Search results for "disaster"
showing 10 items of 215 documents
Le calamità ambientali nel tardo medioevo europeo: realtà, percezioni, reazioni
2010
For some time historiography has set itself the objective of studying the ways in which European society in the late Middle Ages and the early Modern Age has related to environmental disasters, addressing the perceptions and the reactions, the strategies implemented by the governments, and the repercussions on the religious mentality. In this way it has identified a sphere of investigation that is an authentic multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary workshop, engaging historians of institutions, culture and mentality. At the conference held in San Miniato, Italian and European historians compared notes on this subject, addressing it from different points of view and taking into considerat…
Applying Dynamic Performance Management to Public Emergency Management: An Analysis of the Wenchuan Earthquake
2020
Previous studies in public emergency management confirm that collaboration assumes a relevant role in strengthening society’s capacity to cope with complex phenomena, such as disasters. However, empirical researches on emergency management show problems in performance measurement, mainly in employing narrow measures focusing on the results of single organisations rather than the entire system. Starting from a Chinese earthquake (Wenchuan) case, as an example, we use the dynamic performance management approach to develop a performance framework. This framework aims at investigating the interrelationships of different actors involved in emergency management and designing appropriate public em…
Modeling the escalation/de-escalation of response operation levels in disaster response networks using hierarchical Colored Petri Nets (CPN) approach
2018
In emergency situations, the first responders need to act promptly to situations, while the disaster management authorities' response might not be at the same speed. Delays by disaster management authorities had a direct impact on response operations led response teams to the shift away from command and control structures to net-centric ones. This paper is part of a study to examine patterns of emerging organizational relations and coordination structures in disaster response operations. Understanding coordination patterns in disaster chaos can help to integrate those patterns in the planning and execution in the modern disaster management operations. We use dynamic modeling methods to anal…
Informal Disaster Governance
2020
<p>Scholars and practitioners are increasingly questioning formal disaster governance (FDG) approaches as being too rigid, slow, and command-and-control driven. Too often, local realities and non-formal influences are sidelined or ignored to the extent that disaster governance can be harmed through the efforts to impose formal and/or political structures. A contrasting narrative emphasises so-called bottom-up, local, and/or participatory approaches which this article proposes to encapsulate as Informal Disaster Governance (IDG). This article theorises IDG and situates it within the long-standing albeit limited literature on the topic, paying particular attention to the literature’s fa…
Geoethics and dimensions of vulnerability in Central Africa: the case study of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
2021
<abstract> <p>This article aims to analyse the dimensions of vulnerability in the complex territorial ecosystem of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, considering some substantial geoethical considerations and guidelines, usefull for the resolution of crisis situation. A thematic analysis was carried out on a gathering of secondary data and testimonies. Specifically, the paper will examine the modalities by which the mitigation process of the various vulnerabilities can be realized if implemented in synergy with some geoethical key points. This could contribute to the disaster risk reduction in DRC. Therefore, this paper will ascertain how the promotion of an environmental and…
Insurance mechanisms for tropical cyclones and droughts in Pacific Small Island Developing States
2016
One group of locations significantly affected by climate-related losses and damage is the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). One mechanism aiming to reduce such adverse impacts is insurance, with a wide variety of products and models available. Insurance for climate-related hazards affecting Pacific SIDS has not been investigated in detail. This article contributes to filling this gap by exploring how insurance mechanisms might be implemented in the Pacific SIDS for tropical cyclones and droughts. The study examines opportunities and constraints or limitations of some existing insurance mechanisms and programmes as applied to the Pacific SIDS. Eight insurance mechanisms are compared and…
Research in disaster settings: a systematic qualitative review of ethical guidelines
2016
Background Conducting research during or in the aftermath of disasters poses many specific practical and ethical challenges. This is particularly the case with research involving human subjects. The extraordinary circumstances of research conducted in disaster settings require appropriate regulations to ensure the protection of human participants. The goal of this study is to systematically and qualitatively review the existing ethical guidelines for disaster research by using the constant comparative method (CCM). Methods We performed a systematic qualitative review of disaster research ethics guidelines to collect and compare existing regulations. Guidelines were identified by a three-tie…
A Framework to Improve the Disaster Response Through a Knowledge-Based Multi-Agent System
2017
The disaster response still faces problems of collaboration due to lack of policies concerning the information exchange during the response. Moreover, plans are prepared to respond to a disaster, but drills to apply them are limited and do not allow to determine their efficiency and conflicts with other organizations. This paper presents a framework allowing for different organizations involving in the disaster response to assess their collaboration through its simulation using an explicit representation of their knowledge. This framework is based on a multi-agent system composed of three generic agent models to represent the organizational structure of disaster response. The decision-makin…
Les comportements de protection face au risque naturel : de la résistance à l’engagement
2011
An adequate risk management requires taking into account all the categories of stakeholders, including the exposed populations. Nowadays, one difficulty is to involve these populations and consequently to understand their reactions face to the eventuality of a disaster's occurrence. Several issues must be addressed: how is the representation of risk built up ? How do people develop adaptive strategies towards risk ? And above all, how is it possible to ensure an increase in behaviours suited for prevention and protection ? After drawing up a report on the research in this area, we will discuss the limitations of a persuasive communication, in order to better understand the interest of a bin…
Knowledge exchange through science diplomacy to assist disaster risk reduction
2021
Abstract This paper analyses science diplomacy efforts to reduce disaster risks and proposes establishing national knowledge exchange centers (KECs) to help individual states adhere to their Sendai Framework goals. KECs are considered to be interconnected globally and work together to promote resilience efforts by facilitating sharing of information and strategies in risk monitoring, assessment, and ultimately reduction across the globe. KECs can provide high-quality scientific evidence for informed decisionmaking along with a component related to disaster science media to ensure that appropriate knowledge reaches a variety of people who need it in different forms tailored for them. KECs ca…