Cross‐cultural comparisons between the earthquake preparedness models of Taiwan and New Zealand

Taiwan and New Zealand are both located in the Pacific Rim where 81 per cent of the world's largest earthquakes occur. Effective programmes for increasing people's preparedness for these hazards are essential. This paper tests the applicability of the community engagement theory of hazard preparedness in two distinct cultural contexts. Structural equation modelling analysis provides support for this theory. The paper suggests that the close fit between theory and data that is achieved by excluding trust supports the theoretical prediction that familiarity with a hazard negates the need to trust external sources. The results demonstrate that the hazard preparedness theory is applicable to communities that have previously experienced earthquakes and are therefore familiar with the associated hazards and the need for earthquake preparedness. The paper also argues that cross‐cultural comparisons provide opportunities for collaborative research and learning as well as access to a wider range of potential earthquake risk management strategies.     

Operationalizing risk perception and preparedness behavior research for a multi-hazard context

Increasingly, citizens are being asked to take a more active role in disaster risk reduction (DRR), as decentralization of hazard governance has shifted greater responsibility for hazard preparedness actions onto individuals. Simultaneously, the taxonomy of hazards considered for DRR has expanded to include medical and social crises alongside natural hazards. Risk perception research emerged to support decision-makers with understanding how people characterize and evaluate different hazards to anticipate behavioral response and guide risk communication. Since its inception, the risk perception concept has been incorporated into many behavioral theories, which have been applied to examine preparedness for numerous hazard types. Behavioral theories have had moderate success in predicting or explaining preparedness behaviors; however, they are typically applied to a single hazard type and there is a gap in understanding which theories (if any) are suited for examining multiple hazard types simultaneously. This paper first reviews meta-analyses of behavioral theories to better understand performance. Universal lessons learnt are summarized for survey design. Second, theoretically based preparedness studies for floods, earthquakes, epidemics, and terrorism are reviewed to assess the conceptual requirements for a ‘multi-hazard’ preparedness approach. The development of an online preparedness self-assessment and learning platform is discussed.     

Mapping cultural vulnerability in volcanic regions: The practical application of social volcanology at Mt Merapi,Indonesia

Protecting at-risk communities from geological hazards requires both knowledge of the physical hazard and an understanding of the community at risk. Interdisciplinary disaster research therefore explores the interface between hazards and society in order to improve disaster risk reduction strategies. At this interface there exist disaster sub-cultures that are produced through hazard experience and can be developed as a coping mechanism for the at-risk communities. Therefore, disaster sub-cultures could contribute to either social resilience or vulnerability. The fluid nature of the term culture and the difficulty in quantifying these important human traits mean that the local sub-cultures are complex and often not included within conventional risk management tools such as risk maps. However, this paper demonstrates how a disaster sub-culture found at Mt Merapi volcano, Indonesia, can be examined using interdisciplinary methods. The distinctive Mt Merapi sub-culture influences local community actions during the frequent eruptions. The findings from ethnographic studies completed on Mt Merapi in 2007 and 2009 have been translated and mapped in order to be incorporated within a holistic risk assessment. The key findings, methods of translation and maps are presented here, and demonstrate the potential for interdisciplinary research applications in disaster risk reduction.     

Disaster threat: Preparedness and potential response of the lowest income quartile

For a community to manage hazards successfully, those who are responsible for planning and implementing responses to a disaster threat situation must understand the social and economic realities of populations at risk. A random sample survey of residents in the vicinity of a US Army chemical weapons storage depot in Alabama confirms that those in the lowest quartile of household income (i.e., less than US $25,000 in 1999) differ in important ways from the rest of the sample. Using economic status as a grouping variable resultedin identifying a concentration of individuals with special needs. This group differed significantly from the remainder of the sample as to demographic and attitudinal characteristics, hazard knowledge and concerns, emergency preparedness, and emergency decision-making and their likelihood of taking protective actions. Respondents in the lowest income quartile reported greater restrictions in physical abilities, fewer community contacts, a heightened concern about area hazards, and limited resources for taking preparedness and response actions.     

Resilience to natural hazards: How useful is this concept?

