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Information systems and needs assessment in natural disasters: An approach for better disaster relief management
Abstract
The paper addresses the issue of information in disasters relief. It begins by establishing the need for planning and systematic organization in disaster action, in order to produce a long term effect on the vulnerability levels of communities. Information is introduced as a key element in any phase of disaster management. The different informational needs are described by phases; information types and possible sources are briefly described. The organizational network of information collection is presented and the immediate need for research in this field is emphasized.
... Disasters impact communities across a range of sectors at varying levels [2,3], and the magnitude of their impact is determined by a community's social, economic, and environmental capacity to adapt to them [4]. Disaster events are particularly damaging to low-income nations, which do not have adequate resources to withstand the impacts [2,[5][6][7]. ...
... Shelter allocation is a critical component of disaster risk management [8] that low-income nations do not have adequate resources to plan effectively [7]. Effective shelter allocation requires integrated assessment of multiple hazards, as well as infrastructural and non-infrastructural elements [9]. ...
... Integrated assessments of information from a range of scientific and social disciplines are needed to inform disaster risk management [7,29]. Previously, challenges in data acquisition and integration have limited the success of planning for disasters, particularly in low-income nations where the infrastructure for data collection, storage, and integration has not been available [10,43]. ...
Mitigating the effects of natural hazards through infrastructure planning requires integration of diverse types of information from a range of fields, including engineering, geography, social science, and geology. Challenges in data availability and previously siloed data have hindered the ability to obtain the information necessary to support decision making for disaster risk management. This is particularly challenging for areas susceptible to multiple types of natural hazards, especially in low-income communities that lack the resources for data collection. The data revolution is altering this landscape, due to the increased availability of remotely sensed data and global data repositories. This work seeks to leverage these advancements to develop a framework using open global datasets for identifying optimal locations for disaster relief shelters. The goal of this study is to empower low-income regions and make resilience more equitable by providing a multi-hazard shelter planning framework that is accessible to all decision-makers. The tool described integrates spatial multi-criteria decision analysis methods with a network analysis procedure to inform decisions regarding disaster shelter planning and siting.
... Despite these details in The Sphere Handbook and the many other papers and guidelines which cover various topics on health-related information in humanitarian emergencies (Brès 1986;Guha-Sapir and Lechat 1986;Lechat 1990;Guha-Sapir 1991;Médecins Sans Frontières 1997;Noji 1997;Wetterhall and Noji 1997;WHO 1999;Granger 2000;Maxwell and Watkins 2003;Checchi and Roberts 2005;Connolly 2005;Landesman 2005;Mathew 2005;Thieren 2005;McDonnell et al. 2007;OCHA 2009;Walsh et al. 2009;Cottrell and King 2010), there has been limited analysis of the role of RHIS in disaster responses and how to increase RHIS capacity to support disaster planning. ...
... Data, collected from sources and through methods as shown in Tables 2 and 3, are used in decision making to allocate appropriate resources in the required quantity at the right time (Guha-Sapir and Lechat 1986), with the ultimate goal of preventing further mortality and morbidity in the immediate post-impact phase. Information on characteristics of disaster victims and data regarding the time, place, circumstances and mechanism of disaster-related mortality and morbidity during the immediate and secondary post-impact phase are useful not only for needs assessment and planning, but also for evaluation of relief programmes to inform future disaster responses (Guha-Sapir and Vogt 2009). ...
... The operational capacity of HIS, including availability of baseline information, must be tested during disaster preparedness drills. Baseline information must be updated annually or biannually (Guha-Sapir and Lechat 1986). Disaster management plans of hospitals and other health facilities must have health Maps containing vulnerability and resources information, collected, presented and regularly updated during routine collaborative community health activities between local health department and the community, such as immunization Above maps reported to and available at the higher-level health and administrative authorities Source: a HMN (2008). ...
During disaster times, we need specific information to rapidly plan a disaster response, especially in sudden-onset disasters.
Due to the inadequate capacity of Routine Health Information Systems (RHIS), many developing countries face a lack of quality
pre-disaster health-related data and efficient post-disaster data processes in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Considering
the significance of local capacity during the early stages of disaster response, RHIS at local, provincial/state and national
levels need to be strengthened so that they provide relief personnel up-to-date information to plan, organize and monitor
immediate relief activities. RHIS professionals should be aware of specific information needs in disaster response (according
to the Sphere Project’s Humanitarian Minimum Standards) and requirements in data processes to fulfil those information needs.
Preparing RHIS for disasters can be guided by key RHIS-strengthening frameworks; and disaster preparedness must be incorporated
into countries’ RHIS. Mechanisms must be established in non-disaster times and maintained between RHIS and information systems
of non-health sectors for exchanging disaster-related information and sharing technologies and cost.
... Despite these details in The Sphere Project handbook and many other papers and guidelines on how to respond to a disaster, including health information needs (Bres 1986, Guha-Sapir and Lechat 1986, Lechat 1990, Guha-Sapir 1991, Granger 2000, Checchi and Roberts 2005, Connolly 2005, McDonnell et al 2007, Cottrell and King 2010, there has been very little discussion or analysis of the role of routine health information systems. For example, there has been little discussion on how to ensure that routine health information systems in disaster-prone countries can be developed and implemented so that they serve the needs of disaster preparedness, response planning and implementation. ...
... quantities at the right time (Guha-Sapir and Lechat 1986), with the goal of preventing further mortality and morbidity immediately after the disaster. Information on characteristics of disaster survivors and data regarding the time of place, circumstances, mechanism of disasterrelated mortality and morbidities during the immediate and secondary post-impact phase are needed. ...
... Guha-Sapir and Lechat (1986) suggested completing an immediate needs survey within two to four days familiarity of this process by all medical staff (PAHO 2000a). ...
health systems in Asia and the Pacific through better evidence and practice For the PDF version of this paper and other related documents, visit www.uq.edu.au/hishub Theme 1: Building health information systems health system information for decision-makers Preparing routine health information systems for immediate health responses to natural disasters Eindra Aung Maxine Whittaker Working Paper Series • Number 12 • November 2010 • WORKING PAPER Theme: Building health information systems
... Several studies show that NAs improve healthcare in private practices, improve utilization of mental health services, help understand the needs of communities affected by natural disasters, and help understand the health needs of marginalized patients. [9][10][11][12][13] Despite the growing prevalence of free clinics in the United States (US) and around the world, there are few peer-reviewed NA studies in the literature that focus on the health needs of patient populations served by free clinics. In general, the work done by SRCs is still under-reported in the literature. ...
