Afghanistan Multi-Risk Assessment to Natural Hazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diermanse, Ferdinand; Daniell, James; Pollino, Maurizio; Glover, James; Bouwer, Laurens; de Bel, Mark; Schaefer, Andreas; Puglisi, Claudio; Winsemius, Hessel; Burzel, Andreas; Ammann, Walter; Aliparast, Mojtaba; Jongman, Brenden; Ranghieri, Federica; Fallesen, Ditte

2017-04-01

The geographical location of Afghanistan and years of environmental degradation in the country make Afghanistan highly prone to intense and recurring natural hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, snow avalanches, landslides, and droughts. These occur in addition to man-made disasters resulting in the frequent loss of live, livelihoods, and property. Since 1980, disasters caused by natural hazards have affected 9 million people and caused over 20,000 fatalities in Afghanistan. The creation, understanding and accessibility of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and risk information is key for effective management of disaster risk. This is especially true in Afghanistan, where reconstruction after recent natural disasters and military conflicts is on-going and will continue over the coming years. So far, there has been limited disaster risk information produced in Afghanistan, and information that does exist typically lacks standard methodology and does not have uniform geo-spatial coverage. There are currently no available risk assessment studies that cover all major natural hazards in Afghanistan, which can be used to assess the costs and benefits of different resilient reconstruction and disaster risk reduction strategies. As a result, the Government of Afghanistan has limited information regarding current and future disaster risk and the effectiveness of policy options on which to base their reconstruction and risk reduction decisions. To better understand natural hazard and disaster risk, the World Bank and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) are supporting the development of new fluvial flood, flash flood, drought, landslide, avalanche and seismic risk information in Afghanistan, as well as a first-order analysis of the costs and benefits of resilient reconstruction and risk reduction strategies undertaken by the authors. The hazard component is the combination of probability and magnitude of natural hazards. Hazard analyses were carried out separately for each peril. Several models were implemented used to simulate the relevant processes involved. These models were fed by global and local climate data and geological data like elevation, slope, land use, soil characteristics etc. Exposure is a measure of the assets and population at risk. An extensive data collection and processing effort was carried out to derive nation-wide exposure data. Vulnerability is a measure of potential exposure losses if a hazardous event occurs. Vulnerability analyses were carried out separately for each peril, because of differences in impact characteristics. Damage functions were derived from asset characteristics and/or experiences from (international) literature. The main project output consists of tables and (GIS-) maps of hazard, exposure and risk. Tables present results at the nation-wide level (admin0), province level (admin1) and district level (admin2). Hazard maps are provided for various return periods, including 10, 20, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 years. All maps are stored in a Web-based GIS-platform. This platform contains four separate directories with [1] generic data (catchment boundaries, rivers etc), [2] hazard maps, [3] exposure maps and [4] risk maps for each of the considered perils.

An Attempt to Develop AN Environmental Information System of Ecological Infrastructure for Evaluating Functions of Ecosystem-Based Solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction Eco-Drr

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doko, T.; Chen, W.; Sasaki, K.; Furutani, T.

2016-06-01

"Ecological Infrastructure (EI)" are defined as naturally functioning ecosystems that deliver valuable services to people, such as healthy mountain catchments, rivers, wetlands, coastal dunes, and nodes and corridors of natural habitat, which together form a network of interconnected structural elements in the landscape. On the other hand, natural disaster occur at the locations where habitat was reduced due to the changes of land use, in which the land was converted to the settlements and agricultural cropland. Hence, habitat loss and natural disaster are linked closely. Ecological infrastructure is the nature-based equivalent of built or hard infrastructure, and is as important for providing services and underpinning socio-economic development. Hence, ecological infrastructure is expected to contribute to functioning as ecological disaster reduction, which is termed Ecosystem-based Solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR). Although ecological infrastructure already exists in the landscape, it might be degraded, needs to be maintained and managed, and in some cases restored. Maintenance and restoration of ecological infrastructure is important for security of human lives. Therefore, analytical tool and effective visualization tool in spatially explicit way for the past natural disaster and future prediction of natural disaster in relation to ecological infrastructure is considered helpful. Hence, Web-GIS based Ecological Infrastructure Environmental Information System (EI-EIS) has been developed. This paper aims to describe the procedure of development and future application of EI-EIS. The purpose of the EI-EIS is to evaluate functions of Eco-DRR. In order to analyse disaster data, collection of past disaster information, and disaster-prone area is effective. First, a number of digital maps and analogue maps in Japan and Europe were collected. In total, 18,572 maps over 100 years were collected. The Japanese data includes Future-Pop Data Series (1,736 maps), JMC dataset 50m grid (elevation) (13,071 maps), Old Edition Maps: Topographic Map (325 maps), Digital Base Map at a scale of 2500 for reconstruction planning (808 maps), Detailed Digital Land Use Information for Metropolitan Area (10 m land use) (2,436 maps), and Digital Information by GSI (national large scale map) (71 maps). Old Edition Maps: Topographic Map were analogue maps, and were scanned and georeferenced. These geographical area covered 1) Tohoku area, 2) Five Lakes of Mikata area (Fukui), 3) Ooshima Island (Tokyo), 4) Hiroshima area (Hiroshima), 5) Okushiri Island (Hokkaido), and 6) Toyooka City area (Hyogo). The European data includes topographic map in Germany (8 maps), old topographic map in Germany (31 maps), ancient map in Germany (23 maps), topographic map in Austria (9 maps), old topographic map in Austria (17 maps), and ancient map in Austria (37 maps). Second, focusing on Five Lakes of Mikata area as an example, these maps were integrated into the ArcGIS Online® (ESRI). These data can be overlaid, and time-series data can be visualized by a time slider function of ArcGIS Online.

Application of GIS Rapid Mapping Technology in Disaster Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Z.; Tu, J.; Liu, G.; Zhao, Q.

2018-04-01

With the rapid development of GIS and RS technology, especially in recent years, GIS technology and its software functions have been increasingly mature and enhanced. And with the rapid development of mathematical statistical tools for spatial modeling and simulation, has promoted the widespread application and popularization of quantization in the field of geology. Based on the investigation of field disaster and the construction of spatial database, this paper uses remote sensing image, DEM and GIS technology to obtain the data information of disaster vulnerability analysis, and makes use of the information model to carry out disaster risk assessment mapping.Using ArcGIS software and its spatial data modeling method, the basic data information of the disaster risk mapping process was acquired and processed, and the spatial data simulation tool was used to map the disaster rapidly.

Map and database of Quaternary faults and folds in Colombia and its offshore regions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Paris, Gabriel; Machette, Michael N.; Dart, Richard L.; Haller, Kathleen M.

2000-01-01

As part of the International Lithosphere Program’s “World Map of Major Active Faults,” the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is assisting in the compilation of a series of digital maps of Quaternary faults and folds in Western Hemisphere countries. The maps show the locations, ages, and activity rates of major earthquake-related features such as faults and fault-related folds. They are accompanied by databases that describe these features and document current information on their activity in the Quaternary. Top date, the project has published fault and fold maps for Costa Rica (Montero and others, 1998), Panama (Cowan and others, 1998), Venezuela (Audemard and others, 2000), Bolovia/Chile (Lavenu, and others, 2000), and Argentina (Costa and others, 2000). The project is a key part of the Global Seismic Hazards Assessment Program (ILP Project II-0) for the International Decade for Natural Hazard Disaster Reduction.

Global trends in satellite-based emergency mapping

USGS Publications Warehouse

Voigt, Stefan; Giulio-Tonolo, Fabio; Lyons, Josh; Kučera, Jan; Jones, Brenda; Schneiderhan, Tobias; Platzeck, Gabriel; Kaku, Kazuya; Hazarika, Manzul Kumar; Czaran, Lorant; Li, Suju; Pedersen, Wendi; James, Godstime Kadiri; Proy, Catherine; Muthike, Denis Macharia; Bequignon, Jerome; Guha-Sapir, Debarati

2016-01-01

Over the past 15 years, scientists and disaster responders have increasingly used satellite-based Earth observations for global rapid assessment of disaster situations. We review global trends in satellite rapid response and emergency mapping from 2000 to 2014, analyzing more than 1000 incidents in which satellite monitoring was used for assessing major disaster situations. We provide a synthesis of spatial patterns and temporal trends in global satellite emergency mapping efforts and show that satellite-based emergency mapping is most intensively deployed in Asia and Europe and follows well the geographic, physical, and temporal distributions of global natural disasters. We present an outlook on the future use of Earth observation technology for disaster response and mitigation by putting past and current developments into context and perspective.

Emergency Response Damage Assessment using Satellite Remote Sensing Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clandillon, Stephen; Yésou, Hervé; Schneiderhan, Tobias; de Boissezon, Hélène; de Fraipont, Paul

2013-04-01

During disasters rescue and relief organisations need quick access to reliable and accurate information to be better equipped to do their job. It is increasingly felt that satellites offer a unique near real time (NRT) tool to aid disaster management. A short introduction to the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters', in operation since 2000 promoting worldwide cooperation among member space agencies, will be given as it is the foundation on which satellite-based, emergency response, damage assessment has been built. Other complementary mechanisms will also be discussed. The user access, triggering mechanism, an essential component for this user-driven service, will be highlighted with its 24/7 single access point. Then, a clear distinction will be made between data provision and geo-information delivery mechanisms to underline the user need for geo-information that is easily integrated into their working environments. Briefly, the path to assured emergency response product quality will be presented beginning with user requirements, expressed early-on, for emergency response value-adding services. Initiatives were then established, supported by national and European institutions, to develop the sector, with SERTIT and DLR being key players, providing support to decision makers in headquarters and relief teams in the field. To consistently meet the high quality levels demanded by users, rapid mapping has been transformed via workflow and quality control standardisation to improve both speed and quality. As such, SERTIT located in Alsace, France, and DLR/ZKI from Bavaria, Germany, join their knowledge in this presentation to report about recent standards as both have ISO certified their rapid mapping services based on experienced, well-trained, 24/7 on-call teams and established systems providing the first crisis analysis product in 6 hours after satellite data reception. The three main product types provided are then outlined: up-to-date pre-event reference maps, disaster extent maps and damage assessment or intensity/grading maps. With Google and open-sourced information the need for the reference maps has diminished, but not altogether, as damage extent and assessment products also require coherent reference geo-information which often has to be produced internally. Increasingly users need up-to-date, highly detailed, customised products; it is in damage assessment that an operator's working environment, geomatic skills and experience can often provide the highest levels of value-adding while adapting to user requests. Accordingly, DLR and SERTIT are involved in R&D work integrating data, e.g. TerraSAR-X and Pléiades sources plus Sentinel simulated data, which have interesting emergency mapping capacities. Their close interaction with the research sector is essential to be at the cutting-edge of the field, implementing effective and efficient analysis methods. Future R&D challenges to further improve the quality of the damage mapping service will be highlighted. Finally, this presentation will show some practical examples and thus how at present, space-based rapid mapping, which has more than 10 years of experience, has come to being able to provide, if rapidly programmed and acquired, geo-information linked to disaster extent and damage assessment from overview scales down to the street level and this with an ever increasing array of satellite data sources.

Global trends in satellite-based emergency mapping.

PubMed

Voigt, Stefan; Giulio-Tonolo, Fabio; Lyons, Josh; Kučera, Jan; Jones, Brenda; Schneiderhan, Tobias; Platzeck, Gabriel; Kaku, Kazuya; Hazarika, Manzul Kumar; Czaran, Lorant; Li, Suju; Pedersen, Wendi; James, Godstime Kadiri; Proy, Catherine; Muthike, Denis Macharia; Bequignon, Jerome; Guha-Sapir, Debarati

2016-07-15

Over the past 15 years, scientists and disaster responders have increasingly used satellite-based Earth observations for global rapid assessment of disaster situations. We review global trends in satellite rapid response and emergency mapping from 2000 to 2014, analyzing more than 1000 incidents in which satellite monitoring was used for assessing major disaster situations. We provide a synthesis of spatial patterns and temporal trends in global satellite emergency mapping efforts and show that satellite-based emergency mapping is most intensively deployed in Asia and Europe and follows well the geographic, physical, and temporal distributions of global natural disasters. We present an outlook on the future use of Earth observation technology for disaster response and mitigation by putting past and current developments into context and perspective. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Recent innovation of geospatial information technology to support disaster risk management and responses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Une, Hiroshi; Nakano, Takayuki

2018-05-01

Geographic location is one of the most fundamental and indispensable information elements in the field of disaster response and prevention. For example, in the case of the Tohoku Earthquake in 2011, aerial photos taken immediately after the earthquake greatly improved information sharing among different government offices and facilitated rescue and recovery operations, and maps prepared after the disaster assisted in the rapid reconstruction of affected local communities. Thanks to the recent development of geospatial information technology, this information has become more essential for disaster response activities. Advancements in web mapping technology allows us to better understand the situation by overlaying various location-specific data on base maps on the web and specifying the areas on which activities should be focused. Through 3-D modelling technology, we can have a more realistic understanding of the relationship between disaster and topography. Geospatial information technology can sup-port proper preparation and emergency responses against disasters by individuals and local communities through hazard mapping and other information services using mobile devices. Thus, geospatial information technology is playing a more vital role on all stages of disaster risk management and responses. In acknowledging geospatial information's vital role in disaster risk reduction, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, repeatedly reveals the importance of utilizing geospatial information technology for disaster risk reduction. This presentation aims to report the recent practical applications of geospatial information technology for disaster risk management and responses.

International Space Station Data Collection for Disaster Response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stefanov, William L.; Evans, Cynthia A.

2015-01-01

Remotely sensed data acquired by orbital sensor systems has emerged as a vital tool to identify the extent of damage resulting from a natural disaster, as well as providing near-real time mapping support to response efforts on the ground and humanitarian aid efforts. The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique terrestrial remote sensing platform for acquiring disaster response imagery. Unlike automated remote-sensing platforms it has a human crew; is equipped with both internal and externally-mounted remote sensing instruments; and has an inclined, low-Earth orbit that provides variable views and lighting (day and night) over 95 percent of the inhabited surface of the Earth. As such, it provides a useful complement to autonomous sensor systems in higher altitude polar orbits. NASA remote sensing assets on the station began collecting International Disaster Charter (IDC) response data in May 2012. The initial NASA ISS sensor systems responding to IDC activations included the ISS Agricultural Camera (ISSAC), mounted in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF); the Crew Earth Observations (CEO) Facility, where the crew collects imagery using off-the-shelf handheld digital cameras; and the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO), a visible to near-infrared system mounted externally on the Japan Experiment Module Exposed Facility. The ISSAC completed its primary mission in January 2013. It was replaced by the very high resolution ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV) Pathfinder, a visible-wavelength digital camera, telescope, and pointing system. Since the start of IDC response in 2012 there have been 108 IDC activations; NASA sensor systems have collected data for thirty-two of these events. Of the successful data collections, eight involved two or more ISS sensor systems responding to the same event. Data has also been collected by International Partners in response to natural disasters, most notably JAXA and Roscosmos/Energia through the Urugan program.

Mapping for the masses: using free remote sensing data for disaster management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teeuw, R.; McWilliam, N.; Morris, N.; Saunders, C.

2009-04-01

We examine the uses of free satellite imagery and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) for disaster management, targeting three data sources: the United Nations Charter on Space and Disasters, Google Earth and internet-based satellite data archives, such as the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF). The research has assessed SRTM and ASTER DEM data, Landsat TM/ETM+ and ASTER imagery, as well as utilising datasets and basic GIS operations available via Google Earth. As an aid to Disaster Risk Reduction, four sets of maps can be produced from satellite data: (i) Multiple Geohazards: areas prone to slope instability, coastal inundation and fluvial flooding; (ii) Vulnerability: population density, habitation types, land cover types and infrastructure; (iii) Disaster Risk: produced by combining severity scores from (i) and (ii); (iv) Reconstruction: zones of rock/sediment with construction uses; areas of woodland (for fuel/construction) water sources; transport routes; zones suitable for re-settlement. This set of Disaster Risk Reduction maps are ideal for regional (1:50,000 to 1:250,000 scale) planning for in low-income countries: more detailed assessments require relatively expensive high resolution satellite imagery or aerial photography, although Google Earth has a good track record for posting high-res imagery of disaster zones (e.g. the 2008 Burma storm surge). The Disaster Risk maps highlight areas of maximum risk to a region's emergency planners and decision makers, enabling various types of public education and other disaster mitigation measures. The Reconstruction map also helps to save lives, by facilitating disaster recovery. Many problems have been identified. Access to the UN Charter imagery is fine after a disaster, but very difficult if assessing pre-disaster indicators: the data supplied also tends to be pre-processed, when some relief agencies would prefer to have raw data. The limited and expensive internet access in many developing countries limits access to archives of free satellite data, such as the GLCF. Finally, data integration, spatial/temporal analysis and map production are all hindered by the high price of most GIS software, making the development of suitable open-source software a priority.

Participatory three dimensional mapping for the preparation of landslide disaster risk reduction program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusratmoko, Eko; Wibowo, Adi; Cholid, Sofyan; Pin, Tjiong Giok

2017-07-01

This paper presents the results of applications of participatory three dimensional mapping (P3DM) method for fqcilitating the people of Cibanteng' village to compile a landslide disaster risk reduction program. Physical factors, as high rainfall, topography, geology and land use, and coupled with the condition of demographic and social-economic factors, make up the Cibanteng region highly susceptible to landslides. During the years 2013-2014 has happened 2 times landslides which caused economic losses, as a result of damage to homes and farmland. Participatory mapping is one part of the activities of community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR)), because of the involvement of local communities is a prerequisite for sustainable disaster risk reduction. In this activity, participatory mapping method are done in two ways, namely participatory two-dimensional mapping (P2DM) with a focus on mapping of disaster areas and participatory three-dimensional mapping (P3DM) with a focus on the entire territory of the village. Based on the results P3DM, the ability of the communities in understanding the village environment spatially well-tested and honed, so as to facilitate the preparation of the CBDRR programs. Furthermore, the P3DM method can be applied to another disaster areas, due to it becomes a medium of effective dialogue between all levels of involved communities.

Delineating risk zones and evaluation of shelter centres for flood disaster management along the Pahang River Basin, Malaysia

PubMed Central

Isahak, Anizan; Siwar, Chamhuri; Ismail, Shaharuddin M.; Hanafi, Zulkifli; Zainuddin, Mohd S.

2018-01-01

Shelter centres are important locations to safeguard people from helpless situations and are an integral part of disaster risk reduction (DRR), particularly for flood DRR. The establishment of shelter centres, and their design based on scientific assessment, is crucial. Yet, they are very much related to the geographic location, socio-economic conditions and the livelihoods of the affected communities. However, many parts of the developing world are still lagging behind in ensuring such scientific design. Considering the flood disaster in 2014 that affected the residents living along the Pahang River Basin, in this study we delineate the communities at risk and evaluate the existing shelter centres to determine how they reduce people’s vulnerability to the risks associated with rural and urban landscapes. We used spatial analysis tools to delineate risk zones and to evaluate existing evacuation systems. A flood disaster risk map was produced to determine which communities are living with risks. Subsequently, the distribution of shelter centres examined whether they are able to support people living at the flood risk zones. These centres were also evaluated using a set of international guidelines for effective disaster shelters. This reveals that the number of shelter centres is not adequate. The designation and designing of shelter centres are not being done scientifically. The maps produced here have a lot of potential to support disaster management decisions, in particular site selection and the prioritisation of centres. The study concludes with a set of guidelines and recommendations for structural and non-structural measures, such as alternative livelihoods and the potential of ecotourism, which may improve the resilience among flood-affected communities; and the decision-making process for the overall flood DRR initiatives.

Map and database of Quaternary faults in Venezuela and its offshore regions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Audemard, F.A.; Machette, M.N.; Cox, J.W.; Dart, R.L.; Haller, K.M.

2000-01-01

As part of the International Lithosphere Program’s “World Map of Major Active Faults,” the U.S. Geological Survey is assisting in the compilation of a series of digital maps of Quaternary faults and folds in Western Hemisphere countries. The maps show the locations, ages, and activity rates of major earthquake-related features such as faults and fault-related folds. They are accompanied by databases that describe these features and document current information on their activity in the Quaternary. The project is a key part of the Global Seismic Hazards Assessment Program (ILP Project II-0) for the International Decade for Natural Hazard Disaster Reduction.The project is sponsored by the International Lithosphere Program and funded by the USGS’s National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. The primary elements of the project are general supervision and interpretation of geologic/tectonic information, data compilation and entry for fault catalog, database design and management, and digitization and manipulation of data in †ARCINFO. For the compilation of data, we engaged experts in Quaternary faulting, neotectonics, paleoseismology, and seismology.

Participatory and Collaborative Digital Mapping to Enhance Disaster Resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Wei; Dugar, Sumit; McCallum, Ian; Brown, Sarah; See, Linda; Mechler, Reinhard

2017-04-01

Critical knowledge gaps seriously hinder disaster risk reduction and resilience building efforts, especially in disaster prone least developing countries. The information scarcity is highest at local levels, in terms of the spatial information of risk, resources and capacities of communities. We propose a general procedure that combines community-based participatory mapping processes, which has been widely used by in various government and non-government organization projects in the fields of natural resources management, disaster risk reduction and rural development, and the emerging collaborative digital mapping techniques to tackle this challenge. We demonstrate the value and potential of this general participatory and collaborative digital mapping by conducting a pilot study in the flood prone lower Karnali River basin in Western Nepal. We engaged a range of stakeholders to generate geographic information on resources, capacities and flood risks of pilot communities according to local needs. The new digital community maps are richer in contents, more accurate, and easier to update and share than those produced using conventional Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments (VCAs), a variant of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) that is widely used by in various government and non-government organizations. This approach, as an inclusive form of risk knowledge co-generation, can play a critical role in improving evidence-based understanding of disaster risk and enhance disaster resilience worldwide.

Susceptibility Evaluation and Mapping of CHINA'S Landslide Disaster Based on Multi-Temporal Ground and Remote Sensing Satellite Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, C.; Li, W.; Lu, P.; Sang, K.; Hong, Y.; Li, R.

2012-07-01

Under the circumstances of global climate change, nowadays landslide occurs in China more frequently than ever before. The landslide hazard and risk assessment remains an international focus on disaster prevention and mitigation. It is also an important approach for compiling and quantitatively characterizing landslide damages. By integrating empirical models for landslide disasters, and through multi-temporal ground data and remote sensing data, this paper will perform a landslide susceptibility assessment throughout China. A landslide susceptibility (LS) map will then be produced, which can be used for disaster evaluation, and provide basis for analyzing China's major landslide-affected regions. Firstly, based on previous research of landslide susceptibility assessment, this paper collects and analyzes the historical landslide event data (location, quantity and distribution) of past sixty years in China as a reference for late-stage studies. Secondly, this paper will make use of regional GIS data of the whole country provided by the National Geomatics Centre and China Meteorological Administration, including regional precipitation data, and satellite remote sensing data such as from TRMM and MODIS. By referring to historical landslide data of past sixty years, it is possible to develop models for assessing LS, including producing empirical models for prediction, and discovering both static and dynamic key factors, such as topography and landforms (elevation, curvature and slope), geologic conditions (lithology of the strata), soil type, vegetation cover, hydrological conditions (flow distribution). In addition, by analyzing historical data and combining empirical models, it is possible to synthesize a regional statistical model and perform a LS assessment. Finally, based on the 1km×1km grid, the LS map is then produced by ANN learning and multiplying the weighted factor layers. The validation is performed with reference to the frequency and distribution of historical data. This research reveals the spatiotemporal distribution of landslide disasters in China. The study develops a complete algorithm of data collecting, processing, modelling and synthesizing, which fulfils the assessment of landslide susceptibility, and provides theoretical basis for prediction and forecast of landslide disasters throughout China.

Post-Disaster Damage Assessment using Remotely Sensed Data for Post Disaster Needs Assessments: Pakistan and Nigeria case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saito, Keiko; Lemoine, Guido; Dell'Oro, Luca; Pedersen, Wendi; Nunez-Gomez, Ariel; Dalmasso, Simone; Balbo, Simone; Louvrier, Christophe; Caravaggi, Ivano; de Groeve, Tom; Slayback, Dan; Policelli, Frederick; Brakenridge, Bob; Rashid, Kashif; Gad, Sawsan; Arshad, Raja; Wielinga, Doekle; Parvez, Ayaz; Khan, Haris

2013-04-01

Since the launch of high-resolution optical satellites in 1999, remote sensing has increasingly been used in the context of post-disaster damage assessments worldwide. In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, particularly when extensive geographical areas are affected, it is often difficult to determine the extent and magnitude of disaster impacts. The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) has been leading efforts to utilise remote sensing techniques during disasters, starting with the 2010 Haiti earthquake. However, remote sensing has mostly been applied to extensive flood events in the context of developing Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNAs). Given that worldwide, floods were the most frequent type of natural disasters between 2000 and 2011, affecting 106 million people in 2011 alone (EM-DAT) , there is clearly significant potential for on-going use of remote sensing techniques. Two case studies will be introduced here, the 2010 Pakistan flood and the 2012 Nigeria flood. The typical approach is to map the maximum cumulative inundation extent, then overlay this hazard information with available exposure datasets. The PDNA methodology itself is applied to a maximum of 15 sectors, of which remote sensing is most useful for housing, agriculture, transportation. Environment and irrigation could be included but these sectors were not covered in these events. The maximum cumulative flood extent is determined using remotely sensed data led by in-country agencies together with international organizations. To enhance this process, GFDRR hosted a SPRINT event in 2012 to tailor daily flood maps derived from MODIS imagery by NASA Goddard's Office of Applied Sciences to this purpose. To estimate the (direct) damage, exposure data for each sector is required. Initially global datasets are used, but these may be supplemented by national level datasets to revise damage estimates, depending on availability. Remote sensed estimates of direct damage are used to confirm field estimates of the magnitude of the damage; thus, the speed of assessment can be balanced not having to achieve high accuracy results. In the future, to increase the speed of remote sensed damage assessments, there is a need for existing exposure information - which can also be used for risk prediction as well as disaster response. However, advances in this area vary significantly by country and sector and therefore efforts to move this agenda forward will significantly improve disaster reduction and recovery.

Flood Disaster Analysis Using Landsat-8 and SPOT-6 Imagery for Determination of Flooded Areas in Sampang, Madura

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukojo, B. M.; Alfiansyah, F.

2017-12-01

Based on data of disaster which is defaced by Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) of Sampang that in the period of 2015 - 2017 as many as 25 cases from 31 cases of disaster caused by flood disaster or 80.65% from total disaster. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to create a map of flood vulnerability in Sampang. From the vulnerability map, we can know the area with the impacted flood level in Sampang so that from the map of flood affected areas can be known the extent of the affected area in each class. In this study, two Landsat-8 and SPOT 6 data were used. For Landsat-8 imagery used for land cover on district level disaster level vulnerability maps, while high-resolution SPOT-6 images were used for land cover making maps of flood affected areas Sampang district. With the flood affected areas in this study, it is expected to be used as a determinant of flood affected areas in Sampang district. Based on data processing and analysis it is found that the highest impacted area is located in Sampang district with 12 cases of 17 cases of total flood disaster in Sampang district based on data from BPBD Kabupaten Sampang in 2016. There are 4 classes of flood affected areas in Sampang district i.e. not affected by 9039,540 ha, low impact 46262.881 ha, medium impact 43012.431 ha and high impact of 14009,760 ha.

Community Unemployment and Disaster-Related Stressors Shape Risk for Posttraumatic Stress in the Longer-Term Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

PubMed

Lowe, Sarah R; Sampson, Laura; Gruebner, Oliver; Galea, Sandro

2016-10-01

Persons living in communities with limited resources are at heightened risk of posttraumatic stress (PTS) after disasters, especially if they were highly exposed. The support deterrence desistence model and the conservation of resources theory suggest that this risk might increase in the longer-term aftermath of disasters. In the present study, we aimed to test this hypothesis. Two population-based samples of New York City residents in communities affected by Hurricane Sandy were surveyed at either 13-16 months (Time 1; n = 421) or 25-28 months (Time 2; n = 420) postdisaster. Participants reported on their exposure to disaster-related stressors and PTS. The percentage of residents who were unemployed in participants' census tracts was collected from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey. Multilevel models found that disaster-related stressors were more strongly associated with PTS for participants living in communities with high unemployment, but only at Time 2 (Est. = .58, SE = .21, p = .006). Mapping of community unemployment and disaster-related stressors suggested that communities in southern Brooklyn and Queens, and northeastern Staten Island were at particularly high risk for PTS at Time 2. The results suggest the need for ongoing support to economically disadvantaged communities in which residents have endured disaster-related stressors. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

Bridging international relations and disaster studies: the case of disaster-conflict scholarship.

PubMed

Hollis, Simon

2018-01-01

International relations and disaster studies have much to gain by thinking critically about their respective theoretical and epistemological assumptions. Yet, few studies to date have sought to assess the potential value of linking these two disciplines. This paper begins to address this shortfall by examining the relationship between disasters and conflict as a research sphere that intersects international relations and disaster studies. Through an analysis of whether or not disasters contribute to intra-national and international conflict, this paper not only provides a review of the state of the art, but also serves to invite scholars to reflect on related concepts from other fields to strengthen their own approaches to the study of disasters in an international setting. An evaluation of the conceptual and theoretical contributions of each subject area provides useful heuristics for the development of disaster-conflict scholarship and encourages alternative modes of knowledge production through interdisciplinarity. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

SERVIR-Africa: Developing an Integrated Platform for Floods Disaster Management in Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macharia, Daniel; Korme, Tesfaye; Policelli, Fritz; Irwin, Dan; Adler, Bob; Hong, Yang

2010-01-01

SERVIR-Africa is an ambitious regional visualization and monitoring system that integrates remotely sensed data with predictive models and field-based data to monitor ecological processes and respond to natural disasters. It aims addressing societal benefits including floods and turning data into actionable information for decision-makers. Floods are exogenous disasters that affect many parts of Africa, probably second only to drought in terms of social-economic losses. This paper looks at SERVIR-Africa's approach to floods disaster management through establishment of an integrated platform, floods prediction models, post-event flood mapping and monitoring as well as flood maps dissemination in support of flood disaster management.

The Role of Citizen Science in Risk Mitigation and Disaster Response: A Case Study of 2015 Nepalese Earthquake Using OpenStreetMap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rieger, C.; Byrne, J. M.

2015-12-01

Citizen science includes networks of ordinary people acting as sensors, observing and recording information for science. OpenStreetMap is one such sensor network which empowers citizens to collaboratively produce a global picture from free geographic information. The success of this open source software is extended by the development of freely used open databases for the user community. Participating citizens do not require a high level of skill. Final results are processed by professionals following quality assurance protocols before map information is released. OpenStreetMap is not only the cheapest source of timely maps in many cases but also often the only source. This is particularly true in developing countries. Emergency responses to the recent earthquake in Nepal illustrates the value for rapidly updated geographical information. This includes emergency management, damage assessment, post-disaster response, and future risk mitigation. Local disaster conditions (landslides, road closings, bridge failures, etc.) were documented for local aid workers by citizen scientists working remotely. Satellites and drones provide digital imagery of the disaster zone and OpenStreetMap participants shared the data from locations around the globe. For the Nepal earthquake, OpenStreetMap provided a team of volunteers on the ground through their Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) which contribute data to the disaster response through smartphones and laptops. This, combined with global citizen science efforts, provided immediate geographically useful maps to assist aid workers, including the Red Cross and Canadian DART Team, and the Nepalese government. As of August 2014, almost 1.7 million users provided over 2.5 billion edits to the OpenStreetMap map database. Due to the increased usage of smartphones, GPS-enabled devices, and the growing participation in citizen science projects, data gathering is proving an effective way to contribute as a global citizen. This paper aims to describe the significance of citizen participation in the case of the Nepal earthquake using OpenStreetMap to respond to disasters as well as its role in future risk mitigation.

The preparedness of hospital Health Information Services for system failures due to internal disasters.

PubMed

Lee, Cheens; Robinson, Kerin M; Wendt, Kate; Williamson, Dianne

The unimpeded functioning of hospital Health Information Services (HIS) is essential for patient care, clinical governance, organisational performance measurement, funding and research. In an investigation of hospital Health Information Services' preparedness for internal disasters, all hospitals in the state of Victoria with the following characteristics were surveyed: they have a Health Information Service/ Department; there is a Manager of the Health Information Service/Department; and their inpatient capacity is greater than 80 beds. Fifty percent of the respondents have experienced an internal disaster within the past decade, the majority affecting the Health Information Service. The most commonly occurring internal disasters were computer system failure and floods. Two-thirds of the hospitals have internal disaster plans; the most frequently occurring scenarios provided for are computer system failure, power failure and fire. More large hospitals have established back-up systems than medium- and small-size hospitals. Fifty-three percent of hospitals have a recovery plan for internal disasters. Hospitals typically self-rate as having a 'medium' level of internal disaster preparedness. Overall, large hospitals are better prepared for internal disasters than medium and small hospitals, and preparation for disruption of computer systems and medical record services is relatively high on their agendas.

What Kinds of Skills Are Necessary for Physicians Involved in International Disaster Response?

PubMed

Noguchi, Norihito; Inoue, Satoshi; Shimanoe, Chisato; Shibayama, Kaoru; Matsunaga, Hitomi; Tanaka, Sae; Ishibashi, Akina; Shinchi, Koichi

2016-08-01

Introduction Physicians are key disaster responders in foreign medical teams (FMTs) that provide medical relief to affected people. However, few studies have examined the skills required for physicians in real, international, disaster-response situations. Problem The objectives of this study were to survey the primary skills required for physicians from a Japanese FMT and to examine whether there were differences in the frequencies of performed skills according to demographic characteristics, previous experience, and dispatch situations to guide future training and certification programs. This cross-sectional survey used a self-administered questionnaire given to 64 physicians with international disaster-response site experience. The questionnaire assessed demographic characteristics (sex, age, years of experience as a physician, affiliation, and specialty), previous experience (domestic disaster-relief experience, international disaster-relief experience, or disaster medicine training experience), and dispatch situation (length of dispatch, post-disaster phase, disaster type, and place of dispatch). In addition, the frequencies of 42 performed skills were assessed via a five-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the participants' characteristics and total scores as the frequencies of performed skills. Mean scores for surgical skills, health care-related skills, public health skills, and management and coordination skills were compared according to the demographic characteristics, previous experience, and dispatch situations. Fifty-two valid questionnaires (81.3% response rate) were collected. There was a trend toward higher skill scores among those who had more previous international disaster-relief experience (P=.03). The more disaster medicine training experience the participants had, the higher their skill score was (P<.001). Physicians reported involvement in 23 disaster-relief response skills, nine of which were performed frequently. There was a trend toward higher scores for surgical skills, health care-related skills, and management and coordination skills related to more disaster medicine training experience. This study's findings can be used as evidence to boost the frequency of physicians' performed skills by promoting previous experience with international disaster relief and disaster medicine training. Additionally, these results may contribute to enhancing the quality of medical practice in the international disaster relief and disaster training curricula. Noguchi N , Inoue S , Shimanoe C , Shibayama K , Matsunaga H , Tanaka S , Ishibashi A , Shinchi K . What kinds of skills are necessary for physicians involved in international disaster response? Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(4):397-406.

Health impacts of an environmental disaster: a polemic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorling, Danny; Barford, Anna; Wheeler, Ben

2007-10-01

At this early point in the 21st century a major concern that we face is the future possible effects of people-induced global warming. The predicted effects are severe, but argued by some to be avoidable if we act now. Here we consider the dimensions of another disaster: one for which not only the causes, but also their horrific consequences, are current worldwide. The implicit question is 'why are we more worried about future disasters than those already occurring?' The worldmapper collection of cartograms (where a map is used like a pie-chart to present data) is used here to illustrate the extent of international inequalities in health and living conditions, discussed in relation to other aspects of human lives. Though the shape that we can see the world is in is shocking, we can also envisage a positive future. We compare these current global times to more local past times experienced during the ravaging inequalities of Victorian Britain. We use Britain simply as an example. We end by suggesting a further step the current British Prime Minister could make in his thinking. Doing this we can see the potential for environmental reconstruction, which would result (as it did before) in considerable reductions in infant mortality. Our common future is not already mapped out; it is still to be won.

A trial map and GIS class on junior high school with university collaboration in Yokohama, Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tabe, Toshimitsu; Ohnishi, Koji

2018-05-01

On the new curriculum of high school in Japan, geography will be compulsory subject in Japan from 2022. The indexes of new high school geography as compulsory subject will be 1. Using of maps and GIS, 2. Understanding of the world and International collaboration: Life and culture, issues of world, 3. Disaster prevention and ESD: natural environment and disaster, and construction of ideal society. The instruction of the GIS will be one of the issues for social studies teachers in the new curriculum. The aim of this study is to make the utilize map and GIS education content through trial class in junior high school. Trial class was done on Tsurugamine junior high school in Yokohama city with university and Yokohama city school board collaboration. In the trial class, the teacher indicated the old and new topographical maps to students and asked them to consider the characteristics of the area and the land use change. Transparent sheets overlaying is useful this activity. Transparent usage indicated the GIS function of overlay. It is good activity for students to understand the function of GIS. After the considering land use changes, they considered the future of their town. The several unused lands are spread in this area. Students present their opinions how to develop them. The important thing to carry out map and GIS class through neighborhood area is preparation of adequate maps. For this preparation, collaboration with university geography stuffs or undergraduate students are effective.

Land cover changes induced by the great east Japan earthquake in 2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishihara, Mitsunori; Tadono, Takeo

2017-03-01

The east Japan earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 was a big natural disaster, comprising the large earthquake shock, tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. These disasters caused changes in the land use and land cover (LULC) in Japan’s Tohoku district. While the LULC map created before the disaster is available, as yet there is no precise LULC map of the district after the disaster. In this study, we created a precise LULC map for the years 2013-2015 post-disaster with 30-m spatial resolution using the Landsat-8 with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) to evaluate the changes in LULC induced by the disaster. Our results indicate many changes in areas categorized as rice paddies primarily into grass categories along the coast damaged by the tsunami and in the evacuation zone around the FDNPP. Since there is a possibility of future LULC changes according to the change of the evacuation zone and implementation of reconstruction and revitalization efforts, we recommend continual monitoring of the changes in LULC by the use of satellite data in order to evaluate the long-term effects of the disaster.

Land cover changes induced by the great east Japan earthquake in 2011.

PubMed

Ishihara, Mitsunori; Tadono, Takeo

2017-03-31

The east Japan earthquake that occurred on March 11, 2011 was a big natural disaster, comprising the large earthquake shock, tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. These disasters caused changes in the land use and land cover (LULC) in Japan's Tohoku district. While the LULC map created before the disaster is available, as yet there is no precise LULC map of the district after the disaster. In this study, we created a precise LULC map for the years 2013-2015 post-disaster with 30-m spatial resolution using the Landsat-8 with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) to evaluate the changes in LULC induced by the disaster. Our results indicate many changes in areas categorized as rice paddies primarily into grass categories along the coast damaged by the tsunami and in the evacuation zone around the FDNPP. Since there is a possibility of future LULC changes according to the change of the evacuation zone and implementation of reconstruction and revitalization efforts, we recommend continual monitoring of the changes in LULC by the use of satellite data in order to evaluate the long-term effects of the disaster.

Socio-Ecological Changes and Human Mobility in Landslide Zones of Chamoli District of Uttarakhand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Desh Deepak

2017-04-01

Disaster displacement represents one of the biggest humanitarian challenges of the 21st century. Between 2008 and 2014, 184.6 million people were forced from their homes due to different natural disasters, with 19.3 million newly displaced in 2014, according to the latest available data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). In Uttarakhand state in India, hill slopes are known for their instability as they are ecologically fragile, tectonically and seismically active, and geologically sensitive that makes it prone to landslide hazards. Coupled to this, the rapid expansion of human societies often forces people to occupy highly dynamic and unstable environments. Repeated instances of landslide in highly populated areas have now forced many people to out migrate from vulnerable and high risk areas of Uttarakhand. The present study overlays the maps of geology, vegetation, route network, and settlement of Chamoli district of Uttarakhand to find out through overlay analysis, the landslide risk zonation map of Chamoli. Further, through primary survey in the high risk zones, the migration pattern and migration intensity has been analysed and a model for determining long term trend of migration in ecologically changing location has been developed. Keywords: Landslides, Uttarakhand, Migration, Risk Zonation Mapping

International Space Station Data Collection for Disaster Response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stefanov, William L.; Evans, Cynthia A..

2014-01-01

Natural disasters - including such events as tropical storms, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires -effect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and also cause billions of dollars (USD) in damage to the global economy. Remotely sensed data acquired by orbital sensor systems has emerged as a vital tool to identify the extent of damage resulting from a natural disaster, as well as providing near-real time mapping support to response efforts on the ground and humanitarian aid efforts. The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique terrestrial remote sensing platform for acquiring disaster response imagery. Unlike automated remote-sensing platforms it has a human crew; is equipped with both internal and externally-mounted remote sensing instruments; and has an inclined, low-Earth orbit that provides variable views and lighting (day and night) over 95 percent of the inhabited surface of the Earth. As such, it provides a useful complement to free-flyer based, sun-synchronous sensor systems in higher altitude polar orbits. While several nations have well-developed terrestrial remote sensing programs and assets for data collection, many developing nations do not have ready access to such resources. The International Charter, Space and Major Disasters (also known as the "International Disaster Charter", or IDC; http://www.disasterscharter.org/home) addresses this disparity. It is an agreement between agencies of several countries to provide - on a best-effort basis - remotely sensed data of natural disasters to requesting countries in support of disaster response. The lead US agency for interaction with the IDC is the United States Geological Survey (USGS); when an IDC request or "activation" is received, the USGS notifies the science teams for NASA instruments with targeting information for data collection. In the case of the ISS, the Earth Sciences and Remote Sensing (ESRS) Unit, part of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate and supporting the ISS Program Science Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center, receives notification from the USGS and coordinates targeting and data collection with the NASA ISS sensor teams. If data is collected, it is passed back to the USGS for posting on their Hazards Data Distribution System and made available for download. The ISS International Partners (CSA, ESA, JAXA, Roscosmos/Energia) have their own procedures for independently supporting IDC activations using their assets on ISS, and there is currently no joint coordination with NASA ISS sensor teams. Following completion of ISS assembly, NASA remote sensing assets began collecting IDC response data in May 2012. The initial NASA ISS sensor systems available to respond to IDC activations included the ISS Agricultural Camera (ISSAC), an internal multispectral visible-near infrared wavelength system mounted in the Window Observational Research Facility, or WORF; the Crew Earth Observations (CEO) Facility, where the crew collects imagery through Station windows using off-the-shelf handheld digital visible-wavelength cameras; and the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Oceans (HICO), a visible to near-infrared system mounted externally on the Japan Experiment Module Exposed Facility. The ISSAC completed its primary mission and was removed from the WORF in January 2013. It was replaced by the very high resolution ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV) Pathfinder, a visible-wavelength digital camera, telescope, and pointing system. Since the start of IDC response by NASA sensors on the ISS in May 2012 and as of this report, there have been eighty IDC activations; NASA sensor systems have collected data for twenty-three of these events. Of the twenty-three successful data collections, five involved 2 or more ISS sensor systems responding to the same event. Data has also been collected by International Partners in response to natural disasters, most notably JAXA and Roscosmos/Energia through the Urugan program. Data collected in response to IDC activations is delivered by the ISS sensor teams to the ESRS for quality review and transfer to the USGS, where it is ingested into the Hazards Data Distribution System, or HDDS (https://hdds.usgs.gov/hdds2/; figure 1). This system allows the local agencies that issued the IDC activation request to review and download data. The data is then used to develop secondary products useful for humanitarian response such as flood maps. As of this report, approximately 1000 images collected by NASA ISS sensor systems have been downloaded from the HDDS, indicating that the ISS has assumed a valuable role in disaster response efforts. The ISS is also a unique platform in that it will have multiple users over its lifetime, and that no single remote sensing system has a permanent internal or external berth. This scheduled turnover provides for development of new remote sensing capabilities relevant to disaster response -as well as both research and applied science-and represents a significant contribution to continuance and enhancement of the NASA mission to investigate changes on our home planet.

The Crisis Map of the Czech Republic: the nationwide deployment of an Ushahidi application for disasters.

PubMed

Pánek, Jiří; Marek, Lukáš; Pászto, Vít; Valůch, Jaroslav

2017-10-01

Crisis mapping is a legitimate component of both crisis informatics and disaster risk management. It has become an effective tool for humanitarian workers, especially after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. Ushahidi is among the many mapping platforms on offer in the growing field of crisis mapping, and involves the application of crowdsourcing to create online and interactive maps of areas in turmoil. This paper presents the Crisis Map of the Czech Republic, which is the first such instrument to be deployed nationwide in Central Europe. It describes the methodologies used in the preparatory work phase and details some practices identified during the creation and actual employment of the map. In addition, the paper assesses its structure and technological architecture, as well as its potential possible development in the future. Lastly, it evaluates the utilisation of the Crisis Map during the floods in the Czech Republic in 2013. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Tsunami vulnerability assessment mapping for the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia using a geographical information system (GIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Najihah, R.; Effendi, D. M.; Hairunnisa, M. A.; Masiri, K.

2014-02-01

The catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 raised a number of questions for scientist and politicians on how to deal with the tsunami risk and assessment in coastal regions. This paper discusses the challenges in tsunami vulnerability assessment and presents the result of tsunami disaster mapping and vulnerability assessment study for West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The spatial analysis was carried out using Geographical Information System (GIS) technology to demarcate spatially the tsunami affected village's boundary and suitable disaster management program can be quickly and easily developed. In combination with other thematic maps such as road maps, rail maps, school maps, and topographic map sheets it was possible to plan the accessibility and shelter to the affected people. The tsunami vulnerability map was used to identify the vulnerability of villages/village population to tsunami. In the tsunami vulnerability map, the intensity of the tsunami was classified as hazard zones based on the inundation level in meter (contour). The approach produced a tsunami vulnerability assessment map consists of considering scenarios of plausible extreme, tsunami-generating events, computing the tsunami inundation levels caused by different events and scenarios and estimating the possible range of casualties for computing inundation levels. The study provides an interactive means to identify the tsunami affected areas after the disaster and mapping the tsunami vulnerable village before for planning purpose were the essential exercises for managing future disasters.

The Design of Data Disaster Recovery of National Fundamental Geographic Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, Y.; Chen, J.; Liu, L.; Liu, J.

2014-04-01

With the development of information technology, data security of information system is facing more and more challenges. The geographic information of surveying and mapping is fundamental and strategic resource, which is applied in all areas of national economic, defence and social development. It is especially vital to national and social interests when such classified geographic information is directly concerning Chinese sovereignty. Several urgent problems that needs to be resolved for surveying and mapping are how to do well in mass data storage and backup, establishing and improving the disaster backup system especially after sudden natural calamity accident, and ensuring all sectors rapidly restored on information system will operate correctly. For overcoming various disaster risks, protect the security of data and reduce the impact of the disaster, it's no doubt the effective way is to analysis and research on the features of storage and management and security requirements, as well as to ensure that the design of data disaster recovery system suitable for the surveying and mapping. This article analyses the features of fundamental geographic information data and the requirements of storage management, three site disaster recovery system of DBMS plan based on the popular network, storage and backup, data replication and remote switch of application technologies. In LAN that synchronous replication between database management servers and the local storage of backup management systems, simultaneously, remote asynchronous data replication between local storage backup management systems and remote database management servers. The core of the system is resolving local disaster in the remote site, ensuring data security and business continuity of local site. This article focuses on the following points: background, the necessity of disaster recovery system, the analysis of the data achievements and data disaster recovery plan. Features of this program is to use a hardware-based data hot backup, and remote online disaster recovery support for Oracle database system. The achievement of this paper is in summarizing and analysing the common characteristics of disaster of surveying and mapping business system requirements, while based on the actual situation of the industry, designed the basic GIS disaster recovery solutions, and we also give the conclusions about key technologies of RTO and RPO.

Participatory Mapping for Flood Disaster Zoning based on World View-2 Data in Long Beluah, North Kalimantan Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudaryatno; Awanda, Disyacitta; Eka Pratiwi, Sufiyana

2017-12-01

Flood is one of the most frequent disasters in Indonesia. These conditions cause the necessary efforts to reduce the impact of these hazards. To reduce the impact of these hazards is to understand spatially the impact of previous disasters. Participatory mapping is one of the solutions to be able to assist in reducing the impact of flood disaster by conducting flood zoning so it can be known the range of the flood. The community plays an important role in participatory mapping because the experiences and mental maps of the community are the main sources of information used. North Kalimantan Province has a very large watershed area that is in Kayan watershed, there are several villages, one of them is Long Beluah Village. Kayan watershed has a flood problem annually that affects most of the areas including the Long Beluah Village. This study aims to map the zoning of floods in the village of Long Beluah in a participatory manner using remote sensing World View-2 data within community, so that people also understand the conditions they face. The method for achieving that goal is participatory mapping which means community involvement as well as the ability of community mental maps that will make an important contribution in this research. The results of this study show that flood zoning can be mapped based on experience and community mental maps that the greatest floods in February 2015 inundated most of the community settlements in Long Beluah Village. There are few places from the uninhabited areas of settlements and serve as refugee camps. The participatory zonation map of the participatory floods is quite appropriate with the situation at the time of the greatest flood that hit the village of Long Beluah, so that through the map can be drawn up plans to reduce the impact of such disasters such as evacuation routes and a more strategic refuge point.

Development of Web Mapping Service Capabilities to Support NASA Disasters Applications/App Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burks, Jason E.; Molthan, Andrew L.; McGrath, Kevin M.

2014-01-01

During the last year several significant disasters have occurred such as Superstorm Sandy on the East coast of the United States, and Typhoon Bopha in the Phillipines, along with several others. In support of these disasters NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center delivered various products derived from satellite imagery to help in the assessment of damage and recovery of the affected areas. To better support the decision makers responding to the disasters SPoRT quickly developed several solutions to provide the data using open Geographical Information Service (GIS) formats. Providing the data in open GIS standard formats allowed the end user to easily integrate the data into existing Decision Support Systems (DSS). Both Tile Mapping Service (TMS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS) were leveraged to quickly provide the data to the end-user. Development of the deliver methodology allowed quick response to rapidly developing disasters and enabled NASA SPoRT to bring science data to decision makers in a successful research to operations transition.

Development of Web Mapping Service Capabilities to Support NASA Disasters Applications / App Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burks, Jason E.; Molthan, Andrew L.; McGrath, Kevin M.

2014-01-01

During the last year several significant disasters have occurred such as Superstorm Sandy on the East coast of the United States, and Typhoon Bopha in the Phillipines, along with several others. In support of these disasters NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center delivered various products derived from satellite imagery to help in the assessment of damage and recovery of the affected areas. To better support the decision makers responding to the disasters SPoRT quickly developed several solutions to provide the data using open Geographical Information Service (GIS) formats. Providing the data in open GIS standard formats allowed the end user to easily integrate the data into existing Decision Support Systems (DSS). Both Tile Mapping Service (TMS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS) were leveraged to quickly provide the data to the end-user. Development of the deliver methodology allowed quick response to rapidly developing disasters and enabled NASA SPoRT to bring science data to decision makers in a successful research to operations transition.

Spatial-Temporal Analysis of Openstreetmap Data after Natural Disasters: a Case Study of Haiti Under Hurricane Matthew

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, J.; Li, L.; Zhou, Q.

2017-09-01

Volunteered geographic information (VGI) has been widely adopted as an alternative for authoritative geographic information in disaster management considering its up-to-date data. OpenStreetMap, in particular, is now aiming at crisis mapping for humanitarian purpose. This paper illustrated that natural disaster played an essential role in updating OpenStreetMap data after Haiti was hit by Hurricane Matthew in October, 2016. Spatial-temporal analysis of updated OSM data was conducted in this paper. Correlation of features was also studied to figure out whether updates of data were coincidence or the results of the hurricane. Spatial pattern matched the damaged areas and temporal changes fitted the time when disaster occurred. High level of correlation values of features were recorded when hurricane occurred, suggesting that updates in data were led by the hurricane.

The Benefits and Complexities of Operating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in a High Performance Computing (HPC) Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shute, J.; Carriere, L.; Duffy, D.; Hoy, E.; Peters, J.; Shen, Y.; Kirschbaum, D.

2017-12-01

The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at the Goddard Space Flight Center is building and maintaining an Enterprise GIS capability for its stakeholders, to include NASA scientists, industry partners, and the public. This platform is powered by three GIS subsystems operating in a highly-available, virtualized environment: 1) the Spatial Analytics Platform is the primary NCCS GIS and provides users discoverability of the vast DigitalGlobe/NGA raster assets within the NCCS environment; 2) the Disaster Mapping Platform provides mapping and analytics services to NASA's Disaster Response Group; and 3) the internal (Advanced Data Analytics Platform/ADAPT) enterprise GIS provides users with the full suite of Esri and open source GIS software applications and services. All systems benefit from NCCS's cutting edge infrastructure, to include an InfiniBand network for high speed data transfers; a mixed/heterogeneous environment featuring seamless sharing of information between Linux and Windows subsystems; and in-depth system monitoring and warning systems. Due to its co-location with the NCCS Discover High Performance Computing (HPC) environment and the Advanced Data Analytics Platform (ADAPT), the GIS platform has direct access to several large NCCS datasets including DigitalGlobe/NGA, Landsat, MERRA, and MERRA2. Additionally, the NCCS ArcGIS Desktop Windows virtual machines utilize existing NetCDF and OPeNDAP assets for visualization, modelling, and analysis - thus eliminating the need for data duplication. With the advent of this platform, Earth scientists have full access to vast data repositories and the industry-leading tools required for successful management and analysis of these multi-petabyte, global datasets. The full system architecture and integration with scientific datasets will be presented. Additionally, key applications and scientific analyses will be explained, to include the NASA Global Landslide Catalog (GLC) Reporter crowdsourcing application, the NASA GLC Viewer discovery and analysis tool, the DigitalGlobe/NGA Data Discovery Tool, the NASA Disaster Response Group Mapping Platform (https://maps.disasters.nasa.gov), and support for NASA's Arctic - Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE).

Values of Flood Hazard Mapping for Disaster Risk Assessment and Communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sayama, T.; Takara, K. T.

2015-12-01

Flood plains provide tremendous benefits for human settlements. Since olden days people have lived with floods and attempted to control them if necessary. Modern engineering works such as building embankment have enabled people to live even in flood prone areas, and over time population and economic assets have concentrated in these areas. In developing countries also, rapid land use change alters exposure and vulnerability to floods and consequently increases disaster risk. Flood hazard mapping is an essential step for any counter measures. It has various objectives including raising awareness of residents, finding effective evacuation routes and estimating potential damages through flood risk mapping. Depending on the objectives and data availability, there are also many possible approaches for hazard mapping including simulation basis, community basis and remote sensing basis. In addition to traditional paper-based hazard maps, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) promotes more interactive hazard mapping such as movable hazard map to demonstrate scenario simulations for risk communications and real-time hazard mapping for effective disaster responses and safe evacuations. This presentation first summarizes recent advancement of flood hazard mapping by focusing on Japanese experiences and other examples from Asian countries. Then it introduces a flood simulation tool suitable for hazard mapping at the river basin scale even in data limited regions. In the past few years, the tool has been practiced by local officers responsible for disaster management in Asian countries. Through the training activities of hazard mapping and risk assessment, we conduct comparative analysis to identify similarity and uniqueness of estimated economic damages depending on topographic and land use conditions.

Web Based Rapid Mapping of Disaster Areas using Satellite Images, Web Processing Service, Web Mapping Service, Frequency Based Change Detection Algorithm and J-iView

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bandibas, J. C.; Takarada, S.

2013-12-01

Timely identification of areas affected by natural disasters is very important for a successful rescue and effective emergency relief efforts. This research focuses on the development of a cost effective and efficient system of identifying areas affected by natural disasters, and the efficient distribution of the information. The developed system is composed of 3 modules which are the Web Processing Service (WPS), Web Map Service (WMS) and the user interface provided by J-iView (fig. 1). WPS is an online system that provides computation, storage and data access services. In this study, the WPS module provides online access of the software implementing the developed frequency based change detection algorithm for the identification of areas affected by natural disasters. It also sends requests to WMS servers to get the remotely sensed data to be used in the computation. WMS is a standard protocol that provides a simple HTTP interface for requesting geo-registered map images from one or more geospatial databases. In this research, the WMS component provides remote access of the satellite images which are used as inputs for land cover change detection. The user interface in this system is provided by J-iView, which is an online mapping system developed at the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ). The 3 modules are seamlessly integrated into a single package using J-iView, which could rapidly generate a map of disaster areas that is instantaneously viewable online. The developed system was tested using ASTER images covering the areas damaged by the March 11, 2011 tsunami in northeastern Japan. The developed system efficiently generated a map showing areas devastated by the tsunami. Based on the initial results of the study, the developed system proved to be a useful tool for emergency workers to quickly identify areas affected by natural disasters.

Landslide risk mapping and modeling in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, W.; Hong, Y.

2015-12-01

Under circumstances of global climate change, tectonic stress and human effect, landslides are among the most frequent and severely widespread natural hazards on Earth, as demonstrated in the World Atlas of Natural Hazards (McGuire et al., 2004). Every year, landslide activities cause serious economic loss as well as casualties (Róbert et al., 2005). How landslides can be monitored and predicted is an urgent research topic of the international landslide research community. Particularly, there is a lack of high quality and updated landslide risk maps and guidelines that can be employed to better mitigate and prevent landslide disasters in many emerging regions, including China (Hong, 2007). Since the 1950s, landslide events have been recorded in the statistical yearbooks, newspapers, and monographs in China. As disasters have been increasingly concerned by the government and the public, information about landslide events is becoming available from online news reports (Liu et al., 2012).This study presents multi-scale landslide risk mapping and modeling in China. At the national scale, based on historical data and practical experiences, we carry out landslide susceptibility and risk mapping by adopting a statistical approach and pattern recognition methods to construct empirical models. Over the identified landslide hot-spot areas, we further evaluate the slope-stability for each individual site (Sidle and Hirotaka, 2006), with the ultimate goal to set up a space-time multi-scale coupling system of Landslide risk mapping and modeling for landslide hazard monitoring and early warning.

Map and data for Quaternary faults and folds in New Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Machette, M.N.; Personius, S.F.; Kelson, K.I.; Haller, K.M.; Dart, R.L.

1998-01-01

The "World Map of Major Active Faults" Task Group is compiling a series of digital maps for the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere that show the locations, ages, and activity rates of major earthquake-related features such as faults and fault-related folds; the companion database includes published information on these seismogenic features. The Western Hemisphere effort is sponsored by International Lithosphere Program (ILP) Task Group H-2, whereas the effort to compile a new map and database for the United States is funded by the Earthquake Reduction Program (ERP) through the U.S. Geological Survey. The maps and accompanying databases represent a key contribution to the new Global Seismic Hazards Assessment Program (ILP Task Group II-O) for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. This compilation, which describes evidence for surface faulting and folding in New Mexico, is the third of many similar State and regional compilations that are planned for the U.S. The compilation for West Texas is available as U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 96-002 (Collins and others, 1996 #993) and the compilation for Montana will be released as a Montana Bureau of Mines product (Haller and others, in press #1750).

U.S. Geological Survey disaster response and the International Charter for space and major disasters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stryker, Timothy S.; Jones, Brenda K.

2010-01-01

In 1999, an international consortium of space agencies conceived and approved a mechanism to provide satellite information in support of worldwide disaster relief. This group came to be known as the 'International Charter?Space and Major Disasters' and has become an important resource for the use of satellite data to evaluate and provide support for response to natural and man-made disasters. From the Charter's formative days in 1999, its membership has grown to 10 space organizations managing more than 20 earth-observing satellites.

Assessing Landslide Characteristics and Developing a Landslide Potential Hazard Map in Rwanda and Uganda Using NASA Earth Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinclair, L.; Conner, P.; le Roux, J.; Finley, T.

2015-12-01

The International Emergency Disasters Database indicates that a total of 482 people have been killed and another 27,530 have been affected by landslides in Rwanda and Uganda, although the actual numbers are thought to be much higher. Data for individual countries are poorly tracked, but hotspots for devastating landslides occur throughout Rwanda and Uganda due to the local topography and soil type, intense rainfall events, and deforestation. In spite of this, there has been little research in this region that utilizes satellite imagery to estimate areas susceptible to landslides. This project utilized Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data and Google Earth to identify landslides that occurred within the study area. These landslides were then added to SERVIR's Global Landslide Catalog (GLC). Next, Landsat 8 OLI, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Version 2 (SRTM V2) data were used to create a Landslide Susceptibility Map. This was combined with population data from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) to create a Landslide Hazard map. A preliminary assessment of the relative performance of GPM and TRMM in identifying landslide conditions was also performed. The additions to the GLC, the Landslide Susceptibility Map, the Landslide Hazard Map, and the preliminary assessment of satellite rainfall performance will be used by SERVIR and the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) for disaster risk management, land use planning, and determining landslide conditions and moisture thresholds.

Georeferencing natural disaster impact footprints : lessons learned from the EM-DAT experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallemacq, Pascaline; Guha Sapir, Debarati

2014-05-01

The Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) contains data about the occurrence and consequences of all the disasters that have taken place since 1900. The main objectives of the database are to serve the purposes of humanitarian action at national and international levels; to aid decision making for disaster preparedness, as well as providing an objective base for vulnerability assessments and priority setting. EM-DAT records data on the human and economic impacts for each event as well as the location of said event. This is recorded as text data, namely the province, department, county, district, or village. The first purpose of geocoding (or georeferencing) the EM-DAT database is to transform the location data from text format into code data. The GAUL (Global Administrative Unit Layers) database (FAO) is used as a basis to identify the geographic footprint of the disaster, ideally to the second administrative level and add a unique code for each affected unit. Our first step has involved georeferencing earthquakes since the location of these is precise. The second purpose is to detail the degree of precision of georeferencing. The application and benefits of georeferencing are manifold. The geographic information of the footprint of past (after 2000) and future natural disasters permits the location of vulnerable areas with a GIS system and to cross data from different sources. It will allow the study of different elements such as the extent of a disaster and its human and economic consequences; the exposure and vulnerability of the population in space and time and the efficiency of mitigation measures. In addition, any association between events and external factors can be identified (e.g.: is the famine located at the same places as drought?) and precision of the information in the disaster report can be evaluated. Besides this, these maps will provide valuable communication support since maps have a high communication power and are easily understandable by the wider public and policy makers. Some results from the application of georeferencing will be presented during the session such as a study of the population potentially exposed and affected by natural disasters in Europe, a flood vulnerability analysis in Vietnam and the potential merging of watersheds analysis and flood footprints data.

US Vulnerability to Natural Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Vink, G.; Apgar, S.; Batchelor, A.; Carter, C.; Gail, D.; Jarrett, A.; Levine, N.; Morgan, W.; Orlikowski, M.; Pray, T.; Raymar, M.; Siebert, A.; Shawa, T. W.; Wallace, C.

2002-05-01

Natural disasters result from the coincidence of natural events with the built environment. Our nation's infrastructure is growing at an exponential rate in many areas of high risk, and the Federal government's liability is increasing proportionally. By superimposing population density with predicted ground motion from earthquakes, historical hurricane tracks, historical tornado locations, and areas within the flood plain, we are able to identify locations of high vulnerability within the United States. We present a comprehensive map of disaster risk for the United States that is being produced for the Senate Natural Hazards Caucus. The map allows for the geographic comparison of natural disaster risk with past disaster declarations, the expenditure of Federal dollars for disaster relief, population increase, and variations of GDP. Every state is vulnerable to natural disasters. Although their frequency varies considerably, the annualized losses for disaster relief from hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods are approximately equivalent. While fast-growing states such as California and Florida remain highly vulnerable, changes in the occurrence of natural events combined with population increases are making areas such as Texas, North Carolina, and the East Coast increasingly vulnerable.

Generating landslide inventory by participatory mapping: an example in Purwosari Area, Yogyakarta, Java

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samodra, G.; Chen, G.; Sartohadi, J.; Kasama, K.

2018-04-01

This paper proposes an approach for landslide inventory mapping considering actual conditions in Indonesia. No satisfactory landslide database exists. What exists is inadequate, focusing, on data response, rather than on pre-disaster preparedness and planning. The humid tropical climate also leads a rapid vegetation growth so past landslides signatures are covered by vegetation or dismantled by erosion process. Generating landslide inventory using standard techniques still seems difficult. A catalog of disasters from local government (village level) was used as a basis of participatory landslide inventory mapping. Eyewitnesses or landslide disaster victims were asked to participate in the reconstruction of past landslides. Field investigation focusing on active participation from communities with the use of an innovative technology was used to verify the landslide events recorded in the disaster catalog. Statistical analysis was also used to obtain the necessary relationships between geometric measurements, including the height of the slope and length of run out, area and volume of displaced materials, the probability distributions of landslide area and volume, and mobilization rate. The result shows that run out distance is proportional to the height of the slope. The frequency distribution calculated by using non-cumulative distribution empirically exhibits a power law (fractal statistic) even though rollover can also be found in the dataset. This cannot be the result of the censoring effect or incompleteness of the data because the landslide inventory dataset can be classified as having complete data or nearly complete data. The so-called participatory landslide inventory mapping method is expected to solve the difficulties of landslide inventory mapping and can be applied to support pre-disaster planning and preparedness action to reduce the landslide disaster risk in Indonesia. It may also supplement the usually incomplete data in a typical landslide inventory.

Landslides susceptibility mapping at Gunung Ciremai National Park

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faizin; Nur, Bambang Azis

2018-02-01

In addition to agriculture, tourism became one of primary economic income for communities around Mount Ciremai, West, Java. Unfortunately, the landscape of West Java has many potential causes to disasters, mainly landslides. Mapping of disaster susceptibility area is needed as a consideration of tourism planning. The study was conducted in Gunung Ciremai National Park, West Java. This paper propose a methodology to map landslides susceptibilities based on spatial data. Using Geographic Information System tools, several environmental parameters such as slope, land use, elevation, and lithology are scored to build a landslide susceptibility map. Then, susceptibility map is overlaid with Utilization Zone.

Importance of Integrating High-Resoultion 2D Flood Hazard Maps in the Flood Disaster Management of Marikina City, Philippines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tapales, Ben Joseph; Mendoza, Jerico; Uichanco, Christopher; Mahar Francisco Amante Lagmay, Alfredo; Moises, Mark Anthony; Delmendo, Patricia; Eneri Tingin, Neil

2015-04-01

Flooding has been a perennial problem in the city of Marikina. These incidences result in human and economic losses. In response to this, the city has been investing in their flood disaster mitigation program in the past years. As a result, flooding in Marikina was reduced by 31% from 1992 to 2004. [1] However, these measures need to be improved so as to mitigate the effects of floods with more than 100 year return period, such as the flooding brought by tropical storm Ketsana in 2009 which generated 455mm of rains over a 24-hour period. Heavy rainfall caused the streets to be completely submerged in water, leaving at least 70 people dead in the area. In 2012, the Southwest monsoon, enhanced by a typhoon, brought massive rains with an accumulated rainfall of 472mm for 22-hours, a number greater than that which was experienced during Ketsana. At this time, the local government units were much more prepared in mitigating the risk with the use of early warning and evacuation measures, resulting to zero casualty in the area. Their urban disaster management program, however, can be further improved through the integration of high-resolution 2D flood hazard maps in the city's flood disaster management. The use of these maps in flood disaster management is essential in reducing flood-related risks. This paper discusses the importance and advantages of integrating flood maps in structural and non-structural mitigation measures in the case of Marikina City. Flood hazard maps are essential tools in predicting the frequency and magnitude of floods in an area. An information that may be determined with the use of these maps is the locations of evacuation areas, which may be accurately positioned using high-resolution 2D flood hazard maps. Evacuation of people in areas that are not vulnerable of being inundated is one of the unnecessary measures that may be prevented and thus optimizing mitigation efforts by local government units. This paper also discusses proposals for a more efficient exchange of information, allowing for flood simulations to be utilized in local flood disaster management programs. The success of these systems relies heavily on the knowledge of the people involved. As environmental changes create more significant impacts, the need to adapt to these is vital for man's safety. [1] Pacific Disaster Center

Importance of Integrating High-Resoultion 2D Flood Hazard Maps in the Flood Disaster Management of Marikina City, Philippines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tapales, B. J. M.; Mendoza, J.; Uichanco, C.; Lagmay, A. M. F. A.; Moises, M. A.; Delmendo, P.; Tingin, N. E.

