Disaster Studies

Pandemicity and Severity are Separate Constructs

by Alan Card

Reconstruire ses souvenirs : le nettoyage des photographies emportées par le tsunami à Kesennuma

by Coralie Castel

Published in Ebisu n°47, the Journal of Japanese Studies from the Maison Franco-Japonaise in Tokyo, 2012

In Kesennuma, a city affected by the tsunami, an association of inhabitants undertakes the washing of thousands of... more In Kesennuma, a city affected by the tsunami, an association of inhabitants undertakes the washing of thousands of personal photographs found in the ruins, in order to return them to their owners. This collective action of “saving memories” is supported by volunteers from all the country, and eventually contributes to the reconstruction of the local society.

Urgent Biophilia: Human-Nature Interactions and Biological Attractions in Disaster Resilience

by Keith Tidball

published in Ecology & Society

This contribution builds upon contemporary work on principles of biological attraction as well as earlier work on... more This contribution builds upon contemporary work on principles of biological attraction as well as earlier work on biophilia while synthesizing literatures on restorative environments, community-based ecological restoration, and both community and social-ecological disaster resilience. It suggests that when humans, faced with a disaster, as individuals and as communities and populations, seek engagement with nature to further their efforts to summon and demonstrate resilience in the face of a crisis, they exemplify an urgent biophilia. This urgent biophilia represents an important set of human-nature interactions in SES characterized by hazard, disaster, or vulnerability, often appearing in the ‘backloop’ of the adaptive cycle. The relationships that human-nature interactions have to other components within interdependent systems at many different scales may be one critical source of resilience in disaster and related contexts. In other words, the affinity we humans have for the rest of nature, the process of remembering that attraction, and the urge to express it through creation of restorative environments, which may also restore or increase ecological function, may confer resilience across multiple scales. In making this argument, the paper also represents a novel contribution to further theorizing alternatives to anthropocentric understandings of human-nature relations, and strongly makes the case for humans as part of, not separate from, ecosystems.
Key words: biophilia, disaster, human-nature interaction, resilience, urgent biophilia

Challenging development priorities: The case for earthquake hazard mitigation as a policy imperative in developing countries

by Gah-Kai Leung

Undergraduate paper submitted to the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, May 2012.

I intend to submit this paper to Volume 5, Issue 2, of "Reinvention: A Journal of Undergraduate Research". I also plan to present this paper at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research 2013, to be held at the University of Plymouth.

The substantive mission of this essay is to provide a case for earthquake hazard mitigation as a policy priority for... more The substantive mission of this essay is to provide a case for earthquake hazard mitigation as a policy priority for earthquake-prone developing countries. I explain why seismic hazard should constitute an issue for development by showing how developing countries suffer disproportionately from the effects of severe earthquakes compared to more advanced economies. I go on to offer reasons for why earthquake mitigation measures have been marginalised within the development community. Finally a series of policy solutions are proposed, casting the earthquake resistance project in terms of a coherent network of knowledge-sharing from the international to the local levels.

On the Edge of Chaos: European Aviation and Disrupted Mobilities

by Michael O' Regan

Mobilities
Volume 6, Issue 1, February 2011, Pages 21 - 30
Author: Michael O'Regana
DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2011.532649

This article argues that airlines should be viewed through the lens of complexity theory, a complex systems-oriented... more This article argues that airlines should be viewed through the lens of complexity theory, a complex systems-oriented aviation industry defined by interactions among sub-systems that include airports, passengers, airlines and (mobility) policy - the regulations, guidance, design and planning mechanisms that are increasingly part of aviation internalities. Together with air traffic controllers, cabin/ground crew, airport managers, the formation of multiple assemblages of aeromobility have generated the conditions for the industry's survival and expansion; helping to make Europe and its air-space one of the busiest in the world with 150,000 air routes, 150 airlines and 9.5 million annual flights. Within the European Union, the system draws support and governance from the political system since the system sustains and promotes mobilities in contemporary European life - a cornerstone of the modern European Union without borders. From supporting new aircraft innovation through loan guarantees; creating the framework for new powerful institutions such as the European Aviation Safety Agency; and designing new policy directives such as the Single European Sky, aeromobility has entered into the fabric of European life. During April 2010, an Icelandic volcanic eruption created turbulence in the Europe aviation industry, causing disrupted mobilities across the globe. Just as the 2008 financial crisis shook the global economy, exposing the fragility of the foundations of global banking and finance, the eruption exposed the weaknesses of European institutions and the governance framework that regulates the free flow of people, labor and cargo by air. This article reflects on the Eyjafjallajoumlkull event to expose the fragility of the system and argues that decisions made during and after the eruption mask the system's continual vulnerability to exogenous forces. Simplification by experts and other actors such as politicians from outside the system's ecological landscape may thus have long lasting consequences.

