scholarly journals Synergistic Integration of Detailed Meteorological and Community Information for Evacuation from Weather-Related Disasters: Proposal of a “Disaster Response Switch”

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 762-775
Author(s):  
Kensuke Takenouchi ◽  
Katsuya Yamori
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Forecasting Models ◽  
Response Switch ◽  
Disaster Information ◽  
Types Of Information

AbstractMeteorological information used for disaster prevention has developed rapidly in terms of both type and specificity. The latest forecasting models can predict weather with very high resolutions that can characterize disaster risk at the local level. However, this development can lead to an overdependency on the information and a wait-and-see attitude by the public. At the same time, residents share and use various types of information for disaster response, such as local conditions, in addition to official disaster information. Our research in Japan verified the practicality and efficiency of synergistically integrating these types of information by examining actual evacuation cases. The current numerical forecasting models sufficiently identify locality from the viewpoint of various administrative scales such as prefectures, municipalities, and school districts, but the improvements to these models have failed to improve residents’ judgment in successful evacuation cases. We therefore analyzed the relationship between meteorological information and residents’ disaster response and confirmed that they were strongly correlated and were contributing factors in preventing disasters. We revealed differences between a community’s disaster prevention culture and the disaster information provided. This led us to propose a new concept in community disaster prevention that we call the “disaster response switch,” which can serve as a data-driven risk management tool for communities when used in combination with advanced meteorological disaster information.

scholarly journals Addressing the Water–Energy–Food Nexus through Enhanced Green Roof Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1972
Author(s):  
Jeremy Wright ◽  
Jeremy Lytle ◽  
Devon Santillo ◽  
Luzalen Marcos ◽  
Kristiina Valter Mai
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Performance Optimization ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Stormwater Management ◽  
Green Roof ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Rainwater Runoff ◽  
Rain Events

Urban densification and climate change are creating a multitude of issues for cities around the globe. Contributing factors include increased impervious surfaces that result in poor stormwater management, rising urban temperatures, poor air quality, and a lack of available green space. In the context of volatile weather, there are growing concerns regarding the effects of increased intense rainfalls and how they affect highly populated areas. Green roofs are becoming a stormwater management tool, occupying a growing area of urban roof space in many developed cities. In addition to the water-centric approach to the implementation of green roofs, these systems offer a multitude of benefits across the urban water–energy–food nexus. This paper provides insight to green roof systems available that can be utilized as tools to mitigate the effects of climate change in urbanized areas. A new array of green roof testing modules is presented along with research methods employed to address current issues related to food, energy and water performance optimization. Rainwater runoff after three rain events was observed to be reduced commensurate with the presence of a blue roof retention membrane in the testbed, the growing media depth and type, as well as the productive nature of the plants in the testbed. Preliminary observations indicate that more productive green roof systems may have increasingly positive benefits across the water–energy–food nexus in dense urban areas that are vulnerable to climate disruption.

Community-based disaster communication: how does it become trustworthy?

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwie Irmawaty Gultom
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Information Diffusion ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Strong Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Disaster Communication ◽  
Disaster Information

Purpose – Trust in disaster communication is significant because a lack of trust will prevent the transformation of information into usable knowledge for an effective disaster response. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how the culture and network ties of an affected community can encourage trust and participation in disaster communication. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study of Jalin Merapi (JM) was conducted by interviewing 33 research participants in the Mt Merapi surroundings. Findings – The findings indicate that culture-embedded disaster communication plays important roles in increasing the effectiveness of disaster information and encouraging trust in the authenticity of locally based disaster information at the individual level. The findings also identify that strong ties and weak ties play different roles in disaster communication. The strong ties are more effective in facilitating information diffusion and encourage trust and community participation within the affected community. Furthermore, the weak ties are more effective in disseminating information to wider audiences, and have an indirect influence in encouraging trust by extending the offline social network owned by the affected community. Originality/value – Most literature on disaster communication focusses on the construction of disaster messages to encourage effective disaster response. Less attention has been paid to the information receivers regarding how disaster information is considered to be trustworthy by the affected community and how it can increase collective participation in community-based disaster communication.

scholarly journals Distribution of Local Social Services and Territorial Justice: the Case of Estonia

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-350
Author(s):  
KERSTI KRIISK
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Public Resources ◽  
Policy Fields

AbstractDistribution of public resources has always been a central issue in public policy. The question of spatial variation in resource allocation as a reflection of differing local conditions is particularly important in decentralised countries with a large number of subunits. On the local level, studies have shown variations in distribution of local welfare but have usually focused on single social policy fields and/or target groups, and often ignored territorial structures. By taking Estonia as a case, this study investigates whether and how the distribution of a range of social services and the structure of disaggregated local social spending corresponds to local socio-demographic conditions. We identify municipal clusters and analyse service provision and social spending on vulnerable groups within them. We use a spatial perspective by taking into consideration the distinction of rural-urban and core-peripheral settings. We show that resource allocation in Estonian municipalities mirrors quite well local socio-demographic structures but the division of municipalities between towns and rural municipalities used in the common discourse of local social policy is too simplified.