2014-12-01

Flooding has been a perennial problem in the city of Marikina. These incidences result in human and economic losses. In response to this, the city has been investing in their flood disaster mitigation program in the past years. As a result, flooding in Marikina was reduced by 31% from 1992 to 2004. [1] However, these measures need to be improved so as to mitigate the effects of floods with more than 100 year return period, such as the flooding brought by tropical storm Ketsana in 2009 which generated 455mm of rains over a 24-hour period. Heavy rainfall caused the streets to be completely submerged in water, leaving at least 70 people dead in the area. In 2012, the Southwest monsoon, enhanced by a typhoon, brought massive rains with an accumulated rainfall of 472mm for 22-hours, a number greater than that which was experienced during Ketsana. At this time, the local government units were much more prepared in mitigating the risk with the use of early warning and evacuation measures, resulting to zero casualty in the area. Their urban disaster management program, however, can be further improved through the integration of high-resolution 2D flood hazard maps in the city's flood disaster management. The use of these maps in flood disaster management is essential in reducing flood-related risks. This paper discusses the importance and advantages of integrating flood maps in structural and non-structural mitigation measures in the case of Marikina City. Flood hazard maps are essential tools in predicting the frequency and magnitude of floods in an area. An information that may be determined with the use of these maps is the locations of evacuation areas, which may be accurately positioned using high-resolution 2D flood hazard maps. Evacuation of areas that are not vulnerable of being inundated is one of the unnecessary measures that may be prevented and thus optimizing mitigation efforts by local government units. This paper also discusses proposals for a more efficient exchange of information, allowing for flood simulations to be utilized in local flood disaster management programs. The success of these systems relies heavily on the knowledge of the people involved. As environmental changes create more significant impacts, the need to adapt to these is vital for man's safety. [1] Pacific Disaster Center

Statistical Interpretation of Natural and Technological Hazards in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borthwick, Alistair, ,, Prof.; Ni, Jinren, ,, Prof.

2010-05-01

China is prone to catastrophic natural hazards from floods, droughts, earthquakes, storms, cyclones, landslides, epidemics, extreme temperatures, forest fires, avalanches, and even tsunami. This paper will list statistics related to the six worst natural disasters in China over the past 100 or so years, ranked according to number of fatalities. The corresponding data for the six worst natural disasters in China over the past decade will also be considered. [The data are abstracted from the International Disaster Database, Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, http://www.cred.be/ where a disaster is defined as occurring if one of the following criteria is fulfilled: 10 or more people reported killed; 100 or more people reported affected; a call for international assistance; or declaration of a state of emergency.] The statistics include the number of occurrences of each type of natural disaster, the number of deaths, the number of people affected, and the cost in billions of US dollars. Over the past hundred years, the largest disasters may be related to the overabundance or scarcity of water, and to earthquake damage. However, there has been a substantial relative reduction in fatalities due to water related disasters over the past decade, even though the overall numbers of people affected remain huge, as does the economic damage. This change is largely due to the efforts put in by China's water authorities to establish effective early warning systems, the construction of engineering countermeasures for flood protection, the implementation of water pricing and other measures for reducing excessive consumption during times of drought. It should be noted that the dreadful death toll due to the Sichuan Earthquake dominates recent data. Joint research has been undertaken between the Department of Environmental Engineering at Peking University and the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford University on the production of zonation maps of certain natural hazards in China. Data at city and county level have been interpreted using a hierarchical system of indices, which are then ranked according to severity. Zonation maps will be presented for debris flows, landslide and rockfall hazards, flood risk in mainland China, and for soil erosion processes in the Yellow River basin. The worst debris flow hazards are to be found in southwest China as the land begins to become mountainous. Just over 20% of the land area is at high or very high risk of landslide and rockfall hazards, especially Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu and Shannxi provinces. Flood risk is concentrated towards the eastern part of China, where the major rivers meet the sea. The paper will also consider data on technological disasters in China from 1900 to 2010, using data supplied by CRED. In terms of fatalities, industrial accidents appear to be dominated by explosion events. However, gas leaks have affected the largest number of people. Transport accidents are ranked in terms of fatalities as follows: water - road - rail - air. Fire is a major cause of loss of life, whereas chemical spills and poisoning seem to lead to fewer deaths.

Using Social Media and Mobile Devices to Discover and Share Disaster Data Products Derived From Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Daniel; Cappelaere, Patrice; Frye, Stuart; Evans, John; Moe, Karen

2014-01-01

Data products derived from Earth observing satellites are difficult to find and share without specialized software and often times a highly paid and specialized staff. For our research effort, we endeavored to prototype a distributed architecture that depends on a standardized communication protocol and applications program interface (API) that makes it easy for anyone to discover and access disaster related data. Providers can easily supply the public with their disaster related products by building an adapter for our API. Users can use the API to browse and find products that relate to the disaster at hand, without a centralized catalogue, for example floods, and then are able to share that data via social media. Furthermore, a longerterm goal for this architecture is to enable other users who see the shared disaster product to be able to generate the same product for other areas of interest via simple point and click actions on the API on their mobile device. Furthermore, the user will be able to edit the data with on the ground local observations and return the updated information to the original repository of this information if configured for this function. This architecture leverages SensorWeb functionality [1] presented at previous IGARSS conferences. The architecture is divided into two pieces, the frontend, which is the GeoSocial API, and the backend, which is a standardized disaster node that knows how to talk to other disaster nodes, and also can communicate with the GeoSocial API. The GeoSocial API, along with the disaster node basic functionality enables crowdsourcing and thus can leverage insitu observations by people external to a group to perform tasks such as improving water reference maps, which are maps of existing water before floods. This can lower the cost of generating precision water maps. Keywords-Data Discovery, Disaster Decision Support, Disaster Management, Interoperability, CEOS WGISS Disaster Architecture

Awareness of disaster reduction frameworks and risk perception of natural disaster: a questionnaire survey among Philippine and Indonesian health care personnel and public health students.

PubMed

Usuzawa, Motoki; O Telan, Elizabeth; Kawano, Razel; S Dizon, Carmela; Alisjahbana, Bachti; Ashino, Yugo; Egawa, Shinichi; Fukumoto, Manabu; Izumi, Takako; Ono, Yuichi; Hattori, Toshio

2014-05-01

As the impacts of natural disasters have grown more severe, the importance of education for disaster medicine gains greater recognition. We launched a project to establish an international educational program for disaster medicine. In the present study, we surveyed medical personnel and medical/public health students in the Philippines (n = 45) and Indonesia (n = 67) for their awareness of the international frameworks related to disaster medicine: the Human Security (securing individual life and health), the Sphere Project (international humanitarian response), and the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (international strategy for disaster reduction). In both countries, more than 50% responders were aware of human security, but only 2 to 12% were aware of the latter two. The survey also contained questions about the preferred subjects in prospective educational program, and risk perception on disaster and disaster-related infections. In the Philippines, significant disasters were geophysical (31.0%), hydrological (33.3%), or meteorological (24.8%), whereas in Indonesia, geophysical (63.0%) and hydrological (25.3%) were significant. Moreover, in the Philippines, leptospirosis (27.1%), dengue (18.6%), diarrhea (15.3%), and cholera (10.2%) were recognized common disaster-related infections. In Indonesia, diarrhea (22.0%) and respiratory infection (20.3%) are major disaster-related infections. Water-related infections were the major ones in both countries, but the profiles of risk perception were different (Pearson's chi-square test, p = 1.469e-05). The responders tended to overestimate the risk of low probability and high consequence such as geophysical disaster. These results are helpful for the development of a postgraduate course for disaster medicine in Asia Pacific countries.

Integrating TWES and Satellite-based remote sensing: Lessons learned from the Honshu 2011 Tsunami

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Löwe, Peter; Wächter, Joachim

2013-04-01

The Boxing Day Tsunami killed 240,000 people and inundated the affected shorelines with waves reaching heights up to 30m. Tsunami Early Warning Capabilities have improved in the meantime by continuing development of modular Tsunami Early Warning Systems (TEWS). However, recent tsunami events, like the Chile 2010 and the Honshu 2011 tsunami demonstrate that the key challenge for TEWS research still lies in the timely issuing of reliable early warning messages to areas at risk, but also to other stakeholders professionally involved in the unfolding event. Until now remote sensing products for Tsunami events, including crisis maps and change detection products, are exclusively linked to those phases of the disaster life cycle, which follow after the early warning stage: Response, recovery and mitigation. The International Charter for Space and Major Disasters has been initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in 1999. It coordinates a voluntary group of governmental space agencies and industry partners, to provide rapid crisis imaging and mapping to disaster and relief organisations to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life, property and the environment. The efficiency of this approach has been demonstrated in the field of Tsunami early warning by Charter activations following the Boxing Day Tsunami 2004, the Chile Tsunami 2010 and the Honshu Tsunami 2011. Traditional single-satellite operations allow at best bimonthly repeat rates over a given Area of Interest (AOI). This allows a lot of time for image acquisition campaign planning between imaging windows for the same AOI. The advent of constellations of identical remote sensing satellites in the early 21st century resulted both in daily AOI revisit capabilities and drastically reduced time frames for acquisition planning. However, the image acquisition planning for optical remote sensing satellite constellations is constrained by orbital and communication requirements: Defined time slots exist to commandeer the tasking of image acquisitions. If such a time slot has been missed, another attempt to image an AOI again can only be attempted ca. 24 hours later, due to the sun-synchronous satellite orbits Therefore it is critical to establish automated Disaster Early Warning dissemination services for the remote sensing community, to supply them with the timeliest opportunity to trigger the tasking process for the affected AOI. For very large events like a Tsunami in the Pacific, this approach provides the chance to gain additional pre-disaster imagery as a reference for change detection. In the case of the Tohoku earthquake, an ad-hoc warning dissemination process was manually dispatched by the Centre for Geoinformation Technology (CeGIT) at the German Research Centre for Geoscience, contacting RapidEye AG, once the severity of the earthquake event had been confirmed by the GEOFON geoseismic network. RapidEye AG decided to launch an imaging campaign which yielded 78 georectified image tiles (L3A) of Honshu island during the next imaging window. Of these, 26 tiles cover the affected coastline, resulting in 16,250km² of content for crisis mapping effort such as the Humanitarian Open Street Map (OSM) Team. This data was made available by RapidEye as a part of the Charter Activiation requested by Japan on March 11 2011. [1] Hoja, D., Schwinger, M.,Wendleder A.,Löwe, P., Konstanski, H., Weichelt, H.: Optimised Near-Real Time Data Acquisition for Disaster Related Rapid Mapping

Method for the Preparation of Hazard Map in Urban Area Using Soil Depth and Groundwater Level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Sung-Wook; Choi, Eun-Kyeong; Cho, Jin Woo; Lee, Ju-Hyoung

2017-04-01

The hazard maps for predicting collapse on natural slopes consists of a combination of topographic, hydrological, and geological factors. Topographic factors are extracted from DEM, including aspect, slope, curvature, and topographic index. Hydrological factors, such as distance to drainage, drainage density, stream-power index, and wetness index are most important factors for slope instability. However, most of the urban areas are located on the plains and it is difficult to apply the hazard map using the topography and hydrological factors. In order to evaluate the risk of collapse of flat and low slope areas, soil depth and groundwater level data were collected and used as a factor for interpretation. In addition, the reliability of the hazard map was compared with the disaster history of the study area (Gangnam-gu and Yeouido district). In the disaster map of the disaster prevention agency, the urban area was mostly classified as the stable area and did not reflect the collapse history. Soil depth, drainage conditions and groundwater level obtained from boreholes were added as input data of hazard map, and disaster vulnerability increased at the location where the actual collapse points. In the study area where damage occurred, the moderate and low grades of the vulnerability of previous hazard map were 12% and 88%, respectively. While, the improved map showed 2% high grade, moderate grade 29%, low grade 66% and very low grade 2%. These results were similar to actual damage. Keywords: hazard map, urban area, soil depth, ground water level Acknowledgement This research was supported by a Grant from a Strategic Research Project (Horizontal Drilling and Stabilization Technologies for Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Operation) funded by the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology.

Visualizing disaster attitudes resulting from terrorist activities.

PubMed

Khalid, Halimahtun M; Helander, Martin G; Hood, Nilwan A

2013-09-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze people's attitudes to disasters by investigating how people feel, behave and think during disasters. We focused on disasters induced by humans, such as terrorist attacks. Two types of textual information were collected - from Internet blogs and from research papers. The analysis enabled forecasting of attitudes for the design of proactive disaster advisory scheme. Text was analyzed using a text mining tool, Leximancer. The outcome of this analysis revealed core themes and concepts in the text concerning people's attitudes. The themes and concepts were sorted into three broad categories: Affect, Behaviour, and Cognition (ABC), and the data was visualized in semantic maps. The maps reveal several knowledge pathways of ABC for developing attitudinal ontologies, which describe the relations between affect, behaviour and cognition, and the sequence in which they develop. Clearly, terrorist attacks induced trauma and people became highly vulnerable. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Regulating the helping hand: improving legal preparedness for cross-border disaster medicine.

PubMed

Fisher, David

2010-01-01

Medical care is a highly regulated field in nearly every country. Therefore, it is not surprising that legal issues regularly arise in cross-border disaster operations that have with the potential to profoundly impact the effectiveness of international assistance. Little attention has been paid to preparing for and addressing these kinds of issues. This paper will report on research by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on International Disaster Response Law, and discuss new developments in the international legal framework for addressing these issues. For seven years, the IFRC has studied legal issues in cross-border disaster assistance. Its activities have included several dozen case studies, a global survey of governments and humanitarian stakeholders, and a series of meetings and high-level conferences. The IFRC has found a consistent set of regulatory problems in major disaster relief operations related to the entry and regulation of international relief. These include some issues specific to the health field, such as the regulation of drug donations and the recognition of foreign medical qualifications. To address the gaps in domestic and international regulatory structures, the IFRC spearheaded the development of new international guidelines. The legal risks for international health providers in disaster settings are real and should be better integrated into program planning. Governments must become more proactive in ensuring that legal frameworks are flexible enough to mitigate these problems.

Competencies for disaster mental health.

PubMed

King, Richard V; Burkle, Frederick M; Walsh, Lauren E; North, Carol S

2015-03-01

Competencies for disaster mental health are essential to domestic and international disaster response capabilities. Numerous consensus-based competency sets for disaster health workers exist, but no prior study identifies and discusses competency sets pertaining specifically to disaster mental health. Relevant competency sets were identified via MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EBSCO, and Google Scholar searches. Sixteen competency sets are discussed, some providing core competencies for all disaster responders and others for specific responder groups within particular professions or specialties. Competency sets specifically for disaster mental health professionals are lacking, with the exception of one set that focused only on cultural competence. The identified competency sets provide guidance for educators in developing disaster mental health curricula and for disaster health workers seeking education and training in disaster mental health. Valid, criterion-based competencies are required to guide selection and training of mental health professionals for the disaster mental health workforce. In developing these competencies, consideration should be given to the requirements of both domestic and international disaster response efforts.

Characterization of rainfall events and correlation with reported disasters: A case in Cali, Colombia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canon, C. C.; Tischbein, B.; Bogardi, J.

2017-12-01

Flood maps generally display the area that a river might overflow after a rainfall event takes place, under different scenarios of climate, land use/land cover, and/or failure of dams and dikes. However, rainfall is not limited to feed runoff and enlarge the river: it also causes minor disasters outside the map's highlighted area. The city of Cali in Colombia illustrates very well this situation: its flat topography and its major critical infrastructure near the river make it flood-risk prone; a heavy rainfall event would potentially deplete drinking water, electrical power and drainage capacity, and trigger outbreaks of water-borne diseases in the whole city, not only in the flooded area. Unfortunately, the government's disaster prevention strategies focus on the floodplain and usually overlook the aftermath of these minor disasters for being milder and scattered. Predicted losses in flood maps are potentially big, while those from minor disasters over the city are small but real, and citizens, utility companies and urban maintenance funds must constantly take them over. Mitigation and prevention of such minor disasters can save money for the development of the city in other aspects. This paper characterizes hundreds of rainfall events selected from 10-min step time series from 2006 to 2017, and finds their correlation with reported rainfall-related disasters throughout Cali, identified by date and neighborhood. Results show which rainfall parameters are most likely to indicate the occurrence of such disasters and their approximate location in the urban area of Cali. These results, when coupled with real-time observations of rainfall data and simulations of drainage network response, may help citizens and emergency bodies prioritize zones to assist during heavy storms. In the long term, stakeholders may also implement low impact development solutions in these zones to reduce flood risks.

International guidelines and standards for education and training to reduce the consequences of events that may threaten the health status of a community. A report of an Open International WADEM Meeting, Brussels, Belgium, 29-31 October, 2004.

PubMed

Archer, Frank; Seynaeve, Geert

2007-01-01

The continued professionalization of the humanitarian workforce requires sound underpinning by appropriate educational programs. The international disaster medicine and emergency health community requested the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) develop international standards and guidelines for the education and training for disaster medicine. The Working Group of the WADEM Education Committee prepared and circulated an Issues Paper to structure input on this significant international task. Subsequently, the Working Group facilitated an Open International Meeting convened in Brussels, Belgium, 2004. The "Issues Paper" also was used as a framework to structure this International Meeting, which utilized case studies selected to represent the scope of disaster medicine, and prepared a meeting consensus on a framework for disaster health and for related educational programs. The two-day Brussels meeting attracted 51 participants from 19 countries, representing 21 disciplines. Participants reinforced the need to address the development of international standards and guidelines on education and training in this emerging discipline. Participants supported the view that the term "Disaster Health" suggested a multidisciplinary approach that is a more inclusive contemporary and appropriate term to describe this field, although there were dissenting views. The meeting formulated a consensus view in support of a framework for "Disaster Health", which included: (1) primary disciplines; (2) support disciplines; (3) community response, resilience, and communication; and (4) socio-political context. The participants considered that this model lends itself to facilitating the development of educational programs in this field and believed that standards and guidelines initially should be developed in the "Core of Disaster Health" for undergraduates in relevant professions, for practicing professionals wishing to expand their practice in this field, and in the "Breadth of Disaster Health" for those wishing to be recognized as "Disaster Health Specialists" as academics, professionals, or policy leaders in this field at a University multidisciplinary Masters Degree level. A community-level and higher-specialist doctoral level would follow. Although the view of the participants was that the establishment of international approval/endorsement processes for education programs may have some benefits, there was less comfort in identifying which body/agency should be charged with this responsibility. The WADEM, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the World Health Organization were identified as potential lead agents. The outcome of this international meeting is an important step toward meeting the challenge given the WADEM and will be developed further in consultation with the international disaster and emergency health community in order to improve education and training standards and professional practice.

Policy development in disaster preparedness and management: lessons learned from the January 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India.

PubMed

Bremer, Rannveig

2003-01-01

During the last decades, several humanitarian emergencies have occurred, with an increasing number of humanitarian organizations taking part in providing assistance. However, need assessments, medical intelligence, and coordination of the aid often are sparse, resulting in the provision of ineffective and expensive assistance. When an earthquake with the strength of 7.7 on the Richter scale struck the state of Gujarat, India, during the early morning on 26 January 2001, nearly 20,000 persons were killed, nearly 170,000 were injured, and 600,000 were rendered homeless. This study identifies how assigned indicators to measure the level of health care may improve disaster preparedness and management, thus, reducing human suffering. During a two-week mission in the disaster area, the disaster relief provided to the disaster-affected population of Gujarat was evaluated. Vulnerability due to climate, geography, culture, religion, gender, politics, and economy, as each affected the outcome, was studied. By assigning indicators to the eight ELEMENTS of the Primary Health Care System as advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the level of public health and healthcare services were estimated, an evaluation of the impact of the disaster was conducted, and possible methods for improving disaster management are suggested. Representatives of the major relief organizations involved were interviewed on their relief policies. Strategies to improve disaster relief, such as policy development in the different aspects of public health/primary health care, were sought. Evaluation of the pre-event status of the affected society revealed a complex situation in a vulnerable society with substantial deficiencies in the existing health system that added to the severity of the disaster. Most of the civilian hospitals had collapsed, and army field hospitals provided medical care to most of the patients under primitive conditions using tents. When the foreign field hospitals arrived five to seven days after the earthquake, most of the casualties requiring surgical intervention already had been operated on. Relief provided to the disaster victims had reduced quality for the following reasons: (1) proper public health indicators had not yet been developed; (2) efficient coordination was lacking, (3) insufficient, overestimated, or partly irrelevant relief was provided; (4) relief was delayed because of bureaucracy; and (5) policies on the delivery of disaster relief had not been developed. To optimize the effectiveness of limited resources, disaster preparedness and the provision of feasible and necessary aid is of utmost importance. An appropriate, rapid, crisis intervention could be achieved by continual surveillance of the world's situation by a Relief Coordination Center. A panel of experts could evaluate and coordinate the international disaster responses and make use of stored emergency material and emergency teams. A successful disaster response will depend on accurate and relevant medical intelligence and socio-geographical mapping in advance of, during, and after the event(s) causing the disaster. More effective and feasible equipment coordinated with the relief provided by the rest of the world is necessary. If policies and agreements are developed as part of disaster preparedness, on international, bilateral, and national levels, disaster relief may be more relevant, less chaotic, and easier to estimate, thus, bringing improved relief to the disaster victims.

Nationwide high-resolution mapping of hazards in the Philippines (Plinius Medal Lecture)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lagmay, Alfredo Mahar Francisco A.

2015-04-01

The Philippines being a locus of typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, is a hotbed of disasters. Situated in a region where severe weather and geophysical unrest is common, the Philippines will inevitably suffer from calamities similar to those experienced recently. With continued development and population growth in hazard prone areas, it is expected that damage to infrastructure and human losses would persist and even rise unless appropriate measures are immediately implemented by government. Recently, the Philippines put in place a responsive program called the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH) for disaster prevention and mitigation. The efforts of Project NOAH are an offshoot of lessons learned from previous disasters that have inflicted massive loss of lives and costly damage to property. Several components of the NOAH program focus on mapping of landslide, riverine flood and storm surge inundation hazards. By simulating hazards phenomena over IFSAR- and LiDAR-derived digital terrain models (DTMs) using high-performance computers, multi-hazards maps of 1:10,000 scale, have been produced and disseminated to local government units through a variety of platforms. These detailed village-level (barangay-level) maps are useful to identify safe evacuation sites, planning emergency access routes and prepositioning of search and rescue and relief supplies during times of crises. They are also essential for long-term development planning of communities. In the past two years, NOAH was instrumental in providing timely, site-specific, and understandable hazards information to the public, considered as best practice in disaster risk reduction management (DRR). The use of advanced science and technology in the country's disaster prevention efforts is imperative to successfully mitigate the adverse impacts of natural hazards and should be a continuous quest - to find the best products, put forth in the forefront of battle against disasters.

Mapping the Human Planet: Integrating Settlement, Infrastructure, and Population Data to Support Sustainable Development, Climate, and Disaster Data Needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, R. S.; de Sherbinin, A. M.; Yetman, G.; Downs, R. R.

2017-12-01

A central issue in international efforts to address climate change, large-scale disaster risk, and overall sustainable development is the exposure of human settlements and population to changing climate patterns and a range of geological, climatological, technological, and other hazards. The present and future location of human activities is also important in mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and to ensuring that we "leave no one behind" in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the international community in September 2015. The extent and quality of built infrastructure are key factors in the mortality, morbidity, and economic impacts of disasters, and are simultaneously essential to sustainable development. Earth observations have great potential to improve the coverage, consistency, timeliness, and richness of data on settlements, infrastructure, and population, in ways that complement existing and emerging forms of socioeconomic data collection such as censuses, surveys, and cell phone and Internet traffic. Night-time lights from the Suomi-NPP satellite may be able to provide near real-time data on occupance and economic activity. New "big data" capabilities make it possible to rapidly process high-resolution (50-cm) imagery to detect structures and changes in structures, especially in rural areas where other data are limited. A key challenge is to ensure that these types of data can be translated into forms useful in a range of applications and for diverse user communities, including national statistical offices, local government planners, development and humanitarian organizations, community groups, and the private sector. We report here on efforts, in coordination with the GEO Human Planet Initiative, to develop new data on settlements, infrastructure, and population, together with open data services and tools, to support disaster risk assessment, climate vulnerability analysis, and sustainable development decision making.

Multi -risk assessment at a national level in Georgia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsereteli, Nino; Varazanashvili, Otar; Amiranashvili, Avtandil; Tsereteli, Emili; Elizbarashvili, Elizbar; Saluqvadze, Manana; Dolodze, Jemal

2013-04-01

Work presented here was initiated by national GNSF project " Reducing natural disasters multiple risk: a positive factor for Georgia development " and two international projects: NATO SFP 983038 "Seismic hazard and Rusk assessment for Southern Caucasus-eastern Turkey Energy Corridors" and EMME " Earthquake Model for Middle east Region". Methodology for estimation of "general" vulnerability, hazards and multiple risk to natural hazards (namely, earthquakes, landslides, snow avalanches, flash floods, mudflows, drought, hurricanes, frost, hail) where developed for Georgia. The electronic detailed databases of natural disasters were created. These databases contain the parameters of hazardous phenomena that caused natural disasters. The magnitude and intensity scale of the mentioned disasters are reviewed and the new magnitude and intensity scales are suggested for disasters for which the corresponding formalization is not yet performed. The associated economic losses were evaluated and presented in monetary terms for these hazards. Based on the hazard inventory, an approach was developed that allowed for the calculation of an overall vulnerability value for each individual hazard type, using the Gross Domestic Product per unit area (applied to population) as the indicator for elements at risk exposed. The correlation between estimated economic losses, physical exposure and the magnitude for each of the six types of hazards has been investigated in detail by using multiple linear regression analysis. Economic losses for all past events and historical vulnerability were estimated. Finally, the spatial distribution of general vulnerability was assessed, and the expected maximum economic loss was calculated as well as a multi-risk map was set-up.

What does nature have to do with it? Reconsidering distinctions in international disaster response frameworks in the Danube basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McClain, Shanna N.; Secchi, Silvia; Bruch, Carl; Remo, Jonathan W. F.

2017-12-01

This article examines the international policy and institutional frameworks for response to natural and man-made disasters occurring in the Danube basin and the Tisza sub-basin, two transnational basins. Monitoring and response to these types of incidents have historically been managed separately. We discuss whether the policy distinctions in response to natural and man-made disasters remain functional given recent international trends toward holistic response to both kinds of disasters. We suggest that these distinctions are counterproductive, outdated, and ultimately flawed, illustrate some of the specific gaps in the Danube and the Tisza, and conclude by proposing an integrated framework for disaster response in the Danube basin and Tisza sub-basin.

Development of WMS Capabilities to Support NASA Disasters Applications and App Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, J. R.; Burks, J. E.; Molthan, A.; McGrath, K. M.

2013-12-01

During the last year several significant disasters have occurred such as Superstorm Sandy on the East coast of the United States, and Typhoon Bopha in the Phillipines, along with several others. In support of these disasters NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center delivered various products derived from satellite imagery to help in the assessment of damage and recovery of the affected areas. To better support the decision makers responding to the disasters SPoRT quickly developed several solutions to provide the data using open Geographical Information Service (GIS) formats. Providing the data in open GIS standard formats allowed the end user to easily integrate the data into existing Decision Support Systems (DSS). Both Tile Mapping Service (TMS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS) were leveraged to quickly provide the data to the end-user. Development of the deliver methodology allowed quick response to rapidly developing disasters and enabled NASA SPoRT to bring science data to decision makers in a successful research to operations transition.

Development of WMS Capabilities to Support NASA Disasters Applications and App Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, Jordan R.; Burks, Jason E.; Molthan, Andrew L.; McGrath, Kevin M.

2013-01-01

During the last year several significant disasters have occurred such as Superstorm Sandy on the East coast of the United States, and Typhoon Bopha in the Phillipines, along with several others. In support of these disasters NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center delivered various products derived from satellite imagery to help in the assessment of damage and recovery of the affected areas. To better support the decision makers responding to the disasters SPoRT quickly developed several solutions to provide the data using open Geographical Information Service (GIS) formats. Providing the data in open GIS standard formats allowed the end user to easily integrate the data into existing Decision Support Systems (DSS). Both Tile Mapping Service (TMS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS) were leveraged to quickly provide the data to the end-user. Development of the deliver methodology allowed quick response to rapidly developing disasters and enabled NASA SPoRT to bring science data to decision makers in a successful research to operations transition.

International Wildfire Emergencies: Management in the 21st Century

Treesearch

Julia V. Taft; Robert W. Mutch

1987-01-01

The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), responds to a wide variety of disasters throughout the world every year. These disasters range from "slow-moving" events like prolonged drought or plagues of grasshoppers and locusts to "fast-moving" threats to human...

International Considerations Associated with Economic Planning for Recovery from a Generalized Disaster

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

typical approach in addressing the recovery problem has been to impose a hypothetical nuclear disaster scenario on the U.S. economy and to speculate on...system and international trade in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster in Chapter 7 is provided in the context of a number of dimensions of a...hypothetical nuclear conflict. The dimensions of a hypothetical nuclear disaster must be defined because planning must necessarily be flexible enough to

Lessons learned about psychosocial responses to disaster and mass trauma: an international perspective

PubMed Central

Reifels, Lennart; Pietrantoni, Luca; Prati, Gabriele; Kim, Yoshiharu; Kilpatrick, Dean G.; Dyb, Grete; Halpern, James; Olff, Miranda; Brewin, Chris R.; O'Donnell, Meaghan

2013-01-01

At the 13th meeting of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in 2013, a symposium was held that brought together international researchers and clinicians who were involved in psychosocial responses to disaster. A total of six disasters that occurred in five countries were presented and discussed. Lessons learned from these disasters included the need to: (1) tailor the psychosocial response to the specific disaster, (2) provide multi-dimensional psychosocial care, (3) target at-risk population groups, (4) proactively address barriers in access to care, (5) recognise the social dimensions and sources of resilience, (6) extend the roles for mental health professionals, (7) efficiently coordinate and integrate disaster response services, and (8) integrate research and evaluation into disaster response planning. PMID:24371515

Review of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies.

PubMed

Hutton, Alison; Veenema, Tener Goodwin; Gebbie, Kristine

2016-12-01

The International Council of Nurses (ICN; Geneva, Switzerland) and the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM; Madison, Wisconsin USA) joined together in 2014 to review the use of the ICN Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies. The existing ICN Framework (version 1.10; dated 2009) formed the starting point for this review. The key target audiences for this process were members of the disaster nursing community concerned with pre-service education for professional nursing and the continuing education of practicing professional nurses. To minimize risk in the disaster nursing practice, competencies have been identified as the foundation of evidence-based practice and standard development. A Steering Committee was established by the WADEM Nursing Section to discuss how to initiate a review of the ICN Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies. The Steering Committee then worked via email to develop a survey to send out to disaster/emergency groups that may have nurse members who work/respond in disasters. Thirty-five invitations were sent out with 20 responses (57%) received. Ninety-five percent of respondents knew of the ICN Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies, with the majority accessing these competencies via the Internet. The majority of those who responded said that they make use of the ICN Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies with the most common use being for educational purposes. Education was done at a local, national, and international level. The competencies were held in high esteem and valued by these organizations as the cornerstone of their disaster education, and also were used for the continued professional development of disaster nursing. However, respondents stated that five years on from their development, the competencies also should include the psychosocial elements of nurses caring for themselves and their colleagues. Additionally, further studies should explore if there are other areas related to the disaster nursing practice (in addition to psychosocial concerns) that may be missing or not fully developed. Finally, the authors of this report recommend that future research explore how the ICN Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies do or do not assist in maintaining best practices in this field and improve outcomes for victims of disaster. Hutton A , Veenema TG , Gebbie K . Review of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(6):680-683.

Disaster Governance for Community Resilience in Coastal Towns: Chilean Case Studies.

PubMed

Villagra, Paula; Quintana, Carolina

2017-09-14

This study aimed to further our understanding of a characteristic of Community Resilience known as Disaster Governance. Three attributes of Disaster Governance-redundancy, diversity, and overlap-were studied in four coastal towns in southern Chile that are at risk of tsunamis. Overall, we explored how different spatial structures of human settlements influence Disaster Governance. Using the Projective Mapping Technique, the distribution of emergency institutions (N = 32) and uses given to specific sites (e.g., for refuge, sanitary purposes and medical attention) were mapped. Content and GIS analyses (Directional Distribution and Kernel Density Index) were used to explore the dispersion and concentration of institutions and uses in each town. Disaster Governance was found to be highly influenced by decisions taken during regional, urban, and emergency planning. Governance is better in towns of higher order in the communal hierarchical structure. Most of the emergency institutions were found to be located in central and urban areas, which, in turn, assures more redundancy, overlap, and diversity in governance in the event of a tsunami. Lack of flexibility of emergency plans also limits governance in rural and indigenous areas. While the spatial relationships found in this study indicate that urban sectors have better Disaster Governance than rural and indigenous sectors, the influence of resource availability after tsunamis, the role and responsibility of different levels of governments, and the politics of disaster also play an important role in Disaster Governance for determining Community Resilience. These findings shed light on emergency planning and aspects of the Disaster Management cycle.

Integration of real-time mapping technology in disaster relief distribution.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-02-01

Vehicle routing for disaster relief distribution involves many challenges that distinguish this problem from those in commercial settings, given the time sensitive and resource constrained nature of relief activities. While operations research approa...

What do They Know? Guidelines and Knowledge Translation for Foreign Health Sector Workers Following Natural Disasters.

PubMed

Dunin-Bell, Ola

2018-04-01

Introduction The incidence of natural disasters is increasing worldwide, with countries the least well-equipped to mitigate or manage them suffering the greatest losses. Following natural disasters, ill-prepared foreign responders may become a burden to the affected population, or cause harm to those needing help. Problem The study was performed to determine if international guidelines for foreign workers in the health sector exist, and evidence of their implementation. A structured literature search was used to identify guidelines for foreign health workers (FHWs) responding to natural disasters. Analysis of semi-structured interviews of health sector responders to the 2015 Nepal earthquake was then performed, looking at preparation and field activities. No guidelines were identified to address the appropriate qualifications of, and preparations for, international individuals participating in disaster response in the health sector. Interviews indicated individuals choosing to work with experienced organizations received training prior to disaster deployment and described activities in the field consistent with general humanitarian principles. Participants in an ad hoc team (AHT) did not. In spite of need, there is a lack of published guidelines for potential international health sector responders to natural disasters. Learning about disaster response may occur only after joining a team. Dunin-Bell O . What do they know? Guidelines and knowledge translation for foreign health sector workers following natural disasters. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(2):139-146.

a Public Platform for Geospatial Data Sharing for Disaster Risk Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balbo, S.; Boccardo, P.; Dalmasso, S.; Pasquali, P.

2013-01-01

Several studies have been conducted in Africa to assist local governments in addressing the risk situation related to natural hazards. Geospatial data containing information on vulnerability, impacts, climate change, disaster risk reduction is usually part of the output of such studies and is valuable to national and international organizations to reduce the risks and mitigate the impacts of disasters. Nevertheless this data isn't efficiently widely distributed and often resides in remote storage solutions hardly reachable. Spatial Data Infrastructures are technical solutions capable to solve this issue, by storing geospatial data and making them widely available through the internet. Among these solutions, GeoNode, an open source online platform for geospatial data sharing, has been developed in recent years. GeoNode is a platform for the management and publication of geospatial data. It brings together mature and stable open-source software projects under a consistent and easy-to-use interface allowing users, with little training, to quickly and easily share data and create interactive maps. GeoNode data management tools allow for integrated creation of data, metadata, and map visualizations. Each dataset in the system can be shared publicly or restricted to allow access to only specific users. Social features like user profiles and commenting and rating systems allow for the development of communities around each platform to facilitate the use, management, and quality control of the data the GeoNode instance contains (http://geonode.org/). This paper presents a case study scenario of setting up a Web platform based on GeoNode. It is a public platform called MASDAP and promoted by the Government of Malawi in order to support development of the country and build resilience against natural disasters. A substantial amount of geospatial data has already been collected about hydrogeological risk, as well as several other-disasters related information. Moreover this platform will help to ensure that the data created by a number of past or ongoing projects is maintained and that this information remains accessible and useful. An Integrated Flood Risk Management Plan for a river basin has already been included in the platform and other data from future disaster risk management projects will be added as well.

GIS and local knowledge in disaster management: a case study of flood risk mapping in Viet Nam.

PubMed

Tran, Phong; Shaw, Rajib; Chantry, Guillaume; Norton, John

2009-03-01

Linking community knowledge with modern techniques to record and analyse risk related data is one way of engaging and mobilising community capacity. This paper discusses the use of the Geographic Information System (GIS) at the local level and the need for integrating modern technology and indigenous knowledge into disaster management. It suggests a way to mobilise available human and technical resources in order to strengthen a good partnership between local communities and local and national institutions. The paper also analyses the current vulnerability of two communes by correlating hazard risk and loss/damage caused by disasters and the contribution that domestic risk maps in the community can make to reduce this risk. The disadvantages, advantages and lessons learned from the GIS flood risk mapping project are presented through the case study of the Quang Tho Commune in Thua Thien Hue province, central Viet Nam.

Disaster Management through Experiential Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rijumol, K. C.; Thangarajathi, S.; Ananthasayanam, R.

2010-01-01

Disasters can strike at any time, at any place. The world is becoming increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters. From earthquakes to floods and famines, mankind is even more threatened by the forces of nature. The Theme of the 2006 to 2007 International Day for Disaster Reduction was "Disaster Risk Reduction begins at schools" and…

The Use of NASA near Real-time and Archived Satellite Data to Support Disaster Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGrath, Kevin M.; Molthan, Andrew; Burks, Jason

2014-01-01

With support from a NASA's Applied Sciences Program, The Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center has explored a variety of techniques for utilizing archived and near real-time NASA satellite data to support disaster assessment activities. MODIS data from the NASA Land Atmosphere Near Real-time Capability for EOS currently provides true color and other imagery for assessment and potential applications including, but not limited to, flooding, fires, and tornadoes. In May 2013, the SPoRT Center developed unique power outage composites using the VIIRS Day/Night Band to represent the first clear sky view of damage inflicted upon Moore and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma following the devastating EF-5 tornado that occurred on May 20. Pre-event imagery provided by the NASA funded Web-Enabled Landsat Data project offer a basis of comparison for monitoring post-disaster recovery efforts. Techniques have also been developed to generate products from higher resolution imagery from the recently available International Space Station SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System instrument. Of paramount importance is to deliver these products to end users expeditiously and in formats compatible with Decision Support Systems (DSS). Delivery techniques include a Tile Map Service (TMS) and a Web Mapping Service (WMS). These mechanisms allow easy integration of satellite products into DSS's, including the National Weather Service's Damage Assessment Toolkit for use by personnel conducting damage surveys. This poster will present an overview of the developed techniques and products and compare the strengths and weaknesses of the TMS and WMS.

Flood Extent Mapping Using Dual-Polarimetric SENTINEL-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jo, M.-J.; Osmanoglu, B.; Zhang, B.; Wdowinski, S.

2018-04-01

Rapid generation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) based flood extent maps provide valuable data in disaster response efforts thanks to the cloud penetrating ability of microwaves. We present a method using dual-polarimetric SAR imagery acquired on Sentinel-1a/b satellites. A false-colour map is generated using pre- and post- disaster imagery, allowing operators to distinguish between existing standing water pre-flooding, and recently flooded areas. The method works best in areas of standing water and provides mixed results in urban areas. A flood depth map is also estimated by using an external DEM. We will present the methodology, it's estimated accuracy as well as investigations into improving the response in urban areas.

Disaster Metrics: A Comprehensive Framework for Disaster Evaluation Typologies.

PubMed

Wong, Diana F; Spencer, Caroline; Boyd, Lee; Burkle, Frederick M; Archer, Frank

2017-10-01

Introduction The frequency of disasters is increasing around the world with more people being at risk. There is a moral imperative to improve the way in which disaster evaluations are undertaken and reported with the aim of reducing preventable mortality and morbidity in future events. Disasters are complex events and undertaking disaster evaluations is a specialized area of study at an international level. Hypothesis/Problem While some frameworks have been developed to support consistent disaster research and evaluation, they lack validation, consistent terminology, and standards for reporting across the different phases of a disaster. There is yet to be an agreed, comprehensive framework to structure disaster evaluation typologies. The aim of this paper is to outline an evolving comprehensive framework for disaster evaluation typologies. It is anticipated that this new framework will facilitate an agreement on identifying, structuring, and relating the various evaluations found in the disaster setting with a view to better understand the process, outcomes, and impacts of the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions. Research was undertaken in two phases: (1) a scoping literature review (peer-reviewed and "grey literature") was undertaken to identify current evaluation frameworks and typologies used in the disaster setting; and (2) a structure was developed that included the range of typologies identified in Phase One and suggests possible relationships in the disaster setting. No core, unifying framework to structure disaster evaluation and research was identified in the literature. The authors propose a "Comprehensive Framework for Disaster Evaluation Typologies" that identifies, structures, and suggests relationships for the various typologies detected. The proposed Comprehensive Framework for Disaster Evaluation Typologies outlines the different typologies of disaster evaluations that were identified in this study and brings them together into a single framework. This unique, unifying framework has relevance at an international level and is expected to benefit the disaster, humanitarian, and development sectors. The next step is to undertake a validation process that will include international leaders with experience in evaluation, in general, and disasters specifically. This work promotes an environment for constructive dialogue on evaluations in the disaster setting to strengthen the evidence base for interventions across the disaster spectrum. It remains a work in progress. Wong DF , Spencer C , Boyd L , Burkle FM Jr. , Archer F . Disaster metrics: a comprehensive framework for disaster evaluation typologies. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(5):501-514.

USGS Emergency Response and the Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, B. K.; Lamb, R.

2013-12-01

Remotely sensed datasets such as satellite imagery and aerial photography can be an invaluable resource to support the response and recovery from many types of emergency events such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, and other natural or human-induced disasters. When disaster strikes there is often an urgent need and high demand for rapid acquisition and coordinated distribution of pre- and post-event geospatial products and remotely sensed imagery. These products and images are necessary to record change, analyze impacts, and facilitate response to the rapidly changing conditions on the ground. The coordinated and timely provision of relevant imagery and other datasets is one important component of the USGS support for domestic and international emergency response activities. The USGS Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS) serves as a single, consolidated point-of-access for relevant satellite and aerial image datasets during an emergency event response. The HDDS provides data visibility and immediate download services through a complementary pair of graphical map-based and traditional directory-based interfaces. This system allows emergency response personnel to rapidly select and obtain pre-event ('baseline') and post-event emergency response imagery from many different sources. These datasets will typically include images that are acquired directly by USGS, but may also include many other types of images that are collected and contributed by partner agencies and organizations during the course of an emergency event response. Over the past decade, USGS Emergency Response and HDDS have supported hundreds of domestic and international disaster events by providing critically needed pre- and post-event remotely sensed imagery and other related geospatial products as required by the emergency response community. Some of the larger national events supported by HDDS have included Hurricane Sandy (2012), the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010), and Hurricane Katrina (2005). Some of the major international events supported by HDDS have included the Japan earthquake and tsunami (2011), the historic flood event in Pakistan (2010), and the earthquake in Haiti (2010). This presentation will provide an overview of the USGS HDDS system, and the various types and sources of remotely sensed imagery that are distributed through this system. There will be particular focus on recent upgrades to the HDDS interface. There will also be a brief discussion of the USGS role in the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' and the satellite imagery that can be made available through this mechanism in the case of major disasters.

Communicating landslide risk by combining hazard and open infrastructure data in interactive visualizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tost, Jordi; Olen, Stephanie M.; Bookhagen, Bodo; Heidmann, Frank

2017-04-01

The DIGENTI project ("DIGitaler ENtscheiderTIsch für das Naturgefahrenmanagement auf Basis von Satellitendaten und Volunteered Geographic Information") has the goal of quantifying and communicating the threat of natural hazards in the Cesar and La Guajira departments of northeast Colombia. The end-goal of the project is to provide an interactive guide for policy and decision makers, and for disaster relief coordination. Over the last years, abundant research has been done in order to analyze risk and to provide relevant information that improves effectiveness in disaster management. The communication of natural hazards risk has traditionally been built upon the estimation of hazard maps. In the context of landslides, hazard maps are used to depict potential danger from landslides and visualize the possibility of future landsliding throughout a given area. Such hazard maps provide a static snapshot of the local estimated threat in a region. However, in mountainous regions, a sufficiently large landslide in remote mountainous areas may represent a potential threat to settlements located downstream of a landslide event. The research presented here proposes an approach to visualize and interactively explore landslide risk by combining static hazard maps, hydrologic networks, and OpenStreetMap data. We estimated the potential for hillslope instabilities scenarios in the region of interest by using the TanDEM-X World DEM to calculate a suite Factor of Safety (FOS) maps. The FOS estimates the ratio of total resisting and driving forces to hillslope mass movements. By combining the World DEM with other environmental data (e.g., the Harmonized World Soil Database), we were able to create a suite of high-resolution landslide potential maps for the region of interest. The suite of FOS maps are calculated based on user-selectable parameters (e.g, total mass sliding thickness) that are not well constrained by field observations. We additionally use the TanDEM-X World DEM to calculate the hydrologic network for our study area. This allows not only to delineate the stream network, but also to calculate the area upstream of settlements located near rivers or streams that may be impacted by distal landsliding. By integrating the potential landslide hazard in the upstream area, we create a more robust threat estimate for vulnerable settlements. Disaster relief is not only affected by the physical consequences of a hazardous event, but also by the area's accessibility and mobility capability for internal displacements. We therefore also estimate the threat along roads and to other infrastructure (e.g. bridges). Decisions based on the area's road network have to be constantly taken, for instance, to send rescue teams or to coordinate humanitarian logistics. With our approach, we are able to identify critical spots along roads with high likelihood of getting damaged. Furthermore, given a particular potential landslide location and the calculation of its downstream hydrologic network, it is possible to estimate which settlements, roads or bridges may be at risk. This approach could be integrated into flooding early warning systems and into the disaster management response phase to foresee dangers and losses and plan evacuations on time.

Collaborative, Rapid Mapping of Water Extents During Hurricane Harvey Using Optical and Radar Satellite Sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muench, R.; Jones, M.; Herndon, K. E.; Bell, J. R.; Anderson, E. R.; Markert, K. N.; Molthan, A.; Adams, E. C.; Shultz, L.; Cherrington, E. A.; Flores, A.; Lucey, R.; Munroe, T.; Layne, G.; Pulla, S. T.; Weigel, A. M.; Tondapu, G.

2017-12-01

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor, Texas, bringing with it unprecedented amounts of rainfall and flooding. In times of natural disasters of this nature, emergency responders require timely and accurate information about the hazard in order to assess and plan for disaster response. Due to the extreme flooding impacts associated with Hurricane Harvey, delineations of water extent were crucial to inform resource deployment. Through the USGS's Hazards Data Distribution System, government and commercial vendors were able to acquire and distribute various satellite imagery to analysts to create value-added products that can be used by these emergency responders. Rapid-response water extent maps were created through a collaborative multi-organization and multi-sensor approach. One team of researchers created Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) water extent maps using modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2017), processed by ESA. This group used backscatter images, pre-processed by the Alaska Satellite Facility's Hybrid Pluggable Processing Pipeline (HyP3), to identify and apply a threshold to identify water in the image. Quality control was conducted by manually examining the image and correcting for potential errors. Another group of researchers and graduate student volunteers derived water masks from high resolution DigitalGlobe and SPOT images. Through a system of standardized image processing, quality control measures, and communication channels the team provided timely and fairly accurate water extent maps to support a larger NASA Disasters Program response. The optical imagery was processed through a combination of various band thresholds by using Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Modified Normalized Water Index (MNDWI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and cloud masking. Several aspects of the pre-processing and image access were run on internal servers to expedite the provision of images to analysts who could focus on manipulating thresholds and quality control checks for maximum accuracy within the time constraints. The combined results of the radar- and optical-derived value-added products through the coordination of multiple organizations provided timely information for emergency response and recovery efforts

Collaborative, Rapid Mapping of Water Extents During Hurricane Harvey Using Optical and Radar Satellite Sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Muench, Rebekke; Jones, Madeline; Herndon, Kelsey; Schultz, Lori; Bell, Jordan; Anderson, Eric; Markert, Kel; Molthan, Andrew; Adams, Emily; Cherrington, Emil;

International Telemedicine/Disaster Medicine Conference: Papers and Presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The first International Telemedicine/Disaster Medicine Conference was held in Dec. 1991. The overall purpose was to convene an international, multidisciplinary gathering of experts to discuss the emerging field of telemedicine and assess its future directions; principally the application of space technology to disaster response and management, but also to clinical medicine, remote health care, public health, and other needs. This collection is intended to acquaint the reader with recent landmark efforts in telemedicine as applied to disaster management and remote health care, the technical requirements of telemedicine systems, the application of telemedicine and telehealth in the U.S. space program, and the social and humanitarian dimensions of this area of medicine.

A novel surveillance approach for disaster mental health

PubMed Central

Shankardass, Ketan; Subramanian, S. V.; Galea, Sandro

2017-01-01

Background Disasters have substantial consequences for population mental health. Social media data present an opportunity for mental health surveillance after disasters to help identify areas of mental health needs. We aimed to 1) identify specific basic emotions from Twitter for the greater New York City area during Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012, and to 2) detect and map spatial temporal clusters representing excess risk of these emotions. Methods We applied an advanced sentiment analysis on 344,957 Twitter tweets in the study area over eleven days, from October 22 to November 1, 2012, to extract basic emotions, a space-time scan statistic (SaTScan) and a geographic information system (QGIS) to detect and map excess risk of these emotions. Results Sadness and disgust were among the most prominent emotions identified. Furthermore, we noted 24 spatial clusters of excess risk of basic emotions over time: Four for anger, one for confusion, three for disgust, five for fear, five for sadness, and six for surprise. Of these, anger, confusion, disgust and fear clusters appeared pre disaster, a cluster of surprise was found peri disaster, and a cluster of sadness emerged post disaster. Conclusions We proposed a novel syndromic surveillance approach for mental health based on social media data that may support conventional approaches by providing useful additional information in the context of disaster. We showed that excess risk of multiple basic emotions could be mapped in space and time as a step towards anticipating acute stress in the population and identifying community mental health need rapidly and efficiently in the aftermath of disaster. More studies are needed to better control for bias, identify associations with reliable and valid instruments measuring mental health, and to explore computational methods for continued model-fitting, causal relationships, and ongoing evaluation. Our study may be a starting point also for more fully elaborated models that can either prospectively detect mental health risk using real-time social media data or detect excess risk of emotional reactions in areas that lack efficient infrastructure during and after disasters. As such, social media data may be used for mental health surveillance after large scale disasters to help identify areas of mental health needs and to guide us in our knowledge where we may most effectively intervene to reduce the mental health consequences of disasters. PMID:28723959

A novel surveillance approach for disaster mental health.

PubMed

Gruebner, Oliver; Lowe, Sarah R; Sykora, Martin; Shankardass, Ketan; Subramanian, S V; Galea, Sandro

2017-01-01

Disasters have substantial consequences for population mental health. Social media data present an opportunity for mental health surveillance after disasters to help identify areas of mental health needs. We aimed to 1) identify specific basic emotions from Twitter for the greater New York City area during Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012, and to 2) detect and map spatial temporal clusters representing excess risk of these emotions. We applied an advanced sentiment analysis on 344,957 Twitter tweets in the study area over eleven days, from October 22 to November 1, 2012, to extract basic emotions, a space-time scan statistic (SaTScan) and a geographic information system (QGIS) to detect and map excess risk of these emotions. Sadness and disgust were among the most prominent emotions identified. Furthermore, we noted 24 spatial clusters of excess risk of basic emotions over time: Four for anger, one for confusion, three for disgust, five for fear, five for sadness, and six for surprise. Of these, anger, confusion, disgust and fear clusters appeared pre disaster, a cluster of surprise was found peri disaster, and a cluster of sadness emerged post disaster. We proposed a novel syndromic surveillance approach for mental health based on social media data that may support conventional approaches by providing useful additional information in the context of disaster. We showed that excess risk of multiple basic emotions could be mapped in space and time as a step towards anticipating acute stress in the population and identifying community mental health need rapidly and efficiently in the aftermath of disaster. More studies are needed to better control for bias, identify associations with reliable and valid instruments measuring mental health, and to explore computational methods for continued model-fitting, causal relationships, and ongoing evaluation. Our study may be a starting point also for more fully elaborated models that can either prospectively detect mental health risk using real-time social media data or detect excess risk of emotional reactions in areas that lack efficient infrastructure during and after disasters. As such, social media data may be used for mental health surveillance after large scale disasters to help identify areas of mental health needs and to guide us in our knowledge where we may most effectively intervene to reduce the mental health consequences of disasters.

The Central American Network for Disaster and Health Information.

PubMed

Arnesen, Stacey J; Cid, Victor H; Scott, John C; Perez, Ricardo; Zervaas, Dave

2007-07-01

This paper describes an international outreach program to support rebuilding Central America's health information infrastructure after several natural disasters in the region, including Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and two major earthquakes in 2001. The National Library of Medicine joined forces with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and the Regional Center of Disaster Information for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID) to strengthen libraries and information centers in Central America and improve the availability of and access to health and disaster information in the region by developing the Central American Network for Disaster and Health Information (CANDHI). Through CRID, the program created ten disaster health information centers in medical libraries and disaster-related organizations in six countries. This project served as a catalyst for the modernization of several medical libraries in Central America. The resulting CANDHI provides much needed electronic access to public health "gray literature" on disasters, as well as access to numerous health information resources. CANDHI members assist their institutions and countries in a variety of disaster preparedness activities through collecting and disseminating information.

Developing the Philippines as a Global Hub for Disaster Risk Reduction - A Health Research Initiative as Presented at the 10th Philippine National Health Research System Week Celebration.

PubMed

Banwell, Nicola; Montoya, Jaime; Opeña, Merlita; IJsselmuiden, Carel; Law, Ronald; Balboa, Gloria J; Rutherford, Shannon; Chu, Cordia; Murray, Virginia

2016-10-25

The recent Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week Celebration highlighted the growing commitment to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Philippines. The event was lead by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Health, and saw the participation of national and international experts in DRR, and numerous research consortia from all over the Philippines. With a central focus on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the DRR related events recognised the significant disaster risks faced in the Philippines. They also illustrated the Philippine strengths and experience in DRR. Key innovations in science and technology showcased at the conference include the web-base hazard mapping applications 'Project NOAH' and 'FaultFinder'. Other notable innovations include 'Surveillance in Post Extreme Emergencies and Disasters' (SPEED) which monitors potential outbreaks through a syndromic reporting system. Three areas noted for further development in DRR science and technology included: integrated national hazard assessment, strengthened collaboration, and improved documentation. Finally, the event saw the proposal to develop the Philippines into a global hub for DRR. The combination of the risk profile of the Philippines, established national structures and experience in DRR, as well as scientific and technological innovation in this field are potential factors that could position the Philippines as a future global leader in DRR. The purpose of this article is to formally document the key messages of the DRR-related events of the PNHRS Week Celebration.

NOAA's Use of High-Resolution Imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hund, Erik

2007-01-01

NOAA's use of high-resolution imagery consists of: a) Shoreline mapping and nautical chart revision; b) Coastal land cover mapping; c) Benthic habitat mapping; d) Disaster response; and e) Imagery collection and support for coastal programs.

NASA E-DECIDER Rapid Disaster Decision Support Products

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-09-03

A NASA-funded disaster decision support system, provided a number of rapid response map data products to decision makers at the California Earthquake Clearinghouse following its activation for the Aug. 24, 2014 magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Napa, California

Disaster Governance for Community Resilience in Coastal Towns: Chilean Case Studies

PubMed Central

Quintana, Carolina

2017-01-01

This study aimed to further our understanding of a characteristic of Community Resilience known as Disaster Governance. Three attributes of Disaster Governance—redundancy, diversity, and overlap—were studied in four coastal towns in southern Chile that are at risk of tsunamis. Overall, we explored how different spatial structures of human settlements influence Disaster Governance. Using the Projective Mapping Technique, the distribution of emergency institutions (N = 32) and uses given to specific sites (e.g., for refuge, sanitary purposes and medical attention) were mapped. Content and GIS analyses (Directional Distribution and Kernel Density Index) were used to explore the dispersion and concentration of institutions and uses in each town. Disaster Governance was found to be highly influenced by decisions taken during regional, urban, and emergency planning. Governance is better in towns of higher order in the communal hierarchical structure. Most of the emergency institutions were found to be located in central and urban areas, which, in turn, assures more redundancy, overlap, and diversity in governance in the event of a tsunami. Lack of flexibility of emergency plans also limits governance in rural and indigenous areas. While the spatial relationships found in this study indicate that urban sectors have better Disaster Governance than rural and indigenous sectors, the influence of resource availability after tsunamis, the role and responsibility of different levels of governments, and the politics of disaster also play an important role in Disaster Governance for determining Community Resilience. These findings shed light on emergency planning and aspects of the Disaster Management cycle. PMID:28906480

Psychological first aid training after Japan's triple disaster: changes in perceived self competency.

PubMed

Semlitz, Linda; Ogiwara, Kaori; Weissbecker, Inka; Gilbert, Elizabeth; Sato, Maiko; Taniguchi, Machi; Ishii, Chikako; Sawa, Chie

2013-01-01

International Medical Corps and TELL, a local mental health non-profit organization in Japan, collaborated to develop localized Psychological First Aid (PFA) training of welfare and volunteer organizations supporting survivors of the Japan March 11, 2011 triple disaster The trainings significantly increased participants 'perceived competency in applying PFA principles and in interacting with the disaster affected populations in a safe manner The collaboration between International Medical Corps and TELL in developing, implementing and evaluating the training has potential to inform PFA activities in other disaster affected settings.

Developing post-disaster physical rehabilitation: role of the World Health Organization Liaison Sub-Committee on Rehabilitation Disaster Relief of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine.

PubMed

Gosney, James; Reinhardt, Jan Dietrich; Haig, Andrew J; Li, Jianan

2011-11-01

This special report presents the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) Liaison Sub-Committee on Rehabilitation Disaster Relief (CRDR) of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM) in developing an enhanced physical rehabilitation relief response to large-scale natural disasters. The CRDR has stated that disaster rehabilitation is an emerging subspecialty within physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM). In reviewing the existing literature it was found that large natural disasters result in many survivors with disabling impairments, that these survivors may have better clinical outcomes when they are treated by PRM physicians and teams of rehabilitation professionals, that the delivery of these rehabilitation services to disaster sites is complicated, and that their absence can result in significant negative consequences for individuals, communities and society. To advance its agenda, the CRDR sponsored an inaugural Symposium on Rehabilitation Disaster Relief as a concurrent scientific session at the 2011 ISPRM 6th World Congress in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The symposium included oral and poster presentations on a range of relevant topics and concluded with an international non-governmental organization panel discussion that addressed the critical question "How can rehabilitation actors coordinate better in disaster?" Building upon the symposium, the CRDR is developing a disaster rehabilitation evidence-base, which will inform and educate the global professional rehabilitation community about needs and best practices in disaster rehabilitation. The Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine (JRM) has commissioned this special report to announce a series of papers on disaster rehabilitation from the symposium's scientific programme. Authors are invited to submit papers on the topic for inclusion in this special series. JRM also encourages expert commentary in the form of Letters to the Editor.

Effective International Medical Disaster Relief: A Qualitative Descriptive Study.

PubMed

Broby, Nicolette; Lassetter, Jane H; Williams, Mary; Winters, Blaine A

2018-04-01

Purpose The aim of this study was to assist organizations seeking to develop or improve their medical disaster relief effort by identifying fundamental elements and processes that permeate high-quality, international, medical disaster relief organizations and the teams they deploy. A qualitative descriptive design was used. Data were gathered from interviews with key personnel at five international medical response organizations, as well as during field observations conducted at multiple sites in Jordan and Greece, including three refugee camps. Data were then reviewed by the research team and coded to identify patterns, categories, and themes. The results from this qualitative, descriptive design identified three themes which were key characteristics of success found in effective, well-established, international medical disaster relief organizations. These characteristics were first, ensuring an official invitation had been extended and the need for assistance had been identified. Second, the response to that need was done in an effective and sustainable manner. Third, effective organizations strived to obtain high-quality volunteers. By following the three key characteristics outlined in this research, organizations are more likely to improve the efficiency and quality of their work. In addition, they will be less likely to impede the overall recovery process. Broby N , Lassetter JH , Williams M , Winters BA . Effective international medical disaster relief: a qualitative descriptive study. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(2):119-126.

Mapping Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation: progress in South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Storie, Judith M.

2018-05-01

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) strategies in Africa are on the increase. South Africa is no different, and a number of strategies have seen the light in aid of reducing disaster risk and adapting to cli-mate change. The DRR and CCA processes include the mapping of location and extent of known and potential hazards, vulnerable communities and environments, and opportunities that may exist to manage these risks. However, the mapping of often fast-changing urban and rural spaces in a standardized manner presents challenges that relate to processes, scales of data capture, level of detail recorded, software and compatibility related to data formats and net-works, human resources skills and understanding, as well as differences in approaches to the nature in which the map-ping processes are executed and spatial data is managed. As a result, projects and implementation of strategies that re-late to the use of such data is affected, and the success of activities based on the data may therefore be uncertain. This paper investigates data custodianship and data categories that is processed and managed across South Africa. It explores the process and content management of disaster risk and climate change related information and defines the challenges that exist in terms of governance. The paper also comments on the challenges and potential solutions for the situation as it gives rise to varying degrees of accuracy, effectiveness for use, and applicability of the spatial data available to affect DRR and improve the value of CCA programmes in the region.

Integrated Research and Capacity Building in Geophysics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willemann, R. J.; Lerner-Lam, A.; Nyblade, A.

2008-05-01

There have been special opportunities over the past several years to improve the ways that newly-constructed geophysical observatories in Southeast Asia and the Americas are linked with educational and civil institutions. Because these opportunities have been only partially fulfilled, there remains the possibility that new networks will not fully address desired goals or even lose operational capabilities. In contrast, the AfricaArray project continues to progress towards goals for linkages among education, research, mitigation and observatories. With support from the Office of International Science and Education at the US National Science Foundation, we convened a workshop to explore lessons learned from the AfricaArray experience and their relevance to network development opportunities in other regions. We found closer parallels than we expected between geophysical infrastructure in the predominantly low income countries of Africa with low risk of geophysical disasters and the mostly middle-income countries of Southeast Asia and the Americas with high risk of geophysical disasters. Except in larger countries of South America, workshop participants reported that there are very few geophysicists engaged in research and observatory operations, that geophysical education programs are nearly non-existent even at the undergraduate university level, and that many monitoring agencies continue to focus on limited missions even though closer relationships researchers could facilitate new services that would make important contributions to disaster mitigation and sustainable operations. Workshop participants began discussing plans for international research collaborations that, unlike many projects of even the recent past, would include long-term capacity building and disaster mitigation among their goals. Specific project objectives would include national or regional hazard mapping, development of indigenous education programs, training to address the needs of local monitoring agencies, strategic international university partnerships, commitments to open data, and installation of permanent analysis systems that include open- source software. Such projects are intrinsically more complex than pure research - partly because they require funding from multiple sources to address diverse goals - but experience in Africa suggests that integrated programs contribute to long-term capacity building in ways that projects founded on basic research questions may not.

Supply Chain Management in Humanitarian Relief Logistics

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-01

information (1) Pre- and post - disaster assessment (4,14,19,30) Cluster sampling (20) Community vulnerability maps (5,21) Implement a logistics information...evaluated? Are post - disaster assessment responsibilities identified and formally assigned? Have agreements with the host government been made to make use

Promoting a culture of disaster preparedness.

PubMed

Medina, Angeli

2016-01-01

Disasters from all hazards, ranging from natural disasters, human-induced disasters, effects of climate change to social conflicts can significantly affect the healthcare system and community. This requires a paradigm shift from a reactive approach to a disaster risk management 'all-hazards' approach. Disaster management is a joint effort of the city, state, regional, national, multi-agencies and international organisations that requires effective communication, collaboration and coordination. This paper offers lessons learned and best practices, which, when taken into consideration, can strengthen the phases of disaster risk management.

The Central American Network for Disaster and Health Information

PubMed Central

Arnesen, Stacey J.; Cid, Victor H.; Scott, John C.; Perez, Ricardo; Zervaas, Dave

2007-01-01

Purpose: This paper describes an international outreach program to support rebuilding Central America's health information infrastructure after several natural disasters in the region, including Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and two major earthquakes in 2001. Setting, Participants, and Description: The National Library of Medicine joined forces with the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and the Regional Center of Disaster Information for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID) to strengthen libraries and information centers in Central America and improve the availability of and access to health and disaster information in the region by developing the Central American Network for Disaster and Health Information (CANDHI). Through CRID, the program created ten disaster health information centers in medical libraries and disaster-related organizations in six countries. Results/Outcome: This project served as a catalyst for the modernization of several medical libraries in Central America. The resulting CANDHI provides much needed electronic access to public health “gray literature” on disasters, as well as access to numerous health information resources. CANDHI members assist their institutions and countries in a variety of disaster preparedness activities through collecting and disseminating information. PMID:17641767

USGS Emergency Response and the International Charter Space and Major Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, B. K.

2009-12-01

Responding to catastrophic natural disasters requires information. When the flow of information on the ground is interrupted by crises such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, hurricanes, and floods, satellite imagery and aerial photographs become invaluable tools in revealing post-disaster conditions and in aiding disaster response and recovery efforts. USGS is a global clearinghouse for remotely sensed disaster imagery. It is also a source of innovative products derived from satellite imagery that can provide unique overviews as well as important details about the impacts of disasters. Repeatedly, USGS and its resources have proven their worth in assisting with disaster recovery activities in the United States and abroad. USGS has a well-established role in emergency response in the United States. It works closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by providing first responders with satellite and aerial images of disaster-impacted sites and products developed from those images. FEMA’s partnership with the USGS began in 1999 when the agency established USGS as its executive agent for the acquisition and coordination of aerial and satellite remote sensing data. Understanding the terrain affords FEMA the vital perspective needed to effectively respond to the devastation many disasters leave behind. The combination of the USGS image archive, coupled with its global data transfer capability and on-site science staff, was instrumental in the USGS becoming a participating agency in the International Charter Space and Major Disasters. This participation provides the USGS with access to international members space agencies, to information on their methodology in disaster response, and to data from the satellites they operate. Such access enhances the USGS’ ability to respond to global emergencies and to disasters that occur in the United States (US). As one example, the Charter agencies provided over 75 images to the US in support of Hurricane Katrina. The International Charter mission is to provide a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters. Each member space agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter and thus is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property. The International Charter has been in formal operation since November 1, 2000. An Authorized User calls a single number to request the mobilization of satellite imagery and associated ground station support of the Charter’s member agencies to obtain data and information on a disaster occurrence. The International Charter is supported by Argentinean, Canadian, European, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and U.S. satellite operators, as well as through U.S. and foreign commercial satellite firms. These operators can provide a wide variety of imagery and information under various environmental conditions. The Charter works in close cooperation with the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and with United Nations bodies such as the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UN OOSA) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programe (UNOSAT). These organizations play an important role in maximizing the Charter’s use with U.N. member states.

Introducing embedded indigenous psychological support teams: a suggested addition to psychological first aid in an international context.

PubMed

Edwards-Stewart, Amanda; Ahmad, Zeba S; Thoburn, John W; Furman, Rich; Lambert, Ashly J; Shelly, Lauren; Gunn, Ginger

2012-01-01

The current article introduces Embedded Indigenous Psychological Support Teams (IPST) as a possible addition to current disaster relief efforts. This article highlights psychological first aid in an international context by drawing on mainstream disaster relief models such as The American Red Cross, Critical Incident Stress Management, and Flexible Psychological First Aid. IPST are explained as teams utilizing techniques from both CISM and FPFA with a focus on resiliency. It is currently theorized that in utilizing IPST existing disaster relief models may be more effective in mitigating negative physical or mental health consequences post-disaster.

Disaster Risk Education of Final Year High School Students Requires a Partnership with Families and Charity Organizations: An International Cross-sectional Survey.

PubMed

Codreanu, Tudor A; Celenza, Antonio; Ngo, Hanh

2016-06-01

Introduction The aim of disaster reduction education (DRE) is to achieve behavioral change. Over the past two decades, many efforts have been directed towards this goal, but educational activities have been developed based on unverified assumptions. Further, the literature has not identified any significant change towards disaster preparedness at the individual level. In addition, previous research suggests that change is dependent on multiple independent predictors. It is difficult to determine what specific actions DRE might result in; therefore, the preamble of such an action, which is to have discussions about it, has been chosen as the surrogate outcome measure for DRE success. This study describes the relationship of the perceived entity responsible for disaster education, disaster education per se, sex, and country-specific characteristics, with students discussing disasters with friends and family as a measure of proactive behavioral change in disaster preparedness. A total of 3,829 final year high school students participated in an international, multi-center prospective, cross-sectional study using a validated questionnaire. Nine countries with different levels of disaster exposure risk and economic development were surveyed. Regression analyses examined the relationship between the likelihood of discussing disasters with friends and family (dependent variable) and a series of independent variables. There was no statistically significant relationship between a single entity responsible for disaster education and discussions about potential hazards and risks with friends and/or family. While several independent predictors showed a significant main effect, DRE through school lessons in interaction with Family & Charity Organizations had the highest predictive value. Disaster reduction education might require different delivery channels and methods and should engage with the entities with which the teenagers are more likely to collaborate. Codreanu TA , Celenza A , Ngo H . Disaster risk education of final year high school students requires a partnership with families and charity organizations: an international cross-sectional survey. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(3):242-254.

