Emergency and institutional crisis in Peru during El Nino 1982-1983

From December 1982 through July 1983, Peru was plagued by disastrous consequences of El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon. While the northern part of the country was devastated by torrential rains and floods, central Andean Peru endured landslides and flash floods, the southern Altiplano suffered a severe drought. Hazard preparedness was nonexistent, and official disaster relief uncoordinated and slow in coming. Administrative inefficiency magnified the stress upon the populations under disaster conditions. Provisions of disaster training from specialized international organizations is recommended as a preventive measure and as a policy to improve catastrophe-coping abilities in developing nations.     

The Cameroon volcanic gas disaster. An analysis of a makeshift response

The Cameroon Volcanic Gas Disaster has seen yet again a number of burning issues relating to relief management. These relate to the exxasgerantion and indequacy of facts from the field, media amplification of information, inappropriate and abundant intrnational response and lack of logistic considerations.
Disaster relief assessment should continue to be a top priority, no matter who performs it initially. Accurate assessment and immediate and appropriate satisfaction of the needs of victims are imperative if relief actors ar to be hare credibility. For international relief to be effective there is a need to expand existing contacts betwen a stricken government and its foreign counterparts, NGOs and the media. Part of this process includes the participation of resident relief and aid oriented agencies in national relief committees. Greater relief discipline should also outweight donor compassion.     

The politics of risk in the Philippines: comparing state and NGO perceptions of disaster management

It is now generally appreciated that what constitutes vulnerability to one person is not necessarily perceived as such by the next. Different actors 'see' disasters as different types of events and as a result they prepare for, manage and record them in very different ways. This paper explores what different perceptions of vulnerability mean in terms of the understanding and practices of two significant sets of actors and stakeholders involved in disaster preparedness and management in the Philippines: the state and NGOs. Approaches to disaster are not just a function of people's perceptions of disaster risk but also of their understanding of the prevailing social order and social relations. Despite a shared vocabulary—which increasingly presents disasters as processes rather than events, takes a proactive rather than a reactive approach, and favours the inclusion of stakeholders rather than solely relying on technocratic management—different realities continue to make for different responses.     

The politics of protection: aid, human rights discourse, and power relations in Kyaka II settlement, Uganda

This paper explores the conceptualisation and application of 'protection' by the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR), Ugandan government, and Congolese refugees in Kyaka II refugee settlement, Uganda. Analysing the origins and consequences of a demonstration against school fees, and drawing on other ethnographic data, it explores how different interpretations of this incident reflect different conceptions of, and approaches to, protection. Ugandan government officials viewed the demonstration as a security incident; Congolese and Ugandan adults responded with increased monitoring and 'sheltering' of children and young people; students justified the demonstration as a legitimate manifestation of their rights; while UNHCR promoted assistance and resettlement. The paper argues that prevailing protection responses, including 'sensitisation', sheltering, and resettlement, are de-contextualised from daily realities and fail to address the underlying power relations that undermine protection. It concludes with recommendations on how international refugee agencies can reorient assistance to address protection concerns in refugee contexts.     

中国自然灾害转移、安置的财政补助机制

简要分析了转移、安置在应急管理与救灾实践中的重要意义。在分析转移、安置要素的基础上，结合灾害脆弱性分析提出了转移、安置规模和程度模型，讨论了人为决策影响因素对模型的影响，较好地体现了自然因素和人为因素的综合作用。根据对转移、安置的发生进程的分析，提出了转移、安置分级的概念并进行了简单的分级，阐述了转移、安置中的资源需求。在这些工作的基础上，进一步分析了我国当前转移、安置财政补助机制的优缺点，提出了基于上述模型和分级标准的改进建议。     

面向对象的公路地质灾害监测预报数据组织

进行公路潜在的地质灾害点监测预报对维护公路安全具有重要的意义。针对公路地质灾害受人为因素影响大,监测预报系统涉及数据面与类型多的特点,根据系统功能要求研究了以面向对象的方法组织系统数据,灾害预报的实质是对潜在灾害点所表现的各类信息进行综合评估,将预报所涉及的各类实体分为6个基类,依据基类内各类实体特点将各基类划分成几个子类,构建了基类实体之间的以及实体与属性之间关系模型,实现了各种类型数据的有机组织。     

The persian famine of 1870-1872: prices and politics

By whatever definitions one cares to classify food shortages and deaths resulting from lack of food, there can be little semantic difficulty in recognising a catastrophic famine in Persia (Iran) in the early 1870s. This paper briefly examines the famine in its natural, political and socio-economic context. Fluctuations in prices and in the supply of essential commodities responded primarily to weather conditions, but this response was exaggerated and in some instances triggered directly by actions in the political and economic sphere.     

