Disaster risk,social vulnerability,and economic development

This paper examines the extent to which economic development decreases a country's risk of experiencing climate‐related disasters as well as the societal impacts of those events. The paper proceeds from the underlying assumption that disasters are not inherently natural, but arise from the intersection of naturally‐occurring hazards within fragile environments. It uses data from the International Disaster Database (EM‐DAT), 1 representing country‐year‐level observations over the period 1980–2007. The study finds that low‐income countries are significantly more at risk of climate‐related disasters, even after controlling for exposure to climate hazards and other factors that may confound disaster reporting. Following the occurrence of a disaster, higher income generally diminishes a country's social vulnerability to such happenings, resulting in lower levels of mortality and morbidity. This implies that continued economic development may be a powerful tool for lessening social vulnerability to climate change.     

Friends and family vs. government: who does the public rely on more to prepare for natural disasters?

This paper examines what organizations and groups individuals rely on to help prepare for natural disasters and how reliance differs vis-à-vis demographic characteristics. Using data gathered from 2,008 individuals employed in the United States, the results revealed that individuals are significantly more likely to rely on friends and family than government organizations at the local, state, and federal level. The findings also suggest that this reliance varies across demographic groups. For example, data from the present study suggest that women and minority groups as well as individuals who are older and less educated are significantly more likely to rely on organizations to help prepare for natural disasters. This study contributes to the disaster management and risk communication literatures by offering key insights into the organizations and groups the American public in general, and certain demographic groups in particular, rely on when it comes to preparing for natural disasters. Knowledge about the organizations and groups that individuals rely on to help prepare for natural disasters can help policymakers and practitioners target those organizations as conduits to deliver critical preparedness information, as well as other information related to disaster mitigation, response, and recovery.     

The orientation of disaster donations: differences in the global response to five major earthquakes

This study analyses the influence of gift giving, geographical location, political regime, and trade openness on disaster donation decisions, using five severe earthquakes that occurred between 2008 and 2012 as case studies. The results show that global disaster donation is not dominated by only philanthropy or trade interests, and that the determinants of donation decisions vary with the scale of the natural disaster and the characteristics of the disaster‐affected countries. While gift giving exists in the case of middle‐size earthquakes, political regimes play a very important part in the overall donation process. Countries with higher perceived corruption may donate more frequently, but those that are more democratic may be more generous in their donations. Generosity based on geographical proximity to the calamity is significant in the decision‐making process for most natural disasters, yet it may have a negative effect on donations in Latin America and the Caribbean.     

Time in a bottle: challenges to disaster studies in Latin America and the Caribbean

LA RED (Network of Social Studies on the Prevention of Disasters in Latin America) has become the most influential group analysing disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its contributions have paved the way for a new way of understanding disasters, disaster risk, and their management, concerning: (i) that disasters are not natural, but socially constructed; (ii) the inherent nexus between disaster risk, development, and the environment; (iii) the significance of small‐ and medium‐sized disasters and extensive and intensive risks; (iv) disaster risk management at the local level; and (v) integrated disaster risk research and the need for forensic investigations of disasters. As a result of this unification of challenges, intellectual communities of connected individuals were formed. Nonetheless, a focus on territorial management, exposure, and vulnerability remains a challenge for academia. In addition, the labyrinths of disaster risk governance must be disentangled by other stakeholders, such as national authorities, policymakers, and practitioners.     

Analysing news media coverage of the 2015 Nepal earthquake using a community capitals lens: implications for disaster resilience

South Asia is one of the regions of the world most vulnerable to natural disasters. Although news media analyses of disasters have been conducted frequently in various settings globally, there is little research on populous South Asia. This paper begins to fill this gap by evaluating local and foreign news media coverage of the earthquake in Nepal on 25 April 2015. It broadens the examination of news media coverage of disaster response beyond traditional framing theory, utilising community capitals (built, cultural, financial, human, natural, political, and social) lens to perform a thematic content analysis of 405 news items. Overall, financial and natural capital received the most and the least emphasis respectively. Statistically significant differences between local and foreign news media were detected vis‐à‐vis built, financial, and political capital. The paper concludes with a discussion of the social utility of news media analysis using the community capitals framework to inform disaster resilience.     

Household self‐blame for disasters: responsibilisation and (un)accountability in decentralised participatory risk governance

The most important theoretical argument concerning decentralised participatory governance is that it can make a government more accountable for the needs of the governed. Key to this process are participatory spaces that act as mechanisms for dialogue between citizens and local government. However, within Cochabamba, a city in the centre of Bolivia, South America, ‘at‐risk’ citizens engage minimally with disaster risk issues in participatory spaces, despite high levels of civic participation. This is because ‘at‐risk’ populations view disasters as a private/household problem that is symptomatic of household error, rather than seeing them as a broader public problem due to wider structural inequalities. Consequently, they redistribute responsibility for disaster risk reduction towards households, which (re)produces the absolution of government authorities as guarantors of disaster risk reduction. This paper challenges the normative assumption that participatory spaces facilitate democratic deliberation of disaster risk reduction and the downward accountability of local government for disaster risk reduction.     