The NASA Applied Science Program Disasters Area: Disaster Applications Research and Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, J. J.; Lindsay, F. E.; Stough, T.; Jones, C. E.

2014-12-01

The goal of the Natural Disaster Application Area is to use NASA's capabilities in spaceborne, airborne, surface observations, higher-level derived data products, and modeling and data analysis to improve natural disaster forecasting, mitigation, and response. The Natural Disaster Application Area applies its remote sensing observations, modeling and analysis capabilities to provide hazard and disaster information where and when it is needed. Our application research activities specifically contribute to 1) Understanding the natural processes that produce hazards, 2)Developing hazard mitigation technologies, and 3)Recognizing vulnerability of interdependent critical infrastructure. The Natural Disasters Application area selects research projects through a rigorous, impartial peer-review process that address a broad spectrum of disasters which afflict populations within the United States, regionally and globally. Currently there are 19 active projects in the research portfolio which address the detection, characterization, forecasting and response to a broad range of natural disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and ash dispersion, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, tornado damage assessment, oil spills and disaster data mining. The Disasters team works with federal agencies to aid the government in meeting the challenges associated with natural disaster response and to transfer technologies to agencies as they become operational. Internationally, the Disasters Area also supports the Committee on Earth Observations Working Group on Disasters, and the International Charter on Space and Disasters to increase, strengthen, and coordinate contributions of NASA Earth-observing satellites and applications products to disaster risk management. The CEOS group will lead pilot efforts focused on identifying key systems to support flooding, earthquake, and volcanic events.

Natural Hazards Observer, volume 2, number 4, June 1978

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

White, A.; Waterstone, P.

1978-06-01

The National Hazards Observer is intended to strengthen communication between research workers and the individuals, organizations and agencies concerned with public action relating to natural hazards. The feature article concerns the strengthened commitment of the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration (FDAA) in hazard mitigation. Also included in this issue are discussions of: (1) preparation of 60-second public service announcements for radio and TV by the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency to call attention to the role of local civil defense organizations in peacetime as well as in nuclear disasters; (2) the request by the public for more scientific earthquake prediction and preparedness;more » (3) a computer-based simulation exercise (ATLANTIS); (4) cooperation between UNESCO and UNDRO (UN Disaster Relief Organization) in earthquake risk research, training, and public education; (5) the endorsement of a resolution by the UN General Assembly which calls for the promotion of measures to facilitate and expedite international relief assistance and to emphasize prevention; (6) a statement of concern that flash floods now rank as the major killer and destroyer among weather-related disasters in the U.S.; (7) estimating the long term effects of floods, tornados, and hurricanes; (8) governors' project on emergency preparedness; (9) emergency evacuation route maps, seismic design and public policy; and (10) geologic awareness. Also included are announcements of conferences, recent publications, Washington Update, and included are annluncements of conference, recent publications, Washington Update, and newly awarded NSF grants.« less

Mapping fires and American Red Cross aid using demographic indicators of vulnerability.

PubMed

Lue, Evan; Wilson, John P

2017-04-01

Social vulnerability indicators can assist with informing disaster relief preparation. Certain demographic segments of a population may suffer disproportionately during disaster events, and a geographical understanding of them can help to determine where to place strategically logistical assets and to target disaster-awareness outreach endeavours. Records of house fire events and American Red Cross aid provision over a five-year period were mapped for the County of Los Angeles, California, United States, to examine the congruence between actual events and expectations of risk based on vulnerability theory. The geographical context provided by the data was compared with spatially-explicit indicators of vulnerability, such as age, race, and wealth. Fire events were found to occur more frequently in more vulnerable areas, and Red Cross aid was found to have an even stronger relationship to those places. The findings suggest that these indicators speak beyond vulnerability and relate to patterns of fire risk. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Standards in collaborative international disaster drills: a case study of two international search and rescue drills.

PubMed

Rokach, Ariel; Pinkert, Moshe; Nemet, Dani; Goldberg, Avishay; Bar-Dayan, Yaron

2008-01-01

During the last few decades, various global disasters have rendered nations helpless (such as Thailand's tsunami and earthquakes in Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, and India). A lack of knowledge and resources make it difficult to address such disasters. Preparedness for a national disaster is expensive, and in most cases, unachievable even for modern countries. International collaboration might be useful for coping with large-scale disasters. Preparedness for international collaboration includes drills. Two such drills held by the Israeli Home Front Command and other military and civilian bodies with the nations of Greece and Turkey are described in this article. The data were gathered from formal debriefings of the Israeli teams collaborating in two separate drills with Greek and Turkish teams. Preparations began four months before the drills were conducted and included three meetings between Israeli and foreign officials. The Israeli and foreign officials agreed upon the drill layout, logistics, communications, residence, real-time medicine, hardware, and equipment. The drills took place in Greece and Turkey and lasted four days. The first day included meetings between the teams and logistics preparations. The second and third days were devoted to exercises. The drills included evacuating casualties from a demolition zone and treating typical injuries such as crush syndrome. Every day ended with a formal debriefing by the teams' commanders. The fourth day included a ceremony and transportation back home. Members in both teams felt the drills improved their skills and had an important impact on creating common language that would enhance cooperation during a real disaster. A key factor in the management of large-scale disasters is coordination between countries. International drills are important to create common language within similar regulations.

Enhancing Saarc Disaster Management: A Comparative Study With Asean Coordinating Centre For Humanitarian Assistance On Disaster Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

countries are collaborating in the field of disaster management.40 Similarly, the military leaders in Myanmar were obligated to accept international...Assessment Team (ERAT), arranged by the ASEAN Secretariat in coordination with the ACDM and the government of Myanmar .42 b. Basis for Regional...in Myanmar : Towards a Regional Initiative?” Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 30, no. 3 (2008), 370

Effects of Natural Disaster Trends: A Case Study for Expanding the Pre-Positioning Network of CARE International

PubMed Central

Bozkurt, Melda; Duran, Serhan

2012-01-01

The increasing number of natural disasters in the last decade necessitates the increase in capacity and agility while delivering humanitarian relief. A common logistics strategy used by humanitarian organizations to respond this need is the establishment of pre-positioning warehouse networks. In the pre-positioning strategy, critical relief inventories are located near the regions at which they will be needed in advance of the onset of the disaster. Therefore, pre-positioning reduces the response time by totally or partially eliminating the procurement phase and increasing the availability of relief items just after the disaster strikes. Once the pre-positioning warehouse locations are decided and warehouses on those locations become operational, they will be in use for a long time. Therefore, the chosen locations should be robust enough to enable extensions, and to cope with changing trends in disaster types, locations and magnitudes. In this study, we analyze the effects of natural disaster trends on the expansion plan of pre-positioning warehouse network implemented by CARE International. We utilize a facility location model to identify the additional warehouse location(s) for relief items to be stored as an extension of the current warehouse network operated by CARE International, considering changing natural disaster trends observed over the past three decades. PMID:23066402

Effects of natural disaster trends: a case study for expanding the pre-positioning network of CARE International.

PubMed

Bozkurt, Melda; Duran, Serhan

2012-08-01

The increasing number of natural disasters in the last decade necessitates the increase in capacity and agility while delivering humanitarian relief. A common logistics strategy used by humanitarian organizations to respond this need is the establishment of pre-positioning warehouse networks. In the pre-positioning strategy, critical relief inventories are located near the regions at which they will be needed in advance of the onset of the disaster. Therefore, pre-positioning reduces the response time by totally or partially eliminating the procurement phase and increasing the availability of relief items just after the disaster strikes. Once the pre-positioning warehouse locations are decided and warehouses on those locations become operational, they will be in use for a long time. Therefore, the chosen locations should be robust enough to enable extensions, and to cope with changing trends in disaster types, locations and magnitudes. In this study, we analyze the effects of natural disaster trends on the expansion plan of pre-positioning warehouse network implemented by CARE International. We utilize a facility location model to identify the additional warehouse location(s) for relief items to be stored as an extension of the current warehouse network operated by CARE International, considering changing natural disaster trends observed over the past three decades.

Consideration of the effect for enhancing the disaster prevention awareness by visualization of the tsunami lore

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiharu, M.

2017-12-01

One effective measure for enhancing the residents' disaster prevention awareness is to know the natural hazard which has occurred in the past at residence. Mie Disaster Mitigation Center had released the digital archive for promoting an understanding of disaster prevention on April 28, 2015. This archive is recording the past disaster information as digital catalog. An effective contribution to enhancement of the inhabitants' disaster prevention awareness is expected. It includes the following contents (1) The interview with disaster victim (the 1944 Tonankai Earthquake, The Ise Bay Typhoon and so on) (2) The information on "monument of Tsunami" (3) The description of disaster on the local history material (the school history books, municipal history books, and so on). These contents are being dropped on a map and it is being shown clearly geographically. For all age groups, this way makes it easy to understand that the past disaster information relates to their residence address.

Retrieving quantifiable social media data from human sensor networks for disaster modeling and crisis mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aulov, Oleg

This dissertation presents a novel approach that utilizes quantifiable social media data as a human aware, near real-time observing system, coupled with geophysical predictive models for improved response to disasters and extreme events. It shows that social media data has the potential to significantly improve disaster management beyond informing the public, and emphasizes the importance of different roles that social media can play in management, monitoring, modeling and mitigation of natural and human-caused extreme disasters. In the proposed approach Social Media users are viewed as "human sensors" that are "deployed" in the field, and their posts are considered to be "sensor observations", thus different social media outlets all together form a Human Sensor Network. We utilized the "human sensor" observations, as boundary value forcings, to show improved geophysical model forecasts of extreme disaster events when combined with other scientific data such as satellite observations and sensor measurements. Several recent extreme disasters are presented as use case scenarios. In the case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster of 2010 that devastated the Gulf of Mexico, the research demonstrates how social media data from Flickr can be used as a boundary forcing condition of GNOME oil spill plume forecast model, and results in an order of magnitude forecast improvement. In the case of Hurricane Sandy NY/NJ landfall impact of 2012, we demonstrate how the model forecasts, when combined with social media data in a single framework, can be used for near real-time forecast validation, damage assessment and disaster management. Owing to inherent uncertainties in the weather forecasts, the NOAA operational surge model only forecasts the worst-case scenario for flooding from any given hurricane. Geolocated and time-stamped Instagram photos and tweets allow near real-time assessment of the surge levels at different locations, which can validate model forecasts, give timely views of the actual levels of surge, as well as provide an upper bound beyond which the surge did not spread. Additionally, we developed AsonMaps---a crisis-mapping tool that combines dynamic model forecast outputs with social media observations and physical measurements to define the regions of event impacts.

The VIDA Framework as an Education Tool: Leveraging Volcanology Data for Educational Purposes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faied, D.; Sanchez, A.

2009-04-01

The VIDA Framework as an Education Tool: Leveraging Volcanology Data for Educational Purposes Dohy Faied, Aurora Sanchez (on behalf of SSP08 VAPOR Project Team) While numerous global initiatives exist to address the potential hazards posed by volcanic eruption events and assess impacts from a civil security viewpoint, there does not yet exist a single, unified, international system of early warning and hazard tracking for eruptions. Numerous gaps exist in the risk reduction cycle, from data collection, to data processing, and finally dissemination of salient information to relevant parties. As part of the 2008 International Space University's Space Studies Program, a detailed gap analysis of the state of volcano disaster risk reduction was undertaken, and this paper presents the principal results. This gap analysis considered current sensor technologies, data processing algorithms, and utilization of data products by various international organizations. Recommendations for strategies to minimize or eliminate certain gaps are also provided. In the effort to address the gaps, a framework evolved at system level. This framework, known as VIDA, is a tool to develop user requirements for civil security in hazardous contexts, and a candidate system concept for a detailed design phase. While the basic intention of VIDA is to support disaster risk reduction efforts, there are several methods of leveraging raw science data to support education across a wide demographic. Basic geophysical data could be used to educate school children about the characteristics of volcanoes, satellite mappings could support informed growth and development of societies in at-risk areas, and raw sensor data could contribute to a wide range of university-level research projects. Satellite maps, basic geophysical data, and raw sensor data are combined and accessible in a way that allows the relationships between these data types to be explored and used in a training environment. Such a resource naturally lends itself to research efforts in the subject but also research in operational tools, system architecture, and human/machine interaction in civil protection or emergency scenarios.

The politics of disaster - Nicaragua.

PubMed

Bommer, J

1985-12-01

The occurrence of natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, are, in themselves, beyond oar control. However, careful preparation before such events, and the correct management of the problem once it occurs, can both lead to major redaction of the suffering involved. Disaster preparation and emergency planning are both inextricably linked to politics and economics, both on a national and an international scale. Disasters themselves raise a number of issues of a political or economic nature, and die response to a natural disaster both in the short and the long term is largely determined by the political relations within a country, and between that country and the international community. This paper examines these issues by taking the examples of the earthquake of Managua, Nicaragua in 1972 and the flooding that occurred in Nicaragua in 1982. These two natural disasters occurred under different administrations in Nicaragua, and tills allows some interesting comparisons.

Virtual Disaster Simulation: Lesson Learned from an International Collaboration That Can Be Leveraged for Disaster Education in Iran.

PubMed

Ardalan, Ali; Balikuddembe, Joseph Kimuli; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi; Carenzo, Luca; Della Corte, Francesco; Akbarisari, Ali; Djalali, Ahmadreza

2015-07-13

Disaster education needs innovative educational methods to be more effective compared to traditional approaches. This can be done by using virtual simulation method. This article presents an experience about using virtual simulation methods to teach health professional on disaster medicine in Iran. The workshop on the "Application of New Technologies in Disaster Management Simulation" was held in Tehran in January 2015. It was co-organized by the Disaster and Emergency Health Academy of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Emergency and the Research Center in Disaster Medicine and Computer Science applied to Medicine (CRIMEDIM), Università del Piemonte Orientale. Different simulators were used by the participants, who were from the health system and other relevant fields, both inside and outside Iran. As a result of the workshop, all the concerned stakeholders are called on to support this new initiative of incorporating virtual training and exercise simulation in the field of disaster medicine, so that its professionals are endowed with field-based and practical skills in Iran and elsewhere. Virtual simulation technology is recommended to be used in education of disaster management. This requires capacity building of instructors, and provision of technologies. International collaboration can facilitate this process.

Emergency Response and the International Charter Space and Major Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, B.; Lamb, R.

2011-12-01

Responding to catastrophic natural disasters requires information. When the flow of information on the ground is interrupted by crises such as earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, hurricanes, and floods, satellite imagery and aerial photographs become invaluable tools in revealing post-disaster conditions and in aiding disaster response and recovery efforts. USGS is a global clearinghouse for remotely sensed disaster imagery. It is also a source of innovative products derived from satellite imagery that can provide unique overviews as well as important details about the impacts of disasters. Repeatedly, USGS and its resources have proven their worth in assisting with disaster recovery activities in the United States and abroad. USGS has a well-established role in emergency response in the United States. It works closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by providing first responders with satellite and aerial images of disaster-impacted sites and products developed from those images. The combination of the USGS image archive, coupled with its global data transfer capability and on-site science staff, was instrumental in the USGS becoming a participating agency in the International Charter Space and Major Disasters. This participation provides the USGS with access to international members and their space agencies, to information on European and other global member methodology in disaster response, and to data from satellites operated by Charter member countries. Such access enhances the USGS' ability to respond to global emergencies and to disasters that occur in the United States (US). As one example, the Charter agencies provided imagery to the US for over 4 months in response to the Gulf oil spill. The International Charter mission is to provide a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters. Each member space agency has committed resources to support the provisions of the Charter and thus is helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property. The International Charter has been in formal operation since November 1, 2000. An Authorized User can call a single number to request the mobilization of satellite imagery and associated ground station support of the Charter's member agencies to obtain data and information on a disaster occurrence. The International Charter is supported by Argentinean, Canadian, European, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Brazilian, Korean, Russian and U.S. satellite operators, as well as through U.S. and foreign commercial satellite firms and consortia. These operators can provide a wide variety of imagery and information under various environmental conditions (including, in some instances, through cloud cover and darkness). The Charter works in close cooperation with the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and with United Nations bodies such as the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs (UN OOSA) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programe (UNOSAT). Both UN OOSA and UNOSAT are authorized to request data from Charter members in response to a UN emergency. Sentinel Asia is also allowed to request activations on behalf of its member states. These organizations play an important role in maximizing the Charter's use.

Development and evaluation of an undergraduate training course for developing International Council of Nurses disaster nursing competencies in China.

PubMed

Chan, Sunshine S S; Chan, Wai-shan; Cheng, Yijuan; Fung, Olivia W M; Lai, Timothy K H; Leung, Amanda W K; Leung, Kevin L K; Li, Sijian; Yip, Annie L K; Pang, Samantha M C

2010-12-01

Nurses are often called upon to play the role of first responder when disaster occurs. Yet the lack of accepted competencies and gaps in education make it difficult to recruit nurses prepared to respond to a disaster and provide assistance in an effective manner. Based on the International Council of Nurses (ICN) Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies and Global Standards for the Initial Education of Professional Nurses and Midwives, a training course titled "Introduction to Disaster Nursing" was designed and implemented with 150 students. A pre-post survey design was used to assess changes in participants' self-rated disaster nursing competencies. The impact of the training course on participants' attitudes toward disaster nursing and their learning experience were also assessed. All participants passed the assessments and examination with an average score of 70%. Pre- and posttraining self-ratings of the disaster nursing competencies increased from 2.09 to 3.71 (p < .001) on a Likert scale of 1 to 5, and the effect size was large, with Cohen's d higher than 0.8. No significant difference in both examination results (60% group assignments; 40% written examination) and self-rated competencies was noted between the senior year students and graduate nurse participants by Mann-Whitney U test (p value = .90). The majority of participants indicated their willingness to participate as a helper in disaster relief and saw themselves competent to work under supervision. The ICN Framework of Disaster Nursing Competencies was instrumental to guide the training curriculum development. This introductory training course could be incorporated into undergraduate nursing education programs as well as serve as a continuing education program for graduate nurses. The training program can be used for preparing generalist nurses of their nursing competencies in disaster preparedness, response and post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation. © 2010 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-10

MRA -OCO) and International Disaster Assistance (IDA-OCO) accounts. A further $155 million from the Economic Support Fund-Overseas Contingency...table does not show, $1.1 billion within Migration and Refugee Assistance ( MRA -OCO) and International Disaster Assistance (IDA-OCO) accounts

Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-09-17

support humanitarian response needs from the Migration and Refugee Assistance ( MRA -OCO) and International Disaster Assistance (IDA-OCO) accounts. A...and Refugee Assistance ( MRA -OCO) and International Disaster Assistance (IDA-OCO) accounts expected to be used for humanitarian assistance related to

Application of fuzzy weight of evidence and data mining techniques in construction of flood susceptibility map of Poyang County, China.

PubMed

Hong, Haoyuan; Tsangaratos, Paraskevas; Ilia, Ioanna; Liu, Junzhi; Zhu, A-Xing; Chen, Wei

2018-06-01

In China, floods are considered as the most frequent natural disaster responsible for severe economic losses and serious damages recorded in agriculture and urban infrastructure. Based on the international experience prevention of flood events may not be completely possible, however identifying susceptible and vulnerable areas through prediction models is considered as a more visible task with flood susceptibility mapping being an essential tool for flood mitigation strategies and disaster preparedness. In this context, the present study proposes a novel approach to construct a flood susceptibility map in the Poyang County, JiangXi Province, China by implementing fuzzy weight of evidence (fuzzy-WofE) and data mining methods. The novelty of the presented approach is the usage of fuzzy-WofE that had a twofold purpose. Firstly, to create an initial flood susceptibility map in order to identify non-flood areas and secondly to weight the importance of flood related variables which influence flooding. Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) were implemented considering eleven flood related variables, namely: lithology, soil cover, elevation, slope angle, aspect, topographic wetness index, stream power index, sediment transport index, plan curvature, profile curvature and distance from river network. The efficiency of this new approach was evaluated using area under curve (AUC) which measured the prediction and success rates. According to the outcomes of the performed analysis, the fuzzy WofE-SVM model was the model with the highest predictive performance (AUC value, 0.9865) which also appeared to be statistical significant different from the other predictive models, fuzzy WofE-RF (AUC value, 0.9756) and fuzzy WofE-LR (AUC value, 0.9652). The proposed methodology and the produced flood susceptibility map could assist researchers and local governments in flood mitigation strategies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

International Charter "Space and Major Disasters": Typical Examples of Disaster Management Including Asian Tsunami

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cubero-Castan, Eliane; Bequignon, Jerome; Mahmood, Ahmed; Lauritson, Levin; Soma, P.; Platzeck, Gabriel; Chu, Ishida

2005-03-01

The International Charter 'Space and Major Disaster', now entering its 5th year of operation, has been activated nearly 80 times to provide space-based data and information in response to natural disasters. The disasters ranged from volcanic eruption in Columbia, floods in Europe, Argentina, Sudan to earthquakes in Iran, from landslides in Philippines to the tragic tsunami in Asia, all resulting in major loss of life and property. The Charter provided imagery and the related information were found to be useful in disaster relief and assessment. Since July 1st 2003, a framework cooperation agreement has been allowing United Nations organizations involved in disaster response to request activation of the Charter.The purpose of the Charter is to provide assistance in situations of emergencies caused by natural and technological disasters by pooling together the space and associated ground resources of the Charter participants, which are currently the European (ESA), French (CNES), Canadian (CSA), Indian (ISRO), American (NOAA), Argentinean (CONAE) and Japanese (JAXA) space organizations.This paper will point out some of the best cases of Charter activation for different disasters leading to change detection imagery and damage assessment products which could be used for disaster reduction in close co-ordination with the end users after the crisis period.

Issues of tsunami hazard maps revealed by the 2011 Tohoku tsunami

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugimoto, M.

2013-12-01

Tsunami scientists are imposed responsibilities of selection for people's tsunami evacuation place after the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami in Japan. A lot of matured people died out of tsunami hazard zone based on tsunami hazard map though students made a miracle by evacuation on their own judgment in Kamaishi city. Tsunami hazard maps were based on numerical model smaller than actual magnitude 9. How can we bridge the gap between hazard map and future disasters? We have to discuss about using tsunami numerical model better enough to contribute tsunami hazard map. How do we have to improve tsunami hazard map? Tsunami hazard map should be revised included possibility of upthrust or downthrust after earthquakes and social information. Ground sank 1.14m below sea level in Ayukawa town, Tohoku. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's research shows around 10% people know about tsunami hazard map in Japan. However, people know about their evacuation places (buildings) through experienced drills once a year even though most people did not know about tsunami hazard map. We need wider spread of tsunami hazard with contingency of science (See the botom disaster handbook material's URL). California Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) team practically shows one good practice and solution to me. I followed their field trip in Catalina Island, California in Sep 2011. A team members are multidisciplinary specialists: A geologist, a GIS specialist, oceanographers in USC (tsunami numerical modeler) and a private company, a local policeman, a disaster manager, a local authority and so on. They check field based on their own specialties. They conduct an on-the-spot inspection of ambiguous locations between tsunami numerical model and real field conditions today. The data always become older. They pay attention not only to topographical conditions but also to social conditions: vulnerable people, elementary schools and so on. It takes a long time to check such field information, however tsunami hazard map based on numerical model should be this process. Tsunami scientists should not enter into the inhumane business by using tsunami numerical model. It includes accountability to society therefore scientists need scientific ethics and humanitarian attention. Should only tsunami scientist have responsibility for human life? Multidisciplinary approach is essential for mitigation like CEMA. I am taking on hazard map training course for disaster management officers from developing countries in JICA training course. I would like to discuss how to improve tsunami hazard map after the 2011 Tohoku tsunami experience in this presentation. A multidisciplinary exparts team of CEMA's tsunami hazard map

Earth sciences, GIS and geomatics for natural hazards assessment and risks mitigation: a civil protection perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perotti, Luigi; Conte, Riccardo; Lanfranco, Massimo; Perrone, Gianluigi; Giardino, Marco; Ratto, Sara

2010-05-01

Geo-information and remote sensing are proper tools to enhance functional strategies for increasing awareness on natural hazards and risks and for supporting research and operational activities devoted to disaster reduction. An improved Earth Sciences knowledge coupled with Geomatics advanced technologies has been developed by the joint research group and applied by the ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action) centre, within its partnership with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related disasters. By cooperating with local and regional authorities (Municipalities, Centro Funzionale of the Aosta Valley, Civil Protection Agency of Regione Piemonte), data on natural hazards and risks have been collected, compared to national and global data, then interpreted for helping communities and civil protection agencies of sensitive mountain regions to make strategic choices and decisions to better mitigation and adaption measures. To enhance the application of GIS and Remote-sensing technologies for geothematic mapping of geological and geomorphological risks of mountain territories of Europe and Developing Countries, research activities led to the collection and evaluation of data from scientific literature and historical technical archives, for the definition of predisposing/triggering factors and evolutionary processes of natural instability phenomena (landslides, floods, storms, …) and for the design and implementation of early-warning and early-impact systems. Geodatabases, Remote Sensing and Mobile-GIS applications were developed to perform analysis of : 1) large climate-related disaster (Hurricane Mitch, Central America), by the application of remote sensing techniques, either for early warning or mitigation measures at the national and international scale; 2) distribution of slope instabilities at the regional scale (Aosta Valley, NW-Italy), for preventing and recovering measures; 3) geological and geomorphological controlling factors of seismicity, to provide microzonation maps and scenarios for co-seismic response of instable zones (Dronero, NW- Italian Alps); 4) earthquake effects on ground and infrastructures, in order to register early assessment for awareness situations and for compile damage inventories (Asti-Alessandria seismic events, 2000, 2001, 2003). The research results has been able to substantiate early warning models by structuring geodatabases on natural disasters, and to support humanitarian relief and disaster management activities by creating and testing SRG2, a mobile-GIS application for field-data collection on natural hazards and risks.

The Role of Science and Engineering in Rebuilding a More Resilient Haiti (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Applegate, D.

2010-12-01

Rebuilding a more disaster-resilient Haiti is the defining challenge in the wake of the devastating magnitude-7 earthquake that struck in January. The contrasting experience of Chile, which weathered a magnitude-8.8 earthquake in April with casualties in the hundreds, teaches us that building resilience is an achievable and desirable goal given suitable investments and governance. Scientists and engineers have much to contribute, but doing so requires effective mechanisms to enable them to inform the rebuilding process. The international donor community has been a key point of engagement since their funds provide the opportunity to build new schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure and housing that will not fail in the next disaster. In advance of a gathering of international donors at the end of March, the U.S. National Science and Technology Council’s interagency Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction convened a workshop that brought together over 100 scientists, engineers, planners, and policymakers, including a delegation of Haitian government officials and academics. Hosted by the University of Miami and organized by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, the workshop was co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction with support from NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Key findings from the workshop covered the need to adopt and enforce international building codes, to use hazard assessments for earthquakes, inland flooding, and landslides in the planning process, and the central importance of long-term capacity building. As an example of one science agency’s contributions, the USGS informed the initial response by rapidly characterizing the earthquake and delivering estimates of population exposure to strong shaking that were used by humanitarian organizations, aid agencies, and the Haitians themselves. In the ensuing weeks, the USGS tracked aftershocks and issued statements with probabilities of future earthquakes. Early on, the U.S. Southern Command made it possible to put an advance team of engineers and a USGS seismologist on the ground in Haiti. That initial team was followed by the first major deployment of a USGS/USAID Earthquake Disaster Assistance Team, which evolved from the long-standing partnership between these two agencies. EDAT activities included field assessment of faulting, coastal uplift, and landslides; seismometer deployments for aftershock recording and characterization of ground shaking amplification; and development of a probabilistic seismic hazard map for Haiti and the whole island of Hispaniola. The team’s efforts benefited greatly from collaboration with Haitian colleagues with knowledge transfer occurring in both directions. The effort also benefited from significant remote sensing acquisitions, which helped to target field activities and constrain fault rupture patterns. Although the products have been put to use in Haiti, it still remains to turn hazard assessments into tools that can be used for effective planning, building code development and land-use decisions.

Rainfall Induced Natural Disaster in Central America, a challenge for Regional Risk Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estuardo Guinea Barrientos, Héctor; Swain, Ashok

2013-04-01

Rainfall induced natural disasters rank first among all natural disasters in Central America. According to the records of the EM-DAT international database, 248 out of 486 disasters registered in Central America were disasters triggered by rainfall invents, in countries like Belize and Honduras, rainfall-induced natural disasters, mainly floods and landslides, account for more than 90% of the total number of casualties as well as the economic damage of all the disasters. Due to the natural conditions of the Central American Isthmus, precipitation events often struck more than one country at the time, for example Hurricane Mitch in 1998 affected the entire Central American region causing more than 18,000 casualties. In this context, the Central America countries have been working on joint programs and policies aiming transboundary cooperation and management of natural disasters, a clear example of this effort is CEPREDENAC which is the intergovernmental body with the mandate of promoting activities, projects and programs towards reduction of the risks to disasters in order to avoid loss of life and economic assets in the Central America, however, transnational management face several challenges that fall mostly in the political, economical and technical areas. In this paper we described and analyzed the rainfall induced natural disasters, their impacts and the inherent management challenges in the Central American context. Key words: Central America, Natural Disasters, Risk Management, International Cooperation

Integrating Psychosocial Programs in Multisector Responses to International Disasters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaz, Joseph Orlando Prewitt

2008-01-01

This article describes the role of psychosocial support programs in American Red Cross-sponsored humanitarian assistance efforts in international disasters. The American Red Cross psychosocial support program consists of four specific components: participatory crisis assessment, dealing with survivors' root shock, community mobilization, and…

Disaster management as part of curriculum for undergraduate and postgraduate courses: The Symbiosis model

PubMed Central

Deshpande, Vijay

2011-01-01

From times immemorial disasters in some form or the other have been regularly visiting humankind and humans have been trying to manage these upheavals. Noah's arch is the first such endeavor. The United Nations declared 1990-1999 as International Decade for Disaster Reduction. The Indian Government passed the Disaster Management Act 2005. As a consequence of the Act, the National Disaster Management Authority was setup. All states were given the guide lines for disaster risk reduction. The objective of this article is to get a clearer picture of what various states, educational authorities and international bodies have done and what Symbiosis International University (SIU) has done so far. Inputs from various States of the Indian Union and neighboring countries were studied. The moot question that figured all the time was “Is there a conscious effort to include Disaster Management in the curricula of various courses at the college and university level” and what are the achievements. It was seen that the Central Board for Secondary Education with support from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Human Resource Development and United Nations Development Project have incorporated DM, as part of its frontline curriculum. Most of the Universities in the disaster prone states have enunciated policies for including DM in the curriculum, but palpable results are still awaited. In the SIU, DM has been incorporated in the curriculum and is mandatory for all undergraduate and postgraduate courses. PMID:22412285

Disaster management as part of curriculum for undergraduate and postgraduate courses: The Symbiosis model.

PubMed

Deshpande, Vijay

2011-09-01

From times immemorial disasters in some form or the other have been regularly visiting humankind and humans have been trying to manage these upheavals. Noah's arch is the first such endeavor. The United Nations declared 1990-1999 as International Decade for Disaster Reduction. The Indian Government passed the Disaster Management Act 2005. As a consequence of the Act, the National Disaster Management Authority was setup. All states were given the guide lines for disaster risk reduction. The objective of this article is to get a clearer picture of what various states, educational authorities and international bodies have done and what Symbiosis International University (SIU) has done so far. Inputs from various States of the Indian Union and neighboring countries were studied. The moot question that figured all the time was "Is there a conscious effort to include Disaster Management in the curricula of various courses at the college and university level" and what are the achievements. It was seen that the Central Board for Secondary Education with support from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Human Resource Development and United Nations Development Project have incorporated DM, as part of its frontline curriculum. Most of the Universities in the disaster prone states have enunciated policies for including DM in the curriculum, but palpable results are still awaited. In the SIU, DM has been incorporated in the curriculum and is mandatory for all undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

75 FR 77889 - Puerto Rico; Amendment No. 2 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-14

...; Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1946-DR] Puerto Rico; Amendment No. 2 to Notice of a Major Disaster... notice of a major disaster declaration for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (FEMA-1946-DR), dated October... disaster declaration for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is hereby amended to include the following areas...

Mental Health Correlates of Post Disaster Increases in Alcohol and Cigarette Smoking: A Vietnamese Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritter, Juliana D.; McCauley, Jenna L.; Amstadter, Ananda B.; Richardson, Lisa; Kilpatrick, Dean; Tran, Trinh L.; Trung, Lam T.; Tam, Nguyen T.; Tuan, Tran; Buoi, La Thi; Ha, Tran Thu; Thach, Tran D.; Acierno, Ron

2011-01-01

Previous research in US populations has found associations between disaster-related variables, psychological variables, and post-disaster increases in smoking and alcohol use. To date, no research has examined this association in an international population of disaster exposed individuals. Data used in this study were drawn from a larger study…

An UAV scheduling and planning method for post-disaster survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, G. Q.; Zhou, X. G.; Yin, J.; Xiao, Q. Y.

2014-11-01

Annually, the extreme climate and special geological environments lead to frequent natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, floods, etc. The disasters often bring serious casualties and enormous economic losses. Post-disaster surveying is very important for disaster relief and assessment. As the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing with the advantage of high efficiency, high precision, high flexibility, and low cost, it is widely used in emergency surveying in recent years. As the UAVs used in emergency surveying cannot stop and wait for the happening of the disaster, when the disaster happens the UAVs usually are working at everywhere. In order to improve the emergency surveying efficiency, it is needed to track the UAVs and assign the emergency surveying task for each selected UAV. Therefore, a UAV tracking and scheduling method for post-disaster survey is presented in this paper. In this method, Global Positioning System (GPS), and GSM network are used to track the UAVs; an emergency tracking UAV information database is built in advance by registration, the database at least includes the following information, e.g., the ID of the UAVs, the communication number of the UAVs; when catastrophe happens, the real time location of all UAVs in the database will be gotten using emergency tracking method at first, then the traffic cost time for all UAVs to the disaster region will be calculated based on the UAVs' the real time location and the road network using the nearest services analysis algorithm; the disaster region is subdivided to several emergency surveying regions based on DEM, area, and the population distribution map; the emergency surveying regions are assigned to the appropriated UAV according to shortest cost time rule. The UAVs tracking and scheduling prototype is implemented using SQLServer2008, ArcEnginge 10.1 SDK, Visual Studio 2010 C#, Android, SMS Modem, and Google Maps API.

Detecting tents to estimate the displaced populations for post-disaster relief using high resolution satellite imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Shifeng; So, Emily; Smith, Pete

2015-04-01

Estimating the number of refugees and internally displaced persons is important for planning and managing an efficient relief operation following disasters and conflicts. Accurate estimates of refugee numbers can be inferred from the number of tents. Extracting tents from high-resolution satellite imagery has recently been suggested. However, it is still a significant challenge to extract tents automatically and reliably from remote sensing imagery. This paper describes a novel automated method, which is based on mathematical morphology, to generate a camp map to estimate the refugee numbers by counting tents on the camp map. The method is especially useful in detecting objects with a clear shape, size, and significant spectral contrast with their surroundings. Results for two study sites with different satellite sensors and different spatial resolutions demonstrate that the method achieves good performance in detecting tents. The overall accuracy can be up to 81% in this study. Further improvements should be possible if over-identified isolated single pixel objects can be filtered. The performance of the method is impacted by spectral characteristics of satellite sensors and image scenes, such as the extent of area of interest and the spatial arrangement of tents. It is expected that the image scene would have a much higher influence on the performance of the method than the sensor characteristics.

NASA-Produced Maps Help Gauge Italy Earthquake Damage

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-10-05

A NASA-funded program provided valuable information for responders and groups supporting the recovery efforts for the Aug. 24, 2016, magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck central Italy. The earthquake caused significant loss of life and property damage in the town of Amatrice. To assist in the disaster response efforts, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech, both in Pasadena, California, obtained and used radar imagery of the earthquake's hardest-hit region to discriminate areas of damage from that event. The views indicate the extent of damage caused by the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks in and around Amatrice, based on changes to the ground surface detected by radar. The color variations from yellow to red indicate increasingly more significant ground surface change. The damage maps were created from data obtained before and after the earthquake by satellites belonging to the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The radar-derived damage maps compare well with a damage map produced by the European Commission Copernicus Emergency Management Service based upon visual inspection of high-resolution pre-earthquake aerial photographs and post-earthquake satellite optical imagery, and provide broader geographic coverage of the earthquake's impact in the region. The X-band COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) data were provided through a research collaboration with ASI and were acquired on July 3, August 20, and August 28, 2016. The L-band ALOS/PALSAR-2 data were provided by JAXA through its science research program and were acquired on September 9, 2015, January 27, 2016, and August 24, 2016. The radar data were processed by the Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) team at JPL and Caltech. ARIA is a NASA-funded project that is building an automated system for demonstrating the ability to rapidly and reliably provide GPS and satellite data to support the local, national and international hazard monitoring and response communities. Using space-based imagery of disasters, ARIA data products can provide rapid assessments of the geographic region impacted by a disaster, as well as detailed imaging of the locations where damage occurred. Radar can "see" through clouds day and night and measure centimeter-level ground movements. NASA is partnering with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to develop the NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission that will routinely provide systematic SAR observations of Earth's land and ice-covered surfaces at least twice every 12 days, enabling greater scientific understanding of the dynamic processes that drive the Earth system and natural hazards, as well as providing actionable support for disaster response and recovery. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21091

Integrated Research on Disaster Risk - A Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beer, T.

2016-12-01

Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, generally known as IRDR, is a decade-long research programme co-sponsored by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). It is a global, multi-disciplinary approach to dealing with the challenges brought by natural disasters, mitigating their impacts, and improving related policy-making mechanisms. The home page is at: http://www.irdrinternational.org/The research programme was named Integrated Research on Disaster Risk to indicate that it is addressing the challenge of natural and human-induced environmental hazards. In November 2008 and May 2009 respectively, both the ISSC and the UNISDR agreed to join the ICSU in co-sponsoring the IRDR programme. Although the approaches in the sciences vary, the IRDR programme approaches the issues of natural and human-induced hazards and disasters from several perspectives: from the hazards to the disasters, and from the human exposures and vulnerabilities back to the hazards. This coordinated and multi-dimensional approach takes the IRDR programme beyond approaches that have traditionally been undertaken To meet its research objectives the IRDR established four core projects, comprising working groups of experts from diverse disciplines, to formulate new methods in addressing the shortcomings of current disaster risk research. Assessment of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (AIRDR) Disaster Loss Data (DATA) Forensic Investigations of Disasters (FORIN) Risk Interpretation and Action (RIA) Dr Tom Beer was a member of both the scoping and planning groups and was a member of the committee to undertake a mid-term review of IRDR with the terms of reference being to examine and to report by November 2016. 1. Strategic planning and implementation 2. Governance 3. Secretariat, funding and operations 4. Stakeholders and partnerships 5. Communication, visibility and influence 6. Future development His talk will give an overview of the history and science of IRDR and some of the outcomes of the mid-term review.

Factors Associated with Discussion of Disasters by Final Year High School Students: An International Cross-sectional Survey.

PubMed

Codreanu, Tudor A; Celenza, Antonio; Alabdulkarim, Ali A Rahman

2015-08-01

Introduction The effect on behavioral change of educational programs developed to reduce the community's disaster informational vulnerability is not known. This study describes the relationship of disaster education, age, sex, and country-specific characteristics with students discussing disasters with friends and family, a measure of proactive behavioral change in disaster preparedness. Three thousand eight hundred twenty-nine final year high school students were enrolled in an international, multi-center prospective, cross-sectional study using a pre-validated written questionnaire. In order to obtain information from different educational systems, from countries with different risk of exposure to disasters, and from countries with varied economic development status, students from Bahrain, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, and Timor-Leste were surveyed. Logistic regression analyses examined the relationship between the likelihood of discussing disasters with friends and family (dependent variable) and a series of independent variables (age, gender, participation in school lessons about disasters, existence of a national disaster educational program, ability to list pertinent example of disasters, country's economic group, and disaster risk index) captured by the questionnaire or available as published data. There was no statistically significant relationship between age, awareness of one's surroundings, planning for the future, and foreseeing consequences of events with discussions about potential hazards and risks with friends and/or family. The national educational budget did not have a statistically significant influence. Participants who lived in a low disaster risk and high income Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country were more likely to discuss disasters. While either school lessons or a national disaster education program had a unique, significant contribution to the model, neither had a better predictive utility. The predictors (national disaster program, school lessons, gender, ability to list examples of disasters, country's disaster risk index, and level of economic development), although significant, were not sufficient in predicting disaster discussions amongst teenagers.

Three typical examples of activation of the International Charter ``space and major disasters''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bessis, J.-L.; Bequignon, J.; Mahmood, A.

This paper, after a brief description of the Charter organisation and of its implementation procedures, addresses three typical cases of Charter activation and the lessons learned to date. The first example will deal with the major earthquakes in January and February 2001 in El Salvador for the benefit of the Salvadorian National Register Centre, the second concerning flooding in the North-East and South of France in January and September 2002 with quick delivery of flood maps to the French Civil Protection Authority and the last one will focus on the Nyiragongo volcanic eruption near the town of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Crisis Communication Practices at an International Relief Agency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Genova, Gina L.

2006-01-01

When a disaster strikes, the affected population relies upon the swift response and aid rendered by relief organizations such as the California-based Direct Relief International. Since 1948, Direct Relief's mission has been to provide essential material resources to locally run health programs in areas affected by natural disasters, wars, and…

Development of an Android App for notification and reporting of natural disaster such as earthquakes and tsunamis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richter, Steffen; Hammitzsch, Martin

2013-04-01

Disasters like the Tohoku tsunami in March 2011 and the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, have shown clearly that the rapid detection of possible negative impact on population and infrastructure is crucial for the rapid organization of effective counter measures integration activities. It has turned out that effective planning of relief and rescue measures requires both information provided by governmental authorities and feedback of the general public. Every citizen experiencing the events directly on site becomes a potential witness and can provide valuable information about the disaster. Citizens can use various information channels to communicate and share their experiences. During the last years, the crowdsourcing approach has gained the attention of users of modern communication and information systems. The term crowdsourcing describes the interactive collaboration of voluntary users on the Internet, working on a common topic. A similar approach is mobile crowdsourcing which evolved in the quickly growing community of smartphone users: Crowdsourcing platforms provide additional application scenarios for modern smartphone. Smartphone users are enabled to compose and share reports immediately at the scene of the disaster. A growing number of modern smartphones also includes sensors for taking pictures and to determine the current geographical position. This additional content can significantly enhance the value of a disaster event report. The project Collaborative, Complex, and Critical Decision-Support in Evolving Crises (TRIDEC), co-funded by the European Commission in its Seventh Framework Programme, is focused on the management of crisis situations. Part of the project is the development of an application for the Android smartphone platform. This application enables access to an continuously updated situation report for current natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis based on incoming crowdsourced reports. The App is used to immediately sent eyewitness reports, to an instance of the crowd mapping platform Ushahidi, which is used repeatedly since the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti to collect eyewitness reports in natural disasters and thus optimally supplements the conventional sensors and sensor systems. Crisis reports which include geographical information can be directly visualized in a geographic information system for the benefit of the crowdsourcing community and the individual user as well as national and international authorities.

Three typical examples of activation of the international charter space and major disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bessis, J.; Bequignon, J.; Mahmood, A.

The purpose of the International Charter is to provide a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery for users affected by disasters, to promote co - operation between space agencies and space system operators and to allow participation in the organisation of emergency assistance or subsequent operations. The Charter which is officially in operation since November 1, 2000 was signed on June 20, 2000 by CNES (1) and ESA (2) and enlarged later on with the membership of the CSA (3) in October 2000 and of the NOAA (4) and the ISRO (5), both in September 2001. All Partner agencies undertake to co-operate on a voluntary basis with no exchange of funds between them in the event of a major natural or man-induced disaster. This paper, after a brief description of the Charter organisation and of its implementation procedures, addresses three typical cases of Charter activation and the lessons learned to date. The first example will deal with the major earthquakes in January and February 2001 in El Salvador for the benefit of the Salvadorian National Register Centre, the second concerning flooding in the North East of France early 2002 with quick delivery of flood maps to the French Civil Protection Authority and the last one will focus on the Nyiragongo volcanic eruption near the town of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It will include feedback from the Authorised Users concerning the usefulness of the Charter and the suggested improvements in terms of response time, sensors capability and resolution, delivered products (scale and ease of operational utilisation) and adapted scenarios.(1) Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, (2) European Space Agency, (3) Canadian Space Agency, (4) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , (5) Indian Space Research Organisation

The potential of crowdsourcing and mobile technology to support flood disaster risk reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

See, Linda; McCallum, Ian; Liu, Wei; Mechler, Reinhard; Keating, Adriana; Hochrainer-Stigler, Stefan; Mochizuki, Junko; Fritz, Steffen; Dugar, Sumit; Arestegui, Michael; Szoenyi, Michael; Laso-Bayas, Juan-Carlos; Burek, Peter; French, Adam; Moorthy, Inian

2016-04-01

The last decade has seen a rise in citizen science and crowdsourcing for carrying out a variety of tasks across a number of different fields, most notably the collection of data such as the identification of species (e.g. eBird and iNaturalist) and the classification of images (e.g. Galaxy Zoo and Geo-Wiki). Combining human computing with the proliferation of mobile technology has resulted in vast amounts of geo-located data that have considerable value across multiple domains including flood disaster risk reduction. Crowdsourcing technologies, in the form of online mapping, are now being utilized to great effect in post-disaster mapping and relief efforts, e.g. the activities of Humanitarian OpenStreetMap, complementing official channels of relief (e.g. Haiti, Nepal and New York). Disaster event monitoring efforts have been further complemented with the use of social media (e.g. twitter for earthquakes, flood monitoring, and fire detection). Much of the activity in this area has focused on ex-post emergency management while there is considerable potential for utilizing crowdsourcing and mobile technology for vulnerability assessment, early warning and to bolster resilience to flood events. This paper examines the use of crowdsourcing and mobile technology for measuring and monitoring flood hazards, exposure to floods, and vulnerability, drawing upon examples from the literature and ongoing projects on flooding and food security at IIASA.

Vulnerability of Coastal Communities from Storm Surge and Flood Disasters

PubMed Central

Bathi, Jejal Reddy; Das, Himangshu S.

2016-01-01

Disasters in the form of coastal storms and hurricanes can be very destructive. Preparing for anticipated effects of such disasters can help reduce the public health and economic burden. Identifying vulnerable population groups can help prioritize resources for the most needed communities. This paper presents a quantitative framework for vulnerability measurement that incorporates both socioeconomic and flood inundation vulnerability. The approach is demonstrated for three coastal communities in Mississippi with census tracts being the study unit. The vulnerability results are illustrated as thematic maps for easy usage by planners and emergency responders to assist in prioritizing their actions to vulnerable populations during storm surge and flood disasters. PMID:26907313

Developing the Philippines as a Global Hub for Disaster Risk Reduction - A Health Research Initiative as Presented at the 10th Philippine National Health Research System Week Celebration

PubMed Central

Banwell, Nicola; Montoya, Jaime; Opeña, Merlita; IJsselmuiden, Carel; Law, Ronald; Balboa, Gloria J.; Rutherford, Shannon; Chu, Cordia; Murray, Virginia

2016-01-01

The recent Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week Celebration highlighted the growing commitment to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Philippines. The event was lead by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Health, and saw the participation of national and international experts in DRR, and numerous research consortia from all over the Philippines. With a central focus on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the DRR related events recognised the significant disaster risks faced in the Philippines. They also illustrated the Philippine strengths and experience in DRR. Key innovations in science and technology showcased at the conference include the web-base hazard mapping applications ‘Project NOAH’ and ‘FaultFinder’. Other notable innovations include ‘Surveillance in Post Extreme Emergencies and Disasters’ (SPEED) which monitors potential outbreaks through a syndromic reporting system. Three areas noted for further development in DRR science and technology included: integrated national hazard assessment, strengthened collaboration, and improved documentation. Finally, the event saw the proposal to develop the Philippines into a global hub for DRR. The combination of the risk profile of the Philippines, established national structures and experience in DRR, as well as scientific and technological innovation in this field are potential factors that could position the Philippines as a future global leader in DRR. The purpose of this article is to formally document the key messages of the DRR-related events of the PNHRS Week Celebration. PMID:27867737

Mapping mountain torrent hazards in the Hexi Corridor using an evidential reasoning approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ran, Youhua; Liu, Jinpeng; Tian, Feng; Wang, Dekai

2017-02-01

The Hexi Corridor is an important part of the Silk Road Economic Belt and a crucial channel for westward development in China. Many important national engineering projects pass through the corridor, such as highways, railways, and the West-to-East Gas Pipeline. The frequent torrent disasters greatly impact the security of infrastructure and human safety. In this study, an evidential reasoning approach based on Dempster-Shafer theory is proposed for mapping mountain torrent hazards in the Hexi Corridor. A torrent hazard map for the Hexi Corridor was generated by integrating the driving factors of mountain torrent disasters including precipitation, terrain, flow concentration processes, and the vegetation fraction. The results show that the capability of the proposed method is satisfactory. The torrent hazard map shows that there is high potential torrent hazard in the central and southeastern Hexi Corridor. The results are useful for engineering planning support and resource protection in the Hexi Corridor. Further efforts are discussed for improving torrent hazard mapping and prediction.

Map generation in unknown environments by AUKF-SLAM using line segment-type and point-type landmarks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishihta, Sho; Maeyama, Shoichi; Watanebe, Keigo

2018-02-01

Recently, autonomous mobile robots that collect information at disaster sites are being developed. Since it is difficult to obtain maps in advance in disaster sites, the robots being capable of autonomous movement under unknown environments are required. For this objective, the robots have to build maps, as well as the estimation of self-location. This is called a SLAM problem. In particular, AUKF-SLAM which uses corners in the environment as point-type landmarks has been developed as a solution method so far. However, when the robots move in an environment like a corridor consisting of few point-type features, the accuracy of self-location estimated by the landmark is decreased and it causes some distortions in the map. In this research, we propose AUKF-SLAM which uses walls in the environment as a line segment-type landmark. We demonstrate that the robot can generate maps in unknown environment by AUKF-SLAM, using line segment-type and point-type landmarks.

Identity Distress among Youth Exposed to Natural Disasters: Associations with Level of Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress, and Internalizing Problems.

PubMed

Scott, Brandon G; Sanders, Ashley F P; Graham, Rebecca A; Banks, Donice M; Russell, Justin D; Berman, Steven L; Weems, Carl F

2014-10-01

Identity distress involves intense or prolonged upset or worry about personal identity issues including long-term goals, career choice, friendships, sexual orientation and behavior, religion, values and beliefs, and group loyalties. Research suggests that trauma exposure and subsequent PTSD symptoms may negatively impact identity development and psychological adjustment. However, little is known about their specific associations with identity distress and internalizing problems among disaster-exposed adolescents. The purpose of this study was to examine these relationships in a sample of 325 adolescents (60% female; 89% African American) who experienced a major natural disaster and its aftermath. The results indicated that identity distress was positively associated with age, hurricane exposure, PTSD symptoms, and internalizing problems. Linear regression analyses also showed that identity distress was uniquely associated with internalizing symptoms and that there was an indirect effect of hurricane exposure on identity distress via PTSD symptoms. Finally, PTSD symptoms moderated the link between identity distress and internalizing symptoms, with a significant positive slope found for youth with more PTSD symptoms. Findings were generally consistent with previous work and predictions, and add to the extant knowledge about identity distress by providing data on the linkages between disaster exposure, posttraumatic stress and internalizing problems in adolescents.

76 FR 12363 - Oregon; Major Disaster and Related Determinations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-07

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1956-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Oregon; Major Disaster and Related Determinations AGENCY... declaration of a major disaster for the State of Oregon (FEMA-1956-DR), dated February 17, 2011, and related...

Picture Pile: A citizen-powered tool for rapid post-disaster damage assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danylo, Olha; Sturn, Tobias; Giovando, Cristiano; Moorthy, Inian; Fritz, Steffen; See, Linda; Kapur, Ravi; Girardot, Blake; Ajmar, Andrea; Giulio Tonolo, Fabio; Reinicke, Tobias; Mathieu, Pierre Philippe; Duerauer, Martina

2017-04-01

According to the World Bank's global risk analysis, around 34% of the total world's population lives in areas of high mortality risk from two or more natural hazards. Therefore, timely and innovative methods to rapidly assess damage to subsequently aid relief and recovery efforts are critical. In this field of post-disaster damage assessment, several crowdsourcing-based technological tools that engage citizens in carrying out various tasks, including data collection, satellite image analysis and online interactive mapping, have recently been developed. One such tool is Picture Pile, a cross-platform application that is designed as a generic and flexible tool for ingesting satellite imagery for rapid classification. As part of the ESA's Crowd4Sat initiative led by Imperative Space, this study develops a workflow for employing Picture Pile for rapid post-disaster damage assessment. We outline how satellite image interpretation tasks within Picture Pile can be crowdsourced using the example of Hurricane Matthew, which affected large regions of Haiti in September 2016. The application provides simple microtasks, where the user is presented with satellite images and is asked a simple yes/no question. A "before" disaster satellite image is displayed next to an "after" disaster image and the user is asked to assess whether there is any visible, detectable damage. The question is formulated precisely to focus the user's attention on a particular aspect of the damage. The user-interface of Picture Pile is also built for users to rapidly classify the images by swiping to indicate their answer, thereby efficiently completing the microstask. The proposed approach will not only help to increase citizen awareness of natural disasters, but also provide them with a unique opportunity to contribute directly to relief efforts. Furthermore, to gain confidence in the crowdsourced results, quality assurance methods were integrated during the testing phase of the application using image classifications from experts. The application has a built-in real-time quality assurance system to provide volunteers with feedback when their answer does not agree with that of an expert. Picture Pile is intended to supplement existing approaches for post-disaster damage assessment and can be used by different networks of volunteers (e.g., the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team) to assess damage and create up-to-date maps of response to disaster events.

The ESA Geohazard Exploitation Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bally, Philippe; Laur, Henri; Mathieu, Pierre-Philippe; Pinto, Salvatore

2015-04-01

Earthquakes represent one of the world's most significant hazards in terms both of loss of life and damages. In the first decade of the 21st century, earthquakes accounted for 60 percent of fatalities from natural disasters, according to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). To support mitigation activities designed to assess and reduce risks and improve response in emergency situations, satellite EO can be used to provide a broad range of geo-information services. This includes for instance crustal block boundary mapping to better characterize active faults, strain rate mapping to assess how rapidly faults are deforming, soil vulnerability mapping to help estimate how the soil is behaving in reaction to seismic phenomena, geo-information to assess the extent and intensity of the earthquake impact on man-made structures and formulate assumptions on the evolution of the seismic sequence, i.e. where local aftershocks or future main shocks (on nearby faults) are most likely to occur. In May 2012, the European Space Agency and the GEO Secretariat convened the International Forum on Satellite EO for Geohazards now known as the Santorini Conference. The event was the continuation of a series of international workshops such as those organized by the Geohazards Theme of the Integrated Global Observing Strategy Partnership. In Santorini the seismic community has set out a vision of the EO contribution to an operational global seismic risk program, which lead to the Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratories (GSNL) initiative. The initial contribution of ESA to suuport the GSNL was the first Supersites Exploitation Platform (SSEP) system in the framework of Grid Processing On Demand (GPOD), now followed by the Geohazard Exploitation Platform (GEP). In this presentation, we will describe the contribution of the GEP for exploiting satellite EO for geohazard risk assessment. It is supporting the GEO Supersites and has been further expanded to address broader objectives of the geohazards community. In particular it is a contribution to the CEOS WG Disasters and its Seismic Hazards Pilot and terrain deformation applications of its Volcano Pilot. The geohazards platform is sourced with elements - data, tools, and processing- relevant to the geohazards theme and related exploitation scenarios. For example, platform provides access to large SAR data collections and services to support SAR Interferometry (InSAR), in particular the Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) techniques, to provide precise terrain deformation. The GEP includes data coming from the ENVISAT ASAR and ERS archives, already hosted in the ESA clusters and in ESA's Virtual Archive and further extended to cover the requirements of the CEOS Pilot on Seismic Hazards. The GEP is gradually accessing Sentinel-1A data alongside with EO data from other space agencies with an interest in the geohazard exploitation platform. Further to this, the platform is intended to be available in the framework of the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) initiative, in order to help its users exploit EO data to support solid Earth monitoring and geophysical and geological analysis.

Peace making/peace keeping missions: role of the U.S. Army nurse.

PubMed

Yoder, Linda H; Brunken, Sandra L

2003-06-01

Somewhere in the world every month expert military critical care/trauma providers are working side-by-side with host nations to help them develop their trauma and disaster management systems. This article discusses the Air Force Medical System's (AFMS) mission to provide humanitarian and civic assistance, disaster response, and care of wartime injured. Within the context of this tripartite mission, the article introduces the AFMS's flagship international course, "Leadership Course in Regional Disaster Response and Trauma System Management," and highlights the that military critical care nurses play in this international effort.

Research on the Improvements of the Assembly Areas, Evacuation Routes, and Shelters against Multiple Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, S.; Lee, Y. M.; Jeong, S. Y.; Hong, S. J.

2016-12-01

The considerable casualties were resulted at the tsunami shelters during the Great East Japan Tsunami on 11 March 2011. The one of the important lessons learned from the Great East Japan Tsunami and the Fukushima NPP accidents provided the nuclear power plant emergency plan should consider the natural disaster. However, most of cases, the nuclear emergency preparedness strategies have not incorporated the natural disaster management plan. In this study, we reviewed the safety of the assembly areas, evacuation routes, and shelters of some nuclear emergency planning zone using the new tsunami hazard mapping results through the characteristic inundation analysis. As the result of this study, the improvements can be achieved by considering both natural and nuclear disaster to set up the assembly areas, evacuation routes, and shelters against the multiple disasters. Also, The most important protective measures can be achieved by integrating and linking the emergency preparedness strategy both natural disasters and nuclear disaster in the future.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

MedlinePlus

... Migration Risk reduction Shelter Recovery Capacity building Promoting principles and values Disaster and crisis management Disaster law Humanitarian logistics Volunteers Community engagement Youth ...

Children with Disabilities in Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction: Focussing on School Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ronoh, Steve; Gaillard, J. C.; Marlowe, Jay

2017-01-01

Every year, worldwide, disasters affect approximately seven million children with disabilities, highlighting their potential vulnerability. Although there is a growing move internationally to promote the rights of children with disabilities, they still receive little attention from disaster risk reduction (DRR) researchers and policy makers. They…

Interdisciplinary Environmental-health Science Throughout Disaster Lifecycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plumlee, G. S.; Morman, S. A.; Hoefen, T. M.

2014-12-01

Potential human health effects from exposures to hazardous disaster materials and environmental contamination are common concerns following disasters. Using several examples from US Geological Survey environmental disaster responses (e.g., 2001 World Trade Center, mine tailings spills, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, 2007-2013 wildfires, 2011 Gulf oil spill, 2012 Hurricane Sandy, 2013 Colorado floods) and disaster scenarios (2011 ARkStorm, 2013 SAFRR tsunami) this presentation will illustrate the role for collaborative earth, environmental, and health science throughout disaster lifecycles. Pre-disaster environmental baseline measurements are needed to help understand environmental influences on pre-disaster health baselines, and to constrain the magnitude of a disaster's impacts. During and following disasters, there is a need for interdisciplinary rapid-response and longer-term assessments that: sample and characterize the physical, chemical, and microbial makeup of complex materials generated by the disasters; fingerprint material sources; monitor, map, and model dispersal and evolution of disaster materials in the environment; help understand how the materials are modified by environmental processes; and, identify key characteristics and processes that influence the exposures and toxicity of disaster materials to humans and the living environment. This information helps emergency responders, public health experts, and cleanup managers: 1) identify short- and long-term exposures to disaster materials that may affect health; 2) prioritize areas for cleanup; and 3) develop appropriate disposal solutions or restoration uses for disaster materials. By integrating lessons learned from past disasters with geospatial information on vulnerable sources of natural or anthropogenic contaminants, the environmental health implications of looming disasters or disaster scenarios can be better anticipated, which helps enhance preparedness and resilience. Understanding economic costs of environmental cleanup and environmental-health impacts from disasters is an area of needed research. Throughout all disaster stages, effective communication between diverse scientific disciplines and stakeholder groups is both a necessity and a challenge.

Ebola Outbreak Response: The Role of Information Resources and the National Library of Medicine

PubMed Central

Love, Cynthia B.; Arnesen, Stacey J.; Phillips, Steven J.

2016-01-01

The US National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers Internet-based, no-cost resources useful for responding to the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak. Resources for health professionals, planners, responders, and researchers include PubMed, Disaster Lit, the Web page “Ebola Outbreak 2014: Information Resources,” and the Virus Variation database of sequences for Ebolavirus. In cooperation with participating publishers, NLM offers free access to full-text articles from over 650 biomedical journals and 4000 online reference books through the Emergency Access Initiative. At the start of a prolonged disaster event or disease outbreak, the documents and information of most immediate use may not be in the peer-reviewed biomedical journal literature. To maintain current awareness may require using any of the following: news outlets; social media; preliminary online data, maps, and situation reports; and documents published by nongovernmental organizations, international associations, and government agencies. Similar to the pattern of interest shown in the news and social media, use of NLM Ebola-related resources is also increasing since the start of the outbreak was first reported in March 2014 PMID:25325189

Ebola outbreak response: the role of information resources and the National Library of Medicine.

PubMed

Love, Cynthia B; Arnesen, Stacey J; Phillips, Steven J

2015-02-01

The US National Library of Medicine (NLM) offers Internet-based, no-cost resources useful for responding to the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak. Resources for health professionals, planners, responders, and researchers include PubMed, Disaster Lit, the Web page "Ebola Outbreak 2014: Information Resources," and the Virus Variation database of sequences for Ebolavirus. In cooperation with participating publishers, NLM offers free access to full-text articles from over 650 biomedical journals and 4000 online reference books through the Emergency Access Initiative. At the start of a prolonged disaster event or disease outbreak, the documents and information of most immediate use may not be in the peer-reviewed biomedical journal literature. To maintain current awareness may require using any of the following: news outlets; social media; preliminary online data, maps, and situation reports; and documents published by nongovernmental organizations, international associations, and government agencies. Similar to the pattern of interest shown in the news and social media, use of NLM Ebola-related resources is also increasing since the start of the outbreak was first reported in March 2014.

Mental Health and Social Networks After Disaster.

PubMed

Bryant, Richard A; Gallagher, H Colin; Gibbs, Lisa; Pattison, Philippa; MacDougall, Colin; Harms, Louise; Block, Karen; Baker, Elyse; Sinnott, Vikki; Ireton, Greg; Richardson, John; Forbes, David; Lusher, Dean

2017-03-01

Although disasters are a major cause of mental health problems and typically affect large numbers of people and communities, little is known about how social structures affect mental health after a disaster. The authors assessed the extent to which mental health outcomes after disaster are associated with social network structures. In a community-based cohort study of survivors of a major bushfire disaster, participants (N=558) were assessed for probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and probable depression. Social networks were assessed by asking participants to nominate people with whom they felt personally close. These nominations were used to construct a social network map that showed each participant's ties to other participants they nominated and also to other participants who nominated them. This map was then analyzed for prevailing patterns of mental health outcomes. Depression risk was higher for participants who reported fewer social connections, were connected to other depressed people, or were connected to people who had left their community. PTSD risk was higher if fewer people reported being connected with the participant, if those who felt close to the participant had higher levels of property loss, or if the participant was linked to others who were themselves not interconnected. Interestingly, being connected to other people who in turn were reciprocally close to each other was associated with a lower risk of PTSD. These findings provide the first evidence of disorder-specific patterns in relation to one's social connections after disaster. Depression appears to co-occur in linked individuals, whereas PTSD risk is increased with social fragmentation. These patterns underscore the need to adopt a sociocentric perspective of postdisaster mental health in order to better understand the potential for societal interventions in the wake of disaster.

Australasian emergency nurses' willingness to attend work in a disaster: a survey.

PubMed

Arbon, Paul; Ranse, Jamie; Cusack, Lynette; Considine, Julie; Shaban, Ramon Z; Woodman, Richard J; Bahnisch, Laura; Kako, Mayumi; Hammad, Karen; Mitchell, Belinda

2013-05-01

The type of disaster, individual demographic factors, family factors and workplace factors, have been identified in the international, multidisciplinary literature as factors that influence a person's willingness to attend and assist in their workplace during a disaster. However, it is unknown if these factors are applicable to Australasian emergency nurses. The research aims to determine the extent to which Australasian emergency nurses are willing to attend their workplace in a disaster. This research was exploratory and descriptive study design, using online and paper based surveys as a means of data collection. Australasian emergency nurses from two Australasian emergency nursing colleges and four Australian hospitals were recruited to participate. Data analysis was conducted using both descriptive and inferential statistics. In total, 451 Australasian emergency nurses participated in this research. Participants were more willing to attend their workplace during a conventional disaster (p ≤ 0.001), if they worked full-time (p = 0.01), had received formal education pertaining to disasters (p ≤ 0.001), had a family disaster plan (p = 0.008), did not have children (p = 0.001) and worked in an environment in which they perceived their colleagues, managers and organisation to be prepared. The factors that influenced Australasian emergency nurses to attend their workplace in a disaster were similar to that described in the international multidisciplinary literature. Of particular note, improving disaster knowledge and skills, having a family disaster plan and improving the perceptions of the nurses' workplace preparedness can enhance the nurses' willingness to assist in a disaster. Copyright © 2013 College of Emergency Nursing Australasia Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dream project: Applications of earth observations to disaster risk management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dyke, G.; Gill, S.; Davies, R.; Betorz, F.; Andalsvik, Y.; Cackler, J.; Dos Santos, W.; Dunlop, K.; Ferreira, I.; Kebe, F.; Lamboglia, E.; Matsubara, Y.; Nikolaidis, V.; Ostoja-Starzewski, S.; Sakita, M.; Verstappen, N.

2011-01-01

The field of disaster risk management is relatively new and takes a structured approach to managing uncertainty related to the threat of natural and man-made disasters. Disaster risk management consists primarily of risk assessment and the development of strategies to mitigate disaster risk. This paper will discuss how increasing both Earth observation data and information technology capabilities can contribute to disaster risk management, particularly in Belize. The paper presents the results and recommendations of a project conducted by an international and interdisciplinary team of experts at the 2009 session of the International Space University in NASA Ames Research Center (California, USA). The aim is to explore the combination of current, planned and potential space-aided, airborne, and ground-based Earth observation tools, the emergence of powerful new web-based and mobile data management tools, and how this combination can support and improve the emerging field of disaster risk management. The starting point of the project was the World Bank's Comprehensive Approach to Probabilistic Risk Assessment (CAPRA) program, focused in Central America. This program was used as a test bed to analyze current space technologies used in risk management and develop new strategies and tools to be applied in other regions around the world.

Disability and health-related rehabilitation in international disaster relief

PubMed Central

Reinhardt, Jan D.; Li, Jianan; Gosney, James; Rathore, Farooq A.; Haig, Andrew J.; Marx, Michael; Delisa, Joel A.

