Disaster risk management

Action Research with Children: Lessons from Tackling Disasters and Climate Change

by Thomas Tanner

Co-authored with Fran Seballos

Recent research and practice from the fields of climate change adaptation and disaster management has created a shift... more Recent research and practice from the fields of climate change adaptation and disaster management has created a shift from emphasis of children’s vulnerability and need for protection towards their potential as agents of change before, during and after disaster events.

This article examines lessons from action research into children’s agency in disaster-prone communities of El Salvador and the Philippines. We describe some of the participatory risk management methods that were adapted for use with children,
the centrality of ethics to our approach and the importance of working with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) partner that provides ongoing support in the study communities. The research design was led by external agents in order to cross-compare findings across locations and countries. However, we
argue that by engaging children in a process of knowledge generation and analysis, the research broke down some of the assumed hierarchies between researcher and researched common to orthodox approaches.

Pandemicity and Severity are Separate Constructs

by Alan Card

Tokyo Governor Says Tsunami is Divine Punishment—Religious Groups Ignore Him

by Levi McLaughlin

Published on www.religiondispatches.org on March 17, 2011

DORIS downstream service: a support to civil defence autorithies in landslides and subsidence risk management

by Florence ReSeT

A Ciampalini, C Del Ventisette, S Moretti, M Manunta, F Calò, L Paglia, F Ardizzone, F Guzzetti, M Rossi, F Bellotti, D Colombo, T Strozzi, U Wegmuller, O Mora, and F Sanches.

A Candour in Reporting: designing dexterously for fire preparedness

by Yoko Akama

Co-authored by Yoko Akama, RMIT University and Ann Light, Northumbria University

Paper presented at AltCHI 2012, May 5-10, 2012, Austin Texas, USA

This paper challenges the domination of repeatable methods in HCI discourse and, instead, offers a design case study... more This paper challenges the domination of repeatable methods in HCI discourse and, instead, offers a design case study that details ad-hoc, contextually-driven decisions as to how processes can unfold in a community-based project, taking on fire awareness in Australia. The paper draws out details which enable us to understand why and how methods were modified or abandoned to overcome obstacles, and what was made a priority in arriving at greater understanding of communicating risk. This reporting differs from an established research accounting, but offers complexity and richness in human-centered research as we seek to develop our epistemologies of design research practice.

Design-led strategies for bushfire preparedness

by Yoko Akama

Co-authored by Yoko Akama, Susan Chaplin, Richard Philips, Keith Toh

Bushfire CRC research team: ‘Effective Communication: Communities and Bushfire’. RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

Paper presented at EARTH: FIRE AND RAIN
Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, Brisbane, 16 – 18, April 2012

To date, both government and fire authorities in Victoria have deployed a variety of communication messages on... more To date, both government and fire authorities in Victoria have deployed a variety of communication messages on bushfire awareness. Yet, distributing information to a wide audience is not enough to increase people’s preparedness for bushfire. These forms of communication sustain a transmission process that reinforces the power-dynamics of control, making audiences passive. It perpetuates the disempowerment felt by communities who are not engaged in a dialogic process, further broadening the gap between ‘expert’ fire authorities and ‘non-expert’ community. This paper presents co-design methods that were used to facilitate a dialogic form of communication on bushfire preparedness with community members in the Southern Otways, Victoria. The research engaged a group of 20 residents to facilitate co-creation and communication of local knowledge of the geographical environment through visualisation. These methods show potential of bridging relationships between neighbours and the importance of social interactions that can lead to better fire preparation.

DESIGN OF MARINE STRUCTURES WITH IMPROVED SAFETY FOR ENVIRONMENT

by Alan Klanac

co-authored with Petri Varsta, accepted for publication in 'Reliability Engineering and System Safety'

