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Reducing Hazard Vulnerability: Towards a Common Approach Between Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Adaptation
Abstract
Over the past few decades, four distinct and largely independent research and policy communities--disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, environmental management and poverty reduction--have been actively engaged in reducing socio-economic vulnerability to natural hazards. However, despite the significant efforts of these communities, the vulnerability of many individuals and communities to natural hazards continues to increase considerably. In particular, it is hydro-meteorological hazards that affect an increasing number of people and cause increasingly large economic losses. Arising from the realisation that these four communities have been largely working in isolation and enjoyed only limited success in reducing vulnerability, there is an emerging perceived need to strengthen significantly collaboration and to facilitate learning and information exchange between them. This article examines key communalities and differences between the climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction communities, and proposes three exercises that would help to structure a multi-community dialogue and learning process.
... With a more detailed understanding of who the vulnerable people are and where they live, interventions and strategies aimed at reducing vulnerabilities can be more effectively designed and targeted. Social vulnerability assessments can hence play an important role for decision-making in a range of fields, including disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, environmental management and social protection (Bowen et al., 2020;Thomalla et al., 2006). Vulnerability is in this thesis understood as being a function of sensitivity, adaptive capacity and exposure, where the former two dimensions represent social vulnerability and the latter, biophysical vulnerability. ...
... Vulnerability to natural hazards (or climate change) is a concept that long has suffered from ambiguity, which partly stems from the diversity of disciplines in which it has been used. In disaster risk management, the term has traditionally referred to physical infrastructure at risk (Babcicky & Seebauer, 2021;Thomalla et al., 2006). In climate science, vulnerability has typically been discussed in the context of predicted frequency and severity of future hazards (Adger & Agnew, 2004;Hahn et al., 2009). ...
Social factors moderate the impacts of natural hazards, which means that households are affected differently when exposed to the same hazard. This differential impact of hazards can be explained by the concept of social vulnerability, which is commonly assessed to inform disaster preparedness and response action. Most of these assessments, however, focus their analyses on large administrative units and, consequently, neglect the heterogeneity of households within these units. This thesis leverages data from Malawi's social registry (the UBR) to construct a Household Social Vulnerability Index for Nsanje-one of the most disaster-prone districts in Malawi. In Nsanje, geocoded socioeconomic data was collected using a census-sweep approach with the goal of registering 100% of the district's residents. From this dataset, indicators are deductively selected and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis to produce a social vulnerability score for each household. These index scores are mapped at a spatial resolution of 0,01°. By repurposing a social registry to inform a new set of actors, including humanitarian and disaster risk management practitioners, the thesis highlights the considerable scope for collaboration within the realm of data and information by actors and policy fields that traditionally largely have operated in isolation from one another.
... Sin embargo, frente al acelerado cambio del clima mundial las estadísticas actuales revelan un impacto desproporcionado de la variabilidad climática y el cambio climático en los países en desarrollo (Haddad, 2005) debido, entre otros aspectos, a la falta de planeación en la ocupación territorial con asentamientos en zonas de alto riesgo, al aumento de la pobreza, al limitado acceso a educación y salud, que configuran comunidades cada vez más vulnerables. Aunque en los últimos años se han logrado importantes avances para reducir las pérdidas frente a las amenazas asociadas, los esfuerzos no han sido suficientes y su impacto sigue siendo considerable (Thomalla et al., 2006). ...
... Actualmente, la adaptación hace mayor énfasis en mejorar la capacidad de los gobiernos y de las comunidades para enfrentar la vulnerabilidad existente frente a la variabilidad climática y los extremos climáticos, involucrándose en acciones de la comunidad de reducción del riesgo de desastre e incorporando herramientas analíticas y metodologías basadas en la gestión del riesgo (Thomalla et al., 2006) para determinar la vulnerabilidad y el riesgo e identificar oportunidades de acción. Este acercamiento entre la adaptación a la variabilidad y cambio climático y la gestión del riesgo explica que, aun cuando en esta última se han realizado los mayores avances en el desarrollo de indicadores e índices para la evaluación del riesgo y la vulnerabilidad (tabla 1), la comunidad de cambio climático empieza a plantear algunos indicadores relativos a la adaptación. ...
... With respect to sample composition, larger farms tend to be overrepresented in our sample which might result in farmers being more capable to withstand restrictions or adapt to challenges (Tyllianakis et al., 2023). We also do not address potential differences with respect to geographical characteristics due to the limitations of the sampling ability (not limited to our study, but more broadly on this field) which can affect generic risk perceptions (Thomalla et al., 2006) across geographies (Cameron et al., 2021). Finally, questionnaire-related heuristics are expected to affect participant farmers' understanding of concepts such as risk and perceived impacts (Tyllianakis, 2024). ...
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across the agri-food sector was significant and pervasive, challenging farmers' resilience through multiple disruptions to the supply chain. To support forward planning in face to future shocks, this research examines the perceived impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by farmers themselves, providing insights from the UK. Using a nation-wide online survey carried out during two distinct waves of the pandemic in 2021, the study reveals changing perceptions and the relationship between preparedness and perceived impacts. Results indicate that perceptions of both the severity of the COVID-19 impacts and preparedness for such impacts in the future, were scaled down as the pandemic evolved. Findings suggest that a farmer feeling more prepared in the present to withstand shocks is positively influenced by them perceiving the impact of COVID-19's in their business as severe. This effect is reinforced for farmers that felt more prepared to withstand COVID-19's impacts when the pandemic unfolded, as well as for those that perceive the impact of COVID-19 as long-term. Farmers in our sample appear to have adapted to the shocks to their businesses through supply-side interventions, focusing on having higher flexibility in delivery of products and diversifying their supply networks. Doing so requires them to absorb an increase in both fixed and variable costs, which can end-up been transferred to the consumer. Government support moving forward should focus on strengthening and, perhaps, re-imagining the whole supply industry and re-defining the role of farmers as more than food producers, but also as stewards of climate and food resilience.
... Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and wildfires, are likely to bring extensive damage, even over large areas, causing human, economic, material and environmental losses. Rescue activities are organized depending on the morphology and the extension of the affected area and on the type and severity of the calamity ( [1]). Nevertheless, the implementation of such activities is hindered by the lack of information regarding the most affected territories and the actual conditions of infrastructures and transportation networks. ...
In October 2023, during the Italian Civil Protection Week, in Eastern Lombardy (Italy) a large technical-thematic seismic exercise called “EXE.Lomb.Est 2023” was organized, with the goal of testing the response of the Regional Civil Protection system for post-earthquake damage assessment activities. Within this context, the use of an unmanned aerial system (UAS), in particular the deployment of multi-rotors UAS teams, has been tested as support for the rapid mapping of a large area involving the simultaneous participation of different Italian institutions with UAS units. Coordinated flight planning design, safety issues, coordination and communication procedures, data management and delivery of the results are some of the main aspects investigated and presented in this work.
... La realidad es que las políticas relacionadas con la rrd, la acc, la gestión ambiental-urbana, la sostenibilidad y la resiliencia se ejecutan de forma separada o no forman parte de las agendas multisectoriales públicas bajo una coordinación estratégica. Desde diferentes disciplinas varios autores coinciden en que duplicar y hasta cuadriplicar agendas significa, para las arcas de los gobiernos, dispersión de los ya mermados recursos con los que se cuentan, además de la multiplicación de esfuerzos que los tres niveles de gobiernos utilizan de su arquitectura institucional, lo que per se es costoso, con tiempos de respuesta poco expeditos y pocas veces reducción estructural de los problemas (Venton, 2008;Thomalla et al., 2006;Quintero-Ángel, Carvajal-Escobar y Alducen, 2011;Michel y Van Aalts, 2008;Lavell, 2011;Cardona, 2012). ...
