The development of aid agency policy on the use of imported biscuits in emergency relief

During 1985 more than 5,000 tonnes of biscuits consisting of twenty-eight different brands were sent to Ethiopia and Sudan for emergency relief feeding. They were freely available to recognized agencies operating feeding programmes. Biscuits were popular with programme supervisors as few resources (fuel, staff and personnel) were required for their preparation and distribution. They were also popular with beneficiaries.
Different aspects of biscuits were examined and characteristics considered important included: nutritional composition, acceptability to beneficiaries, packaging, the biscuit dimensions, shelf-life and accompanying information (nutritional composition, ingredients and guidelines for use).
The results of a field study indicated that biscuits have a limited, but useful, role to play in the early stages of emergency relief. Based on the study, guidelines for both donors and users, on the use of food aid biscuits were developed, which emphasize their joint responsibility in minimizing the misuse of biscuits.     

Aid in a city at war: the case of Mogadishu, Somalia

Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has been central to life, war, and peace in the country for almost two decades. Its urban characteristics, though, have been put to one side for the most part. In recent years, Mogadishu-related issues have been merged mostly into a global agenda for South and Central Somalia, resulting in the technical and coordination approaches employed in the city largely being reproductions of solutions utilised in refugee camps and rural areas. Unfortunately, urban problems require urban solutions. The aid system is just starting to discover how specific aid in cities at war should be, both from an organisational and a technical standpoint. The enhancement of aid practices in an urban setting implies, among other things, a more strategic approach to the specific spatial characteristics of the city, a more fine-tuned analysis of the technical requirements of the urban service delivery systems, and a better understanding of the role of urban institutions.     

Ethical Codes in Humanitarian Emergencies: From Practice to Research?

Notable strides have been made in recent years to develop codes of conduct for humanitarian intervention in conflicts on the part of international NGOs and UN organisations. Yet engagement by the academic and broader research communities with humanitarian crises and ongoing complex political emergencies remains relatively ad hoc and unregulated beyond the basic ethical guidelines and norms developed within universities for research in general, and within the governing and representative bodies of particular academic disciplines. This paper draws on a case study of research on humanitarian assistance to Liberia during that country's civil war from 1989 to 1996. The difficulties faced by humanitarian agencies in Liberia led to the development of two key sets of ethical guidelines for humanitarian intervention: the Joint Policy of Operations (JPO) and Principles and Policies of Humanitarian Operations (PPHO). This paper seeks to address what lessons, if any, these ethical guidelines, together with different experiences of conducting research in war-torn Liberia, can provide in terms of the role of academic researchers--and research itself--in humanitarian crises.     

Vehicle-occupant deaths caused by tornadoes in the United States, 1900–1998

Abstract

Occupants of vehicles encounter an uncertain degree of risk during tornadic storms. The current National Weather Service guidelines suggest we abandon vehicles to lie in a ditch if no sturdy shelter is available. However, these guidelines were developed without the benefit of supporting research. As we are an increasingly vehicle-dependent society, it is important to explore the historical record of vehicle-occupant deaths to see if the National Weather Service guidance is appropriate. The objective of this paper is to investigate the number, distribution, and broad spatial and temporal trends associated with vehicle-occupant deaths that have occurred as a result of tornadoes, and to define the proportion of tornado-induced deaths that have occurred in vehicles.

There were 15,047 deaths caused by tornadoes from 1900 through 1998. Of those, 5685 occurred at a defined site, and 270 were known to have occurred in vehicles. The number of vehicle-occupant deaths, as a proportion of all site-known, tornado-induced deaths, was constant from 1959–1979, but decreased significantly between 1980–1998. The number of deaths was related to several influencing factors. Linear regressions and correlations were employed to determine the degree of relationship between the number of deaths and several explanatory factors. While population, number of vehicle registrations, and number of tornadoes all seemed to influence the number of deaths to some degree, the most significant factor to influence the number of deaths appeared to be vehicle safety features. Most vehicle-occupant deaths occurred during rare F4 tornadoes, when vehicles where thrown from roadways. Regionally, the Great Plains had the highest number of vehicle-occupant deaths from tornadoes.     

