Earthquake survivors' quality of life and academic achievement six years after the earthquakes in Marmara, Turkey

This study investigates the quality of life (QOL) and academic achievement of earthquake survivors six years after the earthquakes in Marmara, Turkey. Data were collected from 407 Turkish university students. Of these, 201 were earthquake survivors and 206 had not been exposed to an earthquake. The Turkish adaptation of the brief version of the World Health Organisation's QOL instrument (WHOQOL-BREF, TR) was used to measure QOL. The results reveal that the earthquake survivors' psychological and environmental domains of QOL and academic achievement were significantly lower than those of individuals not exposed to an earthquake. The results also highlight the risk factors that affect the QOL of the earthquake survivors significantly. These are their gender, their age at the time of earthquake and the continued existence of financial difficulties linked to the earthquakes.     

Superstorm Sandy and voter vulnerability in the 2012 US Presidential Election: a case study of New Jersey and Connecticut

Superstorm Sandy was an unprecedented meteorological event that devastated the Caribbean and the Northeastern Coast of the USA in October 2012. While many research efforts will focus on the atmospheric conditions that led to the creation and unusual track of the storm, this study evaluates the impact of Sandy on voter turnout in the 2012 US Presidential Election. The goals of this paper are to (1) determine if any alterations in voter turnout occurred, (2) assess the extent to which Sandy was responsible for any voter turnout changes and (3) investigate if the influence of Sandy on voter turnout was contingent upon social vulnerability. To accomplish these goals, voter turnout change between the 2008 and 2012 US Presidential Elections was analysed at the county and municipal level for both New Jersey and Connecticut. The notable decreases in voter turnout discovered in both states were likely due to the election occurring in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. The correlation, spatial clustering analysis, analysis of variance and multiple regression results all suggest that storm surge was more likely to be responsible for reduced voter turnout in New Jersey than in Connecticut. Specifically in New Jersey, the findings indicate that storm surge coverage, rather than height, was influential in reducing voter turnout and that this relationship was contingent upon the racial composition of the municipalities. Overall, understanding how Sandy affected voter turnout will help improve the resiliency of electoral systems to future natural disasters.     

The inside story: timeline of events and communication leading up to superstorm sandy from the emergency manager perspective

During impending storms, emergency managers (EMs) are tasked with various decisions and challenges, particularly whether to issue evacuation orders for their area. This study aims to understand the timeline of decisions made and actions taken leading up to Superstorm Sandy’s landfall from the EM perspective. A total of 23 in-depth interviews was conducted in New Jersey and New York. All municipal EMs interviewed first heard about what would become Superstorm Sandy between one and two weeks prior to landfall. From then on, municipal EMs monitored the storm using a variety of sources. The communication and information trail is top-down, starting with higher EM levels (i.e. federal and state) and ending with municipal, or local, EMs. Typically, voluntary evacuation orders were issued on Friday or Saturday, while mandatory evacuation orders began being issued on Saturday, two days before landfall, and continued until the day of landfall. Who issued the various evacuation orders depended on location. In New York City, the Mayor has full control of whether an evacuation is ordered, while in New Jersey, the local EMs generally have the authority. Understanding the timeline of decisions is the first step into fully assessing the EM process during events such as Sandy.     

‘You fix my community,you have fixed my life’: the disruption and rebuilding of ontological security in New Orleans

Using the concept of ontological security, this paper examines the physical and psychological loss of home and community following Hurricane Katrina. This qualitative longitudinal study includes 40 heads of households with school‐age children who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Participants describe a breakdown in their social fabric at the individual and structural/community levels that contributes to a sense of community loss and social displacement, disrupting their ontological security—their notion of safety, routine and trust in a stable environment. Three interrelated reactions were common: 1) experiencing nostalgia for their old neighbourhoods specifically and New Orleans in general; 2) experiencing a sense of loss of people and things that represented a level of security or constancy; 3) initiation of a process for re‐establishing ontological security whether or not they returned to New Orleans. The paper concludes that intangible losses have an important psychological effect on community redevelopment and recovery from trauma.     

