Search results for "Preparedness"
showing 10 items of 54 documents
Making Communication Strategy Choices in a Fast Evolving Crisis Situation—Results from a Table-Top Discussion on an Anthrax Scenario
2016
This paper aims at clarifying a timely topic of how communication strategy choices are made in evolving, complex crises, such as those caused by terrorism involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) agents. This is done by examining data gathered from a table-top discussion among crisis communication experts, focusing on a scenario of an anthrax attack and analysed qualitatively. The communication experts followed the evolving crisis situation by gathering inputs from various actors in the crisis management network, thereby creating situational understanding, and interpreted these inputs for decision-making on communication strategies. The underlying process of coping wi…
How Do Efforts to Enhance Career Preparation Affect Peer Groups?
2010
The present study investigated how efforts to enhance career preparation affect peer groups. The participants were 710 9th graders who were randomized into control and intervention groups and assessed 3 times during 1 academic year: at baseline (T1, Fall), immediately after the career preparation intervention (T2, 3 months after baseline), and 5 months after the intervention (T3, Spring). The results showed, first, that maintenance of a stable clique was more likely when most clique members participated in the intervention. Second, it was found that the members of adolescents' cliques resembled each other in respect of the strength of the intervention effect. Finally, the results showed tha…
Leveraging a Wiki to EnhanceVirtual Collaboration in the Emergency Domain
2008
In a crisis situation, critical success factors include good preparedness, the availability of trustworthy information and reliable people, and the responders' ability to improvise with the available, functioning tools. Wikis can be used as collaborative group support systems to support these activities, especially for communities of practice that must operate as high reliability organizations. The advantages of using a wiki are especially beneficial in volatile environments, such as those in the emergency domain, where critical real-time decision making is required. An international wiki emergenciWiki.org - has been created and is being used by both practitioners and academics. The conclus…
Near Real-Time Decision Support for Disaster Management: Hurricane Sandy
2014
Assessing vulnerability is fundamental for efficient risk management and emergency response. Integrating analyses from preparedness and risk reduction to inform the response phase requires that structural information about demographics or industry is combined with specific local information that highlights hotspots or emerging risks in near real-time. Owing to its availability on social media or other platforms, this local information is today often collected and processed remotely with the aim to inform responders and the public via reports, maps and apps published online. This paper addresses and discusses the challenges of remote near-real time vulnerability assessments by using an indic…
Decision Support for Disaster Risk Management: Integrating Vulnerabilities into Early-Warning Systems
2014
International audience; Despite the potential of new technologies and the improvements of early-warning systems since the 2004 Tsunami, damage and harm caused by disasters do not stop to increase. There is a clear need for better integrating the fragmented landscape of researchers and practitioners working on different aspects of decision support for disaster risk reduction and response. To demonstrate and discuss the advantages of integrated systems, we will focus in this paper on vulnerabilities and early-warning systems. While vulnerabilities are mostly used to allocate risk management resources (preparedness), early-warning systems are designed to initiate the response phase. Indicator …
Latvijas veselības aprūpes institūciju un personāla gatavība katastrofu pārvaldīšanā
2017
Ievads: Pēdējo desmit gadu laikā pasaulē visu veidu katastrofu skaits ir ievērojami palielinājies, kā arī ievērojami ir pieaudzis cietušo cilvēku skaits. Līdz ar to slimnīcām un ārstiem jābūt gataviem risināt ārkārtas situācijas. Šis pētījums novērtē katastrofu pārvaldības sagatavotības līmeni Latvijas veselības aprūpes iestādēs un ārstu vidū. Materiāli un metodes: Materiāli tika apkopoti laika posmā no 2016. gada oktobra līdz 2017. gada februārim. 21 Latvijas slimnīcu administrācijai vai neatliekamās palīdzības vadītājiem tika dota pielāgota aptauja - Slimnīcas ārkārtas situāciju gatavības kontrollapa (Pasaules Veselības organizācijas Eiropas Reģionālā biroja, 2011), kas ietver četras galv…
Metropolitan wastewater analysis for COVID-19 epidemiological surveillance
2020
The COVID-19 disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a rapidly emerging pandemic which has enforced extreme containment measures worldwide. In the absence of a vaccine or efficient treatment, cost-effective epidemiological surveillance strategies are urgently needed. Here, we have used RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2 detection in a series of longitudinal metropolitan wastewaters samples collected from February to April 2020, during the earliest stages of the epidemic in the Region of Valencia, Spain. We were able to consistently detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in samples taken in late February, when communicated cases in that region were only incipient. We also find…
Leadership styles and their specific correlation to gender - theoretical standpoint
2016
The purpose of the research is to review different leadership styles and get insight about specific female and male leadership style characteristics. In this context the development of conception of the changing role of females has been discussed and compared with the Western and Eastern European approach. Different leadership styles and their specific characteristics have been described, compared and evaluated in respect to gender roles. It was found out that female and male incline different leadership styles. Concentration of power and central decision-making which are seen as male leadership characteristics are effective during critical economic situations. Care, empathy and harmonic re…
The role of community-based knowledge and local institutions in managing landslides on the slopes of Mount Elgon, Uganda
2015
The paper explores the degree to which community-based knowledge (CBK) and local institutions can be effective for disaster preparedness and management, based on a study carried out in Nametsi Parish, located on the slopes of Mount Elgon, in eastern Uganda. The study area has experienced innumerable landslides since 1933. Whereas a few of the landslides have not been disastrous, several others have had far-reaching effects on the livelihoods of people living in the area. This is attributed partly to the geographical setting, which makes the area difficult to access, and partly to socio-economic factors such as a high population growth rate and widespread poverty. Despite these aspects of vu…
Designing for Networked Community Resilience
2016
Abstract Communities have been described to be at the heart of the preparedness for and the response to disasters. The increasing connectedness has made communities more vulnerable for their dependence on a complex network of critical infrastructures. At the same time, this very connectedness has the potential to enable communities to self-organise, engage, and connect with other communities to improve their resilience. While the pathway to more resilience is promising and has many advocates, the response to crises and disasters, time and again reveals the challenges related to (i) ad-hoc switching from preparedness to response; (ii) ad-hoc connecting professional responders, communities, v…