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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Disasters'
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Stover, Timothy V. "Myth, ritual and symbol in natural disasters and disaster management." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2008. http://www.tren.com.
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Davidson, Clayton Simmons. ""Natural Disasters"." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2019. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1538761/.
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"Natural Disasters" is a cycle of five extractable movements for septet, conductor and computer. Each movement in the cycle is inspired by the ways that humans are affected by and respond to five different classes or categories of natural disasters: meteorological, such as hurricanes, tornados, and haboobs; geological, like earthquakes and landslides; hydrological, including flooding and sea level rise; wildfires; and extra-planetary disasters such as meteors and solar flares. The disaster types are used as overarching themes and also as sources for the organization of the movements and their surface details. This paper presents an overview of the conception and organization of cycle, the themes addressed in each movement and the compositional techniques used. The history of composers using weather or disaster-related themes in prior music is reviewed, and a survey of contemporary disaster-related compositions is presented.
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Fugate-Whitlock, Elizabeth. "Natural Disasters and Older Adults: The Social Construction of Disaster Planning." VCU Scholars Compass, 2011. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2617.
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Examining older adults’ experiences with and response toward hurricanes within the context of the community of residence is key to both understanding their experiences and planning for future hurricanes. Specific to this research, the objective was to understand the current social network of older adults, or who provides care for whom under what circumstances, using the social constructionist perspective. Grounded theory combined with action research was the theoretical orientation guiding the study. Sources of data included the collection of household disaster plans, semi-structured interviews with older adult residents of housing authority neighborhoods, semi-structured interviews with community planners, and observation of community planning meetings. Data were gathered from older adults living in housing authority communities in Southeastern North Carolina using guidelines established by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to develop individual disaster plans. The individual disaster plans were completed during face to face meetings with the older adults, as were semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were also completed with area planners. Agendas, minutes, and observational notes from disaster planning meetings were collected. The content of the individual disaster plans, semi-structured interviews, and observation notes were then analyzed to determine gaps that must be addressed in order to meet the overall needs of the community. Working with participants, the housing authority disaster response committee, and county planners, a neighborhood plan will be developed that reflects the social construction of all concerned for use in response to future hurricanes. The impact of the multiple levels of communities was apparent in this research. While common thematic processes emerged in data analysis, planners, housing authority personnel and residents of housing communities define community differently. There is discordance when they identify needed resources, and when they reflect on past experience. A power differential which resulted in stifling was also observed.
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White, David Keith. "Learning From Disasters." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Engineering Management, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/7440.
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Two projects are documented within this MEM Report:
I. The first project examined what was learnt involving the critical infrastructure in the aftermath of natural disasters in the Canterbury region of New Zealand – the most prominent being the series of earthquakes between 2010 and 2011. The project identified several learning gaps, leading to recommendations for further investigations that could add significant value for the lifeline infrastructure community.
II. Following the Lifeline Lesson Learnt Project, the Disaster Mitigation Guideline series was initiated with two booklets, one on Emergency Potable Water and a second on Emergency Sanitation.
The key message from both projects is that we can and must learn from disasters. The projects described are part of the emergency management, and critical infrastructure learning cycles – presenting knowledge captured by others in a digestible format, enabling the lessons to be reapplied.
Without these kinds of projects, there will be fewer opportunities to learn from other’s successes and failures when it comes to preparing for natural disasters.
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Darbutaité, Martina. "Architecture after disasters." Master's thesis, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Arquitetura, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/18389.
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Dissertação de Mestrado Integrado em Arquitetura, com a especialização em Arquitetura apresentada na Faculdade de Arquitetura da Universidade de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre.<br>Nesta tese investigamos a situação pós-guerra na cidade velha de Alepo para uma futura intervenção e aplicação da sustentabilidade respeitando a arquitectura tradicional do mundo Árabe. A pesquisa aponta-nos para as hipóteses de, recriar uma transformação do património urbano e melhorar a qualidade de vida dos habitantes da cidade, aplicando estratégias de sustentabilidade, mobilidade e qualidade de vida, isto, respeitando a religião local, a tradição e a volumetria urbana existente.
A destruição provocada pela guerra e o conflito que se arrasta há anos pela Síria, talvez nos dê a nós arquitectos, uma oportunidade para ilustrar de maneira convincente soluções reais para a intervenção e resolução de situações problemáticas da população e da sociedade depois de um longo conflito permanente.
O objectivo do projecto é propor um único equipamento que se integre suavemente no ambiente. Oferecendo modernidade, seguindo os princípios de sustentabilidade e baseando-se em valores tradicionais, vernaculares e culturais.
A pesquisa foi dividida em três partes. A primeira parte teve como objectivo construir os fundamentos teóricos que representam os conceitos, reconstrução pós-desastre e a posição de sustentabilidade na arquitectura. A segunda parte foi dedicada à cidade velha de Alepo descrevendo propriedades geográficas, históricas e culturais, evolução do tecido urbano, arquitectura local e materiais. Além disso, contém a pré-introdução do tema do projecto final, representando o problema actual da educação e o ramo de equipamento escolhido. Por fim, a terceira parte foi dedicada à proposta final de projecto, analisada na escala do território e na escala do edifício.<br>ABSTRACT: This thesis is advocated to investigate post-war situation in Aleppo old town with potential of application of sustainability respecting traditional architecture in the Arab World. This research points us towards the hypotheses of re-creating an urban heritage transformation and improving the quality of life for the inhabitants of the city with an indication of sustainability, mobility and quality of life respecting local religion, tradition and existing urban volumetry. The war destruction and the conflict that has dragged on for years in Syria, perhaps gave us architects, an opportunity to illustrate in a convincing way a realistic solutions in the intervention of solving the problematic situation of the people and it is society after a long-standing conflict.
The goal of the project is to propose an equipment unit which would smoothly integrate into the environment. Offering modernity which follows sustainability principles and based on traditional, vernacular and cultural values.
The research was divided into three parts. The first part aimed to build the theoretical background representing post-disaster reconstruction and position of sustainability in architecture. The second part was dedicated to represent Aleppo old town describing geographical properties, history and culture, urban fabric evolution, local architecture and materials. In addition this part contains the pre-introduction of final project theme by representing current problem of education and chosen branch of equipment. The third part was dedicated to the final project proposal, analysed at the scale of the territory and the scale of the building.<br>N/A
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Lee, Dalbyul. "The impact of natural disasters on neighborhood change:longitudinal data analysis." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/50113.
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This dissertation seeks to explore the association between natural disasters and neighborhood change and further to examine the differential impact of natural disasters on neighborhood change according to the disaster itself, the rehabilitation efforts of local jurisdictions, and the characteristics of the affected neighborhoods. Using the longitudinal model, it examines the shifts in neighborhood change trajectory before and after natural disaster for three indicators (home values, poverty rate and racial diversity). The results find that natural disasters have a significant impact on the trend of neighborhood change, reducing variation in the indicators within neighborhood. Home values and racial diversity of neighborhoods are likely to immediately decrease after natural disasters but not to shift in subsequent rate of change,while poverty rates are likely to instantly increase in the aftermath of the disasters and to annually decline over time. This dissertation also explores the differential effects on neighborhood change according to intensity of natural disaster, neighborhoods? average income and the location. The results of the analyses are like the following: 1) the neighborhoods which the more intense disasters hit are more likely to experience the rapid decline in home values and an instant increase in their poverty rates than those which the less intense disaster hit. On the other hand, the more intense natural disasters are more likely to increase neighborhoods? racial diversity than the less intense natural disasters, while natural disasters themselves are likely to decrease it. 2) natural disasters might have the more adverse impacts on low- and high-income neighborhoods than moderate-income neighborhoods and that the impacts on low-income neighborhoods are most severe. More importantly, the adverse impacts in low-income neighborhoods might be long lasting. 3)neighborhoods in suburban areas, compared to neighborhoods in the central cities, are likely to decrease in their home values after natural disasters and to increase in their poverty rates. Finally, the findings of this dissertation confirms its main arguments that a natural disaster affects the trend of neighborhood change and intervenes in the path of change over time and that natural disasters differentially shift neighborhoods according to their characteristics. Further it suggests that these neighborhood changes, once accelerated by a natural disaster, further polarize residential populations on a metropolitan neighborhood scale.
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Blackburn, Nerina June. "Psychologists' perceived influences of early strategies on the psychosocial response to those affected by disasters." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1416.
