Emergency Response, Influence and Lessons in the 2021 Compound Disaster in Henan Province of China

Henan province, located in central China, suffered a heavy rainstorm and an outbreak of COVID-19 from the middle of July to the middle of August. We review and investigate the emergency response to these two events. The influence of the compound disaster on provincial economic operations, fixed assets, consumer goods, the logistics industry, high-tech manufacturing, and strategic emerging industries is analyzed in detail. Since the province’s economic situation has been positive for a long time, the influence of the compound disaster was short-term. The countermeasures to the pandemic were efficient since they had previously been in practice at various times in 2020. However, in the face of unusual disasters such as the rainstorm, the gap between early warning and emergency response needs to be bridged, and the sources of relief funds should be diversified.

Participatory Impetus for and Forms of Citizens’ Co-Owned Power Plants: Cases from Higashi-Ohmi, Japan

Citizen-led local participation is considered the key to a successful energy transition, and citizens’ co-owned power plants are an alternative and representative form of local participation. The extent to which citizens’ co-owned power plants can embody “locality, democracy, participation, energy autonomy, poverty reduction, and energy justice” has led to many controversial discussions. In response to these meaningful questions, this study argues for the focus to return to the impetus and driving forces of local participation in energy. This study proposes six possibilities for the impetus of local energy participation and the types of participation they may create. In the case analysis of the Higashi-Ohmi Model, in addition to the compound disaster of the 11 March 2011 earthquake and the transformation of the Japanese power grid, the driving factors depend on the self-consciousness of local promoters who insist on independence from policy influence. By linking local networks to discuss “local needs,” the residents form an integrated plan of “agricultural self-sufficiency, care system, and energy autonomy.” They promote the overall economic cycle of the region with energy regional energy currency, which inspired other rural forms of citizen energy participation. In addition, the simultaneous development of small-scale local enterprises and the ability of the local government to adjust policies centered on the needs of residents are important conditions for implementing the Higashi-Ohmi model.

Compound disaster scenarios for risk management assessment in CAREC countries

<p>A compound disaster defines a situation with adverse consequences resulting from different, but related, disaster‐agents (ICLA 1996). These low probability extreme events can correspond to events with multiple concurrent or consecutive drivers, resulting in major financial or physical loss (Sadegh et al., 2018). In this study, disaster scenarios involving natural hazards and pandemics were developed to assess the risk and implications of a compound event to member countries of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) area.</p><p>A partnership of 11 countries (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region), Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) across Asia, the CAREC countries work together to promote sustainable development, economic growth and reduce poverty. High exposure to flooding and earthquake coupled with low insurance penetration means natural catastrophes are significantly material to the public sector balance sheet. This collaborative study involving multiple hazard modelling agencies assesses the potential impact of natural perils concurrent to pandemic/epidemic outbreaks.</p><p>The compound events developed represent Realistic Disaster Scenarios (RDS) for the specific areas they represent and are based on plausible low-probability, high-consequence events such as the 2015 floods in Tbilisi and the 1905 Bolnai earthquake in Mongolia. The impact of the natural events is then further compounded by modelled infectious disease outbreaks for each given scenario.</p><p>High resolution fluvial and pluvial flood hazard scenario footprints (30m x 30m), earthquake hazard intensity maps and gridded population data (Worldpop) are modelled alongside outbreaks including respiratory (including flu), Nipah and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, to assess the compounded impact. The humanitarian and financial loss potential of these events are then presented in the context of alternative disaster risk financing measures and adaptation strategies aimed at increased resilience.</p><p> </p><p>ICLA (1996), International Conference on Local Authorities Confronting Disasters and Emergencies, Background Documents, Amsterdam.</p><p>Sadegh, M., Moftakhari, H., Gupta, H. V., Ragno, E., Mazdiyasni, O., Sanders, B., ... & AghaKouchak, A. (2018). Multihazard scenarios for analysis of compound extreme events. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(11), 5470-5480.</p>