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5 The Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon seen from the Hill of Philopappos (Source: Photographs were taken by J. Donald Hughes)
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Ancient Greek and Roman records contain many references to natural disasters. Analyzing the immediate reactions to the events, as well as the ensuing responses, is only possible where there is dependable evidence. Two case studies offer eyewitness accounts of disaster, as well as archaeological and scientific studies. These are the plague that stru...
Citations
... Due to its distinguished tangible and intangible cultural value, the Athens Acropolis is one of the most important touristic points worldwide, attracting throughout the year large numbers of visitors. At the same time, it is exposed to significant hazards of geodynamic and meteorological origin [3][4][5][6][7], and global climate change has already had observable effects on the natural, urban, and cultural environments of the region (Attica) [8]. As a result, managing risk and emergency planning have become priorities among the other challenges that the Acropolis faces. ...
Using the case of the Acropolis of Athens, this paper aims to broaden current knowledge on risk and emergency management in archaeological complexes of high visitation. More specifically, it focuses on the protection of visitors and staff and intends to provide guidelines towards an emergency response plan for geodynamic and meteorological hazards in the Athens Acropolis archaeological site, along with a risk reduction and preparedness strategy. To this end, the paper first analyzes the main challenges arising from the everyday use of the archaeological site and the high visitor flows, mainly during summer. Secondly, it sets out the main parameters for drawing up an emergency evacuation plan for staff and visitors. Finally, it proposes preparedness guidelines, including training and information for all involved, together with a roadmap towards reducing existing risk and the implementation of necessary infrastructure interventions against residual risk. To finish, we conclude that challenges in emergency planning for the Acropolis of Athens do not arise solely from the unique conditions of the place and restrictions associated with the universal value of the monument but point towards reducing high residual risk and improving risk governance.
... There is a significant gap in research relating to how people with high body mass are considered in disasters despite accounts that people have been left behind in direct relation to their size, shape, and weight [8,[14][15][16][17]. While everyone is at risk of harm in a disaster, some people have been identified at higher risk in relation to their particular circumstances before, during, and following a disaster: this includes, but is not limited to, people from socioeconomically deprived areas, adults with severe mental illness, older people, people with chronic health conditions, gender minorities and people with disabilities [18][19][20][21]. ...
Introduction: People have been left behind in disasters directly associated with their size, shape, and weight and
are disproportionately impacted in pandemics. Despite alignment with known vulnerabilities such as poverty,
age, and disability, the literature is inaudible on body mass. Emergency managers report little or no information
on body mass prevalence. This exploratory study aimed to illustrate population prevalence of high body mass for
emergency planning.
Methods: Cross-sectional data from the New Zealand Health Survey were pooled for the years 2013/14–2017/18
(n = 68 053 adults aged ≥15 years). Height and weight were measured and used to calculate body mass index.
The prevalence of high body mass were mapped to emergency management boundary shapefiles. The resulting
maps were piloted with emergency managers.
Results: Maps highlight the population prevalence of high body mass across emergency management regions,
providing a visual tool. A pilot with 14 emergency managers assessed the utility of such mapping. On the basis of
the visual information, the tool prompted 12 emergency managers to consider such groups in regional planning
and to discuss needs.
Conclusions: Visual mapping is a useful tool to highlight population prevalence of groups likely to be at higher
risk in disasters. This is believed to be the first study to map high body mass for the purposes of emergency
planning. Future research is required to identify prevalence at a finer geographical scale. More features in the
local context such as physical location features, risk and vulnerability features could also be included in future
research.
... Therefore, the treatment of Cd contamination in water has become a hot topic of environmental research in recent years [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Available sewage treatment methods mainly include extraction, [2][3][4][5] ion exchange, [5][6][7] biological treatment [8] and electrosorption [9,10]. Among these methods, electrosorption is considered the most effective method for sewage treatment. ...
Electrosorption is a novel desalination technique that has many advantages in the treatment of sewage. However, commercially available activated carbon electrodes for electrosorption commonly have low microporosity, poor moulding performance, and low adsorption and regeneration efficiency. Here, we evaluated a novel adsorbent material, activated carbon fibre felt (ACFF), for electrosorption of chromium ions (Cr6þ) in sewage treatment. The ACFF was modified with 20% nitric acid and its modified structure was characterized. The modified ACFF was used as an adsorbing electrode to investigate its desalination effect by electrosorption. Results showed that compared with those of unmodified ACFF, the modified ACFF had more carbonyl and carboxyl groups and the specific surface area, average pore size and micropore volume of the modified ACFF also improved by 32.2%, 2.5% and 23.1%, respectively. The kinetics of Cr6þ adsorption conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation, and the adsorption isotherm conformed to the Langmuir model. In addition, the regeneration rate of the modified ACFF electrode was more than 94%. In conclusion, the modified ACFF exhibits excellent electrosorption and regeneration performance for Cr6þ removal from water and thus is of great value for promotion in sewage treatment.
... People with severe or morbid obesity have been negatively impacted in disasters and left behind because of their body size, shape or weight [18][19][20][21][22]. Two illustrative examples are presented here: A patient in New York City was left behind following Superstorm Sandy in 2012 weighing 263 kg and was reportedly too wide for the evacuation sled. ...
Severe and morbid obesity are associated with highly elevated risks of adverse health outcomes and the prevalence of severe obesity is increasing globally. To date, disaster literature has not considered severe and morbid obesity as a specific vulnerability, despite reports of people being left behind during disasters because of their body size, shape or weight. The complex causes of obesity are associated with the social determinants of health and one’s potential vulnerability to disasters. The absence of appropriate considerations may lead to people being exposed to disproportionate and potentially avoidable risk. The intersection of the social determinants of health, disaster vulnerability, severe and morbid obesity is explored. Previously identified vulnerable groups are also represented in severe and morbid obesity data. This poses the prospect for ‘triple jeopardy’ compounding the social determinants of health, disaster vulnerability and considerations with and for people with morbid obesity. When working to reduce disaster risk for vulnerable groups, the author proposes specific consideration is required to ensure ‘all-of-society engagement and partnership’ in an inclusive, accessible and non-discriminatory manner, to ensure no one is left behind.