Resilience is widely seen as a desirable system property in environmental management. This paper explores the concept of resilience to natural hazards, using weather-related hazards in coastal megacities as an example. The paper draws on the wide literature on megacities, coastal hazards, hazard risk reduction strategies, and resilience within environmental management. Some analysts define resilience as a system attribute, whilst others use it as an umbrella concept for a range of system attributes deemed desirable. These umbrella concepts have not been made operational to support planning or management. It is recommended that resilience only be used in a restricted sense to describe specific system attributes concerning (i) the amount of disturbance a system can absorb and still remain within the same state or domain of attraction and (ii) the degree to which the system is capable of self-organisation. The concept of adaptive capacity, which has emerged in the context of climate change, can then be adopted as the umbrella concept, where resilience will be one factor influencing adaptive capacity. This improvement to conceptual clarity would foster much-needed communication between the natural hazards and the climate change communities and, more importantly, offers greater potential in application, especially when attempting to move away from disaster recovery to hazard prediction, disaster prevention, and preparedness.     

Progress in natural hazard risk reduction: What hath development wrought?

The development-disaster risk management agenda has been shaped over the last 25 years by development policies and practices that have isolated lesser developed countries' development agenda from dealing with risk to natural hazards, by intentional actions to create a theory and practice of disaster risk management alongside other cross-cutting issues, by attempting to nurture emergency management in the context of disaster risk management and by fostering competition for resources. Sovereign states, multilateral development banks and the international development community should collaborate in shifting paradigms to: consider all development actions as initiatives to reduce risk; separate emergency management policy and practice from disaster risk management; fold disaster risk management and climate change adaptation into development planning and lending processes so as to address risk to natural hazards; promote hazard, vulnerability and risk information as a public good; and insist on accountability and responsibility to natural hazard risk all along the development continuum.     

Local government,political decentralisation and resilience to natural hazard-associated disasters

Natural hazards affect development and can cause significant and long-term suffering for those affected. Research has shown that sustained long-term disaster preparedness combined with appropriate response and recovery are needed to deliver effective risk reductions. However, as the newly agreed Sendai framework recognises, this knowledge has not been translated into action. This research aims to contribute to our understanding of how to deliver longer term and sustained risk reduction by evaluating the role of political decentralisation in disaster outcomes. Specifically, we investigate whether countries which devolve power to the local level experience reduced numbers of people affected by storms and earthquakes, and have lower economic damage. Using regression analysis and cross-country data from 1950 to 2006, we find that, in relation to both storms and earthquakes, greater transfers of political power to subnational tiers of government reduce hazard impacts on the population. The downside is that more politically decentralised countries, which are usually wealthier countries, can increase the direct economic losses associated with a natural hazard impact after the storm or earthquake than those which are more centralised. However, overall, it seems advantageous to give subnational governments more authority and autonomy in storm and earthquake risk planning.     

Religious narratives and their implications for disaster risk reduction

The role of religious factors in the disaster experience has been under‐investigated. This is despite evidence of their influence throughout the disaster cycle, including: the way in which the event is interpreted; how the community recovers; and the strategies implemented to reduce future risk. This qualitative study examined the role of faith in the disaster experience of four faith communities in the Hawaiian Islands of the United States. Twenty‐six individuals from the Bahá'í, Buddhist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‐day Saints (LDS), and United Methodist Church communities participated, including 10 faith leaders and 16 laypersons. The results suggest that religious narratives provide a framework for interpretation of, preparedness for, and responses to disasters. Preparedness varied widely across faith communities, with the LDS community reporting greater levels of preparedness than other communities. Recommendations include the development of collaborative efforts between disaster managers and faith leaders to increase preparedness within faith communities, which may facilitate community‐wide disaster risk reduction.     

Prospects for improved hurricane protection on oceanic islands: Hawaii after Hurricane Iwa *

Hurricane Iwa (23rd November 1982) produced Hawaii's costliest natural disaster and revealed serious flaws in the area's hurricane preparedness, response and mitigation programs. Twenty-eight months later, a follow-up study showed that impacted communities and facilities had been reconstructed with only selective and limited attention to mitigating future coastal storm hazards. Prospects for the reduction of hazard vulnerability on oceanic islands through post-disaster mitigation measures are assessed in the light of Hawaii's experience.     

Beyond the community: integrating local and scientific knowledge in the formal development approval process in Jamaica

Community-based disaster risk management methods routinely include capture of local knowledge which is used to inform community-level risk reduction programmes and development plans. In Jamaica, development planning at the national level has relied historically on scientific knowledge, usually to the exclusion of local knowledge. However, community disaster risk management plans reviewed for this paper show that communities have very clear ideas on the threat posed by hazards, resources at risk from the hazards and ways of reducing the risk. Communities also appreciate the value of cultural and historical sites and are willing to sacrifice development in order to protect and preserve these sites. Such knowledge is valuable for informing risk-sensitive development planning, and should be captured within the formal development approval system. A model is proposed in which community and scientific knowledge can be integrated into the formal development approval process at the national level. The model includes integrating community representatives in technical committee reviews, capturing local knowledge through community consultations and subjecting community knowledge to validation prior to its use. Successful implementation of this model should result in more accurate field assessments for risk-sensitive development planning as local knowledge provides current, site-specific information. Better risk-sensitive development planning will ultimately lead to reduced exposure to hazards and reduction in losses from the impact of hazards for Jamaica.     

