Surveying After a Disaster: Capturing Elements of Vulnerability, Risk and Lessons Learned from a Household Survey in the Case Study of Hurricane Irma in Sint Maarten

2019 ◽  
Vol 06 (02) ◽  
pp. 1950001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neiler Medina ◽  
Yared Abayneh Abebe ◽  
Arlex Sanchez ◽  
Zoran Vojinovic ◽  
Igor Nikolic
Keyword(s):  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
High Tendency ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Hurricane Irma

On September 5 2017, a Category 5 Hurricane, named Irma, struck the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten causing destruction and loss of life across the territory. This paper presents a household survey and the main findings related to vulnerability and risk to extreme weather events in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The post-disaster context posed challenges in relation to data collection, determination of sample size and timing of the fieldwork. The survey was conducted using a combination of face-to-face interviews and web-administered questionnaires. This method proved useful in achieving a better coverage of the study area as well as obtaining a greater overall response rate. With regards to the timing of the survey, it was found that a period of six months between Hurricane Irma’s landfall and the field data campaign was adequate in terms of availability of resources and emotional distress of respondents. Data collected in the survey was categorized into general household information, hurricane preparedness and reaction, and risk perception/awareness. Survey findings show that the factors that increased vulnerability and risk on the island include a high tenancy rate, low insurance coverage, lack of house maintenance, disregard to building regulations (particularly on leased lands), low evacuation rate, not receiving a clear warning, and lack of preparation. The factors that reduce vulnerability include high hurricane awareness at a household level and high tendency of rebuilding houses with comparable quality to houses that can sustain hurricanes. Finally, recommendations are provided that could potentially reduce communities’ vulnerability and risk to hurricanes, and lessons learned in conducting household surveys after disasters.

A free, open-source, offline digital health system for refugee care (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Ashworth ◽  
Senan Ebrahim ◽  
Hassaan Ebrahim ◽  
Zahra Bhaiwala ◽  
Michael Chilazi
Keyword(s):  
Health Systems ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Mobile Clinic ◽  
Low Resource ◽  
Displaced Populations ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Displaced People

BACKGROUND Rise of conflict, extreme weather events, and pandemics have led to larger displaced populations worldwide. Displaced populations have unique acute and chronic health needs that need to be met by low resource health systems. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have been shown to improve health outcomes in displaced populations but need to be adapted to meet the constraints of these health systems. OBJECTIVE To describe the development and deployment of a EHR designed to care for displaced populations in low resource settings. METHODS Using a human-centered design approach we conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with patients, healthcare providers, and administrators in Lebanon and Jordan to identify the essential EHR features. These features including modular workflows, multilingual interfaces, and offline-first capabilities led to the development of the Hikma Health EHR which has been deployed in Lebanon and Nicaragua. RESULTS We report the successes and challenges from 12 months of Hikma Health EHR deployment in a mobile clinic providing care to Syrian Refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Successes include the EHR’s ability to (1) increase clinical efficacy by providing detailed patient records, (2) prove adaptable to the threats of COVID-19, and (3) improve organizational planning. Lessons learned include technical fixes to methods of identifying patients through name or their medical record ID. CONCLUSIONS As the number of displaced people continues to rise globally, it is imperative that solutions are created to help maximize the healthcare they receive. Free, open-sourced and adaptable EHRs can enable organizations to better provide for displaced populations.

Impact of Climate Change on Rural Livelihood: A Case Study of Central Rajasthan

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Saifuddin Soz ◽  
Dhananjay Mankar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The People ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Rural Livelihood ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Impact

Climate change is already bringing tremendous influence on people’s lives, particularly the underprivileged. It’s already visible in a variety of ways. In recent decades, Asia and the Pacific have seen consistent warming trends as well as more frequent and powerful extreme weather events such as droughts, cyclones, floods, and hailstorms. This study was done in Ajmer District of Rajasthan, to find out the climate variation in the last 10 years. The study describes the effects due to climate change on the livelihoods of the people, so a descriptive research design was used for the study to find out the impact of climate change on rural livelihood in central Rajasthan. The study is based on a large representative of sample, quantitative data was collected to gain an idea of the impact on the livelihoods due to climate change at the household level. It shows the negative impact of climate change on rural livelihood which forced the people to change their livelihood directly or indirectly. It was found that climate change had an impact on people’s lives and people do understand the variation in climate change in terms of changes in the weather, unseasonal rain, and drought.