2011-01-01

Background Natural disasters result in significant numbers of disabling impairments. Paradoxically, however, the traditional health system response to natural disasters largely neglects health-related rehabilitation as a strategic intervention. Objectives To examine the role of health-related rehabilitation in natural disaster relief along three lines of inquiry: (1) epidemiology of injury and disability, (2) impact on health and rehabilitation systems, and (3) the assessment and measurement of disability. Design Qualitative literature review and secondary data analysis. Results Absolute numbers of injuries as well as injury to death ratios in natural disasters have increased significantly over the last 40 years. Major impairments requiring health-related rehabilitation include amputations, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries (SCI), and long bone fractures. Studies show that persons with pre-existing disabilities are more likely to die in a natural disaster. Lack of health-related rehabilitation in natural disaster relief may result in additional burdening of the health system capacity, exacerbating baseline weak rehabilitation and health system infrastructure. Little scientific evidence on the effectiveness of health-related rehabilitation interventions following natural disaster exists, however. Although systematic assessment and measurement of disability after a natural disaster is currently lacking, new approaches have been suggested. Conclusion Health-related rehabilitation potentially results in decreased morbidity due to disabling injuries sustained during a natural disaster and is, therefore, an essential component of the medical response by the host and international communities. Significant systematic challenges to effective delivery of rehabilitation interventions during disaster include a lack of trained responders as well as a lack of medical recordkeeping, data collection, and established outcome measures. Additional development of health-related rehabilitation following natural disaster is urgently required. PMID:21866223

Spatial modelling of disaster resilience using infrastructure components of baseline resilience indicators for communities (BRIC) in special region of Yogyakarta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuscahyadi, Febriana; Meilano, Irwan; Riqqi, Akhmad

2017-07-01

Special Region of Yogyakarta Province (DIY) is one of Indonesian regions that often harmed by varied natural disasters which caused huge negative impacts. The most catastrophic one is earthquake in May, 27th 2006 with 6.3 magnitude moment [1], evoked 5716 people died, and economic losses for Rp. 29.1 Trillion, [2]. Their impacts could be minimized by committing disaster risk reduction program. Therefore, it is necessary to measure the natural disaster resilience within a region. Since infrastructure are might be able as facilities that means for evacuations, distribute supplies, and post disaster recovery [3], this research concerns to establish spatial modelling of natural disaster resilience using infrastructure components based on BRIC in DIY Province. There are three infrastructure used in this model; they are school, health facilities, and roads. Distance analysis is used to determine the level of resilient zone. The result gives the spatial understanding as a map that urban areas have better disaster resilience than the rural areas. The coastal areas and mountains areas which are vulnerable towards disaster have less resilience since there are no enough facilities that will increase the disaster resilience

Spatiotemporal hazard mapping of a flood event "migration" in a transboundary river basin as an operational tool in flood risk management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perrou, Theodora; Papastergios, Asterios; Parcharidis, Issaak; Chini, Marco

2017-10-01

Flood disaster is one of the heaviest disasters in the world. It is necessary to monitor and evaluate the flood disaster in order to mitigate the consequences. As floods do not recognize borders, transboundary flood risk management is imperative in shared river basins. Disaster management is highly dependent on early information and requires data from the whole river basin. Based on the hypothesis that the flood events over the same area with same magnitude have almost identical evolution, it is crucial to develop a repository database of historical flood events. This tool, in the case of extended transboundary river basins, could constitute an operational warning system for the downstream area. The utility of SAR images for flood mapping, was demonstrated by previous studies but the SAR systems in orbit were not characterized by high operational capacity. Copernicus system will fill this gap in operational service for risk management, especially during emergency phase. The operational capabilities have been significantly improved by newly available satellite constellation, such as the Sentinel-1A AB mission, which is able to provide systematic acquisitions with a very high temporal resolution in a wide swath coverage. The present study deals with the monitoring of a transboundary flood event in Evros basin. The objective of the study is to create the "migration story" of the flooded areas on the basis of the evolution in time for the event occurred from October 2014 till May 2015. Flood hazard maps will be created, using SAR-based semi-automatic algorithms and then through the synthesis of the related maps in a GIS-system, a spatiotemporal thematic map of the event will be produced. The thematic map combined with TanDEM-X DEM, 12m/pixel spatial resolution, will define the non- affected areas which is a very useful information for the emergency planning and emergency response phases. The Sentinels meet the main requirements to be an effective and suitable operational tool in transboundary flood risk management.

76 FR 56212 - Minnesota; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-12

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1990-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Minnesota; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster... notice of a major disaster declaration for State of Minnesota (FEMA-1990-DR), dated June 7, 2011 and...

77 FR 73488 - Minnesota; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-10

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4069-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2012-0002] Minnesota; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster... notice of a major disaster declaration for State of Minnesota (FEMA-4069-DR), dated July 6, 2012, and...

76 FR 56778 - Puerto Rico; Amendment No. 2 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4017-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Puerto Rico; Amendment No. 2 to Notice of a Major Disaster... notice of a major disaster declaration for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (FEMA-4017-DR), dated August...

Department of Defense Road Ahead for Humanitarian Assistance / Disaster Relief

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-25

disasters. The U.S. Government’s money is allocated through US AID for international disaster relief. J runes Kunder ( fonner Deputy Director ofUSAID, 2009...Observations and Recommendations." Doral, FL, 26 August 2010. K.under, J runes , interview by Pete Oldmixon. US AID and DOD Integration (25 January

Group Work during International Disaster Outreach Projects: A Model to Advance Cultural Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West-Olatunji, Cirecie; Henesy, Rachel; Varney, Melanie

2015-01-01

Given the rise in disasters worldwide, counselors will increasingly be called upon to respond. Current accreditation standards require that programs train students to become skillful in disaster/crisis interventions. Group processing to enhance self-awareness and improve conceptualization skills is an essential element of such training. This…

Post-disaster victimization: how survivors of disasters can continue to suffer after the event is over.

PubMed

Phua, Kai-Lit

2008-01-01

When public health researchers study the health effects of disasters (whether "naturally-occurring," disasters due to failure of technology, or disasters due to terrorism), some aspects of the post-disaster situation of victims are often overlooked. Social science research has shown that the vast majority of people tend to behave altruistically during and after a disaster. Nevertheless, cases of victimization of survivors do occur. They can include post-disaster victimization of survivors by other individuals (including fellow survivors, opportunistic outsiders, and even unethical aid workers and rogue members of the police, armed forces or international organizations such as the United Nations), groups (such as organized criminal gangs) and institutions (through neglect, incompetence, bureaucratic inefficiency or through institutionalized discriminatory practices). In this article, various kinds of post-disaster victimization that can occur are discussed.

Disaster response and the international charter program

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stryker, Timothy; Jones, Brenda

2009-01-01

In a meeting held in Vienna, Austria in 1999, a small group of space agencies conceived and approved a program to provide emergency response satellite data to those affected by disasters anywhere in the world. The purpose of this group, which came to be known as the “International Charter - Space and Major Disasters”, is to promote cooperation among space agencies in the use of satellite data to manage crises during and after disasters. When tropical storms, floods, oil spills, earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes or fires endanger human life, the Charter member agencies provide valuable information about these events’ extent and impact.

International Collaboration in Satellite Observations for Disaster Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duda, Kenneth A.; Abrams, Michael

2012-01-01

When lives are threatened or lost due to catastrophic disasters, and when massive financial impacts are experienced, international emergency response teams rapidly mobilize to provide urgently required support. Satellite observations of affected areas often provide essential insight into the magnitude and details of the impacts. The large cost and high complexity of developing and operating satellite flight and ground systems encourages international collaboration in acquiring imagery for such significant global events in order to speed delivery of critical information to help those affected, and optimize spectral, spatial, and temporal coverage of the areas of interest. The International Charter-Space and Major Disasters was established to enable such collaboration in sensor tasking during times of crisis and is often activated in response to calls for assistance from authorized users. Insight is provided from a U.S. perspective into sensor support for Charter activations and other disaster events through a description of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), which has been used to support emergency situations for over a decade through its expedited tasking and near real-time data delivery capabilities. Examples of successes achieved and challenges encountered in international collaboration to develop related systems and fulfill tasking requests suggest operational considerations for new missions as well as areas for future enhancements.

ASTER satellite observations for international disaster management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Duda, K.A.; Abrams, M.

2012-01-01

When lives are threatened or lost due to catastrophic disasters, and when massive financial impacts are experienced, international emergency response teams rapidly mobilize to provide urgently required support. Satellite observations of affected areas often provide essential insight into the magnitude and details of the impacts. The large cost and high complexity of developing and operating satellite flight and ground systems encourages international collaboration in acquiring imagery for such significant global events in order to speed delivery of critical information to help those affected, and optimize spectral, spatial, and temporal coverage of the areas of interest. The International Charter-Space and Major Disasters was established to enable such collaboration in sensor tasking during times of crisis and is often activated in response to calls for assistance from authorized users. Insight is provided from a U.S. perspective into sensor support for Charter activations and other disaster events through a description of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), which has been used to support emergency situations for over a decade through its expedited tasking and near real-time data delivery capabilities. Examples of successes achieved and challenges encountered in international collaboration to develop related systems and fulfill tasking requests suggest operational considerations for new missions as well as areas for future enhancements.

Denial of flood aid to members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan.

PubMed

Malik, Atif M

2011-07-14

During the catastrophic floods of 2010 in Pakistan, approximately 500 internally displaced families belonging to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam were denied humanitarian relief. The failure of international agencies and Pakistan's government to protect basic human rights in the context of disaster relief raises profound questions. If all humanitarian work associated with natural disasters must be governed by canons of human rights, how should international agencies deal with legally empowered official discrimination? A review of the history of the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan reveals decades of state-sanctioned persecution, particularly through its anti-blasphemy laws, and poses a serious challenge to the international community. When effective intervention is predicated on cooperation with state institutions, how can international relief agencies avoid becoming implicated in official discrimination? The denial of flood aid to Pakistan's Ahmadiyya community highlights the need for concerted action in disaster settings to prevent discrimination against vulnerable groups. Discriminatory legislation is not only a violation of basic norms enshrined in international compacts, it is a key problem for disaster relief. Copyright © 2011 Malik. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster is ongoing.

PubMed

Marks, Andrew R

2016-07-01

The 5th anniversary of the Fukushima disaster and the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the two most catastrophic nuclear accidents in history, both occurred recently. Images of Chernobyl are replete with the international sign of radioactive contamination (a circle with three broad spokes radiating outward in a yellow sign). In contrast, ongoing decontamination efforts at Fukushima lack international warnings about radioactivity. Decontamination workers at Fukushima appear to be poorly protected against radiation. It is almost as if the effort is to make the Fukushima problem disappear. A more useful response would be to openly acknowledge the monumental problems inherent in managing a nuclear plant disaster. Lessons from Chernobyl are the best predictors of what the Fukushima region of Japan is coping with in terms of health and environmental problems following a nuclear catastrophe.

ESTIMATION OF EARLY INTERNAL DOSES TO FUKUSHIMA RESIDENTS AFTER THE NUCLEAR DISASTER BASED ON THE ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION SIMULATION.

PubMed

Kim, Eunjoo; Tani, Kotaro; Kunishima, Naoaki; Kurihara, Osamu; Sakai, Kazuo; Akashi, Makoto

2016-11-01

Estimating the early internal doses to residents in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident is a difficult task because limited human/environmental measurement data are available. Hence, the feasibility of using atmospheric dispersion simulations created by the Worldwide version of System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information 2nd Version (WSPEEDI-II) in the estimation was examined in the present study. This examination was done by comparing the internal doses evaluated based on the human measurements with those calculated using time series air concentration maps ( 131 I and 137 Cs) generated by WSPEEDI-II. The results showed that the latter doses were several times higher than the former doses. However, this discrepancy could be minimised by taking into account personal behaviour data that will be available soon. This article also presents the development of a prototype system for estimating the internal dose based on the simulations. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Weather Information Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

Science Communications International (SCI), formerly General Science Corporation, has developed several commercial products based upon experience acquired as a NASA Contractor. Among them are METPRO, a meteorological data acquisition and processing system, which has been widely used, RISKPRO, an environmental assessment system, and MAPPRO, a geographic information system. METPRO software is used to collect weather data from satellites, ground-based observation systems and radio weather broadcasts to generate weather maps, enabling potential disaster areas to receive advance warning. GSC's initial work for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center resulted in METPAK, a weather satellite data analysis system. METPAK led to the commercial METPRO system. The company also provides data to other government agencies, U.S. embassies and foreign countries.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Earth Observation During the 2015 Texas Flood Disaster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schumann, G. J-P.; Frye, S.; Wells, G.; Adler, R.; Brakenridge, R.; Bolten, J.; Murray, J.; Slayback, D.; Policelli, F.; Kirschbaum, D.;

Unlocking the full potential of Earth observation during the 2015 Texas flood disaster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumann, G. J.-P.; Frye, S.; Wells, G.; Adler, R.; Brakenridge, R.; Bolten, J.; Murray, J.; Slayback, D.; Policelli, F.; Kirschbaum, D.; Wu, H.; Cappelaere, P.; Howard, T.; Flamig, Z.; Clark, R.; Stough, T.; Chini, M.; Matgen, P.; Green, D.; Jones, B.

2016-05-01

Intense rainfall during late April and early May 2015 in Texas and Oklahoma led to widespread and sustained flooding in several river basins. Texas state agencies relevant to emergency response were activated when severe weather then ensued for 6 weeks from 8 May until 19 June following Tropical Storm Bill. An international team of scientists and flood response experts assembled and collaborated with decision-making authorities for user-driven high-resolution satellite acquisitions over the most critical areas; while experimental automated flood mapping techniques provided daily ongoing monitoring. This allowed mapping of flood inundation from an unprecedented number of spaceborne and airborne images. In fact, a total of 27,174 images have been ingested to the USGS Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS) Explorer, except for the SAR images used. Based on the Texas flood use case, we describe the success of this effort as well as the limitations in fulfilling the needs of the decision-makers, and reflect upon these. In order to unlock the full potential for Earth observation data in flood disaster response, we suggest in a call for action (i) stronger collaboration from the onset between agencies, product developers, and decision-makers; (ii) quantification of uncertainties when combining data from different sources in order to augment information content; (iii) include a default role for the end-user in satellite acquisition planning; and (iv) proactive assimilation of methodologies and tools into the mandated agencies.

Assessment of the risk of medium-term internal contamination in Minamisoma City, Fukushima, Japan, after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident.

PubMed

Sugimoto, Amina; Gilmour, Stuart; Tsubokura, Masaharu; Nomura, Shuhei; Kami, Masahiro; Oikawa, Tomoyoshi; Kanazawa, Yukio; Shibuya, Kenji

2014-06-01

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, the first level-7 major nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, raised concerns about the future health consequences of exposure to and intake of radionuclides. Factors determining the risk and level of internal radiation contamination after a nuclear accident, which are a key to understanding and improving current nuclear disaster management, are not well studied. We investigated both the prevalence and level of internal contamination in residents of Minamisoma, and identified factors determining the risk and levels of contamination. We implemented a program assessing internal radiation contamination using a whole body counter (WBC) measurement and a questionnaire survey in Minamisoma, between October 2011 and March 2012. Approximately 20% of the city's population (8,829 individuals) participated in the WBC measurement for internal contamination, of which 94% responded to the questionnaire. The proportion of participants with detectable internal contamination was 40% in adults and 9% in children. The level of internal contamination ranged from 2.3 to 196.5 Bq/kg (median, 11.3 Bq/kg). Tobit regression analysis identified two main risk factors: more time spent outdoors, and intake of potentially contaminated foods and water. Our findings suggest that, with sensible and reasonable precautions, people may be able to live continuously in radiation-affected areas with limited contamination risk. To enable this, nuclear disaster response should strictly enforce food and water controls and disseminate evidence-based and up-to-date information about avoidable contamination risks.

NCALM's Lessons Learned and Insights into the Future from Ten + Years of Providing Geodetic Images for the monitoring of Hazards and the Response to Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fernandez Diaz, J. C.; Shrestha, R. L.; Carter, W. E.; Glennie, C. L.; Sartori, M. P.; Singhania, A.

2012-12-01

The National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping NCALM was created in 2003 through a grant from and National Science Foundation to support the use of airborne laser swath mapping technology (ALSM aka LiDAR) by the scientific community. NCALM's main goals are to provide research quality airborne LiDAR observations to the scientific community, to advance the state of the art in airborne laser mapping, and to train and educate graduate students with knowledge of airborne mapping to meet the needs of private industry, government agencies and academic institutions. Even before its creation, NCALM researchers had been exploring the application of LiDAR technologies for the monitoring of Geohazards and the response and recovery from man-made and natural disasters. Some of these applications include: mapping debris caused by the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York; mapping thousands of km of faults along the Pacific coast of the US extending from Southern California to Alaska, through the OSU/USGS B4 and UNAVCO EarthScope projects; mapping of lava fields in Hawaii; mapping post-forest-fire zones in the San Gabriel Mountains, CA and Valles Caldera, NM; mapping beach erosion/deposition induced by hurricanes along the Panhandle and Atlantic coasts of Florida; rapid-response mapping of the Iowa river floods in 2008 and the El Mayor - Cucapah Earthquake in 2010. The experience gained and lessons learned by NCALM regarding the long term monitoring of hazards for the preparation, response and recovery of disasters range from navigating the regulatory and logistic challenges of being present in a disaster area, to the production of real-time geodetic imagery and data for support of the authorities, to performing change detection (surface deformation, sediment transport, infrastructure damage) using LiDAR data products obtained by different vendors, with different equipment and operated under different specifications. End users of the information uniquely provided by airborne LiDAR have rapidly realized its value and are increasingly calling for the mapping of high-risk areas before emergencies, as soon as possible after a major event occurs. Unfortunately, obtaining immediate approval of export licenses for components subject to ITAR regulations (most particularly high accuracy Inertial Measure Units) continues to be a major issue in rapidly responding to events in locations outside the United States. Finally, the presentation will describe our view of how emerging technologies could provide solutions to current technical and regulatory limitations encountered in the field. These technologies include advanced LiDAR sensors, multi-sensor fusion, and novel sensor platforms that range from low-cost balloons to Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS aka UAVs).

Potential Landslide Early Detection Near Wenchuan by a Qualitatively Multi-Baseline Dinsar Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dai, K.; Chen, G.; Xu, Q.; Li, Z.; Qu, T.; Hu, L.; Lu, H.

2018-04-01

Early detection of landslides is important for disaster prevention, which was still very hard work with traditional surveying methods. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technology provided us the ability to monitor displacements along the slope with wide coverage and high accuracy. In this paper, we proposed a qualitatively multi-baseline DInSAR method to early detect and map the potential landslides. Two sections of China National Highway 317 and 213 were selected as study area. With this method 10 potential landslide areas were early detected and mapped in a quick and effective way. One of them (i.e. Shidaguan landslide) collapsed on August 2017, which was coincident with our results, suggesting that this method could become an effective way to acquire the landslide early detection map to assist the future disaster prevention work.

A Geosynchronous Synthetic Aperture Provides for Disaster Management, Measurement of Soil Moisture, and Measurement of Earth-Surface Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Madsen, Soren; Komar, George (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A GEO-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) could provide daily coverage of basically all of North and South America with very good temporal coverage within the mapped area. This affords a key capability to disaster management, tectonic mapping and modeling, and vegetation mapping. The fine temporal sampling makes this system particularly useful for disaster management of flooding, hurricanes, and earthquakes. By using a fairly long wavelength, changing water boundaries caused by storms or flooding could be monitored in near real-time. This coverage would also provide revolutionary capabilities in the field of radar interferometry, including the capability to study the interferometric signature immediately before and after an earthquake, thus allowing unprecedented studies of Earth-surface dynamics. Preeruptive volcano dynamics could be studied as well as pre-seismic deformation, one of the most controversial and elusive aspects of earthquakes. Interferometric correlation would similarly allow near real-time mapping of surface changes caused by volcanic eruptions, mud slides, or fires. Finally, a GEO SAR provides an optimum configuration for soil moisture measurement that requires a high temporal sampling rate (1-2 days) with a moderate spatial resolution (1 km or better). From a technological point of view, the largest challenges involved in developing a geosynchronous SAR capability relate to the very large slant range distance from the radar to the mapped area. This leads to requirements for large power or alternatively very large antenna, the ability to steer the mapping area to the left and right of the satellite, and control of the elevation and azimuth angles. The weight of this system is estimated to be 2750 kg and it would require 20 kW of DC-power. Such a system would provide up to a 600 km ground swath in a strip-mapping mode and 4000 km dual-sided mapping in a scan-SAR mode.

The New Aphrodite school on Disasters Food and Poverty organized by CIMA Research Foundation and University of Genova

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boni, G.

2009-04-01

CIMA is a Research Foundation which aim is to advance science and engineering in environmentally related fields, focusing on public health and safety, civil protection and the preservation of terrestrial and water-related ecosystems. This aim is accomplished through scientific research, technology transfer and high level training services. Here we present the "New Aphrodite school on Disasters Food and Poverty" jointly managed by CIMA Foundation, and the University of Genova. The school is organized to provide to international students, professionals and government officials, mainly from poor or developing countries, formation for the management, prediction and prevention of natural and man made disasters. The expertise of the teachers, mainly CIMA's researchers, comes from a long term support of CIMA Foundation to the Italian Civil Protection in developing the advanced national system for risk prediction, prevention and management. The school is organized in two levels. The first level includes an international master of science degree in "Environmental Engineering: Sustainable Development and Risk Management", which classes are given in English, and a master for professional and government officials in "Disasters, food and poverty". The second level includes an international Ph.D. programme in "Information sciences and technologies for system monitoring and environmental risk management". Short training courses for international government official are periodically organized. At present the school is organizing short courses for officials of Civil Protections of Venezuela, Barbados and Mozambique. The philosophy underlying the teaching activities is to promote a multi-disciplinary approach to disaster mitigation, prevention and prediction. Special focus is on the potential of high-tech low-cost technologies for rapid communication and disaster monitoring, such as satellite based technologies. Such technologies are seen as the best way to support the development of autonomous capacities in developing countries, with affordable investment costs, and to improve globally the understanding of the phenomena leading to disasters.

International Space Station Instmments Collect Imagery of Natural Disasters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, C. A.; Stefanov, W. L.

2013-01-01

A new focus for utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) is conducting basic and applied research that directly benefits Earth's citizenry. In the Earth Sciences, one such activity is collecting remotely sensed imagery of disaster areas and making those data immediately available through the USGS Hazards Data Distribution System, especially in response to activations of the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters (known informally as the "International Disaster Charter", or IDC). The ISS, together with other NASA orbital sensor assets, responds to IDC activations following notification by the USGS. Most of the activations are due to natural hazard events, including large floods, impacts of tropical systems, major fires, and volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Through the ISS Program Science Office, we coordinate with ISS instrument teams for image acquisition using several imaging systems. As of 1 August 2013, we have successfully contributed imagery data in support of 14 Disaster Charter Activations, including regions in both Haiti and the east coast of the US impacted by Hurricane Sandy; flooding events in Russia, Mozambique, India, Germany and western Africa; and forest fires in Algeria and Ecuador. ISS-based sensors contributing data include the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO), the ISERV (ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System) Pathfinder camera mounted in the US Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), the ISS Agricultural Camera (ISSAC), formerly operating from the WORF, and high resolution handheld camera photography collected by crew members (Crew Earth Observations). When orbital parameters and operations support data collection, ISS-based imagery adds to the resources available to disaster response teams and contributes to the publicdomain record of these events for later analyses.

76 FR 56464 - New Hampshire; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-13

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4006-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] New Hampshire; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster... notice of a major disaster declaration for State of New Hampshire (FEMA-4006-DR), dated July 22, 2011...

77 FR 52753 - New Hampshire; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-30

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4065-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2012-0002] New Hampshire; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster... notice of a major disaster declaration for State of New Hampshire (FEMA-4065-DR), dated June 15, 2012...

75 FR 55811 - Wisconsin; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-14

...; Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1933-DR] Wisconsin; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster... notice of a major disaster declaration for the State of Wisconsin (FEMA-1933-DR), dated August 11, 2010... the State of Wisconsin is hereby amended to include the following area among those areas determined to...

Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster: Man-Made Hazards, Vulnerability Factors, and Risk to Environmental Health.

PubMed

Eddy, Christopher; Sase, Eriko

2015-01-01

The objective of this article was to examine the environmental health implications of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster from an all-hazards perspective. The authors performed a literature review that included Japanese and international nuclear guidance and policy, scientific papers, and reports on the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island disasters while also considering all-hazards preparedness rubrics in the U.S. The examination of the literature resulted in the following: a) the authors' "All-Hazards Planning Reference Model" that distinguishes three planning categories-Disaster Trigger Event, Man-Made Hazards, and Vulnerability Factors; b) the generalization of their model to other countries; and c) advocacy for environmental health end fate to be considered in planning phases to minimize risk to environmental health. This article discusses inconsistencies in disaster planning and nomenclature existing in the studied materials and international guidance and proposes new opportunity for developing predisaster risk assessment, risk communication, and prevention capacity building.

Use of NASA Near Real-Time and Archived Satellite Data to Support Disaster Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGrath, Kevin M.; Molthan, Andrew L.; Burks, Jason E.

2014-01-01

NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center partners with the NWS to provide near realtime data in support of a variety of weather applications, including disasters. SPoRT supports NASA's Applied Sciences Program: Disasters focus area by developing techniques that will aid the disaster monitoring, response, and assessment communities. SPoRT has explored a variety of techniques for utilizing archived and near real-time NASA satellite data. An increasing number of end-users - such as the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit (DAT) - access geospatial data via a Web Mapping Service (WMS). SPoRT has begun developing open-standard Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data sets via WMS to respond to end-user needs.

Country logistics performance and disaster impact.

PubMed

Vaillancourt, Alain; Haavisto, Ira

2016-04-01

The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the relationship between country logistics performance and disaster impact. The relationship is analysed through correlation analysis and regression models for 117 countries for the years 2007 to 2012 with disaster impact variables from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) and logistics performance indicators from the World Bank. The results show a significant relationship between country logistics performance and disaster impact overall and for five out of six specific logistic performance indicators. These specific indicators were further used to explore the relationship between country logistic performance and disaster impact for three specific disaster types (epidemic, flood and storm). The findings enhance the understanding of the role of logistics in a humanitarian context with empirical evidence of the importance of country logistics performance in disaster response operations. © 2016 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2016.

Mudflow Hazards in the Georgian Caucasus - Using Participatory Methods to Investigate Disaster Risk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spanu, Valentina; McCall, Michael; Gaprindashvili, George

2014-05-01

The Caucasus form an extremely complex mountainous area of Georgia in terms of geology and the scale and frequency of natural disaster processes. These processes, especially mudflows, frequently result in considerable damage to the settlements, farmlands and infrastructure facilities. The occurrence intervals between mudflows are becoming significantly shorter, therefore the most populated areas and infrastucture need to be included in risk zones. This presentation reviews the case of the mudflow problem in Mleta village in the region of Dusheti where the mudflow risk is critical. The villages of Zemo Mleta (Higher Mleta) and Kvemo Mleta (Lower Mleta) are entirely surrounded by unstable slopes where mudslides, landslides and floods are often generated. These hazards occur at least twice per year and sometimes result in severe events. In 2006 and 2010 in Mleta village a very severe mudflow event occurred creating heavy damage. This paper focuses on the recognition of the importance of cooperating with the local communities affected by these disasters, in order to get useful information and local knowledge to apply to disaster prevention and management. In October 2010, the EU-financed MATRA Project (Institutional Capacity Building in Natural Disaster Risk Reduction) in Georgia included fieldworks in several locations. Particular attention was given to Mleta village in the Caucasus Mountains, where the activities focused on institutional capacity-building in disaster risk reduction, including modern spatial planning approaches and technologies and the development of risk communication strategies. Participatory methods of acquiring local knowledge from local communities reveal many advantages compared to traditional survey approaches for collecting data. In a participatory survey and planning approach, local authorities, experts and local communities are supposed to work together to provide useful information and eventually produce a plan for Disaster Risk Reduction/Management (DRR and DRM). Participatory surveys (and participatory monitoring) elicit local people's knowledge about the specifics of the hazard concerning frequency, timing, warning signals, rates of flow, spatial extent, etc. And significantly, only this local knowledge from informants can reveal essential information about different vulnerabilities of people and places, and about any coping or adjustment mechanisms that local people have. The participatory methods employed in Mleta included historical discussions with key informants, village social transects, participatory mapping with children, semi-structured interviews with inhabitants, and VCA (Vulnerability & Capacity Analysis). The geolomorphological map produced on the base of the local geology has been realized with ArcGIS. This allowed the assessment of the areas at risk and the relative maps. We adapted and tested the software programme CyberTracker as a survey tool, a digital device method of field data collection. Google Earth, OpenStreetMap, Virtual Earth and Ilwis have been used for data processing.

The American print news media 'construction' of five natural disasters.

PubMed

Ploughman, P

1995-12-01

In 1985, five international 'natural' disasters received prominent print news media coverage in the United States. Content analyses of selected print news media accounts of these five disasters were conducted. The purported evidence of alleged cause-effect relationships describing and explaining these disasters as 'objective' realities was evaluated in the light of the subjective selection of explanatory factors, themes, frameworks, and value assumptions which underlie the media's analysis and 'construction' of these events as 'natural' disasters. Analysis of the American print news media coverage of these disasters indicated an emphasis upon the dramatic, descriptive, climatological or geological qualities of these events rather than upon causal explanations emphasizing the role of human acts or omissions in the development of these disasters. The print news media 'constructed' these events as 'natural' disasters despite clear evidence of their hybrid, natural-human origins.

Snow Cover Mapping and Ice Avalanche Monitoring from the Satellite Data of the Sentinels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Yang, B.; Zhou, Y.; Wang, F.; Zhang, R.; Zhao, Q.

2018-04-01

In order to monitor ice avalanches efficiently under disaster emergency conditions, a snow cover mapping method based on the satellite data of the Sentinels is proposed, in which the coherence and backscattering coefficient image of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data (Sentinel-1) is combined with the atmospheric correction result of multispectral data (Sentinel-2). The coherence image of the Sentinel-1 data could be segmented by a certain threshold to map snow cover, with the water bodies extracted from the backscattering coefficient image and removed from the coherence segment result. A snow confidence map from Sentinel-2 was used to map the snow cover, in which the confidence values of the snow cover were relatively high. The method can make full use of the acquired SAR image and multispectral image under emergency conditions, and the application potential of Sentinel data in the field of snow cover mapping is exploited. The monitoring frequency can be ensured because the areas obscured by thick clouds are remedied in the monitoring results. The Kappa coefficient of the monitoring results is 0.946, and the data processing time is less than 2 h, which meet the requirements of disaster emergency monitoring.

People-centred landslide early warning systems in the context of risk management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haß, S.; Asch, K.; Fernandez-Steeger, T.; Arnhardt, C.

2009-04-01

In the current hazard research people-centred warning becomes more and more important, because different types of organizations and groups have to be involved in the warning process. This fact has to be taken into account when developing early warning systems. The effectiveness of early warning depends not only on technical capabilities but also on the preparedness of decision makers and their immediate response on how to act in case of emergency. Hence early warning systems have to be regarded in the context of an integrated and holistic risk management. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) measures include people-centred, timely and understandable warning. Further responsible authorities have to be identified in advance and standards for risk communication have to be established. Up to now, hazard and risk assessment for geohazards focuses on the development of inventory, susceptibility, hazard and risk maps. But often, especially in Europe, there are no institutional structures for managing geohazards and in addition there is a lack of an authority that is legally obliged to alarm on landslides at national or regional level. One of the main characteristics within the warning process for natural hazards e.g. in Germany is the split of responsibility between scientific authorities (wissenschaftliche Fachbehörde) and enforcement authorities (Vollzugsbehörde). The scientific authority provides the experts who define the methods and measures for monitoring and evaluate the hazard level. The main focus is the acquisition and evaluation of data and subsequently the distribution of information. The enforcement authority issues official warnings about dangerous natural phenomena. Hence the information chain in the context of early warning ranges over two different institutions, the forecast service and the warning service. But there doesn't exist a framework for warning processes in terms of landslides as yet. The concept for managing natural disasters is often reduced to hazard assessment and emergency response. Great importance is attached to the scientific understanding of hazards and protective structures, while analysis of socio-economic impacts and risk assessment are not considered enough. The reduction of vulnerability has to be taken into greater account. Also the information needs of different stakeholders have to be identified at an early stage and should be integrated in the development of early warning systems. The content of the warning message must be simple, understandable and should cover instructions on how to react. Further the timeliness of the messages has to be guarented. In this context the aim of the landslide monitoring and early warning system SLEWS (Sensor Based Landslide Early Warning System) is to integrate the above mentioned aspects of a holistic disaster and risk management. The technology of spatial data infrastructures and web services provides the use of multiple communication channels within an early warning system. Thus people-centred early warning messages and information about slope stability can be sent in nearly real-time. It has to be underlined that the technological information process is just one element of an effective warning system. Moreover the warning system has also to be considered as a social system and has to make allowance to socio-economic and gender aspects : «[...] Develop early warning systems that are people centered, in particular systems whose warnings are timely and understandable to those at risk, which take into account the demographic, gender, cultural and livelihood characteristics of the target audiences, including guidance on how to act upon warnings, and that support effective operations by disaster managers and other decision makers » (Hyogo Framework, 2005) References : UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION SECRETARIAT (UNISDR) (2006): Developing early warning systems: a checklist, Third international conference on early warning (EWC III): from concept to action: 27-29 March 2006, Bonn, Germany. Geneva, Switzerland: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER REDUCTION (2005) : Report of the World Conference on Disaster Reduction: Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, 18-22 January 2005. Geneva, Switzerland, Secretariat, World Conference on Disaster Reduction. INTER-AGENCY SECRETARIAT OF THE ISDR & GLOBAL PLATFORM FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION (2007): Disaster risk reduction: 2007 global review. Geneva, UN, ISDR.

Unpredictable, unpreventable and impersonal medicine: global disaster response in the 21st century.

PubMed

Andrews, Russell J; Quintana, Leonidas M

2015-01-01

The United Nations has recognized the devastating consequences of "unpredictable, unpreventable and impersonal" disasters-at least US $2 trillion in economic damage and more than 1.3 million lives lost from natural disasters in the last two decades alone. In many disasters (both natural and man-made) hundreds-and in major earthquakes, thousands-of lives are lost in the first days following the event because of the lack of medical/surgical facilities to treat those with potentially survivable injuries. Disasters disrupt and destroy not only medical facilities in the disaster zone but also infrastructure (roads, airports, electricity) and potentially local healthcare personnel as well. To minimize morbidity and mortality from disasters, medical treatment must begin immediately, within minutes ideally, but certainly within 24 h (not the days to weeks currently seen in medical response to disasters). This requires that all resources-medical equipment and support, and healthcare personnel-be portable and readily available; transport to the disaster site will usually require helicopters, as military medical response teams in developed countries have demonstrated. Some of the resources available and in development for immediate medical response for disasters-from portable CT scanners to telesurgical capabilities-are described. For immediate deployment, these resources-medical equipment and personnel-must be ready for deployment on a moment's notice and not require administrative approvals or bureaucratic authorizations from numerous national and international agencies, as is presently the case. Following the "trauma center/stroke center" model, disaster response incorporating "disaster response centers" would be seamlessly integrated into the ongoing daily healthcare delivery systems worldwide, from medical education and specialty training (resident/registrar) to acute and subacute intensive care to long-term rehabilitation. The benefits of such a global disaster response network extend far beyond the lives saved: universal standards for medical education and healthcare delivery, as well as the global development of medical equipment and infrastructure, would follow. Capitalizing on the humanitarian nature of disaster response-with its suspension of the cultural, socioeconomic and political barriers that often paralyze international cooperation and development-disaster response can be predictable, loss of life can be preventable and benefits can be both personal and societal.

Applications of the INTELSAT system to remote health care

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maleter, Andrea

1991-01-01

INTELSAT, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, is a not-for-profit commercial cooperate of 124 member nations, created on 20 August 1964. It owns and operates a global system of communications satellites that provides international telecommunications services to 180 countries, territories, and dependencies, and domestic telecommunications services to 40 nations. INTELSAT has actively encouraged the use of satellites for both telemedicine and disaster relief. Topics discussed include: INTELSAT domestic/regional services; use of transportable antennas; INTELNET; using the existing telecommunications infrastructure for remote health care applications: Project Access; INTELSAT's role in disaster telecommunications efforts; and how INTELSAT's existing infrastructure can be used for disaster telecommunications.

A software tool for rapid flood inundation mapping

USGS Publications Warehouse

Verdin, James; Verdin, Kristine; Mathis, Melissa L.; Magadzire, Tamuka; Kabuchanga, Eric; Woodbury, Mark; Gadain, Hussein

2016-06-02

The GIS Flood Tool (GFT) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance to provide a means for production of reconnaissance-level flood inundation mapping for data-sparse and resource-limited areas of the world. The GFT has also attracted interest as a tool for rapid assessment flood inundation mapping for the Flood Inundation Mapping Program of the U.S. Geological Survey. The GFT can fill an important gap for communities that lack flood inundation mapping by providing a first-estimate of inundation zones, pending availability of resources to complete an engineering study. The tool can also help identify priority areas for application of scarce flood inundation mapping resources. The technical basis of the GFT is an application of the Manning equation for steady flow in an open channel, operating on specially processed digital elevation data. The GFT is implemented as a software extension in ArcGIS. Output maps from the GFT were validated at 11 sites with inundation maps produced previously by the Flood Inundation Mapping Program using standard one-dimensional hydraulic modeling techniques. In 80 percent of the cases, the GFT inundation patterns matched 75 percent or more of the one-dimensional hydraulic model inundation patterns. Lower rates of pattern agreement were seen at sites with low relief and subtle surface water divides. Although the GFT is simple to use, it should be applied with the oversight or review of a qualified hydraulic engineer who understands the simplifying assumptions of the approach.

Resilience and Disaster Trends in the Philippines: Opportunities for National and Local Capacity Building

PubMed Central

Alcayna, Tilly; Bollettino, Vincenzo; Dy, Philip; Vinck, Patrick

2016-01-01

Introduction: The Philippines is one of the top countries in the world at risk of climate-related disasters. For populations subsisting at the poverty line in particular, but also the nation as a whole, daily lives and wellbeing are routinely challenged. The Philippines government takes disaster risk seriously and has devoted significant resources to build disaster capacity and reduce population exposure and vulnerability, nationally and locally. This paper explores the policy and institutional mechanisms for disaster risk reduction management and research which have been conducted in the Philippines related to disaster preparedness, management and resilience.   Methods: This study draws on direct observations of and conversations with disaster management professionals, in addition to a review of the extant literature on resilience and disaster preparedness, in the Philippines. This is a descriptive study based on a search of mainly peer-reviewed studies but also articles, reports, and disaster risk reduction and response projects in the Philippines. Search words used in various combinations included: Resilience, Philippines, Disaster Preparedness, Community-based, Disaster Risk Reduction, Capacity-building. Results: Numerous activities in community based resilience and DRR have been identified across the whole disaster continuum. Yet, important gaps in research and practice remain. Discussion: The Philippines, is a leading regional actor in disaster risk management. However, a full picture of who is doing what, how, where and when on resilience and disaster preparedness does not exist. Consequently there is no single study that compares the impacts and results that different preparedness measures are having in the Philippines. We recommend further research focussed on mapping the network of actors, understanding community perceptions of disaster risk preparedness and resilience, and investigation into the socio-ecological systems of different communities. PMID:27790382

NCSE's 13th National Conference on Disasters and Environment: Science, Preparedness and Resilience, Post Conference Follow-up Activities and Dissemination

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Saundry, Peter; Kossak, Shelley

The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) received $15,000 from the US Department of Energy to support post-conference activities of the 13th National Conference on the theme of Disasters and the Environment: Science, Preparedness and Resilience, held on January 15-17, 2013 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. Over 1,000 participants from the scientific, emergency response, policy, conservation, and business communities, as well as federal and local government officials, and international entities attended the event. The conference developed actionable outcomes that constructively advance the science behind decision-making on environmental disasters, with an intendedmore » result of more prepared and resilient communities in light of a changing climate. Disasters and Environment topic was addressed through six organizing themes: Cascading Disasters; Intersection of the Built and Natural Environments; Disasters as Mechanisms of Ecosystem Change; Rethinking Recovery and Expanding the Vision of Mitigation; Human Behavior and its Consequences; and "No Regrets" Resilience. The program featured eight plenary sessions, 24 symposia and 23 breakout workshops and addressed pivotal issues surrounding disasters and environment including lifeline services, the energy, climate, hazard nexus, grid collapse, community vulnerability, and natural resource management. Sessions, symposia and workshops were conducted by over 200 distinguished thought leaders, scientists, government officials, policy experts and international speakers throughout the three day event. Following the conference, NCSE prepared a set of recommendations and results from the workshops and disseminated the results to universities, organizations and agencies, the business community. NCSE’s national dissemination involved organized several targeted trips and meetings to disseminate significant findings to key stakeholder groups.« less

Inter-organizational network in Indonesia during disasters: Examples and research agenda on disaster management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bisri, M. B. F.

2017-02-01

Indonesia is facing various type of disaster risks, each with its own nature (sudden or slow onset, purely natural or man-made) and coverage of affected areas. Whereas science, technology and engineering intervention requires different modalities for each hazard, little has been known on whether the institutional setup and organizations involvement requires a different or similar types of intervention. Under a decentralized disaster management system, potential involvement of international organizations in response and growing diversified organizations involved in responding to disaster, it is important to understand the nature of inter-organizational network during various type of disasters in Indonesia. This paper is mixture of in-depth literature review and multiple case studies on utilization of social network analysis (SNA) in modelling inter-organizational network during various disasters in Indonesia.

The implementation of local wisdom in reducing natural disaster risk: a case study from West Sumatera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zulfadrim, Z.; Toyoda, Y.; Kanegae, H.

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to introduce some local wisdoms in West Sumatra and propose their challenges that modern values have degraded its knowledge. In a contemporary context, traditional stories (written and oral stories) still relevant to be used and internalized in disaster risk reduction. Traditional knowledge or local wisdom is a system of knowledge derived from long experienced process in the past, adopted and handed over to next generation through evolutionary process. Indigenous or traditional knowledge can be practiced in understanding the nature of natural disaster, to propose the best action in mitigation, to respond in emergency phase, and to suggest more option for recovery process based on previous experience. The paper based on four weeks field research in west Sumatra which is known with their natural hazards due to its geographical location. In the beginning, this paper discusses the nature of local wisdom and how it can be matched in disaster management, then continues to the specific case how the traditional stories in West Sumatera can be internalized and integrated with contemporary disaster risk reduction. This paper proves that local wisdom can be useful as an effective instrument to deal with natural disaster or natural hazard.

Risk Management in Agriculture for Food Security in Latin America and the Caribbean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez, A.; National Research CouncilScientific; Technological Research (Conicet)

2013-05-01

The Americas are extremely important as a unique contributor to Food Security. It provides from tropical to temperate crops. Not only they are able to feed their own population, but contribute significantly to the food supply of the population in developed, emergent and underdeveloped countries. This fact has given the region a unique responsibility to develop a regional risk-management strategy to manage food insecurity at a local, national, regional and global level. Although international agencies such as UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Instituto Interamericano para la Cooperación en Agricultura (IICA) and the regional centres of the Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) and the World Bank (WB), are engaged in actions for Risk Management in Agriculture for reducing Food Insecurity. However there is a need to build a framework and/or comprehensive regional strategy for the Americas. It would identify areas for promoting research projects where natural and social science work together for producing relevant scientific information and tools i.e. maps, indicators, models and scenarios, early warning systems, etc. to cooperate with both policy and decision makers in the public and private sectors. This would eventually lead to a comprehensive regional programme for reducing food insecurity. The purpose of International Council for Science-International Research and the International Research for Disaster Risk programme (ICSU-IRDR) and ICSU Regional Office for Latinamerica and the Caribbean (ICSU-ROLAC) is to promote the cooperation of the relevant scientific fields in both natural science and social science in a multi and trans-disciplinary approach on risk management to reduce food insecurity. Also both ICSU-IRDR and ICSU-ROLAC are building a case for the inclusion of the scientific community in the revision of the Hjogo Framework for Action for Disaster Reduction to be held in 2015 as risk management for reducing food insecurity is part of the agenda.

Does need matter? Needs assessments and decision-making among major humanitarian health agencies.

PubMed

Gerdin, Martin; Chataigner, Patrice; Tax, Leonie; Kubai, Anne; von Schreeb, Johan

2014-07-01

Disasters of physical origin, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, tidal waves, tropical storms, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, have affected millions of people globally over the past 100 years. Proportionately, there is far greater likelihood of being affected by such disasters in low-income countries than in high-income countries. Furthermore, low-income countries are in need of international assistance following disasters more often than high-income countries. The funding of international humanitarian assistance has increased from USD 12.9 billion in 2006 to an estimated USD 16.7 billion in 2010. The majority of this funding is channelled through humanitarian agencies and is supposed to be distributed based on the need of those affected, as assessed using needs assessments. Such needs assessments may be used to inform decisions internally, to influence others, to justify response decisions, and to obtain funding. Little is known about the quality of needs assessments in practical applications. Consequently, this paper reports on and analyses the views of operational decision-makers in major health-related humanitarian agencies on needs assessments. © 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014.

Landslides of Palestinian Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alwahsh, H.

2013-12-01

Natural disasters are extreme sudden events caused by environmental and natural actors that take away the lives of many thousands of people each year and damage large amount of properties. They strike anywhere on earth, often without any warning. A risk maps of natural disaster are very useful to identify the places that might be adversely affected in the event of natural disaster. The earthquakes are one of natural disaster that have the greatest hazards and will cause loss of life and properties due to damaging the structures of building, dams, bridges. In addition, it will affect local geology and soil conditions. The site effects play an important role in earthquake risk because of its amplification or damping simulation. Another parameter in developing risk map is landslide, which is also one of the most important topics in site effect hazards. Palestine region has been suffering landslide hazards because of the topographical and geological conditions of this region. Most Palestine consists of mountainous area, which has great steep slopes and the type of soil is mainly grayish to yellowish silty clay (Marl Soil). Due to the above mentioned factors many landslides have been occurred from Negev south to the northern borders of Palestine. An example of huge and destruction landslide in a Palestine authority is the landslide in the White Mountain area in the city of Nablus, which occurred in 1997. The geotechnical and geophysical investigation as well as slope stability analysis should be considered in making landslide maps that are necessary to develop risk levels of the natural disaster. Landslides occurred in slopes that are created naturally or by human beings. Failure of soil mass occurs, and hence landslide of soil mass happen due to sliding of soil mass along a plane or curved surface. In general, the slopes become unstable when the shear stresses (driving force) generated in the soil mass exceed the available shearing resistance on the rupture surface. There are many factors which affect directly or indirectly the slope stability, the stability of a slope depends on the geometry and soil engineering properties which include geological, topography, climate, hydrologic conditions, weather and land use (human effects). There are many things that can be used to mitigate landslides disaster. The most important one is the control of the landslides by establishing landslide maps. Other methods such as geometrical, hydrological, mechanical and chemical methods would also be effective in mitigate landslides. Recently, due to the development of the technology in all aspects, a safe and economical design for slopes can be achieved easily.

Disaster Preparedness among Health Professionals and Support Staff: What is Effective? An Integrative Literature Review.

PubMed

Gowing, Jeremy R; Walker, Kim N; Elmer, Shandell L; Cummings, Elizabeth A

2017-06-01

Introduction It is important that health professionals and support staff are prepared for disasters to safeguard themselves and the community during disasters. There has been a significantly heightened focus on disasters since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York (USA); however, despite this, it is evident that health professionals and support staff may not be adequately prepared for disasters. Report An integrative literature review was performed based on a keyword search of the major health databases for primary research evaluating preparedness of health professionals and support staff. The literature was quality appraised using a mixed-methods appraisal tool (MMAT), and a thematic analysis was completed to identify current knowledge and gaps. Discussion The main themes identified were: health professionals and support staff may not be fully prepared for disasters; the most effective content and methods for disaster preparedness is unknown; and the willingness of health professionals and support staff to attend work and perform during disasters needs further evaluation. Gaps were identified to guide further research and the creation of new knowledge to best prepare for disasters. These included the need for: high-quality research to evaluate the best content and methods of disaster preparedness; inclusion of the multi-disciplinary health care team as participants; preparation for internal disasters; the development of validated competencies for preparedness; validated tools for measurement; and the importance of performance in actual disasters to evaluate preparation. The literature identified that all types of disaster preparedness activities lead to improvements in knowledge, skills, or attitude preparedness for disasters. Most studies focused on external disasters and the preparedness of medical, nursing, public health, or paramedic professionals. There needs to be a greater focus on the whole health care team, including allied health professionals and support staff, for both internal and external disasters. Evaluation during real disasters and the use of validated competencies and tools to deliver and evaluate disaster preparedness will enhance knowledge of best practice preparedness. However, of the 36 research articles included in this review, only five were rated at 100% using the MMAT. Due to methodological weakness of the research reviewed, the findings cannot be generalized, nor can the most effective method be determined. Gowing JR , Walker KN , Elmer SL , Cummings EA . Disaster preparedness among health professionals and support staff: what is effective? An integrative literature review. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(3):321-328.

Rapid Offline-Online Post-Disaster Landslide Mapping Tool: A case study from Nepal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olyazadeh, Roya; Jaboyedoff, Michel; Sudmeier-Rieux, Karen; Derron, Marc-Henri; Devkota, Sanjaya

2016-04-01

One of the crucial components of post disaster management is the efficient mapping of impacted areas. Here we present a tool designed to map landslides and affected objects after the earthquakes of 2015 in Nepal as well as for intense rainfall impact. Because internet is not available in many rural areas of Nepal, we developed an offline-online prototype based on Open-Source WebGIS technologies to make data on hazard impacts, including damaged infrastructure, landslides or flooding events available to authorities and the general public. This mobile application was designed as a low-cost, rapid and participatory method for recording impacts from hazard events. It is possible to record such events offline and upload them through a server, where internet connection is available. This application allows user authentication, image capturing, and information collation such as geolocation, event description, interactive mapping and finally storing all the data in the server for further analysis and visualisation. This application can be accessed by a mobile phone (Android) or a tablet as a hybrid version for both offline and online versions. The offline version has an interactive-offline map function which allows users to upload satellites image in order to improve ground truthing interpretation. After geolocation, the user can start mapping and then save recorded data into Geojson-TXT files that can be easily uploaded to the server whenever internet is available. This prototype was tested specifically for a rapid assessment of landslides and relevant land use characteristics such as roads, forest area, rivers in the Phewa Lake watershed near Pokhara, Nepal where a large number landslides were activated or reactivated after the 2015 monsoon season. More than 60 landslides were recorded during two days of field trip. Besides, it is possible to use this application for any other kind of hazard event like flood, avalanche, etc. Keywords: Offline, Online, Open source, WebGIS, Android, Post-Disaster, Landslide mapping

Water Induced Hazard Mapping in Nepal: A Case Study of East Rapti River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neupane, N.

2010-12-01

This paper presents illustration on typical water induced hazard mapping of East Rapti River Basin under the DWIDP, GON. The basin covers an area of 2398 sq km. The methodology includes making of base map of water induced disaster in the basin. Landslide hazard maps were prepared by SINMAP approach. Debris flow hazard maps were prepared by considering geology, slope, and saturation. Flood hazard maps were prepared by using two approaches: HEC-RAS and Satellite Imagery Interpretation. The composite water-induced hazard maps were produced by compiling the hazards rendered by landslide, debris flow, and flood. The monsoon average rainfall in the basin is 1907 mm whereas maximum 24 hours precipitation is 456.8 mm. The peak discharge of the Rapati River in the year of 1993 at station was 1220 cu m/sec. This discharge nearly corresponds to the discharge of 100-year return period. The landslides, floods, and debris flows triggered by the heavy rain of July 1993 claimed 265 lives, affected 148516 people, and damaged 1500 houses in the basin. The field investigation and integrated GIS interpretation showed that the very high and high landslide hazard zones collectively cover 38.38% and debris flow hazard zone constitutes 6.58%. High flood hazard zone occupies 4.28% area of the watershed. Mitigation measures are recommendated according to Integrated Watershed Management Approach under which the non-structural and structural measures are proposed. The non-structural measures includes: disaster management training, formulation of evacuation system (arrangement of information plan about disaster), agriculture management practices, protection of water sources, slope protections and removal of excessive bed load from the river channel. Similarly, structural measures such as dike, spur, rehabilitation of existing preventive measures and river training at some locations are recommendated. The major factors that have contributed to induce high incidences of various types of mass movements and inundation in the basin are rock and soil properties, prolonged and high-intensity rainfall, steep topography and various anthropogenic factors.

Progress report on the Worldwide Earthquake Risk Management (WWERM) Program

USGS Publications Warehouse

Algermissen, S.T.; Hays, Walter W.; Krumpe, Paul R.

1992-01-01

Considerable progress has been made in the Worldwide Earthquake Risk Management (WWERM) Program since its initiation in late 1989 as a cooperative program of the Agency for International Development (AID), Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), and the U.S. Geological Survey. Probabilistic peak acceleration and peak Modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) maps have been prepared for Chile and for Sulawesi province in Indonesia. Earthquake risk (loss) studies for dwellings in Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, have been completed and risk studies for dwellings in selected areas of central Chile are underway. A special study of the effect of site response on earthquake ground motion estimation in central Chile has also been completed and indicates that site response may modify the ground shaking by as much as plus or minus two units of MMI. A program for the development of national probabilistic ground motion maps for the Philippines is now underway and pilot studies of earthquake ground motion and risk are being planned for Morocco.

Study on the Distribution of Geological Hazards Based on Fractal Characteristics - a Case Study of Dachuan District

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, X.; Liu, H.; Yao, K.; Wei, Y.

2018-04-01

It is a complicated process to analyze the cause of geological hazard. Through the analysis function of GIS software, 250 landslides were randomly selected from 395 landslide hazards in the study area, superimposed with the types of landforms, annual rainfall and vegetation coverage respectively. It used box dimension method of fractal dimension theory to study the fractal characteristics of spatial distribution of landslide disasters in Dachuan district, and analyse the statistical results. Research findings showed that the The fractal dimension of the landslides in the Dachuan area is 0.9114, the correlation coefficient is 0.9627, and it has high autocorrelation. Zoning statistics according to various natural factors, the fractal dimension between landslide hazard points and deep hill, middle hill area is strong as well as the area whose average annual rainfall is 1050 mm-1250 mm and vegetation coverage is 30 %-60 %. Superposition of the potential hazard distribution map of single influence factors to get the potential hazard zoning of landslides in the area. Verifying the potential hazard zoning map of the potential landslides with 145 remaining disaster points, among them, there are 74 landslide hazard points in high risk area, accounting for 51.03 % of the total. There are 59 landslides in the middle risk area, accounting for 40.69 % of the total, and 12 in the low risk area, accounting for 8.28 % of the total. The matching degree of the verifying result and the potential hazard zoning is high. Therefore, the fractal dimension value divided the degree of geological disaster susceptibility can be described the influence degree of each influence factor to geological disaster point more intuitively, it also can divide potential disaster risk areas and provide visual data support for effective management of geological disasters.

Himalayan/Karakoram Disaster After Disaster: The Pain Will Not Be Ending Anytime Soon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kargel, J. S.; Leonard, G. J.

2013-12-01

Are recent natural disasters in the Himalaya/Karakoram partly human-caused? Will disasters diminish or increase in frequency? Natural disasters in this region are nothing new. Earthquakes, floods, landslides, avalanches, and debris flows have occurred in the Himalaya/Karakoram since the mountains first grew from the sea. Simply put, the Himalaya/Karakoram, being South Asia's 'water tower' and an active plate tectonic collision zone, must shed water and debris to the lowlands and the sea. When this activity occurs swiftly and with high intensity at or near human settlements, the results are often deadly. Remote sensing analysis of recent disasters coupled with demography, news accounts, and field studies indicate that there is a component of human responsibility. Two overarching human elements include (1) settlement and infrastructure encroachment into hazardous mountain areas and (2) aggravation of climate change. Both are substantially responsible--separately or together--for most of the recent tragedies. These conclusions provide the answer to when the disasters will end: not soon. Unfortunately, disasters will almost surely increase. Whether natural disasters have increased in frequency over the region's long historical record may be debated and must be researched. This expected link is a challenge to assess due to the stochastic nature of disasters and their triggering events (e.g., earthquakes and extreme weather events). While Himalayan tectonism, rock mechanics, glaciation, and climate are fundamental causes of the disasters, so are human land uses. Encroaching development into ever-hazardous zones is a paramount cause of much human tragedy. Climate change is harder to pin down specifically as a cause of some of these disasters, because some disasters are linked to rare extreme weather events and mass movements, which may be statistically but not individually attributable in part to climate change. Nevertheless, evidence supports a major role of climate change for some natural disasters, and little if any role in others. I select a few recent disaster examples (Attabad rockfall, Gayari avalanche, Seti River flood, and Uttarakhand floods) and summarize their relationships to geology and geomorphology, weather, climate change, habitation, and infrastructure development. Disasters are apt to increase in frequency, effects, and geographic spread due to increased habitation and infrastructure development and changing climate. Whether climate change causes glacier shrinkage or growth, glacier-related hazards are affected. Some of these disasters have international cross-cultural, political, economic, and security components and could spiral into further human catastrophes related to international tensions. Improved international cooperation could ease the chances for disasters to trigger additional unintended consequences between nations. Not all development and human uses of the Himalaya/Karakoram are unwise. Furthermore, some people committed to living in risky places have nowhere else to go. Climate change and shifting mountain processes may have winners and losers. All current and future uses of the region should be weighed against the rapidly changing climate and shifting natural hazard landscape. Acknowledgements: Support from NASA/USAID SERVIR Applied Science Team, NASA Science of Terra & Aqua, and USAID Climbers' Science.

Potential Risk Assessment of Mountain Torrent Disasters on Sloping Fields in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

GAO, X.

2017-12-01

China's sloping fields have the problems of low production and serious soil erosion, and mountain torrent disasters will bring more serious soil and water loss to traditional extensive exploitation of sloping field resources. In this paper, China's sloping fields were classified into three grades, such as slightly steep, steep and very steep grade. According to the geological hazards prevention and control regulation, the historical data of China's mountain torrent disasters were spatially interpolated and divided into five classes, such as extremely low, low, middle, high and extremely high level. And the risk level map of mountain torrents was finished in ArcGIS. By using overlaying analysis on sloping fields and risk level map, the potential risk regionalization map of sloping fields in various slope grades was obtained finally. The results shows that the very steep and steep sloping fields are mainly distributed in the first or second stage terraces in China. With the increase of hazard risk level, the area of sloping fields decreases rapidly and the sloping fields in extremely low and low risk levels of mountain torrents reach 98.9%. With the increase of slope grade, the area of sloping fields in various risk levels also declines sharply. The sloping fields take up approximately 60 65% and 26 30% in slightly steep and steep grade areas separately at different risk level. The risk regionalization map can provide effective information for returning farmland to forests or grassland and reducing water and soil erosion of sloping fields in the future.

The Performance Analysis of a Uav Based Mobile Mapping System Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsai, M. L.; Chiang, K. W.; Lo, C. F.; Ch, C. H.

2013-08-01

To facilitate applications such as environment detection or disaster monitoring, the development of rapid low cost systems for collecting near real-time spatial information is very critical. Rapid spatial information collection has become an emerging trend for remote sensing and mapping applications. This study develops a Direct Georeferencing (DG) based fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetric platform where an Inertial Navigation System (INS)/Global Positioning System (GPS) integrated Positioning and Orientation System (POS) system is implemented to provide the DG capability of the platform. The performance verification indicates that the proposed platform can capture aerial images successfully. A flight test is performed to verify the positioning accuracy in DG mode without using Ground Control Points (GCP). The preliminary results illustrate that horizontal DG positioning accuracies in the x and y axes are around 5 m with 300 m flight height. The positioning accuracy in the z axis is less than 10 m. Such accuracy is good for near real-time disaster relief. The DG ready function of proposed platform guarantees mapping and positioning capability even in GCP free environments, which is very important for rapid urgent response for disaster relief. Generally speaking, the data processing time for the DG module, including POS solution generalization, interpolation, Exterior Orientation Parameters (EOP) generation, and feature point measurements, is less than one hour.

Analysis of Environmental Vulnerability in The Landslide Areas (Case Study: Semarang Regency)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hani'ah; Firdaus, H. S.; Nugraha, A. L.

2017-12-01

The Land conversion can increase the risk of landslide disaster in Semarang Regency caused by human activity. Remote sensing and geographic information system to be used in this study to mapping the landslide areas because satellite image data can represent the object on the earth surface in wide area coverage. Satellite image Landsat 8 is used to mapping land cover that processed by supervised classification method. The parameters to mapping landslide areas are based on land cover, rainfall, slope, geological factors and soil types. Semarang Regency have the minimum value of landslide is 1.6 and the maximum value is 4.3, which is dominated by landslide prone areas about 791.27 km2. The calculation of the environmental vulnerability index in the study area is based on Perka BNPB No. 2/2012. Accumulation score of environmental vulnerability index is moderate value, that means environment condition must be considered, such as vegetation as ground cover and many others aspects. The range of NDVI value shows that density level in conservation areas (0.030 - 0.844) and conservation forest (0.045 - 0.849), which rarely until high density level. The results of this study furthermore can be assessed to reduce disaster risks from landslide as an effort of disaster preventive.

Crisis management and disaster planning: some recent lessons.

PubMed

1989-11-01

Two recent disasters--Hurricane Hugo and the San Francisco-Oakland area earthquake--put a number of hospitals (and their disaster plans) to the text this fall. In future issues, we will present details on how hospitals faced those emergencies. The need for crisis management and disaster planning, however, is not limited to natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, or floods. Man-made disasters, both internal and external, can occur virtually at any time. These include accidents, terrorists bombs, fires, explosions, and toxic chemical spills. In this report, we will present the key elements of a crisis management plan, as well as some expert pointers on what to include in a disaster plan. We will give you details on how two hospitals fared when a major air crash occurred in their community. We will tell you some of the things they would do differently, and we will also describe how an interagency disaster planning committee responded.

Disaster risk, social vulnerability, and economic development.

PubMed

Ward, Patrick S; Shively, Gerald E

2017-04-01

This paper examines the extent to which economic development decreases a country's risk of experiencing climate-related disasters as well as the societal impacts of those events. The paper proceeds from the underlying assumption that disasters are not inherently natural, but arise from the intersection of naturally-occurring hazards within fragile environments. It uses data from the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT), representing country-year-level observations over the period 1980-2007. The study finds that low-income countries are significantly more at risk of climate-related disasters, even after controlling for exposure to climate hazards and other factors that may confound disaster reporting. Following the occurrence of a disaster, higher income generally diminishes a country's social vulnerability to such happenings, resulting in lower levels of mortality and morbidity. This implies that continued economic development may be a powerful tool for lessening social vulnerability to climate change. © 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Influence of Tropical Cyclones Period 1970 TO 2010 IN the Region of Bahia de Banderas, Nayarit-Jalisco Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernandez, J. M.

2013-12-01

This study evaluates the impacts of tropical cyclones (TC) that made landfall in populated areas along the Pacific coast of Mexico, especially in the region of Bahia de Banderas. During the period of 1970-2010 and used a database of international natural disasters to identify impacts. Were more than 13 events during the reporting period, of which 10 are examined more precipitation accumulated and 6 that caused further damage to the affected population in these cases ranged from 5000 to more than 15 000 inhabitants. Strong winds and heavy rainfall in periods of one to three days were associated with property damage and loss of life. The results of the study indicate that excessive accumulations of rain and daily intensity are important factors connected with the occurrence of disasters in densely populated areas. Six of the first 10 Tropical Cyclone associated with major disasters occurred in conditions of El Niño and four neutral conditions. With the analysis of satellite images using GOES-10 in the IDV software maps were obtained in the coastal impacts of Banderas Bay and describes the main features of each meteorological phenomena. In which concludes that no tropical cyclone entered directly to the Banderas Bay region, but its effects were very relevant, taking into account the topography, land use change and the vulnerability of the region. Tropical Cyclones that have affected the region of Bay of Banderas

Evaluation of a Novel Disaster Nursing Education Method.

PubMed

Levoy, Kristin; DeBastiani, Summer D; McCabe, Brian E

2018-02-21

A common method of disaster training is needed to improve disaster nursing education and facilitate better communication among interprofessional disaster responders. To inform the development of disaster nursing curricula, a novel disaster nursing education method consistent with Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) framework was developed to improve disaster nursing competencies in a baccalaureate nursing program. In total, 89 undergraduate nursing students participated. Perceived disaster nursing knowledge, confidence, and training/response were assessed with 14 items before and after the education. Exploratory factor analysis showed 3 factors, knowledge, confidence, and training/response, explained 71% of variation in items. Nursing students showed large improvements in perceived disaster nursing knowledge (t=11.95, P<0.001, Cohen's d=1.76), moderate increases in perceived confidence (t=4.54, P<0.001, d=0.67), and no change in disaster training and response (t=0.94, P=0.351, d=0.13). Results show preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of disaster nursing education informed by HSEEP. This training has the potential to fill current practice gaps in disaster nursing knowledge and build confidence to use those skills in practice. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;page 1 of 8).

The impact of geographic information systems on emergency management decision making at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

King, Steven Gray

Geographic information systems (GIS) reveal relationships and patterns from large quantities of diverse data in the form of maps and reports. The United States spends billions of dollars to use GIS to improve decisions made during responses to natural disasters and terrorist attacks, but precisely how GIS improves or impairs decision making is not known. This research examined how GIS affect decision making during natural disasters, and how GIS can be more effectively used to improve decision making for emergency management. Using a qualitative case study methodology, this research examined decision making at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during a large full-scale disaster exercise. This study indicates that GIS provided decision makers at DHS with an outstanding context for information that would otherwise be challenging to understand, especially through the integration of multiple data sources and dynamic three-dimensional interactive maps. Decision making was hampered by outdated information, a reliance on predictive models based on hypothetical data rather than actual event data, and a lack of understanding of the capabilities of GIS beyond cartography. Geospatial analysts, emergency managers, and other decision makers who use GIS should take specific steps to improve decision making based on GIS for disaster response and emergency management.

Remote sensing-based detection and quantification of roadway debris following natural disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Axel, Colin; van Aardt, Jan A. N.; Aros-Vera, Felipe; Holguín-Veras, José

2016-05-01

Rapid knowledge of road network conditions is vital to formulate an efficient emergency response plan following any major disaster. Fallen buildings, immobile vehicles, and other forms of debris often render roads impassable to responders. The status of roadways is generally determined through time and resource heavy methods, such as field surveys and manual interpretation of remotely sensed imagery. Airborne lidar systems provide an alternative, cost-effective option for performing network assessments. The 3D data can be collected quickly over a wide area and provide valuable insight about the geometry and structure of the scene. This paper presents a method for automatically detecting and characterizing debris in roadways using airborne lidar data. Points falling within the road extent are extracted from the point cloud and clustered into individual objects using region growing. Objects are classified as debris or non-debris using surface properties and contextual cues. Debris piles are reconstructed as surfaces using alpha shapes, from which an estimate of debris volume can be computed. Results using real lidar data collected after a natural disaster are presented. Initial results indicate that accurate debris maps can be automatically generated using the proposed method. These debris maps would be an invaluable asset to disaster management and emergency response teams attempting to reach survivors despite a crippled transportation network.

Hazard, Vulnerability and Capacity Mapping for Landslides Risk Analysis using Geographic Information System (GIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sari, D. A. P.; Innaqa, S.; Safrilah

2017-06-01

This research analyzed the levels of disaster risk in the Citeureup sub-District, Bogor Regency, West Java, based on its potential hazard, vulnerability and capacity, using map to represent the results, then Miles and Huberman analytical techniques was used to analyze the qualitative interviews. The analysis conducted in this study is based on the concept of disaster risk by Wisner. The result shows that the Citeureup sub-District has medium-low risk of landslides. Of the 14 villages, three villages have a moderate risk level, namely Hambalang, Tajur, and Tangkil, or 49.58% of the total land area. Eleven villages have a low level of risk, namely Pasir Mukti, Sanja, Tarikolot, Gunung Sari, Puspasari, East Karang Asem, Citeureup, Leuwinutug, Sukahati, West Karang Asem West and Puspanegara, or 48.68% of the total land area, for high-risk areas only around 1.74%, which is part of Hambalang village. The analysis using Geographic Information System (GIS) prove that areas with a high risk potential does not necessarily have a high level of risk. The capacity of the community plays an important role to minimize the risk of a region. Disaster risk reduction strategy is done by creating a safe condition, which intensified the movement of disaster risk reduction.

Risk assessment of drought disaster in southern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Y.

2015-12-01

Abstract: Drought has become an increasing concern in southern China, but the drought risk has not been adequately studied. This study presents a method for the spatial assessment of drought risk in southern China using a conceptual framework that emphasizes the combined role of hazard, vulnerability, and exposure.A drought hazard map was retrieved with a compound index of meteorological drought method in a GIS environment. Normally, a large variation in the disaster-inducing factor implies a high probability of economic/social losses caused by a drought disaster. The map indicated that areas with a higher risk of drought hazard were mainly distributed in mid-east Yunnan and the basins in eastern Sichuan.The vulnerability indices were based on climate factors as well as land use, geomorphological types, soil properties, and drainage density. The water preserving capability of purple calcareous soil in the basins in Sichuan and mid-east Yunnan, and the lateritic red soil in northeastern Guangdong is relatively weak. The main geomorphological features in Guangxi and Guangdong are hills, which leads to a serious expectation of soil and water losses. Thus, the main areas with a high risk of drought vulnerability are mid-east Yunnan and the basins in eastern Sichuan.The exposure indices were based on population density and agricultural production because population and agriculture experience the main impacts of a drought disaster. Higher exposure indices mean higher economic/social losses due to drought disasters. Areas with high exposure indices were mainly distributed in Guangdong and southern Guangxi.The overall risk was then calculated as the product of the hazard, vulnerability, and exposure. The results indicated a higher risk of drought disaster in the basins in eastern Sichuan,, northeastern Yunnan, and northeastern Guangdong. The main factor influencing the risk of a drought disaster was the hazard, but the vulnerability and exposure also played important roles.