Background: Free clinics, such as student-run clinics (SRCs), aim to improve healthcare for underserved populations. These populations, which include homeless individuals, low-income citizens, immigrants, and other marginalized groups, have different needs that can also vary by location. It is thus important that SRCs strive to know their patient populations. Needs assessments (NAs) are a tool to achieve this goal. To further develop NAs by SRCs, we sought to synthesize the state of published NAs by free clinics. This manuscript is meant to encourage these clinics to perform more NAs.Methods: We conducted a systematic review of manuscripts containing the concepts “student clinic†and “needs assessmentâ€. We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Manuscripts were included in the review if they 1) were peer-reviewed, 2) described a free-of-charge clinic, 3) performed a NA, and 4) the NA investigated needs or concerns of patients and/or the community. NAs were defined as an approach to gather information about a patient population with the goal of improving their healthcare. Results: The initial search yielded 94 manuscripts; 18 manuscripts met inclusion criteria and were retained for full examination. The NAs showed a plethora of different purposes, methodologies, and useful results. From the analysis, we also present suggestions for future NAs.Conclusions: The existing peer-reviewed and published NAs by student-run clinics show the immense utility and potential of this tool. There is ample opportunity to publish and expand more NAs.
... For instance, this includes work on cyberphysical energy systems (He et al., 2016), mobility and energy market design (B randt, Wagner, & Neumann, 2012), ICT4D (Geoff Walsham, 2017), pandemic response (Pan & Zhang, 2020), sustainability (D. Zhang, Pan, Yu, & Liu, 2019), and disaster relief (Guha-Sapir & Lechat, 1986). Nonetheless, Winter and Butler (2011) argue the field of Information Systems (IS) would benefit significantly from conceptualizing and tackling more grand c hallenges. ...
Information Systems (IS) research has traditionally foc used on solving small scale, although not insignificant, problems. However, the discipline has proven less effective at specifying grand challenges-large scale problems that researchers can tackle collaboratively to create highly impactful research outcomes. To explore how grand challenges may be articulated, this paper justifies a potential grand challenge for the IS field (one of many that the field might choose to adopt), which we refer to as prosociet al information systems, or ProSIS. We then discuss a conceptual organizing framework (the ProSIS framework) which disassembles the grand challenge into research initiatives and serves as a boundary object to help IS researc hers to collaborate with other stakeholders in addressing societal challenges.
... According to U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (2019), between 2004 and 2014, 1.7 billion people were affected by natural disasters globally, resulting in 700,000 deaths and $1.4 trillion in damages. Disaster management (a process that involves preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery) requires timely access to accurate information describing disaster impact (Guha-Sapir and Lechat, 1986). Aerial reconnaissance is commonly used for locating victims and assessing damage, particularly in large-scale events such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and wildfires. ...
... Through topic classification and drawing the daily variation curve, we found that the topics discussed by the public after the disaster are mainly divided into the four categories of "demand", "disaster situation", "praying", and "reconstruction". The changing characteristics of these topics reflect the different stages of the disaster, which is basically in line with the five main stages of the disaster cycle as defined by Debarati and Michel [47], namely the early warning stage, impact stage, emergency stage, recovery stage, and reconstruction stage. The evolution of public topics corresponds to changes in sentiment and can be explained by one another. ...
The public’s attitudes, emotions, and opinions reflect the state of society to a certain extent. Understanding the state and trends of public sentiment and effectively guiding the direction of sentiment are essential for maintaining social stability during disasters. Social media data have become the most effective resource for studying public sentiment. The TextBlob tool is used to calculate the sentiment value of tweets, and this research analyzed the public’s sentiment state during Typhoon Haiyan, used the biterm topic model (BTM) to classify topics, explored the changing process of public discussion topics at different stages during the disaster, and analyzed the differences in people’s discussion content under different sentiments. We also analyzed the spatial pattern of sentiment and quantitatively explored the influencing factors of the sentiment spatial differences. The results showed that the overall public sentiment during Typhoon Haiyan tended to be positive, that compared with positive tweets, negative tweets contained more serious disaster information and more urgent demand information, and that the number of tweets, population, and the proportion of the young and middle-aged populations were the dominant factors in the sentiment spatial differences.
... Coinciding with many of these response changes, studies on the benefits and uses of information technology in disaster response began to grow in prominence. Recommendations were made for a variety of supporting systems including Decision Support Systems, and Expert Systems (Belardo, Howell, Ryan, & Wallace 1983;Drabek, 1991;Guha-Sapir & Lechat, 1986;Mick & Wallace, 1985;Walter, 1990). ...
Society faces many natural and man-made disasters which can have a large impact in terms of deaths, injuries, monetary losses, psychological distress, and economic effects. Society needs to find ways to prevent or reduce the negative impact of these disasters as much as possible. Information systems have been used to assist emergency response to a certain degree in some cases. However, there is still a lack of understanding on how to build an effective emergence response system. To identify the basic requirements of such systems, a grounded theory research method is used for data collection and analysis. Data from firsthand interviews and observations was combined with literature and analyzed to discover several emergent issues and concepts regarding disaster response. The issues and concepts were organized into four categories: i) context-awareness; ii) multi-party relationships; iii) task-based coordination; and iv) information technology support, which together identified the needs of disaster response coordination. Using evidence from the data, these factors were related to one another to develop a framework for context-aware multi-party coordination systems (CAMPCS). This study contributes to the field of emergency management as the framework represents a comprehensive theory for disaster response coordination that can guide future research on emergency management coordination.
... Often the communities that are affected play an important part in the data-collection process (i.e. needs assessment) (Guha-Sapir & Lechat, 1986;Hong et al., 2018). The information collected helps emergency responders and agencies to understand the effects of the disaster on the community and plan accordingly. ...
For a plethora of decisions we make on a daily basis, we can rely on timely, tailored information delivered via digital services. The technologies and the knowledge needed for the design, development and delivery of digital services have become increasingly accessible. These developments have also made their way to the crisis response domain and resulted in a variety of digital services to deliver information , supporting emergency responders in their decision-making processes. At the same time, affected communities by disasters are also in need of information during such critical events. Timely, relevant information helps affected citizens to understand the situation, make informed decisions, and gain access to life-saving aid. However, designing, creating, and delivering digital services to deliver vital information to communities warrant specific considerations. This chapter per the authors explores the concept of digital services in regard to empowering communities affected by critical events.
... Historically, disaster management has been coordinated by national and international organisations working independently of one another in an ad-hoc fashion with the philosophy of 'any assistance is better than none'. 139,140 Now, however, natural disasters are extending beyond the boundaries of any one country, and the effects of a single disaster can be felt globally. 25,141 This requires a coordinated approach from local, state, and national governments, NGOs, and communities to effectively manage an all-hazard approach to disasters. ...
... According to UNDP (2011, p. 7), PDNA approaches feature the procedure of preparation, data collection, reviewing and result-formulating stages. Consistently, Guha-Sapir et al. (1986) state that an effective disaster recovery programme should be based on information for action, and they propose that the information system includes the procedure of data-collection, processing, evaluation and goal-setting. World Bank (2010) suggests the integration of HRNA (Human recovery needs assessment) and DALA (Damage and loss assessment) into the PDNA approach. ...
