Disease Aftershocks—The Health Effects of Natural Disasters

While the initial activity of a natural disaster event may directly injure or kill a number of people, it is possible that a significant number of individuals will be affected by disease outbreaks that occur after the first effects of the disaster have passed. Coupling the epidemiologist's knowledge of disease outbreaks with geographic information systems and remote sensing technology could help natural disaster relief workers to prevent additional victims from disease aftershocks.     

The role of social capital,personal networks,and emergency responders in post-disaster recovery and resilience: a study of rural communities in Indiana

The factors that explain the speed of recovery after disaster remain contested. While many have argued that physical infrastructure, social capital, and disaster damage influence the arc of recovery, empirical studies that test these various factors within a unified modeling framework are few. We conducted a mail survey to collect data on household recovery in four small towns in southern Indiana that were hit by deadly tornadoes in March 2012. The recovery effort is ongoing; while many of the homes, businesses, and community facilities were rebuilt in 2013, some are still under construction. We investigate how households in these communities are recovering from damage that they experienced and the role of social capital, personal networks, and assistance from emergency responders on the overall recovery experience. We used an ordered probit modeling framework to test the combined as well as relative effects of (a) damage to physical infrastructures (houses, vehicles, etc.); (b) recovery assistance from emergency responders (FEMA) as well as friends and neighbors; (c) personal network characteristics (size, network density, proximity, length of relationship); (d) social capital (civic engagement, contact with neighbors, trust); and (e) household characteristics. Results show that while households with higher levels of damage experienced slower recovery, those with recovery assistance from neighbors, stronger personal networks, and higher levels of social capital experienced faster recovery. The insights gained in this study will enable emergency managers and disaster response personnel to implement targeted strategies in facilitating post-disaster recovery and community resilience.     

The effects of transportation network failure on people’s accessibility to hurricane disaster relief goods: a modeling approach and application to a Florida case study

Following the catastrophic and devastating Atlantic Hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005, there has been increased interest in formulating planning directives and policy aimed at minimizing the societal impacts of future storms. Not all populations will evacuate an area forecast to be affected by a hurricane, so emergency managers must plan for these people who remain behind. Such planning includes making food, water, ice, and other provisions available at strategic locations throughout an affected area. Recent research has tackled problems related to humanitarian and relief goods distribution with respect to hurricanes. Experience shows that the torrential rains and heavy winds associated with hurricanes can severely damage transportation network infrastructure rendering it unusable. Scanning the literature on hurricane disaster relief provision, there are no studies that expressly consider the potential damage that may be caused to a transportation network by strong storms. This paper examines the impacts of simulated network failures on hurricane disaster relief planning strategies, using a smaller Florida City as an example. A relief distribution protocol is assumed where goods distribution points are set up in pre-determined locations following the passage of a storm. Simulation results reveal that modest disruptions to the transportation network produce marked changes in the number and spatial configuration of relief facilities. At the same time, the transportation network appears to be robust and is able to support relief service provision even at elevated levels of hypothesized disruption.     

多层次多尺度的区域性震害预测模式

地震应急反应能力和灾害救援组织的效能是评价一个地区防震减灾水平的重要尺度。为了提高地震应急救援工作的能力 ,福建省地震局震害预测项目组采用多层次、多空间尺度的城乡震害预测技术途径和系统研究原则 ,以适应不同层次的地震应急、救援决策、组织指挥工作的需要。     

Beyond Modelling: Linking Models with GIS for Flood Risk Management

Spatially explicit hydrodynamic flood models can play animportant role in natural hazard risk reduction. A key element of these models that make them suitable for riskreduction is the ability to provide time-series inundation information about the onset, duration and passingof a hazard event. Such information can be critical for landuse planning, for mapping evacuation egress routes,and for locating suitable emergency shelters to name only a few risk treatments. This research contends that abarrier to effective risk reduction is providing disaster managers with access to model results in a structured andflexible framework that allows consequences of different hazard scenarios to be assessed and mapped. Toaddress these limitations, a framework has been developed that links a commercial relational databasemanagement system with a GIS-based decision support system. The framework utilises industry standard dataexchange protocols and results in efficient time-series hazard data management. A case study based in Cairns,in far-north coastal Australia is presented to illustrate how the system has been developed. Results show that theframework reduces data volumes significantly, while making pre-run modelled inundation results rapidly accessibleto disaster managers. Of note is the ability of the framework to present results in terms of risk to buildings,roads and other spatial features in urban regions, and to provide answers to relatively complex risk questions.     

