Jamba-Journal of Disaster Risk Studies最新文献

The areas of Sumatra are multidisaster-prone zones, especially to floods and earthquakes. However, these regions also preserve local wisdom, particularly through stilt house architecture, which serves as a community-based adaptive strategy. This study aims to explore the function of local stilt houses as a form of disaster mitigation and assess the younger generation's knowledge regarding the functional and philosophical aspects of stilt houses, as well as their potential for integration into disaster education. A mixed-methods approach was employed, involving in-depth observations and interviews with community figures, along with the distribution of questionnaires to 158 students across South Sumatra. The study findings show that traditional stilt houses not only withstand flood and earthquake risks but also reflect socio-cultural, spiritual and environmental sustainability values. Their structural designs, use of local materials, house orientation and tiered-room concept serve as clear representations of ethnoscience in local architectural practice. The questionnaire results indicate that the majority of the younger generation possesses moderate to high understanding of the social and functional aspects of stilt houses but lacks sufficient knowledge of their symbolic and technical dimensions. These findings highlight the importance of integrating local knowledge into disaster education curricula to strengthen community resilience from an early age and preserve proven cultural adaptations to disaster risk.

Contribution: This article contributes to disaster risk reduction efforts by integrating the local wisdom of stilt house architecture into science education. It promotes a culturally grounded approach to flood and earthquake mitigation through the use of ethnoscience in educational contexts.

This article examines the potential of policy coherence for development (PCD) as a framework for addressing the complex nexus between disaster risk reduction (DRR), climate change (CC) and food security (FS) in the context of Eswatini. While the interdependence of these domains has been recognised in theory and practice, policy responses in developing countries remain fragmented, resulting in duplication, inefficiency and weak implementation. Using an extensive literature review, the article conceptualises PCD and evaluates its capacity to provide horizontal and vertical policy integration, strengthen inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholder collaboration and align financial and operational mechanisms across governance systems. Five dimensions of policy coherence - conceptual, strategic, institutional, operational and financial - are employed to interrogate Eswatini's fragmented governance landscape, where more than a dozen policies and frameworks exist but fail to translate into coordinated outcomes in managing the DRR, CC and FS nexus. In Eswatini, where over 70% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture and recurrent drought exacerbates poverty and food insecurity, embedding PCD principles into policy-making structures could bridge the gap between ambitious developmental agendas and local implementation realities.

Contribution: The study concludes that institutionalising PCD can enhance resilience by integrating DRR, CC and FS policies, fostering joint accountability among a wide array of societal role players and enabling more efficient resource allocation. By moving from conceptual recognition to practical implementation, PCD provides a pathway towards sustainable development and improved governance of the DRR, CC and FS nexus in Eswatini.

The main objective of this research is to conduct an urban flood-risk assessment approach for South Jakarta, Indonesia. Flood susceptibility was modelled using the frequency ratio (FR) method and validated with the receiver operating characteristic-area under the curve (ROC-AUC). Vulnerability was assessed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) across four domains: physical, economic, environmental and social. We used high-resolution spatial data (1:25 000) and a historical flood inventory to produce rapid, urban-scale risk information where conventional datasets are limited. The susceptibility map shows three classes: low, medium and high; the combined risk map indicates that most of the study area is at medium risk (108.64 km², or 74.550%), low (37.08 km² or 25.447%) and high (0.004 km² or 0.003%). Vulnerability analysis identifies residential areas, critical infrastructure and key service zones as the most exposed elements. Susceptibility, vulnerability and risk are the three essential parameters incorporated into the spatial planning analysis to ensure comprehensive evaluation. The findings identify protection zones with particular risk levels, which require targeted mitigation strategies for any future development initiatives. Furthermore, this study highlights that the integration of FR, ROC-AUC and AHP provides reliable and operational flood-risk assessments that can be effectively incorporated into spatial planning and development policies in data-constrained urban settings.

Contribution: This study presents an innovative and practical framework for urban flood-risk assessment, combining FR, ROC-AUC and AHP to evaluate flood susceptibility and vulnerability in South Jakarta, Indonesia. Leveraging high-resolution geospatial data at a detailed 1:25 000 scale, it addresses critical data gaps and equips policymakers with actionable tools to integrate risk sensitive strategies into urban spatial planning for further mitigation. The findings, revealing 74.55% of the area at medium flood risk, set a benchmark for advancing disaster resilience and sustainable urban development, offering valuable applications for other rapidly urbanising, data-constrained regions globally.

Studies positively correlate altruism and prosocial behaviour during routine times, yet unexpected environmental triggers (like a disaster) for prosocial and altruistic behaviour are underexplored. People who score highly on the self-reported altruism scale (SRA) are more likely to engage in volunteer activities such as donating blood. What about altruistic and prosocial behaviour during a disaster triggered by natural hazards? What are the characteristics of altruists? Respondents at three different universities were provided with an electronic link via email to complete the survey anonymously, making a total sample size of 182. The data are derived from responses to a longer survey entitled 'COVID-19 and Risk Perception'. The original purpose of that survey was to explore how perception of risk (to COVID-19) may or may not impact people's behaviour and included the SRA. Descriptive assessments of all variables were conducted, as well as crosstabs with analysis of variance comparing several means. Data from our study support our hypothesis that people with higher levels of altruism are more likely to engage in pandemic-related helping behaviour. Data also show that the majority of our sample engage in helping behaviour, though the most altruistic and more intrusive (greatest cost) acts were the least common.

