen, Patricia; Birnbaum, Marvin

2010-01-01

In order to prepare the healthcare system and healthcare personnel to meet the health needs of populations affected by disasters, educational programs have been developed by numerous academic institutions, hospitals, professional organizations, governments, and non-government organizations. Lacking standards for best practices as a foundation, many organizations and institutions have developed "core competencies" that they consider essential knowledge and skills for disaster healthcare personnel. The Nursing Section of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) considered the possibility of endorsing an existing set of competencies that could be used to prepare nurses universally to participate in disaster health activities. This study was undertaken for the purpose of reviewing published disaster health competencies to determine commonalities and universal applicability for disaster preparedness. In 2007, a review of the electronic literature databases was conducted using the major keywords: disaster response competencies; disaster preparedness competencies; emergency response competencies; disaster planning competencies; emergency planning competencies; public health emergency preparedness competencies; disaster nursing competencies; and disaster nursing education competencies. A manual search of references and selected literature from public and private sources also was conducted. Inclusion criteria included: English language; competencies listed or specifically referred to; competencies relevant to disaster, mass-casualty incident (MCI), or public health emergency; and competencies relevant to healthcare. Eighty-six articles were identified; 20 articles failed to meet the initial inclusion criteria; 27 articles did not meet the additional criteria, leaving 39 articles for analysis. Twenty-eight articles described competencies targeted to a specific profession/discipline, while 10 articles described competencies targeted to a defined role

Information dissemination analysis of different media towards the application for disaster pre-warning.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Nan; Huang, Hong; Su, Boni; Zhao, Jinlong; Zhang, Bo

2014-01-01

Knowing the information dissemination mechanisms of different media and having an efficient information dissemination plan for disaster pre-warning plays a very important role in reducing losses and ensuring the safety of human beings. In this paper we established models of information dissemination for six typical information media, including short message service (SMS), microblogs, news portals, cell phones, television, and oral communication. Then, the information dissemination capability of each medium concerning individuals of different ages, genders, and residential areas was simulated, and the dissemination characteristics were studied. Finally, radar graphs were used to illustrate comprehensive assessments of the six media; these graphs show directly the information dissemination characteristics of all media. The models and the results are essential for improving the efficiency of information dissemination for the purpose of disaster pre-warning and for formulating emergency plans which help to reduce the possibility of injuries, deaths and other losses in a disaster.

Disaster Risk Management - The Kenyan Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Nabutola, W.

2009-04-01

assembly elections Kenya plunged into bloodshed. One Kenyan went for another, people who had been living together as neighbours suddenly turned on one another. Some of the more glaring outcomes were: • About 1,300 Kenyans died. • Property worth billions of shillings was destroyed. • Thousands of Kenyans fled their homes/farms/houses. • To date Kenya has Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). It has become a buzzword, almost fashionable if it were not so sad and grave, and a disgrace to democracy. During the short rains in September and October we experienced floods, land slides, crop failures. Ironically, in the previous months, we had just gone through drought, crops had failed, livestock died, sadly some people died, some through vagaries of weather while others as a result of inter-community friction. The net results were: • Kenya is primarily an agricultural economy sector employs over 80%. Only 20% of the land is arable, the rest is arid and semi arid land, occupied by the nomadic Kenyans. So when there is drought or floods, we get challenges that spark inter-community conflicts. Food shortages lead to higher food prices, a kilogramme bag of maize meal rose from barely affordable Kes. 52.00 to 120.00 in less than two months. In any case the food is not necessarily always available. • The global financial crisis affected our economy very adversely. Fuel prices rose from Kenya Shillings 60.00 per litre to 112.00. • Ironically Kenya's parliament voted against a law that would have compelled them to pay taxes. • As if in anticipation of citizen reactions the MP's passed the media law that would gag freedom of the press. METHODOLOGY 1. Review literature available on disasters in Kenya over the last decades. 2. I will ask Kenyans what they understand by the terms disasters and risks. 3. I will ask the Kenyan authorities - central government and local governments, what plans they have. 4. I will ask Kenya Red Cross what their plans are, their challenges and

Disaster Risk Management - The Kenyan Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

Nabutola, W.; Scheer, S.

2009-04-01

assembly elections Kenya plunged into bloodshed. One Kenyan went for another, people who had been living together as neighbours suddenly turned on one another. Some of the more glaring outcomes were: • About 1,300 Kenyans died. • Property worth billions of shillings was destroyed. • Thousands of Kenyans fled their homes/farms/houses. • To date Kenya has Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). It has become a buzzword, almost fashionable if it were not so sad and grave, and a disgrace to democracy. During the short rains in September and October we experienced floods, land slides, crop failures. Ironically, in the previous months, we had just gone through drought, crops had failed, livestock died, sadly some people died, some through vagaries of weather while others as a result of inter-community friction. The net results were: • Kenya is primarily an agricultural economy sector employs over 80%. Only 20% of the land is arable, the rest is arid and semi arid land, occupied by the nomadic Kenyans. So when there is drought or floods, we get challenges that spark inter-community conflicts. Food shortages lead to higher food prices, a kilogramme bag of maize meal rose from barely affordable Kes. 52.00 to 120.00 in less than two months. In any case the food is not necessarily always available. • The global financial crisis affected our economy very adversely. Fuel prices rose from Kenya Shillings 60.00 per litre to 112.00. • Ironically Kenya's parliament voted against a law that would have compelled them to pay taxes. • As if in anticipation of citizen reactions the MP's passed the media law that would gag freedom of the press. METHODOLOGY 1. Review literature available on disasters in Kenya over the last decades. 2. I will ask Kenyans what they understand by the terms disasters and risks. 3. I will ask the Kenyan authorities - central government and local governments, what plans they have. 4. I will ask Kenya Red Cross what their plans are, their challenges and

Healthcare system resiliency: The case for taking disaster plans further - Part 2.

Science.gov (United States)

Hiller, Michael; Bone, Eric A; Timmins, Michael L

2015-01-01

For the most part, top management is aware of the costs of healthcare downtime. They recognise that minimising downtime while fulfilling risk management standards, namely, 'duty of care' and 'standard of care', are among the most difficult challenges they face, especially when coupled with the increasing pressure for continued service availability with the frequency of incidents. Through continuous operational availability and greater resiliency demands a new, combined approach has emerged, which necessitates that the disciplines of: (1) enterprise risk management; (2) emergency response planning; (3) business continuity management including IT disaster recovery; (4) crisis communications be addressed with strategies and techniques designed and integrated into a singular, seamless approach. It is no longer feasible to separate these disciplines. By integrating them as the gateway for service continuity, the organisation can enhance its ability to run as a business by helping to identify risks and prepare for change, prioritise work efforts, flag problems and pinpoint important areas that underpin the overarching business continuity processes. The driver of change in staying ahead of the risk curve, and the entry point of a true resiliency strategy, begins with identifying the synergies of the aforementioned disciplines and integrating each of them to jointly contribute to service continuance.

Development of a Meteorological Risk Map for Disaster Mitigation and Management in the Chishan Basin, Taiwan

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Tai-Li Lee

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study involved developing a natural disaster risk assessment framework based on the consideration of three phases: a pre-disaster phase, disaster impact phase, and post-disaster recovery phase. The exposure of natural disasters exhibits unique characteristics. The interactions of numerous factors should be considered in risk assessment as well as in monitoring environment to provide natural disaster warnings. In each phase, specific factors indicate the relative status in the area subjected to risk assessment. Three types of natural disaster were assessed, namely debris flows, floods, and droughts. The Chishan basin in Taiwan was used as a case study and the adequacy of the relocation of Xiaolin village was evaluated. Incorporating resilience into the assessment revealed that the higher the exposure is, the higher the resilience becomes. This is because highly populated areas are typically allocated enough resources to respond to disasters. In addition, highly populated areas typically exhibit high resilience. The application of this analysis in the policy of relocation of damaged village after disaster provides valuable information for decision makers to achieve the sustainability of land use planning.

Assessment of emergency response planning and implementation in the aftermath of major natural disasters and technological accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milligan, Patricia A.; Jones, Joseph; Walton, F.; Smith, J.D.

2008-01-01

Emergency planning around nuclear power plants represents some of the most mature and well developed emergency planning in the United States. Since the implementation of NUREG-0654 / FEMA-REP-1, Rev. 1, A Criteria for Preparation and Evaluation of Radiological Emergency Response Plans and Preparedness in Support of Nuclear Power Plants (NRC, 1980a) the licensees, local, and State agencies have developed detailed Radiological Emergency Response Programs. An important component of these plans is the evacuation of the population in the event of a general emergency condition at the plant. In January 2005, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published the landmark report, 'Identification and Analysis of Factors Affecting Emergency Evacuations' (NUREG/CR 6864/), which represented the most comprehensive investigation of public evacuations in the United States in more than 15 years. Since the completion of this research, several high profile evacuations have occurred, including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Hurricane Rita in Houston, as well as major wildfires across the western U.S. The NRC commissioned an update to its 2005 evacuation case study publication to evaluate the evacuation experience of the selected communities (e.g., timeliness, related injuries, hazard avoidance); the level of preplanning that was in place for the affected areas and extent that the pre planned requirements were implemented during the emergency response; the critical factors contributing to the efficiency of or impediments to the evacuations (e.g., training, drills, preparedness, experience, resources, facilities, and organizational structure); and additional factors that may have contributed to less than satisfactory public response (i.e., availability of personal transportation, use of public transportation, lack of availability of shelters, etc.). The comprehensive report will be published in fall of 2008 as NUREG/CR-6981, Assessment of Emergency Response Planning and

Storms over the Urban Forest: Planning, Responding, and Regreening-- A community Guide to Natural Disaster Relief

Science.gov (United States)

Lisa L. Burban; John W. Andresen

1994-01-01

Natural disasters which can occur in the United States include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and related high-velocity winds, as well as ice storms. Preparing for these natural disasters, which strike urban forests in large cities and small communities, should involve the cooperative effort of a wide array of municipal agencies, private arboricultural companies,...

Health after disaster: A perspective of psychological/health reactions to disaster

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ursula Martin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Superstorm Sandy, which affected millions of people in 2012, was a disaster in structural, financial, medical, and emotional terms. Many survivors experienced post-storm health psychology impacts. Depression levels increased by 25%, and physician visits were elevated by a significant amount. Clearly, large-scale disasters have a profound effect on the physical and emotional health of survivors. Understanding these effects can improve future disaster relief programs and policies. Exploration of post-disaster issues can inform government entities and non-government organizations to assist communities and individuals left in the aftermath of natural disasters.

Disaster preparedness of dialysis patients for Hurricanes Gustav and Ike 2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinpeter, Myra A

2009-01-01

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita resulted in massive devastation of the Gulf Coast at Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas during 2005. Because of those disasters, dialysis providers, nephrologists, and dialysis patients used disaster planning activities to work to mitigate the morbidity and mortality associated with the 2005 hurricane season for future events affecting dialysis patients. As Hurricane Gustav approached, anniversary events for Hurricane Katrina were postponed because of evacuation orders for nearly the entire Louisiana Gulf Coast. As part of the hurricane preparation, dialysis units reviewed the disaster plans of patients, and patients made preparation for evacuation. Upon evacuation, many patients returned to the dialysis units that had provided services during their exile from Hurricane Katrina; other patients went to other locations as part of their evacuation plan. Patients uniformly reported positive experiences with dialysis providers in their temporary evacuation communities, provided that those communities did not experience the effects of Hurricane Gustav. With the exception of evacuees to Baton Rouge, patients continued to receive their treatments uninterrupted. Because of extensive damage in the Baton Rouge area, resulting in widespread power losses and delayed restoration of power to hospitals and other health care facilities, some patients missed one treatment. However, as a result of compliance with disaster fluid and dietary recommendations, no adverse outcomes occurred. In most instances, patients were able to return to their home dialysis unit or a nearby unit to continue dialysis treatments within 4 - 5 days of Hurricane Gustav. Hurricane Ike struck the Texas Gulf Coast near Galveston, resulting in devastation of that area similar to the devastation seen in New Orleans after Katrina. The storm surge along the Louisiana Gulf Coast resulted in flooding that temporarily closed coastal dialysis units. Patients were prepared and experienced

A PUBLIC PLATFORM FOR GEOSPATIAL DATA SHARING FOR DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT

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S. Balbo

2014-01-01

This paper presents a case study scenario of setting up a Web platform based on GeoNode. It is a public platform called MASDAP and promoted by the Government of Malawi in order to support development of the country and build resilience against natural disasters. A substantial amount of geospatial data has already been collected about hydrogeological risk, as well as several other-disasters related information. Moreover this platform will help to ensure that the data created by a number of past or ongoing projects is maintained and that this information remains accessible and useful. An Integrated Flood Risk Management Plan for a river basin has already been included in the platform and other data from future disaster risk management projects will be added as well.

15 CFR 923.56 - Plan coordination.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

.... Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act; any applicable interstate energy plans or programs... Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, as amended; State and areawide waste treatment facility or... designations made pursuant to the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as amended, and the Flood Disaster...

Improving Latino disaster preparedness using social networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenman, David P; Glik, Deborah; Gonzalez, Lupe; Maranon, Richard; Zhou, Qiong; Tseng, Chi-Hong; Asch, Steven M

2009-12-01

Culturally targeted, informal social networking approaches to improving disaster preparedness have not been empirically tested. In partnership with community health promoters and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, this study tested a disaster preparedness program for Latino households. This study had a community-based, randomized, longitudinal cohort design with two groups and was conducted during February-October 2007. Assessments were made at baseline and 3 months. Analyses were carried out January-October 2008. Community-based study of 231 Latinos living in Los Angeles County. Participants were randomly assigned to attending platicas (small-group discussions led by a health promoter/promotora de salud) or receiving "media" (a culturally tailored mailer). A total of 187 (81.0%) completed the 3-month follow-up. A self-reported disaster preparedness checklist was used. Among participants who did not have emergency water pre-intervention, 93.3% of those in the platica arm had it at follow-up, compared to 66.7% in the media arm (p=0.003). Among participants who did not have food pre-intervention, 91.7% in the platica arm reported it at follow-up, compared to 60.6% in the media arm (p=0.013). Finally, among participants who did not have a family communication plan pre-intervention, 70.4% in the platica arm reported one at follow-up, compared to 42.3% in the media arm (p=0.002). Although both arms improved in stockpiling water and food and creating a communication plan, the platica arm showed greater improvement than the media group.

Utilizing a Pediatric Disaster Coalition Model to Increase Pediatric Critical Care Surge Capacity in New York City.

Science.gov (United States)

Frogel, Michael; Flamm, Avram; Sagy, Mayer; Uraneck, Katharine; Conway, Edward; Ushay, Michael; Greenwald, Bruce M; Pierre, Louisdon; Shah, Vikas; Gaffoor, Mohamed; Cooper, Arthur; Foltin, George

2017-08-01

A mass casualty event can result in an overwhelming number of critically injured pediatric victims that exceeds the available capacity of pediatric critical care (PCC) units, both locally and regionally. To address these gaps, the New York City (NYC) Pediatric Disaster Coalition (PDC) was established. The PDC includes experts in emergency preparedness, critical care, surgery, and emergency medicine from 18 of 25 major NYC PCC-capable hospitals. A PCC surge committee created recommendations for making additional PCC beds available with an emphasis on space, staff, stuff (equipment), and systems. The PDC assisted 15 hospitals in creating PCC surge plans by utilizing template plans and site visits. These plans created an additional 153 potential PCC surge beds. Seven hospitals tested their plans through drills. The purpose of this article was to demonstrate the need for planning for disasters involving children and to provide a stepwise, replicable model for establishing a PDC, with one of its primary goals focused on facilitating PCC surge planning. The process we describe for developing a PDC can be replicated to communities of any size, setting, or location. We offer our model as an example for other cities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:473-478).

Incorporating transportation network modeling tools within transportation economic impact studies of disasters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Wen

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Transportation system disruption due to a disaster results in "ripple effects" throughout the entire transportation system of a metropolitan region. Many researchers have focused on the economic costs of transportation system disruptions in transportation-related industries, specifïcally within commerce and logistics, in the assessment of the regional economic costs. However, the foundation of an assessment of the regional economic costs of a disaster needs to include the evaluation of consumer surplus in addition to the direct cost for reconstruction of the regional transportation system. The objective of this study is to propose a method to estimate the regional consumer surplus based on indirect economic costs of a disaster on intermodal transportation systems in the context of diverting vehicles and trains. The computational methods used to assess the regional indirect economic costs sustained by the highway and railroad system can utilize readily available state departments of transportation (DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs traffic models allowing prioritization of regional recovery plans after a disaster and strengthening of infrastructure before a disaster. Hurricane Katrina is one of the most devastating hurricanes in the history of the United States. Due to the significance of Hurricane Katrina, a case study is presented to evaluate consumer surplus in the Gulf Coast Region of Mississippi. Results from the case study indicate the costs of rerouting and congestion delays in the regional highway system and the rent costs of right-of-way in the regional railroad system are major factors of the indirect costs in the consumer surplus.

Preventing a data breach from becoming a disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Ed

2013-01-01

Organisations have traditionally dealt with data breaches by investing in protective measures without a great deal of attention to mitigation of breach consequences and response. Conversely, business continuity (BC) planning has traditionally focused on mitigating disasters, not on preventing them. From a BC planning perspective, organisations need to assume that a data breach is inevitable and plan accordingly. The spate of data breaches in these past few years hit many organisations that were well protected. Those that suffered disastrous consequences as a result of a data breach lacked effective mitigation and response, not protection. The complexity and speed of an effective data breach response require that detailed planning takes place in advance of a breach.