‘Are you prepared?’ Representations and management of floods in Lomanikoro,Rewa (Fiji)

The islands of Fiji, in the Western Pacific, are exposed to a wide range of natural hazards. Tropical storms and associated floods are recurring natural phenomena, but it has been regularly alleged that Fijians lack preparation, over‐rely on state assistance in post‐disaster situations or engage in risky behaviours that aggravate the negative impact of floods. Risk reduction strategies, which are now implemented by government authorities and international organisations, heavily promote the principle of ‘community preparedness’. Both community awareness programmes and capacity‐building programmes are conducted throughout the country in the most vulnerable communities. This paper analyses how the inhabitants of Lomanikoro village, in the low areas of the Rewa Delta, perceive and manage existing flood risks. It examines social and cultural factors that contribute to shape risk response locally—in particular, why villagers may be reluctant to adopt some recommended preparedness measures and resettle in higher, safer zones.     

A review of coastal community vulnerabilities toward resilience benefits from disaster reduction measures

The coast has always been an area of significant hazards. In situations of community self-sufficiency, consequences of coastal hazards might be isolated to regions directly affected by the hazard. But, in the current global economy, fewer and fewer communities are isolated; damage to one location frequently has consequences around the globe and coastal community resilience can have broad-reaching benefits. Hazard responses for the built coastal environment have typically been resistance: constructing stronger buildings, enhancing natural barriers or creating artificial barriers. These approaches to hazard reduction through coastal engineering and shoreline defence efforts have been crucial to sustained coastal development. However, as coastal forces continue or magnify and resources become scarcer, resistance alone may be less effective or even unsustainable, and interest in resilience has grown. Resilience is a community's ability either to absorb destructive forces without loss of service or function, or to recover quickly from disasters. Community resilience encompasses multiple elements, ranging from governance to structural design, risk knowledge, prevention, warning systems and recovery. This paper focuses on hazards of coastal communities, and provides a review of some recent engineering efforts to improve the resilience elements of risk knowledge and disaster warnings for coastal disaster reduction.     

The potential for combining indigenous and western knowledge in reducing vulnerability to environmental hazards in small island developing states

The benefits of indigenous knowledge within disaster risk reduction are gradually being acknowledged and identified. However, despite this acknowledgement there continues to be a gap in reaching the right people with the correct strategies for disaster risk reduction.

This paper identifies the need for a specific framework identifying how indigenous and western knowledge may be combined to mitigate against the intrinsic effects of environmental processes and therefore reduce the vulnerability of rural indigenous communities in small island developing states (SIDS) to environmental hazards. This involves a review of the impacts of environmental processes and their intrinsic effects upon rural indigenous communities in SIDS and how indigenous knowledge has contributed to their coping capacity. The paper concludes that the vulnerability of indigenous communities in SIDS to environmental hazards can only be addressed through the utilisation of both indigenous and Western knowledge in a culturally compatible and sustainable manner.     

The potential for combining indigenous and western knowledge in reducing vulnerability to environmental hazards in small island developing states

The benefits of indigenous knowledge within disaster risk reduction are gradually being acknowledged and identified. However, despite this acknowledgement there continues to be a gap in reaching the right people with the correct strategies for disaster risk reduction.This paper identifies the need for a specific framework identifying how indigenous and western knowledge may be combined to mitigate against the intrinsic effects of environmental processes and therefore reduce the vulnerability of rural indigenous communities in small island developing states (SIDS) to environmental hazards. This involves a review of the impacts of environmental processes and their intrinsic effects upon rural indigenous communities in SIDS and how indigenous knowledge has contributed to their coping capacity. The paper concludes that the vulnerability of indigenous communities in SIDS to environmental hazards can only be addressed through the utilisation of both indigenous and Western knowledge in a culturally compatible and sustainable manner.     