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Currently some confusion exists as to how health professionals should best respond to the psychological needs of those affected by disasters. Some have argued that early psychological intervention is essential and others have argued that early formal psychological interventions have no useful role in post trauma response. This study highlights the importance of considering both counselling and non-counselling factors as potentially influencing the psychosocial response of disaster victims. Although posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not the only mental disorder that can develop as a result of exposure to disasters, it is probably the most frequent and debilitating psychological disorder associated with traumatic stress. In this exploratorydescriptive study the researcher aimed to explore and describe psychologists’ perceived influences of early strategies on the psychosocial response to those affected by disaster. The researcher used non-probability snowball sampling to access participants. The sample consisted of 5 participants. Semi structured interviews were conducted. Content analysis was used to analyse the data obtained from interviews. Results that emerged from the data suggest that there are many factors that influence the psychosocial response to those affected by disasters. These factors include the screening process, needs of survivors, the method of choice for treatment, the timing of intervention, pharmacology, the South African context, training and planning. The study makes a contribution to the growing knowledge of early strategies in response to those affected by disasters.
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Garber, Nikola Marie. "Natural disasters in international affairs formulating reconstruction planning in NOAA /." [Hattiesburg, MS : The University of Southern Mississippi], 2004. http://www.usm.edu/international/files/Garber-FullDissertation.pdf.
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McCall, Valerie M. "Designing and prepositioning humanitarian assistance pack-up kits (HA PUKs) to support Pacific fleet emergency relief operations." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Naval Postgraduate School, 2006. http://bosun.nps.edu/uhtbin/hyperion.exe/06Dec%5FMcCall.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2006.<br>Thesis Advisor(s): Gerald G. Brown. "December 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-95). Also available in print.
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Tean, Ee Shen. "Optimized positioning of pre-disaster relief force and assets." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Naval Postgraduate School, 2006. http://bosun.nps.edu/uhtbin/hyperion.exe/06Dec%5FTean.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2006.<br>Thesis Advisor(s): Javier Salmeron. "December 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-38). Also available in print.
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Cleenewerck, Adélie. "Natural disasters : What are the economic consequences of natural disasters for households?" Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för nationalekonomi och statistik (NS), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-105154.
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Climate change is an important subject nowadays and climate change leads to more natural disasters. This essay is a large literature study on Asian, American, European, Oceanian and African countries about the economic consequences for households as a result of natural disasters and the coping mechanisms used by households, as well as governments and institutions. It also provides information about natural disasters, such as natural disasters that have the worst consequences, people that are highly affected by disasters and places in the world where disasters happen the most. The aim of this study is to learn more about environmental disasters and prepare better for future disasters. The results show consequences on welfare (income, assets, poverty), the labour market, migration and inequality. And the coping strategies found are post-disaster sources (help from family and relatives, public and private transfers, borrowing, credits, savings, insurance), decrease in expenditures, changes in consumption, selling assets, changes in the labour market, help from communities and other ways to cope. Governments and institutions also help households in the aftermath of natural disasters. Overall, we conclude that natural disasters lead to important economic impacts for people, and households react by using different coping mechanisms to recover.
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Grohe, Christine Lea. "Internal displacementdue to natural disasters : Inclusion of IDPs in Disaster Risk Reduction strategies." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsstudier (SS), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-46396.
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The increasing impacts of climate change bear new challenges for the international community. The exacerbation of natural disasters in frequency and scope also confronts the national governments with newly arising problems. Disaster-induced displacement isan increasing phenomenon occurring the last years, which particularly vulnerable regions with a high exposure to national hazards are affected by. The present study addresses the inclusion of disaster IDPs in Disaster Risk Reduction frameworks on international and national level and argues that there is a need to recognize disaster-induced displacement as an increasing issue that should explicitly be addressed and included in policy frameworks on both levels. This was addressed through analyzing international and national key strategies in Disaster-Risk-Reduction. A case comparison of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the yearly recurring floods in Mozambique since 2000 illustrates the implementation of these frameworks in regard to the issue of displacement. Although efforts have been made on both levels to improve the situation of IDPs in the response and recovery phase, it is argued that an inclusion through a community-based approach is needed in all the phases of disaster management to appropriately address the needs of disaster IDPs in the pre-and post-disaster phases.
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Kim, DeeDee. "Data + disasters : rethinking the role of Metro Boston's data intermediaries in disaster management." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117828.
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Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2018.<br>This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.<br>Cataloged student-submitted from PDF version of thesis.<br>Includes bibliographical references (pages 77-83).<br>Recent U.S. hurricanes such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017 have raised urgent questions about the role of data providers in disaster response and recovery. Digital tools such as maps that display emergency shelter locations or levels of E.Coli contamination in floodwaters are typically created and managed by a local data intermediary. A data intermediary is defined by the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership as a mediator between data and local stakeholders such as community groups and residents who use data from advocacy to program planning and policymaking. Currently, the Data Services department at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the regional planning agency for Metro Boston, serves as a data intermediary for the region. This research will argue that in addition to their daily functions, MAPC should assume new roles as the 'disaster data intermediary' during times of crisis given their technical capacity and ability to be more localized than their federal and state counterparts. Natural disasters impact regionally as they tend to cross jurisdictional boundaries and require coordination amongst many municipalities and players who could benefit from shared resources. Drawing conclusions from interviews of data entities who experienced Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy, and Harvey, this thesis will propose new tasks for MAPC. From enacting an internal protocol during emergencies to long-term advocacy for open data policies and portals, these recommendations are organized in the context of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.<br>by DeeDee Kim.<br>M.C.P.
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Mafimisebi, Oluwasoye Patrick. "Self-inflicted disasters : moral disengagement in unconventional risk, crisis and disaster management strategy." Thesis, University of Portsmouth, 2017. https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/selfinflicted-disasters(67813d30-32ea-411a-abcb-2aeabcebcd7a).html.
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The impacts of unconventional risks and crises on organisation survival have shifted the focus not just to risk and crisis management but also on business continuity and organisational resilience. At the same time, the effectiveness of current risk and crisis management models or strategies in dealing with unconventional risks and crises remain a challenge, not least due to the regular re-occurrence of similar events. However, this thesis contends that the value of existing models of risk and crisis management is overestimated, resulting in risk underestimation and the same issues becoming evident, repeatedly. This thesis calls for need to subjecting risk/crisis management theories and models to more rigorous testing and re-evaluation against reality. Two significant unconventional crises were analysed within the context of risk/crisis management literature. It was found that moral disengagement is responsible for the difficulties in managing the response to each of the incidents. At the root of most organisational crises, ethical dilemmas underpin the decisionmaking of leaders and organisational members which are suggested to have initiated a chain of events leading to those crises. It is argued that an awareness of selective risk perception, crisis miscommunication, inflated ethical business practice, trust deficit, organised corporate irresponsibility and moral disengagement is crucial towards improving the management of the Niger Delta crises and similar incidents in future. The thesis also found that issues of moral disengagement mechanisms are responsible for generating competing constructions of unconventional risks, crises and disasters. This thesis demonstrated that moral disengagement mechanisms weaken or destroy established approaches to mitigating and managing risks and crises; facilitate sanctionable behaviours in risk, crisis and disaster situations without self-condemnation; and help to maintain high moral self-image even in obviously detrimental and unethical conducts. It was argued that part of the reason for this was that organisations did not consider a link between moral disengagement and risk/crisis management to determine whether organisational crises are self-inflicted or within organisational risk appetite before escalation. This conceptualisation of moral disengagement contributes to better understanding of risk and crisis evolution and the wider implications for organisational resilience and growth. Of importance was the recognition that decision-based model of risk and crisis management could have address each of the issues that were identified in the case studies. The research implications and limitations were carefully discussed.
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Watson, Kaitlyn E. "The roles of pharmacists in disaster health management in natural and anthropogenic disasters." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2019. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/130757/1/Kaitlyn_Watson_Thesis.pdf.
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This study investigated pharmacists' roles in disasters and identified the acceptance and expectations of pharmacists throughout the different stages of a disaster. Taking an all-hazard and inclusive approach, this research included key stakeholders from international disaster and emergency management organisations as well as pharmacy organisations. Pharmacists' skills and knowledge are typically underutilised in disasters and it was identified that their abilities extend beyond the traditional role of logistics and supply management. There are multiple practice areas in a disaster in which a pharmacist's expertise could be valuable in patient care, logistics, governance, and public health.
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McCabe, John Michael Arnold Christopher J. "Parameters to facilitate the creation of initial response capsules for survivors of prodigious disasters." Auburn, Ala., 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10415/1299.
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Boyd, Ezra. "The Political Determinants of the Impact of Natural Disasters: A Cross-Country Comparison." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2003. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/41.