HURRICANE KATRINA: LACK OF RESPONSE OF US GOVERNMENT. ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE NEWSPAPER

by Bernardo Mendez Lugo

Nuclear Safety: A (Charlie) Brownian Notion

by John Downer

SPAIS Working Paper. Hasn't been through review yet, so no holding it against me.

[The full paper is attached here, but if you click on the link and download it from Bristol instead then some web analytics thing will learn you were interested, and that would probably be good for me in some roundabout sort of way.]

Both the legitimacy and governance of nuclear power plants are premised on formal calculations (probabilistic risk... more Both the legitimacy and governance of nuclear power plants are premised on formal calculations (probabilistic risk assessments) proving that major accidents will not happen. The 2011 meltdowns at Fukushima suggests that these calculations are untrustworthy. Yet the assessment process has retained its legitimacy: the ‘nuclear renaissance’ continues almost unabated, with policymakers invoking the same assessments to rationalize it. This is possible because – as with Three Mile Island and Chernobyl – public accounts of the accident have framed the disaster in ways that ‘redeem’ the legitimacy of nuclear risk assessment as a practice. This paper looks at how. It outlines four basic ‘rites of redemption’: narratives by which accounts distance the failure to predict Fukushima from the credibility of nuclear risk calculations writ-large. It critiques each of these narratives in turn, and argues that they serve to occlude a wider truth about complex technological systems, with perverse consequences regarding public policy.

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Developing Innovative Teaching Strategies For Responding to Global Disasters

by Karen Rotabi

Authorship is:
Jones, J. L, Rotabi, K. S., Levy, J. K., & Gray, L. A. (in press) to appear in Advances in Social Work (free access).

This paper summarizes the development of an interdisciplinary Faculty Learning Community (FLC) bringing together the... more This paper summarizes the development of an interdisciplinary Faculty Learning Community (FLC) bringing together the Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Social Work and Government and Public Affairs, Department of Homeland Security to develop an in depth, comprehensive pedagogical approach to the many issues associated with disaster risk reduction. As the title suggests, this is an interdisciplinary team that explores learning and demonstrates learning models.  This particular FLC focuses on understanding the antecedent conditions and root causes of disaster events.  We explore best practices to prevent, mitigate, and prepare for such events in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum with an emphasis on homeland security and social work.  The FLC is an example of a non-traditional educational model providing content on disaster risk, response, and global impact. This particular FLC was committed to bringing together appropriate expertise from the academic setting as well as inviting community members and organizations into the classroom to share the “lived experience” and intuitive knowledge about disaster.

Hatcher et al USACE and Post-Katrina New Orleans

by Laura Hatcher

Accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Social Science.

In this article, we present demolition data in order to explore the way the patterns of demolition carried out by the... more In this article, we present demolition data in order to explore the way the patterns of demolition carried out by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were constituted as a social problem by residents of the Lower 9th Ward and members of the broader New Orleans community. Through a study of newspaper stories and press interviews about the implementation process, we find evidence of a gap that exists between the interpretation of the demolitions by residents of the Lower 9th, and the need to carry out disaster clean-up among city officials and the USACE. This gap, we suggest, is constitutive of an implementation problem that may best be dealt with in policymaking processes focused on planning for disasters.

"From 'Wasteland' to 'Wetland': Palazzolo, Neoliberalism, and Changing Practices in Coastal Regulation

by Laura Hatcher

in Property Rights and Neoliberalism: Cultural Demands and Legal Actions, edited by Wayne McIntosh and Laura Hatcher (in press, expected fall of 2010, Law, Property and Society Series Ashgate Press))

In this chapter, I describe the process through which coastal regulation changed the meaning of the coast line for... more In this chapter, I describe the process through which coastal regulation changed the meaning of the coast line for property owners.  These changes ultimately led to a property dispute and the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Palazzolo v. Rhode Island.  I argue that tensions within neoliberalism ultimately resulted in a grassroots mobilization against regulations. 