Perceptions of risk characteristics of earthquakes compared to other hazards and their impact on risk tolerance

People tolerate different levels of risk owing to a variety of hazards. Previous research shows that the psychometric properties of hazards predict people's tolerance of them. However, this work has not taken into account events such as earthquakes. The present study tested how earthquakes score vis‐à‐vis risk properties and risk tolerance as compared to five other familiar hazards. Participants from Wellington, New Zealand (N=139) rated these six hazards using measures of risk characteristics and risk tolerance. Participants demonstrated different levels of risk tolerance for the different hazards and viewed earthquakes as having similar risk features to nuclear power. They also preferred different risk mitigation strategies for earthquakes (more government funding) to the other five hazards (stronger legislation). In addition, earthquake risk tolerance was predicted by different risk characteristics than the other five hazards. These findings will help risk communicators in identifying which risk characteristics to target to influence citizens' risk tolerance.     

A proposed framework of key activities and processes in the preparedness and recovery phases of disaster management

This paper proposes an empirically grounded framework for examining the preparedness and recovery phases of disaster management activities and processes pertaining to predictable disasters within a developed country. The two‐stage framework provides a single model composed of important preparedness and recovery initiatives, as well as activities and processes derived from empirical data collected for case studies from Australia: the ‘Black Saturday’ bushfires in the state of Victoria in February 2009; and Cyclone Larry in March 2006. The framework enables a variety of analyses, including the generation of insights into disaster management preparedness and recovery in the context of events in wealthy developed countries. The paper combines two empirical examples, a series of bushfires and a severe tropical cyclone, to enhance understanding of, and to contribute to better, disaster preparedness and recovery in the future. The paper contributes to the growing literature on disasters, preparedness, recovery and associated logistics, and other issues.     

面向社区的全过程风险管理模型的理论和应用

针对我国灾害和事故隐患严重,而风险管理水平相对薄弱的现状,提出了一种适合中国国情的“面向社区的全过程风险管理体系（COPRMS）”模型。阐述了COPRMS风险管理模型的理论基础,以及在我国综合灾害风险管理中的应用。     

Re-framing risk: the changing context of disaster mitigation and preparedness

This issue of Disasters explores the roles of NGOs and other actors in disaster mitigation and preparedness and also reviews broad international trends in risk management and disaster prevention. The need to address risk, and with that the motivation to improve disaster mitigation and preparedness, has tended to fall between the cracks of grander frameworks of development co-operation and humanitarian assistance. Despite the seemingly glaring need to reduce the horrific impact of floods, droughts and wars, disaster mitigation and preparedness have neither the allure of directly 'saving lives', nor of providing an 'escape from poverty'. There are, however, signs that risk management is becoming a mainstream concern. Factors such as the need to address factors that do not fit into traditional slots on the relief-development continuum, the rising economic costs of disasters and a growing acknowledgement that aid will never cover more than a small fraction of the costs of disasters are all leading to new approaches, priorities and institutional configurations. A realisation that dealing with risk and insecurity is a central part of how poor people develop their livelihood strategies has begun to position disaster mitigation and preparedness within many poverty alleviation agendas. A number of long-standing challenges remain; most of all, the complexities of maintaining the political will that is needed to ensure that risk management becomes more than a passing fad.     

Comparing proximity measures of exposure to geostatistical estimates in environmental justice research

Abstract

Recent hazard literature frequently refers to sustainability and resilience as the guiding principles behind effective hazard planning. Certainly, structurally organizing communities to minimize effects of disasters and to recover quickly by restoring socio-economic vitality are laudable goals. However, while anticipating such outcomes is relatively easy from a theoretical standpoint, practical implementation of comprehensive plans is much more elusive. Indeed, relationships between community sustainability/resilience and hazards are complex involving many social, economic, political and physical factors. A conceptual framework for analysis of sustainability and resilience, then, is described based on three theoretical models, a mitigation model, a recovery model, and a structural-cognitive model. This framework is examined using data from Florida, USA, where local context, social and political activities, and economic concerns present difficulties in application. The question remains, therefore, to what extent can communities truly develop sustainable and resilient characteristics?     

The 2011 flood event in the Mekong Delta: preparedness,response, damage and recovery of private households and small businesses

Floods frequently cause substantial economic and human losses, particularly in developing countries. For the development of sound flood risk management schemes that reduce flood consequences, detailed insights into the different components of the flood risk management cycle, such as preparedness, response, flood impact analyses and recovery, are needed. However, such detailed insights are often lacking: commonly, only (aggregated) data on direct flood damage are available. Other damage categories such as losses owing to the disruption of production processes are usually not considered, resulting in incomplete risk assessments and possibly inappropriate recommendations for risk management. In this paper, data from 858 face‐to‐face interviews among flood‐prone households and small businesses in Can Tho city in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta are presented to gain better insights into the damage caused by the 2011 flood event and its management by households and businesses.