Los efectos dramáticos que ocurren en las ciudades debido a la emergencia climática (EC) se relacionan con el aumento de fenómenos atmosféricos e hidrometeorológicos, producto del estilo de vida urbano depredador, y con cuan vulnerable es el medio construido, así como quienes lo habitan. Ante este escenario han sido planteados distintas agendas, entre otras: los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ods) 2030, el marco de acción Sendai, el Protocolo de Kioto y la Nueva Agenda Urbana (nau). Este trabajo bus- ca resaltar las coincidencias de la gestión para la reducción de riesgo de desastres (rrd) con la agenda de adaptación al cambio climático (acc) en las ciudades intermedias de América Latina, partiendo de la compresión del fenómeno de la ec y teniendo como ejes transversales las estrategias del desarrollo sustentable (ds) y la construcción de resiliencia. El caso de estu- dio se ubica en la ciudad Victoria de Durango, capital del estado del mismo nombre, en México. Bajo un enfoque de investigación mixto se realiza el abordaje de campo y procesamiento de datos. Los resultados revelan que Victoria de Durango, como la mayoría de las ciudades intermedias de América Latina, muestra potencialidades para aprovechar sus invaluables recursos naturales y de capital humano, pero también se revelan amenazas y debilidades que restringen su desarrollo
... Evolutionary resilience is the ability of the entire system to remain self-renewing and sustainable through resistance, recovery, adaptation, and pathway innovation in the event of a sudden risk shock (Martin 2012). The concept of resilience, with its connotations of dynamism, co-evolution, and "bouncing to a better state" (Barnett 2001), is beginning to be widely applied to the study of adaptive strategies of urban systems in the face of incompletely predictable, massive, and uncertain climate change in the future (Thomalla et al. 2006) and has become a focus of current research (Evans 2011). UR refers to the passive process of a virtual cycle in which a city can withstand shocks by anticipating and monitoring the impacts of external influences, responding and recovering quickly to keep the city functioning correctly and adapting to better cope with future disaster risks (Zhang and Li 2018). ...
The low-carbon transition is a systemic economic and social change that will inevitably have an impact on many areas of the urban system. Has China’s ongoing low-carbon transition impacted urban resilience (UR) systems while achieving urban energy saving and carbon emission reduction goals? This paper uses the implementation of the carbon emissions trading pilot policy (CETPP) as a “quasi-natural experiment.” It evaluates the impact of the policy on UR using a difference-in-differences model based on the data of prefecture-level cities from 2008 to 2020. The study shows that pilot carbon trading policies favor UR, and the market mechanism of carbon emissions has a heterogeneous cause influence on UR. The impact of pilot carbon trading policies on UR varies according to the respective moderating effects of institutional factors, green technology innovation, industrial structure rationalization, and output effects.
... As it has been extensively revealed, it is evident that the extent of losses and damages due to natural disasters depends not only on the physical features of the hazard per se (i.e., intensity, duration, scale), but also on the local community capacities to respond, cope with and adapt to disastrous events (Wisner et al 2004;Thomalla et al. 2006). These capacities are closely related to perceptions and attitudes of individuals toward the risk that they are confronted with (Slovic 1987). ...
Risk perception has been widely recognized as an essential factor in shaping attitudes and behaviors of individuals and communities proactively, during and after the experience of extreme catastrophic events. Its importance derives out mostly due to its intrinsic relationship with socioeconomic parameters and capacity building of communities affected by such events. The aim of this paper was to elaborate on the demographic and socioeconomic determinants of earthquake risk perception of populations living in an extremely earthquake-prone environment. For this purpose, a population sample of municipalities in the Corinthiakos Gulf in Central West Greece was examined. The sample (230 men and 276 women) was randomly selected from three coastal municipalities of the Gulf: Aigialeia, Nafpaktia and Corinthos. Multi-adjusted linear regression analysis was performed to reveal the determinants of the participants’ perceptions regarding earthquake risk. Findings revealed that mean earthquake risk perception score was moderate in both men and women and notably lower for the participants living in the municipality of Nafpaktia, as compared to the participants of the other two study areas. Earthquake risk perception varied significantly according to age, sex, income and building construction period (of assets resided or used by the participants). Younger strata, especially young men, and households of lower-income status tend to correlate to lower earthquake risk perception. Moreover, individuals living in newly constructed buildings presented lower earthquake risk perception levels. Also, increased individuals’ earthquake safety information provided by state agencies and local civil protection authorities was associated with increased risk perception. Issues like education, household structure, building earthquake insurance, savings and trust in civil protection authorities were not associated with risk perception. From a policy design point of view, such findings provide noteworthy insights for local communities and civil protection authorities allowing to identify vulnerable population groups and to provide noteworthy insights to design targeted measures and policies in the making of a safe and resilient environment.
... Since uncertainty prevails regarding the impacts' spatial distribution, variability in time, and change in climate conditions, impacts of climate change are more difficult to identify and quantify [59]. The lack of knowledge about the climate impacts and hazards on different levels (local and regional) can increase the uncertainty of socioeconomic scenarios impacting the spatial distribution and frequency magnitude of future climate hazards [59,60]. ...
Urban climate change resilience (UCCR) has emerged as a crucial topic, particularly in rapidly growing urban areas, encompassing disaster risk reduction, mitigation actions, and adaptation strategies. UCCR emphasizes the ability of cities to evolve, adapt, survive, and thrive in the face of climate change stresses, recognizing them as dynamic systems. Several observable qualities contribute to urban resilience, which have been extensively discussed in the literature and demonstrated through resilience frameworks and assessment methods. These qualities include reflectivity (learning and reorganization capacities), robustness, redundancy, flexibility, resourcefulness, inclusivity, diversity, integration, rapidity, and safe failure. This chapter delves into the essential qualities of a resilient built environment, focusing on key themes. It synthesizes these resilience qualities and explores their interrelations, drawing upon evidence from current research on urban systems' resilience. Additionally, the chapter highlights projected climate change impacts, categorizing them into different groups based on their nature and the resulting disasters they may induce. By examining these themes and dimensions, this chapter contributes to the understanding and advancement of built environment resilience by offering insights into the complex challenges posed by climate change and the strategies to enhance urban resilience.
... This includes education about actions to be taken when a disaster occurs, understanding evacuation routes, and familiarization with equipment and resources that can be used in emergencies. This effort is very important in reducing the level of community vulnerability to various types of disasters [7]. Increasing the capacity of the Gorontalo Province Regional Disaster Management Agency to carry out its duties in disaster management has resulted in various strategic steps, one of which is the formation of a Rapid Response Team based on Decree Number 177/32/V/2022. ...
... The potentials of conceptually and practically linking the fields of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) down to local level have been highlighted both by academic literature (e.g. Birkmann and Teichman 2010;Kelman 2015;Mitchell et al. 2009;Schipper et al. 2016; Thomalla et al. 2006;Venton and La Trobe 2008) and international policy frameworks such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR) and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDGs). Also the Pathways to Transformation mentioned in IPCC AR 5 cannot be envisioned without engaging with this linkage (IPCC 2014). ...
Climate-related hazards, urban development and changing vulnerability patterns compel cities across the world to deal with new and emerging forms of risk. Academic literature and recent international policy documents suggest potentials of conceptually and practically linking the fields of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emphasize the need to mitigate climate-related risks at local level. However, there is limited knowledge on how this link is established at local levels and the role of ground-level actors and practices therein. Using the case of recurrent and disastrous floods, this paper discusses the significance of linking DRR and CCA in Mumbai. It analyses policies, plans, institutions and interventions related to DRR and CCA and uses interviews and a field study to assess flood risk governance at the level of municipal wards and neighbourhoods. The findings suggest that although flood risk governance has been significantly strengthened, three gaps exist: First, a lack of a comprehensive plan for Mumbai that anticipates future risks and vulnerabilities and integrates CCA and DRR down to local level. Second, a lack of an overarching and decentralized institutional framework across sectors and scales that recognizes the multiplicity of formal and informal actors. Third, the potential of civil society and informal actors for disaster risk management and adaptation planning has not been tapped into sufficiently. The paper argues that potential exists to reconceptualize flood risk governance in Mumbai by focusing on future risks and vulnerabilities and by recognizing the work of informal actors like emergent groups at local level.