The evolving local social contract for managing climate and disaster risk in Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Christoplos, Ian; Ngoan, Le Duc; Sen, Le Thi Hoa; Huong, Nguyen Thi Thanh; Lindegaard, Lily Salloum

2017-07-01

How do disasters shape local government legitimacy in relation to managing climate- and disaster-related risks? This paper looks at how local authorities in Central Vietnam perceive their social contract for risk reduction, including the partial merging of responsibilities for disaster risk management with new plans for and investments in climate change adaptation and broader socioeconomic development. The findings indicate that extreme floods and storms constitute critical junctures that stimulate genuine institutional change. Local officials are proud of their strengthened role in disaster response and they are eager to boost investment in infrastructure. They have struggled to reinforce their legitimacy among their constituents, but given the shifting roles of the state, private sector, and civil society, and the undiminished emphasis on high-risk development models, their responsibilities for responding to emerging climate change scenarios are increasingly nebulous. The past basis for legitimacy is no longer valid, but tomorrow's social contract is not yet defined. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Contingency planning in southern Africa: Events rather than processes?

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Elias Mabaso

2013-09-01

Full Text Available With the increasing frequency, magnitude and impact of disasters, there is growing focus on contingency planning as a tool for enhancing resilience. Yet, there is little empirical evidence that reflects on the practice of contingency planning systems within the context of disaster risk reduction. This article explores the practice of contingency planning in southern Africa, focussing on Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A qualitative comparative analysis informed by fieldwork was used. The findings show that (1 there was a wide gap between theory and practice in contingency planning, (2 response activities rarely reflected projected scenarios and (3 resources were inadequate for effective contingency planning. We conclude that unless these issues are addressed, contingency planning is likely to remain a theoretical rather than a practical tool for building disaster-resilient communities in southern African countries. Although a generalisation cannot be made on the status of contingency planning and practice in southern Africa without a wider analysis of more examples, the findings may apply beyond the examined contexts and also offer insights into research gaps.

Hospital Administration and Nursing Leadership in Disasters: An Exploratory Study Using Concept Mapping.

Science.gov (United States)

Veenema, Tener Goodwin; Deruggiero, Katherine; Losinski, Sarah; Barnett, Daniel

Strong leadership is critical in disaster situations when "patient surge" challenges a hospital's capacity to respond and normally acceptable patterns of care are disrupted. Activation of the emergency operations plan triggers an incident command system structure for leadership decision making. Yet, implementation of the emergency operations plan and incident command system protocols is ultimately subject to nursing and hospital leadership at the service- and unit level. The results of these service-/unit-based leadership decisions have the potential to directly impact staff and patient safety, quality of care, and ultimately, patient outcomes. Despite the critical nature of these events, nurse leaders and administrators receive little education regarding leadership and decision making during disaster events. The purpose of this study is to identify essential competencies of nursing and hospital administrators' leadership during disaster events. An integrative mixed-methods design combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis was used. Five focus groups were conducted with nurse leaders and hospital administrators at a large urban hospital in the Northeastern United States in a collaborative group process to generate relevant leadership competencies. Concept Systems Incorporated was used to sort, prioritize, and analyze the data (http://conceptsystemsinc.com/). The results suggest that participants' institutional knowledge (of existing resources, communications, processes) and prior disaster experience increase leadership competence.

INCORPORATING GOOD LAND GOVERNANCE IN THE DISASTER REGION OF YOGYAKARTA

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Sunarno Sunarno

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Land is one of the most major capitals in our life. Without it, sustainability of human existence is very impossible. Unfortunately, land problems in Indonesia have unique challenges compared to other countries. Many of kinds of challenges are in the form of the natural disasters. This paper is going to measure how well the principles of good governance has been incorporated in the Yogyakarta Special Region Land administration System generally by studying on the Merapi Disaster Mitigation, particularly in how  land planning for the Merapi Disaster’s victims is performed. The research methodology employs a combined research method, it means that fundamental principles in process and its output of both the doctrinal and non doctrinal approaches is synergized to based on the research’s activity unites. Configuration of  the land administration systems in achieving people prosperity has been affected by evolution of political, cultural, and legal awareness of local communities and central government policy. To conclude, incorporating a disaster response based land policy principles requires an integrated law and policy making system among parties through the implementation of good governance principle in the record of public participation voices and sustainable development interests. Notable reports illustrate that the good land governance incorporation encouraged and inspired land planning system to be more efficient and effective. Particularly in the natural disaster mitigation and reconstruction, incorporating good land governance principles furthermore encourages land policy makers to achieve the responsive land management in line with social demands and sustainable development programs.

Flood Scenario Simulation and Disaster Estimation of Ba-Ma Creek Watershed in Nantou County, Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, S. H.; Hsu, Y. K.

2018-04-01

The present study proposed several scenario simulations of flood disaster according to the historical flood event and planning requirement in Ba-Ma Creek Watershed located in Nantou County, Taiwan. The simulations were made using the FLO-2D model, a numerical model which can compute the velocity and depth of flood on a two-dimensional terrain. Meanwhile, the calculated data were utilized to estimate the possible damage incurred by the flood disaster. The results thus obtained can serve as references for disaster prevention. Moreover, the simulated results could be employed for flood disaster estimation using the method suggested by the Water Resources Agency of Taiwan. Finally, the conclusions and perspectives are presented.

Local Social Services in Nordic countries in Times of Disaster

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eydal, Guðný Björk; Ómarsdóttir, Ingibjörg Lilja; Dahlberg, Rasmus

of such disasters is on the rise according to forecasts. In order to enhance resilience and preparedness of those most vulnerable in disasters, the involvement of local social services in the emergency management system is of vital importance. The literature shows how social services can enhance social and human......The project focused on the emergency management systems in the five Nordic countries. It investigated whether local social services have a formal role in the contingency planning of the systems. The project was part of The Nordic Welfare Watch research project during the Icelandic Presidency...... Program in the Nordic Council of Ministers 2014-2016. The council financed the project. The main findings show that Finland, Norway and Sweden specifically address the role of social services in times of disaster in their legal frameworks on emergency management. Finland and Norway also address the role...

Latest movements associated with radioactive contamination and disaster waste management (2)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omura, Tomomi

2012-01-01

As for the radioactive contamination countermeasures and disaster waste countermeasures taken for the accidents of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company, this paper introduces in the digest version the following movements from mid-April to May 15, 2012. (1) Radioactive substance countermeasures such as decontamination. (a) Decontamination operations under direct control of the Ministry of the Environment, (b) Establishment of compensation benchmarks by the Ministry of the Environment for the garden plants and land use in Special Decontamination Area, (c) Publication of technical guidelines by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, on the removal and diffusion suppression of radioactive substances in forests, (d) Announcement of research center development / promotion idea by the government in the policy making for Fukushima reconstruction, (e) Request of the government for the interim storage facility site in the opinion exchange meetings in Futaba district towns and villages in Fukushima Prefecture, (f) Announcement of radioactive substance forecast map in Fukushima City for the first time by the government, and (g) Action plan development at the Health Anxiety Countermeasure Coordination Council for nuclear victims. (2) Disaster waste countermeasures. (a) Introduction of challenges in each of Miyagi Prefecture and Iwate Prefecture on the acceleration of the secondary temporary storage field development for disaster waste treatment, and (b) Introduction of progress in new interim incinerator construction plan for disaster waste treatment in Fukushima Prefecture. (O.A.)

The Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project — A Community-Level, Public Health Initiative to Build Community Disaster Resilience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Eisenman

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Public health officials need evidence-based methods for improving community disaster resilience and strategies for measuring results. This methods paper describes how one public health department is addressing this problem. This paper provides a detailed description of the theoretical rationale, intervention design and novel evaluation of the Los Angeles County Community Disaster Resilience Project (LACCDR, a public health program for increasing community disaster resilience. The LACCDR Project utilizes a pretest–posttest method with control group design. Sixteen communities in Los Angeles County were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental community resilience group or the comparison group. Community coalitions in the experimental group receive training from a public health nurse trained in community resilience in a toolkit developed for the project. The toolkit is grounded in theory and uses multiple components to address education, community engagement, community and individual self-sufficiency, and partnerships among community organizations and governmental agencies. The comparison communities receive training in traditional disaster preparedness topics of disaster supplies and emergency communication plans. Outcome indicators include longitudinal changes in inter-organizational linkages among community organizations, community member responses in table-top exercises, and changes in household level community resilience behaviors and attitudes. The LACCDR Project is a significant opportunity and effort to operationalize and meaningfully measure factors and strategies to increase community resilience. This paper is intended to provide public health and academic researchers with new tools to conduct their community resilience programs and evaluation research. Results are not yet available and will be presented in future reports.

Disaster Preparation and Recovery: Lessons from Research on Resilience in Human Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ann S. Masten

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Four decades of theory and research on resilience in human development have yielded informative lessons for planning disaster response and recovery. In developmental theory, resilience following disaster could take multiple forms, including stress resistance, recovery, and positive transformation. Empirical findings suggest that fundamental adaptive systems play a key role in the resilience of young people facing diverse threats, including attachment, agency, intelligence, behavior regulation systems, and social interactions with family, peers, school, and community systems. Although human resilience research emphasizes the adaptive well-being of particular individuals, there are striking parallels in resilience theory across the developmental and ecological sciences. Preparing societies for major disasters calls for the integration of human research on resilience with the theory and knowledge gained from other disciplines concerned with resilience in complex, dynamic systems, and particularly those systems that interact with human individuals as disaster unfolds.

Validation of a Framework for Measuring Hospital Disaster Resilience Using Factor Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuang Zhong

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Hospital disaster resilience can be defined as “the ability of hospitals to resist, absorb, and respond to the shock of disasters while maintaining and surging essential health services, and then to recover to its original state or adapt to a new one.” This article aims to provide a framework which can be used to comprehensively measure hospital disaster resilience. An evaluation framework for assessing hospital resilience was initially proposed through a systematic literature review and Modified-Delphi consultation. Eight key domains were identified: hospital safety, command, communication and cooperation system, disaster plan, resource stockpile, staff capability, disaster training and drills, emergency services and surge capability, and recovery and adaptation. The data for this study were collected from 41 tertiary hospitals in Shandong Province in China, using a specially designed questionnaire. Factor analysis was conducted to determine the underpinning structure of the framework. It identified a four-factor structure of hospital resilience, namely, emergency medical response capability (F1, disaster management mechanisms (F2, hospital infrastructural safety (F3, and disaster resources (F4. These factors displayed good internal consistency. The overall level of hospital disaster resilience (F was calculated using the scoring model: F = 0.615F1 + 0.202F2 + 0.103F3 + 0.080F4. This validated framework provides a new way to operationalise the concept of hospital resilience, and it is also a foundation for the further development of the measurement instrument in future studies.

Tsunami-tendenko and morality in disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Kodama, Satoshi

2015-05-01

Disaster planning challenges our morality. Everyday rules of action may need to be suspended during large-scale disasters in favour of maxims that that may make prudential or practical sense and may even be morally preferable but emotionally hard to accept, such as tsunami-tendenko. This maxim dictates that the individual not stay and help others but run and preserve his or her life instead. Tsunami-tendenko became well known after the great East Japan earthquake on 11 March 2011, when almost all the elementary and junior high school students in one city survived the tsunami because they acted on this maxim that had been taught for several years. While tsunami-tendenko has been praised, two criticisms of it merit careful consideration: one, that the maxim is selfish and immoral; and two, that it goes against the natural tendency to try to save others in dire need. In this paper, I will explain the concept of tsunami-tendenko and then respond to these criticisms. Such ethical analysis is essential for dispelling confusion and doubts about evacuation policies in a disaster. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Bridging international relations and disaster studies: the case of disaster-conflict scholarship.

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Hollis, Simon

2018-01-01

International relations and disaster studies have much to gain by thinking critically about their respective theoretical and epistemological assumptions. Yet, few studies to date have sought to assess the potential value of linking these two disciplines. This paper begins to address this shortfall by examining the relationship between disasters and conflict as a research sphere that intersects international relations and disaster studies. Through an analysis of whether or not disasters contribute to intra-national and international conflict, this paper not only provides a review of the state of the art, but also serves to invite scholars to reflect on related concepts from other fields to strengthen their own approaches to the study of disasters in an international setting. An evaluation of the conceptual and theoretical contributions of each subject area provides useful heuristics for the development of disaster-conflict scholarship and encourages alternative modes of knowledge production through interdisciplinarity. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

The 2015 Nepal earthquake disaster: lessons learned one year on.

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Hall, M L; Lee, A C K; Cartwright, C; Marahatta, S; Karki, J; Simkhada, P

2017-04-01

The 2015 earthquake in Nepal killed over 8000 people, injured more than 21,000 and displaced a further 2 million. One year later, a national workshop was organized with various Nepali stakeholders involved in the response to the earthquake. The workshop provided participants an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and sought to learn lessons from the disaster. One hundred and thirty-five participants took part and most had been directly involved in the earthquake response. They included representatives from the Ministry of Health, local and national government, the armed forces, non-governmental organizations, health practitioners, academics, and community representatives. Participants were divided into seven focus groups based around the following topics: water, sanitation and hygiene, hospital services, health and nutrition, education, shelter, policy and community. Facilitated group discussions were conducted in Nepalese and the key emerging themes are presented. Participants described a range of issues encountered, some specific to their area of expertize but also more general issues. These included logistics and supply chain challenges, leadership and coordination difficulties, impacts of the media as well as cultural beliefs on population behaviour post-disaster. Lessons identified included the need for community involvement at all stages of disaster response and preparedness, as well as the development of local leadership capabilities and community resilience. A 'disconnect' between disaster management policy and responses was observed, which may result in ineffective, poorly planned disaster response. Finding time and opportunity to reflect on and identify lessons from disaster response can be difficult but are fundamental to improving future disaster preparedness. The Nepal Earthquake National Workshop offered participants the space to do this. It garnered an overwhelming sense of wanting to do things better, of the need for a Nepal-centric approach

Can Disaster Risk Education Reduce the Impacts of Recurring Disasters on Developing Societies?

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Baytiyeh, Hoda

2018-01-01

The impacts of recurring disasters on vulnerable urban societies have been tragic in terms of destruction and fatalities. However, disaster risk education that promotes risk mitigation and disaster preparedness has been shown to be effective in minimizing the impacts of recurring disasters on urban societies. Although the recent integration of…

Examining the importance of incorporating emergency preparedness and disaster training core competencies into allied health curricula.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Tammy

2015-01-01

Preparation for responding to emergency events that does not warrant outside help beyond the local community resources or responding to disaster events that is beyond the capabilities of the local community both require first responders and healthcare professionals to have interdisciplinary skills needed to function as a team for saving lives. To date, there is no core emergency preparedness and disaster planning competencies that have been standardized at all levels across the various allied health curricula disciplines. To identify if emergency preparedness and disaster training content are currently being taught in allied health program courses, to identify possible gaps within allied health curricula, and to explore the perceptions of allied health college educators for implementing emergency preparedness and disaster training core competencies into their existing curricula, if not already included. A quantitative Internet-based survey was conducted in 2013. Convenient sample. Fifty-one allied health college educators completed the survey. Descriptive statistics indicated that the majority of allied health college instructors do not currently teach emergency preparedness and disaster training core competency content within their current allied health discipline; however, their perceived level of importance for inclusion of the competencies was high. The results of this study supported the need for developing and establishing a basic national set of standardized core emergency preparedness and disaster planning competencies at all levels across various allied health curricula disciplines to ensure victims receive the best patient care and have the best possible chance of survival.

FEMA Disaster Declarations Summary

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Department of Homeland Security — The FEMA Disaster Declarations Summary is a summarized dataset describing all federally declared disasters, starting with the first disaster declaration in 1953,...