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While people all over the world are vulnerable to natural disasters, the available data clearly demonstrate a great deal of cross-country variance in the impact of catastrophic events. For example, while Hurricane Mitch took an estimated 13,000 lives when it struck Honduras and Nicaragua, the stronger Hurricane Andrew took only 26 lives when it impacted the United States. What factors explain this difference? Thus far, disaster researchers have emphasized economic and social vulnerability as determinants of disaster impact; the conventional wisdom accepts that poor and underdeveloped countries are more vulnerable than wealthy, developed countries. I argue that the political institutions of a country also matter and then examine the relative importance of political vulnerability as a determinant of disaster impact. I present evidence from case studies and large-N statistical analysis that demonstrates that, like social and economic vulnerability, political vulnerability is an important determinant of the impact of a natural disaster.
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Hugelius, Karin. "Disaster response for recovery : survivors experiences, and the use of disaster radio to promote health after natural disasters." Doctoral thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för hälsovetenskaper, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-52653.
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Disasters occur all over the world, and affect a rising number of people. The health effects of natural disasters depend on several factors present before, during, and after a disaster event. However, there is only limited knowledge of survivors experiences, needs, and health after natural disasters. Disaster radio means a temporary radio station that broadcasts information, music, and support to the affected population. Disaster radio has the potential to function even in a severely affected area, but its effects need to be further evaluated from a health perspective. The context of this thesis was the Haiyan supertyphoon that hit parts of the Philippines in November 2013. The overall aim was to describe survivors’ and health professionals’ experiences during and in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, the health effects from such a disaster, and how disaster radio as a disaster response intervention can be used and evaluated from a health perspective. The thesis includes four studies using qualitative research methods, including content analysis and a phenomenological hermeneutic method, and quantitative methods with statistical analysis. The results show that the Haiyan typhoon affected physical, psychological, and social dimensions of health. Disaster radio was used to broadcast health-related information and psychosocial support, and made a positive contribution to recovery from the perspective of the survivors. Being a health professional deployed during the disaster was an experience of being both a helper and a victim. The use of a self-selected internetbased sample recruited via Facebook for a web-based survey mitigated several practical challenges related to disaster research, but also raised questions about the generalizability of the results. Based on the findings, the importance of an integrated physical, psychological, and social health response to natural disasters is emphazized. Also, the health care system should prepare to use disaster radio as disaster response. In addition, the results suggest that disaster training for health professionals should include personal preparation and coping strategies. Internet-based methods in disaster research need to be further evaluated.
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Xia, Yang. "A disaster footprint framework for assessing the cascading indirect economic impacts of natural disasters." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2017. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/66939/.
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This PhD thesis employs and further develops models from environmental, epidemiological and macroeconomic studies to construct an interdisciplinary ‘Disaster Footprint Model’ based on input-output techniques for assessing the cascading indirect economic loss resulting from both ‘rapid-onset’ and ‘persistent’ natural disasters that were happened in the UK or China at different points in time. Each natural disaster will undermine physical capital and inhabitants differently in the form of destructions to infrastructures, roads, buildings, death or injuries, which are normally termed as ‘direct impacts’ of a disaster. Unfortunately, the tragedy is not over. Direct impacts of a disaster will disrupt the economic activity when machineries are out of order and labourers cannot attend the work, which will further trigger the economic output of the affected industries or regions due to the shrinking capital and labour productivity. Indeed, the initial reduction in output level of the affected industry or region can spill over those unaffected industries and regions through industrial and regional interconnectedness in the sense that each industry/region sells its outputs to or purchases commodities from other industries/regions. As a result, indirect economic loss can constitute a considerable share in total economic loss of a natural disaster. The significant role of indirect economic loss has been well documented given that the industrial and regional interdependencies have become unprecedentedly tightened under globalization in the contemporary world. In this respect, input-output model is a good candidate to cope with the cascading indirect economic loss from a disaster due to its root in ‘a circular economy’. An input-output model was developed by Wassily Leontief based on the concept of ‘a circular economy’, suggesting that social production and reproduction activities enclose the use of high-efficiency resources and environmentally friendly. Specifically, the production of the labourers will be used in the process of nature cycle while the natural resources will be used in the perpetual cycle (Liu et al, 2016). Labourers simultaneously act as consumers and economic production will be partially consumed by consumers and partially by other industries. In this respect, an input-output model takes the form of matrix and records the inter-industrial transaction flows. For ‘rapid-onset’ disasters that arrive rapidly with few days or without warnings, despite that a number of hybrid input-output based models have been proposed, they have heavily relied on accurate estimation of physical capital damages without conscientiously considering the distinctive characteristics of these disasters where their models might become invalidated. For ‘persistent’ disasters that persist longer and whose effects will be gradually realized over time, their ‘invisible’ health impacts provoke challenges for existing disaster risk modelling and little attention has been attached to constrained labour productivity in a post-disaster economy. Meanwhile, existing assessment tools in health costs studies mainly stem from a patient’s standpoint and quantify the disease burden at a microeconomic level, thus uncovering the need for investigating the macroeconomic implications from these health impacts. Environmental, health and economic problems are intertwining with one another in an environment-health-economy nexus. Any single phenomenon is resulting from a complexity of multi-factors and thus, should be solved by integrating these studies instead of keeping them as separate entities. Inspired by this, Chapter 4 designs an interdisciplinary methodological framework that bridges environmental or meteorological studies, epidemiological studies and macroeconomic analysis. The framework allows several input-output based options to consider the distinctive feathers of a natural disasters where the traditional disaster modelling cannot function well, to understand and incorporate the health impacts through an angel of reducing labour availability and productive time, and to capture the cascading indirect economic loss triggered by industrial and regional interdependencies from a macroeconomic perspective. To verify the feasibility and applicability of the approach, Chapter 5, 6 and 7 select four case studies that include the economic assessments of a typical flood with special characteristics occurred in the UK; one on China’s air pollution in 2012; and two on China’s heat waves in Nanjing and Shanghai in 2013 and 2007, respectively. After applying the approach on four cases covering both ‘rapid-onset’ and ‘persistent’ natural disasters, the thesis illumes future research with several important conclusions that 1) Disaster risk studies should attach equal significance to loss in capital productivity and labour productivity; 2) Air pollution and heat waves should be considered analogously as a natural disaster that affects human capital more than physical capital and thus, they should be investigated more deeply in disaster risk studies; 3) Disaster risk modelling should be conducted with additional attention on disaster characteristics; 4) Existing approaches used in health cost assessments generally take the patient’s perspective in evaluating the economic burden of a particular disease, which is insufficient for investigations of the macroeconomic implications on the entire economic system because industrial interdependencies and indirect economic losses are extremely important for such macroeconomic evaluations; 5) Input-output techniques and its modified forms are able to provide more modelling options for disaster risk assessment and management; 6) The developed interdisciplinary approach can successfully bridge environmental or meteorological studies, epidemiological studies and macroeconomic analysis. It also allows to consider the distinctive feathers of a natural disasters, to understand and incorporate the health impacts through an angel of reducing labour availability and productive time, and to capture the cascading indirect economic loss triggered by industrial and regional interdependencies; 7) The estimation based on such interdisciplinary model can be more accurate and effective once more comprehensive and sophisticated dataset are available, such as the occupational disease incidence rate and required time for each outpatient visit.
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Parmar, Chandrika. "The pluriverse of disasters : knowledge, mediation and citizenship." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3702194d-8b32-49d5-a37d-55fadeb0bbe1.
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This thesis looks at a variety of stakeholders and how they inform the conversations around disasters and disaster sites. In particular it focuses on the way knowledge frameworks of different actors informs this dialogue and defines the nature of their response. The thesis argues that this has an implication for debates on democracy, governance and citizenship. The thesis looks at four sets of actors: individuals confronting and coping with the everydayness of disasters.; the states of Gujarat and Orissa in India which innovate in the face of disasters to either create a techno-managerial response and institute different methodologies or use the existing structures to embed themselves further and perpetuate the poverty and disaster industry; the Christian and secular humanitarian groups: the former make a transition from charity to rights discourse while intervening in disasters. The latter focus on building methodologies which institute certain norms of responding to disasters and catering to those it considers as more vulnerable when disaster strikes. The thesis finally turns its attention to the response of four Hindu groups who draw on civilizational categories to engage with issues of pain, suffering, healing. Each stakeholder, the thesis argues, in articulating its response to disasters, presents a 'counter model' or at least a complementary understanding of how to think and respond to disasters. This plurality of engagement by questioning the preconceived frameworks adds not just to the democratic imagination but also to the debates on what constitutes governance and citizenship. Methodologically, the thesis is an ethnographic exploration located in two sites in India: Gujarat and Orissa. It keeps storytelling, ethnography, analysis, policy documents together and tries to show that they become a weave in disaster studies.