... There is a demand to ensure that efficiency and effectiveness is at levels that will provide a population the needed relief. For example, one area highlighted in research is the need for information throughout every phase of disaster management (Guh-Sapir and Lechat, 1986). Without good information flow and control disasters expand and grow with the result of more injury and loss of life. ...
... There is a demand to ensure that efficiency and effectiveness is at levels that will provide a population the needed relief. For example, one area highlighted in research is the need for information throughout every phase of disaster management (Guh-Sapir and Lechat, 1986). Without good information flow and control disasters expand and grow with the result of more injury and loss of life. ...
... Assessing needs for post-disaster reconstruction and recovery requires detailed population-based information that can inform decision makers (Malilay, Flanders, & Brogan, 1996). Guha-Sapir and Lechat (1986) stated that the information system for needs assessment includes data-collection, processing, evaluation and goal-setting. Malilay et al. (1996) applied the quantitative cluster-sampling to a rapid needs assessment following natural disasters. ...
... According to UNDP (2011, p. 7), PDNA approaches feature the procedure of preparation, data collection, reviewing and result-formulating stages. Consistently, Guha-Sapir et al. (1986) state that an effective disaster recovery programme should be based on information for action, and they propose that the information system includes the procedure of data-collection, processing, evaluation and goal-setting. World Bank (2010) suggests the integration of HRNA (Human recovery needs assessment) and DALA (Damage and loss assessment) into the PDNA approach. ...
The aim of this study is to identify needs for recovery from people’s perspectives under a localized context following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. A qualitative approach was applied to collecting and processing data which consist of 114 semi-structured interviews with earthquake-resettled households, six focus group discussions, interviews with community leaders and government officials, and participant observations. Data suggest that recovery needs at local communities are sustainable as the affected population is more concerned about productive living and development issues rather than physical reconstruction. While building new houses appears to be the most urgent task, people wish to have permanent ownership of land at a different place for reconstruction and gain employability for overseas job-hunting. These needs are interlinked, and the interlinkage is manifest in the reliance on the central authority to take actions. These findings imply that comprehensive recovery from the earthquake calls for reconstruction in multiple sectors.
... Basically, the questionnaires were adopted through a study of the references of literature review for the post disaster issues. Questionnaire survey criteria have been prepared from the suggestions available in literature (such as Hussain et al. 2009;Dirkzwager et al. 2006;Önder et al. 2006;Roorda et al. 2004;Galea et al. 2003;Malilay et al. 1996;Guha-Sapir and Lechat 1986). These literatures were embedded together within a single survey questionnaire. ...
Background
Koshi flood of August 2008 in eastern lowlands of Nepal affected around 2.64 million people in India and Nepal, including 65,000 people and 700 ha fertile land in Nepal. It was calculated that 25% of the affected cultivated land of Shreepur, Haripur and western Kushaha villages in Sunsari district are still barren and remain filled with flood sediment of sizes from clay to sand even after 8 years. The issues of land change from fertile to barren because of flooding and characteristics of the sediments in terms of cultivation are the foci of this research. ResultsField measurement and information from questionnaire survey showed that the depth of the flood sediment are highly variable in impacted zones. They are divided into central red, red, yellow and green zones as per the thickness of the sediments. The sediments from sieve analysis has also shown that the degree of fineness is greater towards the green zones and texture has shown function of distance : T = f (d). The average thickness varies from 0.10 m in green zone to 4.5 m in central red zone in new channel area of the flood. The crop yield is also 50–75% greater in green zones than in the other zones. Changing in cultivation practice from traditional crops to cash crops have increased income up to 200–300% in the aggraded land. Changing in cultivation practices and removing layer of flood sediment in shallow sedimentation area are the major overcomes against the flood sediments. Conclusion
The study concluded that the agricultural practices in aggraded land depends on sediment textures, composition, and thickness of the sediments.
... To be part of the team, Twitter must help address three key problems -communication, coordination, and the exercise of authority (Quarantelli, 1988). A key question is can Twitter data provide more accurate, timely, relevant and geographically situated information (Guha-Sapir and Lechat, 1986;van Oosterom et al., 2006) than census data, and so support planning? To answer this question it is necessary to understand data biases and so know when the Twitter data is not informative. ...
Social media is playing a growing role in disaster management and response. Expectations are that such media can be critical for sending alerts, identifying critical needs, and focusing response. However, for social media to be used in that way, it will be necessary to understand how social media is used during normal, i.e., non-disaster periods. Herein we examine the use of a particular social media, Twitter, and assess its value for disaster management with a focus on planning and early warnings. Our focus is Padang Indonesia, and the potential use of Twitter to support tsunami warning and response. We assess alternative collection strategies and analyze Twitter usage under normal conditions and then use this information to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this data in supporting disaster planning and early warning in terms of coverage, spatio-temporal patterns, and identification of opinion leaders. We find that while one can potentially leverage Twitter for disaster management, careful collection, assessment, and coordination with official disaster Twitter sites and local on-scene Twitter opinion leaders will be critical from a preparedness and early warning perspective. Guidelines for harnessing Twitter data for such uses are provided.
... These techniques must be able to define the overall effects of the disaster, the nature and extent of the health problems, the population groups at particular risk for adverse health events, the survivors' specific health care needs, the local resources available to cope with the event, and the extent and effectiveness of the response to the disaster by local authorities, and this information must be assembled accurately and quickly. Guha-Sapir and Lechat (1986; see also Guha-Sapir, 1991) have proposed useful attributes for indicators used for needs assessment following earthquakes ( " quick and dirty " surveys). These attributes include simplicity, speed of use, and operational feasibility . ...
Environmental Health: From Global to Local is a comprehensive introduction to the subject, and a contemporary, authoritative text for students of public health, environmental health, preventive medicine, community health, and environmental studies. This book provides a multi-faceted view of the topic, and how it affects different regions, populations, and professions. In addition to traditional environmental health topics—air, water, chemical toxins, radiation, pest control—it offers remarkably broad, cross-cutting coverage, including such topics as building design, urban and regional planning, energy, transportation, disaster preparedness and response, climate change, and environmental psychology. This new third edition maintains its strong grounding in evidence, and has been revised for greater readability, with new coverage of ecology, sustainability, and vulnerable populations, with integrated coverage of policy issues, and with a more global focus.
... Questionnaire [ Figure 2] were developed taking reference from relevant literatures. [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Flood affected area was divided into seven settlement clusters and depending upon the household numbers questionnaire were administered altogether. Five options were provided for each question relevant to postdisaster issues in the different sector including health and diseases. ...
