Development and Validation of a Neighbourhood Disaster Resilience Index : A Case Study from Australia

Constructing an adaptability evaluation framework for community-based disaster management using an earthquake event

ABSTRACTThe questions in this research are as follows: How does the disaster management capacity of local governments affect the disaster resilience of local communities? The research distinguished local communities by type according to their level of exposure to natural disaster hazards and the analysis compared the impact of the disaster management capabilities on disaster resilience by the type of natural disaster exposure. The analysis results are as follows: While the frequency of disasters local communities experience is low, the magnitude of disasters experienced is large; external network and manual had a positive effect on disaster resilience. When disaster frequency experienced by local communities is high, the magnitude of disasters experienced is small, and internal network and public relation contribute to increased disaster resilience. In conclusion, this research will help expand the externalities of disaster management discussed in the fields of public administration and policy.

Disaster management has begun to examine the unique role of the private sector in disaster relief. The hotel and lodging industry is an especially critical infrastructure for community disaster relief and resilience, providing many lifeline services in addition to core skills and competencies contributing to the community’s social and human capital. Social and human capital empower the community to better cope with disturbance, and companies’ efforts to build social and human capital are often tied to their corporate social responsibility (CSR) management systems. A framework was developed to evaluate the management system maturity of the hotel and lodging industry’s CSR management for disaster relief and resilience. An analysis of three hotel and lodging corporations was performed to understand the current state of the industry. While many hotel properties are engaging in CSR activities during disaster relief, the analysis revealed that corporate management systems have room for maturation and growth to support the resilience of their community.

Crises and disasters are windows of opportunity to learn and transform toward enhancing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience. However, a poor understanding of community resilience and the social dimensions of risk, the lack of a methodology to engage and empower resilience in society, and business‐as‐usual together limit the implementation of effective DRR and resilience‐building strategies. In this reflection paper, we discuss the main elements of the DRR and resilience paradigm. By analyzing the failures in disaster management, we identified the cultural and political barriers to enhancing DRR and community resilience as being: a paternalistic social protection culture; and the command‐and‐control approach to knowledge and resources for risk reduction. We reflect on the implications of this for sustainable development and argue that building a glocal culture of community wellbeing and resilience and a socially sustainable risk governance is needed to overcome the cultural and political barriers to DRR and sustainable development.

Huamual District which is located in west peninsula of Seram Island within Ambon Province is one of the under developed areas since its remote location and limited transport facilities from its regency capital and other developed areas. Therefore, the development program for that area needs to be boasted and secured. One of drawback of the economic development growth in Huamual District caused by current frequent flash flood disaster occurrences. Therefore, disaster resilient of both the local government and communities need to be strengthened. The Provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency of Maluku points that Huamual District was the most severe hit area by flash flood in Maluku beside Ambon City areas in 1^(st) August 2012. In order to prepare a program for increasing disaster resilient in that area, investigation of the disaster risk condition along the west coast of Huamual Peninsula within Huamual District has been conducted and reported in this paper. Reference study has been conducted followed by a field survey in the period of July 14^(th) to July 19^(th) 2014. The field survey was conducted on several sub-villages such as Nasiri, Mange-mange, Amaholu Losi, and Hatawano. The activities in the field survey were secondary data collection, interview to Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of West Seram Regency staffs, to sub-village leaders, to local community members, visual observation survey and river bed material sampling. This paper discusses disaster risk aspect found in the areas which consists of hazard, vulnerability, capacity and also mitigation aspect which consists of pre-disaster, disaster response and recovery phases. The results of this study are the following six findings. 1) The flash flood is the main cause of the natural disaster beside landslide. 2) Although the community settled in the prone area, they do not have knowledge about disaster mitigation but now, they are more aware. 3) BPBD in West Seram Regency has no yearly program related to capacity building, standard operating procedure, and disaster mitigation plan due to limited budget on local government budget and limited employee although 2 years of its establishment. 4) There is no community preparedness dealing with any kind of natural disaster except for their experiences in facing the past disaster. 5) The community still relies on their own members when facing any disaster response. 6) In recovering their sub-village condition the community relies on gotong royong spirit an Indonesian indigenous spirit of working together and also on their own resources.