... Seminars and training activities on how to respond and prepare during disasters are important for individuals, especially in areas prone to disasters, to prevent or reduce potential impacts (Thomalla et al., 2006). However, studies indicate that disaster risk reduction is needed and facilitated worldwide (Dhungel & Ojha, 2012;De Silva & Jayathilaka, 2014;Ruszczyk et al., 2020;Zaman et al., 2020). ...
Women in the fisheries sector tend to be more vulnerable to crises caused by disasters, climate change, and extreme events. The present study investigated the perceived impacts of disasters on the roles of women. It also assessed the adaptation strategies of women to recover from the impacts of extreme events such as super typhoon Pablo. To do that, we gathered data through focus group discussions (FGD) in four fishing communities in Baganga, Davao Oriental, and used key informant interview (KII) for validation. About 10-15 women respondents (e.g., fishers' wives, fishers, vendors, financers, traders, and gleaners) participated during the four focus groups (N=51) and six key informants from different government agencies. During the discussions, women identified storms, heavy rains, and typhoons as common natural hazards experienced by coastal communities. The findings revealed that women were affected by disasters over the past ten years. Women were more vulnerable during disasters because of additional roles to play, e.g. they were forced to engage in manual labor, vegetable and crop farming, which are usually male-dominated jobs. These livelihood strategies affect their domestic roles. Moreover, most women were not members of community organizations where usual government donations and projects are coursed through. Even if women have community organizations, their participation is limited because they are not given the opportunity to lead. This study revealed that women suffer from disasters (e.g. super typhoon Pablo) and need help in their adaptation strategies to be resilient to disaster impacts.
... But it is also highly inter-disciplinary, which is a necessary ingredient in future research since the vulnerability of disadvantaged communities to hydrometeorological hazards (e.g. floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and winter storms) is exacerbated by the siloed and separate nature of the disaster risk reduction, emergency management, climate change adaptation, and poverty reduction scholarly and practitioner communities (Thomalla et al. 2006). Similar concerns about siloization have been expressed about public health and climate change, which is a related nonprofit concern (Gallo-Cajiao, Dolšak, and Prakash 2020). ...
As weather disasters intensify under the impacts of climate change, an important public policy question is whether the kinds of organizations most likely to provide disaster relief are themselves planning for climate change. A statewide Indiana survey of the leaders of a wide variety of community “social safety net” organizations ( N = 467) provides rich descriptive data to understand the realities of local disaster planning as it relates to climate change. Our findings support federal disaster policy in showing first that most of these charities have been or expect to be involved in local disaster relief, either as a primary or secondary mission focus. Charities identifying as primarily disaster responders are much more likely to belong to local emergency planning networks and slightly more likely to plan for emergencies. However, most charity leaders do not acknowledge climate change’s human origins and have not discussed climate change at the board level, with this position strongly related to their understanding of climate change’s potential impact on the communities they serve. And most have not taken some risk mitigation steps. We conclude that the Federal Emergency Management Authority’s national disaster response policy, which relies on the readiness of nonprofits to fill in service roles, does not account for the potential unpreparedness of nonprofits themselves. Policymakers should expand their “whole-community” (three-sector) approach to reinforce local network opportunities as forums for exchanging experience and knowledge, including an explicit linkage between the communication of the science of climate change and emergency planning.
... Risk perception is referred to as a certain mental state in which people worry about the potential harm or the risk of losing money from a particular calamity (Messner & Meyer, 2006). How people react to risk factors differs from person to person (Thomalla et al., 2006). Risk perception is always important when using a coping technique to build capacity. ...
... Subsequently, the societal dimension of vulnerability became a topical issue of disaster research [12][13][14][15][16][17]. Recognizing that vulnerability is socially constructed, several classical models like those based on the Cutter et al.'s [14] social vulnerability framework [18][19][20][21], Clarke et al.'s [22] SoVI model [23][24][25], the socio-economic vulnerability framework [26][27][28], the human development index [29,30], the sustainable livelihood security index [31][32][33], the livelihood vulnerability index [34][35][36], and the household social vulnerability index [37][38][39] were developed in order to understand and measure the societal factors associated with disaster risk. ...
... However, the various disciplines, when dealing with natural hazards, have provided different and often contrasting interpretations of the crucial concepts of vulnerability and risk. Therefore, a straightforward solution for disciplinary integration does not exist and conceptual discrepancies and terminological inconsistencies emerging from the various research communities have to be solved preliminarily (Mercer, 2010;Renaud and Perez, 2010;Thomalla et al., 2006). ...
... between disaster risk and climate change research, with the former focused on the past and present and latter on the impacts of future risk (Thomalla et al., 2006;UNDP, 2004;Gencer, 2008). ...
Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation are the cornerstones of making cities resilient to a changing climate. Integrating these activities with a metropolitan region’s development vision requires a new, systems-oriented approach to risk assessments and planning. Moreover, since past events can only partially inform decision-makers about emerging and increasing climate risks, risk assessments must incorporate knowledge about both current climate conditions and future projections.
A paradigm shift of this magnitude will require urban decision-makers and stakeholders to increase the institutional capacity of many communities and organizations to apply a systems lens to coordinating, strategizing and implementing risk-reduction, disaster response and recovery plans on a flexible and highly adaptive basis. As a result, the promotion of effective multilevel governance and multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder integration is critically important (see Chapter 16, Governance and Policy). The demands for transformational adaptation will be significant and require high levels of governance capacity and financial resources
... For example, does the development-as-growth concept mitigate or contribute to poverty? However, there is evidence that it could possibly increase the exposure of people to risk and exacerbate the vulnerability of poor communities [11]. Thus, the cultural processes that people capabilities depend on for knowledge of their immediate environment are of great importance. ...
The identification and analysis of mythical images and ancestral practices that make up the ethnos of a community allow us to know its ways of existing in the cosmos. The objective of this paper is to analyze the ancestral experiences associated with the dynamics of socio-environmental management that the Emberá Indigenous reserve (Chocó, Colombia) carries out for the conservation of water and land. This study is qualitative and ideographic. We also adopted an ethnographic approach to provide a detailed description of water and land management practices, which correspond to their cultural patterns. Using Atlas Ti V.6.0 software, we identify and analyze these cultural patterns. The results show that the ecosystemic relationships offered by the Emberá worldview are part of a true connection with their spiritual world, which fosters respect for the natural elements and understanding of universal natural laws. These relationships are manifested through gifts and penance. The Emberá beliefs and religion are a possible methodology for the sustainable management of water and land and, consequently, of the basin where they live. The success of their ethnodevelopment depends significantly on the power figures of their culture: the Jaibana (their gods), the elders, and the Emberá woman as a cultural agent. The Emberá worldview is possibly a valid instrument to enable the sustainable development of modern communities.
... Under this theoretical preamble, the following structure is proposed to carry out the research: the methodology is explained, the disaster event is evaluated, the resilience of the country is determined through the application of a resilience assessment framework and a disaster risk management evaluation, a set of strategic recommendations for improvement are proposed and the final conclusions are denoted. (Birkmann, 2007;Luers, 2005;Thomalla et al., 2006). Progressively, in the face of an increase of hazards recurrence mainly due to climate change, more complex methods have been proposed to build disaster resilience. ...
Purpose
Societies go through complex challenges in the face of the vertiginous increase in disasters, mostly produced by the effects of extreme events. The lack of capacity to deal with disasters is evident, especially in developing countries, as in the case of Peru. Under such a premise, this paper contributes to strengthening the country’s capacities, through an evaluation of national disaster resilience to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation-driven hazards caused by the El Niño disaster event between 2016 and 2017 on the Peruvian coast.