Risk assessment of flood disaster and forewarning model at different spatial-temporal scales

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jun; Jin, Juliang; Xu, Jinchao; Guo, Qizhong; Hang, Qingfeng; Chen, Yaqian

2018-05-01

Aiming at reducing losses from flood disaster, risk assessment of flood disaster and forewarning model is studied. The model is built upon risk indices in flood disaster system, proceeding from the whole structure and its parts at different spatial-temporal scales. In this study, on the one hand, it mainly establishes the long-term forewarning model for the surface area with three levels of prediction, evaluation, and forewarning. The method of structure-adaptive back-propagation neural network on peak identification is used to simulate indices in prediction sub-model. Set pair analysis is employed to calculate the connection degrees of a single index, comprehensive index, and systematic risk through the multivariate connection number, and the comprehensive assessment is made by assessment matrixes in evaluation sub-model. The comparison judging method is adopted to divide warning degree of flood disaster on risk assessment comprehensive index with forewarning standards in forewarning sub-model and then the long-term local conditions for proposing planning schemes. On the other hand, it mainly sets up the real-time forewarning model for the spot, which introduces the real-time correction technique of Kalman filter based on hydrological model with forewarning index, and then the real-time local conditions for presenting an emergency plan. This study takes Tunxi area, Huangshan City of China, as an example. After risk assessment and forewarning model establishment and application for flood disaster at different spatial-temporal scales between the actual and simulated data from 1989 to 2008, forewarning results show that the development trend for flood disaster risk remains a decline on the whole from 2009 to 2013, despite the rise in 2011. At the macroscopic level, project and non-project measures are advanced, while at the microcosmic level, the time, place, and method are listed. It suggests that the proposed model is feasible with theory and application, thus

How assessment and evaluation is interlinked with disaster governance? A case of the Tohoku Disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, Mika

2014-01-01

The linkage of governance, disaster management and policy are not well established both in terms of conceptual basis and practices and require more in-depth analysis for better disaster management and governance (disaster governance). The weak linkage may prevent effective disaster management. The 2011 Tohoku Disaster posed many governance-related challenges, including processes or institutions of disaster management or decision-making. Especially, the analysis of the challenges turns out that many of core problems are interlinked with assessment and evaluation. The research problems the paper addresses are two-fold given the existing studies and practices: First, there is few conceptual foundation for linking disaster management and governance especially in light of assessment and evaluation. Second, while assessment or evaluation lends to be taken for panted at practices, few analytical research or discussions exist about how it is interlinked with disaster governance. This paper aims at filling in the above gap and attempts to elucidate analytically the linkage of assessment and evaluation with disaster governance through a case of the 2011 Tohoku Disaster in Japan for better disaster governance and actionable policies. (author)

Environmental implications for disaster preparedness: lessons learnt from the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

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Srinivas, Hari; Nakagawa, Yuko

2008-10-01

The impact of disasters, whether natural or man-made, not only has human dimensions, but environmental ones as well. Environmental conditions may exacerbate the impact of a disaster, and vice versa, disasters tend to have an impact on the environment. Deforestation, forest management practices, or agriculture systems can worsen the negative environmental impacts of a storm or typhoon, leading to landslides, flooding, silting, and ground/surface water contamination. We have only now come to understand these cyclical causes and impacts and realize that taking care of our natural resources and managing them wisely not only assures that future generations will be able to live in sustainable ways, but also reduces the risks that natural and man-made hazards pose to people living today. Emphasizing and reinforcing the centrality of environmental concerns in disaster management has become a critical priority, requiring the sound management of natural resources as a tool to prevent disasters and lessen their impacts on people, their homes, and livelihoods. As the horrors of the Asian tsunami of December 2004 continue to be evaluated, and people in the region slowly attempt to build a semblance of normalcy, we have to look to the lessons learnt from the tsunami disaster as an opportunity to prepare ourselves better for future disasters. This article focuses on findings and lessons learnt on the environmental aspects of the tsunami, and its implications on disaster preparedness plans. This article essentially emphasizes the cyclical interrelations between environments and disasters, by studying the findings and assessments of the recent Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that struck on 26 December 2004. It specifically looks at four key affected countries--Maldives, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Disaster Response Modeling Through Discrete-Event Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jeffrey; Gilmer, Graham

2012-01-01

Organizations today are required to plan against a rapidly changing, high-cost environment. This is especially true for first responders to disasters and other incidents, where critical decisions must be made in a timely manner to save lives and resources. Discrete-event simulations enable organizations to make better decisions by visualizing complex processes and the impact of proposed changes before they are implemented. A discrete-event simulation using Simio software has been developed to effectively analyze and quantify the imagery capabilities of domestic aviation resources conducting relief missions. This approach has helped synthesize large amounts of data to better visualize process flows, manage resources, and pinpoint capability gaps and shortfalls in disaster response scenarios. Simulation outputs and results have supported decision makers in the understanding of high risk locations, key resource placement, and the effectiveness of proposed improvements.

Assessment of training needs for disaster mental health preparedness in black communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Laborde, Danielle J; Brannock, Kristen; Parrish, Theodore

2011-07-01

Reducing racial disparities in postdisaster mental health requires the integration of unique and complex community challenges in disaster planning. We conducted focus group discussions with 13 community leaders and 7 clinical providers in eastern North Carolina to inform the adaptation of a competency-based training model in postdisaster mental health for black communities. The audience-specific perspectives on disaster mental health and training priorities were identified by structured thematic analyses. Community leaders and clinical providers without personal ties to the local black population were unaware of internal networks and other community resources. Conversely, most black community leaders and clinical providers were unaware of local disaster response resources. All participants identified training in coordination, outreach to reduce mental health stigma, and cultural competence as priority training needs. Black community leaders also were concerned about their inclusion in local planning and leveraging resources. These inputs and suggestions made for tailoring with culturally appropriate language and processes guided the development of learning objectives, content, and field testing of the feasibility of trainer the trainer delivery of postdisaster mental health training for clinical providers and community leaders serving vulnerable black populations.

Comprehensive approach for probabilistic risk assessment (CAPRA): international initiative for disaster risk management effectiveness

OpenAIRE

Cardona, Omar D.; Ordaz Schroder, Mario Gustavo; Reinoso, Eduardo; Yamín, Luis; Barbat Barbat, Horia Alejandro

2010-01-01

Understanding disaster risk due to hazard events, such as earthquakes, creates powerful incentives for countries to develop planning options and tools to reduce potential damages. This has been the reason why CAPRA, the risk evaluation model described in this paper, was developed with the technical and financial support of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Strategy of United Nations for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). CAPRA is a techno-scientific metho...

Critical care management of major disasters: a practical guide to disaster preparation in the intensive care unit.

Science.gov (United States)

Corcoran, Shawn P; Niven, Alexander S; Reese, Jason M

2012-02-01

Recent events and regulatory mandates have underlined the importance of medical planning and preparedness for catastrophic events. The purpose of this review is to provide a brief summary of current commonly identified threats, an overview of mass critical care management, and a discussion of resource allocation to provide the intensive care unit (ICU) director with a practical guide to help prepare and coordinate the activities of the multidisciplinary critical care team in the event of a disaster.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation: Some Lessons Learned From Natural Disaster in Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fardin Alipour

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Disasters have adverse impacts on different aspects of human life. Psychosocial Rehabilitation is one of the fields which is usually overshadowed and ignored by physical rehabilitation or its importance does not receive proper attention. This research attempts to study some lessons learned from Psychosocial Rehabilitation based on disaster experiences in Iran. Materials and Methods: This study has a conventional qualitative content analysis design. The participants of study were 15 people with direct experience of earthquake and 12 experts in this field. The study sample was selected by purposeful sampling method and the data were collected by semi-structured interviews. Results: Lack of a suitable system to deliver Psychosocial Rehabilitation, challenge in establishing balance between short-term and long-term social and mental needs, lack of mental and social experts, inefficiency in using social capital and capacities are the most important lessons learned in this field. Conclusion: Lack of awareness of mental and social problems of affected people after disaster is one of the most important barriers in successful and stable rehabilitation. Psychosocial Rehabilitation requires a suitable structure and planning for all stages of disaster management.

Facing and managing natural disasters in the Sporades islands, Greece

Science.gov (United States)

Karanikola, P.; Panagopoulos, T.; Tampakis, S.; Karantoni, M. I.; Tsantopoulos, G.

2014-04-01

The region of the Sporades islands located in central Greece is at the mercy of many natural phenomena, such as earthquakes due to the marine volcano Psathoura and the rift of Anatolia, forest fires, floods, landslides, storms, hail, snowfall and frost. The present work aims at studying the perceptions and attitudes of the residents regarding how they face and manage natural disasters. A positive public response during a hazard crisis depends not only upon the availability and good management of a civil defense plan but also on the knowledge and perception of the possible hazards by the local population. It is important for the stakeholders to know what the citizens expect so that the necessary structures can be developed in the phase of preparation and organization. The residents were asked their opinion about what they think should be done by the stakeholders after a catastrophic natural disaster, particularly about the immediate response of stakeholders and their involvement and responsibilities at different, subsequent intervals of time following the disaster. The residents were also asked about the most common disasters that happen in their region and about the preparation activities of the stakeholders.

Impact of the 2011 Revolution on Hospital Disaster Preparedness in Yemen.

Science.gov (United States)

Aladhrai, Saleem Ahmed; Djalali, Ahmadreza; Della Corte, Francesco; Alsabri, Mohammed; El-Bakri, Nahid Karrar; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi

2015-08-01

Hospitals are expected to serve the medical needs of casualties in the face of a disaster or other crisis, including man-made conflicts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the 2011 Yemeni revolution on hospital disaster preparedness in the capital city of Sana'a. The study was conducted in September 2011 and 2013. For evaluation purposes, the hospital emergency response checklist published by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used. Additional information was also obtained to determine what steps were being taken by hospital authorities to improve hospital preparedness. The study selected 11 hospitals. At the time of the first evaluation, 7 hospitals were rated "unacceptable" for level of preparedness and 4 were rated "insufficient," receiving a WHO checklist rating of 10 to 98. At the second evaluation, 5 hospitals were rated "unacceptable," 3 "insufficient," and 1 "effective," receiving a rating of 9 to 134. Unfortunately, this study shows that between 2011 and 2013, no significant progress was made in hospital disaster preparedness in Sana'a. In a disaster-prone country like Yemen, the current situation calls for drastic improvement. Health system authorities must take responsibility for issuing strategic plans as well as standards, guidelines, and procedures to improve hospital disaster preparedness.

Veterans Health Administration's Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS) Training Evaluation: Potential Implications for Disaster Health Care Volunteers.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitz, Susan; Radcliff, Tiffany A; Chu, Karen; Smith, Robert E; Dobalian, Aram

2018-02-20

The US Veterans Health Administration's Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS) is a team of employee disaster response volunteers who provide clinical and non-clinical staffing assistance when local systems are overwhelmed. This study evaluated attitudes and recommendations of the DEMPS program to understand the impact of multi-modal training on volunteer perceptions. DEMPS volunteers completed an electronic survey in 2012 (n=2120). Three training modes were evaluated: online, field exercise, and face-to-face. Measures included: "Training Satisfaction," "Attitudes about Training," "Continued Engagement in DEMPS." Data were analyzed using χ2 and logistic regression. Open-ended questions were evaluated in a manner consistent with grounded theory methodology. Most respondents participated in DEMPS training (80%). Volunteers with multi-modal training who completed all 3 modes (14%) were significantly more likely to have positive attitudes about training, plan to continue as volunteers, and would recommend DEMPS to others (P-valuevolunteer engagement. A blended learning environment using multi-modal training methods, could enhance satisfaction and attitudes and possibly encourage continued engagement in DEMPS or similar programs. DEMPS training program modifications in 2015 expanded this blended learning approach through new interactive online learning opportunities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018; page 1 of 8).

Nurses' requirements for relief and casualty support in disasters: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nekooei Moghaddam, Mahmoud; Saeed, Sara; Khanjani, Narges; Arab, Mansour

2014-04-01

Nurses are among the most important groups engaged in casualty support, regardless of the cause, and they are one of the largest care groups involved in disasters. Consequently, these workers should gain proper support and skills to enable effective, timely, responsible and ethical emergency responses. In this study, we investigated the needs of nurses for proper casualty support in disasters, to facilitate better planning for disaster management. This was a qualitative content analysis study. Interviews were performed with 23 nurses, at educational hospitals and the Faculty of Nursing at Kerman Medical University, who had a minimum of five years working experience and assisted in an earthquake disaster. Intensity and snowball sampling were performed. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and coded into main themes and subthemes. Four major themes emerged from the data; 1) psychological support, 2) appropriate clinical skills education, 3) appropriate disaster management, supervision and programming, and 4) the establishment of ready for action groups and emergency sites. The participants' comments highlighted the necessity of training nurses for special skills including emotion management, triage and crush syndrome, and to support nurses' families, provide security, and act according to predefined programs in disasters. There are a wide range of requirements for disaster aid. Proper aid worker selection, frequent and continuous administration of workshops and drills, and cooperation and alignment of different governmental and private organizations are among the suggested initiatives.

Development of SNS Stream Analysis Based on Forest Disaster Warning Information Service System

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, J.; KIM, D.; Kang, M.; Woo, C.; Kim, D.; Seo, J.; Lee, C.; Yoon, H.; Heon, S.

2017-12-01

learning techniques, CBS, Forest disaster warning information service system Acknowledgement : This research was supported by the Forestry Technology 2015 Forestry Technology Research and Development Project (Planning project).

Evaluation of Regional Vulnerability to Disasters by People of Ishikawa, Japan: A Cross Sectional Study Using National Health Insurance Data

Science.gov (United States)

Fujiu, Makoto; Morisaki, Yuma; Takayama, Junichi; Yanagihara, Kiyoko; Nishino, Tatsuya; Sagae, Masahiko; Hirako, Kohei

2018-01-01

The 2013 Partial Amendment of the Disaster Countermeasures Basic Law mandated that a roster of vulnerable persons during disasters be created, and further development of evacuation support is expected. In this study, the number of vulnerable people living in target analytical areas are identified in terms of neighborhood units by using the National Health Insurance Database to create a realistic and efficient evacuation support plan. Later, after considering the “vulnerability” of an area to earthquake disaster damage, a quantitative evaluation of the state of the disaster is performed using a principle component analysis that further divided the analytical target areas into neighborhood units to make a detailed determination of the number of disaster-vulnerable persons, the severity of the disaster, etc. The results of the disaster evaluation performed after considering the vulnerability of an area are that 628 disaster-vulnerable persons live in areas with a relatively higher disaster evaluation value. PMID:29534021

77 FR 52379 - Disaster Declaration #13239 and #13240; OHIO Disaster # H-00030

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-29

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Disaster Declaration 13239 and 13240; OHIO Disaster H-00030 AGENCY... declaration of a major disaster for Public Assistance Only for the State of OHIO (FEMA-4077- DR), dated 08/20..., Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Putnam, Shelby, Van Wert, Washington. The Interest Rates are: Percent For...

Disaster mental health

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henderson, Silja; Berliner, Peter; Elsass, Peter

2015-01-01

In this chapter we focus on disaster mental health, particularly theoretical and research-based implications for intervention. The field of disaster mental health research is vast and impossible to cover in a single chapter, but we will visit central research, concepts, and understandings within...... disaster mental health and intervention, and refer to further literature where meaningful. We conclude the chapter with recommendations for further research....

Disaster Preparedness Among University Students in Guangzhou, China: Assessment of Status and Demand for Disaster Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Yibing; Liao, Xiaolan; Su, Haihao; Li, Chun; Xiang, Jiagen; Dong, Zhaoyang

2017-06-01

This study had 2 aims. First, we evaluated the current levels of disaster preparedness among university students in southern China. Second, we assessed students' demands for future disaster education. In addition, we examined the influence of demographic factors on current disaster preparedness status and demand. A cross-sectional design was used. The data were collected from 1893 students in 10 universities in the Guangzhou Higher Education Mega (GHEM) center. A self-administered questionnaire developed for this study was administered to assess the current status and demand for disaster education. The results are based on 1764 valid questionnaires. Among the participants, 77.8% reported having had disaster education experiences before, 85.5% indicated their desire for a systematic disaster course, and 75.4% expressed their willingness to take such a course upon its availability. The total mean score for demand for disaster course content (5-point Likert scale) was 4.17±0.84, with items relating to rescue skills given the highest scores. These results suggested that students had high desires for disaster preparedness knowledge, especially knowledge concerning rescue skills. We observed significant differences in disaster education experiences between male and female students and across programs, school years, and home locations. Furthermore, we observed significant differences in demand for disaster course content between male and female students and across universities, student programs, years of school, and students' majors. A systematic disaster course focused on rescue skills is needed by all types of universities. To improve the disaster education system in universities, disaster drills should be performed on a semester basis as a refresher and to enhance disaster preparedness. The government and universities should support building a simulated disaster rescue center and recruit faculty from the emergency department, especially those who have had disaster

Barriers to and Facilitators of Inter-Organizational Coordination in Response to Disasters: A Grounded Theory Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Bahadori, Mohammadkarim; Khankeh, Hamid Reza; Zaboli, Rouhollah; Ravangard, Ramin; Malmir, Isa

2017-06-01

Coordination is a major challenge in the field of health in disasters, mostly because of the complex nature of health-related activities. This was a qualitative study based on the grounded theory approach. A total of 22 experts in the field of health in disasters participated in the study. The data were collected through in-depth interviews and literature review. The collected data were then analyzed by use of MAXQDA 2010 software (VERBI Software GmbH). The lack of a strategic view in the field of health in disasters, a lack of coordination of necessities and infrastructures, insufficient enforcement, a higher priority given to an organizational approach rather than a national approach, and the field of disasters not being a priority in the health system were noted as barriers to inter-organizational coordination. The facilitators of inter-organizational coordination noted were the importance of public participation in the field of health in disasters, having a process and systematic view in the field of health in disasters, the necessity of understanding and managing resources and information in the field of health in disasters, and having a feedback and evaluation system in the health system after disasters. It is recommended that developing common beliefs and goals be given priority in making plans and policies in the field of health in disasters. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:318-325).

Development, Testing, and Psychometric Qualities of the Nash Duty to Care Scale for Disaster Response.

Science.gov (United States)

Nash, Tracy Jeanne

2017-08-01

Although nurses struggle with the decision to report for work during disaster events, there are no instruments to measure nurses' duty to care for disaster situations. The purpose of this study was to describe the development, testing, and psychometric qualities of the Nash Duty to Care Scale. A convenience sample of 409 registered nurses were recruited from 3 universities in the United States. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 19-item, 4-factor model explaining 67.34% of the variance. Internal consistency reliability was supported by Cronbach's alpha ranging from .81 to .91 for the 4-factor subscales and .92 for the total scale. The psychometrically sound instrument for measuring nurses' perceived duty to care for disasters is applicable to contemporary nursing practice, institutional disaster management plans, and patient health outcomes worldwide.

The role of occupational therapists in the contexts of a natural disaster: a scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Yunwha; Law, Mary; DeMatteo, Carol; Stratford, Paul; Kim, Hwan

2016-08-01

To identify and inform the experience and roles of occupational therapists (OTs) in the contexts of a natural disaster. This scoping review was conducted via five steps: (1) identify the research question, (2) identify relevant academic articles published between 2000 and 2014 in English, (3) select articles based on the inclusion criteria, (4) chart the data and (5) collate, summarise, and report the results of the selected articles. The results were presented using descriptive numerical and thematic analyses. OTs can prepare a plan for evacuation of people with disabilities and their accommodation before a disaster occurs. Immediately after a disaster, they can provide emergency services for injuries and provide education and training in coping skills for psychological distress via a community-based rehabilitation approach. Consistent services for survivors' mental health and for building the OTs' capacity as part of disaster management are focussed on in the recovery phase. The potential roles of OTs across the spectrum of a natural disaster were identified via this scoping review. This review will help OTs to become involved in a disaster management system for vulnerable groups across the three phases of preparedness to, respond to and recovery from a disaster. Implication for Rehabilitation Occupational therapists can be involved in disaster management to prepare for, respond to and recover from a natural disaster. Consistent services for psychological distress are needed for people affected by a disaster to return to normalcy. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is an important approach to help a wider group of people respond to a natural disaster in a timely manner.

