Composite indicators for famine early warning systems

Traditional famine early warning systems use a host of indicators to predict food crisis situations, from rainfall and increased rate of marketing of household durables to the behavior of birds and animals. Although many of these indicators are valid in general, limited understanding of the sensitivity and specificity of the distress signals makes food crisis prediction a highly subjective exercise. In order to make the system more effective and credible, we need to identify a limited number of 'composite' indicators, which naturally summarize most relevant food-related information contained in the specific predictors of food crisis. Considering the chronology of the food production and consumption chain, three composite indicators specific to three different stages of the chain have been identified. The satellite data based Normalized Deviation of Vegetative Index (NDVI), prices of major food grains, and malnutrition rates are found to be correlated not only with the quality and quantity of inputs of this process but also with the final outcome. Both NDVI and price data are widely used as important predictors of food crisis by famine warning systems. What we have demonstrated is that improved sensitivity of the indicators is likely to be due to their inherent capability of summarizing information from various specific measures. Child malnutrition rates also summarize inputs and outputs of the food consumption process very effectively, and therefore should be able to predict community level food crisis in an efficient manner. The empirical results confirm this conjecture by showing that malnutrition rates can predict food crisis probability three months into the future with a high degree of specificity. The use of 'composite' indicators not only simplifies the problem of aggregation, but is also likely to yield forecasts that are highly specific and sensitive.     

Estimating willingness to pay for a hypothetical earthquake early warning systems

The development of reliable, accessible, and transparent earthquake early warning systems (EEWSs) for disaster reduction have been given increased priority at local, national, and international levels. Accurately quantifying the social and economic benefits accrued to households and businesses from EEWSs are a challenging and difficult task. In this paper, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is used to evaluate the benefits of a hypothetical EEWS to the citizens of Tehran Metropolitan. This study clarifies public willingness to pay (WTP) for EEWS in Tehran, and the dominant factors involved in WTP through a CVM analysis. The survey, completed by more than 504 households, showed that on average households are willing to pay 367,471 Rials (~38 US$) per month for the hypothetical EEWS. Those willing to pay the most for EEWS are households, which currently possess a fire alarm. Also the more educated the respondents and the more children the respondents have, the more willing they are to pay for EEWS. These results could be used by policy makers and technology firms in order to determine the optimal investments in early warning systems for earthquake disaster reduction.     

Estimating willingness to pay for a hypothetical earthquake early warning systems

The development of reliable, accessible, and transparent earthquake early warning systems (EEWSs) for disaster reduction have been given increased priority at local, national, and international levels. Accurately quantifying the social and economic benefits accrued to households and businesses from EEWSs are a challenging and difficult task. In this paper, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is used to evaluate the benefits of a hypothetical EEWS to the citizens of Tehran Metropolitan. This study clarifies public willingness to pay (WTP) for EEWS in Tehran, and the dominant factors involved in WTP through a CVM analysis. The survey, completed by more than 504 households, showed that on average households are willing to pay 367,471 Rials (38 US$) per month for the hypothetical EEWS. Those willing to pay the most for EEWS are households, which currently possess a fire alarm. Also the more educated the respondents and the more children the respondents have, the more willing they are to pay for EEWS. These results could be used by policy makers and technology firms in order to determine the optimal investments in early warning systems for earthquake disaster reduction.     

Resilience in the context of tsunami early warning systems and community disaster preparedness in the Indian Ocean Region

This paper discusses insights from post-tsunami early warning system (EWS) development in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia by analysing selected elements of resilience, based on the Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) framework, and by distinguishing between the cognitive, normative and procedural dimensions of EWSs. The findings indicate that (1) recent calls to develop participatory and people-centred EWSs as promoted by the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005—2015 have not been sufficiently translated into action in the implementation of national policies and strategies for early warning; (2) policy and guidance places significantly more emphasis on the procedural compared to the normative and cognitive dimensions of EWSs; (3) practitioners engaged in early warning and disaster risk reduction operate in contexts shaped by multiple stakeholder agendas and face considerable challenges in negotiating diverse needs and priorities; and (4) few platforms currently exist that enable stakeholders to coordinate and reconcile agendas, negotiate joint targets, share knowledge and critically reflect on lessons learnt, and to improve the integration of early warning with other priorities such as livelihoods improvement, natural resource management and community development.     

地震预警技术综述

地震预警技术是为了适应减轻地震灾害的要求而产生的，其技术原理是利用电磁波与地震波的速度差，以及地震P波与S波的速度差来实现地震发生后的及时预警。论述了目前国内外应用地震预警技术、配置地震预警系统的情况，对应用该技术所产生的效益作了介绍，对其进一步的发展前景进行了展望。     

一次暴雨天气的诊断分析与预警

2007年9月29日08时至30 日 08时,长治市出现了历史上罕见的暴雨和大暴雨天气,部分县、市遭受重灾.针对暴雨的成因,从500hPa天气环流背景、700hPa急流影响系统和物理量场的主要参量(相对湿度场、K指数场、散度场)以及FY-2C红外卫星云图的中尺度对流辐合体的演变,进行了综合诊断分析,给出了暴雨预报着眼点.暴雨前及时发布了蓝色预警信号和暴雨地质灾害重要天气警报,为防汛工作的及早安排部署提供了准确的重大决策气象服务.     

