scholarly journals Corruption in Natural Disaster Aid: The 2004 Indonesian Tsunami

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Brooks ◽  
Karin Klau ◽  
Joseph Orr ◽  
Chris Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Recent Time ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Permanent Housing ◽  
Large Populations ◽  
One Year ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Disaster Aid

The tsunami that affected Asia and African countries in December 2004 was one of the most destructive natural disasters in recent time s. Aceh alone suffered an estimated 167,000 deaths and 566,000 displaced persons (USAID, 2005). The response by donor countries and individuals was swift and unprecedented in magnitude, however, after more than one year, thousands of families remained effected by corruption and were forced to huddle in tents instead of living in permanent housing (TI, 2010). Review studies such as Mitchell (2010), show that the outcomes achieved through the aid response we re inefficient and inequitable. Natural disasters, especially when they occur in developing countries, strain government budgets significantly. With large populations (among donors or beneficiaries) believing provisional aid is substantial when in reality it is small (Mitchell, 2010), powers amongst NGO lobbyists growing, and the media’s willingness and ability to distribute damaging stories about corrupt aid practices (Oxfam , 2010), it is easy to see why national governments, eager to appease electorates (presuming they are democratic of course) and the international community, are motivated to provide effective natural disaster aid. In this context, giving aid to countries plagued wi th corruption poses a difficult dilemma. This paper highlights market failures in natural disaster aid using the case of Aceh, and recommends a strategy that adjusts government agents’ incentives to take a path that could arguably assuage the problem of corrupt ion by reducing the severity of the moral hazard problem in an afflicted government.

When Mother Earth Rises Up

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Sacchi ◽  
Paolo Riva ◽  
Marco Brambilla
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Disaster Victims ◽  
Willingness To Help ◽  
Mother Earth

Anthropomorphization is the tendency to ascribe humanlike features and mental states, such as free will and consciousness, to nonhuman beings or inanimate agents. Two studies investigated the consequences of the anthropomorphization of nature on people’s willingness to help victims of natural disasters. Study 1 (N = 96) showed that the humanization of nature correlated negatively with willingness to help natural disaster victims. Study 2 (N = 52) tested for causality, showing that the anthropomorphization of nature reduced participants’ intentions to help the victims. Overall, our findings suggest that humanizing nature undermines the tendency to support victims of natural disasters.

Law on Natural Disasters

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ki-Gab Park
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
International Community ◽  
The State ◽  
Efficient Tool ◽  
International Solidarity ◽  
Cooperation Mechanism ◽  
Prior Consent ◽  
Humanitarian Crises

The chapter argues that natural disasters are common concerns in the international community. At the same time, the current international cooperation mechanism, based on the principle of equal sovereignty, require prior consent by the state affected by a natural disaster. Unfortunately, this is not always an efficient tool for the protection of victims. The globalization of problems and the proliferation of humanitarian crises make the veritable solidarity of the international community increasingly necessary, and therefore another high value, namely international solidarity or community obligations, should create direct and immediate obligations for all members of the international community. The main object of this chapter is to discuss the future-oriented direction of the law on natural disasters. This means, first, to ascertain the lex lata, especially customary rules. The chapter further offers some suggestions on possible ways for the international community to provide more effective relief for victims of natural disasters.

scholarly journals Despite vaccination, China needs non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent widespread outbreaks of COVID-19 in 2021

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Yang ◽  
Valentina Marziano ◽  
Xiaowei Deng ◽  
Giorgio Guzzetta ◽  
Juanjuan Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproduction Number ◽  
Synergetic Effect ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Natural Immunity ◽  
Epidemic Threshold ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Large Populations ◽  
One Year ◽  
Pharmaceutical Interventions

AbstractCOVID-19 vaccination is being conducted in over 200 countries and regions to control SARS-CoV-2 transmission and return to a pre-pandemic lifestyle. However, understanding when non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) can be lifted as immunity builds up remains a key question for policy makers. To address this, we built a data-driven model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission for China. We estimated that, to prevent the escalation of local outbreaks to widespread epidemics, stringent NPIs need to remain in place at least one year after the start of vaccination. Should NPIs alone be capable of keeping the reproduction number (Rt) around 1.3, the synergetic effect of NPIs and vaccination could reduce the COVID-19 burden by up to 99% and bring Rt below the epidemic threshold in about 9 months. Maintaining strict NPIs throughout 2021 is of paramount importance to reduce COVID-19 burden while vaccines are distributed to the population, especially in large populations with little natural immunity.

scholarly journals Do Long-Term Natural Disasters Influence Social Trust? Empirical Evidence from China

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7280
Author(s):  
Yao Li ◽  
Haoyang Li ◽  
Jianqing Ruan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Psychological Characteristics ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

The natural environment is one of the most critical factors that profoundly influences human races. Natural disasters may have enormous effects on individual psychological characteristics. Using China’s long-term historical natural disaster dataset from 1470 to 2000 and data from a household survey in 2012, we explore whether long-term natural disasters affect social trust. We find that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between long-term natural disaster frequency and social trust. We further examine the impact of long-term natural disaster frequency on social trust in specific groups of people. Social trust in neighbors and doctors is stronger where long-term natural disasters are more frequent. Our results are robust after we considering the geographical difference. The effect of long-term natural disasters remains positively significant after we divide the samples based on geographical location. Interestingly, the impact of long-term flood frequency is only significant in the South and the impact of long-term drought frequency is only significant in the North.

