Search results for " research"

Resilience to flash floods in wetland communities of northeastern Bangladesh

2018

Globally, a number of catastrophic hydrometeorological hazards occurred in 2017 among which the monsoon floods in South Asia was particularly disastrous, killing nearly 1200 people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The wetland region (Haor) of northeastern (NE) Bangladesh was severely affected by flash floods early in 2017, affecting nearly 1 million households and damaging US $450 million worth of rice crops. This study investigates how the NE Bangladesh experienced the 2017 flash floods, and to what degree the wetland communities are vulnerable and resilience to flash floods. Focus group discussion, key informant interviews, and household questionnaire surveys (n = 80) were applied in the s…

A systematic review of human behaviour in and around floodwater

2020

Abstract Flooding can have a major impact on people's safety and livelihood. Understanding people's flood-related behaviours may assist in the development of more effective strategies aimed at lessening the impact of floods including mortality and morbidity. This systematic review examined peer-reviewed literature published from January-1989 to April-2019 on human behaviour in and around floodwater to identify behaviour patterns as well as protective and risk factors. We extracted three main themes from a thematic analysis of included studies (N = 54): activities and risk-taking behaviours (n = 24); loss reduction, knowledge, and warnings (n = 37); and diet and hygiene (n = 4). This review …

The ELECTRE I method to support the FMECA

2018

Abstract In traditional Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), risk priorities of failure modes are determined through the Risk Priority Number (RPN), which is a function of the three risk parameters Occurrence (O), Severity (S), and Detection (D). In the present paper, an alternative approach to RPN is proposed for the criticality assessment of system failure modes. Particularly, the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method ELECTRE I is proposed to select the most critical failure mode in the set of the failure modes charactering a complex system. The method has been applied to a case study previously proposed by Zammori and Gabrielli (2012).

Modélisation sémantique et programmation générative pour une simulation multi-agent dans le contexte de gestion de catastrophe

2020

La gestion de catastrophe nécessite une préparation collaborative entre les divers intervenants. Les exercices collaboratifs visent à entraîner les intervenants à appliquer les plans préparés ainsi qu’à identifier les problèmes et points d’améliorations potentiels. Ces exercices étant coûteux, la simulation informatique est un outil permettant d’optimiser la préparation à l’aide d’une plus grande diversité de cas. Cependant, les travaux de recherche centrés sur la simulation et la gestion de catastrophe sont spécialisés sur un problème spécifique plutôt que sur l’optimisation globale des plans préparés. Cette limite s’explique par le défi que constitue la réalisation d’un modèle de simulati…

The impact on disaster governance of the intersection of environmental hazards, border conflict and disaster responses in Ladakh, India

2018

Abstract The Indian border region of Ladakh, in Jammu and Kashmir State, has a sensitive Himalayan ecosystem and has experienced natural hazards and disasters of varying scales over the decades. Ladakh is also situated on a fault-line of multiple tensions, including ongoing border disagreements and intermittent conflict with China and Pakistan. The Indian army has thus become a permanent fixture in the region. This paper examines the implications of the intersection of these environmental and security factors for disaster governance in the region. Using Social Domains theory, the paper argues first, that a hazard-centred paradigm of ‘universal’ disaster science emerges from the colonial per…

Cognitive biases in humanitarian sensemaking and decision-making lessons from field research

2016

Time and again, humanitarian decision-makers are confronted with stress and pressure, distorted, lacking and uncertain information, and thus they are working in conditions that are known to introduce or enforce biases. Decision analysis has been designed to overcome such biases, and a network of “digital responders” organized over the Internet has set out to improve judgments by providing better information. However, without any structured support to determine objectives, goals and preferences and detached from the context of operational decision-makers, remote analysts may face the very biases they are trying to help overcome. This article sets out to identify biases that matter for humani…

Connecting theories of cascading disasters and disaster diplomacy

2018

Abstract Disaster diplomacy examines how and why disaster-related activities (disaster risk reduction and post-disaster actions) do and do not influence peace and conflict processes, especially whether or not a causal chain can be established between dealing with disaster risk or a disaster and outcomes in peace or conflict. Cascading disasters might provide a useful theoretical framing for mapping out causal pathways for disaster diplomacy. In conceptually exploring the intersection between disaster diplomacy and cascading disasters, this paper concludes that both disaster diplomacy and cascading disasters have limitations because they try to develop focused causal chains which, when exami…

Categorising animals and habitats in disaster-related activities

2021

A disaster is typically defined as a situation requiring external assistance, under the (contestable) assumption that the situation must affect people and society to be a disaster. Animals and their habitats are part of society and humans connect with them, so animals and their habitats are part of all disaster-related activities. This straightforward statement has produced divergent theories, policies and practices including challenges to categories, labels and divisions for humans and non-humans. This paper collates many practitioner aspects regarding animals and habitats in disaster-related activities. It assists in understanding and training for situations involving non-humans before, d…

A Review of Qualitative Comments on a Proposed Master's Degree in Emergency Management

2017

Preventive maintenance versus cost of repairs in asset management: An efficiency analysis in wastewater treatment plants

2020

Abstract The operation and management of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is of paramount importance to guarantee the sustainability of water resources. Just like any other production process, wastewater treatment process involves different costs, such as: energy, personnel, maintenance and reagents. Regarding maintenance costs, they have become an issue of great concern to many operators in the last years. Maintaining the facilities in good condition ensures the proper performance of these infrastructures and reduces the risk of failures. It should be known that equipment breakdowns imply an increase in operating costs, with a high risk of generating an environmental damage due to the m…