Building sustainable and resilient societies is a multidimensional challenge that affects achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In crises and disasters, civil protection authorities typically use emergency powers and a command-and-control approach to manage resources and to design and implement disaster management interventions. They centralise knowledge, technologies and responsibilities for prevention, mitigation and monitoring, while stifling the capacities of local communities to reduce disaster risks and impacts. The mechanism they enact leads to a poor understanding of the capacities of local people to learn and transform, and of how community wellbeing, vulnerabilities, and resilience influence disaster risks. The mechanism does not strengthen the role of local communities in disaster risk reduction. Instead, it facilitates disaster capitalism at all levels of society. Drawing on the disaster risk reduction and resilience paradigm and on our analysis of the disaster management interventions conducted before and after the 6 April 2009 earthquake in L’Aquila, Italy, we discuss the main constraints to implementing the four Priority Areas in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: (1) Understanding risk in its multiple dimensions; (2) strengthening disaster risk governance; (3) investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience; and (4) enhancing preparedness and build back better in response, recovery and reconstruction. We discuss how top-down, emergency-centred civil protection approaches create second disasters, and fail in all four priorities. We suggest that shifts in paradigm and investment are required in disaster management and development practice from centralised civil protection systems to decentralised, socially sustainable community empowerment systems.

Clustering-based disaster resilience assessment of South Korea communities building portfolios using open GIS and census data

Purpose Disasters triggered by natural hazards significantly damage infrastructure, impede sustainable development and cause injuries, health challenges and loss of life. They disproportionally affect low-income communities due to physical, social and economic inequities. Delayed disaster responses exacerbate these challenges, highlighting the urgent need for efficient disaster response management (DRM). This study aims to explore how disruptive technologies can enhance DRM’s efficiency, effectiveness and speed in low-income communities while identifying adoption barriers and feasible technologies for resource-constrained settings. Design/methodology/approach This study surveyed architecture, engineering and construction experts to investigate how disruptive technologies can enhance DRM, identify adoption barriers and determine feasible technologies. The authors used statistical tests, including Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin, Cronbach’s alpha, Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity, normality and multicollinearity tests, to validate the sample. Ordered probit regression evaluated the importance of these technologies for DRM in low-income communities. Findings The results highlight the transformative role of disruptive technologies in expediting disaster response, improving efficiency, increasing safety and strengthening resilience. Cost-effective technologies such as robotics, smartphone applications, social media and geospatial analysis can streamline processes, improve decision-making, mitigate damages, enhance safety and expedite disaster response. Originality/value Despite the potential of disruptive technologies to enhance DRM, limited research has explored their application in low-income communities. This study addresses this critical gap. This study provides valuable insights for integrating these innovations into DRM, benefiting communities, disaster managers and stakeholders by enhancing efficiency, speed and resilience.

The study focuses on assessing the disaster resilience and preparedness of the Banyak Islands, Indonesia, with a specific emphasis on the business community, government officials, and local community. The region is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, which pose significant threats to the lives and livelihoods of its inhabitants. The primary objectives of this study are to evaluate the disaster resilience and preparedness of the business community, government officials, and local community in the Banyak Islands, and to identify areas for improvement to enhance overall community resilience. The study involves key informant interviews and a survey of business community members, government officials, and local community stakeholders. The data collection process involved a systematic database construction using Microsoft Excel, meticulous data cleaning, and statistical analyses using SPSS 22.0. The study categorizes the business community in the Caution Zone, indicating a moderate level of preparedness. The government officials are placed in the Alert Zone, reflecting a moderate level of preparedness. The local community is also categorized in the Caution Zone, reflecting a moderate level of preparedness. The findings highlight areas for improvement, including increased collaboration and communication within the business community, infrastructure reinforcement, regular emergency drills, resource stockpiling, and community engagement. The study provides valuable insights for policymakers and disaster management authorities in the Banyak Islands. The findings suggest that enhancing collaboration, reinforcing infrastructure, and promoting community engagement are crucial for improving disaster resilience. The study’s recommendations emphasize the importance of fostering a more interconnected and resilient community. In conclusion, the study highlights the need for a holistic approach to disaster resilience, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, communication, and infrastructure reinforcement. The findings provide a foundation for targeted interventions to enhance overall community resilience in the face of natural disasters.

The concept of community resilience has gained considerable attention in the global health discussions since the Ebola outbreak of West Africa in 2014–2015. However, there are no measurement models to quantify community resilience. Without measurement models, it is unclear how to test strategies for building community resilience or to describe their likely intended and unintended results and their impact on health outcomes. We propose a measurement model for community resilience with relevant constructs and indicators to measure these constructs. We conducted a scoping review, systematically searching, screening and selecting relevant articles from two bibliographic databases (PUBMED and Google Scholar) for literature using search terms such as “resilience”, “community resilience” and “health systems resilience”. We screened 500 papers, then completed a full text review of 112 identified as relevant based on their title and abstract. A total of 27 papers and reports were retained for analysis. We then aggregated and synthesised the various definitions of community resilience and the frameworks for understanding these definitions. We identified key constructs from these frameworks and organised these constructs into domains and sub-domains. We proposed indicators to capture aspects of these domains and sub-domains and operationalised these indicators as a measurement model for quantifying community resilience in health systems. We propose a model with 20 indicators to assess community resilience. These indicators tap into various constructs from different theoretical frameworks of community resilience and are useful for assessing the level of knowledge, financial resources, and human, social and physical capital that are needed (or lacking) to respond to any types of shock, including health shock at the community level. This is an initial attempt to describe a multilevel measurement model for quantifying community resilience. This model will help to guide the development and testing of strategies for strengthening community resilience and will require further work to assess its relevance, reliability and validity in different LMIC settings.