Emergency Management Span of Control: Optimizing Organizational Structures to Better Prepare Vermont for the Next Major or Catastrophic Disaster

Science.gov (United States)

2008-12-01

full glare of media and public scrutiny, they are expected to perform flawlessly like a goalie in hockey or soccer, or a conversion kicker in...among all levels of government, not a plan that is pulled off the shelf only during worst- case disasters. The lifecycle of disasters entails a

Academic Responses to Fukushima Disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Yasui, Kiyotaka; Kimura, Yuko; Kamiya, Kenji; Miyatani, Rie; Tsuyama, Naohiro; Sakai, Akira; Yoshida, Koji; Yamashita, Shunichi; Chhem, Rethy; Abdel-Wahab, May; Ohtsuru, Akira

2017-03-01

Since radiation accidents, particularly nuclear disasters, are rarer than other types of disasters, a comprehensive radiation disaster medical curriculum for them is currently unavailable. The Fukushima compound disaster has urged the establishment of a new medical curriculum in preparation for any future complex disaster. The medical education will aim to aid decision making on various health risks for workers, vulnerable people, and residents addressing each phase in the disaster. Herein, we introduce 3 novel educational programs that have been initiated to provide students, professionals, and leaders with the knowledge of and skills to elude the social consequences of complex nuclear disasters. The first program concentrates on radiation disaster medicine for medical students at the Fukushima Medical University, together with a science, technology, and society module comprising various topics, such as public risk communication, psychosocial consequences of radiation anxiety, and decision making for radiation disaster. The second program is a Phoenix Leader PhD degree at the Hiroshima University, which aims to develop future leaders who can address the associated scientific, environmental, and social issues. The third program is a Joint Graduate School of Master's degree in the Division of Disaster and Radiation Medical Sciences at the Nagasaki University and Fukushima Medical University.

Geo-Spatial Social Network Analysis of Social Media to Mitigate Disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Carley, K. M.

2017-12-01

Understanding the spatial layout of human activity can afford a better understanding many phenomena - such as local cultural, the spread of ideas, and the scope of a disaster. Today, social media is one of the key sensors for acquiring information on socio-cultural activity, some with cues as to the geo-location. We ask, What can be learned by putting such data on maps? For example, are people who chat on line more likely to be near each other? Can Twitter data support disaster planning or early warning? In this talk, such issues are examined using data collected via Twitter and analyzed using ORA. ORA is a network analysis and visualization system. It supports not just social networks (who is interacting with whom), but also high dimensional networks with many types of nodes (e.g. people, organizations, resources, activities …) and relations, geo-spatial network analysis, dynamic network analysis, & geo-temporal analysis. Using ORA lessons learned from five case studies are considered: Arab Spring, Tsunami warning in Padang Indonesia, Twitter around Fukushima in Japan, Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), & regional conflict. Using Padang Indonesia data, we characterize the strengths and limitations of social media data to support disaster planning & early warning, identify at risk areas & issues of concern, and estimate where people are and which areas are impacted. Using Fukushima Japanese data, social media is used to estimate geo-spatial regularities in movement and communication that can inform disaster response and risk estimation. Using Arab Spring data, we find that the spread of bots & extremists varies by country and time, to the extent that using twitter to understand who is important or what ideas are critical can be compromised. Bots and extremists can exploit disaster messaging to create havoc and facilitate criminal activity e.g. human trafficking. Event discovery mechanisms support isolating geo-epi-centers for key events become crucial. Spatial inference

Himalayan/Karakoram Disaster After Disaster: The Pain Will Not Be Ending Anytime Soon

Science.gov (United States)

Kargel, J. S.; Leonard, G. J.

2013-12-01

Are recent natural disasters in the Himalaya/Karakoram partly human-caused? Will disasters diminish or increase in frequency? Natural disasters in this region are nothing new. Earthquakes, floods, landslides, avalanches, and debris flows have occurred in the Himalaya/Karakoram since the mountains first grew from the sea. Simply put, the Himalaya/Karakoram, being South Asia's 'water tower' and an active plate tectonic collision zone, must shed water and debris to the lowlands and the sea. When this activity occurs swiftly and with high intensity at or near human settlements, the results are often deadly. Remote sensing analysis of recent disasters coupled with demography, news accounts, and field studies indicate that there is a component of human responsibility. Two overarching human elements include (1) settlement and infrastructure encroachment into hazardous mountain areas and (2) aggravation of climate change. Both are substantially responsible--separately or together--for most of the recent tragedies. These conclusions provide the answer to when the disasters will end: not soon. Unfortunately, disasters will almost surely increase. Whether natural disasters have increased in frequency over the region's long historical record may be debated and must be researched. This expected link is a challenge to assess due to the stochastic nature of disasters and their triggering events (e.g., earthquakes and extreme weather events). While Himalayan tectonism, rock mechanics, glaciation, and climate are fundamental causes of the disasters, so are human land uses. Encroaching development into ever-hazardous zones is a paramount cause of much human tragedy. Climate change is harder to pin down specifically as a cause of some of these disasters, because some disasters are linked to rare extreme weather events and mass movements, which may be statistically but not individually attributable in part to climate change. Nevertheless, evidence supports a major role of climate

Natural disaster management: experience of an academic institution after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Ecuador.

Science.gov (United States)

Cordero-Reyes, A M; Palacios, I; Ramia, D; West, R; Valencia, M; Ramia, N; Egas, D; Rodas, P; Bahamonde, M; Grunauer, M

2017-03-01

This case study describes the implementation of an academic institution's disaster management plan. Case study. USFQ's Medical School developed a six-phase disaster relief plan consisting of: induction, establishing a base camp, crisis management and mental health aid, creation of multidisciplinary teams and multi-agency teams, and reconstruction. Each phase uses a community-oriented approach to foster survivor autonomy and recovery. Our methodology facilitated the successful implementation of multidisciplinary interventions to manage the earthquake's aftermath on the personal, community and regional levels, treated and prevented psychological and physical morbidity among survivors and promoted healthy living conditions and independence. A multidisciplinary response team that addresses medical needs, mental health, education, food, nutrition and sanitation is highly effective in contributing to timely, effective relief efforts. The short- and long-term solutions we describe could be applicable to other academic centres' interventions in future disaster scenarios around the world. Copyright © 2016 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design and implementation of disaster recovery and business continuity solution for radiology PACS.

Science.gov (United States)

Mansoori, Bahar; Rosipko, Beverly; Erhard, Karen K; Sunshine, Jeffrey L

2014-02-01

In the digital era of radiology, picture archiving and communication system (PACS) has a pivotal role in retrieving and storing the images. Integration of PACS with all the health care information systems e.g., health information system, radiology information system, and electronic medical record has greatly improved access to patient data at anytime and anywhere throughout the entire enterprise. In such an integrated setting, seamless operation depends critically on maintaining data integrity and continuous access for all. Any failure in hardware or software could interrupt the workflow or data and consequently, would risk serious impact to patient care. Thus, any large-scale PACS now have an indispensable requirement to include deployment of a disaster recovery plan to ensure secure sources of data. This paper presents our experience with designing and implementing a disaster recovery and business continuity plan. The selected architecture with two servers in each site (local and disaster recovery (DR) site) provides four different scenarios to continue running and maintain end user service. The implemented DR at University Hospitals Health System now permits continuous access to the PACS application and its contained images for radiologists, other clinicians, and patients alike.

Applying Feedback Analysis on Citizen’s Participation System of CSFLU Barangays on Disaster Preparedness

Science.gov (United States)

Ocampo, A. J.; Baro, R.; Palaoag, T.

2018-03-01

Various initiatives through the use of ICT paved the way to better improve the services of the government during disaster situations. It helped in the preparation and mitigation process during disaster situations through different mediums such as Social Networking Sites and SMS to disseminate information. However, data that are gathered from this medium are not sufficient to address the problem experienced by the citizens, thus the concept of Citizen’s participation system was developed. The objective of the study is to provide a mechanism or tool for barangay officials and the city government to strategically plan preventive measures during times of disasters based on the citizen’s perspective, data analytics gathered from sentiments, suggestions, and feedback of the citizens was analysed using of Feedback Analysis in order to provide accuracy of data which is needed by the disaster response team that will be generated through data analytics.

Post-disaster health effects: strategies for investigation and data collection. Experiences from the Enschede firework disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Roorda, J; van Stiphout, W A H J; Huijsman-Rubingh, R R R

2004-12-01

Public health policy is increasingly concerned with the care for victims of a disaster. This article describes the design and implementation of an epidemiological study, which seeks to match care services to the specific problems of persons affected by a large scale incident. The study was prompted by the explosion of a firework depot in Enschede, the Netherlands. All those directly affected by this incident (residents, emergency services personnel, and people who happened to be in the area at the time), some of whom suffered personal loss or injury. The project investigates both the physical and psychological effects of the disaster, as well as the target group's subsequent call on healthcare services. A questionnaire based follow up survey of those directly affected and an ongoing monitoring of health problems relying on reports from healthcare professionals. The follow up survey started three weeks after the incident and was repeated 18 months and almost four years after the incident. The monitoring is conducted over a four year period by general practitioners, the local mental health services department, occupational health services, and the youth healthcare services department. It provides ongoing information. The results of the study are regularly discussed with healthcare professionals and policy makers, and are made known to the research participants. The paper also explains the considerations that were made in designing the study to help others making up their research plans when confronted with possible health effects of a disaster.

Factors Associated with Discussion of Disasters by Final Year High School Students: An International Cross-sectional Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Codreanu, Tudor A; Celenza, Antonio; Alabdulkarim, Ali A Rahman

2015-08-01

Introduction The effect on behavioral change of educational programs developed to reduce the community's disaster informational vulnerability is not known. This study describes the relationship of disaster education, age, sex, and country-specific characteristics with students discussing disasters with friends and family, a measure of proactive behavioral change in disaster preparedness. Three thousand eight hundred twenty-nine final year high school students were enrolled in an international, multi-center prospective, cross-sectional study using a pre-validated written questionnaire. In order to obtain information from different educational systems, from countries with different risk of exposure to disasters, and from countries with varied economic development status, students from Bahrain, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, and Timor-Leste were surveyed. Logistic regression analyses examined the relationship between the likelihood of discussing disasters with friends and family (dependent variable) and a series of independent variables (age, gender, participation in school lessons about disasters, existence of a national disaster educational program, ability to list pertinent example of disasters, country's economic group, and disaster risk index) captured by the questionnaire or available as published data. There was no statistically significant relationship between age, awareness of one's surroundings, planning for the future, and foreseeing consequences of events with discussions about potential hazards and risks with friends and/or family. The national educational budget did not have a statistically significant influence. Participants who lived in a low disaster risk and high income Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country were more likely to discuss disasters. While either school lessons or a national disaster education program had a unique, significant contribution to the model, neither had a better

Disaster Reintegration Model: A Qualitative Analysis on Developing Korean Disaster Mental Health Support Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yun-Jung Choi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This study sought to describe the mental health problems experienced by Korean disaster survivors, using a qualitative research method to provide empirical resources for effective disaster mental health support in Korea. Participants were 16 adults or elderly adults who experienced one or more disasters at least 12 months ago recruited via theoretical sampling. Participants underwent in-depth individual interviews on their disaster experiences, which were recorded and transcribed for qualitative analysis, which followed Strauss and Corbin’s (1998 Grounded theory. After open coding, participants’ experiences were categorized into 130 codes, 43 sub-categories and 17 categories. The categories were further analyzed in a paradigm model, conditional model and the Disaster Reintegration Model, which proposed potentially effective mental health recovery strategies for disaster survivors, health providers and administrators. To provide effective assistance for mental health recovery of disaster survivors, both personal and public resilience should be promoted while considering both cultural and spiritual elements.

The burden of disaster: part II. applying interventions across the child's social ecology.

Science.gov (United States)

Pfefferbaum, Rose L; Jacobs, Anne K; Noffsinger, Mary A; Pfefferbaum, Betty; Sherrieb, Kathleen; Norris, Fran H

2012-01-01

This second of two articles describes the application of disaster mental health interventions within the context of the childs social ecology consisting of the Micro-, Meso-, Exo-, and Macrosystems. Microsystem interventions involving parents, siblings, and close friends include family preparedness planning andpractice, psychoeducation, role modeling, emotional support, and redirection. Mesosystem interventions provided by schools and faith-based organizations include safety and support, assessment, referral, and counseling. Exosystem interventions include those provided through community-based mental health programs, healthcare organizations, the workplace, the media, local volunteer disaster organizations, and other local organizations. Efforts to build community resilience to disasters are likely to have influence through the Exosystem. The Macrosystem - including the laws, history, cultural and subcultural characteristics, and economic and social conditions that underlie the other systems - affects the child indirectly through public policies and disaster programs and services that become available in the child's Exosystem in the aftermath of a disaster The social ecology paradigm, described more fully in a companion article (Noffsinger Pfefferbaum, Pfefferbaum, Sherrieb, & Norris,2012), emphasizes relationships among systems and can guide the development and delivery of services embedded in naturally-occurring structures in the child's environment.

Development of procedure for emergency response in the combined disaster

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-08-15

Lessons learned from operating experience at the emergency after a East Japan Great Earthquake, have shown that development of decision making procedure and criteria for protective action implementation would be important at the emergency in the combined disaster such as nuclear accidents caused by natural disasters (including tsunami, flood, heavy snow, fire, etc.). In this study, the problemdefinition, the concept of operation and the data development were planned for three years since fiscal year 2011. In tins year, trial calculation of evacuation time estimate (ETE) for the wide area was performed. Moreover, the basic concept and procedure for carrying out ETE condidering the combined emergency were developed based on the last year results. (author)

Development of procedure for emergency response in the combined disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

Lessons learned from operating experience at the emergency after a East Japan Great Earthquake, have shown that development of decision making procedure and criteria for protective action implementation would be important at the emergency in the combined disaster such as nuclear accidents caused by natural disasters (including tsunami, flood, heavy snow, fire, etc.). In this study, the problemdefinition, the concept of operation and the data development were planned for three years since fiscal year 2011. In tins year, trial calculation of evacuation time estimate (ETE) for the wide area was performed. Moreover, the basic concept and procedure for carrying out ETE condidering the combined emergency were developed based on the last year results. (author)

Development of procedure for emergency response in the case of combined disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

It has been discussed that there were many differences to international standards and the delay for prior planning implementation of nuclear emergency preparedness. Based on this points, since fiscal year 2011, the framework for execution of the precautionary action etc. in consideration of the international standard to the Guide 'Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Facilities' has been implemented by NSC (Nuclear Safety Commission) of Japan. On the other hand, it was clarified that there would be many problems for decision making strategies of protective actions at the nuclear disaster (combined disaster) when the natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, the flood, the heavy snow, and the large-scale fire, etc. occurred, and implementation of criteria and procedure for protective action execution through the experience with protective actions after the East Japan large-scale earthquake. The problem arrangements and data preparations to develop the emergency protective action procedure for the emergency preparedness manuals corresponding to the combined disasters are scheduled to be executed in this study for three years from the fiscal year 2011 based on the experience and the finding in the East Japan large-scale earthquake. Development and verification of the method of Evacuation Time Estimate (ETE) at the combined disaster are executed in this year. (author)

Natural Disaster Induced Losses at Household Level: A Study on the Disaster Affected Migrants

Science.gov (United States)

Ishtiaque, A.; Nazem, N. I.; Jerin, T.

2015-12-01

Given its geographical location Bangladesh frequently confronts natural disasters. Disaster induced losses often obligate socio-economic dislocation from rural areas to large urban centers. After incurring what type/amount of losses people migrate is still unknown. In this paper we focus on migrants who migrated due to natural disasters. Thus, the objectives of this paper are, first, ascertaining the proportion of disaster migrants in Dhaka city; second, determining types of natural disasters which compel rural out-migration; third, assessing the resource and economic losses stem from these disasters at household level. Using the slum database (N = 4966), we select eight slums randomly with a purpose to include migrants from maximum districts available. In order to identify the proportion of disaster affected migrants a census is conducted in 407 households of those 8 slums and the result demonstrates that 18.43% of the migrants are disaster affected, which was only 5% in 1993. Out of all hydro-meteorological disasters, river bank erosion (RBE), followed by flood, drives most people out of their abode. However, unlike RBE migrants, migrants affected by flood usually return to their origin after certain period. In-depth interviews on the disaster migrants reveal that RBE claims total loss of homestead land & agricultural land while flood causes 20% and 23% loss respectively. Agricultural income decreases 96% because of RBE whereas flood victims encounter 98% decrease. People also incur 79% & 69% loss in livestock owing to RBE and flood severally. These disasters cause more than eighty percent reduction in total monthly income. Albeit RBE appears more vigorous but total economic loss is greater in flood- on average each household experiences a loss of BDT 350,555 due to flood and BDT 300,000 on account of RBE. Receiving no substantial support from community or government the affected people are compelled to migrate.