自然灾害风险防控和应急救援平台构建与实践

为了适应当前常态减灾与非常态救灾情景下信息化管理的深度应用,提出一种面向自然灾害突发事件应对过程的业务平台的设计方案。采用数据交换方法,实现多部门之间的信息共享;建立自然灾害综合数据库,实现统一数据源管理和实时更新;采用智能移动终端推送自然灾害信息,实现政府-社会-公众多元协同;基于网络地理信息系统实时显示自然灾害风险状况,实现自然灾害风险监测预警、综合研判和应急指挥应用。该平台有效提升了自然灾害风险防控的管理水平和应急管理的工作效率,真正实现了跨领域、多灾种、全流程的自然灾害风险闭环管理和精准管控的目标。     

Evaluation of groundwater supply capacity for agricultural drought emergency relief of Hebei Plain

Drought is the uppermost natural disaster in the Hebei Plain, which during the past 20 years showed a trend of frequency increasing, range extension, longer duration and severer damage. In the Hebei Plain, as a major grain producing area, the agricultural drought emergency relief can only rely on groundwater exploitation. Thus the work to conduct evaluation of groundwater supply capacity for agricultural drought emergency relief of Hebei Plain is of great significance for disaster prevention and relief. In this paper, with the method of analytic hierarchy process, the evaluation index system with reference to 3 aspects and 7 indexes (the former including groundwater resources, groundwater exploitation technical conditions and water supply facilities) and the ArcGIS Desktop ArcMAP software, the work to assess the shallow groundwater supply capacity for agricultural drought emergency relief in the Hebei Plain was carried out.     

Direct tangible damage assessment for regional snowmelt flood disasters with HJ-1 and HR satellite images: a case study of the Altay region,northern Xinjiang,China

Regional snowmelt flood disasters (RSFDs) can cause significant direct tangible damage which generally refers to the physical destruction due to direct contact with the flood water, such as damage to buildings, croplands, livestock, and infrastructure. Information about people, habitations, and infrastructure affected by the flood is essential for disaster responders and the humanitarian community to plan and coordinate emergency response activities. However, this direct tangible damage information obtained in the ground is limited, incomplete, contradictory, and sometimes impossible to obtain in a short time. Earth observation satellites help overcome operational uncertainties after the RSFDs. Here, we present an improved rapid direct tangible damage assessment model using HJ-1 and GF-1/2 satellite images. We selected the Altay region in northern Xinjiang, China, as the study area, and investigated a RSFD occurring in spring 2017. A series of HJ-1 and GF-1 images were used to track the flood extent over the duration of the disaster, and the maximum affected flood area was assigned as the area in which direct tangible damage occurred. Pre-disaster GF-2 images were then used to estimate direct tangible damage to habitations (2375 households and 6388 rooms), infrastructure (102 km of roads), and affected population (7125) in the flood area, which covered an area of 185,240 m². Our method is an effective approach for the design of rescue plans and disaster subsidy programs.     

地质灾害应急调查工具箱客户端软件设计

针对目前地质灾害应急调查还处在野外全手工记录、应急数据传输不及时、室内手工处理数据等效率低下的情况,进行了地质灾害应急调查工具箱配套数据采集终端的研制,重点进行了自动化数据采集、数据电子化、应急数据实时化传输、数据管理智能化等设计。本文主要介绍在基于Android系统下的平板终端上,设计开发出一套智能化地质灾害应急调查软件,该软件遵循地质灾害调查技术规范,采用结构化和标准化的调查表模板,结合可视化的Google地图数据资源,为地质灾害调查人员现场采集数据（如文字信息,灾害点空间信息,有关灾害点的语音、视频、图片信息,绘制灾害点平面图、剖面图、素描图等）和后期对灾害点的管理,提供了更直观、更快捷、更高效的技术支持手段。该软件利用GIS技术,将采集的数据以可视化的方式展现在地图平台上,直观地反映地质灾害及隐患点的空间分布、灾害类型、灾害危害等级等详细信息,为地质灾害调查提供技术支撑。     