... Perhaps the earliest account relating to natural disasters and obesity dates from AD 79 [1] (p. 127). ...
It is a frightening reality for some people to be caught up in the midst of a disaster, alone and vulnerable due to their relative size, shape or weight. A literature search failed to find any empirical reports of data specific to body mass index (BMI) in disaster situations. A handful of largely anecdotal reports described situations in which people categorised as morbidly obese were negatively impacted in disasters because of their size and/or weight. While a small number of toolkits and training resources were found, there remains a paucity of research in relation to obesity and emergency planning or disaster risk reduction. This is somewhat surprising, considering the concern about increasing levels of obesity globally. Research is urgently needed to prioritise and address the specific considerations of people with morbid obesity and how communities plan, prepare, respond, and recover from disasters and public health emergencies.
... The normalcy bias can explain the unsuspecting behavior of people in history who faced major natural disasters. As an example consider the disaster of Pompeii in 79 CE, discussed by J. Donald Hughes (2013). When the Vesuvius erupted, Pliny the Elder demonstrated "unwarranted calm in the face of danger" (Hughes, 2013, p. 127) by taking a bath, dining and having a nap. ...
Modern cognitive and clinical psychology offer insight into how people deal with natural disasters. In my methodological paper, I make a strong case for incorporating experimental findings and theoretical concepts of modern psychology into environmental historical disaster research. I show how psychological factors may influence the production and interpretation of historical sources with respect to perceptions of and responses to disasters. While previous psychological approaches to history mostly involve psychoanalysis, I focus on (scientific) empirical psychology. Specifically, I review a number of well documented heuristics, biases, and memory modulations as described by cognitive psychology. Moreover, I argue that including investigations on disaster related mental disorders would complement the environmental historical research of natural disasters. My approach highlights a strong potential for interdisciplinary collaborations among environmental historians and psychologists.
This paper explores evidence for female authorship terminology in extant poetic texts written in Latin by women. It begins by first considering male authorship in Latin literature, before moving on to three case studies of women’s writing: an elegy by Sulpicia, an anonymous graffito from Pompeii, and the Virgilian cento of Proba. By foregrounding the ‘subversive mask’ of female poetic speech in Rome, the paper uncovers a subtextual rhetoric of authorship where female poets both respond to and subvert male authorship paradigms. It thus argues for the importance of analyzing authorship terminology in Latin literature through the lens of gender.
Het is belangrijk dat overheid en samenleving voorbereid zijn op verschillende toekomstscenario’s voor het verloop van de Covid-19-pandemie. Om hierbij te helpen, werkten veertien adviescolleges vijf coronascenario's verder uit: (1) Verkoudheid (2) Griep+ (3) Externe dreiging (4) Continue strijd en (5) Worst case.
Regering, parlement en samenleving staan voor een onzekere, complexe en langdurige opgave. Voor de aanpak daarvan draagt de (rijks)overheid regieverantwoordelijkheid, niet alleen in tijden van crisis, maar ook wanneer het op het oog goed gaat. Bij deze verantwoordelijkheid gelden twee belangrijke aandachtspunten: 1) benut de goede tijden om de slechte tijden te doordenken en 2) zorg voor een brede maatschappelijke afweging van maatregelen en ontwijk de ingewikkelde keuzes daarbij niet.
Contributie namens de Adviesraad internationale Vraagstukken
https://www.wrr.nl/adviesprojecten/coronascenarios/documenten/publicaties/2022/09/05/coronascenarios-doordacht-handreiking-voor-noodzakelijke-keuzes
During the last few decades, our understanding on the relationship between the environment and people, between nature and culture, has considerably changed. There is an emphasis put on the idea to further reconnect natural and cultural capital. This is, besides, a manifested European policy, directly related to the contemporary conservation and landscape trends which may be essential also for resilient ecosystem-based spatial planning, both on land and on sea. This research article examines the inseparable relationship between nature and culture, firstly from a theoretical and historical viewpoint, also discussing its implication in modern planning strategies. The latter is approached through the investigation of the links between cultural and natural capital, in the context of marine spatial planning (MSP). To this end, the essay briefly discusses the potential of "underwater cultural heritage (UCH)-tourism-nature conservation" coexistence, in the Mediterranean sea-basin and in Greece.
Due to their circumstances and resources before, during and following disaster events, some people have higher risk of harm in disaster requiring specific disaster planning considerations. The prevalence of big bodied people (BBP) is increasing in many countries and BBP are potentially at higher risk in disasters in direct relation to their size, shape and weight. This study explores planning considerations by emergency management, health, humanitarian and resource sector (EMs) for BBP in New Zealand. Qualitative semi structured interviews explore EM considerations particular to BBP. A purposive sampling recruitment technique was employed. Fifteen EM individuals were interviewed in-person or via Zoom between July 2018 - April 2021. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were thematically analysis. Five themes were identified: Prioritising People; Overlooked and left behind; Whose job is it anyway?; Practical and resource issues; The way forward. Participants were readily able to identify a range of ‘groups’ likely to be at higher risk in disasters, however BBP were not identified as at-risk and no specific planning was in place. A one size approach was more likely to overlook specific needs of BBP with lack of clarity over who would be responsible for planning. While concerning that BBP were not currently included in planning, emergency managers were open to education. The EMs interviewed expressed a desire for information, education and training to build the knowledge base concerning this sector of the population.