Introduction: Nepal is vulnerable to geological and hydrological natural disasters with vast epidemiological consequences. Objective: This research is focused on the epidemiology of the aftermath of a major flood in Koshi in the eastern part of Nepal in August 2008. Although, direct flood induced mortality was only two, 39 more mortalities were reported within the four months of the disaster event, mostly amongst those living in the rehabilitation camps. Methods and Materials: Data were collected through questionnaire survey and the secondary data from District Public Health Office (DPHO), Sunsari and well as local health centers. Results: The waterborne infectious diseases and mental disorders were found as the major prominent diseases during the post flood period. The infectious diseases increased by 30% in the first year after the disaster whereas the number of mental disorder patients increased immediately and also within one to three years of period from 29.2% to 62.5% during the post disaster phase. Conclusion: The study has found that the effectiveness of epidemiological interventions would be efficient if it continues up to two years after the flood.
... In summary, the challenges expected to accompany climate change in general and increasing floods in particular seem gloomy for the agricultural sector (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] 2014). Whilst it is true that postdisaster needs assessments (PDNA) can support disaster recovery, relief and reconstruction activities immediately after floods occur (Guha-Sapir & Lechat 1986;Ingram et al. 2006;Malilay, Flanders & Brogan 1996), comprehensive analytical approaches can potentially provide stronger plausibility to floods impact assessments, better adaptability to climate variability and adequate policy options for flood risk management. Increasingly, impact assessments benefit from spatial analysis to enhance completeness (e.g. ...
Floods are the most common natural disasters worldwide. Much of the growing literature on the impact of floods, especially in developed countries, and to a lesser extent in rural areas of developing countries, concentrates on economic rather than a comprehensive assessment of combined effects on people’s livelihoods. Holistic floods impact assessments are often done long after the shock, raising problems of data reliability following long recall periods, although post-disaster needs assessments when carried out earlier can facilitate appropriate disaster recovery, relief and reconstruction activities. We applied the sustainable livelihoods framework as a comprehensive approach to assess the impacts of the Babessi floods in 2012 on livelihoods in rural (north western region) of Cameroon 6 weeks after the floods. Using a structured questionnaire, data was collected from victims before and after the floods, using recall methods. A matched sample of nonvictims randomly selected from the same village as the victims was used to assess vulnerability to the floods by household type. Floods were found to have serious economic, social, human and food security impacts on victims. Both government and nongovernmental support were jointly crucial for household recovery. Comparatively observed high levels of recovery were attributed to the low loss of human lives. The article concludes with the need for comprehensive approaches to floods impact assessments. The need for combining formal and informal instruments in post-disaster management in rural areas is also emphasised.
... Accurate needs assessment is a pre-requisite for independent, neutral and impartial relief assistance. Therefore, the process of assessment need to be scientific, moreover data collected during all stages need to be consistent (Guha-Sapir and Lechat, 1986). ...
India is prone to natural disasters due to its unique geo-climatic conditions. Response and relief are usually ad hoc and poorly managed. Although a single set of reasons cannot be made out, lack of institutional mechanism, lower preparedness levels, absence of any performance evaluation and minimal community involvement have been often blamed. What remains unanswered is "Why are the same mistakes repeated time and again?" India has witnessed a number of natural and man-made disasters in the recent past. Despite best efforts of various responders, there have been reports of failures in meeting many mission parameters. The objective of this paper is to analyse reasons for such failures, and to identify some critical success factors in disaster relief operations specific to developing countries. The authors have conducted an exploratory study and interviewed experts/volunteers from all domains of relief operations. Two brief case studies have been presented, to validate the findings of the paper.
... 3 Needs assess- ments can identify gaps between community vulnera- bilities and the services necessary to address those vulnerabilities thus helping set priorities in the allo- cation of resources. 24 Postdisaster, this would include assessments during the immediate postimpact phase 25 or later to provide an estimation of the nature, severity, and extent of adverse psychological, behav- ioral, and functional impact of a disaster on members of a community. These needs assessment data can help identify the groups that should be screened for addi- tional disaster mental health services and the location of these groups within a population. ...
Background: Providers serving children’s mental health needs face the complexities of tailoring assessments based on developmental stages, family characteristics, school involvement, and cultural and economic factors.This task is even more challenging in the face of a disaster, terrorist incident, or other mass trauma event. Traditional mental health knowledge and skills may not be sufficient to meet children’s needs in these chaotic situations. Unfortunately, disaster planning and response often overlook or only briefly address the unique mental health needs of children. While there is general agreement that children have specific vulnerabilities, few comprehensive plans exist for identifying and addressing children’s mental health needs predisaster and postdisaster.
Objectives/methods: Based on a review of the literature, the objectives of this article are to provide an
overview of the central tenets of assessment with children throughout the course of a disaster and to propose
a framework for disaster mental health assessment that can be used by a variety of providers in
community disaster planning and response.
Results: Disaster-related assessments are described including surveillance, psychological triage, needs assessment, screening, clinical evaluation, and program evaluation. This article also identifies easily
accessible resources for responders and providers who desire to become more familiar with child disaster
mental health assessment concepts.
Conclusions: The framework described here provides an overview for understanding how assessment
can be conducted to identify child and family needs and to inform the delivery of services following a disaster.
... The results suggested that provides both the extent rehabilitation and job services for the still unemployed could be major strategies for the serious injuries in Taiwan. Debarati et al showed that develop appropriate income-generating projects and health care for families made destitute as the effective rehabilitation measures by the disaster [11]. Our studies agreed with them. ...
Purpose To investigate the basic and medical needs of 258 serious injuries in the Chi-Chi earthquake. Approach Subjects were collected from the Department of public Health Bureau, Nantou County Government. The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire about the basic and medical needs 5 months after the earthquake struck. Results There were 13 died, 8 still in hospital, and 250 discharged of the 271 serious injuries. Among the 250 discharged persons, 28 (11.2 %) needed home rehabilitation, 206 (82.4 %) needed hospital rehabilitation routinely, and 16 (6.4 %) cases were cured. The unemployment got the living fee less self-reliant than the employment (odds ratio = 214.67, 95 % confidence interval = 53.22 865.83). The unemployment needed the employment service more than the employment (odds ratio = 5.37, 95 % confidence interval = 1.20 23.94) also. There were no difference between the unemployment and employment for the needs of home rehabilitation, mental counseling, financial support, vocational training, and accommodation service. These analyses suggested that provides both the extent rehabilitation service and job service for the still unemployed as the major strategies for serious injuries in Taiwan.
... In-depth interviews are considered to be suitable for collecting detailed information from relatively few respondents in the case of evaluating a socio-technical system [12,[45][46][47][48] employed this method to collect information on TC forecasting and warning from the meteorologists at BMD. Questionnaire surveys in contrast, are commonly used for: (a) classifying a population on desired bases, such as age, occupation, and housing condition; (b) assessing people's opinion regarding a particular issue or issues; and (c) collecting information related to people's behavior [39,[49][50][51][52]. We therefore chose to conduct a questionnaire survey among the residents in the coastal areas. ...