Design/methodology/approach
By reviewing the literature, various hazards were identified, such as heavy rainfalls and cascading hazards, such as floods and landslides. Even though risk assessments were carried out, 169 people died and essential infrastructure was severely impacted and lost. Through a 12-criteria resilience assessment framework sub-divided into sustainable development and disaster risk reduction, a diagnosis of national disaster resilience was carried out, along with a disaster risk management evaluation. Under such assessments, strategic recommendations were proposed to enhance the resilience of the country.
Findings
The lack of resilience of the country is reflected in the evaluated criteria, the most negative being the built environment due to infrastructure system’s vulnerability to hazards, and the lack of social development, despite national economic growth in Peru.
Originality/value
The research is extremely valuable because it bridges the knowledge gap on disaster resilience in Peru. In addition, the methodology, as well as the multi-topic assessment framework, can be used for other analyses, which are key to building greater capacity in nations around the globe.
... A hazard is a fundamental component of the disaster risk structure (Thomalla et al., 2006). It is defined as a phenomenon, object or activity that can cause harm. ...
Local perception of risk is a determinant of urban vulnerability. Accordingly, this research
addresses the analysis of local perception of the risk of tsunami hazards occurrences and this case study
focuses on an area of the Tarqui parish in the city of Manta in coastal Ecuador. This work also presents
the possible tsunamigenic seismic source in the subduction zone of the study area. The Tarqui Zone is
located within a coastal and fluvial landscape that currently the enlargement of the urban limit has
obstructed the free flow of these systems. Based on the tsunami hazard map for the city of Manta, we
determined that there are 392 sites in an area with high susceptibility to flooding. There are also 996
sites with medium susceptibility to floods in a zone of maximum influence between the levels of 7 to
20 m.a.s.l, sites in which the flood processes and corresponding erosion may not be very intense. In
addition, the perception of this hazard was strengthened using context indicators on local tsunami risk
perception based on a survey format for heads of households. In this regard, the given surveys indicate
that 29 per cent of the population is in a state of high vulnerability, 63 per cent are in a situation of
medium vulnerability and only 8 per cent are in a position of low vulnerability. With the obtained
results we realized curves of frequency of perception of the population regarding this hazard, which will serve for the authorities to improve their response plans.
... With the complexity of the social environment and the increasing number of risk impacts, the notion of resilience has garnered the interest of the economic sphere for its connotative traits of dynamism, coevolution, and a "bounce-back to a superior state [6,7]." The concept of resilience has gradually become a research hotspot in regional economics, economic geography, and other fields, which has acquired extensive application in exploring the adaptive tactics of the financial system in response to unpredictable, substantial, and uncertain climate variations in the future [8,9]. However, current academic measures of ER are not uniform. ...
The coupling and coordination between green finance (GF) and economic resilience (ER) are the foundation of sustainable economic development. This paper uses the panel data of 30 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in mainland China from 2011 to 2021 to calculate the comprehensive development level of the two systems by the entropy weight method. At the same time, we analyze the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the coupling coordination degree of the two systems by using the coupling coordination degree model, kernel density curve, spatial autocorrelation model, and Markov transition matrix. The results show that (1) the development level of ER increased steadily while that of GF fluctuated. The coupling coordination degree of the two systems shows an increasing trend. (2) The coupling coordination level of the two systems presents a spatial gradient pattern of “East > Middle > West”. (3) The level of coupling coordination has an obvious spatial correlation. (4) The coupling coordination level in our country remains stable in the future, and there is a possibility of transition to a higher level. The research of this paper provides valuable enlightenment for implementing a sustainable development strategy in China.
... No single definition can be considered as the "best" or "most truthful". For this research, vulnerability is considered as the function of exposure to stressors, sensitivity to such exposure, and adaptive capacity (IPCC 2001;Thomalla et al. 2006;Turner et al. 2003). This operational definition covers both bio-physical vulnerability and social-political vulnerability. ...
Rivers in the Bengal Delta are highly dynamic and characterized by bank erosion and channel shifting. Recurring erosion displaces nearby communities and climate change related impacts multiply the vulnerability of the displaced people. This study aims to evaluate the livelihood vulnerability of riparian communities with their spatial distribution of Bangladesh. It also investigates the socio-demographic characteristics of the vulnerable community and assesses their resilience capacity. A mixed-method research design has been applied that includes surveys and group discussions. The 150-household survey was conducted purposively from five administrative units of the Shariatpur district along the Padma River. Two vulnerability index methods, considering three major factors – households’ exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity – are adopted to evaluate and compare the vulnerability of these five units. Seven components (comprising twenty-five sub- components) are adopted to index these three factors. Three of the five administrative units are identified as highly vulnerable with index values of 0.494, 0.478 and 0.438. Low adaptive capacity and resilience are attributed to financial insolvency, weak social capital, not owning land, poor access to education, and the absence of social safety-net programs. High sensitivity is determined by food insecurity, the number of vulnerable groups, a high dependency ratio, little access to safe drinking water, limited healthcare facilities, unhygienic sanitation, and so forth. High exposure is delineated by the degree of erosion vulnerability, displacement, and loss of property and livelihood. The indexing of livelihood vulnerability suggests that the approach and its possesses have replicability in locations with similar vulnerabilities and impacts.
... Furthermore such accidents cause huge economic losses and disrupt sustainable growth [7]. As the technological hazards influence spatial development, concrete measures of territorial planning must be identified and implemented in order to reduce the exposure of the various vulnerable elements and subsequently the risk [8,9]. In this context, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) developed an operational framework of Sendai Framework [10] at local level based on ten essential and independent elements for building and maintaining cities resilience [11]. ...
"The complexity of the urban environment causes a continuous change in the different variables of vulnerability: social, economic and environmental protection, energy, health, water, traffic, climate and security- in connection with sustainable development. Multi-hazard and multi-risk assessment for urban areas, in the context of territorial planning policies, is a priority for increasing the resilience of local communities. Vulnerability, as a factor in risk analysis, can influence the likelihood of negative consequences for man, the environment, and infrastructure. A detailed analysis of the vulnerability indicators in the area of industrial hazard sources can improve the correctness of the decisions in the territorial planning process. The paper presents the analysis of the influence of vulnerability, through the presented factors, in the technological risk assessment of major industrial accidents involving hazardous substances. "
... Although the concepts of DRR and adaptation may appear separate due to different international frameworks and spheres of action such as the long-term Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, there may be many similarities (Mercer, 2010), with a fundamental element of both being the motivation to reduce vulnerability and improve resilience (Kelman et al., 2015;Schipper et al., 2016;Kelman, 2017). The separation of climate change from wider contexts of DRR, as well as sustainable development, seems "counterproductive" (Kelman et al., 2015) and embedding climate change adaptation into DRR would serve a better purpose of enhancing the climate-related disaster resilience process (also see Thomalla et al., 2006;Dwirahmadi et al., 2013;Mercer et al., 2014;Schipper et al., 2016;Kelman et al., 2017;Islam et al., 2020;Flood et al., 2022;Nemakonde and Niekerk, 2022). We highlight that the knowledge on CCA may also require further consideration in the context of adaptation heuristics , which is defined as "common sense, rule[s] of thumb guiding the conceptual framing of adaptation, the prioritization of adaptation policies and measures, and/or the pathways by which they are implemented" (Preston et al., 2015, p. 469), as well as "adaptive capacity" (Robinson, 2018;Nalau and Verrall, 2021). ...
Within research on climate information for decision-making, localized insights on the influences of climate information use remain limited in small and low-income countries. This paper offers an empirical contribution on Caribbean perspectives of climate information use considering current barriers and enablers in the region. We employ thematic analysis of 26 semi-structured interviews with region-focused sectoral experts (including end-users and decision-makers) drawn from climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and resilience focused initiatives and institutions. The results reaffirm presence of known barriers, such as the crucial role of finance, but notably we identify a range of interlinked enabling and catalyzing conditions necessary for the effective use of climate information. These conditions include the need for island- and sector- contextualized climate information, the role of international donors, the importance of adequate human resource capacity and presence of loud voices/climate champions, as well as the need for effective political and legislative mandates and for greater co-production. We construct a visualization of respondents' understanding of influencing factor interrelationships. This shows how their heuristics of climate information use for decision-making intricately link with roles for proactive climate champions, and that available finance often reflects donor interests. We end by discussing how these insights can contribute to strategies for more effective climate information use to promote resilience within the region.