防震减灾网页设计要点及其日常维护——以山东省防震减灾信息网站为例

以山东省防震减灾信息网站为例 ,介绍了网页设计要点及日常维护的经验和体会 ,进而提出了网页进一步发展的新思路     

The rise of politics and the decline of vulnerability as criteria in disaster decisions of the United States, 1953–2009

This paper examines the shift from vulnerability to political responsiveness in presidential and gubernatorial disaster decisions in the United States from 1953–2009 (President Dwight D. Eisenhower to President Barack Obama) using annual request, declaration, and approval data from multiple sources. It makes three key conclusions: first, the 1988 Stafford Act expanded federal coverage to all categories of disasters, added a significant range of individual types of assistance, and provided extensive funding for recovery planning. Second, the election effects on disaster decisions increased over time whereas the impact of social and economic vulnerability (measured by scope of disaster) declined. Third, the changes affected governors more than presidents, and the choices of governors drove those of presidents. The analysis underscores the increasingly political nature of the disaster decision‐making process, as well as the difficulty in emphasising mitigation and preparedness as intensively as response and recovery. Proactive intervention yields fewer political rewards than responsiveness.     

The future of disaster risk management

The present perspective summarizes and projects the results of a two-day workshop held in 2013 with the presence of 21 known disaster risk specialists from academia and practice. Faced with the disconnect between ever-increasing and even-accelerating disaster losses and the declared progress in disaster risk management (DRM) practice over the last eight years, the document attempts to explain the current situation and project future needs in order to increase the saliency and effect of DRM. A review of current conceptual problems and their impact on knowledge and action, of the current role of DRM in society, of governance aspects and of the notion of transformative development and its relationship to DRM is provided. The critique of current practice and understanding of disaster risk then leads to an attempt to identify key needs for the future and changes that must be introduced in order for DRM to become more mainstream and effective. Among the more central concerns, the document points to the way in which disasters are still many times seen as exogenous happenings as opposed to social constructions, product of skewed development practices. This then is reflected in much governance practice and action that are flawed. The difficulty in moving from a reactive and corrective DRM practice to a more prospective, risk avoidance practice is also highlighted.     

The secret history of natural disaster

Abstract

This paper explores the failure of historians to properly engage the study of natural hazards. It argues that by focusing mainly on individual calamities, historians have overlooked the larger social and economic forces that have shaped the response to natural disaster over the last century. Two important trends, real estate capitalism and the entry of the state into the political economy of hazards after World War II, are singled out as crucial for understanding US society's response to natural disaster. As a result of these historical forces, risk became a commodity, with harmful environmental consequences.     

Epidemiological assessment of food aid in the Bosnian conflict, 1994-97

Surveys in emergency settings are important for the accountability of food aid. Four household surveys conducted between 1994 and 1997 measured the performance of the Bosnia food aid programme, covering a random sample of clusters in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republica Srpska. The team calculated coverage, exclusion and inclusion errors, programme misses, and under-supply. Despite intended universal coverage from 1994-96, 15, 19, and 31 per cent, respectively, did not receive food across the three-year time frame. Households categorised as vulnerable were somewhat more likely to receive food. Programme misses were rare, whereas under-supply fell from 30 per cent in 1994 to four per cent in 1997, as the availability of other food increased. Extrapolation suggested that 61 per cent of the food distributed did not reach households. The programme introduced priority categories for targeting in 1997, yet nearly one-half of the highest priority households did not receive food. Incomplete coverage and weak targeting were related to political constraints.     