Bangladesh has experienced several catastrophic Tropical Cyclones (TCs) during the last decades. Despite the efforts of disaster management organizations, as well as the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), there were lapses in the residents’ evacuation behavior. To examine the processes of TC forecasting and warning at BMD and to understand the reasons for residents’ reluctance to evacuate after a cyclone warning, we conducted an individual in-depth interview among the meteorologists at BMD, as well as a questionnaire survey among the residents living in the coastal areas. The results reveal that the forecasts produced by BMD are not reliable for longer than 12-h. Therefore, longer-term warnings have to be based on gross estimates of TC intensity and motion, which renders the disseminated warning messages unreliable. Our results indicate that residents in the coastal areas studied, do not follow the evacuation orders due to mistrust of the warning messages—which can deter from early evacuation; and insufficient number of shelters and poor transportation possibilities—which discourages late evacuation. Suggestions made by the residents highlight the necessity of improved warning messages in the future. These findings indicate the need for improved forecasting, and more reliable and more informative warning messages for ensuring a timely evacuation response from residents.
... Crisis events like earthquakes or disease outbreaks are striking humankind regularly. In the aftermath, decision makers require precise and timely information to assess damages and to coordinate relief operations (Guha-Sapi and Lechat, 1986). Understanding "the big picture" in emergency situations is obviously essential for effective responses. ...
During and after natural disasters, detailed information about their impact is a key for successful relief operations.
In the 21st century, such information can be found on the Web, traditionally provided by news agencies and recently
through social media by affected people themselves. Manual information acquisition from such texts requires ongoing
reading and analyzing, a costly process with very limited scalability. Automatic extraction offers fast information
acquisition, but usually requires specifically trained extraction models based on annotated data. Due to changes in the
language used, switching domains like from earthquake to flood requires training a new model in many approaches.
Retraining in turn demands annotated data for the new domain. In this work, we study the cross-domain robustness
of models for extracting casualty numbers from disaster reports. Our models are based on dictionaries, regular
expressions, and patterns in dependency graphs. We provide an evaluation on extraction robustness across two
disaster types – earthquakes and floods. It shows that applying extra-domain models without retraining gives a relative
F1 decrease of solely 9 %. This is a fairly small drop compared to previous results for similar complex extraction tasks.
... What is suitable in one disaster may be totally inappropriate in another because of differing geo-physical conditions or cultural constraints. For at least the last decade, the field of international disaster management and humanitarian assistance has addressed some of these issues, focusing on the quality of disaster response assistance (Hilhorst 2002;Guha-Sapir and Lechat 1986;McEntire 1999;Oloruntoba and Gray 2006) and recently, the United Nations' Hyogo Framework for Action has provided a general framework for disaster risk reduction (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction 2007). ...
The ubiquitous nature of disasters presents many challenges in providing effective emergency response to build community sustainability. Limited availability of resources, the need to coordinate and distribute relief aid, and the involvement of different organizations, especially at the international level, complicate policy and response efforts. The goal of this research is to model the effectiveness of emergency response provided by one sector, humanitarian organizations. This project looks at response to a flood in Agadez, Niger, and an adjacent rural community. Following the disaster, a non-governmental organization, Shelter Box, responded immediately, distributing tents, cooking utensils, and supplies to survivors. A questionnaire was conducted of 100 households that received such aid. Results show that such temporary disaster relief helped recipients feel safe, helped rebuild lives, and helped make families feel normal again. The tents and supplies had been put to various uses; many still being used as dwellings while others were stored for cooler seasons. Emergency response was particularly effective in rural areas, where supplies were utilized to the fullest extent. These baseline indicators will guide further research to determine the effectiveness of humanitarian aid under different disaster scenarios and in contrasting contexts, and hence lead to improved policies.
To what extent do institutions governing the relationship of the U.S. Federal government with U.S. states and U.S. territories affect their emergency preparedness and response operations? States retain more legislative autonomy and representation than territories in the U.S. Congress, which is responsible for the emergency management budget. The advocacy capabilities of territories may be limited, and greater budget constraints are expected to affect the capability of territories to implement federal emergency management plans and perform effective response operations. This work focuses on a comparative case study between responses to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Michael in Florida. The multi‐technique qualitative approach combines content analysis and interviews. Findings suggest that neither Florida nor Puerto Rico was prepared to respond to hurricanes of such magnitude, but the procedural arrangements of the Florida emergency management system resulted in a more effective response to Hurricane Michael if compared to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
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Liu, Zezhao, and Zhengwei Zhu. 2021. “China's Pathway to Domestic Emergency Management: Unpacking the Characteristics in System Evolution.” Politics & Policy 49(3): 619–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12407 .
Neill, Katharine A., and John C. Morris. 2012. “A Tangled Web of Principals and Agents: Examining the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill through a Principal–Agent Lens.” Politics & Policy 40(4): 629–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00371.x .
Zang, Xiaowei. 2021. “Environmental Accidents and Environmental Legislation in China: Evidence from Provincial Panel Sata (1997–2014).” Politics & Policy 50(1): 77–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12446 .
During the COVID-19 pandemic, service coordinators increased the capacity of a large and diffuse inter-organizational network to support lower-income older adults. Researchers conducted two surveys of service coordinators who worked with older residents of US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) multifamily properties in mid-2020 and late-2021. These residents experienced many pandemic-related disruptions to their support systems, and findings revealed ways that service coordinators assessed resident need, linked them to public benefits programs, improved their access to technology, translated public health responses, and facilitated access to partner organizations and professional supports. Through assessment and communication, and decision-management and problem solving, service coordinator work increased the efficiency and effectiveness of external supports available to help meet residents' needs for food, medicine, supplies, personal care, and mental and physical healthcare. With an aging population and an increasing rate of unpredictable weather events, service coordination, which is inconsistently funded and is not mandated for HUD properties, may offer an opportunity to improve the adaptability and resilience of older supported housing residents.
This fascinating book provides a comprehensive overview of the extensive post-disaster mental health recovery program implemented after the 1988 Armenian earthquake. Covering the program's evolution, from the initial acute phase of clinical fieldwork, to its expansion as a three-year teaching and training program for local therapists, to the building of mental health clinics in devastated cities. Featuring poignant memoirs detailing the daily challenges and rewards of working in the trenches, the book presents a conceptual framework that can guide post-disaster clinical and research efforts, lessons learned from this work and other disasters, and highlights recent advances in disaster psychiatry. This school-based intervention program has informed subsequent disaster response efforts in many countries and has provided clinically relevant cutting-edge research findings from longitudinal and treatment outcomes studies conducted over 25 years. Essential reading for psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and other mental health professionals and those working for relief organizations following disasters.