浅析灾害间接经济损失评估的重要性

灾害损失评估是灾害风险管理、科学防灾减灾规划的基础。除了直接经济损失外,间接经济损失是反映灾害影响强度及社会经济系统脆弱性的重要指标。经济越发达,经济系统关联程度越高,经济系统的脆弱性就越大,灾害间接经济影响也越大。已有研究表明,灾害间接经济损失往往与直接经济损失为同一量级,甚至是直接经济损失的数倍。间接经济损失评估是科学评价灾害影响不可或缺的组成部分,其中,产业部门间接经济损失和灾后恢复重建期的评估,可以为灾后恢复重建决策和防灾减灾规划提供有效的决策工具。政府决策者、学术界应重视灾害,特别是重大灾害(或巨灾)对地区经济长期可持续发展可能造成的影响,从而为减轻灾害的影响做好充分准备。     

航空遥感的震害快速评估与救灾决策

根据邢台、海城、唐山、澜沧－耿马等震例的震害航空遥感信息建立的震害损失快速评估模型与技术系统，具有良好的应用效果，但是影响震害损失状态的因素甚多，使用时应注意区域的适用性和修订相应的常数。另外，还将自然科学与管理学综合为一体，总结了九种震害状态、九种救灾类型的决策系统，以供救灾实践的参考。     

灾害对国民经济影响的定量分析模型及其应用

自然灾害对国民经济和人民生活能造成巨大的损失 ,因此 ,研究灾害对国民经济的影响具有重要的意义。灾害系统是一个十分复杂的系统 ,直接建立灾害对国民经济影响的定量分析模型比较困难。本文基于投入产出方法 ,讨论了直接和间接经济损失在投入 -产出表中的表达方式 ,建立了灾害损失评估的定量分析模型 ,并以农业为例 ,分析了自然灾害造成的农业总产值损失对整个经济系统的影响。     

自然灾害损失评估指标体系的研究

本文从自然灾害的社会属性和自然属性出发,对自然灾害损失评估的工作准则、评估指标和方法进行了探索.在自然灾害损失绝对值度量指标——灾度的基础上,进一步提出了标度自然灾害损失的相对量指标——灾损率的概念,并建立了灾损率的等级划分标准,同时还讨论了自然灾害损失的可比价值换算问题。灾度和灾损率概念的确立,使自然灾害对社会财富的损失程度有了较为科学的、定量化的等级描述.灾度和灾损率的概念应用于灾害强度描述、救灾投入、灾害保险、减灾工作评价等方面具有重要的意义。     

Academic publishing in disaster risk reduction: past,present, and future

Nowadays there are approximately 80 Anglophone journals that deal primarily with disaster risk reduction (DRR) and allied fields. This large array signals a sustained, if uneven, growth in DRR scholarship but also competition between the offerings of different publishers and institutions. The purpose of this article is first to summarise the development of academic publishing on DRR from its early beginnings to the present day. The paper then evaluates the current state of publishing in this field and discusses possible future trends. Next, it identifies some possible opportunities, challenges, expectations, and commitments for journal editors both within DRR and academia more broadly, including those that refer to changes in the use of terminology, the relentless increase in the number of papers submitted, the expansion and dangers of predatory journals, different peer review models, open access versus paywalls, citations and bibliography metrics, academic social networks, and copyright and distribution issues.     

The social impact of natural hazards: a multi‐level analysis of disasters and forms of trust in mainland China

This study aimed to assess the multi‐level effects of natural hazards on trust in Chinese society. Drawing on the Chinese General Social Survey conducted in 2012 and provincial disaster damage records, it examined the association between individuals’ past experiences of disasters and province‐level damage (measured by the number of affected people, deaths, and economic loss) and various forms of trust: in‐group; out‐group; generalised; and political. The findings indicate that Chinese individuals with experience of disasters have higher levels of out‐group trust but lower levels of political trust. Similarly, at the province level, damage owing to disasters over the past three years (2009–11) positively impacted on residents’ out‐group trust while negatively affecting their political trust. However, when provincial damage was aggregated for disasters over the past five years (2007–11), which included the devastating Sichuan earthquake on 12 May 2008, only total deaths had a positive effect on generalised trust.     

Attitudes towards relocation following Hurricane Sandy: should we stay or should we go?

This study explores the dilemma of whether to rebuild or relocate from the areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Since disasters represent the discernible manifestation of other complex coastal hazards, they offer a window of opportunity to engage residents in the dialogue on relocation as sometimes the most effective risk reduction strategy. The following research evaluates attitudes towards relocation and willingness to consider buyout among 46 surveyed households located in highly‐affected communities five months after Sandy. It also gauges perceptions of coastal risks and recovery concerns as drivers of relocation, the level of support for different adaptation strategies, and preferences related to the relocation process itself on how and where to relocate and with what type of assistance. Responses indicate that, even though residents prefer structural solutions to address coastal hazards, they are not fully opposed to the possibility of relocation mostly for personal health and safety reasons.     

