Community-based disaster preparedness and climate adaptation: local capacity-building in the Philippines

Community-based disaster preparedness (CBDP) approaches are increasingly important elements of vulnerability reduction and disaster management strategies. They are associated with a policy trend that values the knowledge and capacities of local people and builds on local resources, including social capital. CBDP may be instrumental not only in formulating local coping and adaptation strategies, but also in situating them within wider development planning and debates. In theory, local people can be mobilised to resist unsustainable (vulnerability increasing) forms of development or livelihood practices and to raise local concerns more effectively with political representatives. This paper focuses on the potential of CBDP initiatives to alleviate vulnerability in the context of climate change, and their limitations. It presents evidence from the Philippines that, in the limited forms in which they are currently employed, CBDP initiatives have the potential both to empower and disempower, and warns against treating CBDP as a panacea to disaster management problems.     

Reducing hazard vulnerability: towards a common approach between disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation

Over the past few decades, four distinct and largely independent research and policy communities--disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, environmental management and poverty reduction--have been actively engaged in reducing socio-economic vulnerability to natural hazards. However, despite the significant efforts of these communities, the vulnerability of many individuals and communities to natural hazards continues to increase considerably. In particular, it is hydro-meteorological hazards that affect an increasing number of people and cause increasingly large economic losses. Arising from the realisation that these four communities have been largely working in isolation and enjoyed only limited success in reducing vulnerability, there is an emerging perceived need to strengthen significantly collaboration and to facilitate learning and information exchange between them. This article examines key communalities and differences between the climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction communities, and proposes three exercises that would help to structure a multi-community dialogue and learning process.     

Climate change implications for disaster risk management in Japan: A case study on perceptions of risk management personnel and communities in Saijo city

This paper reviews climate change impacts and the existing disaster risk management system in Japan and offers the results of a structured questionnaire survey of the community leaders and disaster risk management personnel of Saijo city of Japan that assesses their perceptions about dealing with the extreme disasters by the existing disaster risk management systems. This study was inspired by the record number of typhoon landfall that has surprised the local government and communities in 2004. While unearthing the hidden vulnerabilities in cities like Saijo, this event has loosened the confidence of local communities on the disaster risk management systems. From the study, we conclude that the existing disaster risk management systems need further fillip and that the proactive community involvement in disaster risk management is still in nascent stages. Associating with the scientific community, involving the local communities (including the elderly), enhancing the redundancy in disaster risk management systems, inculcating strategic thinking and micro-level planning, conducting vulnerability assessments by considering the special circumstances including resource constraints of small cities and better policy coordination across the administrative hierarchy are some important considerations for dealing with the uncertainty brought by the extreme events.     

Living with disasters: social capital for disaster governance

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.     

The interplay between climate change and disaster risk reduction policy: evidence from Mexico

Mexico gained worldwide reputation for its efforts to develop both climate change (CC) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies at the national and international levels. However, the integration of agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Hyogo and Sendai Frameworks into the national institutional setting has been challenging in terms of creating a coherent national risk reduction policy. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the interplay between DRR and CC domains; it provides evidence for the situation in Mexico by comparing the institutions and main actors in both fields as well as the financial and operational instruments currently in force. The comparison is based on institutions’ jurisdictions, priorities and lines of action. This paper synthesises the most important policy instruments, their meeting points and their contradictions and discusses the implications of such policy setting for the implementation of effective CC risk policies. The study depicts a fragmented policy interface with serious shortcomings in terms of the institutional design necessary to coordinate actions. The article concludes that, despite the multiple conceptual and political intersections between both policy fields, the implementation of specific, shared actions would hardly overcome the difficulties imposed by the current, fragmented normative frameworks and jurisdictions.     