Insuring against earthquakes: simulating the cost‐effectiveness of disaster preparedness

Ex‐ante measures to improve risk preparedness for natural disasters are generally considered to be more effective than ex‐post measures. Nevertheless, most resources are allocated after an event in geographical areas that are vulnerable to natural disasters. This paper analyses the cost‐effectiveness of ex‐ante adaptation measures in the wake of earthquakes and provides an assessment of the future role of private and public agencies in disaster risk management. The study uses a simulation model approach to evaluate consumption losses after earthquakes under different scenarios of intervention. Particular attention is given to the role of activity diversification measures in enhancing disaster preparedness and the contributions of (targeted) microcredit and education programmes for reconstruction following a disaster. Whereas the former measures are far more cost‐effective, missing markets and perverse incentives tend to make ex‐post measures a preferred option, thus occasioning underinvestment in ex‐ante adaptation initiatives.     

A case study of social behaviour in a natural disaster: the olivares landslide (Spain)

The modern sociological literature on disasters highlights the fact that many of the ideas about human behaviour in disasters which were long considered as valid, are wrong. The main discovery is based on the fact that situations of crisis increase people's moral principles and capability of response. This paper illustrates some of these ideas, in a case study of a village which was struck by a natural disaster in the north of Granada (Spain) in 1986. The population's attitude revealed a huge potential of resources that were underestimated by professionals of disaster management. The analysis shows that it is necessary to bring civil protection systems and the population's capability of response into close harmony.     

General overview of the disaster management framework in Cameroon

Efficient and effective disaster management will prevent many hazardous events from becoming disasters. This paper constitutes the most comprehensive document on the natural disaster management framework of Cameroon. It reviews critically disaster management in Cameroon, examining the various legislative, institutional, and administrative frameworks that help to facilitate the process. Furthermore, it illuminates the vital role that disaster managers at the national, regional, and local level play to ease the process. Using empirical data, the study analyses the efficiency and effectiveness of the actions of disaster managers. Its findings reveal inadequate disaster management policies, poor coordination between disaster management institutions at the national level, the lack of trained disaster managers, a skewed disaster management system, and a top‐down hierarchical structure within Cameroon's disaster management framework. By scrutinising the disaster management framework of the country, policy recommendations based on the research findings are made on the institutional and administrative frameworks.     

新疆主要自然灾害及其减灾策略

新疆是一个自然灾害较多的地区,地震灾害、地质灾害、气象灾害、洪水灾害都比较频繁。本文在概述、分析上述灾害的基础上,提出了减轻自然灾害的策略。     

Disasters and development in agricultural input markets: bean seed markets in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch

The bulk of developing countries' populations and poor depend on agriculture for food and income. While rural economies and people are generally the most severely affected by natural disasters, little is known about how disasters and subsequent relief activities affect agricultural markets with differing levels of development. The article addresses this gap, drawing evidence from bean seed markets in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch. Case studies are used to address hypotheses about a disaster's effects on supply and demand in seed markets, farmers' responses and the performance of relief interventions in markets showing differing levels of development. The results show the importance of tailoring relief interventions to the markets that they will affect and to the specific effects of a disaster; the potential to use local and emerging seed distribution channels in a relief intervention; and opportunities for relief activities to strengthen community seed systems.     

无人机在重大自然灾害中的应用与探讨

重大自然灾害往往会造成重灾区信息通讯中断和道路交通破坏,灾情传递受阻将导致抢险救灾盲目部署,继而造成更大的损失和次生灾害。因此,获取灾情成为重大自然灾害抢险救灾的首要问题。无人驾驶飞机(简称无人机)是一种新工具,能够越过山川河流阻隔,通过摄影、摄像或其他遥感手段获取灾情。通过在北川县曲山镇等地震灾区进行无人机获取灾害信息实验,在2010年玉树地震抢险救灾工作中实现了高原灾区无人机首次航拍,获取的高清图片为划分灾区范围提供了重要依据。鉴于上述实践和探索,介绍了无人机性能和影响无人机摄影的诸多因素,如天气条件、无人机航带航迹和高度、航片重叠率、图片拼接及校正等,对相机与地面影像分辨率的关系进行了介绍,还通过航拍图片和地面图片比对,总结出建筑物倒塌破坏识别的基本要则。     