... These scholars get practical, closely examining how intersectoral institutional relationships improve severe weather forecasting in West Africa (Braman et al., 2013) or in how high denial rates for FEMA assistance impose burdens on poor communities in South Carolina which the voluntary sector must then address (Duffy & Shaefer, 2022). Some of this work also addresses the need for professional integration, identifying, for example, the programming gap between general humanitarian aid and climate-related humanitarian aid (Clarke & de Cruz, 2014;McCann et al., 2021) or the gap between the emergency management/disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation practitioner communities (O'Brien et al., 2006;Thomalla et al., 2006). Some of the work also addresses barriers to voluntary sector integration in risk mitigation, such as Koski's and Keating's (2018, p. 691), caution to not view NGOs too much as "targets and tools" for public policy implementation without accounting for the capacity and perspectives of these organizations. ...
The voluntary and civil society sector plays important roles in climate policy, mitigation and adaptation, especially given the pervasive government and market failures in this policy domain. Does the quality and quantity of scholarship published in nonprofit-focused journals reflect the topic’s importance? This article reviews voluntary sector scholarship on climate issues and serves to introduce Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly’s first organized collection of research on the voluntary sector and climate change. We begin by summarizing and commenting on the findings of a modified systematic literature review of past research on this subject. We then introduce the other five articles published in this symposium, place them in the context of past literature, and discuss their potential contributions to helping researchers expand the conversation and the knowledge on this topic in future work. Finally, we outline ideas and issues for future research.
... Color intensity in the different areas of the map is proportional to the ratio between the sum of heavily damaged and destroyed buildings present in a given municipality and the corresponding total number of buildings, expressed in percentage. Values for each municipality are reported before the corresponding label (Tomlinson et al. 2011;IPCC 2014;Thomalla et al. 2006;Kim et al. 2015;Collins et al. 2009;Estoque et al. 2020) or earthquakes (Babayev et al. 2010). In the CRT framework, risk is calculated as a function of 3 main components: Hazard, Exposure and Vulnerability. ...
The determination of seismic risk in urban settlements has received increasing attention in the scientific community during the last decades since it allows to identify the most vulnerable portions of urban areas and therefore to plan appropriate strategies for seismic risk reduction. In order to accurately evaluate the seismic risk of urban settlements it should be necessary to estimate in detail the seismic vulnerability of all the existing buildings in the considered area. This task could be very cumbersome due to both the great number of information needed to accurately characterize each building and the huge related computational effort. Several simplified methods for the assessment of the seismic vulnerability of existing buildings have been therefore presented in the literature. In order to estimate the occurrence of damage in buildings due to possible seismic phenomena, the published studies usually refer to response spectra evaluated according to seismic events expected in the territory with assumed probabilities. In the present paper seismic events are instead simulated using a modified Olami–Feder–Christensen (OFC) model, within the framework of self-organized criticality. The proposed methodology takes into account some geological parameters in the evaluation of the seismic intensities perceived by each single building, extending the approach presented in a previous study of some of the authors. Here, a large territory in the Sicilian oriental coast, the metropolitan area of Catania, which includes several urbanized zones with different features, has been considered as a new case study. Applications of the procedure are presented first with reference to seismic sequences of variable intensity, whose occurrence is rather frequent in seismic territories, showing that the damage can be progressively accumulated in the buildings and may lead to their collapse even when the intensities of each single event are moderate. Moreover, statistically significant simulations of single major seismic events, equivalent to a given sequence in terms of produced damages on buildings, are also performed. The latter match well with a novel a-priori risk index, introduced with the aim of characterizing the seismic risk of each single municipality in the considered metropolitan area. The proposed procedure can be applied to any large urbanized territory and, allowing to identify the most vulnerable areas, can represent a useful tool to prioritize the allocation of funds. This could be a novelty for risk policies in many countries in which public subsidies are currently assigned on a case-by-case basis, taking into account only hazard and vulnerability. The use of an a-priori risk index in the allocation process will allow to take into due account the relevant role of exposure.
... Disaster risk reduction (DRR 1 ) includes preventive measures, preparedness and recovery, comprising the aim of reducing vulnerabilities (Dias, Amaratunga, & Haigh, 2018). Even though disasters are surrounded by uncertainties regarding the scale, frequency, and location, there is a consensus that Climate Change Adaptation is necessary to promote disaster risk reduction and resilience in all levels of society (Thomalla, Downing, Spanger-Siegfried, Han, & Rockström, 2006;Birkmann et al., 2013), since both have the target of reducing vulnerabilities (Dias et al., 2018). Thus, the linkage between DRR and CCA is essential to prevent catastrophes and achieve sustainable development, as discussed in international climate negotiations (Birkmann et al., 2013;IPCC, 2012;and IPCC, 2014). ...
A soft skills gap is evident in all business sectors. The future of competition and innovation in America is
dependent upon a strong workforce rooted in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
to facilitate and connect technology with humanity. The study conducted 27 interviews with STEM
employers in the top-growing healthcare industry to identify emerging skills and strategies needed for
innovative growth in the future of the healthcare industry. Hearing their voices through semi-constructive
interviews, all participants (100%) indicated the demand would only increase for future STEM college
graduates. Most respondents (93%) identified leadership as starting with self-leadership and the ability to
connect with others (89%) on top of their emerging soft skills. They indicated that the key to innovation in
the digital age resides in our competencies to unite humanity and technology to facilitate decision-making
and effectively deliver results.
... As it has been extensively revealed, it is evident that the extent of losses and damages due to natural disasters depends not only on the physical features of the hazard per se (i.e., intensity, duration, scale), but also on the local community capacities to respond, cope with and adapt to disastrous events (Wisner et al, 2004; Thomalla et al.,2006). These capacities are closely related to perceptions and attitudes of individuals towards the risk that they are confronted with (Slovic, 1987). ...
Risk perception has been widely recognized as an essential factor in shaping attitudes and behaviors of individuals and communities proactively, during and after the experience of extreme catastrophic events. Its importance derives out mostly due to its intrinsic relationship with socio-economic parameters and capacity building of communities affected by such events. The aim of this paper was to elaborate on the demographic, socio-economic and built-environment determinants of earthquake risk perception of populations living in an extremely earthquake-prone environment. For this purpose, a population sample of municipalities in the Corinthiakos Gulf in Central West Greece, was examined. The sample (230 men and 276 women) was randomly selected from three coastal municipalities of the Gulf: Aigialeia, Nafpaktia and Corinthos. Multi-adjusted linear regression analysis was performed to reveal the determinants of the participants’ perceptions regarding earthquake risk. Findings revealed that mean earthquake risk perception score was moderate in both men and women and notably lower for the participants living in the municipality of Nafpaktia, as compared to the participants of the other two study areas. Earthquake risk perception varied significantly according to age, sex, income and building construction period (of assets resided or used by the participants). Younger strata, especially young men, and households of lower income status tend to correlate to lower earthquake risk perception. Moreover, individuals living in newly constructed buildings presented lower earthquake risk perception levels. Also, increased individuals’ earthquake safety information provided by state agencies and local civil protection authorities was associated with increased risk perception. Issues like education, household structure, building earthquake insurance, savings and trust in civil protection authorities, were not associated with risk perception. From a policy design point of view, such findings provide noteworthy insights for local communities and civil protection authorities allowing to identify vulnerable population groups and to provide noteworthy insights to design targeted measures and policies in the making of a safe and resilient environment.