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Watson, Beth Eleanor. "Reconceptualising Disasters: Lessons from the Samoan Experience." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Geography, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/1424.
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In the early nineties Samoa was hit by two major cyclones, Cyclone Ofa (1990) and Cyclone Val (1991), which caused significant damage and devastation. Although it is more than 15 years since these cyclones, they still factor in people's lives and have impacted on the way individuals and organisations conceptualise disasters in Samoa. The incidence of disasters is increasing globally and Pacific Island nations face ongoing and increasing vulnerability to the impacts of such disasters at both community and national levels. Disasters can result in short and long-term social, economic and environmental consequences and, as Ofa and Val illustrate, entire community survival and livelihood systems can be severely disrupted by a single disaster. As a consequence, disasters continue to pose significant threats to sustainable development in the Pacific region. Villagers from the eastern coast of Savai'i, and Government and NGO agencies in Apia were interviewed during six weeks of fieldwork in Samoa. These interviews and insights gained from participant observation, as well as secondary materials such as maps and official reports are used to explore the ways in which people make sense of disaster and hazard risk in their daily lives and the ways in which their belief-systems (cultural, religious etc.) result in very different understandings of disasters and disaster risk. Building on a growing body of critical disaster literature, this thesis explores the ways in which disasters are more than 'natural' events. It examines the ways in which they are socially constructed, resulting from human actions, rather than 'freak natural events'. This approach challenges dominant understandings of disasters which often underpin disaster planning at both national and regional level, and are often characterised by technical 'fixes'. In contrast, this thesis argues for more locally appropriate understandings of 'disasters' and for the importance of placing disaster events within the context of people's everyday lives and broader development priorities.
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Prevatte, Darren R. "Catastrophic risks and mitigation measures around the world." View electronic thesis, 2008. http://dl.uncw.edu/etd/2008-3/prevatted/darrenprevatte.pdf.
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Faisal, Saman. "Mental Health Impact of Disasters." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2008. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/iph_theses/56.
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It is very important to study the mental health impact of disasters to provide adequate mental health services when there is an increased demand of mental health services and a concurrent deterioration of mental healthcare capacity after disasters. This study examined the mental health impact of 9/11 attacks among the individuals living close to the disaster area and compared them to the individuals living farther from the disaster area. New York (NY) state and Washington DC were selected as the disaster areas and Illinois (IL) was selected to study individuals living farther from the disaster area. The study also assessed the effects of mental health on risky behaviors such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption and how they vary based on age, gender and proximity to the disaster. Ten year Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 1996-2005 was obtained for NY, DC and IL. Significant increase in mental distress was observed in NY and DC but not in IL. Increased use of alcohol was found among DC and NY residents but the increase in IL was not significant. Logistic regression showed that increase in alcohol consumption was not associated with mental health. An overall decrease in cigarette smoking was observed and there was no impact of disaster on smoking rates. Mental distress was much higher among the female respondents as compared to the male respondents. Mental distress was highest among 35- 49 year old respondents as compared to other age groups. In future longitudinal studies should be conducted in order to establish the causal relationship of mental health and risk behaviors such as smoking and alcohol consumption after disasters. Most of the interventions regarding post-disaster mental health focus on PTSD but other mental disorders should also be addressed.
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Collier, Benjamin L. "Financial Inclusion and Natural Disasters." UKnowledge, 2013. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/agecon_etds/14.
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This dissertation explores the implications of natural disaster risk for access to financial services, especially credit. Its results show that disasters can dramatically undermine the ability of financial intermediaries (FIs) to lend after an event, increasing the cost of the disaster and delaying recovery. Moreover, the risk of natural disasters discourages investment in vulnerable regions and economic sectors and so slows economic development. Financial risk transfer mechanisms such as insurance can help maintain lending following an event. While many international development projects have targeted disaster insurance markets to households, managing disaster-related credit risk may be done more effectively through insurance products for FIs. Additionally, prudential supervision and the credit risk rating methods of investors in developing and emerging economies are dominated by developed country standards that overlook natural disaster risks. Public and private interests align in the need to tailor such standards and so enhance the effectiveness with which vulnerable FIs manage disaster risk.
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Olauson, Jon. "Wind Power and Natural Disasters." Licentiate thesis, Uppsala universitet, Elektricitetslära, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-225573.
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Wind power can be related to natural disasters in several ways. This licentiate thesis gives some background and introduces four papers devoted to two aspects of this relation. The first section looks into how small-scale wind energy converters (WECs) could be used to generate power after a natural disaster. For this application diesel generators are the most common solution today, but there would be several advantages of replacing these systems. A study of off-grid systems with battery storage at 32 sites showed that photovoltaics (PV) were more suitable than WECs. The results were confirmed by a study for the entire globe; PV outperformed WECs at most sites when it comes to small-scale application. This is especially true for areas with a high disaster risk. Hybrid systems comprising both PV and WECs are however interesting at higher latitudes. For the Swedish case, it is shown that gridded data from a freely available meteorological model, combined with a statistical model, give good estimates of the mean wind speed at 10 meters above ground. This methodology of estimating the mean wind speed can be used when there is no time for a proper wind measurement campaign. The second section is directed towards wind power variability and integration. The results presented in the thesis are intended as a basis for future studies on how a substantially increased wind power capacity affects the electric grid in terms of stability, grid reinforcement requirements, increased balancing needs etc. A review of variability and forecastability for non-dispatchable renewable energy sources was performed together with researchers from the solar, wave and tidal power fields. Although a lot of research is conducted in these areas, it was concluded that more studies on combinations of the sources would be desirable. The disciplines could also learn from each other and benefit from the use of more unified methods and metrics. A model of aggregated hourly wind power production has finally been developed. The model is based on reanalysis data from a meteorological model and detailed information on Swedish WECs. The model proved very successful, both in terms of low prediction errors and in the match of probability density function for power and step changes of power.<br>Vindkraft kan relateras till naturkatastrofer på flera olika sätt. Den här licentiat\-avhandlingen ger bakgrund till och introducerar fyra artiklar som beskriver två aspekter av detta samband. I den första avdelningen undersöks hur småskalig vindkraft skulle kunna användas för att generera el efter en naturkatastrof. I dagsläget är det dieselaggregat som används för detta ändamål, men det skulle finnas stora fördelar med att övergå till förnybara system. En studie av 32 platser (myndigheten MSB:s utlandsstationeringar augusti 2012) visade att solceller var mer lämpade än vindkraftverk. Resultaten bekräftades av en studie för hela världen; solceller ger billigare system än småskaliga vindkraftverk för de flesta platser, inte minst om man tittar på områden som är utsatta för naturkatastrofer. Hybridsystem med både solceller och vindkraftverk var dock intressanta på högre breddgrader. För Sverige så visas det att data från en fritt tillgängliga meteorologisk modell tillsammans med en statistisk korrigering beroende på terrängtyp ger bra uppskattningar av medelvinden på 10 meters höjd. Den föreslagna metodiken kan vara användbar som ett komplement till vindmätningar eller om det inte finns tid eller möjlighet till en riktig mätkampanj. Den andra avdelningen är inriktad mot vindens variabilitet och integrering av vindkraft i kraftsystemet. De resultat som presenteras i denna avhandling är tänkta som en bas för framtida studier av hur en kraftigt ökad andel vindkraft påverkar elsystemet med avseende på stabilitet, nödvändiga nätförstärkningar, ökade krav på balanskraft etc. En översiktsstudie av variabilitet och prognosbarhet för intermittenta förnybara energikällor gjordes tillsammans med forskare inom sol-, våg och tidvattenkraft. Även om mycket forskning pågår inom dessa områden så var en slutsats att mer studier för kombinationer av olika källor skulle vara önskvärt. Forskare inom de olika disciplinerna skulle också kunna lära från varandra och dra fördel av gemensamma metoder och mått. Slutligen har en modell av aggregerad timvis vindkraftproduktion tagits fram. Modellen baseras på data från en meteorologisk modell samt detaljerad information om vindkraftverk i Sverige. Modellen visade sig vara mycket träffsäker, både vad gäller låga prediktionsfel och i överensstämmelse av sannolikhetsfördelning av effekt och stegförändring av timvis effekt.
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Keerthiratne, Wendala Gamaralalage Subhani Sulochana. "Economic impact of natural disasters." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2017. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/70405/.
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Souza, Andrew A. "Wasted resources volunteers and disasters." Thesis, Monterey, California : Naval Postgraduate School, 2009. http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2009/Dec/09Dec%5FSouza.pdf.