scholarly journals Benchmarking Community Disaster Resilience in Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanam K. Aksha ◽  
Christopher T. Emrich
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Large Earthquake ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Recovery Capacity ◽  
Community Disaster Resilience

Building disaster resilience is a stated goal of disaster risk reduction programs. Recent research emphasizes a need for a greater understanding of community disaster response and recovery capacity so that communities can absorb shocks and withstand severe conditions and progress through the recovery period more efficiently. Nepal, which is prone to a multitude of hazards and having recently experienced a large earthquake in 2015, provides a unique opportunity for exploring disaster resilience in the developing world context. To date, no study investigating community disaster resilience across the entire country of Nepal exists. This study quantifies disaster resilience at Nepal’s village level, primarily using census data. Guided by the Disaster Resilience of Place (DROP) model, 22 variables were selected as indicators of social, economic, community, infrastructure, and environmental resilience. Community resilience was assessed for 3971 village development communities (VDCs) and municipalities while using a principal component analysis. Additionally, a cluster analysis was performed to distinguish spatial patterns of resilience. Analyses reveal differential community disaster resilience across the country. Communities in the capital city Kathmandu and in the western and far western Hill are relatively resilient. While the entire Tarai region, which holds the greatest proportion of Nepal’s population, exhibits relatively low levels of resilience when compared to the rest of the county. The results from this analysis provide empirical evidence with the potential to help decision-makers in the allocation of scarce resources to increase resilience at the local level.

scholarly journals Factors Affecting the Uptake of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in the European Union

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 3414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panayotis Christidis ◽  
Caralampo Focas
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Classification Model ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Machine Learning Classification ◽  
Eu Member States

This paper explores the factors affecting the uptake of hybrid and electric vehicles in the European Union (EU) using data from two extensive cross-sectional surveys. Each survey consists of 26,500 responses to a questionnaire that combines socio-economic and behavioral aspects. The share of respondents across the EU stating that they would certainly or probably consider purchasing a hybrid or a battery-powered electric vehicle (H&EV) in the near future rose from 32% in 2014 to 37.4% in 2018. There is, however, a high variability among EU member states, as well as across different socio-economic groups. Propensity is highly correlated with income, educational attainment, and urbanization level. In order to address the high degree of collinearity, we applied a machine learning classification model to analyze and explain the interaction between the variables that affected the expressed propensity to purchase such a vehicle. The findings highlight something largely missing from the literature, namely that local conditions and regional variation are a major, if not decisive, factor regarding purchasing choices. Seen from a policy perspective, this conclusion may provide guidance regarding how to support the take up of H&EVs through measures that are tailored to the specific needs at the local level.

An Analysis of a Local Government's Disaster Response Activity Records from the Viewpoint of Information Management

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 457-466
Author(s):  
Shinya Kondo ◽  
◽  
Kimiro Meguro ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Information Management ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Job Analysis ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Niigata Prefecture ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Niigata Prefectural ◽  
Evaluation Information ◽  
Prefectural Government

For organizations to develop efficient disaster countermeasures, it is necessary to analyze and evaluate past disaster responses, identify problems, and examine their solutions. In this paper, the records of the Niigata Prefectural Government disaster response activities during the Mid-Niigata Prefecture Earthquake of 2004 were analyzed from five viewpoints (constitution, job analysis, workload evaluation, information management, and mutual relations). The reliability of these records was confirmed by relevant prefectural government staff. Based on analysis and discussion, the authors set up an environment to propose countermeasures that aim at improving the organization’s disaster prevention effectiveness.

Development of the Wide-Area Earthquake Damage Estimation System and Mashup of Disaster Prevention Information

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-130
Author(s):  
Masafumi Hosokawa ◽  
◽  
Ken-ichi Takanashi ◽  
Shoji Doshida ◽  
Makoto Endo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disaster Response ◽  
Initial Response ◽  
Earthquake Damage ◽  
Wide Area ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Damage Estimation ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Management Personnel ◽  
Estimation System ◽  
Communication Lines

Immediately following an earthquake or other disaster, the crisis management personnel of the national or local government must determine the location of the disaster and its status and quickly carry out response actions such as rescue or fire-fighting operations. However, the congestion of communication lines and shortage of disaster response personnel make it impossible to collate the damage information in the initial response mobilization period immediately following an earthquake, making it difficult to make proper decisions. To assist the decision-making immediately following an earthquake, we developed a Wide-area Earthquake Damage Estimation System, which estimates the earthquake damage based on information from the Meteorological Agency and other agencies and shares the results via email and WebGIS (Web-based Geographic Information System) portal functions. In this paper, we introduce this system and discuss the results of the trial operation.

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