Disaster relief policies play a critical role in improving the effectiveness of disaster relief and reducing disaster damage. This paper uses text mining methods and the policy modeling consistency (PMC) index model to evaluate the effectiveness of disaster relief policies. The analysis presented in this paper constructed an evaluation index system for disaster relief policies and quantitatively evaluated ten representative disaster relief policies in China. The results show that among the ten disaster relief policies, one was rated perfect, five were rated excellent, and four were rated acceptable. Meanwhile, disaster relief policies with a high level of authority score relatively high, and specific policies score relatively low. This Study provides the theoretical reference base for optimizing China's disaster relief policies.
The 27th EG-ICE International Workshop 2020 brings together international experts working at the interface between advanced computing and modern engineering challenges. Many engineering tasks require open-world resolutions to support multi-actor collaboration, coping with approximate models, providing effective engineer-computer interaction, search in multi-dimensional solution spaces, accommodating uncertainty, including specialist domain knowledge, performing sensor-data interpretation and dealing with incomplete knowledge. While results from computer science provide much initial support for resolution, adaptation is unavoidable and most importantly, feedback from addressing engineering challenges drives fundamental computer-science research. Competence and knowledge transfer goes both ways.
Background
Despite its growing significance, studies on the burden of disease associated with natural disasters from the perspective of public health were few. This study aimed at estimating the national burden of disease associated with typhoons and torrential rains in Korea.
Methods
During the period of 2002–2012, 11 typhoons and five torrential rains were selected. Mortality and morbidities were defined as accentual death, injury and injury-related infection, and mental health. Their incidences were estimated from National Health Insurance Service. Case-crossover design was used to define the disaster-related excess mortality and morbidity. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were directly assessed from excess mortality and morbidity.
Results
The burden of disease from typhoons increased with the intensity, with 107.7, 30.6, and 36.6 DALYs per 100,000 per event for strong, moderate, and weak typhoons, respectively. Burden of disease from torrential rains were 56.9, 52.8, and 26.4 DALYs per 100,000 per event for strong, moderate, and weak episodes, respectively. Mental disorders contributed more years lived with disability (YLDs) than did injuries in most cases, but the injury-induced YLDs associated with strong typhoon and torrential rain were higher than those of lower-intensity. The elderly was the most vulnerable to most types of disaster and storm intensities, and males younger than 65 years were more vulnerable to a strong torrential rain event.
Conclusion
The intensity of torrential rain or typhoon was the strongest determinant of the burden of disease from natural disasters in Korea. Population vulnerable may vary depending on the nature and strength of the disasters.
Most of the countries' consideration and the most of all media are publishing as main news is a disaster in the current world each and every day because of natural disasters around the world are raising from day to day life and also spoken by all because of its effects are enormous. Natural disasters are extreme events within the earth's system that result in death or injury to humans, and damage or loss of valuable infrastructure and environment. Thus such horrible catastrophes affected the village of Maruthamunai in Ampara District which has 4 Sq.km. of extension in landscaping. It is situated in the tropical zone but, experienced in various natural disasters such as floods, drought, tsunami and contiguous diseases. The study was undertaken to identify the effects, causes and the disaster management activities. Also prepare the disaster risk map for Maruthamunai area to identify the affected zone. Several methods are used to analyze this study. It used qualitative and quantitative data which were analyzed using SPSS and Arc GIS application to produce the maps. The results of the study is clarified the effects of natural disasters and prepared disaster risk maps helps to identify the safer places according to the analyzed data and this helped to produce the suitable management activities for Maruthamunai area. This management activities and produced maps which will help to minimize the effects of disaster and this process will also support to control the effects in future.
Social media is playing a growing role in disaster management and response.
Expectations are that such media can be critical for sending alerts, identifying critical
needs, and focusing response. However, for social media to be used in that way, it will
be necessary to understand how social media is used during normal, i.e., non-disaster
periods. Herein we examine the use of a particular social media, Twitter, and assess its
value for disaster management with a focus on planning and early warnings. Our focus is
Indonesia, and the potential use of Twitter to support tsunami warning and response. We
assess alternative collection strategies and analyze Twitter usage under normal conditions
and then use this information to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this data in
supporting disaster management in terms of coverage, spatio-temporal patterns, and
identification of opinion leaders. We find that while one can potentially leverage Twitter
for disaster management, careful collection, assessment, and coordination with official
disaster Twitter sites and local on-scene Twitter opinion leaders will be critical.
Guidelines for harnessing Twitter data for disaster management are provided.
Numerous earthquakes occur throughout the world, and thus, earthquake emergency plan is a significant issue that concerns everyone in the affected areas. However, the absence of an effective, scientific assessments system may lead to a lack of awareness about the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of earthquake emergency plan implementation. This delays the construction of emergency plan and leads to low operational efficiency. In order to improve this situation, this paper aims to efficiently assess the earthquake emergency plan implementation to accelerate the replenishment and the amendment of the earthquake emergency plan. Firstly, we review the existing researches on the earthquake emergency system and some guidelines and plans of earthquake emergency. Secondly, we carefully conduct 30 indicators to assess the effectiveness of earthquake emergency plan implementation in terms of operational mechanism, emergency response, and emergency safeguards. Thirdly, according to the characteristic information obtained from the effectiveness assessments of earthquake emergency plan implementation, and based on the advantages of hesitant fuzzy elements for expressing information, we develop a method for the effectiveness assessments of earthquake emergency plan implementation using hesitant analytic hierarchy process (HAHP). Furthermore, we apply the method to assess the Wenchuan, Yushu and Lushan earthquakes, and also compare our method with the analytic hierarchy process. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the HAHP is highly suitable for assessments of earthquake emergency plan implementation’s effectiveness.
Introduction: Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict considerable damage to life and property every year. A major problem is that residents often hesitate to follow evacuation orders when the early warning messages are perceived as inaccurate or uninformative. The root problem is that providing accurate early forecasts can be difficult, especially in countries with less economic and technical means.
Aim: The aim of the thesis is to investigate how cyclone early warning systems can be technically improved. This means, first, identifying problems associated with the current cyclone early warning systems, and second, investigating if biologically based Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are feasible to solve some of the identified problems.
Method: First, for evaluating the efficiency of cyclone early warning systems, Bangladesh was selected as study area, where a questionnaire survey and an in-depth interview were administered. Second, a review of currently operational TC track forecasting techniques was conducted to gain a better understanding of various techniques’ prediction performance, data requirements, and computational resource requirements. Third, a technique using biologically based ANNs was developed to produce TC track and intensity forecasts. Systematic testing was used to find optimal values for simulation parameters, such as feature-detector receptive field size, the mixture of unsupervised and supervised learning, and learning rate schedule. Five types of 2D data were used for training. The networks were tested on two types of novel data, to assess their generalization performance.