From fatalism to resilience: reducing disaster impacts through systematic investments.

PubMed

Hill, Harvey; Wiener, John; Warner, Koko

2012-04-01

This paper describes a method for reducing the economic risks associated with predictable natural hazards by enhancing the resilience of national infrastructure systems. The three-step generalised framework is described along with examples. Step one establishes economic baseline growth without the disaster impact. Step two characterises economic growth constrained by a disaster. Step three assesses the economy's resilience to the disaster event when it is buffered by alternative resiliency investments. The successful outcome of step three is a disaster-resistant core of infrastructure systems and social capacity more able to maintain the national economy and development post disaster. In addition, the paper considers ways to achieve this goal in data-limited environments. The method provides a methodology to address this challenge via the integration of physical and social data of different spatial scales into macroeconomic models. This supports the disaster risk reduction objectives of governments, donor agencies, and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. © 2012 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2012.

International Emergency Medical Teams Training Workshop Special Report.

PubMed

Albina, Anthony; Archer, Laura; Boivin, Marlène; Cranmer, Hilarie; Johnson, Kirsten; Krishnaraj, Gautham; Maneshi, Anali; Oddy, Lisa; Redwood-Campbell, Lynda; Russell, Rebecca

2018-04-26

The World Health Organization's (WHO; Geneva, Switzerland) Emergency Medical Team (EMT) Initiative created guidelines which define the basic procedures to be followed by personnel and teams, as well as the critical points to discuss before deploying a field hospital. However, to date, there is no formal standardized training program established for EMTs before deployment. Recognizing that the World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM; Madison, Wisconsin USA) Congress brings together a diverse group of key stakeholders, a pre-Congress workshop was organized to seek out collective expertise and to identify key EMT training competencies for the future development of training programs and protocols. The future of EMT training should include standardization of curriculum and the recognition or accreditation of selected training programs. The outputs of this pre-WADEM Congress workshop provide an initial contribution to the EMT Training Working Group, as this group works on mapping training, competencies, and curriculum. Common EMT training themes that were identified as fundamental during the pre-Congress workshop include: the ability to adapt one's professional skills to low-resource settings; context-specific training, including the ability to serve the needs of the affected population in natural disasters; training together as a multi-disciplinary EMT prior to deployment; and the value of simulation in training. AlbinaA, ArcherL, BoivinM, CranmerH, JohnsonK, KrishnarajG, ManeshiA, OddyL, Redwood-CampbellL, RussellR. International Emergency Medical Teams training workshop special report.

Accident investigation practices in Europe--main responses from a recent study of accidents in industry and transport.

PubMed

Roed-Larsen, Sverre; Valvisto, T; Harms-Ringdahl, L; Kirchsteiger, C

2004-07-26

Europe has during recent years been shocked by disasters from natural events and technical breakdowns. The consequences have been comprehensive, measured by lost lives, injuries, and material and environmental damage. ESReDA wanted in 2000--by setting up a special expert group on accident investigation--to clarify the state of art of accident investigation practices and to map the use of thoroughly accident investigation in order to learn lessons from past disasters and prevent new ones. The scope was to cover three sectors in the society: transport, production processes and storage of hazardous materials, and energy production. The main method used was a questionnaire, which was sent in 2001 to about 150 organisations. About 50 replies were analysed. The replies showed great variations but also similarities, among others in definition of accident and incident, the objectives of the investigation team, criteria used to start an investigation, the status of the investigation organisation, the flow of information, the composition of the investigation team, and the use of internal or international procedures or rules. Several methods (in total 14 different methods were mentioned) were used for carrying out accident /incident investigations. Most of the respondents were willing to co-operate in one or another way with ESReDA. Although there are important biases in the material, the results from questionnaire are important inputs to the future work of ESReDA Expert group in this field. 3 safety approaches have been identified.

Rim Sim: A Role-Play Simulation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barrett, Robert C.; Frew, Suzanne L.; Howell, David G.; Karl, Herman A.; Rudin, Emily B.

2003-01-01

Rim Sim is a 6-hour, eight-party negotiation that focuses on creating a framework for the long-term disaster-recovery efforts. It involves a range of players from five countries affected by two natural disasters: a typhoon about a year ago and an earthquake about 6 months ago. The players are members of an International Disaster Working Group (IDWG) that has been created by an international commission. The IDWG has been charged with drawing up a framework for managing two issues: the reconstruction of regionally significant infrastructure and the design of a mechanism for allocating funding to each country for reconstruction of local infrastructure and ongoing humanitarian needs. The first issue will involve making choices among five options (two harbor options, two airport options, and one rail-line option), each of which will have three levels at which to rebuild. The second issue will involve five starting-point options. Participants are encouraged to invent other options for both issues. The goal of Rim Sim is to raise questions about traditional approaches to disaster-preparedness planning and reconstruction efforts in an international setting, in this case the Pacific Rim. Players must confront the reverberating effects of disasters and the problems of using science and technical information in decisionmaking, and are introduced to a consensus-building approach emphasizing face-to-face dialog and multinational cooperation in dealing with humanitarian concerns, as well as long-term efforts to reconstruct local and regional infrastructure. The Rim Sim simulation raises four key points: ripple effects of disasters, role of science, multiparty negotiation, and building personal relationships.

Role of ICSU Rolac on Disaster Risk Management Link to Food Production Prof. Manuel Limonta Director of ICSU Rolac

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limonta, M. D.

2013-05-01

The 85% of people exposed to earthquakes, cyclones, floods and droughts live in developing countries. The enormous cost of disasters threatens the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, especially the first objective: to reduce poverty half by 2015. The Disaster risk reduction is vital to secure one of the most fundamental human rights. The right to be free from hunger. Each year, Latin America and the Caribbean countries are affected by natural disasters, such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, which are added to epidemics and socio-economic crises. These events result in loss of lives, property and livelihoods, and therefore undermine the food security and nutritional status of vulnerable populations. While in the region geophysical disasters caused most deaths and economic lost. The result has been lives lost in Haiti and the destruction of valuable infrastructure in Chile. Bearing mind also that the largest number of disasters were caused by climatic impacts. The 2010 hurricane season in the Atlantic was the most active since 2005 and experienced its worst rainy season in the last 50 years in Central America. ICSU, ICSU ROLAC, DISASTERS AND FOOD SECURITY ICSU ICSU's mission is to strengthen international science for the benefit of society. To do this, ICSU mobilizes the knowledge and resources of the international science community to: Identify and address major issues of Importance to science and society. Facilitate interaction amongst scientists across all disciplines and from all countries. Promote the participation of all scientists-regardless of race, citizenship, language, political stance, or gender-in the international scientific endeavour. ICSU ROLAC The mission of the ICSU Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean is to ensure that the Regional Priorities are reflected in the ICSU Strategic Plan to develop sound regional and scientific programs. The ICSU ROLAC scientific priority areas are: Biodiversity, Natural Hazards, Sustainable energy, Mathematics education. DISASTERS AND FOOD SECURITY The problem of food security is multifactorial, however, there is no doubt that disasters are a major cause of food insecurity therefore the focusing of the work of ICSU on the topic of disaster, should include food security with the emphasis it deserves as one of the major consequences of these major events. Our ICSU LAC Region must address the issue of food security related to disasters as an important aspect of the program of work disasters in the region. When we analyze the events and activities of our organization work, we appreciate that the topic Regional Food Security as a result of disasters is not treated with the breadth and depth that it deserves. Given the characteristics of our region is necessary to add this new paradigm to disaster work. IN CONCLUSION It is proposed that the program of ICSU ROLAC on disasters include the issue of food security, as an important part to be treated and worked through all the channels and connections of our organization.

a Task-Oriented Disaster Information Correlation Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linyao, Q.; Zhiqiang, D.; Qing, Z.

2015-07-01

With the rapid development of sensor networks and Earth observation technology, a large quantity of disaster-related data is available, such as remotely sensed data, historic data, case data, simulated data, and disaster products. However, the efficiency of current data management and service systems has become increasingly difficult due to the task variety and heterogeneous data. For emergency task-oriented applications, the data searches primarily rely on artificial experience based on simple metadata indices, the high time consumption and low accuracy of which cannot satisfy the speed and veracity requirements for disaster products. In this paper, a task-oriented correlation method is proposed for efficient disaster data management and intelligent service with the objectives of 1) putting forward disaster task ontology and data ontology to unify the different semantics of multi-source information, 2) identifying the semantic mapping from emergency tasks to multiple data sources on the basis of uniform description in 1), and 3) linking task-related data automatically and calculating the correlation between each data set and a certain task. The method goes beyond traditional static management of disaster data and establishes a basis for intelligent retrieval and active dissemination of disaster information. The case study presented in this paper illustrates the use of the method on an example flood emergency relief task.

a Task-Driven Disaster Data Link Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qiu, L. Y.; Zhu, Q.; Gu, J. Y.; Du, Z. Q.

2015-08-01

With the rapid development of sensor networks and Earth observation technology, a large quantity of disaster-related data is available, such as remotely sensed data, historic data, cases data, simulation data, disaster products and so on. However, the efficiency of current data management and service systems has become increasingly serious due to the task variety and heterogeneous data. For emergency task-oriented applications, data searching mainly relies on artificial experience based on simple metadata index, whose high time-consuming and low accuracy cannot satisfy the requirements of disaster products on velocity and veracity. In this paper, a task-oriented linking method is proposed for efficient disaster data management and intelligent service, with the objectives of 1) putting forward ontologies of disaster task and data to unify the different semantics of multi-source information, 2) identifying the semantic mapping from emergency tasks to multiple sources on the basis of uniform description in 1), 3) linking task-related data automatically and calculating the degree of correlation between each data and a target task. The method breaks through traditional static management of disaster data and establishes a base for intelligent retrieval and active push of disaster information. The case study presented in this paper illustrates the use of the method with a flood emergency relief task.

Earth Observations from the International Space Station: Benefits for Humanity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stefanov, William L.

2015-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique terrestrial remote sensing platform for observation of the Earth's land surface, oceans, and atmosphere. Unlike automated remote-sensing platforms it has a human crew; is equipped with both internal and externally-mounted active and passive remote sensing instruments; and has an inclined, low-Earth orbit that provides variable views and lighting (day and night) over 95 percent of the inhabited surface of the Earth. As such, it provides a useful complement to autonomous, sun-synchronous sensor systems in higher altitude polar orbits. Beginning in May 2012, NASA ISS sensor systems have been available to respond to requests for data through the International Charter, Space and Major Disasters, also known as the "International Disaster Charter" or IDC. Data from digital handheld cameras, multispectral, and hyperspectral imaging systems has been acquired in response to IDC activations and delivered to requesting agencies through the United States Geological Survey. The characteristics of the ISS for Earth observation will be presented, including past, current, and planned NASA, International Partner, and commercial remote sensing systems. The role and capabilities of the ISS for humanitarian benefit, specifically collection of remotely sensed disaster response data, will be discussed.

Proceedings for the 5th Asia-Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine: creating an agenda for action.

PubMed

De Grace, M; Ericson, D; Folz, H; Greene, W; Ho, K; Pearce, L

2001-01-01

Disaster medicine has come to the forefront and has become the focus of interest not only in the medical community, but also in the eyes of the public. The 5th APCDM was convened in Vancouver, Canada, 27-30 September 2000. It brought together over 300 delegates from 32 countries to share their experiences and thoughts regarding disaster events and how to effectively manage them. The conference was devoted to the task of establishing priorities and creating an Agenda for Action. From the discussions, key actions required were defined: COMMUNICATIONS: (1) Identify existing regional telehealth groups and gather lessons to be learned from them; (2) Form a telehealth advisory group to work with regional groups to compile telehealth initiatives, identify international protocols in telehealth already in existence, and solicit feedback before setting international standards; and (3) Increase corporate partnerships in the fields of telehealth and telecommunications, and invite corporations to send delegates to future APCDM meetings. This should be an initiative of the APCDM, the World Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM), or the European Society of Emergency Medicine. EDUCATION AND RESEARCH: (1) Formalize education in disaster medicine and management. The World Health Organization and WADEM should take a leadership role; (2) WADEM is requested to hold a conference with a focus on qualitative research; (3) WHO is requested to continue the provision of international research teams, but to advocate for the development of national disaster research infrastructure; (4) Make research findings and reports available on web sites of such organizations as WHO and PAHO; (5) Develop the translation of research for community utilization. The WHO and PAHO are organizations that are requested to consider this action; and (6) WADEM/APCDM are requested to focus future conferences on applied research. INFORMATION AND DATA: (1) Create an "Information and Data Clearinghouse on Disaster Management" to collect, collate, and disseminate information; (2) Collect data using standardized tools, such as CAR or Hazmat indices; (3) Analyze incentives and disincentives for disaster readiness and establish mechanisms for addressing the obstacles to preparedness; and (4) WADEM is requested to develop a web site providing a resource list of interdisciplinary institutions and response activities, organized by country, topic, and research interests. Links to other pertinent web sites should be provided. INTERDISCIPLINARY DEVELOPMENT: (1) Focus on the interdisciplinary nature of disaster response through more conferences encompassing grassroots efforts and through WADEM publications; (2) Develop and apply a standardized template of Needs Assessment for use by multidisciplinary teams. Team Needs Assessment is essential to determine the following: (a) Local response and international assistance required; (b) Appropriate command system; and (c) Psychosocial impact and support necessary. PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS: (1) Incorporate relief for caregivers into action plans. This should include prime family members who also are caregivers; and (2) Implement measures that give survivors control over the recovery process. RESPONSE MANAGEMENT: (1) Define relationships and roles between governments, military and security personnel, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and civic groups. Use an international legal framework and liability to reinforce accountability of disaster responders; (2) Establish a more sophisticated use of the media during disasters; (3) Establish standards in key areas. WADEM is requested to write "White Papers" on standards for the following areas: (a) management, (b) health/public health, (c) education/training, (d) psychosocial, and (e) disaster plans; (4) Establish task forces to anticipate and resolve issues around evolving and emerging disasters (e.g., chemical and biological terrorism, landmines, emerging infectious diseases). WADEM was again identified as the vehicle for promoting this action. The responsibility of the next meeting of the Asia-Pacific Conference on Disaster Medicine will be to measure progress made in these areas by assessing how well these collective decisions have been implemented.

Using Integrated Earth and Social Science Data for Disaster Risk Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Downs, R. R.; Chen, R. S.; Yetman, G.

2016-12-01

Society faces many different risks from both natural and technological hazards. In some cases, disaster risk managers focus on only a few risks, e.g., in regions where a single hazard such as earthquakes dominate. More often, however, disaster risk managers deal with multiple hazards that pose diverse threats to life, infrastructure, and livelihoods. From the viewpoint of scientists, hazards are often studied based on traditional disciplines such as seismology, hydrology, climatology, and epidemiology. But from the viewpoint of disaster risk managers, data are needed on all hazards in a specific region and on the exposure and vulnerability of population, infrastructure, and economic resources and activity. Such managers also need to understand how hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities may interact, and human and environmental systems respond, to hazard events, as in the case of the Fukushima nuclear disaster that followed from the Sendai earthquake and tsunami. In this regard, geospatial tools that enable visualization and analysis of both Earth and social science data can support the use case of disaster risk managers who need to quickly assess where specific hazard events occur relative to population and critical infrastructure. Such information can help them assess the potential severity of actual or predicted hazard events, identify population centers or key infrastructure at risk, and visualize hazard dynamics, e.g., earthquakes and their aftershocks or the paths of severe storms. This can then inform efforts to mitigate risks across multiple hazards, including reducing exposure and vulnerability, strengthening system resiliency, improving disaster response mechanisms, and targeting mitigation resources to the highest or most critical risks. We report here on initial efforts to develop hazard mapping tools that draw on open web services and support simple spatial queries about population exposure. The NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) Hazards Mapper, a web-based mapping tool, enables users to estimate population living in areas subject to flood or tornado warnings, near recent earthquakes, or around critical infrastructure. The HazPop mobile app, implemented for iOS devices, utilizes location services to support disaster risk managers working in field conditions.

Online-data Bases On Natural-hazard Research, Early-warning Systems and Operative Disaster Prevention Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermanns, R. L.; Zentel, K.-O.; Wenzel, F.; Hövel, M.; Hesse, A.

In order to benefit from synergies and to avoid replication in the field of disaster re- duction programs and related scientific projects it is important to create an overview on the state of art, the fields of activity and their key aspects. Therefore, the German Committee for Disaster Reduction intends to document projects and institution related to natural disaster prevention in three databases. One database is designed to docu- ment scientific programs and projects related to natural hazards. In a first step data acquisition concentrated on projects carried out by German institutions. In a second step projects from all other European countries will be archived. The second database focuses on projects on early-warning systems and has no regional limit. Data mining started in November 2001 and will be finished soon. The third database documents op- erational projects dealing with disaster prevention and concentrates on international projects or internationally funded projects. These databases will be available on the internet end of spring 2002 (http://www.dkkv.org) and will be updated continuously. They will allow rapid and concise information on various international projects, pro- vide up-to-date descriptions, and facilitate exchange as all relevant information in- cluding contact addresses are available to the public. The aim of this contribution is to present concepts and the work done so far, to invite participation, and to contact other organizations with similar objectives.

Integrating social media and remote sensing data in a model framework to identify vulnerable areas in coastal cities after disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gopalakrishnan, G.

2013-12-01

In the aftermath of man-made disasters such as oil spills or natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods, city planners and residents of affected areas are often concerned about future vulnerabilities and rebuilding the area to increase resilience. However, identifying locations in the affected area that are most impacted by the disaster, the associated human health risks and potential vulnerabilities often require a monitoring effort that is expensive, time-consuming and difficult to implement in disaster-hit areas using traditional monitoring techniques. This project presents a framework for identifying areas that are most likely to be impacted by disasters by integrating remote sensing data and information from social media networks, including Twitter streams. The framework was tested for New York, coastal New Jersey and Staten Island in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Vulnerable areas were identified using anomaly detection and the results were mapped against measurements collected on the ground. A correlation coefficient of 0.78 was obtained. Uncertainty in model predictions was evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations.

A misuse of public funds: U.N. support for geomagnetic forecasting of earthquakes and meteorological disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, Wallace H.

The legitimate scientific community needs to be alerted to the expenditure of considerable public funds forpseudoscientific projects that build false hopes of protection from geophysical hazards. One example of such a project is a recently published, 147- page United Nations (U.N.) document titled “Manual on the Forecasting of Natural Disasters: Geomagnetic Methods.” Although the document has been distributed internationally, it seems not to have been subjected to pre-publication, international peer review.The manual was prepared for a U.N. international workshop recently held in Beijing, China, from February 12 to 18,1998. The meeting was sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the State Seismological Bureau of China, the U.N. Global Programme for the Integration of Public Administration and Science of Disasters in the Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) in Beijing.

Landslide susceptibility mapping in the coastal region in the State of São Paulo, Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alvala, R. C.; Camarinha, P. I.; Canavesi, V.

2013-05-01

The exposure of populations in risk areas is a matter of global concern, because it is a determining factor for the natural disasters occurrences. Furthermore, it has also been observed an intensification of extreme hydrometeorological events that has triggered disasters in various parts of the globe, further increasing the need for monitoring and alerting for natural disasters, aiming the safeguarding of life and minimize economic losses. Accordingly, different methodologies for risk assessment have been proposed, focusing on the specific natural hazards. Particularly for Brazil, which has economic axis of development in the regions near the coast, it is common to observe the process of urbanization advancing on steep slopes of the mountain regions. This characteristic causes the population exposure to the natural hazards related to the mass movements, which the landslides stood out as the cause of many deaths and economic losses every year. Thus, prior to risk analysis (when human occupation intersect with natural hazard), it is essential to analyze the susceptibility, which reflects the physical and environmental conditions that trigger for such phenomena. However, this task becomes a major challenge due to the difficulty of finding databases with good quality. In this context, this paper presents a methodology based only on spatial information in the public domain, integrated into a Geographic Information System free, in order to analyze the landslides susceptibility. In a first effort, we evaluated four counties of Southeastern Brazil - Santos, Cubatão, Caraguatatuba and Ubatuba - located in a region that includes the rugged reliefs of Serra do Mar and the transition to the coastal region, that have historic of disasters related. It is noteworthy that the methodology takes into account many variables that was weighted and crossed by Fuzzy Gamma technique, such as: topography (horizontal and vertical curvature of the slopes), geology, geomorphology, slope, land use and pedology. As a result, we obtain 5 susceptibility classes: very low, low, medium, high and very high. To validate the methodology, there was overlapped the Landslides Susceptibility Map with real risk areas previously mapped, provided by the National Centre for Monitoring and Alert of Natural Disasters. This step is important especially to assess the methodology adherence to evaluate the classes that was mapped with high and very high susceptibility. The preliminary results indicate that over 70% of the the mapped risks areas are located into the classes more susceptible. We observed small inconsistencies that are related with spatial displacement of the various databases considered, which has different resolutions and scales. Therefore, the results indicated that the methodology is robust and showed the high vulnerability of the counties analyzed, which further highlights that the landslides susceptibility should be monitored carefully by the decision makers in order to prevent and minimize the natural disasters impact, so that provide better territorial planning.

Development of a Disaster Information Visualization Dashboard: A Case Study of Three Typhoons in Taiwan in 2016

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Wen-Ray; Tsai, Yuan-Fan; Huang, Kuei-Chin; Hsieh, Ching-En

2017-04-01

To facilitate disaster response and enhance the effectiveness of disaster prevention and relief, people and emergency response personnel should be able to rapidly acquire and understand information when disasters occur. However, in existing disaster platforms information is typically presented in text tables, static charts, and maps with points. These formats do not make it easy for users to understand the overall situation. Therefore, this study converts data into human-readable charts by using data visualization techniques, and builds a disaster information dashboard that is concise, attractive and flexible. This information dashboard integrates temporally and spatially correlated data, disaster statistics according to category and county, lists of disasters, and any other relevant information. The graphs are animated and interactive. The dashboard allows users to filter the data according to their needs and thus to assimilate the information more rapidly. In this study, we applied the information dashboard to the analysis of landslides during three typhoon events in 2016: Typhoon Nepartak, Typhoon Meranti and Typhoon Megi. According to the statistical results in the dashboard, the order of frequency of the disaster categories in all three events combined was rock fall, roadbed loss, slope slump, road blockage and debris flow. Disasters occurred mainly in the areas that received the most rainfall. Typhoons Nepartak and Meranti mainly affected Taitung, and Typhoon Megi mainly affected Kaohsiung. The towns Xiulin, Fengbin, Fenglin and Guangfu in Hualian County were all issued with debris flow warnings in all three typhoon events. The disaster information dashboard developed in this study allows the user to rapidly assess the overall disaster situation. It clearly and concisely reveals interactions between time, space and disaster type, and also provides comprehensive details about the disaster. The dashboard provides a foundation for future disaster visualization, since it can combine and present real-time information of various types; as such it will strengthen decision making in disaster prevention management.

Satellites, tweets, forecasts: the future of flood disaster management?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dottori, Francesco; Kalas, Milan; Lorini, Valerio; Wania, Annett; Pappenberger, Florian; Salamon, Peter; Ramos, Maria Helena; Cloke, Hannah; Castillo, Carlos

2017-04-01

Floods have devastating effects on lives and livelihoods around the world. Structural flood defence measures such as dikes and dams can help protect people. However, it is the emerging science and technologies for flood disaster management and preparedness, such as increasingly accurate flood forecasting systems, high-resolution satellite monitoring, rapid risk mapping, and the unique strength of social media information and crowdsourcing, that are most promising for reducing the impacts of flooding. Here, we describe an innovative framework which integrates in real-time two components of the Copernicus Emergency mapping services, namely the European Flood Awareness System and the satellite-based Rapid Mapping, with new procedures for rapid risk assessment and social media and news monitoring. The integrated framework enables improved flood impact forecast, thanks to the real-time integration of forecasting and monitoring components, and increases the timeliness and efficiency of satellite mapping, with the aim of capturing flood peaks and following the evolution of flooding processes. Thanks to the proposed framework, emergency responders will have access to a broad range of timely and accurate information for more effective and robust planning, decision-making, and resource allocation.

Developing AN Emergency Response Model for Offshore Oil Spill Disaster Management Using Spatial Decision Support System (sdss)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balogun, Abdul-Lateef; Matori, Abdul-Nasir; Wong Toh Kiak, Kelvin

2018-04-01

Environmental resources face severe risks during offshore oil spill disasters and Geographic Information System (GIS) Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) maps are increasingly being used as response tools to minimize the huge impacts of these spills. However, ESI maps are generally unable to independently harmonize the diverse preferences of the multiple stakeholders' involved in the response process, causing rancour and delay in response time. This paper's Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) utilizes the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model to perform tradeoffs in determining the most significant resources to be secured considering the limited resources and time available to perform the response operation. The AHP approach is used to aggregate the diverse preferences of the stakeholders and reach a consensus. These preferences, represented as priority weights, are incorporated in a GIS platform to generate Environmental sensitivity risk (ESR) maps. The ESR maps provide a common operational platform and consistent situational awareness for the multiple parties involved in the emergency response operation thereby minimizing discord among the response teams and saving the most valuable resources.

Multi-satellite Mission in China for Monitoring Natural Hazards (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, H.

2013-12-01

The impacts of natural hazards are continuing to increase around the world, and mitigation of the damages caused by natural hazards like floods, droughts, earthquakes, and cyclones has been a global challenge. Current evidence demonstrates there are many kinds of technologies for natural hazard management, but space technology is recognized as one of the most effective means. After 30 years of development, China has become an important member of the global remote sensing community. China has successfully developed an Earth observation system consisting of meteorological satellites, resources satellites, ocean satellites, environment and disaster monitoring satellites, micro-satellites, navigation satellites, and manned spacecraft. In this presentation, a short overview of China's Earth observation satellite missions will be presented. Specifically, the Small Satellite Constellation for Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Forecasting (SSCEDMF) will be introduced and discussed. SSCEDMF is a follow-up '4+4' satellite constellation including four optical satellites and four radar satellites, meant to improve disaster management capability in China. At the current stage, two optical satellites and an s-band synthetic aperture radar satellite have successfully launched. Disasters are a global issue that no country can address individually, requiring sharing and collaboration. China has benefited greatly from international collaboration in disaster mitigation, and has actively worked with international partners. To share our experience in dealing with the risk of disasters, some achievements and progress in space technology applications for disaster management will be introduced. In addition, collaborative activities with IRDR, the UN-SPIDER Beijing Office, and the CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence on Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (STDM) will be described.

The Impact of Natural Disasters on Youth: A Focus on Emerging Research beyond Internalizing Disorders.

PubMed

Self-Brown, Shannon; Lai, Betty; Patterson, Alexandria; Glasheen, Theresa

2017-08-01

This paper reviews youth outcomes following exposure to natural disaster, with a focus on three relatively understudied outcomes: externalizing behavior problems, physical health, and posttraumatic growth. Recent, high-impact studies focusing on each outcome are summarized. Studies highlighted in this review utilize innovative and comprehensive approaches to improve our current understanding of youth broad-based physical and mental health outcomes beyond PTSD. The review concludes with recommendations to advance the field of youth disaster research by exploring how disasters may impact children across multiple domains, as well as using cutting edge ecobiological approaches and advanced modeling strategies to better understand how youth adjust and thrive following natural disaster.

Principles of hospital disaster management: an integrated and multidisciplinary approach.

PubMed

Hendrickx, C; Hoker, S D; Michiels, G; Sabbe, M B

Principles of hospital disaster management: an integrated and multidisciplinary approach. Hospitals play an important role during a disaster response, and are also at risk for internal incidents. We propose an integrated and multidisciplinary approach towards hospital disaster management and preparedness. In addition to response strategies, much attention is given to risk assessment and preparedness in the pre-incident phase and to business continuity planning (BCP) in the post-incident phase. It is essential to train key players and all personnel to understand the Hospital Incident Management System (HIMS) and to perform specific emergency procedures. All emergency procedures should be grounded in evidence-based practice resulting from essential disaster response research.

International disaster research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silverstein, Martin Elliot

1991-01-01

No existing telecommunications system can be expected to provide strategy and tactics appropriate to the complex, many faceted problem of disaster. Despite the exciting capabilities of space, communications, remote sensing, and the miracles of modern medicine, complete turnkey transfers to the disaster problem do not make the fit, and cannot be expected to do so. In 1980, a Presidential team assigned the mission of exploring disaster response within the U.S. Federal Government encountered an unanticipated obstacle: disaster was essentially undefined. In the absence of a scientifically based paradigm of disaster, there can be no measure of cost effectiveness, optimum design of manpower structure, or precise application of any technology. These problems spawned a 10-year, multidisciplinary study designed to define the origins, anatomy, and necessary management techniques for catastrophes. The design of the study necessarily reflects interests and expertise in disaster medicine, emergency medicine, telecommunications, computer communications, and forencsic sciences. This study is described.

Impact of public health emergencies on modern disaster taxonomy, planning, and response.

PubMed

Burkle, Frederick M; Greenough, P Gregg

2008-10-01

Current disaster taxonomy describes diversity, distinguishing characteristics, and common relations in disaster event classifications. The impact of compromised public health infrastructure and systems on health consequences defines and greatly influences the manner in which disasters are observed, planned for, and managed, especially those that are geographically widespread, population dense, and prolonged. What may first result in direct injuries and death may rapidly change to excess indirect illness and subsequent death as essential public health resources are destroyed, deteriorate, or are systematically denied to vulnerable populations. Public health and public health infrastructure and systems in developed and developing countries must be seen as strategic and security issues that deserve international public health resource monitoring attention from disaster managers, urban planners, the global humanitarian community, World Health Organization authorities, and participating parties to war and conflict. We posit here that disaster frameworks be reformed to emphasize and clarify the relation of public health emergencies and modern disasters.

RoboCup-Rescue: an international cooperative research project of robotics and AI for the disaster mitigation problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tadokoro, Satoshi; Kitano, Hiroaki; Takahashi, Tomoichi; Noda, Itsuki; Matsubara, Hitoshi; Shinjoh, Atsushi; Koto, Tetsuo; Takeuchi, Ikuo; Takahashi, Hironao; Matsuno, Fumitoshi; Hatayama, Mitsunori; Nobe, Jun; Shimada, Susumu

2000-07-01

This paper introduces the RoboCup-Rescue Simulation Project, a contribution to the disaster mitigation, search and rescue problem. A comprehensive urban disaster simulator is constructed on distributed computers. Heterogeneous intelligent agents such as fire fighters, victims and volunteers conduct search and rescue activities in this virtual disaster world. A real world interface integrates various sensor systems and controllers of infrastructures in the real cities with the real world. Real-time simulation is synchronized with actual disasters, computing complex relationship between various damage factors and agent behaviors. A mission-critical man-machine interface provides portability and robustness of disaster mitigation centers, and augmented-reality interfaces for rescue in real disasters. It also provides a virtual- reality training function for the public. This diverse spectrum of RoboCup-Rescue contributes to the creation of the safer social system.

A critical analysis of the South African Disaster Management Act and Policy Framework.

PubMed

van Niekerk, Dewald

2014-10-01

The promulgation of the South African Disaster Management Act No. 57 of 2002 and the National Disaster Management Policy Framework of 2005 placed South Africa at the international forefront by integrating disaster risk reduction into all spheres of government through a decentralised approach. Yet, good policy and legislation do not necessarily translate into good practice. This paper provides a critical analysis of the Act and Policy Framework. Using qualitative research methods, it analyses the attitudes and perceptions of senior public officials on all levels of government, the private sector and academia. The study finds that one of the weakest aspects of the Act and Framework is the absence of clear guidance to local municipalities. The placement of the disaster risk management function on all tiers of government remains problematic, funding is inadequate and overall knowledge and capacities for disaster risk reduction are insufficient. © 2014 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2014.

Nurses' competencies in disaster nursing: implications for curriculum development and public health.

PubMed

Loke, Alice Yuen; Fung, Olivia Wai Man

2014-03-20

The purpose of this study was to explore Hong Kong nurses' perceptions of competencies required for disaster nursing. Focus group interviews and written inquiry were adopted to solicit nurses' perceived required competencies for disaster care. A total of 15 nurses were interviewed and 30 nurses completed the written inquiry on their perceived competencies related to disaster nursing. The International Council for Nurses' (ICN) framework of disaster nursing competencies, consisting of four themes and ten domains, was used to tabulate the perceived competencies for disaster nursing reported by nurses. The most mentioned required competencies were related to disaster response; with the ethical and legal competencies for disaster nursing were mostly neglected by nurses in Hong Kong. With the complexity nature of disasters, special competencies are required if nurses are to deal with adverse happenings in their serving community. Nurses' perceived disaster nursing competencies reported by nurses were grossly inadequate, demonstrating the needs to develop a comprehensive curriculum for public health. The establishment of a set of tailor-made disaster nursing core competencies for the community they served is the first step in preparing nurses to deal with disastrous situations for the health of the public.

Nurses’ Competencies in Disaster Nursing: Implications for Curriculum Development and Public Health

PubMed Central

Loke, Alice Yuen; Fung, Olivia Wai Man

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore Hong Kong nurses’ perceptions of competencies required for disaster nursing. Focus group interviews and written inquiry were adopted to solicit nurses’ perceived required competencies for disaster care. A total of 15 nurses were interviewed and 30 nurses completed the written inquiry on their perceived competencies related to disaster nursing. The International Council for Nurses’ (ICN) framework of disaster nursing competencies, consisting of four themes and ten domains, was used to tabulate the perceived competencies for disaster nursing reported by nurses. The most mentioned required competencies were related to disaster response; with the ethical and legal competencies for disaster nursing were mostly neglected by nurses in Hong Kong. With the complexity nature of disasters, special competencies are required if nurses are to deal with adverse happenings in their serving community. Nurses’ perceived disaster nursing competencies reported by nurses were grossly inadequate, demonstrating the needs to develop a comprehensive curriculum for public health. The establishment of a set of tailor-made disaster nursing core competencies for the community they served is the first step in preparing nurses to deal with disastrous situations for the health of the public. PMID:24658409

Essential climatic variables estimation with satellite imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolotii, A.; Kussul, N.; Shelestov, A.; Lavreniuk, M. S.

2016-12-01

According to Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 - 2030 Leaf Area Index (LAI) is considered as one of essential climatic variables. This variable represents the amount of leaf material in ecosystems and controls the links between biosphere and atmosphere through various processes and enables monitoring and quantitative assessment of vegetation state. LAI has added value for such important global resources monitoring tasks as drought mapping and crop yield forecasting with use of data from different sources [1-2]. Remote sensing data from space can be used to estimate such biophysical parameter at regional and national scale. High temporal satellite imagery is usually required to capture main parameters of crop growth [3]. Sentinel-2 mission launched in 2015 be ESA is a source of high spatial and temporal resolution satellite imagery for mapping biophysical parameters. Products created with use of automated Sen2-Agri system deployed during Sen2-Agri country level demonstration project for Ukraine will be compared with our independent results of biophysical parameters mapping. References Shelestov, A., Kolotii, A., Camacho, F., Skakun, S., Kussul, O., Lavreniuk, M., & Kostetsky, O. (2015, July). Mapping of biophysical parameters based on high resolution EO imagery for JECAM test site in Ukraine. In 2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 1733-1736 Kolotii, A., Kussul, N., Shelestov, A., Skakun, S., Yailymov, B., Basarab, R., ... & Ostapenko, V. (2015). Comparison of biophysical and satellite predictors for wheat yield forecasting in Ukraine. The International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 40(7), 39-44. Kussul, N., Lemoine, G., Gallego, F. J., Skakun, S. V., Lavreniuk, M., & Shelestov, A. Y. Parcel-Based Crop Classification in Ukraine Using Landsat-8 Data and Sentinel-1A Data. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing , 9 (6), 2500-2508.

Availability and Diversity of Training Programs for Responders to International Disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies

PubMed Central

Jacquet, Gabrielle A.; Obi, Chioma C.; Chang, Mary P.; Bayram, Jamil D.

2014-01-01

Introduction: Volunteers and members of relief organizations increasingly seek formal training prior to international field deployment. This paper identifies training programs for personnel responding to international disasters and complex humanitarian emergencies, and provides concise information – if available- regarding the founding organization, year established, location, cost, duration of training, participants targeted, and the content of each program. Methods: An environmental scan was conducted through a combination of a peer-reviewed literature search and an open Internet search for the training programs. Literature search engines included EMBASE, Cochrane, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science databases using the search terms “international,” “disaster,” “complex humanitarian emergencies,” “training,” and “humanitarian response”. Both searches were conducted between January 2, 2013 and September 12, 2013. Results: 14 peer-reviewed articles mentioned or described eight training programs, while open Internet search revealed 13 additional programs. In total, twenty-one training programs were identified as currently available for responders to international disasters and CHE. Each of the programs identified has different goals and objectives, duration, expenses, targeted trainees and modules. Each of the programs identified has different goals and objectives, duration, expenses, targeted trainees and modules. Seven programs (33%) are free of charge and four programs (19%) focus on the mental aspects of disasters. The mean duration for each training program is 5 to 7 days. Fourteen of the trainings are conducted in multiple locations (66%), two in Cuba (9%) and two in Australia (9%). The cost-reported in US dollars- ranges from $100 to $2,400 with a mean cost of $480 and a median cost of $135. Most of the programs are open to the public, but some are only available by invitation only, such as the International Mobilization Preparation for Action (IMPACT) and the United Nations Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord) Field Course. Conclusions: A variety of training programs are available for responders to disasters and complex humanitarian emergencies. These programs vary in their objectives, audiences, modules, geographical locations, eligibility and financial cost. This paper presents an overview of available programs and serves as a resource for potential responders interested in capacity-building training prior to deployment. PMID:24987573

Natural hazard events and social capital: the social impact of natural disasters.

PubMed

Albrecht, Frederike

2018-04-01

This study investigates if and to what extent natural disasters affect social capital. Twelve different events in Europe are examined in a quantitative analysis, using data derived from the European Social Survey and the EM-DAT International Disaster Database. The study uses social trust as an indicator of social capital and offers evidence that a change in social trust is a possible occurrence during or after a disaster, but that it is not an inevitable consequence of it. The results reveal that social trust decreases after a disaster with a death toll of at least nine. Changes in social capital, therefore, are found to be more probable as the severity of the event increases. National, rather than regional, disasters lead more frequently to significant shifts in social trust. This evaluation of 12 separate cases pinpoints several disasters that have had an effect on social trust, but it does not identify any general patterns, underlining the significance of contextual dependency. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

Establishing Esri ArcGIS Enterprise Platform Capabilities to Support Response Activities of the NASA Earth Science Disasters Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molthan, A.; Seepersad, J.; Shute, J.; Carriere, L.; Duffy, D.; Tisdale, B.; Kirschbaum, D.; Green, D. S.; Schwizer, L.

2017-12-01

NASA's Earth Science Disasters Program promotes the use of Earth observations to improve the prediction of, preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters. NASA Earth observations and those of domestic and international partners are combined with in situ observations and models by NASA scientists and partners to develop products supporting disaster mitigation, response, and recovery activities among several end-user partners. These products are accompanied by training to ensure proper integration and use of these materials in their organizations. Many products are integrated along with other observations available from other sources in GIS-capable formats to improve situational awareness and response efforts before, during and after a disaster. Large volumes of NASA observations support the generation of disaster response products by NASA field center scientists, partners in academia, and other institutions. For example, a prediction of high streamflows and inundation from a NASA-supported model may provide spatial detail of flood extent that can be combined with GIS information on population density, infrastructure, and land value to facilitate a prediction of who will be affected, and the economic impact. To facilitate the sharing of these outputs in a common framework that can be easily ingested by downstream partners, the NASA Earth Science Disasters Program partnered with Esri and the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) to establish a suite of Esri/ArcGIS services to support the dissemination of routine and event-specific products to end users. This capability has been demonstrated to key partners including the Federal Emergency Management Agency using a case-study example of Hurricane Matthew, and will also help to support future domestic and international disaster events. The Earth Science Disasters Program has also established a longer-term vision to leverage scientists' expertise in the development and delivery of end-user training, increase public awareness of NASA's Disasters Program, and facilitate new partnerships with disaster response organizations. Future research and development will foster generation of products that leverage NASA's Earth observations for disaster prediction, preparation and mitigation, response, and recovery.

Mapping historical information for better understanding the causality factors of past disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudou, Martin; Lang, Michel; Vinet, Freddy; Coeur, Denis

2015-04-01

The Flood Directive of 2007 promotes the use of historical information in order to mitigate the impact of future extreme events. According to this text, the study of past events offers new insights for better understanding the causality factors of a disaster, from hydrometeorological keys to socio-political repercussions of the flood. In this presentation we decided to focus on the study of factors leading to the exceptionality of a hydrological flood event. This aspect is regularly pointed out by the feedbacks carried out after a catastrophic event and remains a subject of debate for risk managers. The role of antecedent meteorological conditions is especially underestimated by local authorities. These factors can however be considered as a key issue to appreciate the exceptional character of a hydrological disaster. For example the 2013 June floods in France that affected the region of Pyrenees revealed the significant contribution of snow melting to the discharges recorded. In an article of 2014, Schröter et al. showed that the soil moisture can be considered as a key driver of the generalised flood hazard intensity that affected Germany over the same month of June 2013. With regard to these assessments, some considerations emerge. Does a diachronic appraisal of past disasters point out the main issues responsible for an exceptional flood hazard level? Is there common causality issues involved into these extreme hydrological events? In order to answer these questions this presentation proposes a comparative analysis of nine major floods that impacted the French territory during the XXth century (from 1910 to 2010). The set is composed by different flood typologies (from torrential events to floods resulting from groundwater level rising) so as to get a complete view of flood risk in France. The methodology proposed relies on a cartographic approach to highlight the causality factors of these past hydrological disasters. For instance, mapping the rainfall data over the representation of the maximum discharges recorded can help to understand the significance of the rainfall event. In some cases, the use of textual historical information allows to emphasize the significance of other factors such as snow melting or the influence of anthropogenic infrastructures. Indeed, mapping historical information seems to be an original approach to represent the various spatial and temporal scales of historical disasters and an interesting tool to explore the exceptionality of the hazard level.

The role of obstetrics and gynecology national societies during natural disasters.

PubMed

Lalonde, André; Adrien, Lauré

2015-07-01

When a natural disaster occurs, such as an earthquake, floods, or a tsunami, the international response is quick. However, there is no organized strategy in place to address obstetric and gynecological (ob/gyn) emergencies. International organizations and national ob/gyn societies do not have an organized plan and rely on the good will of volunteers. Too often, local specialists are ignored and are not involved in the response. The massive earthquake in Haiti in 2010 exemplifies the lack of coordinated response involving national organizations following the disaster. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) engaged rapidly with Haitian colleagues in response to the obstetric and gynecological emergencies. An active strategy is proposed. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Longitudinal course of disaster-related PTSD among a prospective sample of adult Chilean natural disaster survivors.

PubMed

Fernandez, Cristina A; Vicente, Benjamin; Marshall, Brandon Dl; Koenen, Karestan C; Arheart, Kristopher L; Kohn, Robert; Saldivia, Sandra; Buka, Stephen L

2017-04-01

With an increasing number of individuals surviving natural disasters, it is crucial to understand who is most at risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The objective of this study was to prospectively examine the role that pre-existing psychopathology plays in developing PTSD after a disaster. This study uses data from a prospective 5-wave longitudinal cohort (years 2003-11) of Chilean adults from 10 health centres ( N  = 1708). At baseline, participants completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), a comprehensive psychiatric diagnostic instrument. In 2010, the sixth most powerful earthquake on record struck Chile. One year later, a modified version of the PTSD module of the CIDI was administered. Marginal structural logistic regressions with inverse probability censoring weights were constructed to identify pre-disaster psychiatric predictors of post-disaster PTSD. The majority of participants were female (75.9%) and had a high-school/college education (66.9%). After controlling for pre-disaster PTSD, pre-existing dysthymia [odds ratio (OR) = 2.21; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.39-3.52], brief psychotic disorder (OR = 2.67; 95% CI = 1.21-5.90), anxiety disorders (not including PTSD; OR = 1.49; 95% CI = 1.27-1.76), panic disorder (OR = 2.46; 95% CI = 1.37-4.42), agoraphobia (OR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.22-4.10), social phobia (OR = 1.86; 95% CI = 1.06-3.29), specific phobia (OR = 2.07; 95% CI = 1.50-2.86) and hypochondriasis (OR = 2.10; 95% CI = 1.05-4.18) were predictors of post-disaster PTSD. After controlling for pre-disaster anxiety disorders, dysthymia, and non-affective psychotic disorders, individuals with pre-disaster PTSD (vs those without pre-disaster PTSD) had higher odds of developing post-disaster PTSD (OR = 2.53; 95% CI = 1.37-4.65). This is the first Chilean study to demonstrate prospectively that pre-disaster psychiatric disorders, independent of a prior history of other psychiatric disorders, increase the vulnerability to develop PTSD following a major natural disaster. © The Author 2016; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association

The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) Project: Status of SAR products for Earthquakes, Floods, Volcanoes and Groundwater-related Subsidence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owen, S. E.; Yun, S. H.; Hua, H.; Agram, P. S.; Liu, Z.; Sacco, G. F.; Manipon, G.; Linick, J. P.; Fielding, E. J.; Lundgren, P.; Farr, T. G.; Webb, F.; Rosen, P. A.; Simons, M.

2017-12-01

The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) project for Natural Hazards is focused on rapidly generating high-level geodetic imaging products and placing them in the hands of the solid earth science and local, national, and international natural hazard communities by providing science product generation, exploration, and delivery capabilities at an operational level. Space-based geodetic measurement techniques including Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), differential Global Positioning System, and SAR-based change detection have become critical additions to our toolset for understanding and mapping the damage and deformation caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, and groundwater extraction. Up until recently, processing of these data sets has been handcrafted for each study or event and has not generated products rapidly and reliably enough for response to natural disasters or for timely analysis of large data sets. The ARIA project, a joint venture co-sponsored by the California Institute of Technology and by NASA through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has been capturing the knowledge applied to these responses and building it into an automated infrastructure to generate imaging products in near real-time that can improve situational awareness for disaster response. In addition to supporting the growing science and hazard response communities, the ARIA project has developed the capabilities to provide automated imaging and analysis capabilities necessary to keep up with the influx of raw SAR data from geodetic imaging missions such as ESA's Sentinel-1A/B, now operating with repeat intervals as short as 6 days, and the upcoming NASA NISAR mission. We will present the progress and results we have made on automating the analysis of Sentinel-1A/B SAR data for hazard monitoring and response, with emphasis on recent developments and end user engagement in flood extent mapping and deformation time series for both volcano monitoring and mapping of groundwater-related subsidence

The UAH GeoIntegrator: A Web Mapping System for On-site Data Insertion and Viewing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, M.; Hardin, D.; Sever, T.; Irwin, D.

2005-12-01

There is a growing need in the scientific community to combine data colleted in the field with maps, imagery and other layered sources. For example, a biologist, who has collected pollination data during a field study, may want to see his data presented on a regional map. There are many commercial web mapping tools available, but they are expensive, and may require advanced computer knowledge to operate. Researchers from the Information Technology and Systems Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville are developing a web mapping system that will allow scientists to map their data in an easy way. This system is called the UAH GeoIntegrator. The UAH GeoIntegrator is built on top of three open-source components: the Apache web server, MapServer, and the Chameleon viewer. Chameleon allows developers to customize its map viewer interface by adding widgets. These widgets provide unique functionality focused to the specific needs of the researcher. The UAH GeoIntegrator utilizes a suite of widgets that bring new functionality focused on specific needs, to a typical web map viewer. Specifically, a common input text file format was defined and widgets developed to convert user's field collections into web map layers. These layers can then laid on top of other map layers to produce data products that are versatile, informative and easy to distribute via web services. The UAH GeoIntegrator is being developed as part of the SERVIR project. SERVIR (a Spanish acronym meaning to serve) is part of an international effort to preserve the remaining forested regions of Mesoamerica and to help establish sustainable development in the region. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration along with the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development and the Central American Commission for Environment and Development are cooperating in this effort. The UAH GeoIntegrator is part of an advanced decision support system that will provide scientists, educators, and policy makers the capabilities needed to monitor and forecast ecological changes, respond to natural disasters, and better understand both natural and human induced effects in Mesoamerica. In this paper, the architecture of the system, data input format, and details of the suite of will be presented.

Spatial Modeling of Tsunami Impact in Manado City using Geographic Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumaat, J. C.; Kandoli, S. T. B.; Laeloma, F.

2018-02-01

Manado City is a coastal area in the shape of a bay. Manado Bay is a water body that protrudes in the area of Manado City where the condition of this region is likely to have a tsunami threat. Manado Bay is home to several rivers such as Tondano River has a geological history of both land and sea. There are several active faults, such as in the sea, subduction of subplate in the north of the island, Mayu mountain plate, and Sangihe plate east of North Sulawesi. The purpose of this study is divided into two parts: General purpose is to describe GIS-based disaster mitigation that can be done to minimize disaster risk if Tsunami disaster occurs in coastal area of Manado Bay, while special purpose consists of 3 parts, namely: 1. mapping of zone- Tsunami vulnerability zone of Manado Bay; 2. mapping the distance and time of the scenario of the Manado Bay Tsunami evacuation route; 3. mapping of the number of buildings and roads exposed to the Manado Bay Tsunami. Data collection techniques use secondary data collection techniques. Secondary data comes from related institutions or institutions, libraries, or individual archives. The data collection is also continued by direct observation. Direct observation is meant by direct observation by using a checklist for secondary data adjustment and then the determination of coordinate point with Global Position System (GPS) at some tsunami location.

Historic Landslide Data Combined with Sentinel Satellite Data to Improve Modelling for Disaster Risk Reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bye, B. L.; Kontoes, C.; Catarino, N.; De Lathouwer, B.; Concalves, P.; Meyer-Arnek, J.; Mueller, A.; Kraft, C.; Grosso, N.; Goor, E.; Voidrot, M. F.; Trypitsidis, A.

2017-12-01

Landslides are geohazards potentially resulting in disasters. Landslides both vary enormously in their distribution in space and time. The surface deformation varies considerably from one type of instability to another. Individual ground instabilities may have a common trigger (extreme rainfall, earthquake), and therefore occur alongside many equivalent occurrences over a large area. This means that they can have a significant regional impact demanding national and international disaster risk reduction strategies. Regional impacts require collaboration across boarders as reflected in The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). The data demands related to the SDGs are unprecedented, another factor that will require coordinated efforts at the global, regional and national levels. Data of good quality are vital for governments, international organizations, civil society, the private sector and the general public in order to make informed decisions, included for disaster risk reduction. The NextGEOSS project evolves the European vision of a user driven GEOSS data exploitation for innovation and business, relying on 3 main pillars; engaging communities of practice, delivering technological advancements, and advocating the use of GEOSS. These 3 pillars support the creation and deployment of Earth observation based innovative research activities and commercial services. In this presentation we will explain how one of the 10 NextGEOSS pilots, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), plan to provide an enhanced multi-hazard risk assessment framework based on statistical analysis of long time series of data. Landslide events monitoring and landslides susceptibility estimation will be emphazised. Workflows will be based on models developed in the context of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. Data envisaged to be used are: Radar SAR data; Yearly ground deformation/velocities; Historic landslide inventory; data related to topographic, geological, hydrological, geomorphological settings and ground observations from field trips. The development of NextGEOSS pilots opens up for interactions with international communities. Contributions from communities engaged in SDG activities and the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction are welcome

Imagery for Disaster Response and Recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bethel, G. R.

2011-12-01

Exposing the remotely sensed imagery for disaster response and recovery can provide the basis for an unbiased understanding of current conditions. Having created consolidated remotely sensed and geospatial data sources documents for US and Foreign disasters over the past six years, availability and usability are continuing to evolve. By documenting all existing sources of imagery and value added products, the disaster response and recovery community can develop actionable information. The past two years have provided unique situations to use imagery including a major humanitarian disaster and response effort in Haiti, a major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a killer tornado in Joplin Missouri and long-term flooding in the Midwest. Each disaster presents different challenges and requires different spatial resolutions, spectral properties and/or multi-temporal collections. The community of data providers continues to expand with organized actives such as the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters and acquisitions by the private sector for the public good rather than for profit. However, data licensing, the lack of cross-calibration and inconsistent georeferencing hinder optimal use. Recent pre-event imagery is a critial component to any disaster response.

Satellite and Aerial Remote Sensing in Support of Disaster Response Operations Conducted by the Texas Division of Emergency Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wells, G. L.; Tapley, B. D.; Bettadpur, S. V.; Howard, T.; Porter, B.; Smith, S.; Teng, L.; Tapley, C.

2014-12-01

The effective use of remote sensing products as guidance to emergency managers and first responders during field operations requires close coordination and communication with state-level decision makers, incident commanders and the leaders of individual strike teams. Information must be tailored to meet the needs of different emergency support functions and must contain current (ideally near real-time) data delivered in standard formats in time to influence decisions made under rapidly changing conditions. Since 2003, a representative of the University of Texas Center for Space Research (CSR) has served as a member of the Governor's Emergency Management Council and has directed the flow of information from remote sensing observations and high performance computing modeling and simulations to the Texas Division of Emergency Management in the State Operations Center. The CSR team has supported response and recovery missions resulting from hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, wildfires, oil spills and other natural and man-made disasters in Texas and surrounding states. Through web mapping services, state emergency managers and field teams have received threat model forecasts, real-time vehicle tracking displays and imagery to support search-and-clear operations before hurricane landfall, search-and-rescue missions following floods, tactical wildfire suppression, pollution monitoring and hazardous materials detection. Data servers provide near real-time satellite imagery collected by CSR's direct broadcast receiving system and post data products delivered during activations of the United Nations International Charter on Space and Major Disasters. In the aftermath of large-scale events, CSR is charged with tasking state aviation resources, including the Air National Guard and Texas Civil Air Patrol, to acquire geolocated aerial photography of the affected region for wide area damage assessment. A data archive for each disaster is available online for years following the event to assist forensic studies and local plans for recovery. The use of portable devices, including commodity smartphones and tablets, will soon permit even more responsive data delivery during future disasters through the expansion of wireless Public Safety Broadband (FirstNet) targeted to serve first responders.

Digital disaster evaluation and its application to 2015 Ms 8.1 Nepal Earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

WANG, Xiaoqing; LV, Jinxia; DING, Xiang; DOU, Aixia

2016-11-01

The purpose of the article is to probe the technique resolution of disaster information extraction and evaluation from the digital RS images based on the internet environment and aided by the social and geographic information. The solution is composed with such methods that the fast post-disaster assessment system will assess automatically the disaster area and grade, the multi-phase satellite and airborne high resolution digital RS images will provide the basis to extract the disaster areas or spots, assisted by the fast position of potential serious damage risk targets according to the geographic, administrative, population, buildings and other information in the estimated disaster region, the 2D digital map system or 3D digital earth system will provide platforms to interpret cooperatively the damage information in the internet environment, and further to estimate the spatial distribution of damage index or intensity, casualties or economic losses, which are very useful for the decision-making of emergency rescue and disaster relief, resettlement and reconstruction. The spatial seismic damage distribution of 2015 Ms 8.1 Nepal earthquake, as an example of the above solution, is evaluated by using the high resolution digital RS images, auxiliary geographic information and ground survey. The results are compared with the statistical disaster information issued by the ground truth by field surveying, and show good consistency.

75 FR 32491 - Massachusetts; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of an Emergency Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-08

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No... Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice... CONTACT: Peggy Miller, Recovery Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 500 C Street, SW...

32 CFR 809a.11 - Procedures outside the United States.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ADMINISTRATION INSTALLATION ENTRY POLICY, CIVIL DISTURBANCE INTERVENTION AND DISASTER ASSISTANCE Civil Disturbance Intervention and Disaster Assistance § 809a.11 Procedures outside the United States. It is Air.... Intervention by United States military personnel outside the United States is governed by international law...

75 FR 2883 - Virginia; Amendment No. 1 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-19

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No... Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the... CONTACT: Peggy Miller, Disaster Assistance Directorate, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 500 C Street...

The environmental and medical geochemistry of potentially hazardous materials produced by disasters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Plumlee, Geoffrey S.; Morman, Suzette A.; Meeker, G.P.; Hoefen, Todd M.; Hageman, Philip L.; Wolf, Ruth E.

2014-01-01

Many natural or human-caused disasters release potentially hazardous materials (HM) that may pose threats to the environment and health of exposed humans, wildlife, and livestock. This chapter summarizes the environmentally and toxicologically significant physical, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics of materials produced by a wide variety of recent disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and extreme storms, spills of mining/mineral-processing wastes or coal extraction by-products, and the 2001 attacks on and collapse of the World Trade Center towers. In describing these characteristics, this chapter also illustrates the important roles that geochemists and other earth scientists can play in environmental disaster response and preparedness. In addition to characterizing in detail the physical, chemical, and microbial makeup of HM generated by the disasters, these roles also include (1) identifying and discriminating potential multiple sources of the materials; (2) monitoring, mapping, and modeling dispersal and evolution of the materials in the environment; (3) understanding how the materials are modified by environmental processes; (4) identifying key characteristics and processes that influence the materials' toxicity to exposed humans and ecosystems; (5) estimating shifts away from predisaster environmental baseline conditions; and (6) using geochemical insights learned from past disasters to help estimate, prepare for, and increase societal resilience to the environmental and related health impacts of future disasters.

Heterogeneous Data Fusion Methods for Disaster Risk Assessment using Grid Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kussul, Nataliia; Skakun, Sergii; Shelestov, Andrii

2014-05-01

In recent years, a risk-oriented approach to manage disasters has been adopted. Risk is a function of two arguments: hazard probability and vulnerability [1]. In order to assess flood risk, for example, aggregation of heterogeneous data acquired from multiple sources is required. Outputs from hydrological and hydraulic models make it possible to predict floods; in situ observations such as river level and flows are used for early warning and models calibration. Remote sensing observations can be effectively used for rapid mapping in case of emergencies, and can be assimilated into models. One point that is mutual for all datasets is their geospatial nature. In order to enable operational assessment of disaster risk, appropriate technology is necessary. In this paper we discuss different strategies to heterogeneous data fusion and show their application in the domain of disaster monitoring and risk assessment. In particular, two case-studies are presented. The first one focuses on the use of time-series of satellite imagery to flood hazard mapping and flood risk assessment. Flooded areas are extracted from satellite images to generate a maximum flood extent image for each flood event. These maps are fused to determine relative frequency of inundation (RFI) [2]. The RFI values are compared to relative water depth generated from the LISFLOOD-FP model. The model is calibrated against the satellite-derived flood extent. The model with different combinations of Manning's parameters was run in the Grid environment at Space Research Institute NASU-SSAU [3], and the optimal set of parameters was found. It is shown that RFI and water depth exhibit the same probabilistic distribution which is confirmed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Therefore, it justifies the use of RFI values for risk assessment. The second case-study deals with quantitative estimation of drought risk in Ukraine based on satellite data. Drought hazard mapping is performed based on the use of vegetation health index (VHI) derived from NOAA satellites, and the extreme value theory techniques. Drought vulnerability is assessed by estimating the crop areas and crop yield to quantify potential impact of a drought on crop production. Finally, drought hazard and vulnerability maps are fused to derive a drought risk map. [1] N.N. Kussul, B.V. Sokolov, Y.I. Zyelyk, V.A. Zelentsov, S.V. Skakun, and A.Yu. Shelestov, "Disaster Risk Assessment Based on Heterogeneous Geospatial Information," J. of Autom. and Inf. Sci., 42(12), pp. 32-45, 2010. [2] S. Skakun, N. Kussul, A. Shelestov, and O. Kussul, "Flood Hazard and Flood Risk Assessment Using a Time Series of Satellite Images: A Case Study in Namibia," Risk Analysis, 2013, doi: 10.1111/risa.12156. [3] L. Hluchy, N. Kussul, A. Shelestov, S. Skakun, O. Kravchenko, Y. Gripich, P. Kopp, E. Lupian, "The Data Fusion Grid Infrastructure: Project Objectives and Achievements," Computing and Informatics, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 319-334, 2010.

An ontology of geo-reasoning to support medical response to attacks with weapons of mass destruction.

PubMed

Kirsh, David; Peterson, Nichole; Lenert, Leslie A

2005-01-01

We study how Metropolitan Medical Response System units conceptualize the physical space of a disaster and their organized response. Using a variety of ethnographic methods before, during, and after a disaster drill, we have developed an initial ontology for geospatial and context-aware technology. The conceptual map of first responders is far more complex than a geographical map. Zones and Areas are used to describe documented concepts critical to MMRS operations. Ad hoc locations also play a critical role, helping first responders communicate tactics in spatial terms. Such distinctions play an important role in the way our experts think about their activity. Successful geoaware alerting systems must incorporate these notions if they are to seamlessly fit into the work flow of first responders.

Operational SAR Data Processing in GIS Environments for Rapid Disaster Mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bahr, Thomas

2014-05-01

The use of SAR data has become increasingly popular in recent years and in a wide array of industries. Having access to SAR can be highly important and critical especially for public safety. Updating a GIS with contemporary information from SAR data allows to deliver a reliable set of geospatial information to advance civilian operations, e.g. search and rescue missions. SAR imaging offers the great advantage, over its optical counterparts, of not being affected by darkness, meteorological conditions such as clouds, fog, etc., or smoke and dust, frequently associated with disaster zones. In this paper we present the operational processing of SAR data within a GIS environment for rapid disaster mapping. For this technique we integrated the SARscape modules for ENVI with ArcGIS®, eliminating the need to switch between software packages. Thereby the premier algorithms for SAR image analysis can be directly accessed from ArcGIS desktop and server environments. They allow processing and analyzing SAR data in almost real time and with minimum user interaction. This is exemplified by the November 2010 flash flood in the Veneto region, Italy. The Bacchiglione River burst its banks on Nov. 2nd after two days of heavy rainfall throughout the northern Italian region. The community of Bovolenta, 22 km SSE of Padova, was covered by several meters of water. People were requested to stay in their homes; several roads, highways sections and railroads had to be closed. The extent of this flooding is documented by a series of Cosmo-SkyMed acquisitions with a GSD of 2.5 m (StripMap mode). Cosmo-SkyMed is a constellation of four Earth observation satellites, allowing a very frequent coverage, which enables monitoring using a very high temporal resolution. This data is processed in ArcGIS using a single-sensor, multi-mode, multi-temporal approach consisting of 3 steps: (1) The single images are filtered with a Gamma DE-MAP filter. (2) The filtered images are geocoded using a reference DEM without the need of ground control points. This step includes radiometric calibration. (3) A subsequent change detection analysis generates the final map showing the extent of the flash flood on Nov. 5th 2010. The underlying algorithms are provided by three different sources: Geocoding & radiometric calibration (2) is a standard functionality from the commercial SARscape Toolbox for ArcGIS. This toolbox is extended by the filter tool (1), which is called from the SARscape modules in ENVI. The change detection analysis (3) is based on ENVI processing routines and scripted with IDL. (2) and (3) are integrated with ArcGIS using a predefined Python interface. These 3 processing steps are combined using the ArcGIS ModelBuilder to create a new model for rapid disaster mapping in ArcGIS, based on SAR data. Moreover, this model can be dissolved from its desktop environment and published to users across the ArcGIS Server enterprise. Thus disaster zones, e.g. after severe flooding, can be automatically identified and mapped to support local task forces - using an operational workflow for SAR image analysis, which can be executed by the responsible operators without SAR expert knowledge.

Proposal for a community-based disaster management curriculum for medical school undergraduates in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Bajow, Nidaa; Djalali, Ahmadreza; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi; Ageely, Hussein; Bani, Ibrahim; Della Corte, Francesco

2015-01-01

Health professional preparedness is a key element of disaster response; overall there is a need for increased disaster medicine training worldwide. The objective of this study was to design and develop a curriculum in community-based disaster medicine for Saudi Arabian medical undergraduates. A structured five-step approach was used to develop a curriculum. Expert stakeholders from the Saudi Arabian and international disaster medicine communities were surveyed to determine objectives and content. Learning strategies were carefully considered to maximize participation and retention. Particular attention was paid to equipping learners with the teaching skills required to promote disaster preparedness in their local communities. The course consists of 2 weeks of classroom activities followed by 8 weeks of e-learning structured within five domains of disaster medicine. The curriculum introduces core principles in emergency medicine, public health, and disaster management. Simulations, experiential activities, case studies, and role-playing activities are all used to promote higher levels of cognitive engagement. Special content addresses the adult-learning process, and students design their own community-based seminars in disaster preparedness. The curriculum is designed to promote learning in disaster medicine. Given the paucity of disaster medicine educators in the region, student graduates of this program would be able to improve disaster preparedness in Saudi Arabia by launching their own community-based disaster preparedness initiatives. The program could also be adapted for use throughout the Middle East.

Australasian disasters of national significance: an epidemiological analysis, 1900-2012.

PubMed

Bradt, David A; Bartley, Bruce; Hibble, Belinda A; Varshney, Kavita

2015-04-01

A regional epidemiological analysis of Australasian disasters in the 20th century to present was undertaken to examine trends in disaster epidemiology; to characterise the impacts on civil society through disaster policy, practice and legislation; and to consider future potential limitations in national disaster resilience. A surveillance definition of disaster was developed conforming to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) criteria (≥10 deaths, ≥100 affected, or declaration of state emergency or appeal for international assistance). The authors then applied economic and legislative inclusion criteria to identify additional disasters of national significance. The surveillance definition yielded 165 disasters in the period, from which 65 emerged as disasters of national significance. There were 38 natural disasters, 22 technological disasters, three offshore terrorist attacks and two domestic mass shootings. Geographic analysis revealed that states with major population centres experienced the vast majority of disasters of national significance. Timeline analysis revealed an increasing incidence of disasters since the 1980s, which peaked in the period 2005-2009. Recent seasonal bushfires and floods have incurred the highest death toll and economic losses in Australasian history. Reactive hazard-specific legislation emerged after all terrorist acts and after most disasters of national significance. Timeline analysis reveals an increasing incidence in natural disasters over the past 15 years, with the most lethal and costly disasters occurring in the past 3 years. Vulnerability to disaster in Australasia appears to be increasing. Reactive legislation is a recurrent feature of Australasian disaster response that suggests legislative shortsightedness and a need for comprehensive all-hazards model legislation in the future. © 2015 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

The International Space Station: New Capabilities for Disaster Response and Humanitarian Aid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stefanov, William

2012-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) has been acquiring Earth imagery since 2000, primarily in the form of astronaut photography using hand-held film and digital cameras. Recent additions of more sophisticated multispectral and hyperspectral sensor systems have expanded both the capabilities and relevance of the ISS to basic research, applied Earth science, and development of new sensor technologies. Funding opportunities established within NASA, the US National Laboratories and the international partner organizations have generated instrument proposals that will further enhance these capabilities. With both internal and external sensor location options, and the availability of both automated and human-tended operational environments, the ISS is a unique platform within the constellation of Earth-observing satellites currently in orbit. Current progress and challenges associated with development of ISS terrestrial remote sensing capabilities in the area of disaster response and support of relief efforts will be presented. The ISS orbit allows for imaging of the Earth's surface at varying times of day and night, providing opportunities for data collection over approximately 95% of the populated regions. These opportunities are distinct from--yet augment--the data collection windows for the majority of sensors on polar-orbiting satellites. In addition to this potential for "being in the right place at the right time" to collect critical information on an evolving disaster, the presence of a human crew also allows for immediate recognition of an event from orbit, notification of relevant organizations on the ground, and re-tasking of available remote sensing resources to support humanitarian response and relief efforts. Challenges to establishing an integrated response capability are both technical (coordination of sensor targeting and data collection, rapid downlink and posting of data to a central accessible hub, timely generation and distribution of relevant data products) and operational (notification and engagement of sensor support teams, international partner agency sanction of astronaut support activities). To better collaborate on common issues and strengthen applications, including using the data to support disaster response, we established an ISS Program Science Forum Working Group for Earth Observations comprised of representatives from the international partner agencies. This international forum welcomes input and support from relevant United Nations task groups regarding our disaster response and humanitarian aid to enable development of the ISS capabilities in this area for greatest value to the international community.