Capacity development for participatory disaster risk assessment

In this paper a large-scale community-based disaster risk-assessment project, undertaken in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality in the North-West Province of South Africa, is evaluated. In contrast to other disaster risk management consultancy projects in South Africa, this project included a significant skills transfer component to the at-risk communities and local government officials. In this evaluation, the authors draw on their own experiences in implementing this and similar projects, a review of the project management documents is undertaken, and a focus group interview with facilitators involved in the project is used as a primary source. The discussion is further contextualised in terms of community-based disaster risk assessment theory and the existing literature on disaster risk assessment in South Africa. Logistical and data quality issues as well as staff turnover were found to be concerns during the project. From the findings, it is argued that the common practice of outsourcing disaster risk-management projects is not conducive to effective disaster risk management. Local government entities should take responsibility for disaster risk assessment as a continual activity. This is in contrast to the view currently manifesting in South Africa as a set of bureaucratic actions undertaken by consultants to achieve ‘legislative compliance’ for municipalities.     

School-based disaster risk reduction education in primary schools in Da Nang City,Central Vietnam

The concept of school-based disaster risk reduction (DRR) education has increasingly become popular as greater emphasis is placed on the role of schools in reducing risks and building the resilience of the education system. This paper discusses the variations in the implementation of DRR education among primary schools in different areas including urban, rural, mountainous, plain and coastal areas in Da Nang City, Central Vietnam. For rural schools, similarities in the implementation of DRR education are observed and schools in both rural plain and rural mountainous areas stress the provision of disaster-related training. In addition, improvement of school buildings and external relationship is important for the resilience of urban schools. Specifically, for schools in urban coastal areas, school location and structure are significant, while for schools in the urban plain lands, enhancement of collaboration with their community has the most potential to contribute to the resilience of a school. From that, this research proposes that leadership and prioritization are key factors in helping schools to manage internal and external resources to efficiently overcome challenges and effectively promote DRR education towards the enhancement of schools’ resilience.     

Nation‐building policies in Timor‐Leste: disaster risk reduction,including climate change adaptation

Few studies have explored the relationships between nation‐building, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Focusing on small island developing states, this paper examines nation‐building in Timor‐Leste, a small island developing state that recently achieved independence. Nation‐building in Timor‐Leste is explored in the context of disaster risk reduction, which necessarily includes climate change adaptation. The study presents a synopsis of Timor‐Leste's history and its nation‐building efforts as well as an overview of the state of knowledge of disaster risk reduction including climate change adaptation. It also offers an analysis of significant gaps and challenges in terms of vertical and horizontal governance, large donor presence, data availability and the integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for nation‐building in Timor‐Leste. Relevant and applicable lessons are provided from other small island developing states to assist Timor‐Leste in identifying its own trajectory out of underdevelopment while it builds on existing strengths.     

The Lost Creek Fire: managing social relations under disaster conditions

This paper examines some of the social processes associated with disaster conditions. Utilising an asset‐based perspective of community capacity, it focuses on four types of normative systems to interpret the ability of communities to manage disasters through market‐, bureaucratic‐, associative‐, and communal‐based norms. Drawing on experience of a wildfire in the Crowsnest Pass region of southwest Alberta, Canada, in 2003, the tensions and compatibilities among these normative systems are evaluated through interviews with 30 community leaders. The results confirm the contributions of all types of social capital to resiliency, the necessity for rapid use of place‐based knowledge, and the importance of communication among all types and levels of agents. In addition, they point to the value of identifying and managing potential conflicts among the normative systems as a means to maximising their contributions. The integration of local networks and groups into the more general disaster response minimised the impacts on health and property.     

Learning from others: the scope and challenges for participatory disaster risk assessment

This paper develops a framework based on procedural, methodological and ideological elements of participatory vulnerability and risk assessment tools for placing individual approaches within the wide range of work that claims a participatory, local or community orientation. In so doing it draws on relevant experience from other areas of development practice from which the disasters field can learn. Participatory disaster risk assessments are examined for their potential to be empowering, to generate knowledge, to be scaled up, to be a vehicle for negotiating local change and as part of multiple-methods approaches to disaster risk identification and reduction. The paper is a response to an international workshop on Community Risk Assessment organised by ProVention Consortium and the Disaster Mitigation for Sustainable Livelihoods Programme, University of Cape Town. The workshop brought together practitioners and academics to review the challenges and opportunities for participatory methodologies in the field of disaster risk reduction. In conclusion the contribution made by participatory methodologies to global disaster risk reduction assessment and policy is discussed.     