The vulnerable do‐gooders: security strategies of German aid agencies

Humanitarian and development agencies have confronted growing insecurity in some of the regions in which they work over the course of the past decade. Consequently, aid agencies are changing their approach to security issues. Compared to aid agencies from other countries, especially the United Kingdom and the United States, German aid agencies have been relatively slow to adopt security measures. In addition, the security measures they have selected differ from one agency to another, even in comparable security contexts. The literature on organisational learning helps to explain these differences. The findings show that external and internal organisational factors influence an aid agency's choice of a particular security measure. The different responses of German aid agencies to the changing security environment demonstrate that security measures are not only influenced by an organisation's identity but also can be a way for them to demonstrate their identity and thereby distinguish themselves from other actors that deliver aid.     

The responses of professional fire-fighters to disaster

This paper reports the results of a survey of the physical and mental reactions of a group ( N = 72) of members of the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) who were engaged in fighting the bushfires close to Adelaide, 16th-19th February 1983. A questionnaire, designed to elicit reports on both physical and mental reactions to exposure to the fire, as well as perceptions of several measures of social strain and social support, was administered to the firefighters when they came off duty. The results reported show the possible influence of role strain factors in predicting mental reactions, and also demonstrate what may be mediating effects of perceived social support. The paper also discusses methodological problems affecting this and other studies of the reactions of emergency service personnel to disaster.     

The politics of drought: The pauperization of lsiolo Boran

Isiolo Boran are becoming a population of permanent paupers. During the colonial period they were protected from Somali incursions, and their way of life preserved. Since Independence, however, largely as a result of increasing government intervention and market integration, they have become caught in a vicious spiral of poverty and decline.     

An ethical analysis of hydrometeorological prediction and decision making: The case of the 1997 Red River flood

Weather, climate, and flood predictions are incorporated into human decisions in a wide variety of situations, including decisions related to hazardous hydrometeorological events. This article examines ethical aspects of such predictions and decisions, focusing on the case of the 1997 Red River flood in Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota (US). The analysis employs a formal ethical framework and analytical method derived from medical and business ethics. The results of the analysis highlight issues related to forecast generation, communication of forecast meaning and uncertainty, responsibility for the use of forecasts in decision making, and trade-offs between the desire for forecast certainty and the risk of missed events. Implications of the analysis for the broader arenas of weather, climate, and flood prediction and disaster management are also discussed.     

An ethical analysis of hydrometeorological prediction and decision making: The case of the 1997 Red River flood

Weather, climate, and flood predictions are incorporated into human decisions in a wide variety of situations, including decisions related to hazardous hydrometeorological events. This article examines ethical aspects of such predictions and decisions, focusing on the case of the 1997 Red River flood in Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota (US). The analysis employs a formal ethical framework and analytical method derived from medical and business ethics. The results of the analysis highlight issues related to forecast generation, communication of forecast meaning and uncertainty, responsibility for the use of forecasts in decision making, and trade-offs between the desire for forecast certainty and the risk of missed events. Implications of the analysis for the broader arenas of weather, climate, and flood prediction and disaster management are also discussed.     

The rise of risk and the decline of politics

This paper argues that the rise of risk and formal risk assessment has contributed to the demise of representative democratic politics by displacing public discourses about values with technical justifications for decision making. Furthermore, risk plays a central role in the displacement of governmental responsibility to private sector and NGO actors at the same time as facilitating government control over citizens—the Janus faces¹ of governance and governmentality. Arguing that the turn to public participation cannot be the panacea for the present situation, the paper concludes by calling for revitalisation of representative institutions, the development of real-time technology assessment and development of popular connoisseurship of science and technology.     

The rise of risk and the decline of politics

This paper argues that the rise of risk and formal risk assessment has contributed to the demise of representative democratic politics by displacing public discourses about values with technical justifications for decision making. Furthermore, risk plays a central role in the displacement of governmental responsibility to private sector and NGO actors at the same time as facilitating government control over citizens—the Janus faces¹ of governance and governmentality. Arguing that the turn to public participation cannot be the panacea for the present situation, the paper concludes by calling for revitalisation of representative institutions, the development of real-time technology assessment and development of popular connoisseurship of science and technology.