Children and young people who are refugees, internally displaced persons and victims and perpetrators of war, terrorism and mass violence.

by John Drury

Drury, J., & Williams, R. (in press). Current Opinion in Psychiatry

Purpose of review
This paper draws upon papers published since 2009 to identify research evidence about the... more Purpose of review
This paper draws upon papers published since 2009 to identify research evidence about the psychosocial aspects of children and young people’s responses to their exposure to war, collective violence and terrorism.
Recent findings
Recent research describes children’s distress and the disorders they may develop consequent on their direct and indirect exposure to war. This paper covers general responses as well as those that affect refugees, displaced children, and child soldiers. Dose of exposure is the main predictor of their degree of distress. Often, loss of parental support predicts distress or disorder. Research on children who are refugees and internally displaced persons has found that they cope better with the distressing events surrounding their flight if their parents accompany them. Studies of child soldiers show that they suffer from guilt as well as experiencing many violent distressing events. Research has identified the factors that contribute to their resilience, which include their acceptance by the communities to which they return. There are personal and social sources of resilience, including emotion regulation, parenting, and social support, for children who are exposed to war.
Summary
Much of the recent research confirms earlier findings, which demonstrate that their exposure to war and collective violence leads to distress for many children and/or mental disorders for a smaller but substantial minority of them. The literature shows interest in identifying and measuring protective factors. The emphasis in the papers we reviewed on social as well as personal factors that confer psychosocial resilience reflects the broad interest in the two canons of literature on children’s development and disasters. The findings point powerfully to people’s needs for holistic and community-level interventions.
Keywords
War, psychosocial response, posttraumatic stress, violence, resilience

The ethics of global disaster reporting: Journalistic witnessing and the challenge to objectivity

by Karin Wahl-Jorgensen

Wahl-Jorgensen, K, and Pantti, M. (forthcoming). The ethics of global disaster reporting: Journalistic witnessing and the challenge to objectivity. In S. Ward (Ed.), Global Media Ethics: Problems and Perspectives. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

Final version to be uploaded shortly! Final version to be uploaded shortly!

Imagined Disaster

by Anton Novenanto

Sometimes, disasters occurred are not only caused by physical damages as consequences of destructive natural... more Sometimes, disasters occurred are not only caused by physical damages as consequences of destructive natural phenomena, but also triggered by the unstable social structures in the society that affect the ordinary social processes. This article looks at the role of mainstream and alternative media responses to mud volcano in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java which has occurred since May 29, 2006, or “the Lapindo Case”. Following the spirit of “freedom to express”, which is getting stronger since the Reform 1998, has pushed social groups to voice their version of the truth about this case. The truths are articulated through the existing mass media, or by publishing new (alternative) media. Rather to construct, these efforts were just deconstructing public’s images about the Lapindo Case.

A Role for Citizen Science in Disaster and Conflict Recovery and Resilience

by Keith Tidball

Appears as a chapter in the book Citizen Science: Public Participation in Environmental Research. Dickinson & Bonney, Eds.

"This Complicated, Colossal Failure": The Abjection of Creighton Bernette in HBO's Treme

by Julia Leyda

Television & New Media 1527476411434517, first published on February 7, 2012 as doi:10.1177/1527476411434517

The character of Creighton Bernette on the HBO series Treme, in his excesses and abjection, embodies post-Katrina New... more The character of Creighton Bernette on the HBO series Treme, in his excesses and abjection, embodies post-Katrina New Orleans in crucial ways: physical and emotional excesses become ways to distance his character from viewers, in ways analogous to the othering of the city and its inhabitants in post-Katrina media and public discourses.

Plant Biodiversity Assessment In Relation to Disturbances In Mid-Elevational Forest of Central Himalaya, India

by Neeraj Khera

Depression and PTSD symptoms among bereaved adolescents 6½ years after the Spitak earthquake.

by Alan M. Steinberg, Ph.D.

Objective
To compare depression and PTSD symptoms of parentally bereaved adolescents and a comparison group... more Objective
To compare depression and PTSD symptoms of parentally bereaved adolescents and a comparison group after a catastrophic natural disaster.