创建中国的农业减灾科技体系

中国是世界上农业灾害严重和频繁的国家,中国社会经济发展、经济全球化和全球气候变暖给农业灾害的发生带来了许多新的特点,创建中国的农业减灾科技体系势在必行。分析了农业灾害与一般灾害的不同特点,提出农业减灾科技体系应由农业灾害学与农业减灾系统工程两大部分组成;分别论述了农业灾害学的理论与内容框架,和农业减灾系统工程的基本内涵。最后,对如何创建中国的农业减灾科技体系提出了若干建议。     

区域滑坡风险评估中的风险区划与概率分析

区域滑坡风险评估应该建立在可靠的前期基础工作之上,而滑坡风险区划和滑坡概率分析是滑坡风险评估的主要技术支撑,相互之间具有层次链的关系。通过滑坡风险的类型研究介绍了三者之间的关联性。根据研究的理论方法,选择三峡库区万州区进行实例应用,说明滑坡风险区划和滑坡概率对滑坡风险评估的贡献作用。在此基础上,进行了滑坡风险分布、滑坡风险概率、滑坡风险损失综合评估,构成了较完整的滑坡风险评估体系。     

Conducting research on disaster mental health in developing countries: a proposed model

The psychological consequences of disasters are known to be significant, but research efforts in developing countries have been sporadic. This paper reports a successful collaborative project conducted in Armero, Colombia, and in Ecuador. It outlines its origins, summarizes its findings, and identifies the essential ingredients that were responsible for its positive outcome. It is recommended that these guidelines be adhered to for the development of similar projects elsewhere, to ensure a significant impact on advancing the field, policy-making, delivering appropriate mental health care, and training of providers.     

基于多层次可拓评价法的城市燃气管线风险评价研究

以改进的肯特危险指数评分法对城市燃气管道的危险因素进行识分析,确立了城市燃气管线风险评价指标体系。将传统的可拓学方法改进为多层次可拓评价法,对其中的节域物元、关联度和等级评定程序进行了调整,并建立了相应的准则,对评价对象进行多级综合评价。通过多层次评价,可以获得不同子指标各自的风险等级以及评价对象总体的风险等级。以邯郸市某段燃气管线为例,运用城市燃气管线风险评价模型进行风险评价,得出其多层次风险等级值。通过对比及数据分析,证实了本文方法的可靠性。     

南京地震台“九五”期间的环境改造

南京地震台在“九五”期间 ,根据与周围环境协调一致、对外开放、超前技术考虑、保护观测环境等原则对台站环境进行了改造 ,取得了较好效果。     

Spain's greatest and most recent mine disaster

On 25 April 1998, the mineral waste retaining wall at the Swedish-owned pyrite mine at Aznalcóllar (Seville, Spain) burst, causing the most harmful environmental and socio-economic disaster in the history of the River Guadiamar basin. The damage was so great that the regional government decided in May 1998 to finance a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research initiative with the objective of eradicating or at least minimising all of the negative social, economic and environmental impacts. This paper utilises a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis to identify eight strategic measures aimed at providing policymakers with key guidelines on implementing a sustainable development model, in a broad sense. Empirical evidence, though, reveals that, to date, major efforts to tackle the negative impacts have centred on environmental concerns and that the socio-economic consequences have not been completely mitigated.     

北京市的灾害源及减灾对策构想

本文针对北京市的环境恶化与灾害风险背景,简要阐述北京市的地震、水灾、风灾、火灾及新致灾源(含人为灾害)的现状,强调开展首都圈灾害研究及安全规划设计的重要性,并提出了减灾方略及相应的管理构想。为正在修订中的北京城市总体规划(到2010年)提供参考,并探索保护环境与减灾并进的安全控制模式。     

渤海PL19-3油田设计地震动参数研究

渤海PL19-3油田按美国有关规范进行抗震设计,其抗震设防标准和地震动参数与我国有关技术规范相比均存在一定的差别。本文根据渤海及邻区的地震构造、地震活动环境的研究结果,以及工程场地的钻探资料、土动力参数测试结果,参照美国有关技术规范的方法,确定了PL19-3油田的设计地震动参数。研究成果不但能满足该工程的抗震设计需要,也可供渤海海域其他工程参考,尤其是所得到的场地土动力学参数具有其特殊性和代表性。本工作将促进海洋工程的抗震技术规范和设防标准的研究,同时,也为未来开展海域地震区划工作积累了基础资料和工作方法。     