Community disaster resilience in Brazilian small urban centers

Metropolitan areas are faced with increasing disaster risks, mainly attributed to climate change, rapid population growth, and urbanization. Depending on factors such as location, size, and rate of expansion, all cities may face exposure to natural and technological disasters like floods, storms, cyclones, earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, and various other hazards that cause damage to property and loss of life. Effective Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in Metropolitan areas must therefore become a vital aspect of contemporary city management. However, an important gap exists between knowledge and practice in the specialized field of DRM. Methods: This study sampled a total of 54 selected journal articles and web-pages between the years 2003 and April, 2023. The purpose was to establish major strategies, Risk Assessment techniques, and emerging innovations in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) in cities. Results: the outcomes suggested a propensity of studies towards discussion of strategies (approaches) for DRM. From the 54 materials sampled, 30 materials were based on analysis of approaches to DRM. Empirical studies of disaster risk assessments in cities were comparatively sporadic with only 13 study materials. Results further revealed that studies based on technological innovations in the discipline were even more intermittent, with only 11 materials. Conclusion: DRM studies were most inclined to theoretical discussion of approaches, with limited studies in Disaster risk assessments in cities. Technical Innovation studies were seemingly lacking. Implications: Cities must invest in routine flood risk assessments, fire risk assessments, landslide risk assessments, and any-other essential vulnerability assessments to prevent loss of lives and property. Further studies in technological innovations must also be undertaken for detection, timely warning systems, and effective communication in DRM in cities.

Disaster resilience in Australia: A geographic assessment using an index of coping and adaptive capacity

Tools that quantify community disaster resilience are essential for informed decision-making on community disaster resilience improvement measures. One of the major research gaps in quantifying community disaster resilience are community disaster recovery simulations. Such simulations enable an insight into factors that enable a rapid and efficient community disaster recovery and vice versa. The iRe-CoDeS framework presented in this paper, simulates community disaster recovery as a time-stepping loop, where at each time step the interplay of demand and supply of community components for various resources and services dictates components’ ability to operate and recover. Disaster resilience of a community is then quantified using a multi-dimensional metric, where each dimension represents the unmet demand of a community regarding a certain resource or a service, labelled Lack of Resilience (LoR). This paper presents how such a demand/supply approach can be applied to account for resource and service constraints, impeding factors, that prolong component recovery and thus decrease community disaster resilience. Housing resilience of North–East San Francisco exposed to a Mw7.2 earthquake on the San Andreas Fault is quantified to illustrate the proposed approach. rWhale application framework recently developed at the NHERI SimCenter is used for this purpose, presenting how such a regional simulation on the effect of natural disasters on communities can be extended using the iRe-CoDeS framework to simulate community disaster recovery and quantify community disaster resilience. It is shown that housing resilience quantification results obtained in the case study focused on a part of San Francisco are in accordance with the existing estimates of housing resilience. The evolution of the post-disaster community-level supply and demand for recovery resources and services is obtained, identifying how and when the unmet demand for these resources and services impedes community recovery. Lastly, the effect of community’s ability to mobilize resources and services needed for its recovery on its disaster resilience is investigated.

This study investigates how different facets of social capital affect community resilience in The face of disasters. There has not been a thorough study that examines social capital across various types of frequently occurring disasters and across the different phases of a disaster, that is, pre-disaster, during disaster, and post-disaster. Previous research on social capital has been conducted in both developed and developing countries using various disaster cases. To synthesize previous research, identify knowledge gaps, and set the course for future research, this study used a literature review technique. This method is both methodical and rigorous. The current analysis found a rising trend in the amount of research on the use of social capital in disaster management, demonstrating a growing interest in the function of social capital in boosting community resilience in the face of disasters. The findings of this study showed that community resilience in disaster management is influenced by social capital components. The study found that the trust and network components of social capital—which include trust, beliefs, norms, rules, networks, and values—have the greatest effects on community resilience. Greater knowledge of the function of social capital in disaster management and the aspects of social capital that are most important for fostering community resilience are provided by these results, which have a substantial impact on future research and disaster management methods.