The paper describes a method for design of marine structures with increased safety for environment, considering also... more The paper describes a method for design of marine structures with increased safety for environment, considering also the required investment costs as well as the aspects of risk distribution onto the maritime stakeholders. Practically, the paper seeks to answer what is the optimal amount that should be invested into certain safety measure for any given vessel. Due to the uneven distribution of risk, as well as the differing impact of costs emerging safety improvements, stakeholders experience conflicting ranking of alternatives. To solve this multi-stakeholder decision-making problem, in which each stakeholder is a decision-maker, the method applies concepts of group decision-making theory, namely the Game Theory. The method fosters axiomatic definition of the optimum solution, arguing that the solution, or the final selected design, should satisfy the non-dominance, efficiency, and fairness. These three are thoroughly discussed in terms of structural design, especially the latter. Considering the coupling of environmental risk and structural design, the method also builds on the preference structure of four maritime stakeholders: yards, owners, oil receivers and the public, who either share the risks or directly influence structural design. Method is presented on a practical study of structural design of a tanker with a crashworthy side structure that is capable of reducing the risk of collision. The outcome of this study outlines a number of possibilities for successful improvement of tanker safety that can benefit, concurrently, all maritime stakeholders.

Surviving Sudden Environmental Change: Answers from Archaeology

by Jago Cooper

Cooper, Jago & Sheets, Payson eds. 2012. Surviving Sudden Environmental Change: Answers from Archaeology. Boulder: University Press of Colorado

In Surviving Sudden Environmental Change, case studies examine how eight different past human communities—ranging from... more In Surviving Sudden Environmental Change, case studies examine how eight different past human communities—ranging from Arctic to equatorial regions, from tropical rainforests to desert interiors, and from deep prehistory to living memory—faced, and coped with, the dangers of sudden environmental change. Many disasters originate from a force of nature, such as an earthquake, cyclone, tsunami, volcanic eruption, drought, or flood. But that is only half of the story; decisions of people and their particular cultural lifeways are the rest. Sociocultural factors are essential in understanding risk, impact, resilience, reactions, and recoveries from massive sudden environmental changes. By using deep-time perspectives provided by interdisciplinary approaches, this book provides a rich temporal background to the human experience of environmental hazards and disasters. In addition, each chapter is followed by an abstract summarizing the important implications for today’s management practices and providing recommendations for policy makers.

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.

USAF Minerva Project on Energy & Environmental Security

by Chad Briggs

Interim report on US Air Force Project Minerva

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.

Children and Disaster Risk Reduction: Taking Stock and Moving Forward

by Thomas Tanner

Co-authored with Emma Back and Catherine Cameron

This report highlights some of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities focused on or led by children that CCC... more This report highlights some of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities focused on or led by children that CCC members and others have undertaken with children in different communities across the world.

We characterise DRR interventions involving children along a continuum from expanding Knowledge, to enhancing Voice, to taking Action (to Protect, to Influence and finally to Transform).

The report discusses case studies along this continuum. It finds that to date effort and success have focused more on the earlier part of this continuum, with much learning available from initiatives to expand and transfer Knowledge and enhance Voice and, to a degree taking Action to Protect.

The report also finds that although much work has been done with local communities, and some with local and regional governments, as one moves up to national and international levels there is less activity. Under-18s – who have specific needs as children as well as a right to determine the world in
which they will live as adults – have been less engaged.

This approach to DRR is more challenging – for adults and children alike – and therefore currently under-explored.

The report also suggests that as the cost-effectiveness of DRR activities is well understood, it could be helpful for CCC to emphasise the additional economic benefits from delivering DRR with children, where the costs may well be lower and the benefits stream higher (using a lifetime analysis and taking into account intergenerational benefits). Importantly for DRR practitioners, this will require a shift in the way such interventions are assessed.

Bushfire and everyday life: Examining the awareness-action ‘gap’ in changing rural landscapes

by Christine Eriksen

Co-authored with N. Gill
Published in 'Geoforum', 2010, 41(5), pp.814-825

In this paper we use the notion of ‘everyday life’ to critically examine an apparent ‘gap’ between bushfire risk... more In this paper we use the notion of ‘everyday life’ to critically examine an apparent ‘gap’ between bushfire risk awareness and preparedness amongst diverse landholders in rural landscapes affected by amenityled in-migration in southeast Australia. Landholders were found to bring their own agency to bushfire preparedness in the relationships between everyday procedures, dilemmas, and tradeoffs. Consequently, regardless of landholders’ awareness levels, attitudes towards bushfire and natural resource management influence if, how, and to what extent landowners prepare for bushfires. We argue that not only is the ‘gap’ complex but also paradoxical in that it is both evident in, and constituted by, landholder attitudes and action and simultaneously dissolved in their practices and decision-making in everyday life. Three dilemmas of everyday life in particular were found to underpin these attitudes: costs (in terms of monetary and time values), gender roles, and priorities. Using a mixed-methods research approach, this simultaneous cultural construction and material nature of bushfire in everyday life is mapped out through landholders’ narratives and actions that embody living with fire on the land. The place of bushfire in landholders’ everyday life has direct relevance to recent international discussions of the vulnerability of the growing number of people living in bushfire-prone rural–urban interface areas.