Assessment of the Risk of Medium-Term Internal Contamination in Minamisoma City, Fukushima, Japan, after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Accident

PubMed Central

Gilmour, Stuart; Tsubokura, Masaharu; Nomura, Shuhei; Kami, Masahiro; Oikawa, Tomoyoshi; Kanazawa, Yukio; Shibuya, Kenji

2014-01-01

Background: The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, the first level-7 major nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, raised concerns about the future health consequences of exposure to and intake of radionuclides. Factors determining the risk and level of internal radiation contamination after a nuclear accident, which are a key to understanding and improving current nuclear disaster management, are not well studied. Objective: We investigated both the prevalence and level of internal contamination in residents of Minamisoma, and identified factors determining the risk and levels of contamination. Methods: We implemented a program assessing internal radiation contamination using a whole body counter (WBC) measurement and a questionnaire survey in Minamisoma, between October 2011 and March 2012. Results: Approximately 20% of the city’s population (8,829 individuals) participated in the WBC measurement for internal contamination, of which 94% responded to the questionnaire. The proportion of participants with detectable internal contamination was 40% in adults and 9% in children. The level of internal contamination ranged from 2.3 to 196.5 Bq/kg (median, 11.3 Bq/kg). Tobit regression analysis identified two main risk factors: more time spent outdoors, and intake of potentially contaminated foods and water. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that, with sensible and reasonable precautions, people may be able to live continuously in radiation-affected areas with limited contamination risk. To enable this, nuclear disaster response should strictly enforce food and water controls and disseminate evidence-based and up-to-date information about avoidable contamination risks. Citation: Sugimoto A, Gilmour S, Tsubokura M, Nomura S, Kami M, Oikawa T, Kanazawa Y, Shibuya K. 2014. Assessment of the risk of medium-term internal contamination in Minamisoma City, Fukushima, Japan, after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear accident. Environ Health Perspect 122:587–593; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1306848 PMID:24633072

Collaboration in Humanitarian Logistics: Comparative Analysis of Disaster Response in Chile and Haiti 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

founding of the Red Cross movement in 1863 by J. Henry Dunant, after he witnessed the realities of the casualties suffered by soldiers at the Battle...according to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non- Governmental Organizations in Disaster Relief, is an...THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK 25 III. COUNTRY CASE LITERATURE A. INTRODUCTION Major natural disasters around the globe are a reality that

European information on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jol, A.; Isoard, S.

2010-09-01

Vulnerability to natural and technological disasters is increasing due to a combination of intensifying land use, increasing industrial development, further urban expansion and expanding infrastructure and also climate change. At EU level the European Commission's White Paper on adaptation to climate change (published in 2009) highlights that adaptation actions should be focused on the most vulnerable areas and communities in Europe (e.g. mountains, coastal areas, river flood prone areas, Mediterranean, Arctic). Mainstreaming of climate change into existing EU policies will be a key policy, including within the Water Framework Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Nature protection and biodiversity policies, integrated coastal zone management, other (sectoral) policies (agriculture, forestry, energy, transport, health) and disaster risk prevention. 2010 is the international year on biodiversity and the Conference of Parties of the biodiversity convention will meet in autumn 2010 (Japan) to discuss amongst other post-2010 strategies, objectives and indicators. Both within the Biodiversity Convention (CBD) and the Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) there is increasing recognition of the need for integration of biodiversity conservation into climate change mitigation and adaptation activities. Furthermore a number of European countries and also some regions have started to prepare and/or have adopted national adaptation plans or frameworks. Sharing of good practices on climate change vulnerability methods and adaptation actions is so far limited, but is essential to improve such plans, at national, sub national and local level where much of the adaptation action is already taking place and will be expanding in future, also involving increasingly the business community. The EU Clearinghouse on CC impacts, vulnerability and adaptation should address these needs and it is planned to be operational end of 2011. The EEA is expected to have a role in its development in 2010 and is likely to manage the system after 2011. The European Commission in its Communication in 2009 on disaster risk prevention also calls for improving and better sharing of data on disasters, disaster risk mapping and disaster risk management, in the context of the EU civil protection mechanism. Such information might also be linked to the planned EU Clearinghouse on climate change adaptation. The activities of EEA on climate change impacts, vulnerability and adaptation (including disaster risk reduction) include indicators of the impacts of climate change; a regularly updated overview of national assessments and adaptation plans on the EEA web site and specific focused reports, e.g. on adaptation to the challenges of changing water resources in the Alps (2009) and on analysis of past trends in natural disasters (due in 2010) and regular expert meetings and workshops with EEA member countries. The ECAC presentation will include the latest developments in the EU Clearinghouse on adaptation and progress in relevant EEA activities.

76 FR 65739 - Iowa; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-24

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1998-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Iowa; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. [[Page 65740

Preparing for catastrophe : a new U.S. framework for international disaster response.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-06-01

The paper first makes a case for the strategic importance of U.S. disaster response capabilities in order to justify the commitment of attention and resources needed to develop a new response framework. It next reviews the current U.S. Government int...

78 FR 15406 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Revenue Procedure 2013-XX

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-11

... Revenue Procedure 2013- XX AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice and request... comments concerning Revenue Procedure 2013-XX, Disaster Relief. DATES: Written comments should be received... . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Disaster Relief. OMB Number: 1545-2237. Form Number: Rev. Proc. 2013-XX...

Training and Practice in Trauma, Catastrophes, and Disaster Counseling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowman, Sharon L.; Roysircar, Gargi

2011-01-01

Trauma-related assistance in response to disasters or catastrophes is needed locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, and the authors argue that there is a necessity for counseling psychologists and counseling psychology programs to incorporate it into their prevention, training, and social justice repertoire. Counseling psychologists…

SWOT analysis on National Common Geospatial Information Service Platform of China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Xinyan; He, Biao

2010-11-01

Currently, the trend of International Surveying and Mapping is shifting from map production to integrated service of geospatial information, such as GOS of U.S. etc. Under this circumstance, the Surveying and Mapping of China is inevitably shifting from 4D product service to NCGISPC (National Common Geospatial Information Service Platform of China)-centered service. Although State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of China has already provided a great quantity of geospatial information service to various lines of business, such as emergency and disaster management, transportation, water resource, agriculture etc. The shortcomings of the traditional service mode are more and more obvious, due to the highly emerging requirement of e-government construction, the remarkable development of IT technology and emerging online geospatial service demands of various lines of business. NCGISPC, which aimed to provide multiple authoritative online one-stop geospatial information service and API for further development to government, business and public, is now the strategic core of SBSM (State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping of China). This paper focuses on the paradigm shift that NCGISPC brings up by using SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) analysis, compared to the service mode that based on 4D product. Though NCGISPC is still at its early stage, it represents the future service mode of geospatial information of China, and surely will have great impact not only on the construction of digital China, but also on the way that everyone uses geospatial information service.

A Promising Tool to Assess Long Term Public Health Effects of Natural Disasters: Combining Routine Health Survey Data and Geographic Information Systems to Assess Stunting after the 2001 Earthquake in Peru

PubMed Central

Rydberg, Henny; Marrone, Gaetano; Strömdahl, Susanne; von Schreeb, Johan

2015-01-01

Background Research on long-term health effects of earthquakes is scarce, especially in low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionately affected by disasters. To date, progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of tools to accurately measure these effects. Here, we explored whether long-term public health effects of earthquakes can be assessed using a combination of readily available data sources on public health and geographic distribution of seismic activity. Methods We used childhood stunting as a proxy for public health effects. Data on stunting were attained from Demographic and Health Surveys. Earthquake data were obtained from U.S. Geological Survey’s ShakeMaps, geographic information system-based maps that divide earthquake affected areas into different shaking intensity zones. We combined these two data sources to categorize the surveyed children into different earthquake exposure groups, based on how much their area of residence was affected by the earthquake. We assessed the feasibility of the approach using a real earthquake case – an 8.4 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Peru in 2001. Results and conclusions Our results indicate that the combination of health survey data and disaster data may offer a readily accessible and accurate method for determining the long-term public health consequences of a natural disaster. Our work allowed us to make pre- and post- earthquake comparisons of stunting, an important indicator of the well-being of a society, as well as comparisons between populations with different levels of exposure to the earthquake. Furthermore, the detailed GIS based data provided a precise and objective definition of earthquake exposure. Our approach should be considered in future public health and disaster research exploring the long-term effects of earthquakes and potentially other natural disasters. PMID:26090999

A Promising Tool to Assess Long Term Public Health Effects of Natural Disasters: Combining Routine Health Survey Data and Geographic Information Systems to Assess Stunting after the 2001 Earthquake in Peru.

PubMed

Rydberg, Henny; Marrone, Gaetano; Strömdahl, Susanne; von Schreeb, Johan

2015-01-01

Research on long-term health effects of earthquakes is scarce, especially in low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionately affected by disasters. To date, progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of tools to accurately measure these effects. Here, we explored whether long-term public health effects of earthquakes can be assessed using a combination of readily available data sources on public health and geographic distribution of seismic activity. We used childhood stunting as a proxy for public health effects. Data on stunting were attained from Demographic and Health Surveys. Earthquake data were obtained from U.S. Geological Survey's ShakeMaps, geographic information system-based maps that divide earthquake affected areas into different shaking intensity zones. We combined these two data sources to categorize the surveyed children into different earthquake exposure groups, based on how much their area of residence was affected by the earthquake. We assessed the feasibility of the approach using a real earthquake case--an 8.4 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Peru in 2001. Our results indicate that the combination of health survey data and disaster data may offer a readily accessible and accurate method for determining the long-term public health consequences of a natural disaster. Our work allowed us to make pre- and post-earthquake comparisons of stunting, an important indicator of the well-being of a society, as well as comparisons between populations with different levels of exposure to the earthquake. Furthermore, the detailed GIS based data provided a precise and objective definition of earthquake exposure. Our approach should be considered in future public health and disaster research exploring the long-term effects of earthquakes and potentially other natural disasters.

Update on Activities of CEOS Disaster Management Support Group

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, H. M.; Lauritson, L.

The Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Disaster Management Support Group (DMSG) has supported natural and technological disaster management on a worldwide basis by fostering improved utilization of existing and planned Earth Observation (EO) satellite data. The DMSG has focused on developing and refining recommendations for the application of satellite data to selected hazard areas--drought, earthquake, fire, flood, ice, landslide, oil spill, and volcanic hazards. Particular emphasis was placed on working closely with space agencies, international and regional organizations, and commercial organizations on the implementation of these recommendations. The DMSG is in its last year with its primary focus on documenting its work and migrating on going activities to other fora. With over 300 participants from more than 140 organizations, the DMSG has found strong support among CEOS space agencies and the Integrated Global Observing Strategy (IGOS), as well as an enthusiastic reception from numerous international, regional, and national emergency managers, and distinct interest from the commercial sector. In addition, the group has worked to give full support to the work of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in pursuit of decisions taken at UNISPACE III and the United Nations International Strategy on Disaster Reduction (ISDR). In conjunction with the IGOS, several of the DMSG hazards teams (earthquake, landslide, and solid Earth dimensions of volcanoes) are joining in the effort to develop an IGOS Geohazards theme team. Cooperation efforts with organizations such as IGOS, COPUOS, and ISDR will hopefully lead to the pick up of much of the on going DMSG activities. Since the inception of this ad hoc working group and its predecessor project, the DMSG has developed and refined recommendations for the application of satellite data by bringing together experts from eight hazard areas to identify user needs, as well as satellite capabilities to meet these needs. Most recently, the DMSG has developed disaster scenarios intended to serve as guidelines for identifying appropriate satellite data and products to support emergencies, and specifically, to assist the Parties to the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters and other CEOS members with scenario definitions. The intent of the scenarios is to describe in advance, the satellite data and products that would be useful under specific disaster circumstances. This is meant to offer a standard procedure to respond to emergency data requests for a specific disaster. Taken together, the scenarios would comprise a handbook of what to do when each type of disaster occurs. User needs and recommendations to meet user needs for the eight hazard areas are documented in the DMSG annual reports. The latest and final report to be published in the first quarter of 2002, will provide specific disaster scenarios as well. For information on the DMSG, select hazard areas and the November 2000 report: The Use of Earth Observing Satellites for Hazard Support, go to the DMSG website at: http://disaster.ceos.org. Information from the final report will also be provided on this website in the first quarter of 2002.

Medical rehabilitation after natural disasters: why, when, and how?

PubMed

Rathore, Farooq A; Gosney, James E; Reinhardt, Jan D; Haig, Andrew J; Li, Jianan; DeLisa, Joel A

2012-10-01

Natural disasters can cause significant numbers of severe, disabling injuries, resulting in a public health emergency and requiring foreign assistance. However, since medical rehabilitation services are often poorly developed in disaster-affected regions and not highly prioritized by responding teams, physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) has historically been underemphasized in global disaster planning and response. Recent development of the specialties of "disaster medicine" and "disaster rehabilitation" has raised awareness of the critical importance of rehabilitation intervention during the immediate postdisaster emergency response. The World Health Organization Liaison Sub-Committee on Rehabilitation Disaster Relief of the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine has authored this report to assess the role of emergency rehabilitation intervention after natural disasters based on current scientific evidence and subject matter expert accounts. Major disabling injury types are identified, and spinal cord injury, limb amputation, and traumatic brain injury are used as case studies to exemplify the challenges to effective management of disabling injuries after disasters. Evidence on the effectiveness of disaster rehabilitation interventions is presented. The authors then summarize the current state of disaster-related research, as well as lessons learned from PRM emergency rehabilitation response in recent disasters. Resulting recommendations for greater integration of PRM services into the immediate emergency disaster response are provided. This report aims to stimulate development of research and practice in the emerging discipline of disaster rehabilitation within organizations that provide medical rehabilitation services during the postdisaster emergency response. Copyright © 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrating population dynamics into mapping human exposure to seismic hazard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freire, S.; Aubrecht, C.

2012-11-01

Disaster risk is not fully characterized without taking into account vulnerability and population exposure. Assessment of earthquake risk in urban areas would benefit from considering the variation of population distribution at more detailed spatial and temporal scales, and from a more explicit integration of this improved demographic data with existing seismic hazard maps. In the present work, "intelligent" dasymetric mapping is used to model population dynamics at high spatial resolution in order to benefit the analysis of spatio-temporal exposure to earthquake hazard in a metropolitan area. These night- and daytime-specific population densities are then classified and combined with seismic intensity levels to derive new spatially-explicit four-class-composite maps of human exposure. The presented approach enables a more thorough assessment of population exposure to earthquake hazard. Results show that there are significantly more people potentially at risk in the daytime period, demonstrating the shifting nature of population exposure in the daily cycle and the need to move beyond conventional residence-based demographic data sources to improve risk analyses. The proposed fine-scale maps of human exposure to seismic intensity are mainly aimed at benefiting visualization and communication of earthquake risk, but can be valuable in all phases of the disaster management process where knowledge of population densities is relevant for decision-making.

Promoting the University Social Responsibility in the Capacity Development Program for Landslide Risk Reduction in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karnawati, D.; Wilopo, W.; Verrier, M.; Fathani, T. F.; Andayani, B.

2011-12-01

One of the most challenges efforts for landslides disaster risk reduction in Indonesia is to provide an effective program for capacity development of the community living in the vulnerable area. Limited access for appropriate information and knowledge about the geology and landslide phenomena as well as the social-security constrains are the major challenges in capacity development program in the landslide prone area. Accordingly, an action for conducting community-based research and education program with respect to landslide mitigation and disaster risk reduction at the village level was established by implementing the University Social Responsibility Program. Such program has been conducted regularly in every academic semester as a part of the formal academic program at Universitas Gadjah Mada , Indonesia. Twenty students with multi-discipline backgrounds and supported by their lectures/advisers have to be deployed at the village for two months to carry out such mission. This action is also conducted under the coordination with the local/ national Government together with the local community, and may also with the private sectors. A series of research actions such as landslide investigation and hazard-risk mapping, social mapping and development of landslide early warning system were carried out in parallel with public education and evacuation drill for community empowerment and landslide risk reduction. A Community Task Force for Disaster Risk Reduction was also established during the community empowerment program, in order to guarantee the affectivity and sustainability of the disaster risk reduction program at the village level. It is crucial that this program is not only beneficial for empowering the village community to tackle the landslide problems, but also important to support the education for sustainable development program at the disaster prone area. Indeed, this capacity development program may also be considered as one best practice for transforming the knowledge into action and the action into knowledge enhancement, with respect to landslide disaster risk reduction.
Scope of problems and the actions conducted by Universitas Gadjah Mada as The University Social Responsibility Program for Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia

Near Real-Time Applications of Earth Remote Sensing for Response to Meteorological Disasters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molthan, Andrew L.; Burks, Jason E.; McGrath, Kevin M.; Bell, Jordan R.

2013-01-01

Numerous on-orbit satellites provide a wide range of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions supporting the use of their resulting imagery in assessments of disasters that are meteorological in nature. This presentation will provide an overview of recent use of Earth remote sensing by NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center in response to disaster activities in 2012 and 2013, along with case studies supporting ongoing research and development. The SPoRT Center, with support from NASA's Applied Sciences Program, has explored a variety of new applications of Earth-observing sensors to support disaster response. In May 2013, the SPoRT Center developed unique power outage composites representing the first clear sky view of damage inflicted upon Moore and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma following the devastating EF-5 tornado that occurred on May 20. Subsequent ASTER, MODIS, Landsat-7 and Landsat-8 imagery help to identify the damaged area. Higher resolution imagery of Moore, Oklahoma were provided by commercial satellites and the recently available International Space Station (ISS) SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV) instrument. New techniques are being explored by the SPoRT team in order to better identify damage visible in high resolution imagery, and to monitor ongoing recovery for Moore, Oklahoma. Other applications are being developed to refine light source detections with the VIIRS day-night band and to map hail during the growing season through combination of available satellite and radar imagery. The aforementioned products and support are not useful unless they are distributed in a timely manner and within an appropriate decision support system. This presentation will provide an update on ongoing activities to support inclusion of these data sets within the NOAA National Weather Service Damage Assessment Toolkit, which allows meteorologists in the field to consult available satellite imagery while performing their damage assessment.

Near Real-­Time Applications of Earth Remote Sensing for Response to Meteorological Disasters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molthan, Andrew L.; Burks, Jason E.; McGrath, Kevin M.; Bell, Jordan R.

2013-01-01

Numerous on-orbit satellites provide a wide range of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions supporting the use of their resulting imagery in assessments of disasters that are meteorological in nature. This presentation will provide an overview of recent use of Earth remote sensing by NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center in response to disaster activities in 2012 and 2013, along with case studies supporting ongoing research and development. The SPoRT Center, with support from NASA's Applied Sciences Program, has explored a variety of new applications of Earth-observing sensors to support disaster response. In May 2013, the SPoRT Center developed unique power outage composites representing the first clear sky view of damage inflicted upon Moore and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma following the devastating EF-5 tornado that occurred on May 20. Subsequent ASTER, MODIS, Landsat-7 and Landsat-8 imagery help to identify the damaged area. Higher resolution imagery of Moore, Oklahoma were provided by commercial satellites and the recently available International Space Station (ISS) SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV) instrument. New techniques are being explored by the SPoRT team in order to better identify damage visible in high resolution imagery, and to monitor ongoing recovery for Moore, Oklahoma. Other applications are being developed to refine light source detections with the VIIRS day-night band and to map hail during the growing season through combination of available satellite and radar imagery. The aforementioned products and support are not useful unless they are distributed in a timely manner and within an appropriate decision support system. This presentation will provide an update on ongoing activities to support inclusion of these data sets within the NOAA National Weather Service Damage Assessment Toolkit, which allows meteorologists in the field to consult available satellite imagery while performing their damage assessment.

Report on the costs of domestic and international emergencies and on the threats posed by the Kuwaiti oil fires as required by P. L. 102-55

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1991-06-01

The report fulfills the requirements of Public Law 12-55, the FY 1992 dire emergency supplemental appropriations bill, signed by the President on June 13, 1991. This law required the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to prepare and submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on: unfunded costs of dire emergencies because of floods, droughts, tornadoes, unemployment, and other disasters in the United States; unfunded costs, including food assistance, of international disaster emergencies existing because of floods, droughts, tornadoes, and other disasters; and the threats to oil supply, human health, and the environment that the Kuwaitimore » oil fires might pose.« less

Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) and disaster victim identification.

PubMed

Brough, A L; Morgan, B; Rutty, G N

2015-09-01

Radiography has been used for identification since 1927, and established a role in mass fatality investigations in 1949. More recently, postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) has been used for disaster victim identification (DVI). PMCT offers several advantages compared with fluoroscopy, plain film and dental X-rays, including: speed, reducing the number of on-site personnel and imaging modalities required, making it potentially more efficient. However, there are limitations that inhibit the international adoption of PMCT into routine practice. One particular problem is that due to the fact that forensic radiology is a relatively new sub-speciality, there are no internationally established standards for image acquisition, image interpretation and archiving. This is reflected by the current INTERPOL DVI form, which does not contain a PMCT section. The DVI working group of the International Society of Forensic Radiology and Imaging supports the use of imaging in mass fatality response and has published positional statements in this area. This review will discuss forensic radiology, PMCT, and its role in disaster victim identification.

Remittances as aid following major sudden-onset natural disasters.

PubMed

Bragg, Catherine; Gibson, Glenn; King, Haleigh; Lefler, Ashley A; Ntoubandi, Faustin

2018-01-01

There is a general assumption, based on macroeconomic studies, that remittances will rise following major sudden-onset natural disasters. This is confirmed by a few assessments involving country-specific research, and usually short-term data. This study, questioning conventional wisdom, reviewed and graphed annual and quarterly remittance flows using International Monetary Fund and World Bank data from 2000-14 for 12 countries that confronted 18 major natural disasters. It found that, regardless of event type, annual remittances rose steadily from 2000-14 except for after the 2008-09 financial crisis. Post disaster, there was a quarterly increase in the majority of cases (confirming previous research) but there was seldom an annual increase in the year of the disaster greater than the average annual increase in 2000-14. It appears that remittance senders rush to provide assistance after a natural disaster, but since their own financial situation has not changed, the immediate increase is compensated by a later decrease. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

Operational challenges to community participation in post-disaster damage assessments: observations from Fiji.

PubMed

Méheux, Kirstie; Dominey-Howes, Dale; Lloyd, Kate

2010-10-01

Community participation is becoming increasingly popular within the field of disaster management. International disaster policies, frameworks and charters embrace the notion that communities should play an active role in initiatives to identify vulnerabilities and risks and to mitigate those dangers, and, in the event of a disaster, that they should play a proactive part in response and recovery (see, for example, UNISDR, 1994; The Sphere Project, 2004; United Nations, 2005). A number of studies have investigated the participation of communities in disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts (see, for instance, Scott-Villiers, 2000; Andharia, 2002; Godschalk, Brody and Burby, 2003), There is, however, limited reflection on the challenges to ensuring participation in the operational context of disaster response. This paper draws on a study of the policy and practice of participatory damage assessment in Fiji to identify and discuss the barriers to formal implementation of community participation in a post-disaster context. © 2010 The Author(s). Journal compilation © Overseas Development Institute, 2010.

Democracy, GDP, and the Impact of Natural Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Vink, G.; Brett, A. P.; Burgess, E.; Cecil-Cockwell, D.; Chicoine, A.; Difiore, P.; Harding, J.; Millian, C.; Olivi, E.; Piaskowy, S.; Sproat, J.; van der Hoop, H.; Walsh, P.; Warren, A.; West, L.; Wright, G.

2007-05-01

In 1998 Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in economics for the observation that there has never been a famine in a nation with a democratic form of government and a free press. We find that a similar relationship can be demonstrated for all natural disasters. Data from the United Nations Food Programme and the United States Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is used to display strong correlations between the democracy index, GDP, and the humanitarian impact of natural disasters. We find that nations in which disasters have high humanitarian impact, approximated by lives lost, are also nations which are below the median per capita GDP and the median democracy level. While the response to natural disasters varies from country to country, several additional global trends are observed. Since 1964, the number of recorded natural disasters has increased by a factor of five. During this same time period the number of deaths has decreased significantly. In particular, the humanitarian impact of the 'typical' natural disaster has decreased by a factor of five. Post-disaster foreign aid is the common response from the international community when a natural disaster strikes. Our study also compares the history of foreign aid grants distributed by the US Office of Foreign Disaster Aid (OFDA) with the number of deaths worldwide from natural disasters. We find that the amount of aid given is responsive to the degree of global humanitarian impact.

Rebuilding sustainable communities for children and families after disaster: recommendations from symposium participants in response to the April 27th, 2011 tornadoes.

PubMed

Rush, S Craig; Houser, Rick; Partridge, Ashley

2015-02-01

Tuscaloosa, Alabama experienced a significant disaster, an EF4 tornado with 190 mile an hour winds on April 27, 2011. Fifty-two people were killed and more than 5,000 homes were severely damaged. Twelve percent of the city was destroyed and 7,000 people were immediately unemployed. This was a disaster of significant proportion and impacted everyone in the community of over 80,000. In an effort to address the needs of the community after this disaster a symposium was organized with a focus on helping children and families. More than 40 professionals and community members attended the symposium which was led by an international expert on disaster. Recommendations were established and distributed to the community and governmental organizations. The process for planning and implementing the symposium also may serve as a model for addressing future disasters.

Defending against disasters: global public health emergencies and opportunities for collaboration and action.

PubMed

Iain, Blair

2010-07-01

The World Health Organization project on the Global Burden of Disease quantifies the main causes of premature death and disability. Changing patterns of physical activity, diet, and alcohol and tobacco consumption are producing a growing burden of noncommunicable disease in low-and middle-income countries. This article focuses on a different group of health risks: major health emergencies that do not respect national borders and have an impact on health and the determinants of health such as housing, access to food and water, and other life essentials. Health emergencies, including accidents and natural events, are described, and data on disasters in the Middle East are presented. Disaster response is contrasted with disaster prevention, and disaster risk reduction is discussed in the context of vulnerability, climate change, and sustainable development. Finally, the international policy context of disaster risk reduction is discussed along with opportunities for multidisciplinary and multiinstitutional collaboration and research.

Potential Analysis of Rainfall-induced Sediment Disaster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jing-Wen; Chen, Yie-Ruey; Hsieh, Shun-Chieh; Tsai, Kuang-Jung; Chue, Yung-Sheng

2014-05-01

Most of the mountain regions in Taiwan are sedimentary and metamorphic rocks which are fragile and highly weathered. Severe erosion occurs due to intensive rainfall and rapid flow, the erosion is even worsen by frequent earthquakes and severely affects the stability of hillsides. Rivers are short and steep in Taiwan with large runoff differences in wet and dry seasons. Discharges respond rapidly with rainfall intensity and flood flows usually carry large amount of sediment. Because of the highly growth in economics and social change, the development in the slope land is inevitable in Taiwan. However, sediment disasters occur frequently in high and precipitous region during typhoon. To make the execution of the regulation of slope land development more efficiency, construction of evaluation model for sediment potential is very important. In this study, the Genetic Adaptive Neural Network (GANN) was implemented in texture analysis techniques for the classification of satellite images of research region before and after typhoon or extreme rainfall and to obtain surface information and hazard log data. By using GANN weight analysis, factors, levels and probabilities of disaster of the research areas are presented. Then, through geographic information system the disaster potential map is plotted to distinguish high potential regions from low potential regions. Finally, the evaluation processes for sediment disaster after rainfall due to slope land use are established. In this research, the automatic image classification and evaluation modules for sediment disaster after rainfall due to slope land disturbance and natural environment are established in MATLAB to avoid complexity and time of computation. After implementation of texture analysis techniques, the results show that the values of overall accuracy and coefficient of agreement of the time-saving image classification for different time periods are at intermediate-high level and above. The results of GANN show that the weight of building density is the largest in all slope land disturbance factors, followed by road density, orchard density, baren land density, vegetation density, and farmland density. The weight of geology is the largest in all natural environment factors, followed by slope roughness, slope, and elevation. Overlaying the locations of large sediment disaster in the past on the potential map predicted by GANN, we found that most damage areas were in the region with medium-high or high potential of landslide. Therefore, the proposed potential model of sediment disaster can be used in practice.

WCDRR and the CEOS activities on disaters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petiteville, I.; Ishida, C.; Danzeglocke, J.; Eddy, A.; Gaetani, F.; Frye, S.; Kuligowski, B.; Zoffoli, S.; Poland, M.; Jones, B.

2015-04-01

Agencies from CEOS (Committee on Earth Observation Satellites) have traditionally focused their efforts on the response phase. Rapid urbanization and increased severity of weather events has led to growing economic and human losses from disasters, requiring international organisations to act now in all disaster risk management (DRM) phases, especially through improved disaster risk reduction policies and programmes. As part of this effort, CEOS agencies have initiated a series of actions aimed at fostering the use of Earth observation (EO) data to support disaster risk reduction and at raising the awareness of policy and decision-makers and major stakeholders of the benefits of using satellite EO in all phases of DRM. CEOS is developing a long-term vision for sustainable application of satellite EO to all phases of DRM. CEOS is collaborating with regional representatives of the DRM user community, on a multi-hazard project involving three thematic pilots (floods, seismic hazards and volcanoes) and a Recovery Observatory that supports resilient recovery from one major disaster. These pilot activities are meant as trail blazers that demonstrate the potential offered by satellite EO for comprehensive DRM. In the framework of the 2015 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR), the CEOS space agencies intend to partner with major stakeholders, including UN organizations, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), international relief agencies, leading development banks, and leading regional DRM organisations, to define and implement a 15-year plan of actions (2015- 2030) that responds to high-level Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction priorities. This plan of action will take into account lessons learned from the CEOS pilot activities.

Identifying deficiencies in national and foreign medical team responses through expert opinion surveys: implications for education and training.

PubMed

Djalali, Ahmadreza; Ingrassia, Pier Luigi; Corte, Francesco Della; Foletti, Marco; Gallardo, Alba Ripoll; Ragazzoni, Luca; Kaptan, Kubilay; Lupescu, Olivera; Arculeo, Chris; von Arnim, Gotz; Friedl, Tom; Ashkenazi, Michael; Heselmann, Deike; Hreckovski, Boris; Khorram-Manesh, Amir; Khorrram-Manesh, Amir; Komadina, Radko; Lechner, Kostanze; Patru, Cristina; Burkle, Frederick M; Fisher, Philipp

2014-08-01

Unacceptable practices in the delivery of international medical assistance are reported after every major international disaster; this raises concerns about the clinical competence and practice of some foreign medical teams (FMTs). The aim of this study is to explore and analyze the opinions of disaster management experts about potential deficiencies in the art and science of national and FMTs during disasters and the impact these opinions might have on competency-based education and training. This qualitative study was performed in 2013. A questionnaire-based evaluation of experts' opinions and experiences in responding to disasters was conducted. The selection of the experts was done using the purposeful sampling method, and the sample size was considered by data saturation. Content analysis was used to explore the implications of the data. This study shows that there is a lack of competency-based training for disaster responders. Developing and performing standardized training courses is influenced by shortcomings in budget, expertise, and standards. There is a lack of both coordination and integration among teams and their activities during disasters. The participants of this study emphasized problems concerning access to relevant resources during disasters. The major findings of this study suggest that teams often are not competent during the response phase because of education and training deficiencies. Foreign medical teams and medically related nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) do not always provide expected capabilities and services. Failures in leadership and in coordination among teams are also a problem. All deficiencies need to be applied to competency-based curricula.

The asymmetric impact of natural disasters on China's bilateral trade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Y.; Yang, S.; Shi, P.; Jeager, C. C.

2015-10-01

Globalization and technological revolutions are making the world more interconnected. International trade is an important approach linking the world. Since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan shocked the global supply chain, more attention has been paid to the global impact of large-scale disasters. China is the second largest trader in the world and faces frequent natural disasters. Therefore, this study proposes a gravity model for China's bilateral trade tailored to national circumstances and estimates the impact of natural disasters in China and trading partner countries on Chinese imports and exports. We analyzed Chinese and trading partner statistical data from 1980 to 2012. Study results show the following: (1) China's natural disasters have a positive impact on exports but have no significant impact on imports; (2) trading partner countries' natural disasters reduce Chinese imports and exports; (3) both development level and land area of the partners are important in determining the intensity of natural disaster impacts on China's bilateral trade. The above findings suggest that the impact of natural disasters on trade is asymmetric and significantly affected by other factors, which demand further study.

The asymmetric impact of natural disasters on China's bilateral trade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Y.; Shi, P.; Yang, S.; Jeager, C. C.

2015-03-01

Globalization and technological revolutions are making the world more interconnected. International trade is one of the major approaches linking the world. Since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan shocked the global supply chain, more attention has been paid to the global impact of large-scale disasters. China is the second largest trader in the world and faces the most frequent natural disasters. Therefore, this study proposes a gravity model for China's bilateral trade tailored to national circumstances, and estimates the impact of natural disasters in China and trading partner countries on Chinese imports and exports. We analyzed Chinese and trading partner statistical data from 1980 to 2012. Study results show that: (1) China's natural disasters have a positive impact on imports, but have no significant impact on exports, (2) trading partner countries' natural disasters reduce Chinese imports and exports, (3) both development level and land area of the partners are important in determining the intensity of natural disaster impacts on China's bilateral trade. The above findings suggest that the impact of natural disasters on trade is asymmetric and significantly affected by other factors, which demand further study.

76 FR 56775 - New York; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4020-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] New York; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster..., and related determinations. DATES: Effective Date: September 3, 2011. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT...

76 FR 56773 - Vermont; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration.

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-14

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4022-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Vermont; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration. AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 65740 - Pennsylvania; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-24

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4030-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Pennsylvania; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 58821 - Vermont; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-22

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4022-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Vermont; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

77 FR 61424 - Mississippi; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-09

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4081-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2012-0002] Mississippi; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 31353 - Kentucky; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-31

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001; Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1976-DR] Kentucky; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

75 FR 57050 - Iowa; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-17

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1930-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2010-0002] Iowa; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the notice...

78 FR 42537 - Illinois; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-16

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4116-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2013-0001] Illinois; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

77 FR 57100 - Louisiana; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-17

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4080-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2012-0002] Louisiana; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

75 FR 28629 - Tennessee; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-21

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1909-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2010-0002] Tennessee; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 63319 - Texas; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-12

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4029-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Texas; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

77 FR 12609 - Virginia; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-01

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4042-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2012-0002] Virginia; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

78 FR 41074 - Oklahoma; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-09

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4117-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2013-0001] Oklahoma; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 29255 - Georgia; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-20

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1973-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Georgia; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

78 FR 63486 - Colorado; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-24

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4145-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2013-0001] Colorado; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 72965 - Pennsylvania; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-28

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4030-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Pennsylvania; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

ISEA 2007 Panel: Integration of Better Exposure Characterizations into Disaster Preparedness for Responders and the Public

EPA Science Inventory

An expert panel was convened in October 2007 at the International Society for Exposure Analysis (ISEA) Annual Meeting in Durham, NC, entitled “The Path Forward in Disaster Preparedness Since WTC—Exposure Characterization and Mitigation: Substantial Unfinished Business!” The pane...

CERT Resilience Management Model - Mail-Specific Process Areas: International Mail Transportation (Version 1.0)

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-08-01

IMPC. These threats may include natural and man-made disasters, damage, theft, fraud, and terrorism. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes ...controls for mail sanctity include surveillance cameras, metal detectors , and X-ray screening to detect dangerous goods. (See IMT:SG2.SP1 and

Material Specters: International Conflicts, Disaster Management, and Educational Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papastephanou, Marianna

2011-01-01

In this essay, Marianna Papastephanou discusses three books--Michalinos Zembylas's "The Politics of Trauma in Education"; Sigal Ben-Porath's "Citizenship Under Fire: Democratic Education in Times of Conflict"; and Kenneth Saltman's "Capitalizing on Disaster: Taking and Breaking Public Schools"--from the perspective of the material causality of…

76 FR 54780 - Alabama; Amendment No. 18 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-02

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1971-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Alabama; Amendment No. 18 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

Reproductive Health Education and Services Needs of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees following Disaster

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westhoff, Wayne W.; Lopez, Guillermo E.; Zapata, Lauren B.; Wilke Corvin, Jaime A.; Allen, Peter; McDermott, Robert J.

2008-01-01

Background: Following the occurrence of natural or man-made disaster, relief worker priorities include providing water, food, shelter, and immunizations for displaced persons. Like these essential initiatives, reproductive health education and services must also be incorporated into recovery efforts. Purpose: This study examined reproductive…

76 FR 39113 - Arkansas; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-05

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1975-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Arkansas; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 34245 - Kentucky; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-13

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1976-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Kentucky; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 27339 - Alabama; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-11

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1971-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Alabama; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

77 FR 31371 - Vermont; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-25

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4022-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2012-0002] Vermont; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

Publication: Evansville hazard maps

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2012-01-01

The Evansville (Indiana) Area Earthquake Hazards Mapping Project was completed in February 2012. It was a collaborative effort among the U.S. Geological Survey and regional partners Purdue University; the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis; the state geologic surveys of Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana; the Southwest Indiana Disaster Resistant Community Corporation; and the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium state geologists.

Texas Disasters II: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Assist the Texas Forest Service in Mapping and Analyzing Fuel Loads and Phenology in Texas Grasslands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooke, Michael; Williams, Meredith; Fenn, Teresa

2016-01-01

The risk of severe wildfires in Texas has been related to weather phenomena such as climate change and recent urban expansion into wild land areas. During recent years, Texas wild land areas have experienced sequences of wet and dry years that have contributed to increased wildfire risk and frequency. To prevent and contain wildfires, the Texas Forest Service (TFS) is tasked with evaluating and reducing potential fire risk to better manage and distribute resources. This task is made more difficult due to the vast and varied landscape of Texas. The TFS assesses fire risk by understanding vegetative fuel types and fuel loads. To better assist the TFS, NASA Earth observations, including Landsat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Specrtoradiometer (MODIS) data, were analyzed to produce maps of vegetation type and specific vegetation phenology as it related to potential wildfire fuel loads. Fuel maps from 2010-2011 and 2014-2015 fire seasons, created by the Texas Disasters I project, were used and provided alternating, complementary map indicators of wildfire risk in Texas. The TFS will utilize the end products and capabilities to evaluate and better understand wildfire risk across Texas.

Rapid mapping of landslide disaster using UAV- photogrammetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cahyono, A. B.; Zayd, R. A.

2018-03-01

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems offered many advantages in several mapping applications such as slope mapping, geohazard studies, etc. This study utilizes UAV system for landslide disaster occurred in Jombang Regency, East Java. This study concentrates on type of rotor-wing UAV, that is because rotor wing units are stable and able to capture images easily. Aerial photograph were acquired in the form of strips which followed the procedure of acquiring aerial photograph where taken 60 photos. Secondary data of ground control points using GPS Geodetic and check points established using Total Station technique was used. The digital camera was calibrated using close range photogrammetric software and the recovered camera calibration parameters were then used in the processing of digital images. All the aerial photographs were processed using digital photogrammetric software and the output in the form of orthophoto was produced. The final result shows a 1: 1500 scale orthophoto map from the data processing with SfM algorithm with GSD accuracy of 3.45 cm. And the calculated volume of contour line delineation of 10527.03 m3. The result is significantly different from the result of terrestrial methode equal to 964.67 m3 or 8.4% of the difference of both.

Development of an Asset Value Map for Disaster Risk Assessment in China by Spatial Disaggregation Using Ancillary Remote Sensing Data.

PubMed

Wu, Jidong; Li, Ying; Li, Ning; Shi, Peijun

2018-01-01

The extent of economic losses due to a natural hazard and disaster depends largely on the spatial distribution of asset values in relation to the hazard intensity distribution within the affected area. Given that statistical data on asset value are collected by administrative units in China, generating spatially explicit asset exposure maps remains a key challenge for rapid postdisaster economic loss assessment. The goal of this study is to introduce a top-down (or downscaling) approach to disaggregate administrative-unit level asset value to grid-cell level. To do so, finding the highly correlated "surrogate" indicators is the key. A combination of three data sets-nighttime light grid, LandScan population grid, and road density grid, is used as ancillary asset density distribution information for spatializing the asset value. As a result, a high spatial resolution asset value map of China for 2015 is generated. The spatial data set contains aggregated economic value at risk at 30 arc-second spatial resolution. Accuracy of the spatial disaggregation reflects redistribution errors introduced by the disaggregation process as well as errors from the original ancillary data sets. The overall accuracy of the results proves to be promising. The example of using the developed disaggregated asset value map in exposure assessment of watersheds demonstrates that the data set offers immense analytical flexibility for overlay analysis according to the hazard extent. This product will help current efforts to analyze spatial characteristics of exposure and to uncover the contributions of both physical and social drivers of natural hazard and disaster across space and time. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Brief communication: Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction - success or warning sign for Paris?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mysiak, Jaroslav; Surminski, Swenja; Thieken, Annegret; Mechler, Reinhard; Aerts, Jeroen

2016-09-01

In March 2015, a new international blueprint for disaster risk reduction (DRR) was adopted in Sendai, Japan, at the end of the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR, 14-18 March 2015). We review and discuss the agreed commitments and targets, as well as the negotiation leading the Sendai Framework for DRR (SFDRR) and discuss briefly its implication for the later UN-led negotiations on sustainable development goals and climate change.

Users Manual for the Geospatial Stream Flow Model (GeoSFM)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Artan, Guleid A.; Asante, Kwabena; Smith, Jodie; Pervez, Md Shahriar; Entenmann, Debbie; Verdin, James P.; Rowland, James

2008-01-01

The monitoring of wide-area hydrologic events requires the manipulation of large amounts of geospatial and time series data into concise information products that characterize the location and magnitude of the event. To perform these manipulations, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS), with the cooperation of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), have implemented a hydrologic modeling system. The system includes a data assimilation component to generate data for a Geospatial Stream Flow Model (GeoSFM) that can be run operationally to identify and map wide-area streamflow anomalies. GeoSFM integrates a geographical information system (GIS) for geospatial preprocessing and postprocessing tasks and hydrologic modeling routines implemented as dynamically linked libraries (DLLs) for time series manipulations. Model results include maps that depicting the status of streamflow and soil water conditions. This Users Manual provides step-by-step instructions for running the model and for downloading and processing the input data required for initial model parameterization and daily operation.

Disaster risk reduction policies and regulations in Aceh after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syamsidik; Rusydy, I.; Arief, S.; Munadi, K.; Melianda, E.

2017-02-01

The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami that struck most of coastal cities in Aceh has motivated a numerous changes in the world of disaster risk reduction including to the policies and regulations at local level in Aceh. This paper is aimed at elaborating the changes of policies and regulations in Aceh captured and monitored during 12-year of the tsunami recovery process. A set of questionnaires were distributed to about 245 respondents in Aceh to represent government officials at 6 districts in Aceh. The districts were severely damaged due to the 2004 tsunami. Four aspects were investigated during this research, namely tsunami evacuation mechanism and infrastructures, disaster risk map, disaster data accessibility, perceptions on tsunami risks, and development of tsunami early warning at local level in Aceh. This research found that the spatial planning in several districts in Aceh have adopted tsunami mitigation although they were only significant in terms of land-use planning within several hundreds meter from the coastline. Perceptions of the government officials toward all investigated aspects were relatively good. One concern was found at coordination among disaster stakeholders in Aceh.

Satellite communications for disaster relief operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sivo, J. N.

1979-01-01

The use of existing and planned communication satellite systems to provide assistance in the implementation of disaster relief operations on a global basis was discussed along with satellite communications system implications and their potential impact on field operations in disaster situations. Consideration are given to the utilization of both INTELSAT and MARISAT systems operating at frequencies ranging from 1.5 to 4 GHz and to the size and type of ground terminals necessary for satellite access. Estimates of communication requirements for a global system are given. Some discussion of cost estimates for satellite services to support operations are included. Studies of communication satellites for both pre and post disaster applications conducted for NOAA are included as well as recent experiments conducted in conjunction with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance of the Agency for International Development.

Liberia national disaster preparedness coordination exercise: Implementing lessons learned from the West African disaster preparedness initiative.

PubMed

Hamer, Melinda J Morton; Reed, Paul L; Greulich, Jane D; Beadling, Charles W

2017-01-01

In light of the recent Ebola outbreak, there is a critical need for effective disaster management systems in Liberia and other West African nations. To this end, the West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative held a disaster management exercise in conjunction with the Liberian national government on November 24-25, 2015. During this tabletop exercise (TTX), interactions within and between the 15 counties and the Liberian national government were conducted and observed to refine and validate the county and national standard operating procedures (SOPs). The exercise took place in three regional locations throughout Liberia: Monrovia, Buchanan, and Bong. The TTX format allowed counties to collaborate utilizing open-source software platforms including Ushahidi, Sahana, QGIS, and KoBoCollect. Four hundred sixty-seven individuals (representing all 15 counties of Liberia) identified as key actors involved with emergency operations and disaster preparedness participated in the exercise. A qualitative survey with open-ended questions was administered to exercise participants to determine needed improvements in the disaster management system in Liberia. Key findings from the exercise and survey include the need for emergency management infrastructure to extend to the community level, establishment of a national disaster management agency and emergency operations center, customized local SOPs, ongoing surveillance, a disaster exercise program, and the need for effective data sharing and hazard maps. These regional exercises initiated the process of validating and refining Liberia's national and county-level SOPs. Liberia's participation in this exercise has provided a foundation for advancing its preparedness, response, and recovery capacities and could provide a template for other countries to use.

The Tous Dam Disaster of 1982: Risk communication and the origins of integrated flood risk management in Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serra-Llobet, A.; Tàbara, J.; Sauri, D.

2012-12-01

The failure of Tous dam on the Júcar River near Valencia in 1982 was one of the most important socio-natural disasters in 20th century Spain. The death toll of 25 would have been much greater had not a local dam manager anticipated the failure and alerted mayors of a failure, before it actually occurred. The Tous Dam failure occurred a week before the first democratic elections in Spain after the Franco dictatorship, it received extensive coverage in the media. As a result, this disaster triggered a paradigm change in the way disaster risks were perceived and managed at multiple levels of government in Spain. Many factors, often of a qualitative and organisational nature, affect (vertical and horizontal) communication in disaster risk reduction learning and planning at the community level. Through interviews with key actors and stakeholders, content analysis of scientific literature, review of historical and media accounts, and analysis of legislation and regulation, we documented changes that resulted from the Tous Dam failure: (1) A process of institutional development, which led to the growth, and increase in complexity of the organisations involved both in vertical and horizontal communication of disaster risk reduction. (2) Actions taken and experiences gained in dealing with disaster risk reduction in the Tous area were used as a benchmark to develop new strategies, as well as new mechanisms for communication and planning in other territories and other risk domains in Spain.We identify three main stages from 1980s to present in the evolution of disaster risk reduction planning in the area, which show a progressive shift towards a more integrated and preventative approach: (1) After the collapse of the Tous Dam, disaster risk reduction strategies in Spain focused on improving preparedness in order to reduce short-term risks. (2) Disaster management in the 1990s was strongly influenced by international initiatives (e.g. the UN International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction), which emphasized the contextualization of risk and the importance in long-term disaster risk reduction measures such as land use planning. (3) The European Water Framework Directive (2000) and, more recently, the Flood Directive (2007) are exerting a strong influence on the development of a new Spanish flood policy that focuses on preventive measures and integrates, for the first time, ecological concerns and climate change adaptation in flood management strategies.

Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards and success stories in disaster prevention and mitigation in the Philippines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahar Francisco Lagmay, Alfredo

2016-04-01

The Philippines, being a locus of typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, is a hotbed of disasters. Natural hazards inflict loss of lives and costly damage to property in the country. In 2011, after tropical storm Washi devastated cities in southern Philippines, the Department of Science and Technology put in place a responsive program to warn and give communities hours-in-advance lead-time to prepare for imminent hazards and use advanced science and technology to enhance geohazard maps for more effective disaster prevention and mitigation. Since its launch, there have been many success stories on the use of Project NOAH, which after Typhoon Haiyan was integrated into the Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment (PDRA) system of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the government agency tasked to prepare for, and respond to, natural calamities. Learning from past disasters, NDRRMC now issues warnings, through scientific advise from DOST-Project NOAH and PAGASA (Philippine Weather Bureau) that are hazards-specific, area-focused and time-bound. Severe weather events in 2015 generated dangerous hazard phenomena such as widespread floods and massive debris flows, which if not for timely, accessible and understandable warnings, could have turned into disasters. We call these events as "disasters that did not happen". The innovative warning system of the Philippine government has so far proven effective in addressing the impacts of hydrometeorological hazards and can be employed elsewhere in the world.

A data fusion framework for floodplain analysis using GIS and remotely sensed data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Necsoiu, Dorel Marius

Throughout history floods have been part of the human experience. They are recurring phenomena that form a necessary and enduring feature of all river basin and lowland coastal systems. In an average year, they benefit millions of people who depend on them. In the more developed countries, major floods can be the largest cause of economic losses from natural disasters, and are also a major cause of disaster-related deaths in the less developed countries. Flood disaster mitigation research was conducted to determine how remotely sensed data can effectively be used to produce accurate flood plain maps (FPMs), and to identify/quantify the sources of error associated with such data. Differences were analyzed between flood maps produced by an automated remote sensing analysis tailored to the available satellite remote sensing datasets (rFPM), the 100-year flooded areas "predicted" by the Flood Insurance Rate Maps, and FPMs based on DEM and hydrological data (aFPM). Landuse/landcover was also examined to determine its influence on rFPM errors. These errors were identified and the results were integrated in a GIS to minimize landuse/landcover effects. Two substantial flood events were analyzed. These events were selected because of their similar characteristics (i.e., the existence of FIRM or Q3 data; flood data which included flood peaks, rating curves, and flood profiles; and DEM and remote sensing imagery). Automatic feature extraction was determined to be an important component for successful flood analysis. A process network, in conjunction with domain specific information, was used to map raw remotely sensed data onto a representation that is more compatible with a GIS data model. From a practical point of view, rFPM provides a way to automatically match existing data models to the type of remote sensing data available for each event under investigation. Overall, results showed how remote sensing could contribute to the complex problem of flood management by providing an efficient way to revise the National Flood Insurance Program maps.

The use of sediment deposition maps as auxiliary data for hydraulic model calibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukolwe, Micah; Di Baldassarre, Giuliano; Solomatine, Dimitri

2013-04-01

One aspect of the French disaster mitigation setup is the statutory Risk Prevention Plans (PPR, Plans de Prévention des Risques); i.e. spatial identification of potential disasters and mitigation measures. The maps are categorised into three zones depicting increasing disaster severity and potential mitigation measures (RTM, 1999). Taking the example of the city of Barcelonnette, in South France (French Alps), floods have been the most frequent occurring natural hazard (Flageollet et al., 1996). Consequently, a case is put forward for the need for accurate flood extent delineation to support the decision making process. For this study, the Barcelonnette case study was considered, whereby the last devastating flooding was in June 1957 (Weber, 1994). Contrary to the recent advances in the proliferation of data to support flood inundation studies (Bates, 2012; Bates, 2004; Di Baldassarre and Uhlenbrook, 2012; Schumann et al., 2009), constraints are faced when analysing flood inundation events that occurred before the 1970's. In absence of frequent flooding, the analysis of historical flood extents may play an important role in shaping the awareness of local stakeholders and support land-use and urban planning. This study is part of a probabilistic flood mapping (e.g. Di Baldassarre et al., 2010, Horrit, 2006) of the valley carried out in a Monte-Carlo framework, while taking into account the peak flow and the parametric uncertainty. The simulations were carried out using the sub-grid channel model extension of the LISFLOOD-FP hydraulic model (Bates et al, 2010; Neal et al., 2012). Sediment deposition maps (Lecarpentier, 1963) were used to analyse the model performance, additionally the graduation of the sediment deposition sizes showed the flood propagation and was used to analyse the model runs. However, there still remains the challenge of quantifying the uncertainty in the sediment deposition map and the actual flood extent.

Cuba's international cooperation in health: an overview.

PubMed

De Vos, Pol; De Ceukelaire, Wim; Bonet, Mariano; Van der Stuyft, Patrick

2007-01-01

In the first years after Cuba's 1959 revolution, the island's new government provided international medical assistance to countries affected by natural disasters or armed conflicts. Step by step, a more structural complementary program for international collaboration was put in place. The relief operations after Hurricane Mitch, which struck Central America in 1998, were pivotal. From November 1998 onward, the "Integrated Health Program" was the cornerstone of Cuba's international cooperation. The intense cooperation with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela became another cornerstone. Complementary to the health programs abroad, Cuba also set up international programs at home, benefiting tens of thousands of foreign patients and disaster victims. In a parallel program, medical training is offered to international students in the Latin American Medical School in Cuba and, increasingly, also in their home countries. The importance and impact of these initiatives, however, cannot and should not be analyzed solely in public health terms.

The changing face of crises and aid in the Asia-Pacific.

PubMed

Gursky, Elin A; Burkle, Frederick M; Hamon, David W; Walker, Peter; Benjamin, Georges C

2014-01-01

Both US foreign policy and global attention attest to the strategic, economic, and political importance of Asia. Yet, the region faces urgent challenges that must be addressed if it is to remain stable and prosperous. The densely populated countries of the Asia-Pacific are beleaguered by poverty, population displacement, decreasing access to potable water and adequate sanitation, and high rates of disease morbidity and mortality. New and reemerging diseases known to have originated in Asia over the past decades have spread globally by international trade, tourism, worker migration, and agricultural exportation. Unremitting naturally occurring and man-made disasters have strained Southeast Asia's already fragile disaster and public health response infrastructures and the essential services they provide (eg, surveillance, vaccination, maternal and child health, and mental health programs). Following disasters, governments often contract with the broader humanitarian community (eg, indigenous and international NGOs) and seek the assistance of militaries to provide essential services. Yet, their roles and capabilities in addressing acute and chronic health issues in the wake of complex disasters remain unclear. Current mechanisms of nation-state and outside organization interaction, including dissimilar operational platforms, may limit true partnership on behalf of the health security mission. Additionally, concerns regarding skill sets and the lack of standards-based training raise questions about the balance between developing internal response capabilities and professionalizing external, deployable resources. Both the mega-disasters that are forecast for the region and the global health security threats that are expected to emanate from them require an increased focus on improving the Asia-Pacific's emergency preparedness and response posture.

The Changing Face of Crises and Aid in the Asia-Pacific

PubMed Central

Burkle, Frederick M.; Hamon, David W.; Walker, Peter; Benjamin, Georges C.

2014-01-01

Both US foreign policy and global attention attest to the strategic, economic, and political importance of Asia. Yet, the region faces urgent challenges that must be addressed if it is to remain stable and prosperous. The densely populated countries of the Asia-Pacific are beleaguered by poverty, population displacement, decreasing access to potable water and adequate sanitation, and high rates of disease morbidity and mortality. New and reemerging diseases known to have originated in Asia over the past decades have spread globally by international trade, tourism, worker migration, and agricultural exportation. Unremitting naturally occurring and man-made disasters have strained Southeast Asia's already fragile disaster and public health response infrastructures and the essential services they provide (eg, surveillance, vaccination, maternal and child health, and mental health programs). Following disasters, governments often contract with the broader humanitarian community (eg, indigenous and international NGOs) and seek the assistance of militaries to provide essential services. Yet, their roles and capabilities in addressing acute and chronic health issues in the wake of complex disasters remain unclear. Current mechanisms of nation-state and outside organization interaction, including dissimilar operational platforms, may limit true partnership on behalf of the health security mission. Additionally, concerns regarding skill sets and the lack of standards-based training raise questions about the balance between developing internal response capabilities and professionalizing external, deployable resources. Both the mega-disasters that are forecast for the region and the global health security threats that are expected to emanate from them require an increased focus on improving the Asia-Pacific's emergency preparedness and response posture. PMID:25268048

Natural-technological risk assessment and management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burova, Valentina; Frolova, Nina

2016-04-01

EM-DAT statistical data on human impact and economic damages in the 1st semester 2015 are the highest since 2011: 41% of disasters were floods, responsible for 39% of economic damage and 7% of events were earthquakes responsible for 59% of total death toll. This suggests that disaster risk assessment and management still need to be improved and stay the principle issue in national and international related programs. The paper investigates the risk assessment and management practice in the Russian Federation at different levels. The method is proposed to identify the territories characterized by integrated natural-technological hazard. The maps of the Russian Federation zoning according to the integrated natural-technological hazard level are presented, as well as the procedure of updating the integrated hazard level taking into account the activity of separate processes. Special attention is paid to data bases on past natural and technological processes consequences, which are used for verification of current hazard estimation. The examples of natural-technological risk zoning for the country and some regions territory are presented. Different output risk indexes: both social and economic, are estimated taking into account requirements of end-users. In order to increase the safety of population of the Russian Federation the trans-boundaries hazards are also taken into account.

Earthquake parametrics based protection for microfinance disaster management in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sedayo, M. H.; Damanik, R.

2017-07-01

Financial institutions included microfinance institutions those lend money to people also face the risk when catastrophe event hit their operation area. Liquidity risk when withdrawal amount and Non Performance Loan (NPL) hiking fast in the same time could hit their cash flow. There are products in market that provide backup fund for this kind of situation. Microfinance institution needs a guideline too make contingency plan in their disaster management program. We develop a probabilistic seismic hazard, index and zonation map as a tool to help in making financial disaster impact reduction program for microfinance in Indonesia. GMPE was used to estimate PGA for each Kabupaten points. PGA to MMI conversion was done by applied empirical relationship. We used loan distribution data from Financial Service Authority and Bank Indonesia as exposure in indexing. Index level from this study could be use as rank of urgency. Probabilistic hazard map was used to pricing two backup scenarios and to make a zonation. We proposed three zones with annual average cost 0.0684‰, 0.4236‰ and 1.4064 for first scenario and 0.3588‰, 2.6112‰, and 6.0816‰ for second scenario.

Web-based data delivery services in support of disaster-relief applications

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jones, Brenda K.; Risty, Ron R.; Buswell, M.

2003-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center responds to emergencies in support of various government agencies for human-induced and natural disasters. This response consists of satellite tasking and acquisitions, satellite image registrations, disaster-extent maps analysis and creation, base image provision and support, Web-based mapping services for product delivery, and predisaster and postdisaster data archiving. The emergency response staff are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and have access to many commercial and government satellite and aerial photography tasking authorities. They have access to value-added data processing and photographic laboratory services for off-hour emergency requests. They work with various Federal agencies for preparedness planning, which includes providing base imagery. These data may include digital elevation models, hydrographic models, base satellite images, vector data layers such as roads, aerial photographs, and other predisaster data. These layers are incorporated into a Web-based browser and data delivery service that is accessible either to the general public or to select customers. As usage declines, the data are moved to a postdisaster nearline archive that is still accessible, but not in real time.

The Mapping of Temporary Evacuation Site (TES) and Tsunami Evacuation Route in North Pagai Island, Mentawai Islands Regency - Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putra, Aprizon; Mutmainah, Herdiana

2016-11-01

Mentawai Islands Regency, especially north Pagai island, suffered two earthquakes on April 15 2016. The local government in cooperation with the relevant parties had tried to minimize casualties before the disaster or during the disaster by making an evacuation route to the TES. The purpose of this study was to the mapping of TES and tsunami evacuation route using the approach of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for disaster mitigation of tsunami-potential earthquake in north Pagai island.The research was conducted at 3 locations in the coast of Sikakap village, 4 locations in the coast of Taikako village, 3 locations in the coast of Silabu village, 7 locations in the coast of Saumanganya village, and 3 locations in the coast of Matobe village. The effort taken was to evacuate people to the TES with an average distance of 372.62 m from the beach. The results showed that the feasibility of TES that could accommodate residents, among others, were in the hills behind Sikakap Port, Taikako Silaoinan hills, the hills near the Mapinang Silabu village chief's office and Mapinang hills, Gulukguluk Saumanganya and Panatarat Matobe hills.

Disaster content in Australian tertiary postgraduate emergency nursing courses: a survey.

PubMed

Ranse, Jamie; Shaban, Ramon Z; Considine, Julie; Hammad, Karen; Arbon, Paul; Mitchell, Belinda; Lenson, Shane

2013-05-01

Emergency nurses play a pivotal role in disaster relief during the response to, and recovery of both in-hospital and out-of-hospital disasters. Postgraduate education is important in preparing and enhancing emergency nurses' preparation for disaster nursing practice. The disaster nursing content of Australian tertiary postgraduate emergency nursing courses has not been compared across courses and the level of agreement about suitable content is not known. To explore and describe the disaster content in Australian tertiary postgraduate emergency nursing courses. A retrospective, exploratory and descriptive study of the disaster content of Australian tertiary postgraduate emergency nursing courses conducted in 2009. Course convenors from 12 universities were invited to participate in a single structured telephone survey. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Ten of the twelve course convenors from Australian tertiary postgraduate emergency nursing courses participated in this study. The content related to disasters was varied, both in terms of the topics covered and duration of disaster content. Seven of these courses included some content relating to disaster health, including types of disasters, hospital response, nurses' roles in disasters and triage. The management of the dead and dying, and practical application of disaster response skills featured in only one course. Three courses had learning objectives specific to disasters. The majority of courses had some disaster content but there were considerable differences in the content chosen for inclusion across courses. The incorporation of core competencies such as those from the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organisation, may enhance content consistency in curriculum. Additionally, this content could be embedded within a proposed national education framework for disaster health. Copyright © 2013 College of Emergency Nursing Australasia Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mapping and Visualization of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Using Satellite Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira Pichardo, E.

2017-12-01

Satellites are man-made objects hovering around the Earth's orbit and are essential for Earth observation, i.e. the monitoring and gathering of data about the Earth's vital systems. Environmental Satellites are used for atmospheric research, weather forecasting, and warning as well as monitoring extreme weather events. These satellites are categorized into Geosynchronous and Low Earth (Polar) orbiting satellites. Visualizing satellite data is critical to understand the Earth's systems and changes to our environment. The objective of this research is to examine satellite-based remotely sensed data that needs to be processed and rendered in the form of maps or other forms of visualization to understand and interpret the satellites' observations to monitor the status, changes and evolution of the mega-disaster Deepwater Horizon Spill that occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. In this project, we will use an array of tools and programs such as Python, CSPP and Linux. Also, we will use data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Polar-Orbiting Satellites Terra Earth Observing System AM-1 (EOS AM-1), and Aqua EOS PM-1 to investigate the mega-disaster. Each of these satellites carry a variety of instruments, and we will use the data obtained from the remote sensor Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Ultimately, this study shows the importance of mapping and visualizing data such as satellite data (MODIS) to understand the extents of environmental impacts disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.

[Psychosocial care following the firework disaster in Enschede; the lessons from the Bijlmer airline disaster].

PubMed

Gersons, B P R; Huijsman-Rubingh, R R R; Olff, M

2004-07-17

When the psychosocial-care scheme for victims of the firework explosion in Enschede, the Netherlands (2000) was set up, lessons learned from the Bijlmer airline disaster (Amsterdam 1992) were put into practice. The aftermath of this incident showed that psychological and physical health problems can still occur many years later. The main failure of the aftercare of the Bijlmer disaster lay in the coordination of aid and the monitoring of health problems. In Enschede steps were taken to redress these problems. An information and advice centre (IAC) was set up to monitor the well-being of the victims, and to provide them with information and, where necessary, assistance. It is responsible for limiting the effects of the disaster. A total of 13,000 people have consulted the IAC. A residents' association was formed. This gave the victims a common voice during the process of attempting to restore normality in their lives. A specialized mental health-care unit was founded to treat disaster-related disorders using evidence-based treatments. So far approximately 1,300 people have consulted this body. A longitudinal study has been set up to map the consequences of the disaster and to advise aid organizations. This will also give information on the extent to which these methods have been able to limit the long-term consequences.

Training of disaster managers at a masters degree level: from emergency care to managerial control.

PubMed

Macfarlane, Campbell; Joffe, Anthony Lyle; Naidoo, Shan

2006-01-01

The world has faced huge disasters over the last few decades and concerns have been expressed by nearly all international agencies involved that there is a scarcity of managerial skills to deal with the mitigation and management of disasters. Disaster risks are also on the increase throughout Africa and Southern Africa because of changes in the development process, settlement patterns and conflicts in the region. Emergency physicians are but one important resource in dealing with disasters. The need for a comprehensive multisectoral approach to disasters and more importantly to deal with its mitigation is becoming increasingly evident, especially in developing countries. Hence, the need for specially trained professionals in disaster management. In an effort to improve national, regional and continental capacity, and in support of the South African Disaster Management Act, the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, has developed a Master of Public Health degree in Disaster Management. The MPH is aimed at preparing professionals from health and allied fields to play leadership roles in the management, improvement and evaluation of health and the health-care system. Emergency physicians have an important role to play in the development of disaster medicine and disaster management programmes and it is important that they engage in this activity, collaborating with colleagues of various other disciplines as appropriate. The following paper outlines the background to the programme and the current programme.

Revitalising Evidence-based Policy for the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030: Lessons from Existing International Science Partnerships.

PubMed

Carabine, Elizabeth

2015-04-23

The convergence of agreements on disaster risk reduction (DRR), development finance, sustainable development and climate change in 2015 presents a unique opportunity for coherence across these inter-related policy areas. At the same time, demand is growing for a more prominent and effective role for science and technology in providing evidence for policy, with the international community recognising that successful disaster risk reduction (DRR) depends on it. Reflecting this ambition, science is included as a core aspect of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, although the ways in which this will be implemented in practice is still unclear. This paper aims to inform the implementation of international science coordination for DRR by examining a number of existing international science partnerships used across other relevant areas of policy to understand best practice, options for coordination and lessons identified. In the field of DRR, the science-policy interface needs to be strengthened in line with the best practice described in this review. An enhanced UNISDR Scientific and Technical Advisory Group will be given the mandate for to enhance the evidence base for DRR and mobilise science and technical work in coordination with a broad range of stakeholders. The structure and function of an enhanced STAG must be as open, as inclusive and as participatory as possible in order to build trust in new and existing institutions at local, national, regional and global levels. The challenge for the international community is to facilitate evidence-based policy making by formally recognising the links between DRR, development finance, sustainable development and climate change in the upcoming post-2015 agreements.

A qualitative examination of the health workforce needs during climate change disaster response in Pacific Island Countries

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background There is a growing body of evidence that the impacts of climate change are affecting population health negatively. The Pacific region is particularly vulnerable to climate change; a strong health-care system is required to respond during times of disaster. This paper examines the capacity of the health sector in Pacific Island Countries to adapt to changing disaster response needs, in terms of: (i) health workforce governance, management, policy and involvement; (ii) health-care capacity and skills; and (iii) human resources for health training and workforce development. Methods Key stakeholder interviews informed the assessment of the capacity of the health sector and disaster response organizations in Pacific Island Countries to adapt to disaster response needs under a changing climate. The research specifically drew upon and examined the adaptive capacity of individual organizations and the broader system of disaster response in four case study countries (Fiji, Cook Islands, Vanuatu and Samoa). Results ‘Capacity’ including health-care capacity was one of the objective determinants identified as most significant in influencing the adaptive capacity of disaster response systems in the Pacific. The research identified several elements that could support the adaptive capacity of the health sector such as: inclusive involvement in disaster coordination; policies in place for health workforce coordination; belief in their abilities; and strong donor support. Factors constraining adaptive capacity included: weak coordination of international health personnel; lack of policies to address health worker welfare; limited human resources and material resources; shortages of personnel to deal with psychosocial needs; inadequate skills in field triage and counselling; and limited capacity for training. Conclusion Findings from this study can be used to inform the development of human resources for health policies and strategic plans, and to support the development of a coordinated and collaborative approach to disaster response training across the Pacific and other developing contexts. This study also provides an overview of health-care capacity and some of the challenges and strengths that can inform future development work by humanitarian organizations, regional and international donors involved in climate change adaptation, and disaster risk reduction in the Pacific region. PMID:24521057

Health impact of the 2004 Andaman Nicobar earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.

PubMed

Guha-Sapir, Debarati; van Panhuis, Willem Gijsbert

2009-01-01

The human impact of the tsunami that occurred on 26 December 2004 was enormous, with Indonesia bearing a huge proportion of the losses. The aftermath brought predictions of communicable disease outbreaks and widespread fear of epidemics. However, evidence from previous disasters due to natural hazards does not support all of these predictions. The objectives of this study were to: (1) describe the relative importance of infectious diseases and injuries as a consequence of a disaster due to natural hazards; and (2) identify key recommendations for the improvement of control and surveillance of these diseases during and after disasters. A team from the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters visited Jakarta and Banda Aceh from 11-23 January 2005, and collected data from the Central and Provincial Ministries of Health (MOH), the World Health Organization (WHO), and a field hospital from the International Committee of the Red Cross in Banda Aceh. The epidemiological profiles of diseases before and after the tsunami were compared. Cholera, tetanus, wounds and wound infections, acute respiratory infections, malaria, and dengue were included in this analysis. Certain diseases (e.g., cholera, malaria, dengue) are not always an immediate priority post-disaster. Rates of disaster-related health conditions requiring emergency response fell by half, and became negligible around four weeks after the precipitating events. Some conditions, such as aspiration pneumonia and tetanus, which normally are rare, require special preparedness for emergency personnel. In addition, resistant and rare pathogens are associated with disasters due to natural hazards in the tropics and require specialized knowledge for the rapid and successful treatment of related infections. Within the first four weeks of a disaster, international humanitarian agencies in the health sector should start working with the MOH. The WHO surveillance system established immediately after the tsunami offers lessons for developing a prototype for future emergencies. Guidelines for tetanus and aspiration pneumonia should be included in disaster medicine handbooks, and humanitarian aid groups should be prepared to provide emergency obstetrics and post-natal services. Relief funding after naturally occurring disasters should consider funding sustainability. Donors should know when to stop providing emergency relief funds and transition to recovery/development strategies.