Contribution: These are valuable findings for our collective understanding of the nuances of prosocial behaviour. Findings from this study also revealed that people scoring highly on the SRA reported barriers to practising prosocial behaviour. Better understanding these barriers may enable us to eliminate them.

Floods are a natural hazard that has a major impact on society because of deaths, injuries, property damage, and economic losses. In the context of exposure to flooding, there is a gap between communities or individuals in each region in responding to and dealing with its impacts because of differences in demographic characteristics, regional structure, availability of facilities, and existing disaster prevention and management efforts. In this study, we assessed social vulnerability to flooding in the Samin watershed using the social vulnerability index (SoVI). Social vulnerability index is a quantitative measure that is widely applied to evaluate social vulnerability. This study compiles the stages of indicator selection, data collection, statistical analysis and normalisation, determination of indicator weights and dimensions using principal component analysis, aggregation of indicators, construction of SoVI, and mapping of results. The results show that dimensions related to demographics and exposure are the causes of the majority of social vulnerability variability. Other important dimensions include the socio-economic dimension and growth ratio.

Contribution: Spatial data-based social vulnerability measurement can be used by the government as a basis for formulating flood disaster management policies in the Samin watershed area.

This study assessed the implementation of Republic Act 10121, the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, within public schools in Cabadbaran City. The research addressed the effectiveness of programme execution across four thematic areas: prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. The study also examined the administrative capacity of school leaders responsible for disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) functions. Using descriptive and correlational research designs, the study gathered data through survey analysis from 42 school administrators, including school heads and DRRM coordinators. Results indicated consistent implementation ratings across all thematic areas, with preparedness receiving the highest rating. School administrators demonstrated capacity in institutional planning, resource management, and community engagement. The analysis confirmed a strong positive relationship between programme implementation and administrative capacity, indicating that leadership competence supported effective disaster management. Gaps persisted in infrastructure resilience, financing, and sustained risk reduction.

Contribution: The study affirmed the need for policy integration and continued capacity development to reinforce school-based disaster risk governance.

Environmental health practitioners (EHPs) are expected to possess critical competencies in disaster risk reduction, emergency response and recovery, which should ideally be developed during undergraduate education. However, since the transition in 2016 from diploma to degree programmes in environmental health in South African higher institutions, there has been limited insight into the adequacy of disaster management training in these programmes. This study aimed to analyse the training content, course structures and competency frameworks currently employed to prepare EHPs in South Africa for roles in disaster management. An exploratory concurrent mixed-methods design examined the current structure and delivery of disaster management modules in environmental health programmes across South Africa. A semi-structured self-administered questionnaire was used to elicit information on the relevance of disaster management in environmental health, course delivery, competency approaches and work-integrated learning. Findings revealed systemic inconsistencies and critical gaps in curriculum implementation. These challenges included the lack of module duration, structure standardisation and the limited integration of work-integrated learning and digital learning methodologies. The study concludes that a standardised national curriculum is needed that is aligned with the South African Disaster Management Framework, the EHP professional scope of practice and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Contribution: The study recommends establishing a Disaster Management Academics Forum to improve curriculum consistency, encourage academic collaboration and promote ongoing quality enhancement. These measures are essential for maintaining uniform graduate skills, which will strengthen the professional capacity of EHPs as frontline workers in disaster risk reduction and further reinforce South Africa's long-term resilience.

Agriculture is one of the main pillars of the economy in Southern Africa. According to the World Bank, the poverty rate in South Africa at the national level is 55%. Therefore, commercial farming is essential for economic development and poverty alleviation. However, certain factors pose a threat to the long-term viability of commercial crop farming. The aim of this review was to evaluate risk factors threatening commercial agriculture in South Africa. Several anthropogenic and environmental factors, such as climate change, pesticide contamination, land degradation, pests and diseases, were identified as risk factors threatening the sustainability of commercial crop farming in South Africa. Political factors such as the energy crisis and land reform were also identified as areas of great concern. A shift to regenerative agriculture is needed to ensure the sustainability of commercial agriculture because it is presently unsustainable.

Contribution: Agriculture has a crucial role in South Africa's economy, and the threats identified in this study need to be prioritised to help preserve farmers' livelihoods and the overall economy by reducing financial risks, reducing unemployment and maintaining a consistent supply of agricultural exports.

Effective disaster management hinges on prompt, informed decisions, where social media has emerged as a real-time information source. However, current artificial intelligence (AI) systems for disaster response rely on universal taxonomies that assume information relevance is consistent across geographical and cultural contexts - an assumption that fails to account for regional variations in disaster types, response capabilities and local priorities. This study questions the 'one-size-fits-all' approach by developing context-specific social media indicator taxonomies through participatory engagement with 104 stakeholders across Ghana and Mauritius. We developed a taxonomy of 39 social media indicators across four categories: urgent needs, impact assessment, situational awareness and vulnerable populations. Our findings reveal significant regional variations in disaster information priorities that contradict assumptions underlying existing universal frameworks. While impact assessment indicators showed convergence between countries, other categories revealed that there are still important areas for future research on incorporating local stakeholder knowledge into AI system design. Our participatory methodology provides a replicable framework for developing adaptive, context-aware machine learning classifiers that can transform static universal categorisations into dynamic systems aligned with unique regional priorities and operational contexts.

Contribution: We suggest future research areas that span across developing transfer learning approaches that leverage pre-trained multilingual models while incorporating region-specific context, creating active learning frameworks with local validation loops, implementing feedback mechanisms and establishing fair human-in-the-loop annotation processes that maintain quality.