Urban Risk Reduction Through Effective Disaster Management Plan-A Case Study Of Shimla City Himachal Pradesh India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bhavna Karki

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract By 2050 70 of the worlds population will live in urban areas. In India the urban population has increased from 217 million to 377 million in last two decades .With increasing population the associated risk and vulnerability has also increased. As cities continue to grow there is increased pressure on resources exposure of lives livelihoods and economic social and environmental assets to risk is set to increase exponentially. Recognised as one of the best cities for public services and one of the oldest Municipal Corporation in India Shimla city is situated at the traverse spur of the Central Himalayas at 31004 N to 31010 N latitude and 77005 E to 77015 E longitude at an altitude of 2397.59 m metres amsl. This paper aims at underlying the role of Shimla Municipal Corporation SMC as local government in managing disasters in the city along with effective planning and risk assessments.

Czech Republic - August 2002: another flood disaster of century after five years

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Ondráček, Stanislav; Klusáček, Petr; Munzar, Jan

2002-01-01

Roč. 10, č. 2 (2002), s. 53-62 ISSN 1210-8812 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA3086903 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z3086906 Keywords : flood disaster * Czech Republic * August 2002 Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography

Loss Database Architecture for Disaster Risk Management

OpenAIRE

RIOS DIAZ FRANCISCO; MARIN FERRER MONTSERRAT

2018-01-01

The reformed Union civil protection legislation (Decision on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism), which entered into force on 1 January 2014, is paving the way for more resilient communities by including key actions related to disaster prevention such as developing national risk assessments and the refinement of risk management planning. Under the Decision, Member States agreed to “develop risk assessments at national or appropriate sub- national level and make available to the Commission a s...

Upstream Disaster Management to Support People Experiencing Homelessness.

Science.gov (United States)

Sundareswaran, Madura; Ghazzawi, Andrea; O'Sullivan, Tracey L

2015-08-18

The unique context of day-to-day living for people who are chronically homeless or living with housing insecurity puts them at high risk during community disasters. The impacts of extreme events, such as flooding, storms, riots, and other sources of community disruption, underscore the importance of preparedness efforts and fostering community resilience. This study is part of larger initiative focused on enhancing resilience and preparedness among high risk populations. The purpose of this study was to explore critical issues and strategies to promote resilience and disaster preparedness among people who are homeless in Canada. A sample of interviews (n=21) from key informants across Canada was analyzed to explore existing programs and supports for homeless populations. The data was selected from a larger sample of (n=43) interviews focused on programs and supports for people who are at heightened risk for negative impacts during disasters. Qualitative content analysis was used to extract emergent themes and develop a model of multi-level collaboration to support disaster resilience among people who are homeless. The results indicate there is a need for more upstream continuity planning, collaboration and communication between the emergency management sector and community service organizations that support people who are homeless. Prioritization and investment in the social determinants of health and community supports is necessary to promote resilience among this high-risk population. The findings from this study highlight the importance of acknowledging community support organizations as assets in disaster preparedness. Day-to-day resilience is an ongoing theme for people who are chronically homeless or living with housing insecurity. Upstream investment to build adaptive capacity and collaborate with community organizations is an important strategy to enhance community resilience.

Evaluation criteria for emergency response plans in radiological transportation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindell, M.K.; Perry, R.W.

1980-01-01

This paper identifies a set of general criteria which can be used as guides for evaluating emergency response plans prepared in connection with the transportation of radiological materials. The development of criteria takes the form of examining the meaning and role of emergency plans in general, reviewing the process as it is used in connection with natural disasters and other nonnuclear disasters, and explicitly considering unique aspects of the radiological transportation setting. Eight areas of critical importance for such response plans are isolated: notification procedures; accident assessment; public information; protection of the public at risk; other protective responses; radiological exposure control; responsibility for planning and operations; and emergency response training and exercises. (Auth.)

Surge capacity principles: care of the critically ill and injured during pandemics and disasters: CHEST consensus statement.

Science.gov (United States)

Hick, John L; Einav, Sharon; Hanfling, Dan; Kissoon, Niranjan; Dichter, Jeffrey R; Devereaux, Asha V; Christian, Michael D

2014-10-01

This article provides consensus suggestions for expanding critical care surge capacity and extension of critical care service capabilities in disasters or pandemics. It focuses on the principles and frameworks for expansion of intensive care services in hospitals in the developed world. A companion article addresses surge logistics, those elements that provide the capability to deliver mass critical care in disaster events. The suggestions in this article are important for all who are involved in large-scale disasters or pandemics with injured or critically ill multiple patients, including front-line clinicians, hospital administrators, and public health or government officials. The Surge Capacity topic panel developed 23 key questions focused on the following domains: systems issues; equipment, supplies, and pharmaceuticals; staffing; and informatics. Literature searches were conducted to identify evidence on which to base key suggestions. Most reports were small scale, were observational, or used flawed modeling; hence, the level of evidence on which to base recommendations was poor and did not permit the development of evidence-based recommendations. Therefore, the panel developed expert opinion-based suggestions using a modified Delphi process. Suggestions from the previous task force were also included for validation by the expert panel. This article presents 10 suggestions pertaining to the principles that should guide surge capacity and capability planning for mass critical care, including the role of critical care in disaster planning; the surge continuum; targets of surge response; situational awareness and information sharing; mitigating the impact on critical care; planning for the care of special populations; and service deescalation/cessation (also considered as engineered failure). Future reports on critical care surge should emphasize population-based outcomes as well as logistical details. Planning should be based on the projected number of

[A new stream of the next disaster response with a variety of hospital ship in Japan].

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, Soichiro; Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro

2016-02-01

In Japan, experience from an earthquake has always provided an opportunity to reconsider measures of disaster preparedness. To facilitate decision-making and its enforcement in a large-scale disaster response, a cross-agency organization and tough infrastructure are required as a foundation of crisis management. In the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Management Center could not perform their mission due to the collapse of various infrastructure caused by the earthquake. The archipelago structure of Japan is easy terrain that provides approach from the shore to any place in the country; this makes it possible to plan effective relief operations. Therefore, in preparing for the next large-scale disaster, the use of a hospital ship has been discussed as one of the strong bases to combat collapse of infrastructure. For effective utilization of the ship, we will discuss the main points collated from experience of past disaster responses and training.

Emergency Management for Disasters in Malaysian Hotel Industry

OpenAIRE

AlBattat Ahmad Rasmi; Mat Som Ahmad Puad; Abukhalifeh Ala`a

2014-01-01

This paper aims to identify major emergencies that have the potential to place Malaysian hotels in emergency and disaster situations; investigate how hotels were prepared for emergencies, how they manage and overcome emergencies when occurred; and limitations and factors influencing successful emergency planning and adoption emergency management in Malaysian hotels. Face-to-face interview with managers from three, four and five star hotels from different backgrounds: local; regional; and Inte...

A Century of Australian Natural Disasters and How to Reduce the Toll from Future Events

Science.gov (United States)

McAneney, J.

2014-12-01

This study reviews Australian experience of natural disasters over the last century and considers how to reduce this nation's vulnerability to such events in the future. In line with global experience, the cost of Australian weather-related natural disasters has been increasing, while loss of life has decreased, with extreme heat events responsible for more fatalities than all other natural perils combined, baring epidemics. However when disaster costs arising from historical events are normalised to current day exposure, no long-term trend emerges. Moreover the frequency of these losses shows no sign of increasing since 1950. In other words, the rising cost of natural disasters can be firmly sheeted home to the fact that there are now more of us living in vulnerable places with more to lose. In view of the above, emergency management and government risk management and strategic planning should focus on plausible large event scenarios, whatever their cause. If we wish to reduce disaster losses, land-use planning has to become risk-informed and building codes need to consider potential economic impacts, rather than just life safety. Insurers can play a role by pricing risk correctly and sending clear signals to homeowners (and governments) to stimulate risk-reducing behaviours. The tools to achieve fine-grained risk assessments are increasingly available. The success of the regulated use of the building code in tropical cyclone-prone regions in Australia and the performance of modern seismic building codes in New Zealand, shows what can be achieved when there is a demonstrated need and political will.

Epidemics after Natural Disasters

Science.gov (United States)

Gayer, Michelle; Connolly, Maire A.

2007-01-01

The relationship between natural disasters and communicable diseases is frequently misconstrued. The risk for outbreaks is often presumed to be very high in the chaos that follows natural disasters, a fear likely derived from a perceived association between dead bodies and epidemics. However, the risk factors for outbreaks after disasters are associated primarily with population displacement. The availability of safe water and sanitation facilities, the degree of crowding, the underlying health status of the population, and the availability of healthcare services all interact within the context of the local disease ecology to influence the risk for communicable diseases and death in the affected population. We outline the risk factors for outbreaks after a disaster, review the communicable diseases likely to be important, and establish priorities to address communicable diseases in disaster settings. PMID:17370508

International Charter "Space and Major Disasters": Typical Examples of Disaster Management Including Asian Tsunami

Science.gov (United States)

Cubero-Castan, Eliane; Bequignon, Jerome; Mahmood, Ahmed; Lauritson, Levin; Soma, P.; Platzeck, Gabriel; Chu, Ishida

2005-03-01

The International Charter 'Space and Major Disaster', now entering its 5th year of operation, has been activated nearly 80 times to provide space-based data and information in response to natural disasters. The disasters ranged from volcanic eruption in Columbia, floods in Europe, Argentina, Sudan to earthquakes in Iran, from landslides in Philippines to the tragic tsunami in Asia, all resulting in major loss of life and property. The Charter provided imagery and the related information were found to be useful in disaster relief and assessment. Since July 1st 2003, a framework cooperation agreement has been allowing United Nations organizations involved in disaster response to request activation of the Charter.The purpose of the Charter is to provide assistance in situations of emergencies caused by natural and technological disasters by pooling together the space and associated ground resources of the Charter participants, which are currently the European (ESA), French (CNES), Canadian (CSA), Indian (ISRO), American (NOAA), Argentinean (CONAE) and Japanese (JAXA) space organizations.This paper will point out some of the best cases of Charter activation for different disasters leading to change detection imagery and damage assessment products which could be used for disaster reduction in close co-ordination with the end users after the crisis period.

Mapping for the masses: using free remote sensing data for disaster management

Science.gov (United States)

Teeuw, R.; McWilliam, N.; Morris, N.; Saunders, C.

2009-04-01

We examine the uses of free satellite imagery and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) for disaster management, targeting three data sources: the United Nations Charter on Space and Disasters, Google Earth and internet-based satellite data archives, such as the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF). The research has assessed SRTM and ASTER DEM data, Landsat TM/ETM+ and ASTER imagery, as well as utilising datasets and basic GIS operations available via Google Earth. As an aid to Disaster Risk Reduction, four sets of maps can be produced from satellite data: (i) Multiple Geohazards: areas prone to slope instability, coastal inundation and fluvial flooding; (ii) Vulnerability: population density, habitation types, land cover types and infrastructure; (iii) Disaster Risk: produced by combining severity scores from (i) and (ii); (iv) Reconstruction: zones of rock/sediment with construction uses; areas of woodland (for fuel/construction) water sources; transport routes; zones suitable for re-settlement. This set of Disaster Risk Reduction maps are ideal for regional (1:50,000 to 1:250,000 scale) planning for in low-income countries: more detailed assessments require relatively expensive high resolution satellite imagery or aerial photography, although Google Earth has a good track record for posting high-res imagery of disaster zones (e.g. the 2008 Burma storm surge). The Disaster Risk maps highlight areas of maximum risk to a region's emergency planners and decision makers, enabling various types of public education and other disaster mitigation measures. The Reconstruction map also helps to save lives, by facilitating disaster recovery. Many problems have been identified. Access to the UN Charter imagery is fine after a disaster, but very difficult if assessing pre-disaster indicators: the data supplied also tends to be pre-processed, when some relief agencies would prefer to have raw data. The limited and expensive internet access in many developing countries limits access to

Medical Rehabilitation in Natural Disasters: A Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Fary; Amatya, Bhasker; Gosney, James; Rathore, Farooq A; Burkle, Frederick M

2015-09-01

To present an evidence-based overview of the effectiveness of medical rehabilitation intervention in natural disaster survivors and outcomes that are affected. A literature search was conducted using medical and health science electronic databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO) up to September 2014. Two independent reviewers selected studies reporting outcomes for natural disaster survivors after medical rehabilitation that addressed functional restoration and participation. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the methodologic quality of the studies using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program's appraisal tools. A meta-analysis was not possible because of heterogeneity among included trials; therefore, a narrative analysis was performed for best evidence synthesis. Ten studies (2 randomized controlled trials, 8 observational studies) investigated a variety of medical rehabilitation interventions for natural disaster survivors to evaluate best evidence to date. The interventions ranged from comprehensive multidisciplinary rehabilitation to community educational programs. Studies scored low on quality assessment because of methodologic limitations. The findings suggest some evidence for the effectiveness of inpatient rehabilitation in reducing disability and improving participation and quality of life and for community-based rehabilitation for participation. There were no data available for associated costs. The findings highlight the need to incorporate medical rehabilitation into response planning and disaster management for future natural catastrophes. Access to rehabilitation and investment in sustainable infrastructure and education are crucial. More methodologically robust studies are needed to build evidence for rehabilitation programs, cost-effectiveness, and outcome measurement in such settings. Copyright © 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine

Training and post-disaster interventions for the psychological impacts on disaster-exposed employees: a systematic review.

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Brooks, Samantha K; Dunn, Rebecca; Amlôt, Richard; Greenberg, Neil; Rubin, G James

2018-02-15

When organisations are exposed to traumatic situations, such as disasters, often staff are not prepared for the potential psychological impact which can negatively affect their wellbeing. To conduct a systematic review of the literature on psychological interventions aimed at improving staff wellbeing during or after disasters. Four electronic literature databases were searched. Reference lists of relevant articles were hand-searched. Fifteen articles were included. Five studies suggested that pre-disaster skills training and disaster education can improve employee confidence. Ten studies on post-disaster interventions revealed mixed findings on the effectiveness of psychological debriefing and limited evidence for cognitive behavioural therapy, psychoeducation and meditation. Pre-disaster training and education can improve employees' confidence in their ability to cope with disasters. The routine use of post-disaster psychological debriefings is not supported; further research is needed to determine if debriefing interventions could be useful in some circumstances. Further research is needed to provide more evidence on the potential positive effects of cognitive behavioural therapy, psychoeducation and meditation. More experimental studies on psychological disaster interventions are needed.

Collective proposal of Contingency Plan as an alternative for management risks to socioenvironmental disasters within Network Management Risk of Córrego Dantas (REGER-CD), Nova Friburgo, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Freitas, Leonardo; Luiza Coelho Netto, Ana

2017-04-01

An extreme rainfall event took place in the Mountainous Region of the state of Rio de Janeiro in January 2011, causing a catastrophic landslide that resulted in more than 900 deaths and 350 people disappearances. Precipitation events associated with landslides are common in this region and climate change tends to increase the frequency of intense rains and, consequently, landslides. At the same time, the vulnerability of communities has increased as a result of disorderly urban growth. Despite that, before 2011 communities and public power were not prepared to disaster management..After the 2011 event, public authorities try to established policies to reduce these vulnerabilities. One of the communities where the government acted was Córrego Dantas. However, the actions in this place were carried out in a top-down model, without discussion with population. As a consequence, the performance of public power has amplified social vulnerabilities. Highlight for the truculent removal of residents; resettlement in geographically isolated housing complexes; and the establishment of urbanization policies that go against the interests of the residents. The construction of the Córrego d'Aantas Disaster Risk Management Network (REGER-CD), including residents of affected communities, researchers, NGO members and representatives of the public power, is one way to respond these questions. Within this network, the construction of a proposal for a collective contingency plan, articulated with the municipal contingency plan, is generating residents' empowerment, greater adaptation to risks and reducing the vulnerability of Disasters and mass movements

Speed or deliberation: a comparison of post-disaster recovery in Japan, Turkey, and Chile.

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Platt, Stephen; So, Emily

2017-10-01

This paper compares recovery in the wake of three recent earthquakes: the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011; the Van earthquake in Turkey in October 2011; and the Maule earthquake in Chile in February 2010. The authors visited all three locations approximately 12-18 months after the incidents and interviewed earthquake specialists, disaster managers, urban planners, and local authorities. A key challenge to post-disaster recovery planning is balancing speed and deliberation. While affected communities must rebuild as quickly as possible, they must also seek to maximise the opportunities for improvement that disasters provide. The three case studies bring this dilemma into stark relief, as recovery was respectively slow, fast, and just right in the aftermath of the events: the Government of Japan adopted a deliberate approach to recovery and reconstruction; speed was of the essence in Turkey; and an effective balance between speed and deliberation was achieved in Chile. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Shelter planning based on self-saving concepts in urban residential districts

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Buri Qi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With increasing population density in Asia, the potential higher risk was resulted from the residential districts with the higher plot ratio, especially in some megapolis (eg. Beijing and Shanghai. Presently it is more difficult for the rescue operation during the disasters because of the decreasing safe space among the buildings as a result of higher buildings and denser the district. Thus, an immediate self-saving action is more important than before during the disaster in the residential districts, and its realization depends on the reasonable shelter planning and its management system. In this study, the factors related to the self-saving were analyzed and concluded by the related the literatures retrieval and case study, and the case study was done by the in-depth interview and questionnaires in three different residential districts in Shanghai. It was found that the following factors related to the self-saving should be considered in the shelters planning: the distribution of the shelters including their space accessibility and area, evacuation passageways, the facilities of the disaster prevention (such as fire hydrant and guide signs and subsidiary facilities (such as vegetation for the disaster prevention, the social cohesion, awareness of the self-saving and disaster prevention. Simultaneously, the shelters planning countermeasures based on the self-saving were proposed, which provided some theoretical bases for the study  and plan of the security residential districts in future.

NASA's Applied Sciences: Natural Disasters Program

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Kessler, Jason L.