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Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009.<br>Thesis Advisor(s): Dahl, Erik. Second Reader: Piombo, Jessica. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 26, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Volunteer, Convergene, Real ID, National Identity Card, WHTI, Volunteer Mobilization Center, First Responder Credentialing Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-105). Also available in print.
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Frazier, Walter Lee. "Coping strategies among religiously committed survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the state of Mississippi." Diss., Mississippi State : Mississippi State University, 2009. http://library.msstate.edu/etd/show.asp?etd=etd-03182009-100857.
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Yanicki, Sarah Rachel. "A Tale of Two Suburbs: Earthquake recovery and civil society in Christchurch." Thesis, University of Canterbury. School of Social and Political Sciences, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/8730.
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This study followed two similarly affected, but socio-economically disparate suburbs as residents responded to and attempted to recover from the devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand, on February 22, 2011. More specifically, it focuses on the role of local churches, community-based organisations (CBOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), here referred to broadly as civil society, in meeting the immediate needs of local residents and assisting with the longer-term recovery of each neighbourhood. Despite considerable socioeconomic differences between the two neighbourhoods, civil society in both suburbs has been vital in addressing the needs of locals in the short and long term following the earthquake. Institutions were able to utilise local knowledge of both residents and the extent of damage in the area to a) provide a swifter local response than government or civil defence and then help direct the relief these agencies provided locally; b) set up central points for distribution of supplies and information where locals would naturally gather; c) take action on what were perceived to be unmet needs; and d) act as a way of bridging locals to a variety of material, informational, and emotional resources. However the findings also support literature which indicates that other factors are also important in understanding neighbourhood recovery and the role of civil society, including: local leadership; a shared, place-based identity; the type and form of civil society organizations; social capital; and neighbourhood- and household-level indicators of relative vulnerability and inequality. The intertwining of these various factors seems to influence how these neighbourhoods have coped with and taken steps in recovering from this disaster. It is recommended that future research be directed at developing a better understanding of how this occurs. It is suggested that a model similar to Yasui’s (2007) Community Vulnerability and Capacity model be developed as a useful way to approach future research in this area.
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Hartley, Hazel J. "Disasters never walk alone : a socio-legal examination of the 1989 Hillsborough and Marchioness disasters." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.393675.
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Häggberg, David. "Ground-Breaking Contingency Planning with Risk- & Disaster Management : A Case Study at Höganäs Japan K.K." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för organisation och entreprenörskap (OE), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-43868.
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Final Thesis, Master of Business Administration & Economic Program, Field of Research: Management, School of Business & Economics at Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden, 4FE10E, Spring 2015. Author: David Häggberg Supervisor: Richard Nakamura (Daniel Ericsson) Title: Ground-Breaking Contingency Planning with Risk- & Disaster Management Subtitle: A Case Study at Höganäs Japan K.K. Background: On the 11th of March 2011, Japan was hit with one of the largestearthquakes in modern history at a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale. Thiscaused wide spreading and lasting delays in production in large parts of the worlddue to organizations supply chain being connected to Japan. Subsequently RiskManagement has received renewed and increasing attention, both in Japan and therest of the world. The proactive concept of Risk Management primary builds itsmodels around probability and utilizes this concept as a basis for determining whichrisks that should be mitigated through countermeasures and financial investments.Though when faced with an environment filled with uncertainty and an additionallevel of indirect risk exposure due to the potential domino effect of natural disasterssuch as earthquakes, can Risk Management really handle that, a world whereprobability fails? The reactive approach used by Disaster Management mightcontain clues for making Risk Management more flexible. Research Question: How can a transnational corporation adapt their RiskManagement strategy and plan for contingencies in a country with an unstablenatural environment? Purpose: This thesis seeks to investigate how a strategy for Risk Management canbe created and adapted with the regard to uncertainties such as an unstableenvironmental situation. The goal is further to highlight how traditional RiskManagement can be combined with other related areas such as DisasterManagement, in order to make a more complete strategy and a more flexible plan foraction. An adaption to the Risk Management strategy that would be made in order tomake the strategy applicable on a global level and including areas with unstableenvironmental situations. Method: This study has utilized a multi-strategy approach and the main source ofdata for this case study has come from semi-structured interviews and acomplementary survey. The author has found it necessary to adopt a pragmaticstandpoint with a qualitative focus in order to explore the research question andunderstand the collected data to its fullest extent. Conclusion: Adopting the local practices and mindset that strives to constantlysecure the supply chain and fulfill customer obligations by creating contingenciesthe risk exposure can be mitigated. Utilizing a quickly adaptable approach instead oflong-term planning in combination with concepts such as a Disaster Recovery Planthe Risk Management strategy can be altered towards becoming more flexible.
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Garcia, Sharon Louise. "THE IMPACT OF NATURAL DISASTERS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH: A STUDY OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA." Lexington, Ky. : [University of Kentucky Libraries], 2002. http://lib.uky.edu/ETD/ukyagec2002t00032/00Garcia.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S.)--University of Kentucky, 2002.<br>Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 150 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-149).
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Crespo, Cuaresma Jesus. "Natural Disasters and Human Capital Accumulation." Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / THE WORLD BANK, 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhq008.
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The empirical literature on the relationship between natural disaster risk and investment
in education is inconclusive. Model averaging methods in a framework of crosscountry
and panel regressions show an extremely robust negative partial correlation
between secondary school enrollment and natural disaster risk. This result is driven
exclusively by geologic disasters. Exposure to natural disaster risk is a robust determinant
of differences in secondary school enrollment between countries but not necessarily
within countries Natural disasters, human capital, education, school enrollment,
Bayesian model averaging.
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Clark, Derek Henry. "Postmortem dental identification in mass disasters." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.311792.
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Phillips, Samantha C. "Rethinking disasters: finding efficiencies through collaboration." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/27889.
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CHDS State/Local<br>Disasters are highly inopportune and represent a convergence of complexities, including multiple layers of government, private and non-profit organizations, and diverse populations. The complexity and unpredictability of disasters has been countered with structured management strategies. While an ordered environment has merit, perhaps the management of disasters is over-engineered that results in missed opportunities to capitalize on collaborative, decentralized solutions. This thesis evaluates the processes and procedures for responding to disasters by examining the current tiered response model (local, state, federal) and exploring whether a nonlinear, adaptive approach could improve interagency collaboration and result in better resource utilization. This research creates a framework for dialogue about the deeper appreciation of the complexities and hardships of disaster response. The management of disasters has been routinely criticized. Using a formative program evaluation method, primary and secondary data analysis focuses on understanding the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, the effectiveness of resource deployment, and intergovernmental collaboration during disaster response. This thesis concludes with several recommendations ranked based on multiple factors including political acceptability, economic plausibility, public perception, effectiveness, and appropriate utilization of resources.
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Heidelk, Tillmann. "Education, labor markets, and natural disasters." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/304527.
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This thesis explores the entire cycle of education, from initial access to schooling, over degree completion, to returns to education. Despite recent gains in increasing access, an tens of millions of children worldwide are still out of school. Abolishing school fees has increased enrollment rates in several countries where enrollments were low and fees were high. However, such policies may be less effective, or even have negative consequences, when supply-side responses are weak. The first part of the thesis evaluates the impacts of a tuition waiver program in Haiti, which provided public financing to nonpublic schools conditional on not charging tuition. The chapter concludes that school's participation in the program results in more students enrolled, more staff, and slightly higher student-teacher ratios. The program also reduces grade repetition and the share of overage students. While the increase in students does not directly equate to a reduction in the number of children out of school, it does demonstrate strong demand from families for the program and a correspondingly strong supply response from the nonpublic sector.Pertaining degree completion, it is well established that natural disasters can have a negative effect on human capital accumulation. However, a comparison of the differential impacts of distinct disaster classes is missing. Using census data and information from DesInventar and EMDAT, two large disaster databases, the second part of the thesis assesses how geological disasters and climatic shocks affect the upper secondary degree attainment of adolescents. The chapter focuses on Mexico, given its diverse disaster landscape and lack of obligatory upper secondary education over the observed time period. While all disaster types are found to impede attainment, climatic disasters that are not infrastructure-destructive (e.g. droughts) have the strongest negative effect, decreasing educational expansion by over 40%. The effects seem largely driven by demand-side changes such as increases in school dropouts and fertility, especially for young women. The results may also be influenced by deteriorated parental labor market outcomes. Supply-side effects appear to be solely driven by infrastructure-destructive climatic shocks (e.g. floods). These findings thus call for differential public measures according to specific disaster types and an enhanced attention to climatic events given their potentially stronger impact on younger generations.It is also widely appreciated that natural disasters can have negative impacts on local labor market outcomes. However, the study of differential types of negative capital shocks, the underlying labor market mechanisms, and the context of the poorest countries have been neglected. Following testable predictions of economic theory, the third part of the thesis exploits the exogenous variation of destruction of human and physical capital caused by the 2010 Haiti earthquake to disentangle the differential impact on local individual monetary returns to education. Employing individual-level survey data from before and after the earthquake the chapter finds that the returns decreased on average by 37%, especially in equipment-capital intensive industry. Higher educated individuals adjust into low-paying self-employment or agriculture. The returns are particularly shock-sensitive for urban residents, migrants, males, and people over age 25.<br>Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion<br>info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Peng, Nan-Fu. "Birth and death processes with disasters /." The Ohio State University, 1989. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487672245902776.