Leveraging Volunteered Geographic Information to Improve Disaster Resilience

2019 ◽  
pp. 1636-1662
Author(s):  
João Porto de Albuquerque ◽  
Flávio Eduardo Aoki Horita ◽  
Livia Castro Degrossi ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rocha ◽  
Sidgley Camargo de Andrade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Face ◽  
Source Of Information

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has emerged as an important additional source of information for improving the resilience of cities and communities in the face of natural hazards and extreme weather events. This chapter summarizes the existing research in this area and offers an interdisciplinary perspective of the challenges to be overcome, by presenting AGORA: A Geospatial Open collaboRative Architecture for building resilience against disasters and extreme events. AGORA structures the challenges of using VGI for disaster management into three layers: acquisition, integration and application. The chapter describes the research challenges involved in each of these layers, as well as reporting on the results achieved so far and the lessons learned in the context of flood risk management in Brazil. Furthermore, the chapter concludes by setting out an interdisciplinary research agenda for leveraging VGI to improve disaster resilience.

Leveraging Volunteered Geographic Information to Improve Disaster Resilience

2017 ◽  
pp. 158-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Porto de Albuquerque ◽  
Flávio Eduardo Aoki Horita ◽  
Livia Castro Degrossi ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rocha ◽  
Sidgley Camargo de Andrade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Face ◽  
Source Of Information

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has emerged as an important additional source of information for improving the resilience of cities and communities in the face of natural hazards and extreme weather events. This chapter summarizes the existing research in this area and offers an interdisciplinary perspective of the challenges to be overcome, by presenting AGORA: A Geospatial Open collaboRative Architecture for building resilience against disasters and extreme events. AGORA structures the challenges of using VGI for disaster management into three layers: acquisition, integration and application. The chapter describes the research challenges involved in each of these layers, as well as reporting on the results achieved so far and the lessons learned in the context of flood risk management in Brazil. Furthermore, the chapter concludes by setting out an interdisciplinary research agenda for leveraging VGI to improve disaster resilience.

scholarly journals 0597 How Do PAP Compliant Patients Prepare for Extreme Weather Events. A Survey Based Query Following Hurricane Irma

SLEEP ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (suppl_1) ◽  
pp. A222-A222
Author(s):  
A Kwasnik ◽  
C M Castillo Pedraza ◽  
Y Brito ◽  
A Abreu ◽  
A Chediak
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Weather ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Hurricane Irma

Leveraging Volunteered Geographic Information to Improve Disaster Resilience

2019 ◽  
pp. 1698-1723
Author(s):  
João Porto de Albuquerque ◽  
Flávio Eduardo Aoki Horita ◽  
Livia Castro Degrossi ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rocha ◽  
Sidgley Camargo de Andrade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Volunteered Geographic Information ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Face ◽  
Source Of Information

Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has emerged as an important additional source of information for improving the resilience of cities and communities in the face of natural hazards and extreme weather events. This chapter summarizes the existing research in this area and offers an interdisciplinary perspective of the challenges to be overcome, by presenting AGORA: A Geospatial Open collaboRative Architecture for building resilience against disasters and extreme events. AGORA structures the challenges of using VGI for disaster management into three layers: acquisition, integration and application. The chapter describes the research challenges involved in each of these layers, as well as reporting on the results achieved so far and the lessons learned in the context of flood risk management in Brazil. Furthermore, the chapter concludes by setting out an interdisciplinary research agenda for leveraging VGI to improve disaster resilience.

scholarly journals Quantification of Resilience Considering Different Migration Biographies: A Case Study of Pune, India

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1134
Author(s):  
Ann-Christine Link ◽  
Yuanzao Zhu ◽  
Raphael Karutz
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Rural Migrants ◽  
Urban Households ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Improvement Interventions ◽  
And Migration