地震次生地质灾害应急调查多源遥感影像处理及应用——以汶川大地震为例

汶川大地震发生后,遥感技术即刻成为抢险救灾的重要信息来源,多源遥感影像的协同快速处理尤为关键。以国道213（映秀-汶川段）为例,探讨了研究区TM正射影像、DMC航空影像及QB影像三种数据的协同快速处理,处理后的影像色彩统一、色调一致,质量较好,能满足灾情应急调查使用。     

城市防震减灾计算机信息管理系统设计探讨

本文研究了基于GIS的城市防震减灾计算机信息管理系统的设计,阐明了系统总体设计思想,分析了系统结构设计和主要层面设计以及运行环境,该系统既可为开展城市防震减灾研究工作的工具,又可作为城市防震减灾日常管理工作的工具,及面向各级领导和社会公众宣传防震减灾知识的演播系统。     

Opportunities provided by geographic information systems and volunteered geographic information for a timely emergency response during flood events in Cologne,Germany

The occurrence of disasters such as extreme flooding in urban environments has severe consequences, not only on the human population but also on critical infrastructures such as the road networks, which are of vital importance for everyday living and particularly for emergency response. In this article, our main goal is to present-conceptually and in praxis-a model that could be used from the emergency responders for timely and efficient emergency management and response in an urban complex environment. For the city of Cologne in Germany, we aim to indicate possible ways to decrease the emergency response time during an extreme flood scenario through the development of an accessibility indicator, which consists of different components. Therefore, we will investigate the opportunities that occur, in a flood risk scenario, from the use of geographic information in different forms such as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and open-source data in an ArcGIS environment, to increase urban resilience through the decreasing emergency response time. We will focus on network analysis for the fire brigades (first acting emergency responders) during a flood scenario to calculate their emergency response ranges and emergency response routes through flooded road networks, for the assistance of the possibly affected hospitals, refugee homes and fire brigades, which can be flooded. At the end of the paper, we suggest that the vulnerable community of the refugees could be taken into consideration as a new source of VGI, as an additional component that would lead to the decrease in the emergency response time. The geo-located information that could be provided by the refugee community can be very useful in emergency situations, such as those examined in this article where timely information can be forwarded to the proper authorities for a more focused and timely emergency response, increasing the resilience of the urban population and their community.

     

Opportunities provided by geographic information systems and volunteered geographic information for a timely emergency response during flood events in Cologne,Germany

The occurrence of disasters such as extreme flooding in urban environments has severe consequences, not only on the human population but also on critical infrastructures such as the road networks, which are of vital importance for everyday living and particularly for emergency response. In this article, our main goal is to present-conceptually and in praxis-a model that could be used from the emergency responders for timely and efficient emergency management and response in an urban complex environment. For the city of Cologne in Germany, we aim to indicate possible ways to decrease the emergency response time during an extreme flood scenario through the development of an accessibility indicator, which consists of different components. Therefore, we will investigate the opportunities that occur, in a flood risk scenario, from the use of geographic information in different forms such as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and open-source data in an ArcGIS environment, to increase urban resilience through the decreasing emergency response time. We will focus on network analysis for the fire brigades (first acting emergency responders) during a flood scenario to calculate their emergency response ranges and emergency response routes through flooded road networks, for the assistance of the possibly affected hospitals, refugee homes and fire brigades, which can be flooded. At the end of the paper, we suggest that the vulnerable community of the refugees could be taken into consideration as a new source of VGI, as an additional component that would lead to the decrease in the emergency response time. The geo-located information that could be provided by the refugee community can be very useful in emergency situations, such as those examined in this article where timely information can be forwarded to the proper authorities for a more focused and timely emergency response, increasing the resilience of the urban population and their community.     

Pedaling disaster: citizen bicyclists in disaster response—Innovative solution or unnecessary effort?