2010-01-01

Fully utilize current and near-term airborne and spaceborne assets and capabilities. NASA spaceborne instruments are for research but can be applied to natural disaster response as appropriate. NASA airborne instruments can be targeted specifically for disaster response. Could impact research programs. Better flow of information improves disaster response. Catalog capability, product, applicable disaster, points of contact. Ownership needs to come from the highest level of NASA - unpredictable and irregular nature of disasters requires contingency funding for disaster response. Build-in transfer of applicable natural disaster research capabilities to operational functionality at other agencies (e.g., USFS, NOAA, FEMA...) at the outset, whenever possible. For the Decadal Survey Missions, opportunities exist to identify needs and requirements early in the mission design process. Need to understand additional needs and commitments for meeting the needs of the disaster community. Opportunity to maximize disaster response and mitigation from the Decadal Survey Missions. Additional needs or capabilities may require agency contributions.

Latest movements associated with radioactive contamination and disaster waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omura, Tomomi

2012-01-01

As for the radioactive contamination countermeasures taken for the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company, this paper introduces in the digest version the following movements from early March to early April 2012. (1) Organizational structure. Inauguration of Nuclear Regulatory Agency, and the organizational structure of Fukushima Environment Regeneration Office of the Ministry of the Environment. (2) The Act on Special Measures concerning the Handling of Radioactive Pollution. Publication by the Ministry of the Environment on decontamination plan for three municipalities belonging to Special Decontamination Area, decontamination plan for Intensive Contamination Survey Area, new construction of disposal sites for designated waste with the level exceeding 8,000 Bq / kg, and disaster waste direct treatment project and substitute treatment project in Fukushima Prefecture. (3) Radiation exposure countermeasures. Lawmaker-initiated registration plan by Democratic Party, Liberal Democratic Party, and New Komeito. (4) Technological evaluation. Publication of the results of Decontamination Technology Demonstration Test Projects by the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of the Environment, and Fukushima Prefecture. (5) Monitoring. Full-scale implementation of radioactivity monitoring plan in Tokyo Bay in Fiscal 2012. (6) Disaster waste countermeasures. Request of the government to the local governments on the wide-area treatment of wreckage, active request to the Cement Association in cooperation with the treatment of wreckage, and positive replies from of 22 prefectures / cities regarding the acceptance of wide-area wreckage treatment. (O.A.)

Considering Vulnerability in Disaster Risk Reduction Plans: From Policy to Practice in Ladakh, India

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Virginie Le Masson

2015-05-01

Full Text Available In Ladakh, India, a mountainous region prone to natural hazards, particularly floods, it is critical to adapt disaster risk reduction (DRR measures to the local environment. The floods that struck Ladakh in 2010 created momentum for local authorities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs to engage in DRR initiatives in order to better prepare people to cope with and recover from emergencies. This paper analyzes the way DRR approaches in Ladakh, from the central government to the district level, take both vulnerability and capacity into account. National and state policies are integrated and reflect the vulnerability concept quite well. However, as the case of Ladakh shows, establishing policies does not guarantee that appropriate practices will follow. Although NGOs' relief efforts in 2010 were praised for building on local communities' context and capacities, most practitioners still view DRR through a hazard-focused lens. Likewise, the policy framework for DRR does not yet address the socioeconomic construction of disasters and is not translated into adequate interventions that build on lessons learned during the 2010 emergency. Development obstacles, such as corruption, may also compromise efforts to translate DRR policies into appropriate and sustainable practices. However, local development projects that enhance the resilience of local mountain communities exist and could be valued as effective DRR. Emphasis should be placed on the practical integration of DRR in sustainable development efforts in order to better tackle disasters.

Interdisciplinary Environmental-health Science Throughout Disaster Lifecycles

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Plumlee, G. S.; Morman, S. A.; Hoefen, T. M.

2014-12-01

Potential human health effects from exposures to hazardous disaster materials and environmental contamination are common concerns following disasters. Using several examples from US Geological Survey environmental disaster responses (e.g., 2001 World Trade Center, mine tailings spills, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, 2007-2013 wildfires, 2011 Gulf oil spill, 2012 Hurricane Sandy, 2013 Colorado floods) and disaster scenarios (2011 ARkStorm, 2013 SAFRR tsunami) this presentation will illustrate the role for collaborative earth, environmental, and health science throughout disaster lifecycles. Pre-disaster environmental baseline measurements are needed to help understand environmental influences on pre-disaster health baselines, and to constrain the magnitude of a disaster's impacts. During and following disasters, there is a need for interdisciplinary rapid-response and longer-term assessments that: sample and characterize the physical, chemical, and microbial makeup of complex materials generated by the disasters; fingerprint material sources; monitor, map, and model dispersal and evolution of disaster materials in the environment; help understand how the materials are modified by environmental processes; and, identify key characteristics and processes that influence the exposures and toxicity of disaster materials to humans and the living environment. This information helps emergency responders, public health experts, and cleanup managers: 1) identify short- and long-term exposures to disaster materials that may affect health; 2) prioritize areas for cleanup; and 3) develop appropriate disposal solutions or restoration uses for disaster materials. By integrating lessons learned from past disasters with geospatial information on vulnerable sources of natural or anthropogenic contaminants, the environmental health implications of looming disasters or disaster scenarios can be better anticipated, which helps enhance preparedness and resilience. Understanding economic costs of

Disaster Mitigation Towards Sustainable Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Atrash, Ahmad A.; Salem, Hilmi S.; Isaac, Jad E.

2008-01-01

Due to political, economical and social conditions dominating the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT; consisting of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip), the Palestinian people and government in the OPT face a multitude of challenges, in relation to governance, development, sustainability, and natural disasters. In this paper, several interventions that form the basis of some present and future Palestinian developmental and planning dilemmas are tackled. Among the challenges the Palestinian people facing are natural disasters. Such disasters have caused enormous losses and have set back economic progress in developed and undeveloped countries alike. On the Palestinian arena, the water shortages, the environmental degradation, and the land and natural resources' depletion, which all go hand in hand with the political conflict in the Middle East, are perceived to be the most significant anthropogenic disasters currently affecting the Palestinian people in the OPT. In addition, natural disasters are significantly considered a potential threat to the OPT's population. Earthquakes in the region are considered a major hazard, with low probability but high adverse impacts. Adding to this, the proposed Red Sea-Dead Sea Conveyance that will bring about two billion cubic meter of saline water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea will be potentially, if constructed, a huge source of induced earthquakes. Moreover, the future looks not so promising; due to the rapid population growth and the way the cities are developing in the OPT, as more than 50% of the Palestinian population lives in what is defined as ''hazard-prone'' areas. These areas are particularly vulnerable, because of their dependence on complex infrastructures. Moreover, the lack of knowledgeable professionals and technical capabilities in the OPT, in regard to disaster-sound management, is another reason for the current chaotic situation

Assessing Disaster Preparedness among Latino Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers in Eastern North Carolina

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Amber Foreman Britt

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Natural disasters including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and fires often involve substantial physical and mental impacts on affected populations and thus are public health priorities. Limited research shows that vulnerable populations such as the low-income, socially isolated migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW are particularly susceptible to the effects of natural disasters. This research project assessed the awareness, perceived risk, and practices regarding disaster preparedness and response resources and identified barriers to utilization of community and government services during or after a natural disaster among Latino MSFWs’ and their families. Qualitative (N = 21 focus groups (3 and quantitative (N = 57 survey methodology was implemented with Latino MSFWs temporarily residing in rural eastern North Carolina to assess perceived and actual risk for natural disasters. Hurricanes were a top concern among the sample population, many participants shared they lacked proper resources for an emergency (no emergency kit in the house, no evacuation plan, no home internet, a lack of knowledge of what should be included in an emergency kit, etc.. Transportation and language were found to be additional barriers. Emergency broadcasts in Spanish and text message alerts were identified by the population to be helpful for disaster alerts. FEMA, American Red Cross, local schools and the migrant clinic were trusted places for assistance and information. In summary, tailored materials, emergency alerts, text messages, and news coverage concerning disaster threats should be provided in the population’s native language and when feasible delivered in a culturally appropriate mechanism such as “charlas” (talks and brochures.

Enhancing Saarc Disaster Management: A Comparative Study With Asean Coordinating Centre For Humanitarian Assistance On Disaster Management

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2016-03-01

North Atlantic Treaty Organization NDMA National Disaster Management Authority NDMO National Disaster Management Organization NIDM National...disaster management authorities. National Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA ) has envisaged the role of the army in relief, recovery, management of

Stealth Disasters and Geoethics

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Kieffer, Susan W.

2013-04-01

Natural processes of the earth unleash energy in ways that are sometimes harmful or, at best, inconvenient, for humans: earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, landslides, floods. Ignoring the biological component of the geosphere, we have historically called such events "natural disasters." They are typically characterized by a sudden onset and relatively immediate consequences. There are many historical examples and our human societies have evolved various ways of coping with them logistically, economically, and psychologically. Preparation, co-existence, recovery, and remediation are possible, at least to some extent, even in the largest of events. Geoethical questions exist in each stage, but the limited local extent of these disasters allows the possibility of discussion and resolution. There are other disasters that involve the natural systems that support us. Rather than being driven primarily by natural non-biological processes, these are driven by human behavior. Examples are climate change, desertification, acidification of the oceans, and compaction and erosion of fertile soils. They typically have more gradual onsets than natural disasters and, because of this, I refer to these as "stealth disasters." Although they are unfolding unnoticed or ignored by many, they are having near-term consequences. At a global scale they are new to human experience. Our efforts at preparation, co-existence, recovery, and remediation lag far behind those that we have in place for natural disasters. Furthermore, these four stages in stealth disaster situations involve many ethical questions that typically must be solved in the context of much larger cultural and social differences than encountered in natural disaster settings. Four core ethical principles may provide guidelines—autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice (e.g., Jamais Cascio). Geoscientists can contribute to the solutions in many ways. We can work to ensure that as people take responsibility

Disaster Risk Assessment in Educational Hospitals of Qazvin Based on WHO Pattern in 2015.

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Asefzadeh, Saeed; Varyani, Ali Safari; Gholami, Soheyla

2016-01-01

In addition to damaging communities and infrastructures, unexpected disasters affect service provider centers as well. Structural, non-structural, and functional components of hospitals could be affected when hazards or disasters occur, and they may be unable to admit casualties, have their own personnel and patients killed or injured, have their property destroyed. In such as case, they would increase the burden of death resulting from the disaster. Therefore, in this study, hospital safety was reviewed in two hospitals in Qazvin in 2015. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on two of the Rajaee and Velayat Hospitals in Qazvin. The tools used to assess for the hospitals' risk of experiencing a disaster were observation, interviews, and a checklist of hospital disaster risk assessment provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), including 5 sections and 145 indices for the safety assessment of hospitals. To determine the general weight, three main parts of the questionnaire, i.e., functional safety, non-structural safety, and structural safety, were given weights of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.5, respectively, according to the original version of the indices. Each index was scored as 0, 1, and 2 based on the low, medium, and high scores. The safety scores that were obtained were categorized in three groups, i.e., low safety (≤ 34%), medium safety (34-66%), and high safety (> 66%). The data were analyzed using Excel 2007 software. Functional, structural, and non-structural safety scores were evaluated as 60.20% (medium safety), 67.61% (high safety), and 76.16% (high safety), respectively. General preparedness of the hospitals we studied were 71.90%, a high safety level. This high preparedness was related to the indices of availability of medicines, equipment, water supply, and other resources required in emergency conditions (85%), and the lowest preparedness was related to contingency plans of medical operations (19%). The preparedness of the two

Report of the Project Research on Disaster Reduction using Disaster Mitigating Information Sharing Technology

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Suzuki, Takeyasu

For the purpose of reducing disaster damage by applying information sharing technologies, "the research on disaster reduction using crisis-adaptive information sharing technologies" was carried out from July, 2004 through March 2007, as a three year joint project composed of a government office and agency, national research institutes, universities, lifeline corporations, a NPO and a private company. In this project, the disaster mitigating information sharing platform which is effective to disaster response activities mainly for local governments was developed, as a framework which enables information sharing in disasters. A prototype of the platform was built by integrating an individual system and tool. Then, it was applied to actual local governments and proved to be effective to disaster responses. This paper summarizes the research project. It defines the platform as a framework of both information contents and information systems first and describes information sharing technologies developed for utilization of the platform. It also introduces fields tests in which a prototype of the platform was applied to local governments.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Assessment Teams for First Responders in Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) Missions

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-01

Assessment, Disaster Relief, Disaster Zone Access 15. NUMBER OF PAGES 123 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF REPORT Unclassified 18...local cellular carrier- pricing schedule as many offer data plans that have restrictions to the amount of traffic allowed before being bandwidth...Sanitizer Razor & spare blades Sewing kit Water bottle (2+, filled) PowerBar/CliffBar/other snacks Baby Wipes Insect repellent Sunglasses Spare

The early warning application role in facing the environmental crisis and disasters: "Preliminarily risk management strategy for the greater city of Cairo"

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Ghoneem Yousef M.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Natural disasters are inevitable and it is almost impossible to fully recoup the damage caused by the disasters. But it is possible to minimize the potential risk by developing disaster early warning strategies, methods using the new technology applications which play a crucial role in efficient mitigation and management of disasters. This paper describes the importance of the remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS in evolving a suitable strategy for disaster, crises and risk management using these technologies. The main objective of this paper is to make a Preliminary risk management plan (it is a logical and systematic method of identifying, analyzing, treating and monitoring the risks involved in any activity or process. This process helps Administrations to focus on priorities and in decisions on deploying limited resources to deal with the highest risks using the Environmental risk map of the greater city of Cairo demonstrating the most high-risk administrative areas in the city, supported by field evidence and different sources of information. to reduce the loss of life and property and protect the Nation from all hazards, including natural disasters and other man-made disasters, by leading and supporting the Nation in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation. This study has shown that how can the early warning Applications can be useful in analyzing, Integrating and managing different datasets for predicting the environmental crises and disasters that may affect the urbanism inside the city and help in the preparation of the Risk management plan.

Country logistics performance and disaster impact.

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Vaillancourt, Alain; Haavisto, Ira

2016-04-01

The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the relationship between country logistics performance and disaster impact. The relationship is analysed through correlation analysis and regression models for 117 countries for the years 2007 to 2012 with disaster impact variables from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) and logistics performance indicators from the World Bank. The results show a significant relationship between country logistics performance and disaster impact overall and for five out of six specific logistic performance indicators. These specific indicators were further used to explore the relationship between country logistic performance and disaster impact for three specific disaster types (epidemic, flood and storm). The findings enhance the understanding of the role of logistics in a humanitarian context with empirical evidence of the importance of country logistics performance in disaster response operations. © 2016 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2016.

Regulating the helping hand: improving legal preparedness for cross-border disaster medicine.

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Fisher, David

2010-01-01

Medical care is a highly regulated field in nearly every country. Therefore, it is not surprising that legal issues regularly arise in cross-border disaster operations that have with the potential to profoundly impact the effectiveness of international assistance. Little attention has been paid to preparing for and addressing these kinds of issues. This paper will report on research by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on International Disaster Response Law, and discuss new developments in the international legal framework for addressing these issues. For seven years, the IFRC has studied legal issues in cross-border disaster assistance. Its activities have included several dozen case studies, a global survey of governments and humanitarian stakeholders, and a series of meetings and high-level conferences. The IFRC has found a consistent set of regulatory problems in major disaster relief operations related to the entry and regulation of international relief. These include some issues specific to the health field, such as the regulation of drug donations and the recognition of foreign medical qualifications. To address the gaps in domestic and international regulatory structures, the IFRC spearheaded the development of new international guidelines. The legal risks for international health providers in disaster settings are real and should be better integrated into program planning. Governments must become more proactive in ensuring that legal frameworks are flexible enough to mitigate these problems.

Joint System of the National Hydrometeorology for disaster prevention

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Lim, J.; Cho, K.; Lee, Y. S.; Jung, H. S.; Yoo, H. D.; Ryu, D.; Kwon, J.

2014-12-01

Hydrological disaster relief expenditure accounts for as much as 70 percent of total expenditure of disasters occurring in Korea. Since the response to and recovery of disasters are normally based on previous experiences, there have been limitations when dealing with ever-increasing localized heavy rainfall with short range in the era of climate change. Therefore, it became necessary to establish a system that can respond to a disaster in advance through the analysis and prediction of hydrometeorological information. Because a wide range of big data is essential, it cannot be done by a single agency only. That is why the three hydrometeorology-related agencies cooperated to establish a pilot (trial) system at Soemjingang basin in 2013. The three governmental agencies include the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in charge of disaster prevention and public safety, the National Geographic Information Institute (NGII under Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) in charge of geographical data, and the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) in charge of weather information. This pilot system was designed to be able to respond to disasters in advance through providing a damage prediction information for flash flood to public officers for safety part using high resolution precipitation prediction data provided by the KMA and high precision geographic data by NGII. To produce precipitation prediction data with high resolution, the KMA conducted downscaling from 25km×25km global model to 3km×3km local model and is running the local model twice a day. To maximize the utility of weather prediction information, the KMA is providing the prediction information for 7 days with 1 hour interval at Soemjingang basin to monitor and predict not only flood but also drought. As no prediction is complete without a description of its uncertainty, it is planned to continuously develop the skills to improve the uncertainty of the prediction on weather and its impact

The road less taken: modularization and waterways as a domestic disaster response mechanism.

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Donahue, Donald A; Cunnion, Stephen O; Godwin, Evelyn A

2013-01-01

Preparedness scenarios project the need for significant healthcare surge capacity. Current planning draws heavily from the military model, leveraging deployable infrastructure to augment or replace extant capabilities. This approach would likely prove inadequate in a catastrophic disaster, as the military model relies on forewarning and an extended deployment cycle. Local equipping for surge capacity is prohibitively costly while movement of equipment can be subject to a single point of failure. Translational application of maritime logistical techniques and an ancient mode of transportation can provide a robust and customizable approach to disaster relief for greater than 90 percent of the American population.