Humanitarianism and Local Service Institutions in Angola

The role of local service institutions is not a major focus of current discourse on humanitarianism and complex emergencies. These institutions, in the few places where they are mentioned, are usually presented as either the seed of civil society and future democracy, or as pawns and components of the predatory economic, political and military élites. Few would deny that examples can be found which conform to both of these stereotypes. This simplistic representation of local institutions ignores the perspectives of the actors themselves — the nurses, extension agents, school teachers and others who actually staff most NGO-supported projects. The debate has focused on what ‘we’ should do; the moral dilemmas of aid agencies and their expatriate staff, inevitably leading to the question of whether or not humanitarian workers should stay or leave situations in which aid may be causing more harm than good. Without denying the fundamental importance of these issues, it is important to consider also how the discourse has unfortunately moved away from those humanitarian workers who have no such choice, since they live there. Current concerns about keeping humanitarian aid from feeding local political and military struggles may inadvertently and paradoxically serve to constrain room for man?uvre in the field, particularly among those individuals with the greatest tacit understanding of the predatory environment. There is a need to understand how actors in local service institutions make sense of their own situations, including the factors which frame their moral dilemmas and their day-to-day choices. By analysing the organisational processes within local service institutions, this study is intended to provoke consideration of how these individuals and their institutions may be effectively supported in complex emergencies through a focus on how they themselves deal with danger and complexity. It is suggested that there is a value in considering the lessons learnt in recent years about how service organisations in the North function in turbulent environments. This experience points to the importance of allowing workers the discretion to develop a relationship with their clients, and in so doing make sense of a confusing and ambivalent environment.     

Fiji's worst natural disaster: the 1931 hurricane and flood

At least 225 people in the Fiji Islands died as a result of the 1931 hurricane and flood, representing the largest loss of life from a natural disaster in Fiji's recent history. This paper explores the causes of disaster and the potential for recurrence. The disaster occurred because a rare event surprised hundreds of people—especially recently settled Indian farmers—occupying highly exposed floodplains in north‐west Viti Levu island. The likelihood of a flood disaster of such proportions occurring today has been diminished by changed settlement patterns and building materials; however, a trend towards re‐occupancy of floodplains, sometimes in fragile dwellings, is exposing new generations to flood risks. The contribution of this paper to the global hazards literature is set out in three sections: the ethnicity, gender and age of flood fatalities; the naturalness of disasters; and the merit of choice and constraint as explanations for patterns of vulnerability.     

中国自然灾害灾情统计现状及展望

自然灾害灾情统计是灾害评估、应急救助、灾后恢复重建等工作的基础。本文从我国自然灾害灾情统计的现状出发，认为灾种界定不清、统计内容不规范、尚未建立高效的灾情上报系统是我国灾情统计工作中存在的几大问题。建立规范的灾情统计标准和对重大自然灾害事件的统计制度、建立灾情统计的评估方法、提高基层灾情统计人员素质等，是推动我国灾情统计工作快速发展的主要途径。     

火山喷发的气体灾害

火山喷发是一种壮观的自然景象，其喷发类型多种多样。火山喷发不仅可以改变地貌，带来一些矿产资源，更多的是给自然界带来灾害。火山喷发一般都同时喷出气体，强火山喷发巨量的气体喷入空中，会给全球气候和环境造成极大的灾害。     

The cultural politics of mining and natural disaster in Indonesia: by fire and sword

Natural disasters are inevitably the outcome of cultural agonisms. The cultural politics of natural disasters are shaped by competing claims and conceptions of ‘nature’. Recent disasters in Indonesia are directly linked to these contending conceptions and the ways in which different social groups imagine risk and reward. The Sidoarjo volcanic mudflow of 2006 represents a volatile and violent exemplar of contending cultural and economic claims. Like other disasters in Indonesia and elsewhere in the developing world, this ‘natural’ disaster is characterised by differing conceptions of ‘nature’ as cultural tradition, divine force, and natural resource. A new extractive project in East Java is exhibiting similar economic and cultural agonisms, particularly around the notion of development, environment, self‐determination, and tradition. This paper examines the ‘disputes over meaning’ associated with natural disasters in contemporary societies, and the ways in which they are related to human culture, social organisation, and hierarchical systems of violence.     

西南地区的大气灾害及其时空变化规律

本地区为季风型、山地型和中纬多灾型的混合型多灾区，有七类３２种大气灾害、五类２８种大气灾链。在本区，受灾的面积和人口、死人、经济损失和灾种之最，皆推大气灾害，尤以旱灾类最重，其次是暴雨类。从主导的灾害类型、类、种的角度，将本地区划分成２大区、９区、１２亚区和５小区。近５００年来，大旱、大涝平均每２２．２年发生一次。     

对灾害研究中几个问题的思考

对灾害研究中有关的几个问题进行了探讨。认为： 灾害学是最重要的自然社会科学; 人文灾害比自然灾害更具毁灭性; 研究人文灾害中的公路交通事故、核战争问题、人口问题、环境污染问题等具有重要的现实意义和深远的历史意义。     

Is the environment becoming more hazardous?—A global survey 1947 to 1980

This paper examines the assertion that natural disasters are increasingly destructive using evidence from disaster reports during the period 1947–1980. The criteria for judging the impact of a given natural disaster are chiefly loss of life and the extent of the geographical area affected. In spite of uneveness and bias in the reporting of sudden impact disasters the conclusions are that both the frequency of disasters and number of people killed are increasing. Further research into the social consequences of disasters and the need for disaster preparedness training programmes are recommended.