Method
Six and a half years after the Spitak earthquake, 48 parentally bereaved adolescents and a comparison group of 44 subjects with no parental loss were evaluated using the Depression Self - Rating Scale (DSRS) and Child Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (CPTSD-RI).

Results
Orphans scored significantly higher on depression than those who lost a father (Mean DSRS scores: 20.2±3.3 vs. 16.6±5.2; p<0.001), who in turn scored significantly higher than those who lost a mother (Mean DSRS scores: 16.6±5.2 vs. 12.7±4.1; p<0.002). Depression scores for orphans fell above the cut-off for clinical depression, while those who lost a father scored slightly below. PTSD scores within each group fell in the moderate range of severity, with girls scoring higher than boys (Mean CPTSD-RI scores: 35.9±11.3 vs. 29.3±10.1; p<0.04).

Limitation
As self-report instruments were used, responses may have been over- or under- reported. Participants belonged to the same ethnic group and therefore the results may not be generalizable to other populations.

Conclusion
Loss of both parents and, to a lesser degree, loss of a father is a significant risk factor for depression, but not for PTSD. This study extends prior findings documenting post-disaster chronicity of depression and PTSD among bereaved adolescents, and underscores the need for post-disaster mental health and social programs, especially for those who suffer the loss of both parents.

Kizuna: Examining the bonds of risk, tragedy, disaster and recovery in Japan

by Christopher Hood

Paper written for an online forum on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station disaster - http://fukushimaforum.wordpress.com/online-forum/kizuna-examining-the-bonds-of-risk-tragedy-disaster-and-recovery-in-japan/

This paper looks at the importance of bonds between risk, tragedy, disaster and recovery in Japan. The paper considers... more This paper looks at the importance of bonds between risk, tragedy, disaster and recovery in Japan. The paper considers the responses to the JAL flight JL123 crash and uses this as a basis for considering some of the responses to the events following the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011.

Kasus Lapindo, Keterbukaan Informasi Pubik, dan Media Massa

by Anton Novenanto

Disampaikan sebagai pancingan Diskusi Kelompok Terbatas Keterbukaan Informasi Publik dalam Kasus Lapindo, Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI) Surabaya dan Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (Walhi) Jawa Timur, Surabaya, 17 Juli 2010.

Ada tiga hal penting yang diharapkan penyelenggara diskusi dengan kehadiran penulis. Pertama, pembahasan tentang... more Ada tiga hal penting yang diharapkan penyelenggara diskusi dengan kehadiran penulis. Pertama, pembahasan tentang “kasus Lapindo” dari perspektif kajian sosial‐budaya. Kedua, perihal “ketertutupan” informasi publik dalam kasus Lapindo. Dan ketiga, yang menjadi topik khusus yang diminta penyelenggara pada penulis adalah peran (pekerja) media, khususnya untuk mewujudkan keterbukaan informasi publik dalam kasus Lapindo.

Dispersal and attenuation of trace contaminants downstream of the Ajka bauxite residue (red mud) depository failure, Hungary

by William Mayes

Environmental Science and Technology

This paper identifies the spatial extent of bauxite processing residue (red mud)-derived contaminants and modes of... more This paper identifies the spatial extent of bauxite processing residue (red mud)-derived contaminants and modes of transport within the Marcal and Rába river systems after the dike failure at Ajka, western Hungary. The geochemical signature of the red mud is apparent throughout the 3076 km2 Marcal system principally with elevated Al, V, As, and Mo. Elevated concentrations of Cr, Ga, and Ni are also observed within 2 km of the source areas in aqueous and particulate phases where hyperalkalinity (pH < 13.1) is apparent. Although the concentrations of some trace elements exceed aquatic life standards in waters (e.g., V, As) and fluvial sediments (As, Cr, Ni, V), the spatial extent of these is limited to the Torna Creek and part of the upper Marcal. Source samples show a bimodal particle size distribution (peaks at 0.7 and 1.3 μm) which lends the material to ready fluvial transport. Where elevated concentrations are found in fluvial sediments, sequential extraction suggests the bulk of the As, Cr, Ni, and V are associated with residual (aqua-regia/HF digest) phases and unlikely to be mobile in the environment. However, at some depositional hotspots, association of As, Cr, and V with weak acid-extractable phases is observed.