The role of socio-economic data in food needs assessment and monitoring

This paper reviews six case studies examined as part of a project to review targetting methodologies employed by non-government organisations in Africa during the 1984-6 food crisis. Most agencies have not yet fully evaluated the role of data in informing policy decisions during their respective emergency programmes. The case studies presented reflect a wide variety of approaches to targetting emergency food aid that are based largely on the use of 'socio-economic' data. The recent emergency relief operations in Africa seem to indicate a change in relief agencies' approaches to the assessment and monitoring of needs of the affected populations. Earlier dependance on nutritional data has given way to an increasing reliance on the use of socio-economic indicators. There was a wide variation in the case studies of the type of indicators collected and utilised in needs assessment and monitoring. There were those who relied almost exclusively on nutritional data to target resources during the 1984-86 African crisis, and others whose experiences during that period lead them to attach more weight to socio-economic data. Other agencies appear to have recognised the problems of relying solely on nutritional data to target food aid during their 1984–86 emergency programmes, and thus more or less abandoned classical anthropometric surveys in their needs assessment and monitoring methodologies during this period. Thus nutritional data has a less significant role in the decision making process than previously had been the case.     

National organizations and famine early warning the case of mali(1)

In the Sahelian countries of West Africa, the problems of drought and famine are sufficiently long term to justify the existence of permanent food security agencies. Yet donors are reluctant to fund these agencies when there is not a crisis, forcing poor countries to use their own resources for food security and famine early warning efforts. To make more effective use of limited resources and since the data needs for effective famine early warning are similar to those for basic rural development, information systems to provide data simultaneously for development projects and famine early warning should be developed and supported. In Mali, one of the larger and poorer countries of the West African Sahel, basic information systems which gather a range of appropriate data already exist, but there need to be improvements in the quality of design and the timeliness of analysis to make the information more useful for either development or famine early warning.     

哈尔滨市地质灾害气象诱因分析及监测预警

通过对哈尔滨市地质灾害发生历史规律的分析,建立了历史个例库;从地质环境背景着手,分析了地质灾害的气象诱因,重点研究了降水在地质灾害形成中的作用及其相关关系;根据气象地质灾害与前期及当日降水的关系,应用统计预报方法建立地质灾害潜势预报模型,对气象地质灾害发生的危险等级进行了可能性描述。所建立的地质灾害潜势预报系统、临近预报系统和监测报警系统,在实际预报业务中取得了很好的效果。     

宁夏地质灾害气象预报预警研究

利用1982—2004年宁夏的地质灾害与降水资料,分析了宁夏主要地质灾害的分布规律和形成机理,重点研究了引发地质灾害的气象条件。结果表明,滑坡和泥石流是宁夏主要的地质灾害类型,它们形成的气候条件都与降雨有直接的关系;地质灾害主要集中在其易发区内强降雨和暴雨出现频次较多的季节,由降雨引发的滑坡等地质灾害大多发生于降雨时段的中后期或稍后,泥石流一般与暴雨、持续降雨同时发生,雨量越大的地区地质灾害越发育,而连续性降水、短时强降水和暴雨是造成地质灾害的主要气象诱因。同时,根据研究结果,采用统计学方法建立了宁夏汛期地质灾害潜势预报模型,通过2004年汛期业务试运行,表明该预报模型有一定的参考价值,但还需进一步改进。     

桂林地区短时暴雨自动监测预警系统研究

通过制作混合扫描面,调整Z-I关系和自动站雨量校准等方法对多普勒天气雷达估测降水进行了优化,使雷达估测降水误差明显减小。运用交叉相关法、降水算法对雷达反射率因子进行计算,得到了未来1～2 h的定量预测降水。按照暴雨预警信号标准,将估测降水与预测降水累加,可及时获得暴雨预警信号信息,自动生成暴雨预警信号等级分布图,对达到预警信号标准的站点及时通过手机发布暴雨预警信号提示信息。结合多层次地理信息系统,形成了集自动站资料查询、雷达降水监测、临近预测、暴雨预警功能为一体的桂林雷达定量降水监测预警平台,为有效监测预警暴雨引发的山体滑坡、洪涝等气象灾害提供了客观定量依据。     

The underutilization of street markets as a source of food security indicators in famine early warning systems: a case study of Ethiopia

Famine Early Warning Systems (EWS) are reliant on data aggregated from multiple sources. Consequently, they are often insensitive to localized changes in food security status, leading to delayed response or interventions. While price and infrastructural data are often gathered, this case study suggests that local street markets and vendor knowledge are underutilized. Few efforts have been made to monitor systematically the street markets as an indicator of local stressors. Findings from Ethiopia show that knowledge generated by expanding food security indicators in this sector can be used in combination with EWS to facilitate earlier intervention in, or to monitor more effectively, on-going humanitarian crises. Indicators developed from this study are accurate, cost effective, and sensitive to local climatic and food stressors.     

