Of timelines and timeliness: lessons from Typhoon Haiyan in early disaster response

Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines on 8 November 2013 with maximum sustained winds of 235 kilometres per hour, adversely affecting at least 11 million people and displacing some 673,000 in the central regions of the country. The disaster clearly overwhelmed the Philippine government despite its seemingly well‐crafted disaster management plan. Using timelines of different organisations, this paper identifies gaps in the government's response, mainly due to its failure in coordinating and managing relief operations, which adversely affected its effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of critical goods and services following the disaster. The paper also demonstrates how non‐governmental organisations (NGOs), the United Nations, foreign governments and other organisations provided assistance, mainly through aid niching, to cover the government's shortcomings. The paper recommends a paradigm shift in the government's disaster response by integrating collaborative arrangements between government agencies and NGOs, and giving local governments the lead role, with the national government as support, in disaster planning and response.     

明太祖的荒政立法

救荒是明代经济发展、社会稳定的重要措施。为了保证荒政的顺利而有效地进行,明太祖从灾害防治到灾害赈济,从赈灾官员的选用到对吏治腐败的整治,都制定了较为详细的法律条文。从这些法律条文中可以概括出明太祖的荒政立法包含以下两个方面：一、防灾与减灾中的立法;二、救灾中的立法。朱元璋通过荒政立法,一方面惩治了救灾中的腐败,提高了救灾的效率;另一方面也使灾民在自然灾害面前得到国家的救济,使社会生产力的破坏得以减轻,为明王朝的经济恢复和发展奠定了基础。     

论民初我国救灾成效不彰及其原因

民国初年,我国救灾的成效方面存在着相当的不足,并直接引起连带性恶性效果。影响民国初年救灾成效不佳的原因主要可以归纳为三点,即:施政重点倾斜、社会动荡不安、政府救灾功能减弱等。     

Moderating effects of empathic concern and personal distress on the emotional reactions of disaster volunteers

This study examines stress and mood outcomes in community volunteers who undertook one week's worth of post‐disaster relief work in L'Aquila, Italy, which had been hit by an earthquake four months earlier. The study team obtained pre‐ and post‐relief work data from 130 volunteers involved in activities such as preparing food for the displaced, cleaning the camps and distributing clean linen. The Perceived Stress Scale, the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Profile of Mood States were administered at the start and at the end of the aid activities. Psychopathological symptoms and empathy were assessed in the beginning, using the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, respectively. The results show that, following the assistance work, volunteers displayed decreases in perceived stress, general distress, anxiety and anger, as well as increases in positive emotions. The empathy facets empathic concern and personal distress showed different patterns in modulating the post‐disaster relief work adaptation for some of the mood outcomes.     

泄爆导管对球形容器内气体爆炸泄放过程影响的试验

设计了球形容器内气体爆炸通过导管泄爆的试验系统,选用体积分数为10%(特殊说明除外)的甲烷和空气预混气体开展试验,研究了泄爆导管长度、容器容积、点火位置、气体体积分数、破膜压力等因素的影响。结果表明:泄爆导管越长,容器内的正压力峰值和负压力峰值越大;密闭爆炸时,球形容器的容积对爆炸压力峰值几乎无影响;不同容积球形容器内气体爆炸通过相同导管泄爆时(导管长度均为6 m,直径均为0.06 m),容积大的容器内的压力锋值为小容器压力值的3.3倍,且大容器内的压力上升速率也明显高于密闭爆炸的情况;有泄爆导管存在时,尾部点火容器内的压力峰值高于中心点火;泄爆导管的存在使得容器内的压力峰值高于直接泄爆时的压力峰值;无论有、无泄爆导管,容器内的压力峰值均随破膜压力增加而增加,但差值越来越小,说明导管的存在对容器爆炸泄爆过程的影响趋向缓和,但导管的存在总是阻碍了泄爆过程,增加了爆炸的严重程度,因此,在泄爆设计时要充分考虑导管的影响,适当提高容器自身的耐压强度。     

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.     

Food acquisition during the African drought of 1983–1984: A study of Kenyan herders

In 1983 and 1984, drought spread across the northern rangelands of Kenya and herders in lowland Samburu lost substantial portions of their livestock. Food aid arrived when 50 to 75% of the cattle had already died, and after poorer pastoralists were hungry enough to sell their remaining productive animals. No pastoralists died of the immediate effects of the drought, but many were so impoverished that their longer-term prospects for remaining as herders look dim.
This essay discusses the timing and content of famine relief as it applies both to Samburu and other food-stressed areas. It focuses on the process of food acquisition during the northern Kenyan drought itself. The more "indigenous" food strategies of herding, hunting and gathering offered limited benefits. Equally, however, commercial channels for procuring food proved inadequate. Herders could not reliably sell animals to obtain cash for purchased food, nor were the grain and sugar staples always available even when cash was on hand. Lacking means to provide for themselves, Samburu came to depend on varied kinds of handouts.     

Networking emergency teams in Jerusalem

With the recent upsurge in terrorism, more and more attention is being directed at examining the effectiveness and efficiency of emergency teams. These teams tend to focus on their areas of expertise without necessarily communicating, cooperating or coordinating their operations. Research suggests that improved interpersonal communication and coordination enhances the overall work of each emergency team, and that their combined effort is far in excess of the sum of their individual endeavours. This paper outlines attempts made in Jerusalem to improve the performance of emergency teams and to help the helpers by holding training workshops, setting up a forum of co‐workers and encouraging dialogue among various emergency teams in the city. A planned intervention programme was designed to enable informal networking between team leaders. The programme had an impact on team workers and resulted in a more coordinated and effective service delivery during emergencies.     

我国气象灾害减灾救灾标准体系完备性研究

在全球变暖的背景下,气象灾害发生的频次增多且造成的影响不断加重,气象灾害的管理已成为国家公共安全管理的重要内容,气象灾害标准体系建设的完备性,对于气象灾害管理有着十分重要的意义。按照气象灾害标准体系框架,搜集国家气象相关权威部门标准委员会门户网站公布的气象灾害相关标准库,并分析了气象灾害减灾救灾标准体系在专业、门类和层次三个维度的完备性。最终指出了气象灾害减灾救灾标准体系存在的不足,进而给出了减灾救灾标准体系建设的政策建议。