Potential of sociohydrology for studying natural disasters

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franciele Maria Vanelli ◽  
Masato Kobiyama
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Disaster Studies ◽  
Dichotomous Thinking ◽  
Bidirectional Interactions

<p>Natural disasters refer to disruptions of the society’s functioning as result of negative interactions between natural hazards and social organization. Meanwhile, sociohydrology is dedicated to understanding the coupled human-water systems feedbacks. Both natural disaster studies and sociohydrology focus on understanding bidirectional interactions between environmental and social aspects, which is characterized by a dichotomous thinking pattern. In this context, natural disaster studies and sociohydrology have many parallels. In the present research, we conducted an exploratory research from two central arguments: (i) sociohydrology development can contribute to understanding how to disaster risk reduction by converting negative impacts into a harmonious coexistence between natural and social interactions; and (ii) water is relevant to all types of natural disasters in a direct or an indirect manner and is also fundamental in disaster response. Advances in knowledge about bidirectional interactions between environmental and social aspects overcoming dichotomous thinking pattern can update the sociohydrology development and the concepts commonly applied to natural disaster and risk reduction. We propose that any local community should use the school catchment concept that refers to any experimental catchment which serves for scientific researches and environmental education activities. The partnership between natural and social scientists and society is a challenge. Thus, school catchment construction and use can assist to overcome dichotomous thinking such as natural × social aspects, quantitative × qualitative analyses, systematic × non-systematic data, global × local spatial scales, and structural × non-structural measures. Hence, sociohydrology can support the integrated management of water resources and natural disasters and risks, contributing to achieving the Sendai Framework goals and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030. On the other hand, natural disaster studies can contribute to the interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary development of sociohydrology. Therefore, we conclude that sociohydrology has the potential, not yet explored, for contributing to natural disaster studies and vice and versa.</p>

Project rAn:  Games to promote awareness of natural disasters in young students

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Saraiva ◽  
Priscila Doran ◽  
Rosa Doran
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Human Settlements ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Young Students

<p>The Earth is an amazing planet. However, it is also an unpredictable and wild one – part of its many charms. Atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere are alive, and can unleash awesome forces on the whole planet, including the biosphere, of which we humans are part. It’s important to make young students aware of the fact that we all live in a planet that was not made specifically for humans, and that it is absolutely imperative that our species learns to respect it and its rhythms and cycles.</p><p>Human settlements are often located in pleasant areas, with little or no concern about their vulnerability to natural disasters. Authorities, local, regional and national, should make preparations to prevent and mitigate their occurrence, of course. But at least as important is the need to create awareness in the citizens, so they can face any disaster and react in a calm and orderly way. That task must begin at an early age. Other than learning to deal with natural disasters and avoiding panic, schoolkids can exert a powerful influence in the adult members of their families and alert them to the measures they should adopt to prepare for any future occurrence.</p><p>In project rAn, EU-funded, we aim to develop a serious game, adjusted to the age of the targets, that will teach them about four types of natural disaster (earthquakes, floods, fires and storms) and make them aware of how to prepare and react in case of one of them striking their city or village. The game will be easy to play, and given the small age of the players will not feature complex interactions. It will include contributions from teachers and groups of students from all Europe, that will be challenged to create small games on the subject, using the Scratch language.    </p>

Natural Disaster at the Closing of the Dutch Golden Age

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Sundberg
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
Dutch Golden Age ◽  
Scale Of Response ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Dutch Experience

By the early eighteenth century, the economic primacy, cultural efflorescence, and geopolitical power of the Dutch Republic appeared to be waning. The end of this Golden Age was also an era of natural disasters. Between the late seventeenth and the mid-eighteenth century, Dutch communities weathered numerous calamities, including river and coastal floods, cattle plagues, and an outbreak of strange mollusks that threatened the literal foundations of the Republic. Adam Sundberg demonstrates that these disasters emerged out of longstanding changes in environment and society. They were also fundamental to the Dutch experience and understanding of eighteenth-century decline. Disasters provoked widespread suffering, but they also opened opportunities to retool management strategies, expand the scale of response, and to reconsider the ultimate meaning of catastrophe. This book reveals a dynamic and often resilient picture of a society coping with calamity at odds with historical assessments of eighteenth-century stagnation.

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