Research on Disaster Early Warning and Disaster Relief Integrated Service System Based on Block Data Theory

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Yang, J.; Zhang, H.; Wang, C.; Tang, D.

2018-04-01

With the continuous development of social economy, the interaction between mankind and nature has become increasingly evident. Disastrous global catastrophes have occurred from time to time, causing huge losses to people's lives and property. All governments recognize the importance of the establishment of disaster early warning and release mechanisms, and it is also an urgent issue to improve the comprehensive service level of emergency response and disaster relief. However, disaster early warning and emergency relief information is usually generated by different departments, and the diverse data sources, difficult integration, and limited release speed have always been difficult issues to be solved. Block data is the aggregation of various distributed (point data) and segmentation (data) big data on a specific platform and make them happen continuous polymerization effect, block data theory is a good solution to cross-sectoral, cross-platform Disaster information data sharing and integration problems. This paper attempts to discuss the integrated service mechanism of disaster information aggregation and disaster relief based on block data theory and introduces a location-based integrated service system for disaster early warning and disaster relief.

Proposal to introduce Disaster Risk Management topics in Master programs in ESAN Graduate School of Business

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CECILIA DEJO ESTEVES

Full Text Available This paper aims to explain and present a proposal to introduce Disaster Risk Management (DRM topics into ESAN Graduate School of Business Master's programs. Although disasters have cost Peru more than USD 7,600 million in the past 2 decades the business sector, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises, have not developed preventive or continuity plans mainly because they are not familiar with DRM topics. Taking this into consideration, the paper presents a detailed academic/curricular proposal for DRM topics such as business continuity, business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable management. Additionally, it introduces the idea of promoting Disaster Risk Management (DRM topics to the Peruvian business community as a strategy to enhance the graduate education.

Natural disasters and suicide: evidence from Japan.

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Matsubayashi, Tetsuya; Sawada, Yasuyuki; Ueda, Michiko

2013-04-01

Previous research shows no consensus as to whether and how natural disasters affect suicide rates in their aftermath. Using prefecture-level panel data of natural disasters and suicide in Japan between 1982 and 2010, we estimate both contemporaneous and lagged effects of natural disasters on the suicide rates of various demographic groups. We find that when the damage caused by natural disasters is extremely large, as in the case of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, suicide rates tend to increase in the immediate aftermath of the disaster and several years later. However, when the damage by natural disasters is less severe, suicide rates tend to decrease after the disasters, especially one or two years later. Thus, natural disasters affect the suicide rates of affected populations in a complicated way, depending on the severity of damages as well as on how many years have passed since the disaster. We also find that the effects of natural disasters on suicide rates vary considerably across demographic groups, which suggests that some population subgroups are more vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters than others. We then test the possibility that natural disasters enhance people's willingness to help others in society, an effect that may work as a protective factor against disaster victims' suicidal risks. We find that natural disasters increase the level of social ties in affected communities, which may mitigate some of the adverse consequence of natural disasters, resulting in a decline in suicide rates. Our findings also indicate that when natural disasters are highly destructive and disruptive, such protective features of social connectedness are unlikely to be enough to compensate for the severe negative impact of disasters on health outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Real-time Forensic Disaster Analysis

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Wenzel, F.; Daniell, J.; Khazai, B.; Mühr, B.; Kunz-Plapp, T.; Markus, M.; Vervaeck, A.

2012-04-01

The Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM, www.cedim.de) - an interdisciplinary research center founded by the German Research Centre for Geoscience (GFZ) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - has embarked on a new style of disaster research known as Forensic Disaster Analysis. The notion has been coined by the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk initiative (IRDR, www.irdrinternational.org) launched by ICSU in 2010. It has been defined as an approach to studying natural disasters that aims at uncovering the root causes of disasters through in-depth investigations that go beyond the reconnaissance reports and case studies typically conducted after disasters. In adopting this comprehensive understanding of disasters CEDIM adds a real-time component to the assessment and evaluation process. By comprehensive we mean that most if not all relevant aspects of disasters are considered and jointly analysed. This includes the impact (human, economy, and infrastructure), comparisons with recent historic events, social vulnerability, reconstruction and long-term impacts on livelihood issues. The forensic disaster analysis research mode is thus best characterized as "event-based research" through systematic investigation of critical issues arising after a disaster across various inter-related areas. The forensic approach requires (a) availability of global data bases regarding previous earthquake losses, socio-economic parameters, building stock information, etc.; (b) leveraging platforms such as the EERI clearing house, relief-web, and the many sources of local and international sources where information is organized; and (c) rapid access to critical information (e.g., crowd sourcing techniques) to improve our understanding of the complex dynamics of disasters. The main scientific questions being addressed are: What are critical factors that control loss of life, of infrastructure, and for economy? What are the critical interactions

Zonation of High Disaster Potential Communities for Remote Mountainous Areas in Southern Taiwan

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Chen, Yie-Ruey; Tsai, Kuang-Jung; Chang, Chwen-Ming; Chen, Jing-Wen; Chiang, Jie-Lun; Lu, Yi-Ching; Tsai, Hui-Wen

2017-04-01

. The greater the slope land disturbance, the more likely the scale of secondary landslide uprises. The results of the map for the zonation of high-disaster potential communities can be a useful reference for the government to plan strategies on adaptation to climate change for remote mountainous communities in southern Taiwan.

The impact of an online interprofessional course in disaster management competency and attitude towards interprofessional learning.

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Atack, Lynda; Parker, Kathryn; Rocchi, Marie; Maher, Janet; Dryden, Trish

2009-11-01

A recent national assessment of emergency planning in Canada suggests that health care professionals are not properly prepared for disasters. In response to this gap, an interprofessional course in disaster management was developed, implemented and evaluated in Toronto, Canada from 2007 to 2008. Undergraduate students from five educational institutions in nursing, medicine, paramedicine, police, media and health administration programs took an eight-week online course. The course was highly interactive and included video, a discussion forum, an online board game and opportunity to participate in a high fidelity disaster simulation with professional staff. Curriculum developers set interprofessional competency as a major course outcome and this concept guided every aspect of content and activity development. A study was conducted to examine change in students' perceptions of disaster management competency and interprofessional attitudes after the course was completed. Results indicate that the course helped students master basic disaster management content and raised their awareness of, and appreciation for, other members of the interdisciplinary team. The undergraduate curriculum must support the development of collaborative competencies and ensure learners are prepared to work in collaborative practice.

Disaster Concept at Different Educational Grades

OpenAIRE

Dikmenli, Yurdal; Gafa, İbrahim

2017-01-01

Disasters cover allthe events that damage both humans and their living environment. The disasters whichstem from nature are called natural disasters while those which stem from humankind,are called human disasters. Since humans constantly encounter such events at differenttimes, places and in different forms, it is inevitable that they will be affectedby them. Thus, one wonders what people understand the concept of disaster tobe. The aim of this study is to identify the students from all the ...

Natural disasters and human mobility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mbaye, L.; Zimmermann, K.

2016-01-01

This paper reviews the effect of natural disasters on human mobility or migration. Although there is an increase of natural disasters and migration recently and more patterns to observe, the relationship remains complex. While some authors find that disasters increase migration, others show that

Parallel Planning Mechanisms as a "Recipe for Disaster"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J van Wyk

2010-05-01

Full Text Available This note offers a critical reflection of the recent landmark decision in City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Gauteng Development Tribunal which lay to rest the negative consequences of employing the DFA procedures of the Development Facilitation Act 67 of 1995 (DFA alongside those of the provincial Ordinances to establish townships (or to use DFA parlance, “land development areas”. The welcome and timely decision in City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Gauteng Development Tribunal has declared invalid chapters V and VI of the DFA. Moreover, it has formalised planning terminology in South Africa, delineated the boundaries of “municipal planning” and “urban planning and development” as listed in Schedules 4 and 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and, in the process, clarified the structure of planning law. This note examines the decision of the SCA and focus on the role it will clearly have in reforming some of the law relating to planning. It considers the facts of the case, uncertainties around terminology, the structure of planning in South Africa, the content of municipal planning, the role of the DFA and the consequences of the declaration of invalidity by the SCA.

Disaster healthcare system management and crisis intervention leadership in Thailand--lessons learned from the 2004 Tsunami disaster.

Science.gov (United States)

Peltz, Rami; Ashkenazi, Issac; Schwartz, Dagan; Shushan, Ofer; Nakash, Guy; Leiba, Adi; Levi, Yeheskel; Goldberg, Avishay; Bar-Dayan, Yaron

2006-01-01

Quarantelli established criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of disaster management. The objectives of this study were to analyze the response of the healthcare system to the Tsunami disaster according to the Quarantelli principles, and to validate these principles in a scenario of a disaster due to natural hazards. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command Medical Department sent a research team to study the response of the Thai medical system to the disaster. The analysis of the disaster management was based on Quarantelli's 10 criteria for evaluating the management of community disasters. Data were collected through personal and group interviews. The three most important elements for effective disaster management were: (1) the flow of information; (2) overall coordination; and (3) leadership. Although pre-event preparedness was for different and smaller scenarios, medical teams repeatedly reported a better performance in hospitals that recently conducted drills. In order to increase effectiveness, disaster management response should focus on: (1) the flow of information; (2) overall coordination; and (3) leadership.

FEMA’s Preparedness for the Next Catastrophic Disaster

Science.gov (United States)

2008-03-01

made and is making significant progress. The primary problem, in our opinion, is that the planning efforts discussed above are very geocentric . For...Disaster Page 23 and cost savings. We initiated an audit in January 2008 to determine the extent to which FEMA effectively manages...11 hurricane prone states alone would cost $357 million.10 FEMA has determined through in-depth analysis that pre-positioning commodities is not

An Interprofessional Approach to Continuing Education With Mass Casualty Simulation: Planning and Execution.

Science.gov (United States)

Saber, Deborah A; Strout, Kelley; Caruso, Lisa Swanson; Ingwell-Spolan, Charlene; Koplovsky, Aiden

2017-10-01

Many natural and man-made disasters require the assistance from teams of health care professionals. Knowing that continuing education about disaster simulation training is essential to nursing students, nurses, and emergency first responders (e.g., emergency medical technicians, firefighters, police officers), a university in the northeastern United States planned and implemented an interprofessional mass casualty incident (MCI) disaster simulation using the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) management framework. The school of nursing and University Volunteer Ambulance Corps (UVAC) worked together to simulate a bus crash with disaster victim actors to provide continued education for community first responders and train nursing students on the MCI process. This article explains the simulation activity, planning process, and achieved outcomes. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2017;48(10):447-453. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Natural Disasters and Nontuberculous Mycobacteria

Science.gov (United States)

Bernhard, Jon N.; Chan, Edward D.

2015-01-01

Infectious diseases acquired by survivors of large-scale natural disasters complicate the recovery process. During events such as tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornados and well into the recovery period, victims often are exposed to water-soil mixtures that have relocated with indigenous microbes. Because nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous in water and soil, there is potential for increased exposure to these organisms during natural disasters. In this hypothesis-driven commentary, we discuss the rise in NTM lung disease and natural disasters and examine the geographic overlap of NTM infections and disaster frequencies in the United States. Moreover, we show an increased number of positive NTM cultures from Louisiana residents in the years following three of the relatively recent epic hurricanes and posit that such natural disasters may help to drive the increased number of NTM infections. Finally, we advocate for increased environmental studies and surveillance of NTM infections before and after natural disasters. PMID:25644904

Integrating Gender Issues in Recovery and Reconstruction Planning

OpenAIRE

World Bank

2011-01-01

This note on integrating gender issues in recovery and reconstruction planning is the fifth in a series of guidance notes on gender issues in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in East Asia and Pacific region. There are number of key challenges that women face in different elements of post disaster risk reconstruction and recovery. This note addresses the following bottlenecks: a) housing, lan...

Emerging trends in disaster management and the Ethiopian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Emerging trends in disaster management and the Ethiopian experience: genesis, reform and transformation. ... Journal of Business and Administrative Studies ... Key words: disaster management, drought, pre-disaster action, post-disaster action, hazards, disaster, Ethiopian disaster management system, Ethiopia.

Plastic Surgery Response in Natural Disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Chung, Susan; Zimmerman, Amanda; Gaviria, Andres; Dayicioglu, Deniz

2015-06-01

Disasters cause untold damage and are often unpredictable; however, with proper preparation, these events can be better managed. The initial response has the greatest impact on the overall success of the relief effort. A well-trained multidisciplinary network of providers is necessary to ensure coordinated care for the victims of these mass casualty disasters. As members of this network of providers, plastic surgeons have the ability to efficiently address injuries sustained in mass casualty disasters and are a valuable member of the relief effort. The skill set of plastic surgeons includes techniques that can address injuries sustained in large-scale emergencies, such as the management of soft-tissue injury, tissue viability, facial fractures, and extremity salvage. An approach to disaster relief, the types of disasters encountered, the management of injuries related to mass casualty disasters, the role of plastic surgeons in the relief effort, and resource management are discussed. In order to improve preparedness in future mass casualty disasters, plastic surgeons should receive training during residency regarding the utilization of plastic surgery knowledge in the disaster setting.

Invasive fungal infections after natural disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Benedict, Kaitlin; Park, Benjamin J

2014-03-01

The link between natural disasters and subsequent fungal infections in disaster-affected persons has been increasingly recognized. Fungal respiratory conditions associated with disasters include coccidioidomycosis, and fungi are among several organisms that can cause near-drowning pneumonia. Wound contamination with organic matter can lead to post-disaster skin and soft tissue fungal infections, notably mucormycosis. The role of climate change in the environmental growth, distribution, and dispersal mechanisms of pathogenic fungi is not fully understood; however, ongoing climate change could lead to increased disaster-associated fungal infections. Fungal infections are an often-overlooked clinical and public health issue, and increased awareness by health care providers, public health professionals, and community members regarding disaster-associated fungal infections is needed.

For establishment on nuclear disaster prevention system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2000-01-01

For increasing requirement of peoples for review of nuclear disaster countermeasure at a chance of the JCO critical accident, the Japanese Government newly established the 'Special Measure Act on Nuclear Disaster Countermeasure', which was enacted on July 16, 2000. The nuclear business relatives such as electric power company and so forth established the Business program on nuclear disaster prevention in nuclear business relatives' after their consultation with local communities at their construction, under their co-operation. Simultaneously, the electric power industry field decided to intend to provide some sufficient countermeasures to incidental formation of nuclear accident such as start of the Co-operative agreement on nuclear disaster prevention among the nuclear business relatives' and so forth. Here were described on nuclear safety and disaster prevention, nuclear disaster prevention systems at the electric power industry field, abstract on 'Business program on nuclear disaster prevention in nuclear business relatives', preparation of technical assistance system for nuclear disaster prevention, executive methods and subjects on nuclear disaster prevention at construction areas, recent business on nuclear disaster prevention at the Nuclear Technical Center, and subjects on establishment of nuclear disaster prevention system. (G.K.)

Enhancing Earth Observation and Modeling for Tsunami Disaster Response and Management

Science.gov (United States)

Koshimura, Shunichi; Post, Joachim

2017-04-01

In the aftermath of catastrophic natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, our society has experienced significant difficulties in assessing disaster impact in the limited amount of time. In recent years, the quality of satellite sensors and access to and use of satellite imagery and services has greatly improved. More and more space agencies have embraced data-sharing policies that facilitate access to archived and up-to-date imagery. Tremendous progress has been achieved through the continuous development of powerful algorithms and software packages to manage and process geospatial data and to disseminate imagery and geospatial datasets in near-real time via geo-web-services, which can be used in disaster-risk management and emergency response efforts. Satellite Earth observations now offer consistent coverage and scope to provide a synoptic overview of large areas, repeated regularly. These can be used to compare risk across different countries, day and night, in all weather conditions, and in trans-boundary areas. On the other hand, with use of modern computing power and advanced sensor networks, the great advances of real-time simulation have been achieved. The data and information derived from satellite Earth observations, integrated with in situ information and simulation modeling provides unique value and the necessary complement to socio-economic data. Emphasis also needs to be placed on ensuring space-based data and information are used in existing and planned national and local disaster risk management systems, together with other data and information sources as a way to strengthen the resilience of communities. Through the case studies of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster, we aim to discuss how earth observations and modeling, in combination with local, in situ data and information sources, can support the decision-making process before, during and after a disaster strikes.

Post-disaster resettlement, development and change: a case study of the 1990 Manjil earthquake in Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Badri, S Ali; Asgary, Ali; Eftekhari, A R; Levy, Jason

2006-12-01

Planned and involuntary resettlement after natural disasters has been a major policy in post-disaster reconstruction in developing countries over the past few decades. Studies show that resettlement can result in significant adverse impacts on the resettled population. Conversely, a well-planned and managed resettlement process can produce positive long-term development outcomes. This article presents the results of a case study undertaken 11 years after the 1990 Manjil earthquake in Iran. During the reconstruction period, a policy of involuntary planned resettlement was pursued extensively. The socioeconomic changes that occurred as a consequence of this policy of involuntary resettlement are analysed. Data were collected via a questionnaire survey that involved a sample of 194 relocated households (grouped into a settlement that later became a town). The paper shows that relocated families face difficult socioeconomic challenges after relocation and regrouping. This is especially true with respect to employment, income, the empowerment of women and lifestyle issues.

