Progress in Disaster Science最新文献

The ever-increasing systemic risks posed by disasters and the impacts of climate change have emerged as formidable challenges that demand comprehensive assessment and understanding. This study endeavours to address this critical need by introducing the innovative Systemic Risk Capability Assessment (SRCA) methodology. Unlike traditional risk assessment approaches, SRCA is uniquely designed to not only assess systemic risk but also operationalize its management, making it particularly suited for safeguarding critical infrastructure, with a specific focus on seaports. The SRCA methodology, offers a quasi-quantitative framework that goes beyond conventional risk assessment, enabling a deeper understanding of the dynamics and interdependencies inherent to seaport ecosystems. In the pursuit of demonstrating the practicality and versatility of the SRCA methodology, this study applies the model to two hypothetical ports, accompanied by the utilization of synthetic data. By doing so, it elucidates the step-by-step analysis facilitated by SRCA, highlighting its potential for enhancing the resilience of seaports to systemic risks. The results underscore the limitations of traditional risk assessment methodologies when confronted with the complexity of systemic risks in seaports, thereby emphasizing the significance of the proposed SRCA methodology. In conclusion, this research contributes significantly to the field of systemic risk management, particularly within the critical infrastructure domain.

Communities residing in UNESCO-designated sites, characterised by outstanding universal values, face heightened vulnerability during disasters, necessitating innovative Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies. The critical role of well-equipped UNESCO site actors in DRR necessary for achieving the goals of broader international frameworks such as Agenda 2030 and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) warrants this needs assessment study. This study uses a descriptive survey design to assess the competency gaps of UNESCO site actors, including managers and staff, for effective utilisation of DRR innovations (DRRI). Employing the Borich Needs Assessment Model and Ranked Discrepancy Model, an online questionnaire garnered 141 responses from 59 countries. Descriptive statistics, significance tests (at p < .05), correlation tests, Mean Weighted Discrepancy Scores, and Ranked Discrepancy Scores yielded noteworthy findings. Despite recognising the importance of DRRI, respondents demonstrated competence lags, emphasizing the need for tailored training programs. Competency gaps were identified across all 14 listed DRRI, with top priorities including disaster prevention radio, telemetry systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, GIS, remote sensing, resilient materials, and disaster risk insurance. Enhancing competencies in DRRI presents a strategic approach to bolstering disaster preparedness, management, and risk reduction efforts, aligning with global conservation and sustainability goals.

The Sendai Framework highlights the need for an all-of-society effort to reduce the societal burden of flooding, with a focus on those being disproportionately affected. In this context, community-based organizations shall contribute to and support public awareness, a culture of prevention and education on disaster risk. Participatory theatre could be a promising means to that end, but quantitative evaluations are currently lacking. We provide a systematic literature review on participatory theatre in the context of natural hazards and disaster risk reduction. Moreover, we quantitatively evaluate to what extent community-based theatre implemented by the Women's Union in Central Vietnam could contribute to public awareness and foster societal engagement. 10 theatre performances in five coastal communes were evaluated using pre- and post-performance surveys among 635 visitors, mainly women. We find that community-based theatre enhanced risk perceptions, perceived flood knowledge, self-efficacy, and the importance of social participation. No significant effect was found on intentions to engage in (collective) risk reducing behavior. We conclude that participatory theatre is an effective risk-communication tool for community-based organizations, which should be embedded in broader activities addressing societal resilience against flooding. Future research should explore the sustainability of the observed increases and the long-term dynamics of behavioral changes.

Recovery after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami remains contested with often conflicting infrastructure rebuilding and social processes that have unfolded in reconstruction strategies. Previous research points to the need to understand the integration of social and infrastructure dimensions of recovery to inform better planning processes. While place-based approaches have long been central to understanding disasters, there is comparatively less knowledge about the processes of how sense of place is established, or lost, in recovery after being disrupted following a disaster. Using the case of Kesennuma in the prefecture of Miyagi, we examined how these socio-technical processes unfolded. We draw on case study methods, including interviews and focus groups with residents and leaders of jichikai – neighbourhood associations of relocated communities – to understand how infrastructure reconstruction impacted sense of place. We found that infrastructure was a foundation for people's connections that construct sense of place across three scales – the individual, community, and city. To rebuilt sense of place, physical infrastructure needed to consider people's routine, community ties, and city identity after a disaster and it was the role of infrastructure across these scales that determined how disrupted sense of place could be re-established or continue to be disrupted through reconstruction. This work ultimately contributes to understanding how infrastructure can enable recovery and reduce disaster risk by creating more vibrant places within communities.

This study aims to compare and analyze how perception of community resilience in Shanghai changed between two periods of city lockdown, one imposed from January to March 2020 and the other April to June 2022 and the key factors affecting such change. The Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit Assessment (CART) Survey was used in the study. Multiple linear regression analysis shows that: (1) In 2022, when the pandemic impact was more severe and lockdown measures stricter compared to 2020, the perceived level of community resilience was lower. (2) During the two periods of lockdown, community engagement had a consistent impact on the perception of community resilience. In 2022, formal support provided by local organizations and institutions and residents' participation in affiliated volunteer groups had a significantly positive influence on the perception of community resilience. (3) During the wave of infection in 2022, factors such as the convenience of government-provided emergency services and the adequacy of emergency supplies had a significant positive impact on the perception of community resilience. (4) Whether an individual was COVID-19 positive or a close contact had a significant negative impact on community resilience. An individual's income level had no significant impact on the perception of community resilience.