中国城市综合灾害风险管理现状与对策

世界性城市灾害的加剧已成为城市化进程中的一大障碍，它也是城市化过程的产物。如何协调城市化过程与城市综合灾害风险管理，已成为当今世界、特别是像中国这样的发展中国家可持续发展的一大难题。在综述了中国城市灾害及其风险管理现状的基础上，通过对其薄弱环节的综合分析，依据作者提出的综合灾害风险管理模式，就中国城市综合灾害风险管理对策提出了3条政策建议：即完善城市灾害风险管理的信息保障机制，特别是灾害预警体系、信息共享体系和信息公开机制；加强城市综合减灾能力的建设，特别是明确城市建设中减灾工程与非工程设施投入的固定比例，完善减灾教育宣传体系和综合灾害应急响应的科技平台体系；建立城市综合灾害风险管理范式，特别是高度重视城市规划中综合减灾规划的改进和完善，加快拓展城市企业灾害保险与再保险和发展适应城市灾害风险的“安全社区”范式。     

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.     

北京极端天气事件及其与区域气候变化的联系

应用逐日观测资料分析了北京极端天气事件的变化及其与区域气候变暖的可能联系，得到了如下结论：（1）近30多年来高温和闷热事件在增加，低温、大风、雷暴和大雾事件在减少，暴雨和沙尘暴的出现频率无明显的变化。（2）高温、闷热、低温、大风、雷暴和大雾存在着较强的年际变化，但不具有明显的周期性特征，暴雨和沙尘暴事件分别存在10年和8～10年的主周期变化。（3）年平均气温和高温、闷热、低温、大风等极端事件之间存在着较强的相关性，这些极端天气事件的变化与区域气候变暖关系密切。     

Framework for integrating indigenous and scientific knowledge for disaster risk reduction

A growing awareness of the value of indigenous knowledge has prompted calls for its use within disaster risk reduction. The use of indigenous knowledge alongside scientific knowledge is increasingly advocated but there is as yet no clearly developed framework demonstrating how the two may be integrated to reduce community vulnerability to environmental hazards. This paper presents such a framework, using a participatory approach in which relevant indigenous and scientific knowledge may be integrated to reduce a community's vulnerability to environmental hazards. Focusing on small island developing states it presents an analysis of the need for such a framework alongside the difficulties of incorporating indigenous knowledge. This is followed by an explanation of the various processes within the framework, drawing on research completed in Papua New Guinea. This framework is an important first step in identifying how indigenous and scientific knowledge may be integrated to reduce community vulnerability to environmental hazards.     

Disaster risk, climate change and international development: scope for, and challenges to, integration

Reducing losses to weather-related disasters, meeting the Millennium Development Goals and wider human development objectives, and implementing a successful response to climate change are aims that can only be accomplished if they are undertaken in an integrated manner. Currently, policy responses to address each of these independently may be redundant or, at worst, conflicting. We believe that this conflict can be attributed primarily to a lack of interaction and institutional overlap among the three communities of practice. Differences in language, method and political relevance may also contribute to the intellectual divide. Thus, this paper seeks to review the theoretical and policy linkages among disaster risk reduction, climate change and development. It finds that not only does action within one realm affect capacity for action in the others, but also that there is much that can be learnt and shared between realms in order to ensure a move towards a path of integrated and more sustainable development.     

The impacts of climate change on the risk of natural disasters

Human emissions of greenhouse gases are already changing our climate. This paper provides an overview of the relation between climate change and weather extremes, and examines three specific cases where recent acute events have stimulated debate on the potential role of climate change: the European heatwave of 2003; the risk of inland flooding, such as recently in Central Europe and Great Britain; and the harsh Atlantic hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005. Furthermore, it briefly assesses the relation between climate change and El Ni?o, and the potential of abrupt climate change. Several trends in weather extremes are sufficiently clear to inform risk reduction efforts. In many instances, however, the potential increases in extreme events due to climate change come on top of alarming rises in vulnerability. Hence, the additional risks due to climate change should not be analysed or treated in isolation, but instead integrated into broader efforts to reduce the risk of natural disasters.     