地震发生的成丛模式及其在地震危险性分析中的应用

为了反映地震发生过程中的非平稳和成丛特性,文中将考虑丛中心非平稳的成丛过程应用于地震危险性分析。在推导给定时间段内地震次数分布的计算公式时,文中假设丛过程的发生率随时间变化按幂指数和周期函数形式变化,丛中事件发生的次数分布服从截头的离散Pareto分布,丛中事件相对于丛的发生时间服从指数分布。文中给出了当地震发生为非平稳和成丛过程时进行地震危险性分析的一般方法和计算步骤。最后,文中还就一个震源的情况初步探讨了模型在特殊情况下各种参数对地震危险性分析结果的影响,指出忽略前震和余震的影响可能低估所考虑场地面临的危险性。     

HIV risk and prevention in emergency-affected populations: a review

While basic guidelines on HIV prevention in emergencies have been available for several years, international agencies involved in the provision of health services have not placed sufficient priority on the prevention of the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in complex emergencies. This paper reviews the factors that may increase the risk of HIV transmission in populations affected by complex emergencies and outlines recommendations for research and programmes. Research into the most appropriate methods of carrying out HIV surveillance and interventions in these settings is needed. In the post-emergency phase programmes need to be far more extensive than those offered under the Minimal Initial Services Package (MISP). While the potential for stigmatization represents an important constraint, there is a need to prioritize HIV/STI interventions in order to prevent HIV transmission in emergency-affected populations themselves, as well as to contribute to regional control of the epidemic.     

电站锅炉SCR脱硝系统催化剂磨损试验研究

为了分析、解决选择性催化还原(Selective Catalytic Reduction,SCR)脱硝系统催化剂磨损的问题,在冷态通风的条件下,对催化剂上方烟气流速分布进行了现场试验,了解烟气流场分布状况,分析催化剂磨损的原因并提出改造方案。结果表明:催化剂磨损的主要原因是烟道横梁结构不合理,对烟气流产生较大的扰动,造成烟气流速分布不均匀。进行相应技术改造后,显著提高了烟气流分布的均匀性,解决了催化剂磨损的问题,保证了机组运行的安全性。     

区域滑坡时间分布的自相似性研究

滑坡时间分布是滑坡预测和预警报研究的关键内容,对一定区域滑坡分布时间规律的研究可为区域滑坡预测和预警报提供参考和指导。本文以长江三峡库区滑坡为研究对象,对滑坡的年际分布和月份分布的相似性分别进行了研究。结果表明,两种时间的分布规律具有较好的相似性,且滑坡规模越接近,相似性程度越高。对滑坡时间分布的相似性研究,为应用分形理论研究该区域滑坡时间分布规律提供了理论基础。     

地震综合预报对台网调整、优化布局的基本需求

本文在分析全国地震观测系统现状的基础上,利用震例资料的研究结果和1989年10月为止的台站资料对全国地震台网监测能力进行了评定,从而为全国台网和区域台网调整、优化布局提供了基本技术原则及相应的方法。     

陕西大暴雨时空分布特征及减灾对策

通过对陕西１９５７～１９９８年共４２年９７个测站的逐日降水量中大暴雨资料进行时间和空间尺度分析，总结归纳出陕西灾害性大暴雨的天气气候基本特征和规律性，并提出相应的减灾对策。     

条形基础砂土地基的破坏模型试验

为了研究条形基础砂土地基的剪切破坏形式和承载机理,在相似理论的指导下,进行了一组条形基础砂土地基的模型试验,模拟了砂土地基受荷后产生变形、扩展直到破坏的全过程;测量并分析了地基中不同点处的土压力大小及其分布规律,观测了剪切带的形成和发展过程。结果表明,模型试验能够很好地体现砂土地基变形、破坏的整个过程及其沉降变形特性、地基中各点的真实应力状态及其变化规律,对于研究深基坑变形过程和破坏形态具有应用价值。