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced disproportionate gendered impacts. These impacts, which are most visible in urban informal settlements, are however, not well analysed in the scholarly literature. This paper examines the consequences of COVID-19 on gendered relations within urban informal workers' groups in Bangladesh, by focusing on how and why this coronavirus has led (or has not led) to urban social crises among informal working-class men and women. Using a systematic review of the literature, the paper demonstrates that the COVID-19 lockdowns have caused significant psychological distress including depression, fear, anxiety, and increased levels of loneliness, and that these impacts are disproportionately higher in women than in men. Moreover, COVID-19 has created severe economic crises for female-headed households living in these informal settlements, by creating sudden unemployment, and by rapidly diminishing the livelihood sources required to support these households. The psychological distresses together with sudden economic downturns have led to a deterioration in gendered relations, creating estrangement within informal workers' families. Furthermore, the existing COVID-19 plans and policies of Bangladesh do not take into account these disproportionate and gendered impacts in the informal settlements. This paper argues that in order to protect these informal settlements against future pandemics in Bangladesh, it is critical to develop plans and policies which include gender and psychological considerations.

The escalating impact of disasters underscores the urgency of building resilient communities. Interactions among community stakeholders play a pivotal role in fostering resilience but improving such interactions is often hindered by competing priorities and resource limitations. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a decision support tool aimed at prioritizing context-specific interventions that enhance stakeholder interactions in disaster management. The tool includes two phases: (1) impact-based prioritization, identifying the most significant factors influencing interactions by evaluating the relative importance of each factor based on their direct and indirect influence; and (2) feasibility-based prioritization, assessing the practicality of interventions designed to improve the significant factors identified in phase 1. We surveyed Spanish emergency experts to gather data on the interaction factors and their evaluations against the decision-making criteria. We applied the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to analyze data. The results indicate that initiatives focusing on enhancing the leadership skills of emergency managers emerge as the most feasible and impactful interventions in our case study, followed by initiatives for facilitating community participation in the decision-making process and disaster response activities. On the other hand, initiatives for improving emergency response functionality, and disaster risk management plans are less feasible to implement. Additionally, we evaluated the usability and practicality of the tool together with emergency experts from different sectors. The tool received an overall positive evaluation from the experts, highlighting the significance of human factors such as status quo bias and structuring human judgment in decision-support tools while acknowledging potential resistance from users in utilizing such tools due to lack of education and training. The tool empowers policymakers and practitioners to effectively build resilient communities by offering them a systematic approach to prioritize context-specific interventions that enhance community resilience.

Coastal aquifers are hydraulically connected to the sea and a storm (cyclone/hurricane) can disrupt the surface water-groundwater (SW-GW) interaction process which is largely unexplored. Thus, this study aims to explore the impact of storm surges (both positive and negative) on coastal aquifers, focusing on pollutant mobilization, groundwater level (GWL) fluctuations, and solute concentration (Salinity, Cl^-) and subsequent re-stabilization based on pre-existing studies from the coast of USA and India through a systematic review process. The outcome of this study revealed that there is a positive relationship between cyclonic speed, rainfall, storm surge height and GWL in lithologically conductive aquifers. Positive surge raises GWL, salinity and transportation of surface contaminants into groundwater while negative surge induces fall in salinity, and accelerates submarine groundwater discharge and exports contaminants/nutrients to sea. The restabilization of SW-GW interaction dynamics is case dependent, which takes a week to month to years, and is dependent on local hydrogeology and intensity of storm. So, the study recommends prioritizing to safeguard the coastal groundwater otherwise increasing storms will lead to questions on freshwater sustainability and coastal ecosystems in present climate change scenario.

Disaster risk in the 21st century differs from the experience of past generations and is defined by its evolving systemic nature. The increased role of technological networks, societal interdependencies and climate change dynamics make crises more complex and unpredictable. Cascading and compounding dynamics are becoming the new “business as usual”, challenging emergency management to maintain operations in face of complex disruptions while requiring the development of good practices and strategy for facilitate the recovery process. Our special issue aimed to support the development of a paradigm shift in the understanding of complex events, utilizing a network-based, cross-disciplinary approach to resilience. This editorial introduces and summarizes 18 papers across four thematic areas: 1) Resilience Challenges; 2) Area Studies and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction; 3) Community and Health; 4) Enhancing New Methodologies. The conclusions highlight open research challenges for future exploration.

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), are becoming more popular as a means of assisting with humanitarian operations. However, divisive concerns toward drone implementation exist. The present study aims to characterize drone adopters and non-adopters and explore significant determinants underlying drone acceptance for humanitarian operations in a developing country. A disaster-prone developing country of Indonesia was selected as a studied case. An empirical survey involving 439 rescuers from governmental disaster agencies, international and national non-governmental organizations was conducted in 2023. Independent t-test/chi-squared test and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression were used for characterization and determinant identification, respectively. The drone adopters and non-adopters are significantly different with respect to age, gender, education, regions, work experiences, knowledge, personal innovativeness, and perceptions of drone durability, institutional support/policy, regulation, standard. Gender, education, knowledge, awareness, personal innovativeness, technology maturity, drone durability, reliability in extreme weather, GPS signal, optimal drone routing, noise and visual pollution, and misuse risk, are significant determinants contributing to potential adoption. The findings imply that initiatives encouraging drone should be customized for the intended individuals and that not only drone technology but also the facilitation of efficient operation should be enabled to drive the further uptake of drones. Future research extending the study in various disaster-prone areas and exploring the interrelationships among driving forces on drone acceptance, drone adoption decision making involving various stakeholders, and other customized strategies targeting specific rescuers are hence suggested.