地质灾害预警预报及信息管理系统应用研究

根据调查,江西省地质灾害的诱发因素主要是降雨,因此,通过总结前人关于地质灾害预报预警的研究,提出了一套应用降雨资料对地质灾害进行预报预警的预警流程,并建立预警及信息管理系统。该系统采用空间数据库引擎技术管理海量滑坡、地质、地貌、降雨等数据及地质灾害的文档等资料。系统基于WebGIS技术,实现了地质灾害预报预警图的发布、信息查询、空间定位、空间叠加和地质灾害预警预报信息反馈等功能。     

Entitlements and the Wollo Famine of 1982–1985

The traglic recent events in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa have again foccussed attention on the different anaytical approaches to the problems iof famine. Perhaps the most important analytical contribution to this field has been Sen's "entitlements approach." One of the case studies Sen used to articulate this approach was of the 1972–1973 famine in Wollo Province, Ethiopia. This article provides a provisional assessment of the famine process in the Wollo during 1982–1985 to set against the analysis by Sen of the earlier famine. Some striking contrasts are revealed.     

基于网络的突发性灾害预警及救灾系统——以雪灾为例

自然灾害是不可避免的,为减少自然灾害给人类带来的损失,以ArcIMS为平台,引入模糊神经网络构建了雪灾预测模型,建立了基于网络的突发性灾害联动预警及救灾系统.系统可以自动/半自动地进行不同灾害等级的分类,发出灾害预警警报,并在此基础上结合气象对灾害诱发条件的预报,提出预防的工程技术措施,方便具有不同用户权限的用户使用.     

An examination of community flood warning systems: Are we providing the right assistance?

The technology transfer of flood warning systems offers a large potential for reducing human losses and property damage in flood-prone regions; much of the technology and methodology is readily transferable from developed countries and “appropriate” for developing countries. This paper examines some community folk warning systems in the United States that could be incorporated into a rational strategy for technology transfer. It discusses why official organized systems should not be relied on completely and how participation in and transfer of highly cost-effective and reliable community warning systems by development assistance agencies could greatly benefit the people as well as the governments of developing countries.     

山区铁路沿线泥石流泥位自动监测预警系统

泥位预警是泥石流灾害预警的方法之一,目前主要有接触式和非接触式泥石流泥位报警两种方法。探讨了一种便于安装、适合山区铁路沿线泥石流监测预警的接触式泥位自动监测预警系统的构建及应用方法。首先探讨了泥石流泥位监测系统的工作原理及其软件、硬件的组成,其次探讨了泥位预警阈值确定方法,最后根据现场试验观测情况及所遇到的问题提出了泥位监测系统的应用方法。该泥石流泥位监测预警系统能实现泥山区铁路沿线石流泥位信息数据采集和传输的网络化、实时化、自动化、数字化(可视化),并根据监测信息及时向铁路相关部门发出预警信号。     

Nutrition, Disease and Death in Times of Famine

In this article we review the relationship between malnutrition and mortality, and the interaction of morbidity, with the aim of clarifying the health risks of malnutrition in situations of famine and food insecurity. Apart from reviewing what is known about this relationship, we highlight areas where further research is needed. Among refugee and famine affected populations living in camps, there appears to be a close association between high rates of malnutrition and excess mortality. Results from communitybased prospective studies of malnutrition and mortality among individuals conclude that as nutritional status declines the risk of death increases, although the discriminating power of different nutritional indices and the strength of the association varies considerably in different locations and at different times. These differences are attributed mainly to the different prevailing patterns of morbidity and growth failure, which are influenced by both environmental and social factors. In situations of famine and population displacement, the deterioration in the health environment increases exposure to infection and is likely to raise the threshold of nutritional status which corresponds to an increased risk of mortality. This has important implications for nutritional assessments and interventions.     

中国近代灾荒史理论探析

中国近代灾荒史是中国灾荒史的断代史.中国近代灾荒史作为一个研究的有机系统,是由灾害、灾荒、灾因、灾荒社会问题、灾荒救治等子系统组成,各系统又有自己的组成要素,这些架构了中国近代灾荒史的学科体系.中国近代灾荒史与灾害学、社会学、经济史、政治军事史、外交史之间有密切的关系,深入研究中国近代灾荒史,加强灾荒史教育,对今天防灾...