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Chen, Wanying. "Modelling the logisitcs response to disasters." Thesis, Lyon, INSA, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015ISAL0046/document.
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Cette thèse est consacrée à l'optimisation de la logistique sanitaire pour soutenir les plans de gestion de crise afin de réduire les effets des catastrophes naturelles et/ou humaines en termes de santé publique. Les catastrophes naturelles peuvent être prédites, mais elles sont difficiles à éviter. Par conséquence, la prise en charge des victimes potentielles et le dimensionnement des moyens logistiques de secours y afférent sont d'une importance cruciale. Une approche analytique en trois étapes est proposée afin d'étudier le dimensionnement des ressources et l'organisation des plans de gestion de crise (plan blanc) d’origine naturelle. La première étape propose un modèle de référence pour concevoir un plan de gestion de crise. La deuxième étape considère un modèle d’optimisation linéaire pour prédire le nombre de ressources nécessaires. La dernière étape présente un modèle dynamique pour simuler l'ensemble de l’organisation de manière fine. L'évacuation d’un hôpital dans le cadre d’un plan blanc étendu à plusieurs hôpitaux pour faire face à un tsunami fluvial a été considérée comme scénario pour évaluer la justesse de notre approche. Les catastrophes d'origine humaine et la propagation des maladies peuvent donner lieu à des désastres de grande ampleur qui mobilisent de nombreuses ressources humaines et matérielles. Par exemple, un modèle de réponse logistique face à une attaque bioterroriste avec un agent non-contagieux ainsi qu’un modèle pour la réponse logistique aux épidémies ont été proposés. Elles traduisent un problème de gestion d’inventaire multi-échelons et multi-périodes. Ces deux modèles dynamiques de flux requièrent une optimisation linéaire et une optimisation non-linéaire respectivement. Ils intègrent les caractéristiques de la gestion de ces catastrophes: la propagation de l’infection ou de la maladie, les réponses médicales appropriées et le déploiement de la logistique associée. Avec ces deux modèles, le nombre de patients aux différents stades de la maladie et le nombre des ressources médicales nécessaires pour chaque période peuvent être calculés. Les facteurs qui influent sur le nombre de décès et l’efficience des différentes politiques d'intervention médicale, peuvent également être évalués. Les deux modèles peuvent ainsi aider les décideurs à prévoir les conséquences de la situation en cas de catastrophe ainsi que de connaître les informations d'une réponse pertinente, ceci à un niveau stratégique. Une réponse logistique à une attaque bioterroriste anonyme à l'anthrax dans un centre commercial et une réponse logistique à une pandémie H5N1 sont pris comme scénarios pour tester l'efficacité des modèles correspondants<br>This thesis is devoted to optimize the health care logistics which can support emergency management plans to reduce the impacts of natural and/or man-made disasters. After the review of relevant papers, two main gaps have been found in the current studies. One is that most of the researches are not based on real cases. The other is that some main characteristics of disasters are neglected when disasters are studied. Therefore, based on real case scenarios, the thesis studies different disasters (natural and/or man-made disasters) separately according to the characteristics of disasters. Natural disasters may be predicted but are difficult to avoid. Therefore, the evacuation of potential victims and the dimensioning of relief resources are crucially important. A three-step approach is proposed to study the resource dimensioning and the organization of emergency management plan (French White Plan) facing natural disasters. In our three-step approach, the first step builds a framework model to get the insights of emergency management plan clearly. The second step establishes a global model (a linear model) to predict the quantity of required resources for evacuation. The third step proposes a detailed simulation model to reflect the real world more precisely. The hospital evacuation under the guidance of a French Extended White Plan in case of a flood has been taken as a real case scenario to test the correctness of our approach. The man-made disasters and the outbreak of diseases can be large-scale disasters which require a high demand of resources. In this thesis, a model for logistics response to bioterrorist attack with a non-contagious agent and another model for the logistics response to epidemics have been proposed. Multi-period and multi-echelon inventory management problems have been studied. The two models (a linear model and a non linear model respectively) combine the main characteristics of disasters: the propagation of the disease, the relevant medical interventions and the logistics deployment together. The number of patients in different disease stages and the required medical resources for each period can be estimated. The factors affecting the number of deaths and the different medical intervention policies can also be evaluated with the two models. With the help of the models, the decision makers can get an idea of the disaster situation and the relevant medical responses from a strategy level. A logistics response to an anonymous bioterrorist attack with anthrax to a shopping center and the logistics response to the outbreak of H5N1 are taken as real case scenarios to test the effectiveness of the models respectively
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Goussebaile, Arnaud. "Prevention and insurance of natural disasters." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016SACLX014/document.
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Les pertes économiques liées aux catastrophes naturelles ont augmenté dans le monde plus rapidement que le PIB les trente dernières années en raison d’un accroissement de population et d’un faible niveau de prévention dans les régions exposées. De plus, seulement un tiers de ces pertes sont assurées et la faible pénétration de l’assurance génère des chocs de richesse pour les populations affectées. Dans ce contexte et dans la perspective du changement climatique, réduire les pertes liées aux catastrophes naturelles et accroître la couverture d’assurance sont devenus des enjeux majeurs pour nos sociétés, qui sont abordés dans la présente thèse. Les faibles niveaux de prévention et d’assurance peuvent s’expliquer par les nombreuses imperfections de marché et les politiques publiques déficientes, comme l’explique le chapitre introductif de la thèse. Il est nécessaire de mieux comprendre ces problèmes de marché et le rôle des politiques publiques afin de les améliorer. Le chapitre 2 s’intéresse aux choix de prévention dans le contexte du développement des villes. A l’aide d’un modèle d’économie urbaine, il montre que des zones plus risquées sont développées près du centre-ville que loin du centre-ville, l’investissement dans la résilience des bâtiments permet de développer des villes plus concentrées et les zones plus risquées sont moins densément peuplées et génèrent plus de prévention. De plus, les subventions à l’assurance mènent à une exposition excessive aux risques à travers une augmentation de la densité dans les zones les plus risquées et une baisse générale de la résilience. Cette analyse illustre les effets négatifs des subventions et le rôle que peuvent jouer les politiques publiques urbaines telles que les restrictions de densité ou les codes de construction. Les chapitres suivants abordent la problématique du partage des risques dans le contexte de corrélation des risques, caractéristique majeure des risques de catastrophes naturelles. A l’aide d’un modèle d’économie avec risques individuels potentiellement corrélés, le chapitre 3 démontre qu’une allocation Pareto-optimale des risques peut être atteinte avec des compagnies d’assurance en compétition et un nombre restreint d’actifs financiers. Ce résultat, qui est valide sans imperfections de marché, nécessite en particulier que les agents soient entièrement responsables pour les contrats signés dans chaque état de la nature. En pratique, pour limiter les défauts de paiement dans les états catastrophiques, les politiques publiques requièrent que les agents aient des réserves financières. Les chapitres 4 et 5 s’intéressent à la problématique de la corrélation des risques quand ces réserves sont coûteuses. Le chapitre 4 étudie comment la probabilité d’un risque affecte le choix de couverture d’individus exposés. Il montre que les individus sont plus enclins à s’assurer pour les faibles probabilités que pour les grandes avec des coûts standard d’assurance, mais que le résultat est inversé quand des coûts dus aux réserves financières sont ajoutés. Le chapitre 5 analyse la forme optimale des contrats d’assurance quand les risques individuels sont corrélés dans une communauté. Il démontre que le contrat optimal consiste en une assurance partielle contre le risque individuel, avec une couverture plus faible dans les états catastrophiques que dans les états normaux, plus potentiellement des dividendes dans les états normaux. Le dernier chapitre conclut en ouvrant sur de nouvelles questions de recherche liées à la prévention et à l’assurance des catastrophes naturelles<br>World economic losses due to natural disasters have increased faster than GDP in the last three decades because risky regions have sustained growing population and low prevention measures. Moreover, only a third of these losses are insured and the low penetration of insurance generates undesirable wealth fluctuation for affected population. In this context and in the perspective of climate change, reducing natural disaster losses and increasing insurance coverage have become main challenges for our societies, which are addressed in the present thesis. Low current levels of prevention measures and insurance coverage can be explained by the numerous market imperfections and poorly designed public policies, as detailed in the introductive chapter of the dissertation. It is thus crucial to better understand these market failures and the role of public policies to improve both of them. Chapter 2 investigates preventive behaviors in the context of city development. By featuring an urban model, it shows that riskier areas are developed nearer to the city center than further away, investment in building resilience leads to more concentrated cities and riskier areas get lower household density and higher building resilience. Moreover, insurance subsidy leads to risk over-exposure through increase of density in the riskiest areas and general decrease of resilience. This analysis highlights the negative effects of subsidization and the role that can be played by urban policies such as density restrictions and building codes. The following chapters deal with risk sharing in the context of risk correlation, a main feature of natural disaster risks. In a model of a risky economy with potential risk dependence between individuals, chapter 3 shows that Pareto optimal allocation of risks can be reached thanks to stock insurance companies in competition and a reduced number of financial assets. This result, which is valid without market imperfections, requires in particular that agents be fully liable for their contracts in each state of nature. In practice, to limit the default on liabilities in catastrophic states, public policies require agents to secure financial reserves. Chapters 4 and 5 investigate the issue of risk correlation when securing financial reserves is costly. Chapter 4 analyzes how the probability of a risk affects the purchase of insurance by risk-exposed individuals. It demonstrates that individuals are more inclined to insure for low-probability risks than for high-probability risks with standard insurance costs, but result is reversed when reserve related costs are added. Chapter 5 examines the optimal design of insurance contracts when individual risks are correlated in a community. It shows that the optimal contract consists in partial insurance against individual risk, with a lower indemnity in catastrophic states than in normal states, and potentially some dividend in normal states. The last chapter concludes by opening on further possible research related to prevention and insurance of natural disasters
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Guarnizo, Caroline Clarke. "Integrating disaster and development assistance after natural disasters : lessons from PVO response in the third world." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/13473.