中国沙漠化灾害现状及其趋势分析

沙漠化灾害是危及我国广大干旱半干旱及部分半湿润地区持续发展的重大灾种之一。我国现有沙漠化土地２０．１万ｋｍ＾３，造成的年直接经济损失１７．４－２０．４亿元。年总损失达７８３－９１８亿元，受危害的２１２个县（旗、市）的沙漠化灾害程度分别是１３４个轻度、５４个中度和２４个重度，随着沙漠化灾害的不断发展，预计到２０００年时我国沙漠化土地的面积将达到２３．３万ｋｍ＾２，１０７个县（旗、市）的沙漠化灾害程度     

The impact of Hurricane Rita on an academic institution: lessons learned

This paper examines the impact of Hurricane Rita on one of the many universities along the Gulf Coast of the United States: Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Hurricane Rita, which made landfall between Sabine Pass, Texas, and Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana, on 24 September 2005, is the fourth strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricane on record and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. This paper assesses the tasks that confronted the administration, faculty, and students of Lamar University in the days and weeks after the event. It concludes that the one factor that will influence more than any other the degree of success after any disaster is whether all levels of the administrative command institutionalise, endorse, promote, and encourage the adopted recovery plan. The research seeks to share valuable insights on the vulnerabilities that academic institutions face during natural disasters and to highlight some of the many lessons learned.     

沿海城市自然灾害损失分类与评估

在系统总结国内外沿海城市自然灾害损失评估研究现状的基础上,对现有的自然灾害损失评估方法进行了探讨。针对当前研究中出现的灾害损失类型划分界定不清晰,对次生灾害损失和间接损失无法进行有效的定量评估等问题作了比较明确的阐述,从社会损失和经济损失两个方面建立了沿海城市自然灾害损失分类体系。在此基础上,提出了人员损失、直接损失和间接损失的评估方法。最后,提出了未来自然灾害损失评估研究中有待继续完善和开展的工作。     

试论突发性自然灾害灾害损失评估的特点与原则

本文在分析突发性自然灾害特征与灾害损失评估特点的基础上，提出了突发性自然灾害灾害损失评估的原则。这些原则的提出，为灾害损失评估理论和方法研究奠定基础。     

陕西省近10年自然灾害的损失规律

本文主要根据自然灾害损失资料,对陕西近10a自然灾害损失时空规律、各灾种特点、损失结构进行了较详尽讨论,并进行了损失强度分区。     

Place satisfaction and perceived recovery after Hurricane Sandy on Staten Island’s East Shore

Individuals’ relationships to place play an important role in their interactions with their residential environments. Prior research has suggested that neighbourhood satisfaction is closely related to neighbourhood attachment, and that attachment is linked to disaster recovery. This study uses data from a survey of residents of the East Shore neighbourhoods of Staten Island, New York, an area that experienced severe storm surge flooding during Hurricane Sandy, to test the association between neighbourhood satisfaction and self-reported recovery from the storm. Perceived recovery from Sandy is treated as the dependent variable in several ordinal logistic regression models. The key independent variable measure tested is neighbourhood satisfaction rating. A statistically significant direct positive relationship is found between neighbourhood satisfaction and perceived recovery from Sandy. This finding is robust across multiple models with various controls and other covariates. These results suggest that place satisfaction may contribute to disaster recovery.     

REVIEW ON GLOBAL NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2000

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我国自然灾害损失补偿机制研究

伴随全球的气候变暖、社会财富的不断增加,以及人口的膨胀,人类将面临日益严峻的灾害损失问题.我国是世界上自然灾害最为严重的少数几个国家之一,同时我国的灾害补偿方式与手段较为单一和落后,构建科学的灾害补偿机制与模式是我国经济与社会协调发展的重大课题.从理论和实证上讨论了自然灾害及其效应,并比较了国家灾害补偿机制、市场风险转移和分摊机制,以及政府和市场相结合的混合机制及其特点.研究结论表明我国应该建立政府诱导型的自然灾害补偿机制.