... As our understanding of factors conferring vulnerability to hazardous environmental exposures has developed, certain consistent patterns have emerged. Unsurprisingly, poverty is associated with increased exposure and susceptibility through multiple pathways (Adger 2006;Philip and Rayhan 2004;Thomalla et al. 2006;Tellman et al. 2020). Factors associated with structural racism, disenfranchisement, and other persistent sources of inequity drive these relationships. ...
Factors associated with structural racism, disenfranchisement, poverty, and other persistent sources of inequity are associated with vulnerability and exposure to environmental hazards. Social, demographic, and environmental factors associated with vulnerability to environmental hazards have been used by many researchers to produce indexes of hazard vulnerability. In preparation for a climate change health risk assessment for Washington state, we compared methods and results from six indexes designed to support environmental health risk assessment. Production of these indexes varies in the number of variables considered, calculation complexity, and exposure of local causal pathways. Results for these indexes are generally very similar, especially at the highest decile of vulnerability, the exception being the Environmental Health Disparities index, the only one to consider hazard exposure. Some indexes used methods that hide causal pathways. Those that exposed causal pathways limited model structure. Results indicate that simpler indexes may be more appropriate for use in decision support tools as they require less overhead for data updates and scenario analysis and that other methodologies may provide a more useful framework for index generation.
... En otros estudios (O´Brien et al., 2006;Schipper y Pelling, 2006;Thomalla et al., 2006;Aragón-Durand, 2011b) se ha mostrado la posibilidad de vincular las agendas de adaptación al cambio climático y de gestión de riesgo de desastres en términos de sinergias institucionales, convergencia de valores y objetivos comunes. Este capítulo pretende contribuir a la construcción de ese vínculo para áreas urbanas y su objetivo es identificar elementos de gestión de riesgo de desastres de origen hidrometeorológico que pudieran servir para el diseño de medidas de adaptación urbana al cambio climático en México. ...
... As a natural phenomenon, earthquakes are unpredictable, highly destructive and broadly distributed compared with other natural disaster types, and they seriously threaten the sustainable development of humans and market economies (Thomalla et al. 2006;Change IPOCJGI 2007;Li et al. 2018;Liu et al. 2021). The complex geological structure, tectonics, active crustal deformation, and strong seismicity in China have long been threatening to societal development and the safety of the masses (Wang et al. 2001;Huang and Zhao 2006). ...
The increase in the number and severity of seismic disasters has put communities in danger, especially in rapidly developing and densely populated areas. Traditional seismic vulnerability and risk assessment methods, including field investigation, are accurate at the building scale; however, their low-efficiency and high-cost characteristics limit the application of these methods in urban-scale regions with high-speed development and risk exposure. To address this issue, multisource remote sensing interpretation, support vector machine (SVM) and geographic information science (GIScience) technologies are combined to test the performance and efficiency of a urban-scale macroscopic seismic vulnerability and risk assessment method in the Lixia District of Jinan City, Shandong Province, China, which is characterized by rapid development, a variety of building types, and moderate-to-low seismic risk. First, a traditional field survey was conducted in Lixia District, and a building attribute information database was constructed. Second, the vulnerability proxies of building attribute information and building seismic vulnerability were estimated based on the EMS-98 standard and the SVM. Finally, vulnerability proxies established based on the RISK-UE model were applied to the Lixia database, and the vulnerability and risk assessment under different seismic intensities were estimated with the experimental accuracy verified. The results showed that the SVM method can obtain stable and accurate results in urban scale vulnerability assessment. The mean building vulnerability index in Lixia District is 0.43, which indicates that the overall seismic performance is good. Most of the area falls within the seismic intensity range of VII-X degrees and would experience slight to moderate damage. The results of the study contribute to enhancing the precision and efficacy of large-scale seismic risk assessment, and they can be used by relevant departments to create tailored emergency plans and reduce seismic hazard losses. Additionally, these results can aid in achieving the climate action goal (SDG13) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
... Natural disaster preparedness is generally considered the preferred mechanism to encourage proactive activities (behavioral, cultural, structural, or institutional) to mitigate the disastrous potential of these events [20]. Preparedness has dual objectives: to reduce vulnerability to a potential threat [21][22][23] and to increase the resilience of the public exposed to a threat [24][25][26]. Activities that are commonly associated with disaster preparedness include developing planning processes to ensure readiness, formulating disaster plans [27], stockpiling resources necessary for an effective response [28], and developing skills [8] and competencies to ensure effective performance of disaster-related tasks [16]. ...
This study aimed to identify factors influencing disaster preparedness capability, measure and compare the relative importance of evaluation indicators of preparedness capability in a rainstorm disaster, and analyze the impact of these factors on disaster preparedness so as to improve disaster preparedness capability. The evaluation model was proposed by constructing the target level (the first level) as an indicator system; this was divided into four indicators (the second level): planning, organization, equipment, and education and exercise, and 14 tertiary evaluation indicators (the third level). The validity of the evaluation index system was demonstrated, and the weight of each level was calculated using the Analytic Hierarchical Process and expert survey methods, taking the example of the Zhengzhou “7.20” rainstorm to conduct an empirical analysis of the proposed model. The weak points of disaster preparedness capability were identified. The empirical analysis revealed that organization scored the highest, followed by planning, equipment, and education and exercise, indicating the lack of disaster management equipment and resources, disaster management training, and exercise and public emergency safety education. These results will help in future decision-making, as they provide a clear understanding of what needs to be done to improve disaster preparedness capability.
Vulnerability of Communities to Climate Change Induced
Disaster Risks and Potential Mental Health Outcomes in Isiolo
County, Kenya
Dr. Peninah K. Mwenda, Prof. Daniel Olago, Prof
Purpose
The authors revisit the notion of co-production, highlight more critical and re-politicized forms of co-production and introduce three principles for its operationalization. The paper’s viewpoint aims to find entry points for enabling more equitable disaster research and actions via co-production.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw insights from the authors’ reflections as climate and disaster researchers and literature on knowledge politics in the context of disaster and climate change, especially within critical disaster studies and feminist political ecology.
Findings
Disaster studies can better contribute to disaster risk reduction via political co-production and situating local and Indigenous knowledge at the center through three principles, i.e. ensuring knowledge plurality, surfacing norms and assumptions in knowledge production and driving actions that tackle existing knowledge (and broader sociopolitical) structures.
Originality/value
The authors draw out three principles to enable the political function of co-production based on firsthand experiences of working with local and Indigenous peoples and insights from a diverse set of co-production, feminist political ecology and critical disaster studies literature. Future research can observe how it can utilize these principles in its respective contexts.
Disaster management often serves as the primary defense against ecological damage and threats to social well-being resulting from natural disasters. However, the quantitative research on unified disaster risk management capacity assessment has not been scrutinized. Based on the time series structure, this study proposes a novel framework and risk management contribution models for exploiting a community risk management capacity to debris flows (CRMCD) assessment system. A comprehensively improved method was utilized for indicator selection by combining R hierarchical clustering (RHC) and coefficient of variation methods (CV). Entropy-weighted grey correlation analysis (EGCA) and geographic information system (GIS) methods are employed to assign weights and visualize the disaster management capacity of research areas. Three risk management contribution models are constructed according to the criterion layers defined by CRMCD: prevention-oriented, emergency-oriented, and recovery-oriented. Furthermore, a questionnaire was designed by introducing multi-ethnic cultural scenarios to assess public risk awareness, avoidance behaviors, and management demands. A total of 3,060 survey samples were conducted among ethnic minority communities in Sichuan that issued debris flow disaster declarations in 2022. Social welfare and public satisfaction were examined to validate the applicability of the CRMCD assessment system and risk management contribution model. The results identified key indices contributing to enhancing CRMCD: The proportion of financial investment in disaster prevention and public security, Professional skills diversity of emergency responders, and Installed power capacity. The multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed public preference for the prevention-oriented type in the risk management contribution model, and interviewees demonstrated a more positive response regarding motivation and participation in disaster prevention under this model. Kruskal-Wallis H significance analysis highlighted that ethnic minorities and elderly populations exhibited lower levels of disaster knowledge reserves, avoidance awareness, and propensity to purchase disaster insurance. Unexpectedly, respondents with higher household income and education levels paid less attention to seeking assistance from professional community organizations. Disaster early warning emerged as a priority for respondents interested in strengthening community disaster management initiatives. Overall, this study outlines a systematic methodology to establish an objective index system and summarize management models, which provide breakthroughs in developing participatory disaster management frameworks and resilience communities.
