Urban Growth, Fuel Service Station Disasters and Policy Compliance in Ghana

Disasters associated with Fuel service stations (FSS) in Ghana have been debated severally and attracted policy attention, yet their mitigation strategies seem too far off and unimaginably unrealistic. Knowing that such disasters can limit enjoyment of citizenship rights, Ghana has developed safety standards geared towards mitigating their effects. Framed around the compliance theory and drawing on data from 150 residential owners located within 15.4m buffer zone and five state institutions, this article examined the extent of compliance with safety policies guiding FSS in Kumasi, Ghana. The results showed that compliance with safety policies was sinking into its bare existential levels as none of the facilities selected for the study passed all the 11 safety standards. The facilities also negatively affected residents who never considered their place of abode as perilous and that they live in zones of vulnerabilities. This situation it is argued, fundamentally affects development trajectory of the contemporary African city. It obviously obscures the realities of interrelated processes shaping urban disaster management. Even though the spring-up of FSS have catapulted economic growth, inherently they are also hazard-ridden. We suggest that in the broad scheme of urban planning, FSS safety policies must not be discussed in the margins.

Analysis of Multiobjective Scheduling Model for Emergency Management under Multiresource Combination of Disaster Chains

This paper analyzes the formation mechanism of urban hazard chains. The results demonstrate that the complex interaction between the disaster-bearing bodies under the action of disaster-causing factors is the direct cause of urban hazard chains. The analysis of the energy effects of urban hazard chains shows that the coupling of the excitation energy released by the causative agent and the energy of the disaster-bearing bodies is the fundamental cause of urban hazard chains. Based on the description of the dynamical mechanism of the urban disaster chain system, this paper first sets up a disaster scenario and considers the effect of the time lag to establish a system dynamics model of the urban disaster chain and urban disaster management. The model of urban disaster management system dynamics shows the mutual influence and complementary relationship between disasters and the economy, pointing out that emphasizing the spill-over effects of disaster management systems can improve the effectiveness of disaster mitigation. This study also uses equilibrium entropy and brittle entropy theories to characterize the vulnerability of single-function networks and the degree of brittle association of each lifeline subsystem, respectively, and establishes a model for assessing the sensitivity of lifeline systems to disaster damage. Built on the collection and feedback of information from disaster areas after the occurrence of emergencies, this paper establishes a deterministic multihazard emergency resource dispatches model and an uncertain multihazard emergency resource dispatch model.

Disaster scene reconstruction: modeling, simulating, and planning in an urban disaster environment

Urban disasters are characterized by buildings collapsing. The rubble of collapsed buildings forms a chaotic, unplanned and unmapped environment in which emergency first responders must find the surviving occupants who are now trapped and hidden in the dangerous rubble. The more knowledge that search teams have pertaining to the resulting environment the better they are equipped to plan and rescue survivors. Our research demonstrates that simulations can be used to inspect urban disaster-related terrain remotely and safely within hours of the actual disaster. The Disaster Scene Reconstruction system allows for the creation of accurate 3D models and a simulation providing custom functionality --such as virtual structural inspection and--providing first responders the ability to plan actions in the simulated environment. The goal of this research is to demonstrate that the functionality we developed can be used to provide accurate information to users and potentially assist search and rescue planning efforts.

Disaster scene reconstruction: modeling, simulating, and planning in an urban disaster environment

Urban disasters are characterized by buildings collapsing. The rubble of collapsed buildings forms a chaotic, unplanned and unmapped environment in which emergency first responders must find the surviving occupants who are now trapped and hidden in the dangerous rubble. The more knowledge that search teams have pertaining to the resulting environment the better they are equipped to plan and rescue survivors. Our research demonstrates that simulations can be used to inspect urban disaster-related terrain remotely and safely within hours of the actual disaster. The Disaster Scene Reconstruction system allows for the creation of accurate 3D models and a simulation providing custom functionality --such as virtual structural inspection and--providing first responders the ability to plan actions in the simulated environment. The goal of this research is to demonstrate that the functionality we developed can be used to provide accurate information to users and potentially assist search and rescue planning efforts.

Playing games for risk prevention: design, implementation and testing of serious games in recent European projects UPStrat-MAFA and KnowRISK

In the last decade, bottom-up strategies of risk education have raised importance, making serious games to become an alternative or complementary teaching tool for enhancing skills for a collaborative and adaptive response to social-ecological challenges. This study describes issues and challenges of serious games implemented within the framework of two European projects, namely UPStrat-MAFA (Urban Disaster Prevention Strategies using Macroseismic Fields and FAult sources) and KnowRISK (Know your city, Reduce seISmic risK through non-structural elements); the goal is to instil in young people a proactive attitude towards the mitigation of seismic risk . The games were tested in some dissemination events focussed on fostering seismic risk preparedness in students and improving good practices. We discuss the performance of our games even against more standard approaches to risk education. Our experience shows a rise of students’ engagement compared to standard learning activities. The games were effective as students were able to grasp the most relevant actions to reduce risk.