Results: A major problem that is identified in the thesis is that the meteorologists at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department are currently not capable of providing accurate TC forecasts. This is an important contributing factor to residents’ reluctance to evacuate. To address this issue, an ANN-based TC track and intensity forecasting technique was developed that can produce early and accurate forecasts, uses freely available satellite images, and does not require extensive computational resources to run. Bidirectional connections, combined supervised and unsupervised learning, and a deep hierarchical structure assists the parallel extraction of useful features from five types of 2D data. The trained networks were tested on two types of novel data: First, tests were performed with novel data covering the end of the lifecycle of trained cyclones; for these test data, the forecasts produced by the networks were correct in 91-100% of the cases. Second, the networks were tested with data of a novel TC; in this case, the networks performed with between 30% and 45% accuracy (for intensity forecasts).
Conclusions: The ANN technique developed in this thesis could, with further extensions and up-scaling, using additional types of input images of a greater number of TCs, improve the efficiency of cyclone early warning systems in countries with less economic and technical means. The thesis work also creates opportunities for further research, where biologically based ANNs can be employed for general-purpose weather forecasting, as well as for forecasting other severe weather phenomena, such as thunderstorms.
Background: Providers serving children's mental health needs face the complexities of tailoring assessments based on developmental stages, family characteristics, school involvement, and cultural and economic factors. This task is even more challenging in the face of a disaster, terrorist incident, or other mass trauma event. Traditional mental health knowledge and skills may not be sufficient to meet children's needs in these chaotic situations. Unfortunately, disaster planning and response often overlook or only briefly address the unique mental health needs of children. While there is general agreement that children have specific vulnerabilities, few comprehensive plans exist for identifying and addressing children's mental health needs predisaster and postdisaster. Objectives/methods: Based on a review of the literature, the objectives of this article are to provide an overview of the central tenets of assessment with children throughout the course of a disaster and to propose a framework for disaster mental health assessment that can be used by a variety of providers in community disaster planning and response. Results: Disaster-related assessments are described including surveillance, psychological triage, needs assessment, screening, clinical evaluation, and program evaluation. This article also identifies easily accessible resources for responders and providers who desire to become more familiar with child disaster mental health assessment concepts. Conclusions: The framework described here provides an overview for understanding how assessment can be conducted to identify child and family needs and to inform the delivery of services following a disaster.
If you were impressed by The Consequences of Disasters on Public Health, originally published by Oxford University Press in 1997, and would like to share it with your Spanish-speaking colleagues, PAHO has just made available the Spanish translation of this important work. Earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, tropical cyclones, fires, and many other types of disasters have taken more than three million lives in the past 20 years and affected the lives of 800 million others, causing over US$50 billion dollars in damage to property and infrastructure. In the last decade alone, the number of internal and external refugees due to war, famine, and drought nearly doubled. Almost every day, a disaster takes place somewhere around the globe. Population growth in flood plains, along vulnerable coastlines, and near geological fault lines, as well as the rapid industrialization of developing countries, will probably increase the threat of natural and technological disasters in the coming years. The book offers a close look at the causes of disasters and their consequences for public health, and aims to help improve disaster prevention, monitoring, and response policies. It relies on epidemiology as a basic tool for disaster analysis and control. The authors—almost all of them officials of the United States Centers for Disease Control—take advantage of their many years’ experience to provide the reader with in-depth technical descriptions of the main types of disasters, both natural and complex, offering a variety of examples and the chief findings of epidemiological surveys on the effects of disasters on public health. They pay special attention to prevention and control measures, and offer recommendations that public health officials will find highly useful. This is an essential work of reference for health professionals who must make decisions concerning disaster preparedness, mitigation, and response, and in general for all those interested in reducing the often devastating impact of disasters on public health.
En la segunda mitad del siglo XX, se ha reconocido ampliamente el valor que tienen los métodos epidemiológicos en la definición y en el manejo de los problemas relacionados con la salud pública. Por ejemplo, los estudios epidemiológicos de las enfermedades agudas y crónicas les han suministrado datos claves a los profesionales de la salud para su uso en la prevención y en el control de las mismas. Además, quienes toman las decisiones en salud pública reconocen cada vez más la importancia del establecimiento de los sistemas de vigilancia en la recolección de los datos sanitarios relevantes que se pueden utilizar como bases científicas para la toma de acciones en la solución de problemas de salud pública.
The social support strand of network analysis has confirmed the importance of taking seriously the personal network context
in studies of informal support. But, as recent reviews make clear, it has paid relatively little attention to other situational
contingencies that may influence flows of informal support. To begin to fill this gap, we draw on social-resources theory
and research on helping behavior during disasters to expand its analytical focus to cover two other situational contingencies:
local community context and receipt of formal support. Using data on recovery support during Hurricane Andrew, we find that
although all three situational contingencies are important, their roles in the support process become clear only when their
effects are considered simultaneously. We conclude by using the finding that the effects of the personal network and local
community contexts on informal support differ for individuals who did and who did not receive formal support to call for a
better integration of the social support and social-resources strands of network analysis.
Damage assessment determines the safe condition of houses and buildings that were affected in a disaster. These elements must be inspected to determine if they can be occupied by people. The objective of the present research is to design a model for the planning of a rapid building damage survey after an earthquake and manage the spatial information collected. The model is built on by three sub-models aiming to estimate the number of trained people required, their spatial allocation and the right information flow. The combination of cadastral data and organizational issues will be the input, to estimate the number of trained people required. To allocate the trained people, five methods were applied: average number of parcels or blocks, euclidean allocation, multiple-ring-buffer, network analysis (service area), and route allocation. All the data required to respond in an emergency must be collected, updated and shared in order to have informed decisions. The results show wide ranges of values that can be utilized in the preparedness or in the response phase; the allocation methods can be used according to the data that every city has, but the highest level of accuracy comes from the route allocation method. The data must be available, updated and accessible to all the entities involved in the emergency response task, due to these reasons the research recommends the implementation of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) to manage the information and to predefine the meeting points to compile the collected information by using methods as mean center.