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Choudhury, Zahidul Arefin. "Politics of natural disaster : how governments maintain legitimacy in the wake of major disasters, 1990-2010." Diss., University of Iowa, 2013. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/1566.
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This dissertation is about major natural disasters, and how they contribute to legitimacy crises of governments. Three major factors explain the emergence of a legitimacy crisis in a post-disaster context: the frequency of disaster occurrence, the quality of the government response to disasters, and the type of regime within which the government operates. Employing a large-N statistical analysis of data on major natural disasters and anti-government domestic political activities for the years between 1990 and 2010, I show that higher counts of disasters, as a rule, increase the risks of anti-government demonstrations, revolutions, riots, guerrilla warfare, and intrastate conflict. The disaster-political opposition relationship is conditional upon the characteristics of political regimes. No regime is entirely free from the political dangers of disasters. Consolidated autocracies and well established democracies are less likely than mixed regimes to observe political crises in the context of a higher frequency of natural disasters.
To evaluate the quality of government response and how it mediates the disaster-legitimacy relationship, I conduct a qualitative analysis of news reports on four major disaster events in South Asia - cyclone Sidr of 2007 and cyclone Aila of 2009 in Bangladesh and cyclone Aila and the Kashmir earthquake of 2005 in India. The case studies reveal that poor preparedness and inadequate immediate and long-term response of a government invite public criticism of the incumbent, antigovernment protest movements, and anti-incumbent voting in elections. When opposition parties translate this public frustration into broader political mobilization, the moral claim of the incumbent to remain in power diminishes substantially, sometimes causing a legitimacy crisis. As opposed to common expectations, democracy may not provide the best political environment for effective disaster response. The quality of government response is influenced rather by a regime's security concerns, the level of administrative efficacy and corruption, the military's role in the disaster response process, socio-economic conditions of the affected people, and leadership competition over the disaster management process.
This study has broader implications for understanding the kinds of political strains that disasters create in a society and how governments function in Bangladesh and India. Much of these governments' energy is devoted to managing disasters, which diminishes their capacity to govern. Political elites in Bangladesh and India use disaster events as opportunities to strengthen clientelism and exclude political opposition in the affected areas
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McMillan, Naya S. "The role of neighborhood residency in the decision to evacuate." Thesis, Birmingham, Ala. : University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. https://www.mhsl.uab.edu/dt/2010r/mcmillan.pdf.
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Khunwishit, Somporn. "Community Resilience in Thailand: a Case Study of Flood Response in Nakhonsawan City Municipality." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2013. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc271841/.
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Natural disasters such as flooding often affect vast areas and create infinite demands that need to be addressed in the same time. The wide scopes and severe impacts of such catastrophes often exceed, if not overwhelm, capacity of the national government to handle. In such a situation, communities such as cities and neighborhoods need to rely on their own capacity (resources, strategies, and expertise) to respond to disaster impacts at least until external assistance can be reached. Thus, studying how communities can be resilient to the impacts of natural disasters is important because this would enhance their ability to respond to the next disaster better. Within the context of great flooding in Thailand in 2011, this dissertation investigated the factors that generated or enhanced resilience of flood stricken-communities in Thailand. Nakhonswan City Municipality was selected as the research site. Qualitative research methods were employed in this study. Data were collected using in-depth interview and focus group. Thirty-six participants (28 for in-depth interview and 8 for focus group interview) from various organizations were recruited using snowball and purposive sampling strategies. Interview data from the field research were transcribed, translated from Thai language to English, and then analyzed using open coding and focused coding strategies. Analyses of in-depth interview data revealed eight conceptual themes representing factors that constituted resilience of Nakhonsawan City Municipality, as the leading organization responded to the flood. These factors are: availability of resources for resilience; managerial adaptability; crisis leadership; quality workforce; knowledge sharing and learning; organizational preparedness; organizational integration; and sectoral integration. In addition, findings from the focus group interview with members of three strong neighborhoods found eight factors that helped these neighborhoods respond effectively to the flood crisis. They included: self-reliance; cooperation; local wisdom; preparedness; internal support; external support; crisis adaptability; and pre-disaster social cohesion. This dissertation ended with the discussion of implications, limitations and suggestions for future research.
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Soto, Gómez Agnes Jane. "Geographical Distribution of Disasters Caused by Natural Hazards in Data-scarce Areas : Methodological exploration on the Samala River catchment, Guatemala." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten och landskapslära, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-260708.