Communications infrastructure requirements for telemedicine/telehealth in the context of planning for and responding to natural disasters: Considering the need for shared regional networks

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, John Carver

1991-01-01

During the course of recent years the frequency and magnitude of major disasters - of natural, technological, or ecological origin - have made the world community dramatically aware of the immense losses of human life and economic resources that are caused regularly by such calamities. Particularly hard hit are developing countries, for whom the magnitude of disasters frequently outstrips the ability of the society to cope with them. In many cases this situation can be prevented, and the recent trend in disaster management has been to emphasize the importance of preparedness and mitigation as a means of prevention. In cases of disaster, a system is needed to respond to relief requirements, particularly the delivery of medical care. There is no generic telecommunications infrastructure appropriate for the variety of applications in medical care and disaster management. The need to integrate telemedicine/telehealth into shared regional disaster management telecommunications networks is discussed. Focus is on the development of infrastructure designed to serve the needs of disaster prone regions of the developing world.

Risk perception, trust, and factors related to a planned new nuclear power plant in Taiwan after the 2011 Fukushima disaster

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ho, Jung-Chun; Su, Chien-Tien; Chen, Ruey-yu; Chang, Hung-Lun; Ieong, Marco C F; Chang, Peter Wushou; Kao, Shu-Fen; Wang, Jung-Der; Lee, Chiao-Tzu Patricia

2013-01-01

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, an international review of nuclear safety indicated that two of the three nuclear power plants (NPPs) operating in Taiwan were listed as the most dangerous in the world. To understand the perception of NPP risks by the public in Taiwan and their attitudes regarding a planned fourth NPP after the Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011, a study was conducted in August 2011. A sample of 2819 individuals responded to the survey, with 66% perceiving that Taiwan’s safety management of NPPs was inferior to Japan’s, while 40% perceived a higher possibility of nuclear accidents like that in Japan. On average, a ‘safe’ distance of 94 km from an NPP was expected. 56% opposed the planned fourth NPP, with females (adjusted odd ratios (aOR) 2.03; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.71–2.41), residence near the planned fourth NPP (aOR/CI 13.90/7.79–24.80), distrust of safety management (aOR/CI 1.98/1.45–2.69) and emergency planning (aOR/CI 1.89/1.49–2.40) as the main determinants. Others included those who expected larger safe distances from an NPP (trend test, p < 0.001), perceived excess cancer risks of living within 30 km of an NPP (aOR/CI 2.74/2.02–3.71), and projection of no electric shortage without NPPs (aOR/CI 1.93/1.50–2.49). Given that Taiwan’s large population lives close to the existing NPPs and long-term concerns about the safety of these nuclear plants, the Fukushima incident in Japan likely augmented public risk perceptions on nuclear power in general and on the planned fourth NPP. (paper)

Information flow through the disaster circle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Egedorf, Maren Marie; Villanueva Holm-Nielsen, Pablo

The traditional view of the disaster circle is phase based. Disaster and development professionals recognize that the actions carried out in the various phases of the disaster management cycle are overlapping and build upon each other, having resilience as the overall goal. However information does...... not necessarily flow across the phases of the circle in an effective manner. This is particularly true for the information that crosses the disaster point of the circle. Organisations carry out assessments, surveys and baselines for various purposes, at various points of time in the disaster circle. Output...

The role of obstetrics and gynecology national societies during natural disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Lalonde, André; Adrien, Lauré

2015-07-01

When a natural disaster occurs, such as an earthquake, floods, or a tsunami, the international response is quick. However, there is no organized strategy in place to address obstetric and gynecological (ob/gyn) emergencies. International organizations and national ob/gyn societies do not have an organized plan and rely on the good will of volunteers. Too often, local specialists are ignored and are not involved in the response. The massive earthquake in Haiti in 2010 exemplifies the lack of coordinated response involving national organizations following the disaster. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) engaged rapidly with Haitian colleagues in response to the obstetric and gynecological emergencies. An active strategy is proposed. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Department of Defense Doctrine Should Incorporate Sixty Years of Disaster Research in Order to Realistically Plan and Effectively Execute Disaster Response

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-01

community. During Hurricane Hugo more than 90% of all homes in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands were destroyed. The situation in St. Croix prevented...recent or present disaster studies that have occurred within the United States; Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and Hurricane Hugo in St. Croix.17...particular targets as opposed to targets of opportunity.21 In the case of the Hurricane Hugo and the catastrophe that resulted in St Croix, there are

Emergency Preparedness for Disasters and Crises in the Hotel Industry

OpenAIRE

Ahmad Rasmi AlBattat; Ahmad Puad Mat Som

2013-01-01

Safety and security are the most important issues to tourist while traveling and the first aspect they consider is to be protected from hazards. Emergency planning and preparedness for a crisis are the most significant components of dealing with disasters. Hospitality practitioners noticed a rising number of natural and man-made crises that harm the hospitality industry, regarding its vulnerability to crisis and intern...

Why a disaster is not just normal business ramped up: Disaster response among ED nurses.

Science.gov (United States)

Hammad, Karen S; Arbon, Paul; Gebbie, Kristine; Hutton, Alison

2017-11-15

The emergency department (ED) is a familiar place for the emergency nurse who spends their working days inside it. A disaster threatens that familiarity and creates changes that make working in the ED during a disaster response different from the everyday experience of working in the ED. This research reports on an aspect of the findings from a larger study about the experience of working as a nurse in the ED during a disaster response. Thirteen nurses from 8 different countries were interviewed about their experience. The findings from this research demonstrate that a disaster event leads to a chain reaction of changes in process, space and practice. Nurses' respond to the news of a disaster event with shock and disbelief. The ED may change as a result of the event requiring nurses to work in an altered environment or a completely different setting. These changes provoke nurses to alter their behaviour and practice and reflect on the experience after the response. Emergency nurses have a high likelihood of participating in disaster response and as such should be adequately prepared. This highlights how disaster response is different and leads to recommendations to enhance training for emergency nurses which will better prepare them Disasterresponse is not normal business ramped up. There are a number of challenges and changes that should be considered when preparing emergency nurses for the realities of disaster response. Copyright © 2017 College of Emergency Nursing Australasia. All rights reserved.

Disaster medicine. Mental care

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haginoya, Masato; Shimoda, Kazutaka

2012-01-01

Described are 5 essential comments of view concerning the post-disaster psychiatric care through authors' experience at the aid of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami including Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident. Firstly, at the acute phase of disaster, the ensured safe place, sleep and rest are necessary as a direct aid of sufferers and their family. Insomnia is seen in many of them and can partly be a prodrome of disorders like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). US Psychological First Aid (PFA) is useful for a guide of the initial aid for disaster, and translated Japanese version is available free. Public anxiety as a psychological effect can be caused even out of the disaster-stricken area by such factors as on-site news reports (inducing identification), internet information, economical and social confusion, forecasted radiation hazard, etc. Cool-headed understanding is required for them and particularly for complicated radiological information. The system for psychiatric treatment is needed as exemplified by its temporary lack due to the radiation disaster near the Plant and consequent prompt dispatch of psychiatrists from Dokkyo Medical University. Survived sufferers' grief and bereavement are said to tend to last long, to be complicated and deteriorated, indicating the necessity of management of continuous mental health. Alcoholism as a result to avoid those feelings should be noted. Finally, pointed out is the mental care for supporters working for recovery from the disaster, like policeman, Self-Defense Force member, fireman, doctor, nurse, officer, volunteer and many others concerned, because PTSD prevalence is reported to amount to 12.4% of rescue and recovery workers of US World Trade Center Disaster (9.11) even 2-3 years after. (T.T.)

Update on Activities of CEOS Disaster Management Support Group

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, H. M.; Lauritson, L.

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Disaster Management Support Group (DMSG) has supported natural and technological disaster management on a worldwide basis by fostering improved utilization of existing and planned Earth Observation (EO) satellite data. The DMSG has focused on developing and refining recommendations for the application of satellite data to selected hazard areas--drought, earthquake, fire, flood, ice, landslide, oil spill, and volcanic hazards. Particular emphasis was placed on working closely with space agencies, international and regional organizations, and commercial organizations on the implementation of these recommendations. The DMSG is in its last year with its primary focus on documenting its work and migrating on going activities to other fora. With over 300 participants from more than 140 organizations, the DMSG has found strong support among CEOS space agencies and the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS), as well as an enthusiastic reception from numerous international, regional, and national emergency managers, and distinct interest from the commercial sector. In addition, the group has worked to give full support to the work of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in pursuit of decisions taken at UNISPACE III and the United Nations International Strategy on Disaster Reduction (ISDR). In conjunction with the IGOS, several of the DMSG hazards teams (earthquake, landslide, and solid Earth dimensions of volcanoes) are joining in the effort to develop an IGOS Geohazards theme team. Cooperation efforts with organizations such as IGOS, COPUOS, and ISDR will hopefully lead to the pick up of much of the on going DMSG activities. Since the inception of this ad hoc working group and its predecessor project, the DMSG has developed and refined recommendations for the application of satellite data by bringing together experts from eight hazard areas to identify user needs, as well as

Natural Disasters (Environmental Health Student Portal)

Science.gov (United States)

... be prepared. Games and Activities Stop Disasters (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) - Online game to learn how to stop various disasters ... | Accessibility Videos and Players Contact Us: tehip@teh.nlm.nih. ...

76 FR 5647 - Pennsylvania Disaster #PA-00036

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-01

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 12449 and 12450] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated 01/25/2011. Incident... the disaster: Primary Counties: Philadelphia. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania: Bucks, Delaware...

Measuring vulnerability to disaster displacement

Science.gov (United States)

Brink, Susan A.; Khazai, Bijan; Power, Christopher; Wenzel, Friedemann

2015-04-01

Large scale disasters can cause devastating impacts in terms of population displacement. Between 2008 and 2013, on average 27 million people were displaced annually by disasters (Yonetani 2014). After large events such as hurricane Katrina or the Port-au-Prince earthquake, images of inadequate public shelter and concerns about large scale and often inequitable migration have been broadcast around the world. Population displacement can often be one of the most devastating and visible impacts of a natural disaster. Despite the importance of population displacement in disaster events, measures to understand the socio-economic vulnerability of a community often use broad metrics to estimate the total socio-economic risk of an event rather than focusing on the specific impacts that a community faces in a disaster. Population displacement is complex and multi-causal with the physical impact of a disaster interacting with vulnerability arising from the response, environmental issues (e.g., weather), cultural concerns (e.g., expectations of adequate shelter), and many individual factors (e.g., mobility, risk perception). In addition to the complexity of the causes, population displacement is difficult to measure because of the wide variety of different terms and definitions and its multi-dimensional nature. When we speak of severe population displacement, we may refer to a large number of displaced people, an extended length of displacement or associated difficulties such as poor shelter quality, risk of violence and crime in shelter communities, discrimination in aid, a lack of access to employment or other difficulties that can be associated with large scale population displacement. We have completed a thorough review of the literature on disaster population displacement. Research has been conducted on historic events to understand the types of negative impacts associated with population displacement and also the vulnerability of different groups to these impacts. We

Imagery for Disaster Response and Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Bethel, G. R.

2011-12-01

Exposing the remotely sensed imagery for disaster response and recovery can provide the basis for an unbiased understanding of current conditions. Having created consolidated remotely sensed and geospatial data sources documents for US and Foreign disasters over the past six years, availability and usability are continuing to evolve. By documenting all existing sources of imagery and value added products, the disaster response and recovery community can develop actionable information. The past two years have provided unique situations to use imagery including a major humanitarian disaster and response effort in Haiti, a major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a killer tornado in Joplin Missouri and long-term flooding in the Midwest. Each disaster presents different challenges and requires different spatial resolutions, spectral properties and/or multi-temporal collections. The community of data providers continues to expand with organized actives such as the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters and acquisitions by the private sector for the public good rather than for profit. However, data licensing, the lack of cross-calibration and inconsistent georeferencing hinder optimal use. Recent pre-event imagery is a critial component to any disaster response.

A Robust Programming Approach to Bi-objective Optimization Model in the Disaster Relief Logistics Response Phase

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohsen Saffarian

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Accidents and natural disasters and crises coming out of them indicate the importance of an integrated planning to reduce their effected. Therefore, disaster relief logistics is one of the main activities in disaster management. In this paper, we study the response phase of the disaster management cycle and a bi-objective model has been developed for relief chain logistic in uncertainty condition including uncertainty in traveling time an also amount of demand in damaged areas. The proposed mathematical model has two objective functions. The first one is to minimize the sum of arrival times to damaged area multiplying by amount of demand and the second objective function is to maximize the minimum ratio of satisfied demands in total period in order to fairness in the distribution of goods. In the proposed model, the problem has been considered periodically and in order to solve the mathematical model, Global Criterion method has been used and a case study has been done at South Khorasan.

Geomorphology and spatial planning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matija Zorn

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Applicability of geomorphological knowledge for prevention against some natural disasters, also known as geomorphological disasters, is presented. Some home and foreign experience of applicability of this knowledge are introduced. It is known that the ratio between means put into sanitation of, for example, landslides and savings with prevention measures, are from 1:10 to 1:2.000. The use of geomorpholgical knowledge and corresponding cartographic works in Slovene spatial planning legislation is defined, but it is not carried out consistently. We recommend municipalities and spatial planners that they should also take in account geomorphic processes and characteristic of the relief.

76 FR 30749 - Pennsylvania Disaster #PA-00038

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-26

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 12594 and 12595] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated 05/18/2011. Incident... disaster: Primary Counties: Cumberland. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania: Adams, Dauphin, Franklin, Perry...

75 FR 71486 - Pennsylvania Disaster # PA-00035

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-23

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 12389 and 12390] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated 11/15/2010. Incident: Severe... the disaster: Primary Counties: Delaware. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania: Chester, Montgomery...

77 FR 60004 - Pennsylvania Disaster #PA-00053

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-01

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 13307 and 13308] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated 09/21/2012. Incident... adversely affected by the disaster: Primary Counties: Centre. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania: Blair...

77 FR 65044 - Pennsylvania Disaster #PA-00054

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-24

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 13346 and 13347] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated 10/18/2012. Incident... adversely affected by the disaster: Primary Counties: Montgomery. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania: Berks...

75 FR 2165 - Pennsylvania Disaster #PA-00030

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-14

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 12002 and 12003] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated 01/07/2010. Incident... adversely affected by the disaster: Primary Counties: Centre. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania: Blair...

78 FR 47814 - Pennsylvania Disaster # PA-00059

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-06

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 13676 and 13677] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of PENNSYLVANIA dated 07/29/2013. Incident: Severe... adversely affected by the disaster: Primary Counties: Allegheny. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania...

78 FR 60366 - Pennsylvania Disaster #PA-00064

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-01

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Disaster Declaration 13777 and 13778] Pennsylvania Disaster PA... Administrative declaration of a disaster for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated 09/24/2013. Incident: Storms... adversely affected by the disaster: Primary Counties: Armstrong. Contiguous Counties: Pennsylvania...

Longitudinal course of disaster-related PTSD among a prospective sample of adult Chilean natural disaster survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Cristina A; Vicente, Benjamin; Marshall, Brandon Dl; Koenen, Karestan C; Arheart, Kristopher L; Kohn, Robert; Saldivia, Sandra; Buka, Stephen L

2017-04-01

With an increasing number of individuals surviving natural disasters, it is crucial to understand who is most at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The objective of this study was to prospectively examine the role that pre-existing psychopathology plays in developing PTSD after a disaster. This study uses data from a prospective 5-wave longitudinal cohort (years 2003-11) of Chilean adults from 10 health centres ( N  = 1708). At baseline, participants completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), a comprehensive psychiatric diagnostic instrument. In 2010, the sixth most powerful earthquake on record struck Chile. One year later, a modified version of the PTSD module of the CIDI was administered. Marginal structural logistic regressions with inverse probability censoring weights were constructed to identify pre-disaster psychiatric predictors of post-disaster PTSD. The majority of participants were female (75.9%) and had a high-school/college education (66.9%). After controlling for pre-disaster PTSD, pre-existing dysthymia [odds ratio (OR) = 2.21; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.39-3.52], brief psychotic disorder (OR = 2.67; 95% CI = 1.21-5.90), anxiety disorders (not including PTSD; OR = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.27-1.76), panic disorder (OR = 2.46; 95% CI = 1.37-4.42), agoraphobia (OR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.22-4.10), social phobia (OR = 1.86; 95% CI = 1.06-3.29), specific phobia (OR = 2.07; 95% CI = 1.50-2.86) and hypochondriasis (OR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.05-4.18) were predictors of post-disaster PTSD. After controlling for pre-disaster anxiety disorders, dysthymia, and non-affective psychotic disorders, individuals with pre-disaster PTSD (vs those without pre-disaster PTSD) had higher odds of developing post-disaster PTSD (OR = 2.53; 95% CI = 1.37-4.65). This is the first Chilean study to demonstrate prospectively that pre-disaster psychiatric disorders

HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE IN RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS

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Eny Sulistyaningrum

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Natural disasters have increased in their frequency, and the intensity of their destruction over the last ten years in Indonesia. Households usually respond to these difficulties by cutting their consump-tion, especially for non-essential goods. Arguably natural disasters are exogenous events, so this paper uses the exogenous variation from natural disasters as a natural experiment design to estimate the effect of disasters on household expenditure. When a certain group is exposed to the causal variable of interest, such as a disaster, and other groups are not, the Difference In Difference model (DID can be used for estimation. Using a micro level survey data set from the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS which covers approximately 83 percent of the Indonesian population within the survey area, this paper examines the effects of natural disasters on household expenditure. This paper also examines whether there are any different impacts from different types of disasters. The finding is there are no significant effects of disasters on total household expenditure for households living in disaster regions, whether they are affected directly or not by the disaster.

Children's Cognitive Functioning in Disasters and Terrorism.