Considers the role of information technology in forecasting, monitoring and managing disasters in real-time. First, the advantages and pitfalls of a technological approach to natural hazards are discussed, then the general nature of real-time technology is described. There follows a review of the appropriate techniques of monitoring the physical impacts of various natural hazards. Next the role of information technology in disaster management is assessed, with emphasis on telecommunications and simulation modelling. As a cautionary note, two notorious failures of prediction and warning are discussed (the storm of October 1987 in England and the volcanic eruption disaster of November 1985 in Colombia). It is concluded that microcomputers, earth resources satellites, communications satellites and GIS offer considerable potential for natural disaster management, especially if real-time uses are developed by integrating these technologies. -from Author
Better epidemiologic knowledge of the causes of death and types of injuries and illnesses caused by disasters is clearly essential to determine appropriate relief supplies, equipment, and personnel needed to effectively respond to such situations. The overall objective of health disaster managers is to measure and describe as accurately as possible the health effects of disasters and contributing factors to these effects, with the goals of assessing the needs of disaster-affected populations, efficient matching of resources to needs, further prevention of adverse health effects, evaluation of program effectiveness, and for contingency planning. In addition, public health professionals have an important role to play in providing informed advice about the probable health effects that may arise in the future, in establishing priorities for action, and in emphasizing the need for accurate information as the basis for relief decisions. This paper outlines a number of important areas where public health can contribute to making overall disaster management more effective.
Disasters are defined as basic disruptions of the social context within which individuals and groups function, or as a radical departure from the pattern of normal expectation. The subsequent phases (1) preimpact or threat, (2) warning, (3) impact, (4) recoil, and (5) postimpact (POI) can be analyzed from this perspective. On impact and during recoil, certain emotional reactions are so common that it is difficult to know whether they represent maladjustment or adjustment and normality. Rehabilitation during the POI phase is facilitated by close social support networks. The role of the mental health professional is most important during the pre- and POI phases and is directed at social support networks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Natural disasters can be classified into four main types: floods, earthquakes, cyclones and droughts. This paper compares
these types of natural disaster in terms of four characteristics: predictability, scope, onset delay and lethality. Special
attention is paid to the last of these characteristics. It is found that the mortality and morbidity associated with natural
disasters has changed over time and varies between regions. The variation between regions correlates with differences in socio-economic
conditions, the impact of a disaster in a poor area being much greater than the impact of a disaster of similar physical characteristics
in a richer area; it appears that the impact of a disaster is as much a function of the local conditions as it is of the nature
of the disaster itself. The paper then goes on to consider the nature of the emergency aid that is offered following emergencies.
It concludes that it is often wasteful and inappropriate, coming too late into a situation in which conditions have already
dictated that mortality and morbidity will be high. Suggestions are made of ways in which funds allocated to disaster relief
could be better focused so as to reduce population vulnerability in the face of natural disasters.
Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/economicsfinance/0198281935/toc.html
Two medical relief assessments were carried out in the southern coastal region of East Bengal affected by the cyclone and tidal bore of November, 1970. The first, a rapid 18-site survey, documented the adequacy of existing water supplies and absence of significant post-cyclone morbidity or exceptional levels of epidemic diseases. The second, wider in scope, was done 2 months later, between Feb. 10 and March 4, 1971. Seventy-nine unions in the nine most affected thanas were visited, and 2973 families, comprising 1·4% of the area's population, were studied. Age-specific cyclone mortality ranged from highs of 29% and 20% in the 0-4-year and 70+ age-groups, respectively, to a low of 6% in 35-39-year-olds. Females fared worse than males in all but the youngest age-groups. Mean mortality was 16·5%, representing a minimum of 224,000 deaths. More than 180,000 homes were destroyed by the cyclone, and at the time of the survey 600,000 people were still without adequate shelter. Although post-cyclone morbidity, mortality, and nutritional status compared favourably with a control area, 1,000,000 people were still dependent on outside food relief for survival. At least 123,000 draft animals and 127,000 ploughs were needed before the region could begin to regain agricultural self-sufficiency. The surveys prove the value of early on-the-spot assessments in getting an accurate picture of requirements in disaster areas.
This paper examines the assertion that natural disasters are increasingly destructive using evidence from disaster reports during the period 1947-1980. The criteria for judging the impact of a given natural disaster are chiefly loss of life and the extent of the geographical area affected. In spite of uneveness and bias in the reporting of sudden impact disasters the conclusions are that both the frequency of disasters and number of people killed are increasing. Further research into the social consequences of disasters and the need for disaster preparedness training programmes are recommended.
Argues that humans are causing 'natural disasters' in two different ways. By overcultivating, overgrazing, and deforesting the land, people make their environment more prone to drought and flood. Second, poverty in the developing countries makes millions each year vulnerable to the effects of cyclones, earthquakes, floods, and droughts. Shows which disasters are increasing by how much and where. Then dissects each type of disaster, showing how they increasingly tend to single out the Third World poor as victims. Discusses the latest technologies for disaster prediction and control, but finds 'lateral' approaches more effective than Western high-tech. Also shows that traditional efforts go wrong because they are based on the assumptions that most disasters produce helpless victims paralyzed into inactivity, and that one society can intervene efficiently with little consultation in the complex feeding and settlement patterns of another society. Some agencies may also be unwittingly part of the disaster process: they seek to return people as quickly as possible to the 'status quo', and it is the 'status quo' of poverty and ignorance which helps to make natural disasters worse. Suggests that any agency concerned about disasters must now increasingly become involved in development work. -from Publisher
De Bruycker M (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, WHO Collaborating Centre, School of Public Health, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium), Greco D and Lechat M F. The 1980 earthquake in Italy: morbidity and mortality. International Journal of Epidemiology 1985, 14: 113–117.
The effects on health of the 1980 earthquake in southern Italy were surveyed retrospectively. The sample population includes 3619 people living in seven villages situated near the epicentre. Deaths were one hundred times and injury rates more than five times higher in trapped than in non-trapped victims. The possibility for escape was crucial for survival and depended on the type of building. Most of the rescue and relief work was carried out within a few days by unprepared local people who concentrated assistance on people sharing the same dwelling. The results suggest that the emergency phase for medical care was limited to the three to four days after impact. During the 18 months following the quake, mortality rates in injured (13.7%) and non-injured victims (15.8%) were similar.
These results point to the need to establish, in each disaster prone area, a health evaluation system on which effective disaster relief and especially the preparedness of the community can be based.
Disaster and Health, in: Trauma and Afier
- M F Lechat
Lechat M.F., Disaster and Health, in: Trauma and Afier (Edited by R. Porter, J. Price and R. Read). Proceedings of the Conference on Trauma and After, University of Sheffield, U.K. (1981).
Immediate needs assessment in acute disasters: Some quick and dirty indicators
- Guha
- D Sapir
- M F Lechat
Guha-Sapir D. and Lechat M.F., Immediate needs assessment in acute disasters: Some quick and dirty indicators, CRED Working Paper, Brussels (1 985).
The economics of disaster mitigation
- B Deaton
Deaton B., The economics of disaster mitigation, Proceed-ings of the International Conference on Disaster Mitigation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, (November 1984).
Prevention Better than Cure. A report of the Swedish Red Cross
- Red Cross Swedish
Swedish Red Cross, Prevention Better than Cure. A report of the Swedish Red Cross, Stockholm (1984).