The Art of Learning: Wildfire, Amenity Migration and Local Environmental Knowledge

by Christine Eriksen

Co-authored with T. Prior
Published in 'The International Journal of Wildland Fire', 2011, Vol.20, No.4, pp.612-624

Communicating the need to prepare well in advance of the wildfire season is a strategic priority for wildfire... more Communicating the need to prepare well in advance of the wildfire season is a strategic priority for wildfire management agencies worldwide. However, there is considerable evidence to suggest that although these agencies invest significant effort towards this objective in the lead up to each wildfire season, landholders in at-risk locations often remain under-prepared. One reason for the poor translation of risk information materials into actual preparation may be attributed to the diversity of people now inhabiting wildfire-prone locations in peri-urban landscapes. These people hold widely varying experiences, beliefs, attitudes and values relating to wildfire, which influence their understanding and interpretation of risk messages – doing so within the constraints of their individual contexts. This paper examines the diversity of types of local environmental knowledge (LEK) present within wildfire-prone landscapes affected by amenity-led in-migration in south-east Australia. It investigates the ways people learn and form LEK of wildfire, and how this affects the ability of at-risk individuals to interpret and act on risk communication messages. We propose a practical framework that complements existing risk education mechanisms with engagement and interaction techniques (agency–community and within community) that can utilise LEK most effectively and facilitate improved community-wide learning about wildfire and wildfire preparedness.

(2012) Un exemple d'écosophie des risques industriels

by Tobias Girard

Published in "Chimères", 76, 2012, p. 41-52.

En prenant appui sur une enquête anthropologique de terrain réalisée de 2005 à 2007 dans la zone industrielle de... more En prenant appui sur une enquête anthropologique de terrain réalisée de 2005 à 2007 dans la zone industrielle de Marseille/Fos-sur-Mer, cet article propose quelques exemples pour illustrer les manières dont différents dispositifs de sécurité peuvent articuler des questions techniques, liées à la nature des menaces, avec des enjeux de pouvoir, des visions du monde et des rapports sociaux, des manières de traiter les informations ou de composer avec une émotion comme la peur. Ces dispositifs étant eux-mêmes instables, nous verrons ensuite comment leur détraquement peut paradoxalement assurer le fonctionnement de la société de contrôle des risques.

Jdr Urban Technological Risk Merida Venezuela

by Alejandro Linayo

Visualization of Traceability in Decision Processes - an Useable Tool in Crisis Communication

by Mario Storga

co-authored by Öberg, Lena-Maria; Štorga, Mario; Stanković, Tino
published in Proceedings of the Åre Risk Event, Risk and Crisis Research Center, Mid Sweden University, Åre, Sweden, 2011

During a crisis situation a different actor’s decisions will be made and the information flow might be high. Modern... more During a crisis situation a different actor’s decisions will be made and the information flow might be high. Modern organizations use information fragments stored in a variety of information sources both internal and external to be able to make the needed decisions. It is important to be able to seamlessly link and trace information fragments spread across organization in order to increase the effectiveness of group decision and negotiation activities performed during the crisis situations. Information Evolution Visualization Toolkit has been used to visualize critical information evolution captured in semantic network where nodes represent different information objects among which traceability is established. Capturing the history of decision making and linking underlying assumptions with the alternatives considered during a group decisions and negotiations activity can provide a dynamic validation of the decisions under different conditions.

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.

« Gaz, gazomètres, expertises et controverses. Londres, Paris, 1815-1860 ».

by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz

Varaschin, Denis (dir.), Risques et prises de risques dans les sociétés industrielles, Peter Lang, 2007.