Climate change is perhaps the biggest environmental challenge of our time, and land use and land cover play a significant role in this—in contributing to climate change through land conversion, as well as in adapting to and mitigating climate change via reforestation, restoration, and improved land use. Climate change encompasses a set of impacts including warming temperatures, increased variability and more frequent events (floods, droughts), and regional impacts such as sea level rise and coastal flooding, as well as changes in disturbance regimes mediated by climate (e.g., fire). Climate change presents as a problem in risk management. Risk can be assessed in terms of exposure, hazard, and the vulnerability of affected populations. Exposure (locations affected) and hazard (the intensity of the impact) are often combined geospatially in terms of climate velocity, an estimate of “how intense and how fast” the expect changes might be. Changes often can be communicated effectively when framed in terms of climate analogs, which are space-for-time substitutions (e.g., to show where the climate currently experienced in a given location might be found in the future or, conversely, where a future climate occurs currently). There are very many ways in which landscapes can be managed to adapt to climate change, including increasing local buffering capacity as represented by biophysical habitat heterogeneity, local permeability to adaptive movement, and directed connectivity to more favorable future-climate locations. These applications are specific implementations of a general approach, with the expectation that every local or regional application will depend on local risks and opportunities.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plays an important role in China's ‘Belt & Road Initiative’. It is also one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Considering that decentralized disaster governance has been gaining much attention in the world, this paper systematically analyzes the disaster management system in the CPEC region. Specifically, it compares the national, provincial, municipal and community-level institutional mechanisms for disaster management in China and Pakistan, and then closely examines the current trends of decentralized disaster governance based on a recent round of semi-structured and open-ended interviews in Xinjiang, China and Pakistan. Issues and gaps of decentralized disaster governance were drawn out from the experiences of participation among related stakeholders. We found that although the decentralization of the disaster management system has been the main trend in both China and Pakistan, national and provincial disaster management agencies still play a key role in the disaster relief work. Therefore, the centralization and decentralization of disaster management are not contradictory, but the more disaster governance shifts towards decentralization, the more urgent the consolidation of multi-level (vertical) and broader (horizontal) collaboration becomes. Based on this analysis, we aim to provide insights, lessons and recommendations for the way forward for strengthening disaster management in CPEC. In particular, we summarize different but integrated approaches towards effective disaster risk coping strategies and regional cooperation on disaster management in CPEC.
The purpose of this contribution, which is to be included in the debate on risk mitigation policies and instruments or disaster support, is to describe the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) intervention framework. This fund, created in 2002 and renewed in 2014, is an instrument capable of intervening retrospectively and on different levels on the territories affected by a natural event at high intensity. Since 2020, the operativity of the Fund has also extended to actions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, representing, well before the composition of the so-called Recovery Fund, the first form of support against the economic and health disaster generated by the pandemic. Recalling the theoretical context, the contribution focuses on the description of the Fund and, with reference to Italy, identifies the resources allocated and maps the areas of intervention.KeywordsRisk mitigationPolicyEUSFResilienceBest practices
Climate-related disasters have been on the rise in Africa. Amidst changing climate, when a climate-related disaster strikes, media, scientists, practitioners and policy makers alike are quick to attribute such an event to climate change, even in absence of scientific evidence. Yet, in an increasingly urbanized world, it becomes extremely difficult to delineate development-induced vulnerability and influence of climate change. Furthermore, making political statement and decision without evidence politicises climate change, and this does not only undermine effective management of disaster risk but also impedes countering climate change itself. Marked by exponential rise in Earth’s surface temperature since 1850, climate change has been a subject of intense debates in recent years. Anthropogenic greenhouse gases—mainly carbon dioxide, water vapour, methane (CH4), nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbon and ozone—have created imbalance in earth’s energy equilibrium. This is because, on one hand, the gasses trap infrared heat from the earth’s surface in the atmosphere while, on the other, allow the planet earth to receive more solar energy than it emits. Climate change sceptics do not agree and have asserted that greenhouse gases are not enough to cause climate change and that the increase in solar output has been the major contributing factor for the rise in global temperature. Others are sceptical of the existence of climate change itself. However, there is overwhelming evidence that climate change is due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases’ concentration in the atmosphere. Similarly, there is no evidence that climate change is due to increased solar output. Instead solar output has remained fairly the same since 1880. Consistent with climate change, climate hazards have increased fivefold between 1970 and 2010. However, it is argued that the most recent rise, globally, in climate-related hazards might be due to natural climate variability. Yet, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between climate-related disasters attributable to climate change versus natural climate variability. Similarly, distinction has to be made between development-induced vulnerability and climate change. In an attempt to understand climate change-disaster risk nexus, interest in event attribution science has witnessed unprecedented growth. A study on attribution of climate change to the severe urban flooding in Dakar in 2012 generated mixed, yet important views among the respondents. Other studies conducted in Africa could not yield conclusive results. Whereas it is extremely difficult to relate events to climate change, lack of data in many African countries further contributes to poor understanding of climate change-disaster risk nexus. This chapter will examine disaster risk-climate change nexus in Africa and analyse trends in disaster risks amidst changing climate, based on available disaster statistics for the last century (1920–2019). In the wake of politicisation of climate change, where almost every single climate event is blamed on climate change, the authors will analyse disaster events in juxtaposition with climate change data and assess other non-climatic factors such as development-induced risks and vulnerability to make informed analysis on climate change-disaster risk nexus in Africa.KeywordsClimate changeDisastersAfrica
Este documento presenta estrategias de protección civil y gestión del riesgo hidrometeorológico en el contexto del cambio climático. Tiene como objetivo general establecer líneas de acción que vinculen la adaptación al cambio climático con la reducción del riesgo de desastres de origen hidrometeorológico en las políticas públicas en México. Para tal efecto, se hace un análisis tanto de la literatura especializada en adaptación, prevención de desastres y protección civil como de los correspondientes planes y programas existentes en México. Se identifican obstáculos, debilidades, oportunidades y fortalezas en las políticas públicas tanto a nivel conceptual como metodológico.
Se afirma que para vincular las medidas de adaptación al cambio climático con las de reducción del riesgo de desastres de origen hidrometeorológico se deben considerar, entre otros, los siguientes dos aspectos: 1) Entender que la percepción del riesgo y el conocimiento de las amenazas naturales, el riesgo y la vulnerabilidad son distintos en la comunidad de gestión de desastres y en la comunidad del cambio climático. 2) Entender que tales diferencias conceptuales implican diferentes valores de política pública y por ende diferentes respuestas institucionales.
Se analizan los obstáculos existentes en el Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil (SINAPROC) que impiden que sea un Sistema preventivo en el contexto del cambio climático y se sugieren acciones en los ámbitos de: la comunicación del riesgo y la cultura de la prevención de desastres; la participación colectiva en tareas de reducción y gestión del riesgo a desastres, entre otros. Se detallan las oportunidades y fortalezas existentes en el SINAPROC para mejorar la gestión del riesgo hidrometeorológico para favorecer la adaptación al cambio climático, en particular en el Fondo de Prevención de Desastres y en el Fondo de Desastres Naturales.
Finalmente, se detallan estrategias de articulación entre la prevención de desastres y reducción del riesgo con las de adaptación al cambio climático a nivel estatal tomando como ejemplo el caso del estado de Veracruz. Se proponen estrategias de articulación entre el Programa Veracruzano de Cambio Climático con el Programa Veracruzano de Protección Civil. Se concluye que en México ya existen condiciones institucionales y valores de política pública para fomentar la convergencia entre la reducción del riesgo hidrometeorológico y la adaptación al cambio climático.