A national framework for disaster health education in Australia.

PubMed

FitzGerald, Gerard J; Aitken, Peter; Arbon, Paul; Archer, Frank; Cooper, David; Leggat, Peter; Myers, Colin; Robertson, Andrew; Tarrant, Michael; Davis, Elinor R

2010-01-01

Recent events have heightened awareness of disaster health issues and the need to prepare the health workforce to plan for and respond to major incidents. This has been reinforced at an international level by the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine, which has proposed an international educational framework. The aim of this paper is to outline the development of a national educational framework for disaster health in Australia. The framework was developed on the basis of the literature and the previous experience of members of a National Collaborative for Disaster Health Education and Research. The Collaborative was brought together in a series of workshops and teleconferences, utilizing a modified Delphi technique to finalize the content at each level of the framework and to assign a value to the inclusion of that content at the various levels. The framework identifies seven educational levels along with educational outcomes for each level. The framework also identifies the recommended contents at each level and assigns a rating of depth for each component. The framework is not intended as a detailed curriculum, but rather as a guide for educationalists to develop specific programs at each level. This educational framework will provide an infrastructure around which future educational programs in Disaster Health in Australia may be designed and delivered. It will permit improved articulation for students between the various levels and greater consistency between programs so that operational responders may have a consistent language and operational approach to the management of major events.

Emergency Management and Tourism Stakeholder Responses to Crises: A Global Survey.

PubMed

Morakabati, Yeganeh; Page, Stephen J; Fletcher, John

2017-03-01

This article examines the contested area of the responsibility for destinations and tourists, within emergency settings. It incorporates a Delphi-Scenario technique to facilitate a structured discussion of emergency management for different destination stakeholders. The Delphi exercise engaged 123 senior international stakeholders, from 9 different industry sectors, across 34 countries to provide a global perspective. The study's principal focus is on the notion of emergency management, to identify the challenges that stakeholders would face within a disaster scenario. The exercise asked stakeholders to identify with whom the responsibility rests for 18 distinct disaster-related activities. The study proposes a responsibility allocation building-block framework that could help speed up the emergency management responses by "knowing who is going to do what" with a particular focus on dealing with international tourists as a community in a disaster zone.

Emergency Management and Tourism Stakeholder Responses to Crises

PubMed Central

Morakabati, Yeganeh; Page, Stephen J.; Fletcher, John

2016-01-01

This article examines the contested area of the responsibility for destinations and tourists, within emergency settings. It incorporates a Delphi-Scenario technique to facilitate a structured discussion of emergency management for different destination stakeholders. The Delphi exercise engaged 123 senior international stakeholders, from 9 different industry sectors, across 34 countries to provide a global perspective. The study’s principal focus is on the notion of emergency management, to identify the challenges that stakeholders would face within a disaster scenario. The exercise asked stakeholders to identify with whom the responsibility rests for 18 distinct disaster-related activities. The study proposes a responsibility allocation building-block framework that could help speed up the emergency management responses by “knowing who is going to do what” with a particular focus on dealing with international tourists as a community in a disaster zone. PMID:29708106

Population Composition, Migration and Inequality: The Influence of Demographic Changes on Disaster Risk and Vulnerability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donner, William; Rodriguez, Havidan

2008-01-01

The changing demographic landscape of the United States calls for a reassessment of the societal impacts and consequences of so called "natural" and technological disasters. An increasing trend towards greater demographic and socio-economic diversity (in part due to high rates of international immigration), combined with mounting…

77 FR 71813 - Connecticut; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2012-12-04

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4087-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2012-0002] Connecticut; Amendment No. 3 to Notice of a Major Disaster..., Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency. [FR Doc. 2012-29207 Filed 12-3-12; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE...

76 FR 56776 - New York; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2011-09-14

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4020-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] New York; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: This notice amends the...

76 FR 56463 - North Carolina; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2011-09-13

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77 FR 74200 - New York; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2012-12-13

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76 FR 44027 - North Dakota; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2011-07-22

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76 FR 1189 - Virginia; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2011-01-07

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76 FR 36142 - Arkansas; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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76 FR 64958 - New York; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2011-10-19

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75 FR 35828 - Kentucky; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2010-06-23

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1912-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2010-0002] Kentucky; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster..., Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency. [FR Doc. 2010-15238 Filed 6-22-10; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE...

76 FR 50748 - South Dakota; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2011-08-16

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76 FR 26748 - Alabama; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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2011-05-09

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-1971-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] Alabama; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster..., Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency. [FR Doc. 2011-11288 Filed 5-6-11; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 9111...

77 FR 71813 - New Jersey; Amendment No. 6 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

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Responses to Childhood Trauma: An International Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Steven G.; Akin-Little, Angeleque

2011-01-01

Children throughout the world are exposed to traumatic events such as sexual or physical abuse, severe accidents, cancer or other life threatening illness, natural or man-made disasters, war, terrorism, the sudden death of a parent or close friend or relative, among other things. Recently, natural disasters have caused property damage and loss of…

2012-2025 Roadmap of I.R.Iran’s Disaster Health Management

PubMed Central

Ardalan, Ali; Rajaei, Mohammad Hossein; Masoumi, Gholamreza; Azin, Ali; Zonoobi, Vahid; Sarvar, Mohammad; Vaskoei Eshkevari, khorshid; Ahmadnezhad, Elham; Jafari, Gelareh

2012-01-01

Objective: In line with Iran’s Comprehensive Health Sector Road Map, the National Institute of Health Research at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences developed the 2012-2025 road map of Disaster Health Management (DHM), including goals and objectives, strategies, activities and related prerequisites. This article presents the process and results of this road mapping project. Methods: The project started with an expanded literature review followed by stakeholder analysis to assess level of interest and impact of related organizations to DHM; STEEP.V methodology to define determinants with a potential impact on Iran’s HDM for duration of 2012 to 2025; strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis and formulation of goals and objectives, strategies, activities, and prerequisites. Brainstorming, group discussion and interviews with key informants were used for data collection; nominal group technique was used whenever prioritization was necessary, and Delphi panel methodology was applied for consensus development. Results: STEEP.V analysis revealed the most important Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political and Value-based determinants. Iran’s DHM mission and vision were defined respectively as “Mitigation from, preparedness for, response to and recovery from consequences of natural and man-made hazards at the community level as well as to the health facilities and resources of I.R.Iran” and “In 2025, Iran’s DHM will be the most developed system in the region resulting in the least vulnerability, the highest readiness in health facilities and resources, and the highest and most effective contribution of the Iranian community to disaster resilience”, respectively. Sixteen strategies and related activities, along with the necessary prerequisites, were developed. Conclusions: This was the first attempt at comprehensive strategic planning in the field of DHM in Iran. The current framework provides Iran’s health system with a list of strategies and activities to be considered in operational planning and actions. However, a dynamic process of evaluation and revision is required to ensure that Iran’s health system goals are met by 2025. Address for correspondence: Ali Ardalan, No. 78, Italia Ave, Department of Disaster and Emergency Health, National Institute of Health Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Email: aardalan@gmail.com or aardalan@tums.ac.ir Citation: Ardalan A, Rajaei MH, Masoumi G, Azin A, Zonoobi V, Sarvar M, Vaskoei Eshkevari K, Ahmadnezhad E, Jafari G. 2012-2025 Roadmap of I.R.Iran’s Disaster Health Management. PLoS Currents Disasters. 2012 Jul 16 PMID:22953239

From the Mahanadi Delta to Sendai via South America: Building bridges between research, practice and international policy for disaster resilience assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fanchiotti, Margherita; Torres, Jair

2017-04-01

The concept of disaster resilience has gained momentum in recent decades and major international initiatives, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the Paris Agreement, all recognise the importance of fostering community resilience to natural hazards to save lives and reduce losses. Despite significant advances in the policy settings for disaster resilience assessment, the interpretation of the concept itself and its implications for practice and policy remain clouded and more research is needed to gather evidence of what resilience means for governments and communities. This paper aims to bring together the research work the authors have conducted in the field of disaster resilience assessments at their respective institutions (University of Southampton, UK and the UME Graduate School at the Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia, Italy) with the practical implementation projects and international policy consultations they have been involved in under UNESCO's umbrella. The main findings of a research study conducted as part of the 'Deltas, Vulnerability & Climate Change: Migration & Adaptation' (DECCMA) project to investigate the differential resilience of local communities in the Mahanadi Delta, India using a development approach will be presented. Statistical methods have been employed to identify development hotspots and have been combined with a qualitative analysis of community perceptions of development and the mutual implications of development for disaster resilience to build case studies of community resilience to inform theory, policy and practice. The authors will then discuss the practical implications of this research study for the implementation of UNESCO's 'Enhancing Natural HAzards resilience iN South America' (ENHANS) project, which seeks to train a critical mass of decision-makers, community leaders and experts on disaster risk and resilience assessments in four countries in South America (Ecuador, Chile, Peru and Uruguay), and the policy implications for their work as part of UNESCO's task force for developing UNISDR's New Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient, a checklist for building capacities for disaster resilience at the city level which aims to provide local authorities with tools, including scorecards and a handbook for local government leaders, to self-assess urban resilience and stimulate positive change, in line with the Sendai Framework.

In search of a footprint: an investigation about the potentiality of large datasets and territorial analysis in disaster and resilience research.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pregnolato, Marco; Petitta, Marcello; Schneiderbauer, Stefan; Pedoth, Lydia; Iasio, Christian; Kaveckis, Giedrius

2014-05-01

The present investigation aims to contribute to a better understanding if and how coarse scale data can prove useful in a study on resilience of communities towards natural hazards. Main goal of the work is the exploitation of large datasets in search for indicators and information valuable for resilience research; in particular, for marks in the statistical distribution of events as well as in the physical signs on a territory, to be possibly defined as disaster footprints. The approach developed required to start from theoretical considerations about some key concepts, such as footprint and resilience and the possible influence of different types of adverse events on a territory. In particular, the research focuses on statistical signals that can be identified within datasets, concerning the effects of hazardous events against the background of resilience, defined as the "ability of a system and its component parts to anticipate, absorb, accommodate, or recover" from a disaster. The hypothesis for this work was that a disaster footprint could be shown using land features and changes maps. The question linked to this hypothesis was: is there a possibility to recognize on the land a multi-dimensional footprint? Is it possible to do this using land cover/land use data? In order to answer these questions this work proposes a synthetic index, named for convenience Hazard-Territory Index, created to categorize classes of Land Use/Land Cover from the CORINE Land Cover maps, by the mean of different approaches, according to the type of hazard. Through the use and elaboration of CORINE Land Cover data this work investigates whether the land and its use (in a way the relationship between a territory and the community living on it) and its changes over time can reveal some information and results relevant for the analysis of resilience. The investigation, set up in order to analyse these "signs on a map", led to implicate the notion of footprint as a multi-dimensional concept, dealing with different temporal scales and dimensions of resilience and it proposes therefore a definition of disaster footprint, as a multi-parametrical and complex impact indicator (or rather an indicator family). The mutual influence between the land, the hazard and the system on the territory presents different aspects that we tried to synthesize into the same index, differently analyzed according to different dimensions of disaster footprint considered; namely: probability of occurrence, susceptibility to harm, long-term impacts and modifications. The index visualizes the information at national and supra-national scale on maps. Although presenting important theoretical limitations (mainly in the spatial and temporal resolution of the data and in the definition of proxies for physical parameters), the application of this methodology at a supra-national scale has proved useful in the attempt to define the domains of investigations for community resilience studies at a local scale.

The social construction of disasters in the United States: A historical and cultural phenomenon.

PubMed

Neaves, Tonya T; Wachhaus, T Aaron; Royer, Grace A

Societal risks from hazards are continually increasing. Each year, disasters cause thousands of deaths and cost billions of dollars. In the first half of 2011, the United States endured countless disasters-winter snowstorms in the Midwest and Northeast; severe tornadic weather in the Mississippi, Alabama, and Missouri; flash flooding in Nashville; flooding along the Mississippi River; an earthquake on the East Coast, wildfires in Texas, and Hurricane Irene. Fundamental disaster planning is regarded as an interdisciplinary approach to develop strategies and instituting policies concerned with phases of emergency management; as such, its needs are predicated on the identification of hazards and assessment of risks. Even if the probability or intensity of risks to disasters remains fairly constant, population growth, alongside economic and infrastructural development, will unavoidably result in a concomitant increase of places prone to such events. One of the greatest barriers to emergency management efforts is the failure to fully grasp the socially and politically constructed meaning of disasters. This article investigates the ways in which language has been used historically in the American lexicon to make sense of disasters in the United States in an effort to improve communal resiliency. Serving as both an idea and experience, the terminology used to convey our/the modern-day concept of disaster is a result of a cultural artifact, ie, a given time and specific place. Tools such as Google Ngram Viewer and CASOS AutoMap are used to explore the penetration, duration, and change in disaster terminology among American English literature for more than 200 years, from 1800 to 2008, by quantifying written culture. The language of disasters is an integral part of disaster response, as talking is the primary way that most people respond to and recover from disasters. The vast majority of people are not affected by any given disaster, and so it is through discussing a disaster that people make sense of it, respond, and react to it, and fit something that is overwhelming and beyond human control into the normal order of life.

Disaster nursing experiences of Chinese nurses responding to the Sichuan Ya'an earthquake.

PubMed

Li, Y H; Li, S J; Chen, S H; Xie, X P; Song, Y Q; Jin, Z H; Zheng, X Y

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the disaster experiences of nurses called to assist survivors one month after the 2013 Ya'an earthquake. China has experienced an increasing number of earthquake disasters in the past four decades. Although a health and disaster management system was initiated after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, nurses' roles and experiences in a disaster have been overlooked. The researchers used qualitative descriptive design that included 16 participants. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and observation notes, after which a qualitative content analysis was conducted. Three major themes emerged: the process of being dispatched from hospitals to the disaster zone, the effort involved in getting to and working in the affected site and reflecting on the challenges they encountered. About half of the participants had received disaster nursing training before deploying to the disaster site, but they consistently expressed a lack of physical and psychological preparedness regarding the process of being dispatched from their hospitals to the disaster zone. This was a single-incident experience. Caution should be taken when trying to extend the findings to other parts of China. These findings highlighted the need for disaster in-service training as well as for having disaster plans in place. Hospital and nursing leaders should provide disaster training opportunities that included topics such as compiling resource inventories, formulating disaster drills and simulations, managing emergencies, and using emergency communication methods. Health policy-makers should be required to prioritize capacity-building training for front-line nurses as well as to develop and implement disaster management plans to better prepare nurses for future disasters. © 2016 International Council of Nurses.

When is a natural disaster a development disaster; when is a natural disaster not a disaster?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mutter, J. C.; Archibong, B.; Pi, D.

2009-12-01

Extremes of nature like hurricanes, droughts and earthquakes influence human welfare in a variety of ways. While it might seem counterintuitive, evidence from long run macro-economic data suggests that when natural extremes are especially destructive to human societies, and earn the title “natural disaster” they can actually have a beneficial effect on development. The process involved may be akin to the “The gale of creative destruction” first described by the economist Joseph Schumpeter. Applied to disasters the notion is that, in the short term, disasters can stimulate certain industries such as construction with capital flows coming into the disaster region from outside sources such as central government or international aid that can stimulate the economy. Longer term, outdated and inefficient public and private infrastructure destroyed in the disaster can be replaced by up to date, efficient systems that permit the economy to function more effectively, so that post-disaster growth can exceed pre-disaster levels. Disasters are macro-economic shocks, fundamentally similar to the banking shock that lead to the current global recession and, in the same way require external capital stimuli to overcome and that stimulus can result in stronger economies after recovery. These large-scale and long-run trends disguise the fact that disasters have very different development outcomes for different societies. Globally, there is evidence that poorer countries are not systematically stimulated by disaster shocks and may even be driven into poverty traps by certain disasters. Locally, the recovery from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans has had been very different for different social groups, with both over-recovery and under-recovery occurring simultaneously and in close proximity. We discuss the conditions under which disasters might be a stimulating force and when they might lead to development setbacks.

Application of Satellite Observations to Manage Natural Disasters in the Lake Victoria Basin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Habib, Shahid; Policelli, F.; Irwin, D.; Korme, Tesfaye; Adler, Bob; Hong, Yang

2010-01-01

Lake Victoria, the second largest fresh water lake in the Eastern part of Africa is a vital natural resource for the economic well being and prosperity of over 30 million people located in riparian regions of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It covers a large area of about 68,870 km2 and produces a GDP of about US $30 billion per year. The region is also very much prone to natural disasters such as severe floods during heavy precipitation periods in the Eastern part of Africa. In addition to floods, the precipitation also produces large infestations of mosquito larvae due to the standing water in many areas. This further causes multiple vector borne diseases such as Malaria, Rift Valley Fever and more. These problems are of serious concern and require active and aggressive surveillance and management to minimize the loss of human and animal lives and property damage. Satellite imagery and observations along with the in situ measurements provide a great tool to analyze and study this area and inform the policy makers to make calculated policy decisions which are more beneficial to the environment. Recently, NASA and USAID have joined forces with the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) located in Nairobi, Kenya to utilize multiple NASA sensors such as TRMM, SRTM and MODIS to develop flood potential maps for the Lake Victoria Basin. The idea is to generate a flood forecasts and "nowcasts" that can be sent to the disaster management organizations of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Post flood event satellite imagery is becoming a common tool to assess the areas inundated by flooding. However, this work is unique undertaking by utilizing land imaging and atmospheric satellites to build credible flood potential maps. At same time, we are also studying the potential occurrence and spread of Rift Valley Fever disease based on the short term climate records and precipitation data. These activities require multi-nation coordination and agreements and multiple operational agencies within each respective country. It also requires credible in situ data such as precipitation, river flow rates and lake levels to further validate the global and regional Hood models and algorithms. This also requires a considerable amount of training and capacity building for the RCMRD experts who will help us validate the model results and eventually transition it for operational use. In a final analysis, Disaster management and humanitarian aid organizations need accurate and timely information for making decisions regarding deployment of relief teams and emergency supplies during major floods. Flood maps based on the use of satellite data have proven extremely valuable to such organizations for identifying the location, extent, and severity of these events. However, despite extraordinary efforts on the part of remote sensing data providers to rapidly deliver such maps, there is typically a delay of several days or even weeks from the on-set of flooding until such maps are available to the disaster management community. This paper summarizes efforts at NASA to address this problem through development of an integrated and automated process of a) flood forecasting b) flood detection, c) satellite data acquisition, d) rapid Hood mapping and distribution, and e) validation of Hood forecasting and detection products.

Flood Hazard Mapping Assessment for Lebanon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdallah, Chadi; Darwich, Talal; Hamze, Mouin; Zaarour, Nathalie

2014-05-01

Of all natural disasters, floods affect the greatest number of people worldwide and have the greatest potential to cause damage. In fact, floods are responsible for over one third of people affected by natural disasters; almost 190 million people in more than 90 countries are exposed to catastrophic floods every year. Nowadays, with the emerging global warming phenomenon, this number is expected to increase, therefore, flood prediction and prevention has become a necessity in many places around the globe to decrease damages caused by flooding. Available evidence hints at an increasing frequency of flooding disasters being witnessed in the last 25 years in Lebanon. The consequences of such events are tragic including annual financial losses of around 15 million dollars. In this work, a hydrologic-hydraulic modeling framework for flood hazard mapping over Lebanon covering 19 watershed was introduced. Several empirical, statistical and stochastic methods to calculate the flood magnitude and its related return periods, where rainfall and river gauge data are neither continuous nor available on a long term basis with an absence of proper river sections that under estimate flows during flood events. TRMM weather satellite information, automated drainage networks, curve numbers and other geometrical characteristics for each basin was prepared using WMS-software and then exported into HMS files to implement the hydrologic modeling (rainfall-runoff) for single designed storm of uniformly distributed depth along each basin. The obtained flow hydrographs were implemented in the hydraulic model (HEC-RAS) where relative water surface profiles are calculated and flood plains are delineated. The model was calibrated using the last flood event of January 2013, field investigation, and high resolution satellite images. Flow results proved to have an accuracy ranging between 83-87% when compared to the computed statistical and stochastic methods. Results included the generation of recurrence flood plain maps of 10, 50 & 100 years intensity maps along with flood hazard maps for each watershed. It is of utmost significance for this study to be effective that the produced flood intensity and hazard maps will be made available to decision-makers, planners and relevant community stakeholders.

Effective Integration of Earth Observation Data and Flood Modeling for Rapid Disaster Response: The Texas 2015 Case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumann, G.

2016-12-01

Routinely obtaining real-time 2-D inundation patterns of a flood event at a meaningful spatial resolution and over large scales is at the moment only feasible with either operational aircraft flights or satellite imagery. Of course having model simulations of floodplain inundation available to complement the remote sensing data is highly desirable, for both event re-analysis and forecasting event inundation. Using the Texas 2015 flood disaster, we demonstrate the value of multi-scale EO data for large scale 2-D floodplain inundation modeling and forecasting. A dynamic re-analysis of the Texas 2015 flood disaster was run using a 2-D flood model developed for accurate large scale simulations. We simulated the major rivers entering the Gulf of Mexico and used flood maps produced from both optical and SAR satellite imagery to examine regional model sensitivities and assess associated performance. It was demonstrated that satellite flood maps can complement model simulations and add value, although this is largely dependent on a number of important factors, such as image availability, regional landscape topology, and model uncertainty. In the preferred case where model uncertainty is high, landscape topology is complex (i.e. urbanized coastal area) and satellite flood maps are available (in case of SAR for instance), satellite data can significantly reduce model uncertainty by identifying the "best possible" model parameter set. However, most often the situation is occurring where model uncertainty is low and spatially contiguous flooding can be mapped from satellites easily enough, such as in rural large inland river floodplains. Consequently, not much value from satellites can be added. Nevertheless, where a large number of flood maps are available, model credibility can be increased substantially. In the case presented here this was true for at least 60% of the many thousands of kilometers of river flow length simulated, where satellite flood maps existed. The next steps of this project is to employ a technique termed "targeted observation" approach, which is an assimilation based procedure that allows quantifying the impact observations have on model predictions at the local scale and also along the entire river system, when assimilated with the model at specific "overpass" locations.

Operational early warning platform for extreme meteorological events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mühr, Bernhard; Kunz, Michael

2015-04-01

Operational early warning platform for extreme meteorological events Most natural disasters are related to extreme weather events (e.g. typhoons); weather conditions, however, are also highly relevant for humanitarian and disaster relief operations during and after other natural disaster like earthquakes. The internet service "Wettergefahren-Frühwarnung" (WF) provides various information on extreme weather events, especially when these events are associated with a high potential for large damage. The main focus of the platform is on Central Europe, but major events are also monitored worldwide on a daily routine. WF provides high-resolution forecast maps for many weather parameters which allow detailed and reliable predictions about weather conditions during the next days in the affected areas. The WF service became operational in February 2004 and is part of the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM) since 2007. At the end of 2011, CEDIM embarked a new type of interdisciplinary disaster research termed as forensic disaster analysis (FDA) in near real time. In case of an imminent extreme weather event WF plays an important role in CEDIM's FDA group. It provides early and precise information which are always available and updated several times during a day and gives advice and assists with articles and reports on extreme events.

Disaster preparation in kidney transplant recipients: a questionnaire-based cohort study from a large United States transplant center
.

PubMed

Sharief, Shimi; Freitas, Daniel; Adey, Deborah; Wiley, James

2018-04-01

Few quantitative assessments have assessed disaster preparation in kidney transplant patients. This is a survey-based assessment of disaster preparedness of 200 patients at the University of California San Francisco, USA. Patients answered questionnaires assessing their level of preparedness as well as barriers to preparation. Preparedness was scored based on response to 7 questions. Univariate analyses compared participant characteristics extracted from the medical chart against three tertiles of preparedness: low (scores 0 - 2), medium (scores 3 - 4), and high (scores 5 - 7). California counties were coded and mapped by average preparedness scores. Only 30% of patients were highly prepared for disasters. Participants were prepared with available medication for 2 weeks (78.5%) and least prepared in having a medical ID bracelet (13%). Significant minorities of patients (40% of patients or more) were unprepared with lists of medications, important phone numbers and disaster kits. Preparedness was not associated with demographic and clinical characteristics. Monterey County was the most prepared of the 31 California counties sampled (score of 4.25 out of 7). All patients should be educated regarding disaster preparation. County and medical services should collaborate to address specialized populations in general preparedness planning.
.

Medical Requirements During a Natural Disaster: A Case Study on WhatsApp Chats Among Medical Personnel During the 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

PubMed

Basu, Moumita; Ghosh, Saptarshi; Jana, Arnab; Bandyopadhyay, Somprakash; Singh, Ravikant

2017-12-01

The objective of this study was to explore a log of WhatsApp messages exchanged among members of the health care group Doctors For You (DFY) while they were providing medical relief in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake in April 2015. Our motivation was to identify medical resource requirements during a disaster in order to help government agencies and other responding organizations to be better prepared in any upcoming disaster. A large set of WhatsApp (WhatsApp Inc, Mountain View, CA) messages exchanged among DFY members during the Nepal earthquake was collected and analyzed to identify the medical resource requirements during different phases of relief operations. The study revealed detailed phase-wise requirements for various types of medical resources, including medicines, medical equipment, and medical personnel. The data also reflected some of the problems faced by the medical relief workers in the earthquake-affected region. The insights from this study may help not only the Nepalese government, but also authorities in other earthquake-prone regions of the world to better prepare for similar disasters in the future. Moreover, real-time analysis of such online data during a disaster would aid decision-makers in dynamically formulating resource-mapping strategies. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:652-655).

The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program: Working with International Partners to Reduce the Risk from Volcanic Eruptions Worldwide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayberry, G. C.; Pallister, J. S.

2015-12-01

The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) is a joint effort between USGS and the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). OFDA leads and coordinates disaster responses overseas for the U.S. government and is a unique stakeholder concerned with volcano disaster risk reduction as an international humanitarian assistance donor. One year after the tragic eruption of Nevado del Ruiz in 1985, OFDA began funding USGS to implement VDAP. VDAP's mission is to reduce the loss of life and property and limit the economic impact from foreign volcano crises, thereby preventing such crises from becoming disasters. VDAP fulfills this mission and complements OFDA's humanitarian assistance by providing crisis response, capacity-building, technical training, and hazard assessments to developing countries before, during, and after eruptions. During the past 30 years, VDAP has responded to more than 27 major volcanic crises, built capacity in 12+ countries, and helped counterparts save tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars in property. VDAP responses have evolved as host-country capabilities have grown, but the pace of work has not diminished; as a result of VDAP's work at 27 volcanoes in fiscal year 2014, more than 1.3 million people who could have been impacted by volcanic activity benefitted from VDAP assistance, 11 geological policies were modified, 188 scientists were trained, and several successful eruption forecasts were made. VDAP is developing new initiatives to help counterparts monitor volcanoes and communicate volcanic risk. These include developing the Eruption Forecasting Information System (EFIS) to learn from compiled crisis data from 30 years of VDAP responses, creating event trees to forecast eruptions at restless volcanoes, and exploring the use of unmanned aerial systems for monitoring. The use of these new methods, along with traditional VDAP assistance, has improved VDAP's ability to assist counterparts with preparing for eruptions.

Development, Testing, and Psychometric Qualities of the Nash Duty to Care Scale for Disaster Response.

PubMed

Nash, Tracy Jeanne

2017-08-01

Although nurses struggle with the decision to report for work during disaster events, there are no instruments to measure nurses' duty to care for disaster situations. The purpose of this study was to describe the development, testing, and psychometric qualities of the Nash Duty to Care Scale. A convenience sample of 409 registered nurses were recruited from 3 universities in the United States. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 19-item, 4-factor model explaining 67.34% of the variance. Internal consistency reliability was supported by Cronbach's alpha ranging from .81 to .91 for the 4-factor subscales and .92 for the total scale. The psychometrically sound instrument for measuring nurses' perceived duty to care for disasters is applicable to contemporary nursing practice, institutional disaster management plans, and patient health outcomes worldwide.

Combined external and internal hospital disaster: impact and response in a Houston trauma center intensive care unit.

PubMed

Nates, Joseph L

2004-03-01

To increase awareness of specific risks to healthcare systems during a natural or civil disaster. We describe the catastrophic disruption of essential services and the point-by-point response to the crisis in a major medical center. Case report, review of the literature, and discussion. A 28-bed intensive care unit in a level I trauma center in the largest medical center in the world. In June 2001, tropical storm Allison caused >3 feet of rainfall and catastrophic flooding in Houston, TX. Memorial Hermann Hospital, one of only two level I trauma centers in the community, lost electrical power, communications systems, running water, and internal transportation. All essential hospital services were rendered nonfunctional. Life-saving equipment such as ventilators, infusion pumps, and monitors became useless. Patients were triaged to other medical facilities based on acuity using ground and air ambulances. No patients died as result of the internal disaster. Adequate training, teamwork, communication, coordination with other healthcare professionals, and strong leadership are essential during a crisis. Electricity is vital when delivering care in today's healthcare system, which depends on advanced technology. It is imperative that hospitals take the necessary measures to preserve electrical power at all times. Hospitals should have battery-operated internal and external communication systems readily available in the event of a widespread disaster and communication outage. Critical services such as pharmacy, laboratories, blood bank, and central supply rooms should be located at sites more secure than the ground floors, and these services should be prepared for more extensive performances. Contingency plans to maintain protected water supplies and available emergency kits with batteries, flashlights, two-way radios, and a nonelectronic emergency system for patient identification are also very important. Rapid adaptation to unexpected adverse conditions is critical to the successful implementation of any disaster plan.

Google Maps for Crowdsourced Emergency Routing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nedkov, S.; Zlatanova, S.

2012-08-01

Gathering infrastructure data in emergency situations is challenging. The affected by a disaster areas are often large and the needed observations numerous. Spaceborne remote sensing techniques cover large areas but they are of limited use as their field of view may be blocked by clouds, smoke, buildings, highways, etc. Remote sensing products furthermore require specialists to collect and analyze the data. This contrasts the nature of the damage detection problem: almost everyone is capable of observing whether a street is usable or not. The crowd is fit for solving these challenges as its members are numerous, they are willing to help and are often in the vicinity of the disaster thereby forming a highly dispersed sensor network. This paper proposes and implements a small WebGIS application for performing shortest path calculations based on crowdsourced information about the infrastructure health. The application is built on top of Google Maps and uses its routing service to calculate the shortest distance between two locations. Impassable areas are indicated on a map by people performing in-situ observations on a mobile device, and by users on a desktop machine who consult a multitude of information sources.

Hazard Assessment of Landslide Disaster in Fujian Province Based on Fuzzy Mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J. M.; Gong, A. D.; Chen, Y. L.; Li, J.; Zeng, T. T.

2018-04-01

Landslide disasters are the most frequent geological disasters in Fujian Province. They are also the type of geological disasters that cause the most serious economic and population losses each year. This study uses the fuzzy mathematics method to carry on the hazard assessment of landslide disaster in Fujian Province, in order to explore the mechanism of the landslide disaster, and provides the reference for the construction land expansion in Fujian Province. The calculation results show that landslide disasters in Fujian Province have a high correlation with external forces, that is, long-term precipitation and short-term strong precipitation are likely to trigger landslide disasters. Among the internal stress factors, the correlation between the occurrence of landslides and slopes is the highest, and the probability of landslides occurs in areas with steep slopes. The evaluation results show that the areas with high landslide hazards are mainly distributed in the central region of Fujian Province. From the remote sensing images, it can be seen that most of the dangerous areas are in rapidly developing cities, and their vegetation coverage is relatively low, and the environment is greatly affected by humans.

Rapid SAR and GPS Measurements and Models for Hazard Science and Situational Awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Owen, S. E.; Yun, S. H.; Hua, H.; Agram, P. S.; Liu, Z.; Moore, A. W.; Rosen, P. A.; Simons, M.; Webb, F.; Linick, J.; Fielding, E. J.; Lundgren, P.; Sacco, G. F.; Polet, J.; Manipon, G.

2016-12-01

The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) project for Natural Hazards is focused on rapidly generating higher level geodetic imaging products and placing them in the hands of the solid earth science and local, national, and international natural hazard communities by providing science product generation, exploration, and delivery capabilities at an operational level. Space-based geodetic measurement techniques such as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), SAR-based change detection, and image pixel tracking have recently become critical additions to our toolset for understanding and mapping the damage caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods. Analyses of these data sets are still largely handcrafted following each event and are not generated rapidly and reliably enough for response to natural disasters or for timely analysis of large data sets. The ARIA project, a joint venture co-sponsored by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and by NASA through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has been capturing the knowledge applied to these responses and building it into an automated infrastructure to generate imaging products in near real-time that can improve situational awareness for disaster response. In addition, the ARIA project is developing the capabilities to provide automated imaging and analysis capabilities necessary to keep up with the imminent increase in raw data from geodetic imaging missions planned for launch by NASA, as well as international space agencies. We will present the progress we have made on automating the analysis of SAR data for hazard monitoring and response using data from Sentinel 1a/b as well as continuous GPS stations. Since the beginning of our project, our team has imaged events and generated response products for events around the world. These response products have enabled many conversations with those in the disaster response community about the potential usefulness of rapid SAR and GPS-based information. We will present progress on our data system technology that enables rapid and reliable production of imagery, as well as lessons learned from our engagement with FEMA and others in the hazard response community on the important actionable information that they need.

The evolution of global disaster risk assessments: from hazard to global change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peduzzi, Pascal

2013-04-01

The perception of disaster risk as a dynamic process interlinked with global change is a fairly recent concept. It gradually emerged as an evolution from new scientific theories, currents of thinking and lessons learned from large disasters since the 1970s. The interest was further heighten, in the mid-1980s, by the Chernobyl nuclear accident and the discovery of the ozone layer hole, both bringing awareness that dangerous hazards can generate global impacts. The creation of the UN International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) and the publication of the first IPCC report in 1990 reinforced the interest for global risk assessment. First global risk models including hazard, exposure and vulnerability components were available since mid-2000s. Since then increased computation power and more refined datasets resolution, led to more numerous and sophisticated global risk models. This article presents a recent history of global disaster risk models, the current status of researches for the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR 2013) and future challenges and limitations for the development of next generation global disaster risk models.

Development after Disaster: Multidecadal Impacts of Tropical Cyclones upon Long-run Economic Growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jina, A.; Hsiang, S. M.

2012-12-01

Weather-related disasters lead to immediate costs in the billions of dollars each year, and this loss informs the strategies for disaster mitigation and recovery. However, the causal effect of natural disasters on long-run economic development remains unclear. We reconstruct every country's physical exposure to the universe of tropical cyclones (TCs) during 1950-2008 using the International Best Tracks Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) and then exploit year-to-year variation in cyclone strikes to identify the effect of disasters on GDP growth. Linking this economic data to a physical model of TC hazard, we are the first analysis to deconvolve the long-run cumulative impact of year-to-year changes in TC incidence. We reject long-standing hypotheses that disasters stimulate growth via "creative destruction" or that losses disappear following transfers of wealth. Instead, we find robust evidence that national incomes decline, relative to their pre-disaster trend, and do not recover within twenty years. This result is consistent across income sources, regions, countries' geographic size, and income level. Global patterns of climate-based adaptation, in addition to similar long-run changes in consumption, investment, trade and international aid, further corroborate this finding. Consistent with the idea that long-term loans finance the replacement of lost capital, national income loss arises from a small reduction of annual growth rates spread across the decades following disaster. The cumulative effect of this persistently suppressed growth is significant and large: a 90th percentile event reduces per capita incomes by 7.4% two decades later (fig. A). The gradual nature of these losses render them inconspicuous to a casual observer, however simulations indicate that they have dramatic influence over the long-run development of countries that face regular exposure to TCs (fig. B). Our results indicate that the true cost of a disaster may not only be the immediate cost, but also the long-term suppression of growth opportunities within a country. We suggest that it is essential to consider this when estimating the losses associated with a disaster, and plan for it accordingly. This finding transforms our understanding of a society's resilience to disasters, and necessitates a new viewpoint to be considered when we think of weathering natural hazards.;

77 FR 28655 - Meeting of Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-15

... information and communications services, providers of such services, technology research and development... the information and communications technology (ICT) aspects of international disaster response; recent... Communications and Information Policy The Department of State's Advisory Committee on International...

Preventing disasters: public health vulnerability reduction as a sustainable adaptation to climate change.

PubMed

Keim, Mark E

2011-06-01

Global warming could increase the number and severity of extreme weather events. These events are often known to result in public health disasters, but we can lessen the effects of these disasters. By addressing the factors that cause changes in climate, we can mitigate the effects of climate change. By addressing the factors that make society vulnerable to the effects of climate, we can adapt to climate change. To adapt to climate change, a comprehensive approach to disaster risk reduction has been proposed. By reducing human vulnerability to disasters, we can lessen--and at times even prevent--their impact. Human vulnerability is a complex phenomenon that comprises social, economic, health, and cultural factors. Because public health is uniquely placed at the community level, it has the opportunity to lessen human vulnerability to climate-related disasters. At the national and international level, a supportive policy environment can enable local adaptation to disaster events. The purpose of this article is to introduce the basic concept of disaster risk reduction so that it can be applied to preventing and mitigating the negative effects of climate change and to examine the role of community-focused public health as a means for lessening human vulnerability and, as a result, the overall risk of climate-related disasters.

Are Women in Turkey Both Risks and Resources in Disaster Management?

PubMed Central

Işık, Özden; Özer, Naşide; Sayın, Nurdan; Mishal, Afet; Gündoğdu, Oğuz; Özçep, Ferhat

2015-01-01

From a global perspective, the universality of gender-related societal issues is particularly significant. Although gender inequality is considered a sociological problem, the large number of female victims in disasters warrants an assessment of disaster management sciences. In this article, related concepts are discussed based on their relevance sociologically and in disaster management to develop a common terminology and examine this complex topic, which is rooted in different social profiles and anthropological heterogeneity throughout the world. A brief history is discussed, and significant examples are provided from different disasters in Turkey to illustrate why a woman-oriented approach should be adopted when evaluating concepts of gender inequality. Observations of disasters have shown that it is important to apply international standards (humanitarian charter and minimum disaster response standards), especially during periods of response and rehabilitation. Relevant factors related to gender should be included in these standards, such as women’s health and hygiene, which will be discussed in more detail. A woman-based approach is designed in relation to two aspects: risks and resources. Thus, gender-sensitive methods of mitigating and preventing disasters are provided. The main purpose of the article is to contribute to the development of a universal culture that prioritizes gender in disaster management. PMID:26016435

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Versus Disaster Risk Creation (DRC).

PubMed

Lewis, James

2012-06-21

In understanding and trying to reduce the risk from disasters, connections are often articulated amongst poverty, vulnerability, risk, and disasters. These are welcome steps, but the approach taken in top-down international documents is rarely to articulate explicitly that vulnerability accrues from a wide variety of dynamic and long-term processes. Neglecting these processes-and failing to explore their links with poverty, risk, and disasters-tends to encourage disaster risk creation. This paper identifies seven examples of on-the-ground realities of long-term vulnerability within two clusters: Endangerment: 1 Environmental degradation. 2 Discrimination. 3 Displacement. Impoverishment: 4 Self-seeking public expenditure. 5 Denial of access to resources. 6 Corruption. 7 Siphoning of public money. Examples are presented as vignettes, many contemporary and many rooted in historical contexts, to demonstrate the extent to which "vulnerability drivers" emanate from greed, the misuse of political and commercial power, mismanagement and incompetence amongst other behaviours. Moving forward to the tackling of disaster risk creation, instead of simply seeking disaster risk reduction, requires detailed investigation into these contemporary and historical realities of the causes of vulnerability. That would support the integration of disaster risk reduction within the many wider contexts that foment and perpetuate vulnerability.

Disaster Mental Health and Positive Psychology: An Afterward to the Special Issue.

PubMed

Southwick, Steven M; Satodiya, Ritvij; Pietrzak, Robert H

2016-12-01

The articles in this Special Issue are devoted to integrating the fields of disaster mental health and positive psychology. Their focus on resilience building, individual and community preparation, meaning making, and posttraumatic growth represents an important new development in disaster mental health. The overarching goal of this effort is to inform strategies to help both individuals-including children, adolescent, adult disaster survivors, and relief workers-and communities prepare for, respond to, recover from, and possibly even grow stronger in the face of adversity. To achieve this goal, this body of literature suggests that it is important for disaster mental health workers to partner with community leaders, organizations, and the population at large to understand community vulnerabilities, take advantage of existing strengths, and respect cultural factors implicated in disaster recovery. It further suggests that an effective community-based approach to disaster recovery will make psychosocial support and skill-building programs available to large numbers of survivors, which is critical for responding to future national and international disasters. Continued high-quality research that is comprehensive and considers not only relevant psychological, social, cultural, and biological factors but also interrelations between individuals, organizations and communities is needed to advance this relatively new and important direction of the disaster mental health field. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Satellite Application for Disaster Management Information Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okpanachi, George

Abstract Satellites are becoming increasingly vital to modern day disaster management activities. Earth observation (EO) satellites provide images at various wavelengths that assist rapid-mapping in all phases of the disaster management cycle: mitigation of potential risks in a given area, preparedness for eventual disasters, immediate response to a disaster event, and the recovery/reconstruction efforts follo wing it. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) assist all the phases by providing precise location and navigation data, helping manage land and infrastructures, and aiding rescue crews coordinate their search efforts. Effective disaster management is a complex problem, because it involves many parameters, which are usually not easy to measure and even identify: Analysis of current situation, planning, optimum resource management, coordination, controlling and monitoring current activities and making quick and correct decisions are only some of these parameters, whose complete list is very long. Disaster management information systems (DMIS) assist disaster management to analyse the situation better, make decisions and suggest further actions following the emergency plans. This requires not only fast and thorough processing and optimization abilities, but also real-time data provided to the DMIS. The need of DMIS for disaster’s real-time data can be satisfied by small satellites data utilization. Small satellites can provide up-to-data, plus a better media to transfer data. This paper suggests a rationale and a framework for utilization of small Satellite data by DMIS. DMIS should be used ‘’before’’, ‘’during’’ and ‘’after’’ the disasters. Data provided by the Small Satellites are almost crucial in any period of the disasters, because early warning can save lives, and satellite data may help to identify disasters before they occur. The paper also presents’ ‘when’’, ‘’where’’ and ‘’how’’ small satellite data should be used by DMIS.

Explorations of Public Participation Approach to the Framing of Resilient Urbanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Wei-Kuang; Liu, Li-Wei; Shiu, Yi-Shiang; Shen, Yang-Ting; Lin, Feng-Cheng; Hsieh, Hua-Hsuan

2017-08-01

Under the framework of developing resilient and livable cities, this study was aimed at engaging local communities to achieve the goal of public participation. Given the prevalence of smart mobile devices, an interactive app called “Citizen Probe” was designed to guide users to participate in building resilient and livable urban spaces by enabling users to report the condition of their living environment. The app collects feedback from users regarding the perceived condition of the urban environment, and this information is used to further develop an open online index system. The index system serves as a guide for the public to actively transform their city into a resilient and livable urban environment. The app was designed for the reporting of flood incidents with the objective of resilient disaster prevention, which can be achieved by enabling users to identify disaster conditions in order to develop a database for basic disaster information. The database can be used in the prevention and mitigation of disasters and to provide a foundation for developing indices for assessing the resilience and livability of urban areas. Three communities in Taichung, Taiwan, participated in the study. Residents of these communities were requested to use the app and identify local environmental conditions to obtain spatial data according to four stages in disaster response: assessment, readiness, response, and recovery. A volunteered geographic information database was developed to display maps for providing users with current reports of predisaster risk assessment, disaster response capacity, real-time disaster conditions, and overall disaster recovery. In addition, the database can be used as a useful tool for researchers to conduct GIS analyses and initiate related discussions. The interactive app raises public awareness on disaster prevention and makes disaster prevention a daily norm. Further discussion between the public and experts will be initiated to assist in policy management pertaining to the ongoing development of cities in addition to improving disaster prevention and response measures.

Risk analysis of landslide disaster in Ponorogo, East Java, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koesuma, S.; Saido, A. P.; Fukuda, Y.

2016-11-01

Ponorogo is one of regency in South-West of East Java Province, Indonesia, where located in subduction zone between Eurasia and Australia plate tectonics. It has a lot of mountain area which is disaster-prone area for landslide. We have collected landslide data in 305 villages in Ponorogo and make it to be Hazards Index. Then we also calculate Vulnerability Index, Economic Loss index, Environmental Damage Index and Capacity Index. The risk analysis map is composed of three components H (Hazards), V (Vulnerability, Economic Loss index, Environmental Damage Index) and C (Capacity Index). The method is based on regulations of National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB) number 02/2012 and number 03/2012. It has three classes of risk index, i.e. Low, Medium and High. Ponorogo city has a medium landslide risk index.

Mass Fatality Management following the South Asian Tsunami Disaster: Case Studies in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka

PubMed Central

Morgan, Oliver W; Sribanditmongkol, Pongruk; Perera, Clifford; Sulasmi, Yeddi; Van Alphen, Dana; Sondorp, Egbert

2006-01-01

Background Following natural disasters, mismanagement of the dead has consequences for the psychological well-being of survivors. However, no technical guidelines currently exist for managing mass fatalities following large natural disasters. Existing methods of mass fatality management are not directly transferable as they are designed for transport accidents and acts of terrorism. Furthermore, no information is currently available about post-disaster management of the dead following previous large natural disasters. Methods and Findings After the tsunami disaster on 26 December 2004, we conducted three descriptive case studies to systematically document how the dead were managed in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. We considered the following parameters: body recovery and storage, identification, disposal of human remains, and health risks from dead bodies. We used participant observations as members of post-tsunami response teams, conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants, and collected information from published and unpublished documents. Refrigeration for preserving human remains was not available soon enough after the disaster, necessitating the use of other methods such as dry ice or temporary burial. No country had sufficient forensic capacity to identify thousands of victims. Rapid decomposition made visual identification almost impossible after 24–48 h. In Thailand, most forensic identification was made using dental and fingerprint data. Few victims were identified from DNA. Lack of national or local mass fatality plans further limited the quality and timeliness of response, a problem which was exacerbated by the absence of practical field guidelines or an international agency providing technical support. Conclusions Emergency response should not add to the distress of affected communities by inappropriately disposing of the victims. The rights of survivors to see their dead treated with dignity and respect requires practical guidelines and technical support. Mass fatality management following natural disasters needs to be informed by further field research and supported by a network of regional and international forensic institutes and agencies. PMID:16737348

Mass fatality management following the South Asian tsunami disaster: case studies in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

PubMed

Morgan, Oliver W; Sribanditmongkol, Pongruk; Perera, Clifford; Sulasmi, Yeddi; Van Alphen, Dana; Sondorp, Egbert

2006-06-01

Following natural disasters, mismanagement of the dead has consequences for the psychological well-being of survivors. However, no technical guidelines currently exist for managing mass fatalities following large natural disasters. Existing methods of mass fatality management are not directly transferable as they are designed for transport accidents and acts of terrorism. Furthermore, no information is currently available about post-disaster management of the dead following previous large natural disasters. After the tsunami disaster on 26 December 2004, we conducted three descriptive case studies to systematically document how the dead were managed in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. We considered the following parameters: body recovery and storage, identification, disposal of human remains, and health risks from dead bodies. We used participant observations as members of post-tsunami response teams, conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants, and collected information from published and unpublished documents. Refrigeration for preserving human remains was not available soon enough after the disaster, necessitating the use of other methods such as dry ice or temporary burial. No country had sufficient forensic capacity to identify thousands of victims. Rapid decomposition made visual identification almost impossible after 24-48 h. In Thailand, most forensic identification was made using dental and fingerprint data. Few victims were identified from DNA. Lack of national or local mass fatality plans further limited the quality and timeliness of response, a problem which was exacerbated by the absence of practical field guidelines or an international agency providing technical support. Emergency response should not add to the distress of affected communities by inappropriately disposing of the victims. The rights of survivors to see their dead treated with dignity and respect requires practical guidelines and technical support. Mass fatality management following natural disasters needs to be informed by further field research and supported by a network of regional and international forensic institutes and agencies.

Community Disasters, Psychological Trauma, and Crisis Intervention.

PubMed

Boscarino, Joseph A

The current issue of International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience is focused on community disasters, the impact of trauma exposure, and crisis intervention. The articles incorporated include studies ranging from the World Trade Center disaster to Hurricane Sandy. These studies are related to public attitudes and beliefs about disease outbreaks, the impact of volunteerism following the World Trade Center attacks, alcohol misuse among police officers after Hurricane Katrina, posttraumatic stress disorder after Hurricane Sandy among those exposed to the Trade Center disaster, compassion fatigue and burnout among trauma workers, crisis interventions in Eastern Europe, and police officers' use of stress intervention services. While this scope is broad, it reflects the knowledge that has emerged since the Buffalo Creek and Chernobyl catastrophes, to the more recent Hurricane Katrina and Sandy disasters. Given the current threat environment, psychologists, social workers, and other providers need to be aware of these developments and be prepared to mitigate the impact of psychological trauma following community disasters, whether natural or man-made.

Ready or not, disasters happen.

PubMed

Orr, Martha L

2002-01-01

The New York State Nurses Association was--as was the entire country--plunged into disaster response mode by 9:30 am on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Although the association had engaged in limited disaster planning prior to this event, that planning was in terms of an internal disaster such as a fire in our headquarters building. There was no plan for responding to a community catastrophe of the magnitude being experienced. The association faced unique challenges--including the fact that our New York City offices are located near ground zero--but was fortunate in having expert resource persons on staff and available to organize a response. Since September, the association has applied the lessons learned from this experience and developed a comprehensive disaster plan for the future. The purpose of this article is to share those lessons learned with the community of nursing associations in the hope that others can use the information to build effective disaster plans of their own.

Development of an UAS for post-earthquake disaster surveying and its application in Ms7.0 Lushan Earthquake, Sichuan, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Zhiqiang; Yang, Jiansi; Peng, Chaoyong; Wu, Ying; Jiang, Xudong; Li, Rui; Zheng, Yu; Gao, Yu; Liu, Sha; Tian, Baofeng

2014-07-01

The main objective of early impact analysis after a disaster is to produce georeferenced data about the affected areas, in support of humanitarian action. Crucial information is the identification of the disaster areas and the estimation of the number of people involved. Satellite imageries are mainly used as input data for early impact analysis in medium and large scale map. Analyses aimed at defining the damages of infrastructure and/or to facilities require suitable data, such as high resolution satellite images. Unfortunately, satellite images are not always available in a few days after the event. Therefore in situ surveys are preferred. Innovations in Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) have allowed them to become valuable tools in capturing and assessing the extents and amount of damages. Flexibility, safety, ease of operation, and relatively low-cost of ownership and operation facilitate UAS implementation in disaster situations. In this paper, an example of UAS was developed for rapidly obtaining disaster information. Data acquisition at specified scales was successfully performed with the chosen fixed-wing UAS. For the image analysis, a photogrammetric workflow was applied to cope with the very high resolution of the images acquired without ground control points. Tests showed that the system plays an important role in the work of investigating and gathering information about disaster in epicentral areas of the earthquake, such as road detection, secondary disaster investigation, and rapid disaster evaluation. It can effectively provide earthquake information to salvation headquarters for swiftly developing the relief measures and improving the efficiency of emergency rescue.

Proposing a Universal Framework for Resilience: Optimizing Risk and Combating Human Vulnerabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarkar, Arunima

2017-04-01

In the recent years we have seen a massive impact of loss created to urban settlements and critical infrastructure as a result of disasters. The disaster risk associates itself vulnerabilities and many complexities which can disrupt the functioning of human society. The uncertain loss created by disasters can present unforeseeable risk which remain unaccounted to human understanding. It is imperative to note that human urbanization and development is correlated with human vulnerabilities and challenges posed by disasters. Disaster risks are aggravated by improper planning of cities, weak framework for urban governance and regulatory regimes and lack of equalities amongst the citizens. The international agenda on disaster risk reduction talks about increasing losses due to disasters associated with development and urbanization. The United Nations announced that the year 1990 was the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. In relation to this, the "Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action" was adopted at the first United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Oceanic Commission coordinated the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in 2005 where the Hyogo Framework for Action was adopted. The Hyogo Framework for Action: Building the resilience of communities to disaster was adopted by 168 nations after the massive loss caused by Indian ocean tsunami in 2005. The Hyogo Framework proposes to focus on implementation of risk and reliability system to shield disasters, proposes global scientific and community platform for disaster prevention and mitigation etc. The early warning system and its importance as an effective tool for reduction of human vulnerabilities for disaster management was majorly emphasized. It is imperative to highlight that resilience framework is important in order to minimize cost of disruption caused to critical infrastructure and to strengthen and optimize the decision making skill and platform for a better sustainable society. The resilience framework provides a cross-sector and multi-level analysis to tackle the vulnerabilities which can be caused to essential utilities like power, water, transport and various machineries that are essential for human sustainability. The direction of resilience framework focuses on prevention of damage and disruption of disaster, mitigate the loss caused to human society and provide the best response for disaster resilience. Thus, the basic pillars which are important for the implementation of resilience is proper governance framework and transparency which takes into account various cost and risk analysis. Thus a common and universal framework for resilience is the main requirement for mass accessibility. The aim of resilience framework focuses on universal adaptability, coherence and validation. A mixed method analysis has been undertaken in this research paper which focuses on the following issues: • Legal, Institutional and community framework for integrating resilience framework of global north and global south. • Spatial as well as statistical analysis to structuralize disaster risk and resilient framework for disaster management. • Early warning system and emergency response in a comparative scale to analyse the various models of risk and resilience framework implemented in USA, China, Nepal and India for proposing an integrated resilience strategy.

A World-System Approach to Post-Catastrophe International Relief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Letukas, Lynn; Barnshaw, John

2008-01-01

As our understanding of disaster shifts from an event concentrated in time and space to a social occasion occurring across time and space, so too must our explanations of disaster shift from theories of the middle range to broader theoretical frameworks. We explore the world-system approach in an effort to understand the upper limits of theory for…

78 FR 79051 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; International Securities Exchange, LLC; Notice of Filing and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-27

... the move of this datacenter to an ISE facility, and to adopt a corresponding disaster recovery network... rent cabinet space in the ISE facility, and to adopt a corresponding disaster recovery network fee... datacenter is not operational. As the Exchange is moving its hardware to an ISE-run facility, the Exchange...

Family Influences on the Long Term Post-Disaster Recovery of Puerto Rican Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felix, Erika; You, Sukkyung; Vernberg, Eric; Canino, Glorisa

2013-01-01

This study focused on characteristics of the family environment that may mediate the relationship between disaster exposure and the presence of symptoms that met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for symptom count and duration for an internalizing disorder in children and youth. We also explored how parental history of mental health problems may moderate…

The Double-Edged Sword of "Disaster Volunteerism": A Study of New Orleans Rebirth Movement Participants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heldman, Caroline; Israel-Trummel, Mackenzie

2012-01-01

We examine the political and personal effects of disaster volunteerism with participants of the New Orleans Rebirth Movement (NORM) using four waves of pre- and postsurveys and qualitative analysis of participant journals. Significant increases are found in internal political efficacy, desire to be active in politics, and value placed on social…

76 FR 58820 - New York; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster Declaration

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-22

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Federal Emergency Management Agency [Internal Agency Docket No. FEMA-4020-DR; Docket ID FEMA-2011-0001] New York; Amendment No. 9 to Notice of a Major Disaster..., Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency. [FR Doc. 2011-24323 Filed 9-21-11; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE...

Conservation of Library Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois Libraries, 1985

1985-01-01

Twelve articles cover books as artifacts; workstations for conservation of library materials; care of scrapbooks, albums, and photographs; map preservation; library environment; flood recovery; disaster prevention and preparedness; incorporating preservation into library organization; and bibliography of Chester Public Library (Illinois) First…

Map showing 1983 landslides in Utah

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brabb, Earl E.; Wieczorek, Gerald F.; Harp, Edwin L.

1989-01-01

The State of Utah sustained direct damages from landslides and flooding in excess of $400 million during approximately three months in the spring of 1983.  These disastrous events were declared national disaster areas (Anderson and others, 1985).

The experience of collective trauma in Australian Indigenous communities.

PubMed

Krieg, Anthea

2009-08-01

The concept of collective trauma has predominantly been applied in the context of natural and human disasters. This paper seeks to explore whether collective trauma offers a respectful way in which to explore and respond to mental health and wellbeing issues for Aboriginal families and communities. A review of the international literature was undertaken in order to determine the elements of collective and mass trauma studies which may have relevance for Indigenous communities in Australia. Findings support the proposition that the patterns of human responses to disasters, particularly in protracted traumas such as war-zones, shows strong parallels to the contemporary patterns of experience and responses articulated by Aboriginal people affected by colonization and its sequelae in Australia. Adopting evidence-informed principles of family and community healing developed internationally in disaster situations may provide helpful ways of conceptualizing and responding in a coordinated way to mental health and wellbeing issues for Indigenous people within Australia.

Detection of Flood Inundation Information of the Kinu River Flooding in 2015 by Social Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Y.; Sayama, T.; Takara, K. T.

2016-12-01

On September 10th, 2015, due to Kanto Tohoku heavy rainfall in Japan, an overtopping occurred from the Kinu River around 6:00. At the same day, levee breach occurred at the downstream area near Joso city in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. This flood disaster caused two people dead, several people injured, and enormous damages on houses and infrastructures in the city. In order to mitigate such flood disasters with large inundations, it is important to identify flood-affected areas on real-time basis. The real-time flood hazard map, which is our ultimate goal of the study, provides information on location of inundated areas during a flood. However, the technology has not been achieved yet mainly due to the difficulty in identifying the flood extent on real time. With the advantage of efficiency and wide coverage, social media, such as Twitter, appears as a good data source for collecting real-time flood information. However, there are some concerns on social media information, including the trustworthiness, and the amount of useful information in the case tweets from flood affected areas. This study collected tweet regarding the Kinu River flooding and investigated how many people in affected area posted tweets on the flooding and how the detected information is useful for the eventual goal on the real-time flood hazard mapping. The tweets were collected by three ways: advanced search on twitter web page; DISAster-information ANAlyzer system; and Twitter Application Programming Interfaces. As a result, 109 disaster relevant tweets were collected. Out of the 109 tweets, 32% of the total tweets are posted at real-time, 43% of total tweets are posted with photos and 46 tweets are related to the inundation information. 46% of the inundation related tweets were able to identify locations. In order to investigate the reliability of tweet post, the location identified tweets were marked on map to compare with the real inundation extent that measured by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) by helicopter on September 10, 2015. The result shows a good agreement between the actual inundation information and tweet post. Moreover, the tweet posts show an appropriate change of inundation extent. In addition, tweet posts show some additional inundated areas not reported by GSI, but confirmed the inundation after the disaster.

Preparing for effective communications during disasters: lessons from a World Health Organization quality improvement project

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background One hundred ninety-four member nations turn to the World Health Organization (WHO) for guidance and assistance during disasters. Purposes of disaster communication include preventing panic, promoting appropriate health behaviors, coordinating response among stakeholders, advocating for affected populations, and mobilizing resources. Methods A quality improvement project was undertaken to gather expert consensus on best practices that could be used to improve WHO protocols for disaster communication. Open-ended surveys of 26 WHO Communications Officers with disaster response experience were conducted. Responses were categorized to determine the common themes of disaster response communication and areas for practice improvement. Results Disasters where the participants had experience included 29 outbreaks of 13 different diseases in 16 countries, 18 natural disasters of 6 different types in 15 countries, 2 technical disasters in 2 countries, and ten conflicts in 10 countries. Conclusion Recommendations to build communications capacity prior to a disaster include pre-writing public service announcements in multiple languages on questions that frequently arise during disasters; maintaining a database of statistics for different regions and types of disaster; maintaining lists of the locally trusted sources of information for frequently affected countries and regions; maintaining email listservs of employees, international media outlet contacts, and government and non-governmental organization contacts that can be used to rapidly disseminate information; developing a global network with 24-h cross-coverage by participants from each time zone; and creating a central electronic sharepoint where all of these materials can be accessed by communications officers around the globe. PMID:24646607

The Use of Geospatial Technologies in Flood Hazard Mapping and Assessment: Case Study from River Evros

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mentzafou, Angeliki; Markogianni, Vasiliki; Dimitriou, Elias

2017-02-01

Many scientists link climate change to the increase of the extreme weather phenomena frequency, which combined with land use changes often lead to disasters with severe social and economic effects. Especially floods as a consequence of heavy rainfall can put vulnerable human and natural systems such as transboundary wetlands at risk. In order to meet the European Directive 2007/60/EC requirements for the development of flood risk management plans, the flood hazard map of Evros transboundary watershed was produced after a grid-based GIS modelling method that aggregates the main factors related to the development of floods: topography, land use, geology, slope, flow accumulation and rainfall intensity. The verification of this tool was achieved through the comparison between the produced hazard map and the inundation maps derived from the supervised classification of Landsat 5 and 7 satellite imageries of four flood events that took place at Evros delta proximity, a wetland of international importance. The comparison of the modelled output (high and very high flood hazard areas) with the extent of the inundated areas as mapped from the satellite data indicated the satisfactory performance of the model. Furthermore, the vulnerability of each land use against the flood events was examined. Geographically Weighted Regression has also been applied between the final flood hazard map and the major factors in order to ascertain their contribution to flood events. The results accredited the existence of a strong relationship between land uses and flood hazard indicating the flood susceptibility of the lowlands and agricultural land. A dynamic transboundary flood hazard management plan should be developed in order to meet the Flood Directive requirements for adequate and coordinated mitigation practices to reduce flood risk.

Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Assessment Along the Coast of Visakhapatnam, North-East Coast of India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vivek, G.; Grinivasa Kumar, T.

2016-08-01

The current study area is coastal zone of Visakhapatnam, district of Andhra Pradesh along the coast of India. This area is mostly vulnerable to many disasters such as storms, cyclone, flood, tsunami and erosion. This area is considered as cyclone prone area because of frequently occurrence of the cyclones in this area. Recently the two tropical cyclones that formed in the Bay of Bengal are Hudhud (October 13, 2014) and Phylin (October 11, 2013), has caused devastating impacts on the eastern coast and shows that the country has lack of preparedness to cyclone, storm surge and related natural hazards. The multi-hazard vulnerability maps prepared here are a blended and combined overlay of multiple hazards those affecting the coastal zone. The present study aims to develop a methodology for coastal multi-hazard vulnerability assessment. This study carried out using parameters like probability of coastal slope, tsunami arrival height, future sea level rise, coastal erosion and tidal range. The multi-hazard vulnerability maps prepared by overlaying of multi hazards those affecting the coastal zone. Multi-hazard vulnerability maps further reproduced as risk maps with the land use information. The decision making tools presented here can provide a useful information during the disaster for the evacuation process and to evolve a management strategy.

Shallow landslide prediction and analysis with risk assessment using a spatial model in the coastal region in the state of São Paulo, Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camarinha, P. I. M.; Canavesi, V.; Alvalá, R. C. S.

2013-10-01

In Brazil, most of the disasters involving landslide occur in coastal regions, with population density concentrated on steep slopes. Thus, different approaches have been used to evaluate the landslide risk, although the greatest difficulty is related to the scarcity of spatial data with good quality. In this context, four cities located on the southeast coast of Brazil - Santos, Cubatão, Caraguatatuba and Ubatuba - in a region with the rough reliefs of the Serra do Mar and with a history of natural disasters were evaluated. Spatial prediction by fuzzy gamma technique was used for the landslide susceptibility mapping, considering environmental variables from data and software in the public domain. To validate the susceptibility mapping results, it was overlapped with risk sectors provided by the Geological Survey of Brazil (CPRM). A positive correlation was observed between the classes most susceptible and the location of these sectors. The results were also analyzed from the categorization of risk levels provided by CPRM. To compare the approach with other studies using landslide-scar maps, correlated indexes were evaluated, which also showed satisfactory results, thus indicating that the methodology presented is appropriate for risk assessment in urban areas and can be replicated to municipalities that do not have risk areas mapped.

Asset Literacy Following Stroke: Implications for Disaster Resilience.

PubMed

O'Sullivan, Tracey L; Fahim, Christine; Gagnon, Elizabeth

2017-10-17

The World Stroke Organization "1 in 6" campaign aims to raise awareness that 1 in 6 persons will experience a stroke during their lifetime. With aging populations and improved survival rates, an increased number of survivors live with functional limitations and require supportive care. This has important implications for implementing an all-of-society approach to disaster risk reduction. In this study, we explore the assets that stroke survivors and caregivers consider useful in supporting their capacity to manage routine activities and independent living and to respond to a disaster. Transcripts from interviews with stroke survivors and caregivers were analyzed by use of content analysis. Assets were categorized into 4 classes: social, physical, energy, and personal characteristics and are presented as a household map. Emergent themes suggested that understanding how to mobilize assets is complicated yet essential for building resilience. Household resilience requires people have self-efficacy and motivation to move from awareness to action. The findings informed development of a conceptual model of asset literacy and household resilience following stroke. Interventions to enhance asset literacy can support an all-of-society approach to disaster risk reduction through awareness, empowerment, participation, innovation, and engagement. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;page 1 of 9).

Linking Geophysical Networks to International Economic Development Through Integration of Global and National Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lerner-Lam, A.

2007-05-01

Outside of the research community and mission agencies, global geophysical monitoring rarely receives sustained attention except in the aftermath of a humanitarian disaster. The recovery and rebuilding period focuses attention and resources for a short time on regional needs for geophysical observation, often at the national or sub-national level. This can result in the rapid deployment of national monitoring networks, but may overlook the longer-term benefits of integration with global networks. Even in the case of multinational disasters, such as the Indian Ocean tsunami, it has proved difficult to promote the integration of national solutions with global monitoring, research and operations infrastructure. More importantly, continuing operations at the national or sub-national scale are difficult to sustain once the resources associated with recovery and rebuilding are depleted. Except for some notable examples, the vast infrastructure associated with global geophysical monitoring is not utilized constructively to promote the integration of national networks with international efforts. This represents a missed opportunity not only for monitoring, but for developing the international research and educational collaborations necessary for technological transfer and capacity building. The recent confluence of highly visible disasters, global multi-hazard risk assessments, evaluations of the relationships between natural disasters and socio-economic development, and shifts in development agency policies, provides an opportunity to link global geophysical monitoring initiatives to central issues in international development. Natural hazard risk reduction has not been the first priority of international development agendas for understandable, mainly humanitarian reasons. However, it is now recognized that the so-called risk premium associated with making development projects more risk conscious or risk resilient is relatively small relative to potential losses. Thus there is an attitudinal shift emerging whereby disaster risk management can be "mainstreamed" into the sustainable development programs in many countries. Consequently, it is incumbent to demonstrate that multi-scale geophysical monitoring, comprising integration of global networks with national and sub-national operations, is a foundational component of sustainable development infrastructure. This suggests even greater emphasis on developing dynamic and adaptive multi- hazard risk assessments, encompassing valid estimates of social and physical vulnerabilities; designing multi- scale network integration strategies that consider risk as well as hazard; providing operational and flexible templates for developing national networks in a global context; emphasizing the backbone characteristics of global geophysical monitoring to nations seeking to develop their own monitoring capacity; promoting sustained international research, education and training collaborations coinciding with the development of monitoring capacity; and continuing to promote the free and open exchange of data as a necessary component of sustained intellectual interest in monitoring. A combination of these strategies may counteract the decay of interest in regional geophysical monitoring after a disaster.

Mobile satellite services for public safety, disaster mitigation and disaster medicine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freibaum, Jerry

1990-01-01

Between 1967 and 1987 nearly three million lives were lost and property damage of $25 to $100 billion resulted form natural disasters that adversely affected more than 829 million people. The social and economic impacts have been staggering and are expected to grow more serious as a result of changing demographic factors. The role that the Mobile Satellite Service can play in the International Decade is discussed. MSS was not available for disaster relief operations during the recent Loma Prieta/San Francisco earthquake. However, the results of a review of the performance of seven other communication services with respect to public sector operations during and shortly after the earthquake are described. The services surveyed were: public and private telephone, mobile radio telephone, noncellular mobile radio, broadcast media, CB radio, ham radio, and government and nongovernment satellite systems. The application of MSS to disaster medicine, particularly with respect to the Armenian earthquake is also discussed.