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An increasing trend in both the number of disasters and affected people has been observed, especially during the second half of the 20th century. The physical, economic and social impact that natural hazards have had on a global scale has prompted an increasing interest of governments, international institutions and the academia. This has immensely contributed to improve the knowledge on the subject and has helped multiply the number of initiatives to reduce the negative consequences of natural hazards on people. The scale on which studies supporting disaster risk reduction (DRR) actions are performed is a critical parameter. Given that disasters are recognized to be place-dependent, studying the geographical distribution of disasters on a local scale is essential to make DRR practical and feasible for local authorities, organizations and civilians. However, studying disasters on the local scale is still a challenge due to the constraints posed by scarce data availability. Social vulnerability in many disaster-prone areas is however a pressing issue that needs to be swiftly addressed despite of the many limitations of data for such studies. This thesis explored methodological alternatives to study the geographical distribution of natural disasters and their potential causes in disaster-prone and data-scarce areas. The Samala River catchment in Guatemala was selected as a case study, which is representative of areas with high social vulnerability and data scarcity. Exploratory methods to derive critical disaster information in such areas were constructed using the geographical and social data available for the study area. The hindrances posed by the available data were evaluated and the use of non-traditional datasets such as nightlights imagery to complement the available data were explored as a way of overcoming the observed limitations. The exploratory methods developed in this thesis aim at (a) deriving information on natural disasters under data-scarce circumstances, (b) exploring the correlation between the spatial distribution of natural disasters and the physical context in order to look for causalities, (c) using open data to study the social context as a potential cause of disasters in data-scarce areas, and (d) mapping vulnerabilities to support actions for disaster risk reduction. Although the available data for the case study was limited in quantity and quality and many sources of uncertainty exist in the proposed methods, this thesis argues that the potential contribution to the development of DRR on a local scale is more important than the identified drawbacks. The use of non-traditional data such as remotely sensed imagery made it possible to derive information on the occurrences of disasters and, in particular, causal relationships between location of disasters and their physical and social context.<br>El número de desastres y personas afectadas por esos desastres en el mundo han mostrado una tendencia creciente, especialmente en la segunda mitad del siglo veinte. El impacto físico, económico y social que las amenazas naturales han causado a nivel global ha causado que gobiernos, instituciones internacionales y la academia se interesen cada vez más en los desastres causados por esas amenazas. Este interés ha contribuido a mejorar el conocimiento existente sobre desastres y ha contribuido a multiplicar las iniciativas orientadas a reducir sus efectos negativos en las personas. La escala en la cual las iniciativas para la reducción del riesgo de desastres (RRD) se llevan a cabo es un parámetro crítico para su materialización. Hoy en día se reconoce la estrecha relación que existe entre los desastres y los lugares donde éstos se registran. Por esta razón, estudiar la distribución de los desastres en una escala local es esencial para que la RRD sea práctica y factible para autoridades y organizaciones locales, y también para la sociedad civil. Sin embargo, estudiar los desastres en una escala local es aún un problema por resolver debido a las restricciones impuestas por la escasa disponibilidad de datos de alta resolución. A pesar de las dificultades y limitaciones identificadas, la vulnerabilidad social en las regiones propensas a desastres es un problema importante que necesita ser atendido con prontitud. La presente tesis exploró alternativas metodológicas para estudiar la distribución geográfica de los desastres naturales y sus causas potenciales, particularmente en áreas propensas a desastres y en condiciones de información limitada. La cuenca del Río Samalá fue seleccionada como caso de estudio debido a que es un área representativa de áreas propensa a desastres con alta vulnerabilidad social y además escasez de datos. El trabajo de investigación propone métodos exploratorios para extraer información crítica sobre desastres utilizando la información geográfica y social que esté disponible, evaluando los obstáculos impuestos por la reducida disponibilidad de datos. La información existente fue complementada con el uso de fuentes de información no tradicional, e.g. imágenes satelitales de luces nocturnas, como una manera de superar las limitaciones identificadas. Los métodos desarrollados en este trabajo de tesis tuvieron como objetivos (a) obtener información sobre desastres naturales en condiciones de escasez de datos, (b) explorar la correlación entre la distribución espacial de los desastres naturales y su contexto físico para identificar causalidades, (c) utilizar información de libre acceso para estudiar el contexto social de los desastres como causa potencial de los desastres en áreas con escasez de datos, y (d) mapear vulnerabilidades para sustentar acciones para la RRD. Este trabajo de tesis sostiene que la contribución potencial de los métodos propuestos al desarrollo de la RRD en la escala social es más importante que las incertidumbres que implican y las limitaciones creadas por la reducida calidad y cantidad de información para el caso de estudio. El uso de fuentes de información no tradicionales tales como imágenes satelitales hizo posible incrementar la información sobre las incidencias de desastres y, en particular, buscar relación de dependencia entre los lugares particulares en los que los desastres fueron registrados y su contexto físico y social.
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King, W. Bernt. "The relationship between God and [R] in Isaiah 45:7." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2003. http://www.tren.com.
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Alzaghal, Mohamad H. "Analysis of the proposed Jordan's Emergency Communication Interoperability Plan (JECIP) for disaster response." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Naval Postgraduate School, 2008. http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2008/Dec/08Dec%5FAlzaghal.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S. in Electronic Warfare Systems Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2008.<br>Thesis Advisor(s): Buddenberg, Rex ; Steckler, Brian. "December 2008." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 29, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-108). Also available in print.
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Boyle, Kirk. "The Catastrophic Real: Late Capitalism and Other Naturalized Disasters." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1250625590.
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Bang, Henry N. "Natural disaster risk, vulnerability and resettlement : relocation decisions following the Lake Nyos and Monoum disasters in Cameroon." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2009. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/10574/.
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This thesis examines contemporary challenges within “natural” disaster risk, vulnerability, resettlement and disaster management in Cameroon. Its empirical focus is on the experiences of the Lake Nyos and Lake Monoum gas disasters which occurred in the mid- 1980s, and on the processes that surrounded resettlement and subsequent relocation of affected populations. The underlying aim is to understand the social context of risk and vulnerability, and consider how such knowledge can be integrated in the development planning process of Cameroon. The research adopts the position, now common in the political ecology of hazards, that disasters occur due to the interaction between human and physical factors, and that disaster risk reduction measures should incorporate socioeconomic and socio-cultural problems. The thesis combines evidence from questionnaire surveys, interviews, documents and field observations, in order to produce a detailed understanding of the processes at work. Results are presented in study populations; three that were affected by the gas disasters (the displaced victims of the Lake Nyos disaster presently living in resettlement camps, former displaced victims of the Lake Nyos disaster who have moved back to the disaster zone and the residents in and around Lake Monoum who were not resettled and have not moved from the disaster area) and a set of key stakeholders involved in disaster management in Cameroon. Most disaster research in Cameroon focuses on the technical aspects of natural hazards/disasters. There is conspicuous lack of research or published materials that addresses the social aspects of natural disasters. Research findings show that Cameroon’s disaster management framework has been oriented to address mostly the crisis phase of natural disasters. This view is confirmed by the case study results, which reveal that the management of the Lake Nyos disaster focused on the immediate aftermath of the disaster, without contingency planning for the displaced survivors. Results also reveal that the resettlement of disaster survivors has created social conditions that have led to their relocation back to the disaster zone. Results regarding several risk-related themes strongly indicate that disaster managers in the government sector generally perceive risk from a technical, scientific or physical perspective. Past experience and socio-cultural factors appear to be more responsible for risk perception and attitudes to risk in the disaster affected populations. The relocation of the Lake Nyos disaster survivors back to the disaster area and the nonrelocation of Njindoum residents within the vicinity of Lake Monoum indicate that both lakes are not considered to be a prohibitively serious threat. Analysis of relocation decisions shows that motivations for relocation are caused mainly by social, economic and cultural factors, which arise from resettlement. Based on the research findings, a new disaster model is presented that shows the linkages, influences and interaction between Relocation Decisions and Disaster Management, Risk Perception and Vulnerability.
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Albrecht, Frederike. "The Social and Political Impact of Natural Disasters : Investigating Attitudes and Media Coverage in the Wake of Disasters." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-320680.
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Natural disasters are social and political phenomena. Social structures create vulnerability to natural hazards and governments are often seen as responsible for the effects of disasters. Do social trust, political trust, and government satisfaction therefore generally change following natural disasters? How can media coverage explain change in political attitudes? Prior research suggests that these variables are prone to change, but previous studies often focus on single cases, whereas this dissertation adopts a broader approach, examining multiple disasters. It investigates the social and political impact of natural disasters by examining their effect on social and political attitudes and by exploring media coverage as a mechanism underlying political consequences. The results reveal that natural disasters may have a comparatively frequent, although small and temporary, effect on social trust. Substantial effects are less likely. Social trust was found to decrease significantly when disasters cause nine or more fatalities (Paper I). Political attitudes were expected to be prone to change after natural disasters, but Paper II illustrates that political trust and government satisfaction among citizens are generally hardly affected by these events. Finally, media framing and the political claims of actors explained the variation in political consequences after disasters of similar severity. Paper III also illustrates the importance of the political context of natural disasters, as their occurrence can be strategically exploited by actors to further criticism towards the government in politically tense situations. This dissertation contributes to existing disaster research by investigating more cases than disaster studies typically do. It also uses a systematic case selection process, and a quantitative approach with a, for disaster research, unique research design. Hence, it offers methodological nuance to existing studies. A broader analysis, factoring in the variation of disaster severity and the increased number of cases offers new answers and tests assumptions about underlying patterns. The main contribution of this thesis is that it examines how common political and social effects of disasters are. Furthermore, this dissertation contributes to existing disasters research by emphasizing contextual and explanatory factors, e.g., properties of disasters and the political context that affects the media coverage of natural disasters.
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Pradhan, Anu Raj. "INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM FRAMEWORK FOR DISASTERS." NCSU, 2003. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-08122003-172045/.
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Three-tiered enterprise GIS architecture offers a robust, efficient, and secure mechanism as a potential revolution to disaster management systems. This paper addresses the severe limitations of existing disaster management systems and proposes an integrated management information system as an alternative. The value of such a 3-tiered enterprise GIS is its ability to function as reliable and efficient system during a disaster. Issues related to data storage, handling, timely distribution of processing power, efficient retrieval and dissemination of information, and data security against unauthorized access have to addressed using the state-of-the-art technology. Recent advancements in (1) standardized data specification, (2) middleware services, and (3) web-enabled distributed computing provide key resources to design and implement a tool of unprecedented flexibility and capacity for disaster management. This paper presents the critical details of such a system.