A gestão de riscos é elementar na busca de adaptação às mudanças climáticas,
particularmente nos setores públicos, através de políticas intersetoriais integradas
e planejamento governamental. A integração do setor público com a Adaptação às
Mudanças Climáticas e a Redução do Risco de Desastres é uma forma de transformar políticas em ações locais. As emergências climáticas são exploradas
como risco potencial a um setor público, o Corpo de Bombeiros, devido ao aumento da frequência e intensidade de incidentes correlatos (inundações, incêndios florestais). A pesquisa avalia as políticas nacionais da Grã-Bretanha na adaptação climática, pois desde 1997 desenvolveu pesquisa e legislação ambiental significativas: Lei de Contingências Civis (2004), Ato de Mudança Climática (2008) e Registro Nacional de Riscos. A partir de entrevistas com bombeiros de West Yorkshire, a gestão integrada de riscos na comunidade é considerada crítica para a coleta de dados e preparar os serviços, implementando mudanças positivas nos setores públicos, consolidando a adaptação climática e reduzindo os riscos de desastres. Embora o envolvimento de várias agências com a comunidade seja adequado para compreender as vulnerabilidades, a frequência dos incidentes dita os investimentos e os recursos limitados são barreiras para a ação.
Natural and man-made stressors have caused severe uncertainties in the urban environment and in particular urban water systems (UWSs) management. Lack of proper understanding of future uncertainties in urban design would lead to intangible and tangible losses including failure of lifeline infrastructures. Building resilience has started to gain prominence in the past decade as an integral part of sustainable UWSs management in a way that the systems could be functional under standard loadings and adaptive in extreme situations. Entropy and resilience are two related and imperative concepts that seek to quantify the performance of a system in circumstances with high uncertainty. Considering the multidisciplinary nature of these two terms with disparate, even contradictory, definitions in the literature, this chapter presents a review of the basic concepts, various definitions as well as applications in the water resources area with case studies.
Purpose: The study was conducted to identify and evaluate disaster risks and mental health outcomes caused by extreme climate events. Methodology: Quantitative data was obtained from existing climate and mental health (1984-2019) records, while qualitative data was obtained from literature review of case studies and content analysis, Focus Group Discussion and household survey in four major zones for two consecutive years. ArcGIS software method explored various properties of the climate systems to infer the distribution of climate parameters, select extremes value and calculate linear trend of time series. The quantitative data was analyzed using statistical tools in Excel, IBM SPSS version 20 while climate data analysis was done using R software (version 3.21). Results: The exceedance threshold of 𝜇 = 340 𝑚𝑚 was chosen. On the other hand, mean exceedance threshold of 𝜇 = 36.50𝐶 and 𝜇 = 11.380𝐶 for minimum and maximum temperatures respectively. The rainfall band was very high or very low, deemed to create disaster risks. The results revealed that the most common disaster risks include: drought and heatwaves, strong sand storms, flash floods and floods. The duration of time, frequency and unpredictable weather variability events were above critical threshold, hence categorized as high risk, rated 1, hence fatal. Unique Contribution to Theory and Practice: The study provides historical empirical data on hazard mapping and mental health outcomes to enable policy and programmes formulation by state and nonstate actors. The study recommends development of robust environmental health procedures to diagnose mental disorders, mapping of disasters; mental disorder epidemiology and make it user friendly to advice policy, scale up solutions and accelerate evidence informed advocacy on adaptation and resilience mental health programme strategies
Organizations in Nepal have retrofitted weak school buildings using earthquake-resistant construction techniques for over a decade. Some of these safer school projects have been carried out as technical interventions only, while others have been embedded within programs of community engagement, masonry training, and oversight. Following the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, 12 school sites were assessed through visual inspection and a series of community interviews to understand the impacts of safer school construction projects on local perceptions and construction practice. Compared to communities that had received technical intervention only, or no intervention at all, communities that had experienced community engagement were more knowledgeable of earthquake-resistant construction techniques and reported more adoption of these techniques in housing construction. They also evidenced more trust in the school building, using it as shelter following the earthquake. Community engagement can amplify the benefit of future school retrofit and reconstruction projects, simultaneously building social and infrastructure capital.
Global environmental change and sustainability science increasingly recognize the need to address the consequences of changes taking place in the structure and function of the biosphere. These changes raise questions such as: Who and what are vulnerable to the multiple environmental changes underway, and where? Research demonstrates that vulnerability is registered not by exposure to hazards (perturbations and stresses) alone but also resides in the sensitivity and resilience of the system experiencing such hazards. This recognition requires revisions and enlargements in the basic design of vulnerability assessments, including the capacity to treat coupled human-environment systems and those linkages within and without the systems that affect their vulnerability. A vulnerability framework for the assessment of coupled human-environment systems is presented.
Seasonal climate outlooks provide one tool to help decision-makers allocate resources in anticipation of poor, fair or good seasons. The aim of the 'Climate Outlooks and Agent-Based Simulation of Adaptation in South Africa' project has been to investigate whether individuals, who adapt gradually to annual climate variability, are better equipped to respond to longer-term climate variability and change in a sustainable manner. Seasonal climate outlooks provide information on expected annual rainfall and thus can be used to adjust seasonal agricultural strategies to respond to expected climate conditions. A case study of smallholder farmers in a village in Vhembe district, Limpopo Province, South Africa has been used to examine how such climate outlooks might influence agricultural strategies and how this climate information can be improved to be more useful to farmers. Empirical field data has been collected using surveys, participatory approaches and computer-based knowledge elicitation tools to investigate the drivers of decision-making with a focus on the role of climate, market and livelihood needs. This data is used in an agent-based social simulation which incorporates household agents with varying adaptation options which result in differing impacts on crop yields and thus food security, as a result of using or ignoring the seasonal outlook. Key variables are the skill of the forecast, the social communication of the forecast and the range of available household and community-based risk coping strategies. This research provides a novel approach for exploring adaptation within the context of climate change.
Coping with climatic variations or future climate change must be rooted in a full understanding of the complex structures and causes of present vulnerability, and how it may evolve over the coming decades. A theory of the social vulnerability of food insecurity draws upon explanations in human ecology, expanded entitlements and political economy to map the risk of exposure to harmful perturbations, ability to cope with crises, and potential for recovery. Vulnerable socio-economic groups in Zimbabwe and the potential effects of climate change illustrate some of the applications of the theory.
This paper introduces broad concepts of vulnerability, food security and famine. It argues that the concepts and theories driving development and implementation of vulnerability assessment tools are related to their utility. The review concludes that socio-geographic scale is a key issue, and challenge. It analyses three vulnerability assessment (VA) methods, using Ethiopia as a case study. Facing the challenges of vulnerability assessment and early warning requires providing accurate information at the required scale, useful for multiple decision-makers within realistic institutional capacities.
Poverty and Climate Change: Reducing the Vulnerability of the Poor through Adaptation
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The IIASA Model for Evaluating Ex-ante Risk Management: Case Study Honduras
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Disaster Risk Management in a Changing Climate Informal discussion paper prepared for the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe
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behalf of the Vulnerability and Adaptation Resource Group (VARG), Washington, D.C.
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Multi-agent Modelling of Climate Outlooks and Food Security on a Community Garden Scheme in Limpopo
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Garden Scheme in Limpopo, South Africa'. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B 360.
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Natural Disasters and Development in a Globalizing World
- M Pelling
- Routledge
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- F Sperling
- F Szekely
Pelling, M. (ed.) (2003) Natural Disasters and Development in a Globalizing World. Routledge, London.
Sperling, F. and F. Szekely (2005) Disaster Risk Management in a Changing Climate. Informal discussion paper
prepared for the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan, 18-22 January 2005, on
behalf of the Vulnerability and Adaptation Resource Group (VARG), Washington, D.C.
A Framework for Vulnerability Analysis in Sustainability Science
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