Comparison of post-disaster psychiatric disorders after terrorist bombings in Nairobi and Oklahoma City.

PubMed

North, Carol S; Pfefferbaum, Betty; Narayanan, Pushpa; Thielman, Samuel; McCoy, Gretchen; Dumont, Cedric; Kawasaki, Aya; Ryosho, Natsuko; Kim, You-Seung; Spitznagel, Edward L

2005-06-01

African disaster-affected populations are poorly represented in disaster mental health literature. To compare systematically assessed mental health in populations directly exposed to terrorist bombing attacks on two continents, North America and Africa. Structured diagnostic interviews compared citizens exposed to bombings of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya (n=227) and the Oklahoma City Federal Building (n=182). Prevalence rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression were similar after the bombings. No incident (new since the bombing) alcohol use disorders were observed in either site. Symptom group C was strongly associated with PTSD in both sites. The Nairobi group relied more on religious support and the Oklahoma City group used more medical treatment, drugs and alcohol. Post-disaster psychopathology had many similarities in the two cultures; however, coping responses and treatment were quite different. The findings suggest potential for international generalisability of post-disaster psychopathology, but confirmatory studies are needed.

Mobile satellite services for public safety, disaster mitigation and disaster medicine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freibaum, Jerry

Between 1967 and 1987 nearly three million lives were lost and property damage of $25 to $100 billion resulted form natural disasters that adversely affected more than 829 million people. The social and economic impacts have been staggering and are expected to grow more serious as a result of changing demographic factors. The role that the Mobile Satellite Service can play in the International Decade is discussed. MSS was not available for disaster relief operations during the recent Loma Prieta/San Francisco earthquake. However, the results of a review of the performance of seven other communication services with respect to public sector operations during and shortly after the earthquake are described. The services surveyed were: public and private telephone, mobile radio telephone, noncellular mobile radio, broadcast media, CB radio, ham radio, and government and nongovernment satellite systems. The application of MSS to disaster medicine, particularly with respect to the Armenian earthquake is also discussed.

Adolescents' Exposure to Disasters and Substance Use.

PubMed

Schiff, Miriam; Fang, Lin

2016-06-01

This paper reviews the impact of exposure to man-made or natural disasters on adolescent substance use. It covers empirical studies published from 2005 to 2015 concerning (a) the scope of the problem, (b) vulnerable groups and risk and protective factors, and (c) evidence-based interventions. The review suggests a strong link between adolescent substance use and exposure to either man-made or natural disaster. Vulnerable groups include adolescents with previous exposure to traumatic events, living in areas that are continually exposed to disasters, and ethnic minorities. Risk and protective factors at the individual, familial, community, and societal levels are described based on the bioecological model of mass trauma. Given that mass trauma is unfortunately a global problem, it is important to establish international interdisciplinary working teams to set gold standards for comparative studies on the etiology for adolescent substance use in the context of disasters.

Criteria for evaluating the condition of a tropical cyclone warning system.

PubMed

Parker, D

1999-09-01

This paper evaluates the condition (i.e. health) of a tropical cyclone warning system (TCWS) during a 'quiet period' between infrequent intense cyclones. Capacity to make pre-disaster evaluations is important--disaster warning systems need to be in sound condition before, not after, disaster. The research--part of the UK's International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction Flagship Programme--focuses upon an evaluatory method first used on flood warning systems. The Criteria-development Matrix comprises social, organisational and institutional criteria by which a TCWS may be assessed using a five-stage development scale. This method is used to evaluate Mauritius's TCWS using in-depth interview data. Ways to enhance the method and apply it to other disaster warning systems are discussed. The TCWS in Mauritius is a relatively sound one from which others can learn. Weaknesses requiring attention for Mauritius's TCWS to progress to an advanced level of development are identified.

Special report: silent disasters.

PubMed

Eriksson, Anneli

2007-12-01

Disasters occur not only in war and conflict or after natural events, such as earthquakes or floods. In fact, the death of hundreds of thousands of children in Niger every year, often for treatable conditions, could just as well qualify as a disaster situation. A lack of funding for health care and health-care staff and user fee policies for health care in very poor or unstable settings challenge international agreements that make statements about the right to health and access to health care for all people. This paper argues that although sustainable development is important, today many are without essential health care and die in the silent disasters of hunger and poverty. In other words, the development of health care appears to be stalled for the sake of sustainability.

Courage and selflessness in professional actions: but are they enough?

PubMed

Alder-Collins, J K

2013-06-01

The Great East Japan Earthquake on 11 March 2011 caused considerable loss of life, destruction of livelihood and infrastructure. Linked to this event but not its cause, was the meltdown and radioactive contamination of the environment from Fukishima Dai-ichi power plant. This disaster, in turn, led to the enforced evacuation of populations at risk. Japanese nurses, physicians, paramedical staff and faculty from nearby universities all volunteered to staff decontamination centres for evacuees and survivors. This commentary critically reflects on the insights provided in this issue by Noto, Kitamiya, Itaki, Urushizaka & Yamabe (pp. 196-200) on the role of nurses in the Fukishima Dai-ichi disaster, extending that critique to evidence that has emerged through official and unofficial sources. Disaster planning is not a popular subject for societies in general nor is it a finite art or process. Civil authorities often work under restricted or reducing budgets and resources while serving increasing demands. Disaster planning requires multidisciplinary skills sets to be able to work across the many different departments, agencies, interest groups and budgets. Planners need to think outside the box, allocate resources and training to a level that justifies known and/or projected threats in preparing first responders with the correct tools, training and time to practise skills they may never be called upon to use. Disasters will always happen be they natural or man-made. To rely on the courage and selflessness of professionals is not enough. Training and learning from previous disasters can help in responsible planning. © 2013 The Author. International Nursing Review © 2013 International Council of Nurses.

Merging Remote Sensing and Socioeconomic Data to Improve Disaster Risk Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yetman, G.; Chen, R. S.; Huyck, C. K.

2015-12-01

Natural disasters disproportionately impact developing country economies while also impacting business operations for multi-national corporations that rely on supplies and manufacturing in affected areas. Understanding natural hazard risk is only a first step towards preparedness and mitigation—data on facilities, transportation, critical infrastructure, and populations that may be exposed to disasters is required to plan for events and properly assess risks. Detailed exposure data can be used in models to predict casualty rates, aggregate estimates of building damage or destruction, impacts on business operations, and the scale of recovery efforts required. These model outputs are useful for disaster preparedness planning by national and international organizations, as well as for corporations and the reinsurance industry seeking to better understand their risk exposure. Many of these data are lacking for developing countries. Rapid assessment in areas with minimal data for disaster modeling is possible by combing remote sensing data, sample data on construction methods, facility and critical infrastructure data, and economic and demographic census information. This presentation focuses on the methods used to fuse the physical and socioeconomic data by presenting the results from two projects. The first project seeks to improve earthquake risk assessments in Asia using for the reinsurance industry, while the second project builds an integrated exposure database across five countries in Africa for use by international development organizations.

Disaster waste management in Italy: Analysis of recent case studies.

PubMed

Gabrielli, Francesco; Amato, Alessia; Balducci, Susanna; Magi Galluzzi, Lorenzo; Beolchini, Francesca

2018-01-01

The geomorphology of the Italian territory causes the incidence of many disasters like earthquakes and floods, with the consequent production of large volumes of waste. The management of such huge flows, produced in a very short time, may have a high impact on the whole emergency response. Moreover, historical data related to disaster waste management are often not easily accessible; on the other hand, the availability of data concerning previous events could support the emergency managers, that have to take a decision in a very short time. In this context, the present paper analyses four relevant recent case studies in Italy, dealing with disaster waste management after geologic and hydrologic natural events. Significant differences have been observed in the quantity and types of generated wastes, and, also, in the management approach. Such differences are mainly associated with the kind of disaster (i.e. earthquake vs. flood), to the geographical location (i.e. internal vs. coastal area), to the urbanisation level (i.e. industrial vs. urban). The study allowed the identification of both strengths and weaknesses of the applied waste management strategies, that represent "lessons to learn" for future scenarios. Even though it deals with Italian case studies, this manuscript may have a high impact also at international level, making available for the first-time emergency waste management data, that are considered an indispensable support for decision makers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chilean geo client application for disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suárez, Rodrigo F.; Lovison, Lucia; Potters, Martinus

2018-05-01

The global network of the Group on Earth Observation, GEO, connects all kinds of professionals from public and private institutions with data providers, sharing information to face the challenges of global changes and human development and they are creating a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to connect existing data infrastructures. A GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot Project for Disasters in Chile (AIP-8) was created as part of a capacity building initiative and representatives of different national agencies in Chile, along with international experts, formed a GEOSS Capacity Building Working Group (Lovison et al, 2016). Consistent with the objectives of GEOSS AIP-8 Chile, we developed and implemented a prototype service based on web services, mobile applications and other communication channels, which allows connecting different sources of information, aiming to reduce population vulnerability to natural disasters such as: earthquakes, flooding, wild fires and tsunamis, which is presented here. The GEO Chile client application is a JavaScript application using GEODAB brokering services, GIS technology and disaster information provided by national and international disaster services, including public and private organizations, where cartography becomes fundamental as a tool to provide realism and ubiquity to the information. Seven hotpots are targeted: Calbuco, Copahue and Villarrica volcanoes areas, Valparaíso city, which is frequently a victim of wildfires in the zone where population meets forest and Iquique, Illapel and Talcahuano, areas frequently struck by earthquakes and tsunamis.

Application of the improved fuzzy analytic hierarchy process for landslide hazard assessment based on RS and GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Baishou; Gao, Yujiu

2015-12-01

The landslide is a geological disaster that caused the second disruptions and losses next to the earthquake, and people around the world suffered a serious threat to their lives and property damage as a result of landslide disaster every year. So carrying on the study of the landslide hazard will create important theoretical meaning and practical value for proposing targeted prevention and treatment measures. Landslides occur more frequently in Guangxi where serious landslide disasters run riot because of its unique karst topography environment and abundant rainfall. The Wanxiu District of Wuzhou, Guangxi was selected as the study area, the landslide hazard zonation evaluation was studied on the basis of RS and GIS technology. The factors that influence landslide occurrence, such as elevation, slope inclination, slope aspect, curvature and distance to streams were derived from the DEM; land use was extracted from the Google Earth image; lithology was digitalized from the geologic map; rainfall information was from the literature. An improved analytic hierarchy process was presented to determine the index weight in this study. The method weakens the uncertainty in the process of comparing the importance of each factor, it need not to do the consistency check, which can also reduce the iteration times enormously, and improve operating speed. Combined with fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, the landslide hazard mapping of the study area was made according to the maximum membership degree principle. The resulting map can be used to provide some reference values for risk management, land-use planning and urbanization.

The Challenge of Timely, Responsive and Rigorous Ethics Review of Disaster Research: Views of Research Ethics Committee Members.

PubMed

Hunt, Matthew; Tansey, Catherine M; Anderson, James; Boulanger, Renaud F; Eckenwiler, Lisa; Pringle, John; Schwartz, Lisa

2016-01-01

Research conducted following natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or hurricanes is crucial for improving relief interventions. Such research, however, poses ethical, methodological and logistical challenges for researchers. Oversight of disaster research also poses challenges for research ethics committees (RECs), in part due to the rapid turnaround needed to initiate research after a disaster. Currently, there is limited knowledge available about how RECs respond to and appraise disaster research. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the experiences of REC members who had reviewed disaster research conducted in low- or middle-income countries. We used interpretive description methodology and conducted in-depth interviews with 15 respondents. Respondents were chairs, members, advisors, or coordinators from 13 RECs, including RECs affiliated with universities, governments, international organizations, a for-profit REC, and an ad hoc committee established during a disaster. Interviews were analyzed inductively using constant comparative techniques. Through this process, three elements were identified as characterizing effective and high-quality review: timeliness, responsiveness and rigorousness. To ensure timeliness, many RECs rely on adaptations of review procedures for urgent protocols. Respondents emphasized that responsive review requires awareness of and sensitivity to the particularities of disaster settings and disaster research. Rigorous review was linked with providing careful assessment of ethical considerations related to the research, as well as ensuring independence of the review process. Both the frequency of disasters and the conduct of disaster research are on the rise. Ensuring effective and high quality review of disaster research is crucial, yet challenges, including time pressures for urgent protocols, exist for achieving this goal. Adapting standard REC procedures may be necessary. However, steps should be taken to ensure that ethics review of disaster research remains diligent and thorough.

The Challenge of Timely, Responsive and Rigorous Ethics Review of Disaster Research: Views of Research Ethics Committee Members

PubMed Central

Hunt, Matthew; Tansey, Catherine M.

2016-01-01

Background Research conducted following natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods or hurricanes is crucial for improving relief interventions. Such research, however, poses ethical, methodological and logistical challenges for researchers. Oversight of disaster research also poses challenges for research ethics committees (RECs), in part due to the rapid turnaround needed to initiate research after a disaster. Currently, there is limited knowledge available about how RECs respond to and appraise disaster research. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the experiences of REC members who had reviewed disaster research conducted in low- or middle-income countries. Methods We used interpretive description methodology and conducted in-depth interviews with 15 respondents. Respondents were chairs, members, advisors, or coordinators from 13 RECs, including RECs affiliated with universities, governments, international organizations, a for-profit REC, and an ad hoc committee established during a disaster. Interviews were analyzed inductively using constant comparative techniques. Results Through this process, three elements were identified as characterizing effective and high-quality review: timeliness, responsiveness and rigorousness. To ensure timeliness, many RECs rely on adaptations of review procedures for urgent protocols. Respondents emphasized that responsive review requires awareness of and sensitivity to the particularities of disaster settings and disaster research. Rigorous review was linked with providing careful assessment of ethical considerations related to the research, as well as ensuring independence of the review process. Conclusion Both the frequency of disasters and the conduct of disaster research are on the rise. Ensuring effective and high quality review of disaster research is crucial, yet challenges, including time pressures for urgent protocols, exist for achieving this goal. Adapting standard REC procedures may be necessary. However, steps should be taken to ensure that ethics review of disaster research remains diligent and thorough. PMID:27327165

Citizen Science for Post-disaster Sustainable Community Development in Ecologically Fragiel Regions - A Case from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Wei; Ming, Meng; Lu, Ye; Jin, Wei

2016-04-01

The world's mountains host some of the most complex, dynamic, and diverse ecosystems and are also hotspots for natural disasters, such as earthquake, landslide and flood. One factor that limits the mountain communities to recover from disasters and pursue sustainable development is the lack of locally relevant scientific knowledge, which is hard to gain from global and regional scale observations and models. The rapid advances in ICT, computing, communication technologies and the emergence of citizen science is changing the situation. Here we report a case from Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuary World Natural Heritage in China on the application of citizen science in a community reconstruction project. Dahe, a mountainous community (ca. 8000 ha in size) is located covering part of the World Heritage's core and buffer zones, with an elevation range of 1000-3000 meters. The community suffered from two major earthquakes of 7.9 and 6.9 Mw in 2008 and 2013 respectively. Landslides and flooding threat the community and significantly limit their livelihood options. We integrated participatory disaster risk mapping (e.g., community vulnerability and capacity assessment) and mobile assisted natural hazards and natural resources mapping (e.g., using free APP GeoODK) into more conventional community reconstruction and livelihood building activities. We showed that better decisions are made based on results from these activities and local residents have a high level of buy-in in these new knowledge. We suggest that initiatives like this, if successfully scale-up, can also help generate much needed data and knowledge in similar less-developed and data deficient regions of the world.

[The Humanitarian Charter and minimum standards in humanitarian response are applicable in German refugee facilities].

PubMed

Gardemann, Joachim; Wilp, Thomas

2016-05-01

In recent refugee migration into Germany the responsibilities and reactions of health authorities are still lacking general co-ordination. Can the ethical and technical standards of international humanitarian assistance serve as an appropriate and even a compulsory guideline for relief agencies, public health and regulatory authorities in Germany? Documents from the field of medical ethics, medical law, international humanitarian law and disaster medicine will be examined and checked for practicability by consulting experiences during the 1990s Balkan wars refugee movement and international missions of relief agencies. Ethical and technical standards of international humanitarian assistance have been developed, improved and evaluated for 20 years, and are valuable tools for emergency management. Victims of disaster or conflict have a right to live in dignity and therefore have a right to receive health care according to international standards. International ethical and technical standards for refugees should be considered in the Federal Republic of Germany like in any other country.

Health Topics: MedlinePlus

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Identifying the driving forces of urban expansion and its environmental impact in Jakarta-Bandung mega urban region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pravitasari, A. E.; Rustiadi, E.; Mulya, S. P.; Setiawan, Y.; Fuadina, L. N.; Murtadho, A.

2018-05-01

The socio-economic development in Jakarta-Bandung Mega Urban Region (JBMUR) caused the increasing of urban expansion and led to a variety of environmental damage such as uncontrolled land use conversion and raising anthropogenic disaster. The objectives of this study are: (1) to identify the driving forces of urban expansion that occurs on JBMUR and (2) to analyze the environmental quality decline on JBMUR by producing time series spatial distribution map and spatial autocorrelation of floods and landslide as the proxy of anthropogenic disaster. The driving forces of urban expansion in this study were identified by employing Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model using 6 (six) independent variables, namely: population density, percentage of agricultural land, distance to the center of capital city/municipality, percentage of household who works in agricultural sector, distance to the provincial road, and distance to the local road. The GWR results showed that local demographic, social and economic factors including distance to the road spatially affect urban expansion in JBMUR. The time series spatial distribution map of floods and landslide event showed the spatial cluster of anthropogenic disaster in some areas. Through Local Moran Index, we found that environmental damage in one location has a significant impact on the condition of its surrounding area.

Zonation of High Disaster Potential Communities for Remote Mountainous Areas in Southern Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yie-Ruey; Tsai, Kuang-Jung; Chang, Chwen-Ming; Chen, Jing-Wen; Chiang, Jie-Lun; Lu, Yi-Ching; Tsai, Hui-Wen

2017-04-01

About three-quarters of Taiwan are covered by hillside areas. Most of the hillside regions in Taiwan are sedimentary and metamorphic rocks which are fragile and highly weathered. In recent years, human development coupled with the global impact of extreme weather, typhoons and heavy rains have caused the landslide disasters and leaded to human causalities and properties loss. The landslides also endanger the major public works and almost make the overall industrial economic development and transport path overshadowed by disasters. Therefore, this research assesses the exploration of landslide potential analysis and zonation of high disaster potential communities for remote mountainous areas in southern Taiwan. In this study, the time series of disaster records and land change of remote mountainous areas in southern Taiwan are collected using techniques of interpretation from satellite images corresponding to multi-year and multi-rainfall events. To quantify the slope hazards, we adopt statistical analysis model to analyze massive data of slope disasters and explore the variance, difference and trend of influence factors of hillside disaster; establish the disaster potential analysis model under the climate change and construct the threshold of disaster. Through analysis results of disaster potential assessment, the settlement distribution with high-risk hazard potential of study area is drawn with geographic information system. Results of image classification show that the values of coefficient of agreement for different time periods are at high level. Compared with the historical disaster records of research areas, the accuracy of predicted landslide potential is in reasonable confidence level. The spatial distribution of landslide depends on the interaction of rainfall patterns, slope and elevation of the research area. The results also show that the number and scale of secondary landslide sites are much larger than those of new landslide sites after rainfall. The greater the slope land disturbance, the more likely the scale of secondary landslide uprises. The results of the map for the zonation of high-disaster potential communities can be a useful reference for the government to plan strategies on adaptation to climate change for remote mountainous communities in southern Taiwan.

A reassessment and review of the Bam earthquake five years onward: what was done wrong?

PubMed

Motamedi, Mohammad Hosein Kalantar; Saghafinia, Masound; Bararani, Azadeh Hassani; Panahi, Farzad

2009-01-01

An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale on 23 December 2003 devastated the city of Bam in southeastern Iran. During the response and recovery phases, considerable shortcomings were discovered. The dire situation in the affected area, a variety of urgently required interventions, and the large number of aid organizations involved brought about difficulties in management, coordination, and communication among authorities and aid organizations. This article highlights flaws in management in the various aspects of this disaster in order to assess what was done, and what should be done to overcome these shortcomings in future disasters. A retrospective review of the various aspects of management related to the Bam disaster was done via the assessment of files, multi-center studies, governmental data, and available literature from 2003-2008. A review of the available data relevant to search and rescue operations and short-term aid provision revealed flaws in different aspects of disaster management including personnel, the transfer of the injured, availability medical supplies, treatment planning, problems concerning the composition of treatment forces dispatched to the region, distribution of tasks among treatment workers, transferring of equipment, availability of facilities, and lack of coordination among the organizations responsible for the management of the disaster. Most of the aforementioned issues have been addressed. A comprehensive disaster management plan must not be limited only to the response phase, but rather must include: preparedness, recovery with optimal legislation and budgeting, improvement of healthcare facilities, and organized communication channels between the different governmental departments. This important issue has been addressed, and a disaster management organization under the supervision of the President has been established, developing a national search and rescue strategy and protocol for unified managerial organization, an alert system, an international disaster command system (under which search and rescue and emergency medical service teams can be deployed, increasing the efficacy and coordination of the arrival of foreign teams and the construction field hospitals), and developing a flowchart to coordinate international agencies and the domestic authorities in charge. Continuous education, training of the general population, conducting periodic exercise drills, and provision for prepared task force mobilization in disaster management all are important aspects of the management of disasters due to natural hazards.

Location-Based Critical Infrastructure Interdependency (LBCII)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

Effective disaster management reduces devastation and cost . This section describes the processes of disaster management, including the elements of CEM...it has reasonable probability, based on the tectonic geology and the history of the region. The case highlights the usability of network- centric...of earthquake risk assessment in Cartago, Costa Rica . International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC): Enschede

Analysis of Capabilities of Organizations in the Areas of Responsibility for U.S. Commands of the United States Navy to Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-30

Items ..................................... 14 Table 6. Health Action...Red Cross 3436 3381 3,055 90.4 The Salvation Army International 3388 3289 2,706 82.3 Baptist Health South Florida 2637...Distribution Health Service Support Collaboration & Governance Information & Knowledge Mgt Core Competencies and Capabilities for Disaster Response

A Study of Selected Ethnic Affiliations in the Development of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Other Psychopathology After a Terrorist Bombing in Nairobi, Kenya.

PubMed

North, Carol S; Dvorkina, Tatiana; Thielman, Samuel; Pfefferbaum, Betty; Narayanan, Pushpa; Pollio, David E

2017-09-19

Despite the frequency of disasters in Africa, almost nothing is known about ethnic affiliations in relation to psychopathology after such incidents. This study examined the mental health outcomes of members of 7 major ethnic groups exposed to the 1998 terrorist bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Approximately 8 to 10 months after the disaster, 229 civilian employees, 99 locally engaged staff workers of the US State Department and the US Agency for International Development, and 64 workers of the Kenyan Red Cross Society (total N=392) were assessed with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition). Additional data were gathered on demographic characteristics, disaster exposures and injuries, and ethnic affiliations. Disaster-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was significantly less prevalent among members of the Kikuyu group (28%) and post-disaster major depression was significantly more prevalent among members of the Meru group (64%), compared with all others in the sample. Preexisting psychopathology and disaster injury were independently associated with bombing-related psychopathology. Further study of disaster-related psychopathology in relation to African ethnic affiliations is needed to better understand these associations and to assist in planning resources and interventions for African disaster survivors. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;page 1 of 6).

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Versus Disaster Risk Creation (DRC)

PubMed Central

Lewis, James

2012-01-01

In understanding and trying to reduce the risk from disasters, connections are often articulated amongst poverty, vulnerability, risk, and disasters. These are welcome steps, but the approach taken in top-down international documents is rarely to articulate explicitly that vulnerability accrues from a wide variety of dynamic and long-term processes. Neglecting these processes—and failing to explore their links with poverty, risk, and disasters—tends to encourage disaster risk creation. This paper identifies seven examples of on-the-ground realities of long-term vulnerability within two clusters: Endangerment: 1 Environmental degradation. 2 Discrimination. 3 Displacement. Impoverishment: 4 Self-seeking public expenditure. 5 Denial of access to resources. 6 Corruption. 7 Siphoning of public money. Examples are presented as vignettes, many contemporary and many rooted in historical contexts, to demonstrate the extent to which “vulnerability drivers” emanate from greed, the misuse of political and commercial power, mismanagement and incompetence amongst other behaviours. Moving forward to the tackling of disaster risk creation, instead of simply seeking disaster risk reduction, requires detailed investigation into these contemporary and historical realities of the causes of vulnerability. That would support the integration of disaster risk reduction within the many wider contexts that foment and perpetuate vulnerability. PMID:22919564

Innovative Methods for the Benefit of Public Health Using Space Technologies for Disaster Response.

PubMed

Dinas, Petros C; Mueller, Christian; Clark, Nathan; Elgin, Tim; Nasseri, S Ali; Yaffe, Etai; Madry, Scott; Clark, Jonathan B; Asrar, Farhan

2015-06-01

Space applications have evolved to play a significant role in disaster relief by providing services including remote sensing imagery for mitigation and disaster damage assessments; satellite communication to provide access to medical services; positioning, navigation, and timing services; and data sharing. Common issues identified in past disaster response and relief efforts include lack of communication, delayed ordering of actions (eg, evacuations), and low levels of preparedness by authorities during and after disasters. We briefly summarize the Space for Health (S4H) Team Project, which was prepared during the Space Studies Program 2014 within the International Space University. The S4H Project aimed to improve the way space assets and experiences are used in support of public health during disaster relief efforts. We recommend an integrated solution based on nano-satellites or a balloon communication system, mobile self-contained relief units, portable medical scanning devices, and micro-unmanned vehicles that could revolutionize disaster relief and disrupt different markets. The recommended new system of coordination and communication using space assets to support public health during disaster relief efforts is feasible. Nevertheless, further actions should be taken by governments and organizations in collaboration with the private sector to design, test, and implement this system.

Pediatric disaster preparedness and response and the nation's children's hospitals.

PubMed

Lyle, Kristin C; Milton, Jerrod; Fagbuyi, Daniel; LeFort, Roxanna; Sirbaugh, Paul; Gonzalez, Jacqueline; Upperman, Jeffrey S; Carmack, Tim; Anderson, Michael

2015-01-01

Children account for 30 percent of the US population; as a result, many victims of disaster events are children. The most critically injured pediatric victims would be best cared for in a tertiary care pediatric hospital. The Children's Hospital Association (CHA) undertook a survey of its members to determine their level of readiness to respond to a mass casualty disaster. The Disaster Response Task Force constructed survey questions in October 2011. The survey was distributed via e-mail to the person listed as an "emergency manager/disaster contact" at each association member hospital and was designed to take less than 15 minutes to complete. The survey sought to determine how children's hospitals address disaster preparedness, how prepared they feel for disaster events, and how CHA could support their efforts in preparedness. One hundred seventy-nine surveys were distributed with a 36 percent return rate. Seventy percent of respondent hospitals have a structure in place to plan for disaster response. There was a stronger level of confidence for hospitals in responding to local casualty events than for those responding to large-scale regional, national, and international events. Few hospitals appear to interact with nonmedical facilities with a high concentration of children such as schools or daycares. Little commonality exists among children's hospitals in approaches to disaster preparedness and response. Universally, respondents can identify a disaster response plan and routinely participate in drills, but the scale and scope of these plans and drills vary substantially.

Knowledge, awareness, and preparedness unlinked in layperson

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oki, S.; Nakayachi, K.

2012-12-01

Risk assessment is of importance for the reduction of natural disasters. By utilizing the risk information such as producing shake maps or tsunami hazard maps, people can learn what kind of natural hazards they have to deal with. Japanese government takes it as an effective strategy in mitigating earthquake disaster to transfer the basic knowledge of the tectonic background of Japan and of the latest research results. In fact, the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion describes in their webpage that their basic concept is: to transfer the knowledge of research results such as long-term evaluation of large earthquake occurrence to the public, so that people will be aware and conscious of the existing risks, and then they take action to mitigate earthquake disaster. On the other hand, it goes without saying that there always exists a constant risk of earthquake disaster in Japan and every single person living in this earthquake prone country knows that. Moreover, residents know what will happen when a big earthquake occurs such as collapse of houses or tsunamis unlike cases for unknown infectious diseases. Thus they do not have to wait for the government's releasing latest research results of long-term evaluation and possibility of large earthquake occurrence to take action to mitigate disaster. Yet, people die from earthquakes of magnitude-7 class almost every year in Japan, and the causes of death are very common ones such as collapse of houses, falloff of furniture, fire or tsunamis. This fact tells us that the knowledge itself will not give serious awareness of earthquake risks or not motivate people to take action for disaster prevention. We have to have another look at the personnel risk management of earthquake disaster, for the concept of 3-steps; giving knowledge, giving awareness, and taking action would not work as expected. To examine this, we conducted experiments to see if knowledge of earthquake science helps people to be aware the risks or to take action for disaster prevention. Examinees are 200 high school and undergraduate students who do not major in Earth science. We first gave them information of basic knowledge such as tectonic backgrounds of Japan and the latest research outcomes such as long-term evaluation of large earthquake occurrence or the strong ground motion, and then asked what they felt. The results show that neither the basic knowledge nor the latest research outcomes motivate examinees to take action for the disaster prevention or even to give awareness. We then showed them the movies of the past earthquake disasters and some episodes who had lost their loved ones from the recent earthquakes, and asked the same question. As psychology implies, this information made examinees feel dread and they became aware of the risks lie ahead. But still, they did not mention what to do to prevent the tragedy. In the presentation, we would like to show the difficulty to make people take action to protect their lives from earthquake disasters. We also show peoples' preparedness/unpreparedness with the information released by a Japanese research group in the late January saying the possibility of metropolitan Tokyo earthquake being 70% in this coming 4-year.

The disaster was my fault!

PubMed

Robertson, Mary M; Cavanna, Andrea E

2007-10-01

We report the case of a child affected by Gilles de la Tourette syndrome and comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder who claimed to have caused the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States by failing to accomplish a stereotyped compulsive ritual. Special attention is paid to the relationship between the patient's neuropsychiatric symptoms and the belief that he personally had influenced the outcome of an internationally notorious disaster. Prognostic and treatment implications are also presented, along with a review of the literature on the clinical and psychosocial impact of terrorist attacks and natural disasters on children suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders.

[Earthquakes in El Salvador].

PubMed

de Ville de Goyet, C

2001-02-01

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has 25 years of experience dealing with major natural disasters. This piece provides a preliminary review of the events taking place in the weeks following the major earthquakes in El Salvador on 13 January and 13 February 2001. It also describes the lessons that have been learned over the last 25 years and the impact that the El Salvador earthquakes and other disasters have had on the health of the affected populations. Topics covered include mass-casualties management, communicable diseases, water supply, managing donations and international assistance, damages to the health-facilities infrastructure, mental health, and PAHO's role in disasters.

An Ontology-Based Approach to Incorporate User-Generated Geo-Content Into Sdi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, D.-P.; Lemmens, R.

2011-08-01

The Web is changing the way people share and communicate information because of emergence of various Web technologies, which enable people to contribute information on the Web. User-Generated Geo-Content (UGGC) is a potential resource of geographic information. Due to the different production methods, UGGC often cannot fit in geographic information model. There is a semantic gap between UGGC and formal geographic information. To integrate UGGC into geographic information, this study conducts an ontology-based process to bridge this semantic gap. This ontology-based process includes five steps: Collection, Extraction, Formalization, Mapping, and Deployment. In addition, this study implements this process on Twitter messages, which is relevant to Japan Earthquake disaster. By using this process, we extract disaster relief information from Twitter messages, and develop a knowledge base for GeoSPARQL queries in disaster relief information.

Call to Action: The Case for Advancing Disaster Nursing Education in the United States.

PubMed

Veenema, Tener Goodwin; Lavin, Roberta Proffitt; Griffin, Anne; Gable, Alicia R; Couig, Mary Pat; Dobalian, Aram

2017-11-01

Climate change, human conflict, and emerging infectious diseases are inexorable actors in our rapidly evolving healthcare landscape that are triggering an ever-increasing number of disaster events. A global nursing workforce is needed that possesses the knowledge, skills, and abilities to respond to any disaster or large-scale public health emergency in a timely and appropriate manner. The purpose of this article is to articulate a compelling mandate for the advancement of disaster nursing education within the United States with clear action steps in order to contribute to the achievement of this vision. A national panel of invited disaster nursing experts was convened through a series of monthly semistructured conference calls to work collectively towards the achievement of a national agenda for the future of disaster nursing education. National nursing education experts have developed consensus recommendations for the advancement of disaster nursing education in the United States. This article proposes next steps and action items to achieve the desired vision of national nurse readiness. Novel action steps for expanding disaster educational opportunities across the continuum of nursing are proposed in response to the current compelling need to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the impact of disasters on human health. U.S. educational institutions and health and human service organizations that employ nurses must commit to increasing access to a variety of quality disaster-related educational programs for nurses and nurse leaders. Opportunities exist to strengthen disaster readiness and enhance national health security by expanding educational programming and training for nurses. © 2017 Sigma Theta Tau International.

The West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative: Strengthening National Capacities for All-Hazards Disaster Preparedness.

PubMed

Morton Hamer, Melinda J; Reed, Paul L; Greulich, Jane D; Kelen, Gabor D; Bradstreet, Nicole A; Beadling, Charles W

2017-08-01

The Ebola outbreak demonstrated the need for improved disaster response throughout West Africa. The West Africa Disaster Preparedness Initiative was a training and assessment effort led by US Africa Command and partners to strengthen capacities among 12 West African partner nations (PNs). Series of 3-week training sessions with representatives from each PN were held from 13 July through 20 November 2015 at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. A team conducted Disaster Management Capabilities Assessments (DMCAs) for each PN, including a review of key data, a survey for leaders, and in-person interviews of key informants. All 12 PNs generated a national Ebola Preparedness and Response Plan and Emergency Operations Center standard operating procedures. DMCA metrics were generated for each PN. Top performers included Ghana, with a plan rated good/excellent, and Benin and Burkina Faso, which both achieved a satisfactory rating for their plans. More than 800 people from 12 nations were trained. PNs have improved disaster management capabilities and awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. The Economic Community of West African States has increased its lead role in this and future planned initiatives. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:431-438).

Disasters and public health

PubMed Central

Lechat, M. F.

1979-01-01

Studies on the health effects of disasters have shown that epidemiological indices can be of value in planning preventive and relief measures and in evaluating their effectiveness. Mortality rates naturally vary considerably, but in earthquakes, for example, the number of deaths per 100 houses destroyed can give an indication of the adequacy of building techniques. Age-specific mortality rates can help to identify particularly vulnerable groups and perhaps indicate what form of education would be valuable. Except in earthquakes, the number of casualties after a disaster is usually low in relation to the number of deaths, and study of the distribution and types of lesions would help in planning the amounts and types of relief supplies and personnel required. Disasters also affect the general level of morbidity in a district because of either interruption of normal health care services or of spraying or other disease control measures. Mental health and nutrition following disasters are particular problems that require further investigation. Study of all these features of disasters has been handicapped by a lack of data, particularly concerning the health situation immediately after the impact. The provision of surveillance teams in disaster-prone areas would appear to be a field in which international cooperation could yield immense benefits. PMID:311707

The financial management of catastrophic flood risks in emerging-economy countries.

PubMed

Kunreuther, Howard C; Linnerooth-Bayer, Joanne

2003-06-01

This article examines the potential of pre- and post-disaster instruments for funding disaster response and recovery and for creating incentives for flood loss mitigation in countries with emerging or transition economies. As a concrete case, we discuss the disaster recovery arrangements following the 1997 flood disaster in Poland. We examine the advantages and limitations of hedging instruments, which are instruments for transferring the risk to investors either through insurance or capital market-based securities. We compare these mechanisms with financing instruments whereby the government sets aside funds prior to a disaster or taps its own funding sources after the event occurs. We show how hedging instruments can be designed to create incentives for the mitigation of damage to public infrastructure using the flood proofing of a water-treatment plant on the hypothetical Topping River as an illustrative example. We conclude that hedging instruments can be an attractive alternative to financing instruments that have been traditionally used in the poorer, emerging-economy countries to fund disaster recovery. Since very poor countries are likely to have difficulty paying the price of protection prior to a disaster, we suggest that international lending institutions consider innovations for subsidizing these payments.

Longitudinal expandable shelter for medical response during disasters.

PubMed

Miniati, Roberto; Dori, Fabrizio; Iadanza, Ernesto; Lo Sardo, Marco; Boncinelli, Sergio

2010-01-01

During medical emergencies, hospitals represent the final point of the whole rescue process. Therefore, effective health mobile structures have to be inserted between hospitals and the place of the event with the aim of giving the best of cures (using appropriate and easy to use equipment) for a safer and faster evacuation to hospitals. Literature review and national and international disaster medicine standards were the basis for this study to provide clinical, hygienical, and organizational needs to satisfy for the medical structure design. Project requirements have been obtained by analyzing structural, organizational, and clinical process necessities. Structural requirements respond to the possibility of installation on every ground type, resistance to every weather condition, and necessity of easy and fast transportation. Technological equipment is obtained from clinical evaluation for patient stabilization. The designed structure results to be a longitudinal expandable shelter (LES) for medical emergencies response organized in three internal functional areas. Possibility of automatic expandability allows rapid transportation and easy deployment. The functional internal organization provides three areas: "Diagnostic," "Therapeutic," and "Pre-evacuation monitoring." Further, longitudinal expandability supports the basic hygienical rules in healthcare processes allowing the unidirectional flow of casualties from dirtier to cleaner areas of the structure. LES represents the answer to expressed requisites by disaster medicine standards and guidelines. It aims to provide an efficient and effective support for sanitary aid in response to disasters or emergencies, by improving aspects related to effectiveness, hygiene, and quality of clinical performances especially for highest critical cases.

Semantic Segmentation and Difference Extraction via Time Series Aerial Video Camera and its Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amit, S. N. K.; Saito, S.; Sasaki, S.; Kiyoki, Y.; Aoki, Y.

2015-04-01

Google earth with high-resolution imagery basically takes months to process new images before online updates. It is a time consuming and slow process especially for post-disaster application. The objective of this research is to develop a fast and effective method of updating maps by detecting local differences occurred over different time series; where only region with differences will be updated. In our system, aerial images from Massachusetts's road and building open datasets, Saitama district datasets are used as input images. Semantic segmentation is then applied to input images. Semantic segmentation is a pixel-wise classification of images by implementing deep neural network technique. Deep neural network technique is implemented due to being not only efficient in learning highly discriminative image features such as road, buildings etc., but also partially robust to incomplete and poorly registered target maps. Then, aerial images which contain semantic information are stored as database in 5D world map is set as ground truth images. This system is developed to visualise multimedia data in 5 dimensions; 3 dimensions as spatial dimensions, 1 dimension as temporal dimension, and 1 dimension as degenerated dimensions of semantic and colour combination dimension. Next, ground truth images chosen from database in 5D world map and a new aerial image with same spatial information but different time series are compared via difference extraction method. The map will only update where local changes had occurred. Hence, map updating will be cheaper, faster and more effective especially post-disaster application, by leaving unchanged region and only update changed region.

Natural disasters and gender dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roder, Giulia; Tarolli, Paolo

2016-04-01

Worldwide statistics reveal that the increasing number of risks and disaster impacts within the last decades have caused highly severe damages, with high death toll and huge economic damages (World Bank, 2010). As a consequence people's vulnerabilities have increased disproportionally in recent years. Individuals' ability to anticipate, prepare, cope, respond and recover from disasters differs according to some socio-economic attributes present in each community. The research on natural disasters in a gendered perspective is fairly limited compared to other variables. In fact, the need to track social vulnerabilities and investigate gender dynamics into all levels of the disaster life cycle has been recognized only recently, during the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (March 2015). For this purpose, we propose a review of the literature regarding the ways men and women conceptualise natural disasters, prepare and react, both physically and psychologically, to catastrophic events. This work tries to give some interpretation to these subjects analysing the social context in which sex discrepancies are developed, in different countries, cultures and in various socio-economic backgrounds. Findings highlighted that women perceived more the risk, and they have developed personal strategies to better react and withstand the impacts of negative occurrences. Being at home, working in the house and caring the children have been always placed them at a higher exposure to disasters. However, these circumstances, they gave them the means to organize the family for evacuations thanks to their deep knowledge of the territory they live and the neighbourhood networks they create. Women seem to be not sole victims, but valuable resources able to take leading roles in building disaster resilience. Some case studies, however, continue to demonstrate a female's higher fear and powerless face hazardous events than their counterparts, showing various mental health disorders. Men, on the other side, feel more often prepared to overcome the crises, but what emerges from the stress and the losses caused by disasters are different types of violence (self-harm and interpersonal violence). It is therefore necessary to recognize violence and mental health pathologies as part of the negative consequences that occur after natural disasters and that can be part of people's vulnerability if those events recur frequently. Living conditions, demographic, economic attributes, behaviours and beliefs reflect gender power relations in the disaster context. Failing to recognize it, may lead to inefficient community-based risk management plans. Gender dynamics in the disaster context should be the interest not only of non-governmental and/or international organizations. They should be a priority for researchers that have to contribute more in their studies to find a gendered differentiation, without limiting gender to an isolated attribute. This will help public authorities to develop sensitive management plans in order to let the disaster relief an easy process to achieve. This work will contribute to the scientific recognition of gender in the disaster management context, in order to raise further investigations on this topic. World Bank (2010) Natural Hazards, Unnatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Reports.

Quantifying and Mapping Global Data Poverty.

PubMed

Leidig, Mathias; Teeuw, Richard M

2015-01-01

Digital information technologies, such as the Internet, mobile phones and social media, provide vast amounts of data for decision-making and resource management. However, access to these technologies, as well as their associated software and training materials, is not evenly distributed: since the 1990s there has been concern about a "Digital Divide" between the data-rich and the data-poor. We present an innovative metric for evaluating international variations in access to digital data: the Data Poverty Index (DPI). The DPI is based on Internet speeds, numbers of computer owners and Internet users, mobile phone ownership and network coverage, as well as provision of higher education. The datasets used to produce the DPI are provided annually for almost all the countries of the world and can be freely downloaded. The index that we present in this 'proof of concept' study is the first to quantify and visualise the problem of global data poverty, using the most recent datasets, for 2013. The effects of severe data poverty, particularly limited access to geoinformatic data, free software and online training materials, are discussed in the context of sustainable development and disaster risk reduction. The DPI highlights countries where support is needed for improving access to the Internet and for the provision of training in geoinfomatics. We conclude that the DPI is of value as a potential metric for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Internal radiation exposure of Ground Self-Defense Force members involved in the management of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant disaster.

PubMed

Naoi, Yutaka; Fujikawa, Akira; Kyoto, Yukishige; Kunishima, Naoaki; Ono, Masahiro; Watanabe, Yukie

2013-01-01

When the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11, 2011, the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) was dispatched nationally to Northeast area in Japan. The highly trained GSDF members were simultaneously assigned to various missions for the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants disaster. The missions of GSDF terminated on August 31, 2011. Special medical examinations were conducted for the members as they returned to each military unit. GSDF members who were assigned to the nuclear power plant were at risk of radiation exposure; therefore, pocket dosimeters were used to assess external radiation exposure. A few months after the mission was terminated, measurements of internal radiation exposure were performed. This is the first report of the internal exposure of GSDF members who worked in the restricted radiation contamination area. Here, we report the amounts of internal and external exposure of and the equipment used by the GSDF members.

Disasters and mass casualties: I. General principles of response and management.

PubMed

Born, Christopher T; Briggs, Susan M; Ciraulo, David L; Frykberg, Eric R; Hammond, Jeffrey S; Hirshberg, Asher; Lhowe, David W; O'Neill, Patricia A

2007-07-01

Disaster planning and response to a mass casualty incident pose unique demands on the medical community. Because they would be required to confront many casualties with bodily injury and surgical problems, surgeons in particular must become better educated in disaster management. Compared with routine practice, triage principles in disasters require an entirely different approach to evaluation and care and often run counter to training and ethical values. An effective response to disaster and mass casualty events should focus on an "all hazards" approach, defined as the ability to adapt and apply fundamental disaster management principles universally to any mass casualty incident, whether caused by people or nature. Organizational tools such as the Incident Command System and the Hospital Incident Command System help to effect a rapid and coordinated response to specific situations. The United States federal government, through the National Response Plan, has the responsibility to respond quickly and efficiently to catastrophic incidents and to ensure critical life-saving assistance. International medical surgical response teams are capable of providing medical, surgical, and intensive care services in austere environments anywhere in the world.

Nationwide program of education for undergraduates in the field of disaster medicine: development of a core curriculum centered on blended learning and simulation tools.

PubMed

Ingrassia, Pier Luigi; Ragazzoni, Luca; Tengattini, Marco; Carenzo, Luca; Della Corte, Francesco

2014-10-01

In recent years, effective models of disaster medicine curricula for medical schools have been established. However, only a small percentage of medical schools worldwide have considered at least basic disaster medicine teaching in their study program. In Italy, disaster medicine has not yet been included in the medical school curriculum. Perceiving the lack of a specific course on disaster medicine, the Segretariato Italiano Studenti in Medicina (SISM) contacted the Centro di Ricerca Interdipartimentale in Medicina di Emergenza e dei Disastri ed Informatica applicata alla didattica e alla pratica Medica (CRIMEDIM) with a proposal for a nationwide program in this field. Seven modules (introduction to disaster medicine, prehospital disaster management, definition of triage, characteristics of hospital disaster plans, treatment of the health consequences of different disasters, psychosocial care, and presentation of past disasters) were developed using an e-learning platform and a 12-hour classroom session which involved problem-based learning (PBL) activities, table-top exercises, and a computerized simulation (Table 1). The modules were designed as a framework for a disaster medicine curriculum for undergraduates and covered the three main disciplines (clinical and psychosocial, public health, and emergency and risk management) of the core of "Disaster Health" according to the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) international guidelines for disaster medicine education. From January 2011 through May 2013, 21 editions of the course were delivered to 21 different medical schools, and 524 students attended the course. The blended approach and the use of simulation tools were appreciated by all participants and successfully increased participants' knowledge of disaster medicine and basic competencies in performing mass-casualty triage. This manuscript reports on the designing process and the initial outcomes with respect to learners' achievements and satisfaction of a 1-month educational course on the fundamentals of disaster medicine. This experience might represent a valid and innovative solution for a disaster medicine curriculum for medical students that is easily delivered by medical schools. [table: see text].

Improving the extraction of crisis information in the context of flood, fire, and landslide rapid mapping using SAR and optical remote sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinis, Sandro; Clandillon, Stephen; Twele, André; Huber, Claire; Plank, Simon; Maxant, Jérôme; Cao, Wenxi; Caspard, Mathilde; May, Stéphane

2016-04-01

Optical and radar satellite remote sensing have proven to provide essential crisis information in case of natural disasters, humanitarian relief activities and civil security issues in a growing number of cases through mechanisms such as the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) of the European Commission or the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters'. The aforementioned programs and initiatives make use of satellite-based rapid mapping services aimed at delivering reliable and accurate crisis information after natural hazards. Although these services are increasingly operational, they need to be continuously updated and improved through research and development (R&D) activities. The principal objective of ASAPTERRA (Advancing SAR and Optical Methods for Rapid Mapping), the ESA-funded R&D project being described here, is to improve, automate and, hence, speed-up geo-information extraction procedures in the context of natural hazards response. This is performed through the development, implementation, testing and validation of novel image processing methods using optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. The methods are mainly developed based on data of the German radar satellites TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X, the French satellite missions Pléiades-1A/1B as well as the ESA missions Sentinel-1/2 with the aim to better characterize the potential and limitations of these sensors and their synergy. The resulting algorithms and techniques are evaluated in real case applications during rapid mapping activities. The project is focussed on three types of natural hazards: floods, landslides and fires. Within this presentation an overview of the main methodological developments in each topic is given and demonstrated in selected test areas. The following developments are presented in the context of flood mapping: a fully automated Sentinel-1 based processing chain for detecting open flood surfaces, a method for the improved detection of flooded vegetation in Sentinel-1data using Entropy/Alpha decomposition, unsupervised Wishart Classification, and object-based post-classification as well as semi-automatic approaches for extracting inundated areas and flood traces in rural and urban areas from VHR and HR optical imagery using machine learning techniques. Methodological developments related to fires are the implementation of fast and robust methods for mapping burnt scars using change detection procedures using SAR (Sentinel-1, TerraSAR-X) and HR optical (e.g. SPOT, Sentinel-2) data as well as the extraction of 3D surface and volume change information from Pléiades stereo-pairs. In the context of landslides, fast and transferable change detection procedures based on SAR (TerraSAR-X) and optical (SPOT) data as well methods for extracting the extent of landslides only based on polarimetric VHR SAR (TerraSAR-X) data are presented.

Medical student disaster medicine education: the development of an educational resource

PubMed Central

Domres, Bernd D.; Stahl, Wolfgang; Bauer, Andreas; Houser, Christine M.; Himmelseher, Sabine

2010-01-01

Background Disaster medicine education is an enormous challenge, but indispensable for disaster preparedness. Aims We aimed to develop and implement a disaster medicine curriculum for medical student education that can serve as a peer-reviewed, structured educational guide and resource. Additionally, the process of designing, approving and implementing such a curriculum is presented. Methods The six-step approach to curriculum development for medical education was used as a formal process instrument. Recognized experts from professional and governmental bodies involved in disaster health care provided input using disaster-related physician training programs, scientific evidence if available, proposals for education by international disaster medicine organizations and their expertise as the basis for content development. Results The final course consisted of 14 modules composed of 2-h units. The concepts of disaster medicine, including response, medical assistance, law, command, coordination, communication, and mass casualty management, are introduced. Hospital preparedness plans and experiences from worldwide disaster assistance are reviewed. Life-saving emergency and limited individual treatment under disaster conditions are discussed. Specifics of initial management of explosive, war-related, radiological/nuclear, chemical, and biological incidents emphasizing infectious diseases and terrorist attacks are presented. An evacuation exercise is completed, and a mass casualty triage is simulated in collaboration with local disaster response agencies. Decontamination procedures are demonstrated at a nuclear power plant or the local fire department, and personal decontamination practices are exercised. Mannequin resuscitation is practiced while personal protective equipment is utilized. An interactive review of professional ethics, stress disorders, psychosocial interventions, and quality improvement efforts complete the training. Conclusions The curriculum offers medical disaster education in a reasonable time frame, interdisciplinary format, and multi-experiential course. It can serve as a template for basic medical student disaster education. Because of its comprehensive but flexible structure, it should also be helpful for other health-care professional student disaster education programs. PMID:20414376

Real-time decision support systems: the famine early warning system network

USGS Publications Warehouse

Funk, Christopher C.; Verdin, James P.

2010-01-01

A multi-institutional partnership, the US Agency for International Development’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) provides routine monitoring of climatic, agricultural, market, and socioeconomic conditions in over 20 countries. FEWS NET supports and informs disaster relief decisions that impact millions of people and involve billions of dollars. In this chapter, we focus on some of FEWS NET’s hydrologic monitoring tools, with a specific emphasis on combining “low frequency” and “high frequency” assessment tools. Low frequency assessment tools, tied to water and food balance estimates, enable us to evaluate and map long-term tendencies in food security. High frequency assessments are supported by agrohydrologic models driven by satellite rainfall estimates, such as the Water Requirement Satisfaction Index (WRSI). Focusing on eastern Africa, we suggest that both these high and low frequency approaches are necessary to capture the interaction of slow variations in vulnerability and the relatively rapid onset of climatic shocks.

UAV Deployment Exercise for Mapping Purposes: Evaluation of Emergency Response Applications.

PubMed

Boccardo, Piero; Chiabrando, Filiberto; Dutto, Furio; Tonolo, Fabio Giulio; Lingua, Andrea

2015-07-02

Exploiting the decrease of costs related to UAV technology, the humanitarian community started piloting the use of similar systems in humanitarian crises several years ago in different application fields, i.e., disaster mapping and information gathering, community capacity building, logistics and even transportation of goods. Part of the author's group, composed of researchers in the field of applied geomatics, has been piloting the use of UAVs since 2006, with a specific focus on disaster management application. In the framework of such activities, a UAV deployment exercise was jointly organized with the Regional Civil Protection authority, mainly aimed at assessing the operational procedures to deploy UAVs for mapping purposes and the usability of the acquired data in an emergency response context. In the paper the technical features of the UAV platforms will be described, comparing the main advantages/disadvantages of fixed-wing versus rotor platforms. The main phases of the adopted operational procedure will be discussed and assessed especially in terms of time required to carry out each step, highlighting potential bottlenecks and in view of the national regulation framework, which is rapidly evolving. Different methodologies for the processing of the acquired data will be described and discussed, evaluating the fitness for emergency response applications.

Recent Earhquake and Tsunami Preparedness training activities in DPEU KOERI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Puskulcu, Seyhun; Tanırcan, Gulum

2017-04-01

The Disaster Preparedness Education Unit (DPEU) at Bogazici University's Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI) that was iestablished after 1999 Kocaeli earthquake and has been continuing to develop high-quality curricula and training materials for community-focused disaster preparedness education through countrywide. The unit works to build bridges between scientists, academics and technical experts in this field, and the people who need access to knowledge to reduce their risk from disasters and develops disaster preparedness training materials, organizes and conducts teacher trainings, and participates in research activities on these topics. DPEU also accommodates the Earthquake Park, where training courses are supported with an earthquake simulator. It hosts more then 4000 students every year for training of how to behave before, during and after an earthquake occurs. In addition to theoretical knowledge, simulation of isolated and fix based 10 storey building models were created at Earthquake Park for rising student's structural awareness . The unit also is involving many national and international projects. DPEU is very actively involved the recent international MarDIM (Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation an the Marmara Region and Disaster Education in Turkey) Project which is performing by many Turkish and Japanese institution h and produced the tsunami education booklet, video, a cartoon movie and serviced many training of Earthquake Park. DPEU has also a Mobile Earthquake Simulation Training Truck developed in 2007, aiming to create a stage for community awareness for the earthquake preparedness and to change the common wrong perception and ignorance on the natural event of earthquakes. 500 thousands people have been trained by simulation truck all over Turkey within 5 years. DPEU just started to train the house wifes located in Marmara region on earthquake and tsunami preparedness with the collaboration of several municipalities in Istanbul.

JPRS Report, East Europe

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-04-24

in the wood processing industry, ecologically sound construction of facilities for storage of wastes from International exchange of scientific...from natural disasters and ecolog - ical catastrophes. [Szymanderski] And I was well received there. I thank The question arises as to whether the Army...able to waste money on some segment of of possible ecological catastrophe or natural disasters social life-that is first-and second, the Army is an

Comparative Analysis of Emergency Response Operations: Haiti Earthquake in January 2010 and Pakistan’s Flood in 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

Earthquake, Pakistan, Flood, Emergency Response Operations, International Community, HA/DR, United Nations , FRC, NDMA , ICT 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY...Registration Authority NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NDMA National Disaster and Management Authority NDMC National Disaster Management...complicates relief efforts. 6 NDMA Pakistan, “Pakistan Floods-Summary of Damages,” No Author. Accessed 24

The Impact of a Natural Disaster: Under- and Postgraduate Nursing Education Following the Canterbury, New Zealand, Earthquake Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, S. K.; Richardson, A.; Trip, H.; Tabakakis, K.; Josland, H.; Maskill, V.; Dolan, B.; Hickmott, B.; Houston, G.; Cowan, L.; McKay, L.

2015-01-01

While natural disasters have been reported internationally in relation to the injury burden, role of rescuers and responders, there is little known about the impact on education in adult professional populations. A 7.1 magnitude earthquake affected the Canterbury region of New Zealand on 4 September 2010 followed by more than 13,000 aftershocks in…

Violence and abuse of internally displaced women survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

PubMed

Campbell, Doris W; Campbell, Jacquelyn C; Yarandi, Hossein N; O'Connor, Annie Lewis; Dollar, Emily; Killion, Cheryl; Sloand, Elizabeth; Callwood, Gloria B; Cesar, Nicole M; Hassan, Mona; Gary, Faye

2016-11-01

Limited research following disasters suggests that internally displaced women are disproportionately vulnerable to violence and abuse. An interdisciplinary collaborative of researchers and practitioners in Haiti, the US Virgin Islands, and the US Mainland investigated gender-based violence (GBV) pre- and post-earthquake and health outcomes among Haitian women living in tent cities/camps following the 2010 earthquake. A comparative descriptive correlational design using culturally sensitive and language appropriate computer-assisted interviews of 208 internally displaced women 2011-2013. Found high rates of violence and abuse both before (71.2 %) and after (75 %) p = 0.266, the earthquake primarily perpetrated by boy friends or husbands. Significantly more mental and physical health problems were reported by abused than non-abused women. The majority (60-78 %) of abused women did not report personal or community tolerance for violence and abuse, but acknowledged a community context of limited involvement. Coordinated planning and implementation of needed interventions are essential to provide a balanced approach to the care of displaced women after natural disasters with sensitivity to the abusive experiences of many women both before and after the disasters.

Violence and abuse of internally displaced women survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

PubMed Central

Campbell, Jacquelyn C.; Yarandi, Hossein N.; O’Connor, Annie Lewis; Dollar, Emily; Killion, Cheryl; Sloand, Elizabeth; Callwood, Gloria B.; Cesar, Nicole M.; Hassan, Mona; Gary, Faye

2016-01-01

Objectives Limited research following disasters suggests that internally displaced women are disproportionately vulnerable to violence and abuse. An interdisciplinary collaborative of researchers and practitioners in Haiti, the US Virgin Islands, and the US Mainland investigated gender-based violence (GBV) pre- and post-earthquake and health outcomes among Haitian women living in tent cities/camps following the 2010 earthquake. Methods A comparative descriptive correlational design using culturally sensitive and language appropriate computer-assisted interviews of 208 internally displaced women 2011–2013. Results Found high rates of violence and abuse both before (71.2 %) and after (75 %) p = 0.266, the earthquake primarily perpetrated by boy friends or husbands. Significantly more mental and physical health problems were reported by abused than non-abused women. The majority (60–78 %) of abused women did not report personal or community tolerance for violence and abuse, but acknowledged a community context of limited involvement. Conclusions Coordinated planning and implementation of needed interventions are essential to provide a balanced approach to the care of displaced women after natural disasters with sensitivity to the abusive experiences of many women both before and after the disasters. PMID:27624625

Assessment of Flood Disaster Impacts in Cambodia: Implications for Rapid Disaster Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahamed, Aakash; Bolten, John; Doyle, Colin

2016-04-01

Disaster monitoring systems can provide near real time estimates of population and infrastructure affected by sudden onset natural hazards. This information is useful to decision makers allocating lifesaving resources following disaster events. Floods are the world's most common and devastating disasters (UN, 2004; Doocy et al., 2013), and are particularly frequent and severe in the developing countries of Southeast Asia (Long and Trong, 2001; Jonkman, 2005; Kahn, 2005; Stromberg, 2007; Kirsch et al., 2012). Climate change, a strong regional monsoon, and widespread hydropower construction contribute to a complex and unpredictable regional hydrodynamic regime. As such, there is a critical need for novel techniques to assess flood impacts to population and infrastructure with haste during and following flood events in order to enable governments and agencies to optimize response efforts following disasters. Here, we build on methods to determine regional flood extent in near real time and develop systems that automatically quantify the socioeconomic impacts of flooding in Cambodia. Software developed on cloud based, distributed processing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is used to demonstrate spatial and numerical estimates of population, households, roadways, schools, hospitals, airports, agriculture and fish catch affected by severe monsoon flooding occurring in the Cambodian portion of Lower Mekong River Basin in 2011. Results show modest agreement with government and agency estimates. Maps and statistics generated from the system are intended to complement on the ground efforts and bridge information gaps to decision makers. The system is open source, flexible, and can be applied to other disasters (e.g. earthquakes, droughts, landslides) in various geographic regions.

Can I Get a Second Opinion? - Translating Hazard Understanding to Disaster Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, D. S.; Stough, T.; Murray, J. J.

2015-12-01

Policy makers, operational response agencies and scientists are aware that when addressing hazard events decisions must be made in a timely manner with limited environmental information or less than 100% certainty. This presentation will examine how lessons captured from disaster events are mainstreaming the use of global earth observation data and derived products of sufficient reliability and timeliness to provide situational awareness. What is good enough for disaster response is a challenge, especially where the requirements for earth system research and experimentation are not the same as application science and operations. In areas of timeliness and access to data or processing of information to knowledge the economic and policy objectives are not always aligned between research and application. Even when both are addressing substantive science area questions and critical data is available, creating scientifically-informed guidance, forecasts and assessments may take considerable effort to be made accessible and understandable, and even longer to reflect consensus or consistency. Conveying the degree of science certainty and accountability that triggers a threshold for action is always a challenge at the interface of hazard characterization and disaster response. Often decisions and interpretation must be reached when staring down a hazard or potential disaster situation, which makes automation a potential solution. Yet human opinions remain important, social cultural and behavioral context suggest that observational information, maps, models and other derived information is only acted upon when provided by multiple trusted and reliable sources. This presentation will discuss examples drawn from NASA's research and partnership portfolio in disaster application science and explore strategic approaches to strengthen disaster risk reduction and resilience.

Defining Community Disaster Preparedness as a Resilience Factor for Earthquake Risk Assessment in Istanbul

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sungay, B.; Durukal, E.; Kilic, O.; Konukcu, B.; Basmaci, A. E.; Khazai, B.; Erdik, M.

2009-04-01

The natural events such as earthquakes turn out to be disasters as a result of not only the poor conditions of the built area and infrastructure, but also affected by the socioeconomic fragility and lack of resilience of the community exposed. Likewise, resilience factors play role in increasing the ability of people to cope with hazards. Social resilience is the capacity of social groups and communities to recover from, or respond positively to, crises. Emergency management plans must recognize and build on this capacity, and that improved indicators of social resilience should receive priority consideration in the application of these plans. The physical risk factors and their damage assessment have been pointed out in previous earthquake risk assessment and scenario studies conducted by Bogazici University and OYO International. A rational assessment of the risk aggravating factors is essential in order to reach to a more complete coverage of the overall risk. It would also introduce the social factors that need to be reduced or strengthened through public policies and actions in order to increase the resilience of the community. With experience from several social studies conducted under CENDIM, Kandilli Observatory & Earthquake Research Institute's Disaster Preparedness Education Unit, and research of the studies conducted by several other national and international institutions, we are defining the community disaster preparedness as an indicator for resilience. Social resilience is understood to have two important properties: resistance, recovery. Resistance relates to a community's efforts to withstand a disaster and its consequences whereas recovery relates to a community's ability to coming back to its pre-disaster level of "normalcy". Researches also indicate that the need for local-level and community-based approaches is recognized in achieving sustainable hazard risk reduction. We will conceptually discuss the description and assessment of the community disaster preparedness as an indicator for social resilience.

Earthquake-Induced Building Damage Assessment Based on SAR Correlation and Texture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Lixia; Li, Qiang; Zhang, Jingfa

2016-08-01

Comparing with optical Remote Sensing, the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has unique advantages as applied to seismic hazard monitoring and evaluation. SAR can be helpful in the whole process of after an earthquake, which can be divided into three stages. On the first stage, pre-disaster imagery provides history information of the attacked area. On the mid-term stage, up-to-date thematic maps are provided for disaster relief. On the later stage, information is provided to assist secondary disaster monitoring, post- disaster assessment and reconstruction second stage. In recent years, SAR has become an important data source of earthquake damage analysis and evaluation.Correlation between pre- and post-event SAR images is considered to be related with building damage. There will be a correlation decrease when the building collapsed in a shock. Whereas correlation decrease does not definitely indicate building changes. Correlation is also affected by perpendicular baseline, the ground coverage type, atmospheric change and other natural conditions, data processing and other factors. Building samples in the earthquake are used to discriminate the relation between damage degree and SAR correlation.

Seismic Hazard Management in Mexico City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wintergerst, L.

2007-05-01

Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world. More than 8.5 million residents and 4.5 million floating population are in the city itself, but with the surrounding suburbs the number of people that could be affected by natural and man-made hazards rises to approximately 20 million. The main risk to the city as a whole is a large magnitude earthquake. Since there is reason to prepare for a credible seismic scenario of Mw = 8.2, which would exceed the damages caused during the 1985 earthquake (Mw = 8.1), we founded the Metropolitan Geologic Service (MGS) in 1998. The MGS has developed geologic and seismic hazard maps for the city (http:www.proteccioncivil.df.gob.mx). The maps include three separate risk maps for low height (3 stories), medium height (10 stories) and tall buildings (10 stories). The maps were prepared by using the maximum horizontal accelerations documented during the 1985 earthquake, and wave propagation modeling for buildings of different resonant periods (T = 0.0, 1.0 and 2.0 sec). In all cases, the risk zones were adjusted to include documented damage during the 1957, 1979 and 1985 earthquakes. All three maps show a high risk zone in the north-central portion of the city, elongated in a N-S direction, which corresponds with a narrow graben where the thickness of alluvial sediments is particularly large, and where wave amplification is accentuated. Preparation of these maps, and others used for planning, has been facilitated by the ongoing elaboration of a Dynamic Geographical Information System, which is based on geo-scientific information, includes all types of risks, and incorporates vulnerability models. From the risk management standpoint, we have elaborated the Permanent Contingency Plan for Mexico City, which in its Earthquakes chapter includes plans for coordination and for organizing attention to the population in the event of a seismic disaster. This Permanent Plan follows the philosophy of Descartes' Method, has 11 processes (6 main and 5 support processes), and is coordinated by Center of Control of Operations under the overall direction of the Head of Government of the Federal District. We are also working on the definition of the Basic Elements for a New Paradigm in the Prevention of Disasters, to investigate the origins, causes and effects of disaster phenomena, and to plan and implement a suitable response from the Government to better protect the population.

Hospital Administration and Nursing Leadership in Disasters: An Exploratory Study Using Concept Mapping.

PubMed

Veenema, Tener Goodwin; Deruggiero, Katherine; Losinski, Sarah; Barnett, Daniel

Strong leadership is critical in disaster situations when "patient surge" challenges a hospital's capacity to respond and normally acceptable patterns of care are disrupted. Activation of the emergency operations plan triggers an incident command system structure for leadership decision making. Yet, implementation of the emergency operations plan and incident command system protocols is ultimately subject to nursing and hospital leadership at the service- and unit level. The results of these service-/unit-based leadership decisions have the potential to directly impact staff and patient safety, quality of care, and ultimately, patient outcomes. Despite the critical nature of these events, nurse leaders and administrators receive little education regarding leadership and decision making during disaster events. The purpose of this study is to identify essential competencies of nursing and hospital administrators' leadership during disaster events. An integrative mixed-methods design combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and analysis was used. Five focus groups were conducted with nurse leaders and hospital administrators at a large urban hospital in the Northeastern United States in a collaborative group process to generate relevant leadership competencies. Concept Systems Incorporated was used to sort, prioritize, and analyze the data (http://conceptsystemsinc.com/). The results suggest that participants' institutional knowledge (of existing resources, communications, processes) and prior disaster experience increase leadership competence.

Building a Capabilities Network to Improve Disaster Preparation Efforts in the European Command (EUCOM) Area of Responsibility

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

10) International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent ...........40 (11) International Orthodox Christian Charities...International Federation of the Red Cross IOCC International Orthodox Christian Charities IRC International Rescue Committee IRT International Relief...review of the various NGOs is not without limitations. The first limitation is the examination of a fraction (25) of the NGOs that provide relief

A literature review of disaster nursing competencies in Japanese nursing journals.

PubMed

Kako, Mayumi; Mitani, Satoko

2010-01-01

Competencies is an important concept used for assessing health professionals' capability to perform their role. By means of a literature review of Japanese professional journals this paper will investigate the competencies concept, particularly with relation to disaster nursing. The literature research was conducted using the database ichu-shi (ver. 4). All literature is written and published in Japanese and was published between 2001 and 2008. Due to an unfamiliarity of the term 'competencies' in Japanese, the key words were sought while deconstructing the meaning and concepts of 'competencies' into terms more recognisable in the Japanese context. Twelve key words: disaster, capability, education, practice, licensure, ability, function, prevention, response, planning, emergency, and disaster nursing were chosen as being most likely to find literature relevant to the English Language concept of competencies. The searched articles were then written into the disaster nursing competencies review worksheet for analysis. One hundred and twenty articles were found by searching a combination of these key words. Of these articles, those that were not in the context of disaster nursing were eliminated. As a result, 43 articles were chosen as being suitable for analysis of the context. These articles are classified into four themes. These theme groups indicated a foundation for competencies in disaster nursing. The definition of competencies in Japanese nursing journals was quite varied and cannot be easily defined as common disaster nursing competencies. Given the variety of areas and the distinct phases in disaster nursing, as well as the 'what for' and 'who governs', disaster nursing competencies will need its own discussion in order to establish the common competencies internationally.