Role of information in collective action in dynamic disaster environments

This study explores the major issues facing collective response operations after destructive earthquakes. The small-n case study design employs qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the decision-making process in a context of seismic risk to exemplify how public managers can utilise information and communication systems to ensure collaborative actions in managing an extreme event. Fifty-eight semi-structured interviews with 39 key decision-makers and researchers and content analyses of daily reports from Cumhuriyet comprise the main data sources. The study compares and contrasts the Turkish disaster management system following the Marmara and Duzce earthquakes of 1999. It addresses whether the use of information and communication technologies significantly affected its performance. The study's findings reveal that difficulties in accessing and exchanging timely and accurate disaster-relevant information inhibited coordination during the Marmara response while increased communication functions improved coordination and search-and-rescue activities during the Duzce response.     

Patterns of substance use among Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston,Texas

This paper focuses on changing patterns of substance use among low income, African American drug users evacuated from New Orleans, Louisiana, during Hurricane Katrina of August 2005. It examines the relationship between increases and decreases in alcohol and tobacco (AT) use and illicit drug (ID) use after Katrina and pre‐disaster and within‐disaster factors. Data from structured interviews with 200 Katrina evacuees currently living in Houston were collected 8–14 months after the disaster. Multivariate analysis revealed that rises in AT use were positively associated with education. Females and younger evacuees were more likely to have increased AT use. ID use increase was positively associated with resource loss and leaving the city before Katrina. Decreases in AT and ID use were found to be associated with disaster‐related exposure. The paper discusses the specific consequences of disasters on disadvantaged minority substance users and the importance of developing public health disaster policies that target this population.     

Campaign contributions,lobbying and post‐Katrina contracts

This research explores the relationship between political campaign contributions, lobbying and post‐Hurricane Katrina cleanup and reconstruction contracts. Specifically, a case‐control study design is used to determine whether campaign contributions to national candidates in the 2000–04 election cycles and/or the employment of lobbyists and lobbying firms increased a company's probability of receiving a post‐hurricane contract. Results indicate that both a campaign contribution dichotomous variable and the dollar amount of contributions are significantly related to whether a company received a contract, but that lobbying activity was not. These findings are discussed in the context of previous research on the politics of natural disasters, government contracting and governmental and corporate deviance.     

Alternative approaches to flood mitigation: a case study of Bangladesh

Floods were by far the most damaging type of natural disasters during the 1990s, in terms of both human impacts and socio-economic losses. Vulnerability to flooding disasters around the world is almost always differentiated by the socio-economic conditions of different income groups in the disaster area. In general, the poorer the income group (or the country) the more vulnerable it is likely to be to the adverse impacts of floods. The article argues that Bangladesh is the world's most flood-prone developing country in terms of the relative socio-economic impacts of floods. While conventional flood control strategies tend to be based on structural engineering approaches—such as the construction of large-scale embankments, diversion canals and dams—this article argues that more emphasis should be given to alternative, non-structural measures. The main lesson from recent flooding disasters in Bangladesh is that, in the absence of expensive structural measures, many non-structural ones can go a long way towards reducing vulnerability to and mitigating the impacts of floods.     

湖南省主要自然灾害及减灾策略

本文概述了湖南省的干旱、洪涝、低温冷害、冰雹、风灾、冰冻、农业病虫害、森林火灾水土流失、地震等主要自然灾害的时空分布特征及其对国民经济的影响,并对主要灾害的发展作出了预测,最后提出了减灾策略。     

河北省地质地貌灾害与防灾减灾

河北省是我国地质地貌灾害最为严重的地区之一．本文从人类生态学角度,研究地质地貌灾害的成因与分布,并强调通过调整人类活动,减轻灾害损失和影响．     

Intergovernmental relationships after disaster: state and local government learning during flood recovery in Colorado

ABSTRACT

When communities experience disaster, emergency response and recovery are led internally, based on local-level policy decisions and priorities. Decisions about how or whether to rebuild are made by local governments. Higher governmental authorities such as states and provinces may institute their own disaster recovery processes and policies in addition to or in competition with local governments. Greater intergovernmental engagement could increase resources and knowledge, which would yield higher levels of learning and result in superior disaster recovery policy outcomes. The role of higher authorities, then, can have important implications for policy processes and outcomes. The learning literature includes a dearth of studies that analyze the relationships between state and local governments during disaster recovery. We move the learning literature forward by analyzing intergovernmental relationships during disaster recovery. We find that learning within local governments is associated with higher levels of resource flows from state agencies as well as more collaborative intergovernmental relationships. We also find that state governments can improve processes for disaster recovery assistance and bring together disaster-affected local governments to promote learning during the recovery process. While this study focused on relationships constrained by U.S. federal dynamics, the lessons are useful to other multilevel governance systems.     

Toxicological mass disaster management - a hospital deployment scheme

Toxicological mass disasters have occurred frequently in past years and constitute a permanent threat in urban areas. From the standpoint of hospital planning, special consideration is required to treat a large number of poisoned casualties in a relatively short period. Several unique medical aspects characterize toxicological mass disasters: casualties present a single disease entity with many "borderline" cases, most medical personnel are unfamiliar with the problem and casualties present a potential contamination hazard to the hospital. A hospital deployment scheme is presented recommending Decontamination, Triage and simple Treatment Algorithms to meet the medical and organizational challenge of such a mass casualty situation. A further specific deployment scheme for treatment of organophosphorus agents poisoning is described to illustrate the principles presented.     

From drought relief to post-disaster recovery: The case of Botswana

This article discusses the initiative of the Government of Botswana in formulating and introducing a programme to assist recovery in rural areas after the present drought period as an important aspect of the national development effort. It examines the process by which this Post Drought Recovery Programme was arrived at, its limitations, the extent of its appropriateness to longer-term factors which render rural households more vulnerable to drought, and suggests conclusions which may be drawn to inform the design of similar programmes elsewhere.     

灾害史研究中的年代换算及其软件

“灾害史中的年代换算（TCHD）”软件是进行年代换算的专用软件。本文研究了几种主要历法的年代换算的具体算法．介绍了该软件的结构，流程和功能．TCHD软件使灾害学和历史学等领域的研究人员摆脱了传统的朔闰表式的历法对照和检索方式，并成为灾害史工作计算机化的一部分。