Urbanization proceeds globally and is often driven by migration. Simultaneously, cities face severe exposure to environmental hazards such as floods and heatwaves posing threats to millions of urban households. Consequently, fostering urban households’ resilience is imperative, yet often impeded by the lack of its accurate assessment. We developed a structural equation model to quantify households’ resilience, considering their assets, housing, and health properties. Based on a household survey (n = 1872), we calculate the resilience of households in Pune, India with and without migration biography and compare different sub-groups. We further analyze how households are exposed to and affected by floods and heatwaves. Our results show that not migration as such but the type of migration, particularly, the residence zone at the migration destination (formal urban or slum) and migration origin (urban or rural) provide insights into households’ resilience and affectedness by extreme weather events. While on average, migrants in our study have higher resilience than non-migrants, the sub-group of rural migrants living in slums score significantly lower than the respective non-migrant cohort. Further characteristics of the migration biography such as migration distance, time since arrival at the destination, and the reasons for migration contribute to households’ resilience. Consequently, the opposing generalized notions in literature of migrants either as the least resilient group or as high performers, need to be overcome as our study shows that within one city, migrants are found both at the top and the bottom of the resilience range. Thus, we recommend that policymakers include migrants’ biographies when assessing their resilience and when designing resilience improvement interventions to help the least resilient migrant groups more effectively.

scholarly journals CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BRAZILIAN ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY SYSTEM

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (7) ◽  
pp. 9-35
Author(s):  
Eduardo Frederico Cabral de Oliveira ◽  
José Augusto Ferreira da Silva ◽  
José Francisco De Oliveira Júnior
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Control ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Environmental Safety ◽  
Safety System ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Military

Conflicts stemming from the dispute over natural resources have become increasingly more frequent. Extreme weather events have intensified and have equally become more frequent owing to global warming. Although the consequences of such phenomena have repercussions on public safety, the processes of analysis incorporating the environmental dimension in this context have not been fully understood. This paper assessed how systems of environmental protection interconnect with those of crime prevention, forming the environmental safety system. It is an exploratory-descriptive research carried out through questionnaires evaluated by State environmental control agencies, exploring eight major domains: their origins; their staff, distribution and organization; logistics and operational structures; the use of geotechnologies; integration; operational results; regional analysis; and the general analysis of military environmental police. The last section, in conclusion, reviews the main lessons learned and proposes future lines of research that can be developed based on this topic. It highlights that the military environmental police should be the most significant agent of nature protection in the country. It reveals the existence of weaknesses and opportunities for improvement to be implemented.

Insurance models and climate risk assessments in a historical context

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Fredrik Andersson ◽  
E. Carina H. Keskitalo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Financial Impact ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Related Risk ◽  
Corporate Insurance

Adaptation to the consequences of climate change has developed into a growing field of concern for the insurance business. However, climate-related risk is not entirely a new field in insurance. Historically, a large number of insurance organisational choices and strategies have been used to mitigate the financial impact of extreme events and uncertainties associated with climate change. Taking the case of forests in Sweden, this article reviews the ways in which climate-related risks such as storm/wind and fire risks have been assured. The study shows that climate-related risks have generally increased over time and that major hazard events have been decisive for strategy and organisation choices. Twentieth-century developments show that corporate insurance coverage increased due to higher levels of anticipated risk, while self-insurance and public insurance were reduced. However, in more recent times the expansion of corporate insurance has stagnated. Increased premiums and tighter terms following historically extreme weather events have led government and forest owners to assume more climate risks.

scholarly journals The Influence of Climate Change on CO2 and CH4 Concentration Near Closed Shaft – Numerical Simulations

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Wrona
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Wind Direction ◽  
Gas Flow ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Pressure Drops ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Prevailing Wind Direction ◽  
Direction Line

Abstract Given the scientific consensus pointing to climate change, the more extreme weather events associated with this will lead to deeper pressure drops. As has already been stated, pressure drops are the main cause of gas flow from underground sites to the surface. This article presents the results of numerical simulations of the change in distribution of CO2 and CH4 near a closed mining shaft under the predicted baric tendency. Simulations have been undertaken by means of the FDS software package with the Pyrosim graphical interface – a CFD tool for fire and ventilation analysis. Assumptions have been based on previous results of in-situ measurements. The results (determined for a height of 1m above the ground) were compared to the following levels (later in the text comparison levels): for CO2 0.1%vol. according to Pettenkoffer’s scale and 2.5%vol. for CH4 as the half of Lower Explosive Limit (LEL). The results show that the deeper baric drops anticipated could lead to a wider spread of both greenhouse gases in the vicinity of the shaft, especially along the prevailing wind direction. According to the results obtained, CO2 and CH4 with concentrations above their comparison levels are expected at a distance greater than 50m from the shaft when wind is present for CO2 and at a distance of 4.5m for CH4. Subsequent analysis of the results enabled the determination of functions for describing the concentration of gases along the wind direction line under the projected pressure drop. The results relate to a particular case, although the model could easily be modified to any other example of gas emissions from underground sites.

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