探索发展与减灾协调之路——从2006年达沃斯国际减灾会议看中国发展与减灾协调对策

介绍了于2006年8月28日至9月1日在瑞士达沃斯举行的国际减灾会议的主要内容。在阅读本次会议有关论文扩展摘要集内容。以及会议上散发的大量文件、研究报告的基础上,综述了当前国际减灾研究与实践工作中,学术界、政界与企业界等在探索协调发展与减灾进程中的主要进展和发展趋向。国际减灾界当前关注的主要领域为：建立灾害与风险科学,善待与重建生态系统,关注全球环境变化与灾害的密切关系,重视利用金融、保险和再保险手段转移风险,关注女性在灾害风险管理中的作用,关注恐怖主义对社会风险的强化作用,发展灾害风险管理的信息支撑平台,重视建设高风险地区综合减灾范式。在此基础上,针对中国可持续发展战略实施过程中存在的主要问题,提出中国协调发展与减灾对策为：建立国家协调发展与减轻灾害风险的管理体制与运行机制,加强控制综合灾害风险水平的生态系统等减灾基础设施建设,发挥女性在农村地区综合灾害风险管理中的作用,建立区域综合灾害风险管理与减灾范式和加强区域综合灾害风险防范关键技术的开发,促进灾害与风险学科体系的形成。     

Insiders and outsiders: local government and NGO engagement in disaster response in Guimaras,Philippines

This paper examines local government and non‐governmental organisation (NGO) engagement in disaster response in the wake of the M/T Solar 1 oil spill in Guimaras, Western Visayas, Philippines, on 11 August 2006. It assesses the response activities of these two entities as well as the institutional factors that affected their interaction on the ground. Local government and NGO engagement was shaped by multi‐layered, overlapping, and oftentimes contending government‐designed response frameworks. Within these frameworks, government actors played the role of primary implementer and provider of relief, allowing them to determine who could be involved and the extent of their involvement. The absence of formal roles for NGOs in these frameworks not only undermines their ability to work in a setting where such institutional set‐ups are operational but also it reaffirms their ‘outsider’ status. This study of the Guimaras oil spill illustrates the complexity and the institutional difficulties inherent in disaster response and coordination in the Philippines.     

五论灾害系统研究的理论与实践

作者曾分别于1991、1996、2002和2005年发表了关于灾害研究理论与实践的4篇文章,对灾害系统的性质、动力学机制、综合减灾范式,以及灾害科学体系等进行了探讨.在前4篇文章的基础上,就当前国际上灾害风险综合研究的趋势、应对巨灾行动,以及防范巨灾风险和加强综合减灾学科建设等方面进行了综合分析,阐述了对"区域灾害系统"作为"社会-生态系统"、"人地关系地域系统"和"可划分类型与多级区划体系"本质的认识;区分了"多灾种叠加"与"灾害链"损失评估的差异;论证了"综合灾害风险防范的结构、功能,及结构与功能优化模式";构建了由灾害科学、应急技术和风险管理共同组成的"灾害风险科学"学科体系.研究结果表明,通过综合减灾,防范巨灾风险已成为区域和全球可持续发展的重要措施,这一措施与资源节约型与环境友好型社会的建设,循环经济模式的发展,以及低碳经济模式的建立,共同构成了可持续发展战略实施的支撑体系.     

中国小麦生产的区域比较气候风险研究

以减产率〉5．0％界定灾年，分析了中国各省（市、自治区）小麦灾年发生的风险概率、平均减产率和变异系数，及其与全国平均水平相比的区域比较风险度、减产度和变异度。基于以上3个区域灾年减产率的比较指标，得到了区域比较气候风险指标；利用区域比较气候风险对中国小麦生产进行了分区论述，同时得出了小麦总产量损失与播种面积呈显著正相关，与小麦单产只有一般中度相关，而与比较气候风险基本不相关的关系，并指出了区域比较气候风险指标与防灾减灾工作的关系。