Citizens have historically become involved in response to disasters by helping both themselves and others. Recently, the idea has emerged of individuals providing this assistance in the response period using bicycles. Community events have been organized by bicycling enthusiasts in US cities to demonstrate how bicycles could potentially be of use in disaster situations. Yet, there has been no empirical research around the idea of citizen bicyclists in disaster response. This study explored the potential use of bicycles and their citizen riders in disaster events in the USA—specifically considering what role, if any, citizen bicyclists could play in such scenarios. Data were initially collected through 21 in-depth, telephone interviews with emergency management officials and bicycling advocates from bicycle-friendly cities in ten different states. Grounded theory was used to conceptualize the overall research design and analyze the data. Based on theoretical and snowball sampling, an additional six interviews were completed with individuals who had requisite knowledge and experiences applicable to the research question. Participants indicated that there are a variety of tasks and activities citizen bicyclists could undertake in disaster response; however, it would have to be an event of significant scope and magnitude for bicycle usage to be widespread—an unlikely occurrence for many jurisdictions. Concerns about training and integration with the formal emergency management structure were also identified. Implications for potential citizen bicyclists—and citizen responders more broadly—are discussed.     

Tornado disaster impacts and management: learning from the 2016 tornado catastrophe in Jiangsu Province,China

Natural Hazards - As a key component of disaster reduction management, disaster emergency relief and reconstruction is an important process. Based on disaster system theory, this study analyzed the...     

Construction of collaborative mapping engine for dynamic disaster and emergency response

In the collaborative mapping of disasters, response situations and decisions, it is important to support various emergency responders with a unified platform to help in decision making and coordinating emergency action. However, most existing symbol libraries focus primarily on representing disasters and related information. These libraries lack specific symbols to map response situations and emergency decisions. For representation of dynamic disasters and response factors, these symbols support rich interactive editing after the symbols are mapped. In addition, decision making and mapping of disasters and response situations typically involve different domains of expertise and different responsibilities of map makers. It is essential to construct a collaborative mapping engine that supports disaster and emergency mapping on a collaborative platform. However, most existing methods of collaboration cannot readily support collaboration on symbols containing complex data structures or accommodate rich interactive editing operations. This article proposes a collaborative mapping engine for dynamic disasters and emergency responses. To support collaborative mapping based on complex data structures and rich interactive map symbols, it proposes a method of mapping operation replication to implement collaboration. Additionally, strategies were designed to enhance the efficiency and stability of collaboration. Finally, an experiment was conducted using the Wenchuan earthquake as an example. The results reveal that the engine can contribute to improved mapping efficiency and management during emergencies.     

A model-based approach for a systematic risk analysis of local flood emergency operation plans: a first step toward a decision support system

The recurring heavy precipitations which have struck the south of France these last few years highlight that the affected cities have little pertinent information on how to manage these emergencies, and therefore appear powerless. In response, the development of a local emergency operations plan (EOP) for communities threatened by natural and technological hazards was made compulsory by French law in 2004. This article describes a systematic risk analysis approach for local EOPs. This method is based on a functional model that represents a local EOP as a set of interacting functions, each of them using resources and controls. This decomposition facilitates the identification of the human, technical, and organizational resources that are essential to safeguard the inhabitants of a community threatened by a hazard. This model provides a precise frame for performing an exhaustive and rigorous risk analysis of a local EOP. Based on this model and this risk analysis, potential failures are identified and organized into fault tree for each function. Then assessment checklists of the functions of the EOP are structured via these fault trees. By using these checklists, the analysis of a local EOP becomes more rigorous, exhaustive, and systematic, which makes it possible to broadly study the criticality of the plan. Therefore, this method enhances the potential success of the pre-planned actions during a disaster. This is the first step of a decision support system for city emergency managers who are designing their local emergency plan.     

“便携式地震应急指挥辅助决策系统”简介

本系统可以随身携带,自动监视地震监测台网发布的地震信息,自动启动,在接到地震信息后1-2分钟内自动给指挥者提供地震震中行政区域位置图、地震应急方案和震害快速评估等应急辅助决策,从而避免地震应急指挥的无序性,提高地震应急指挥决策的效率,缩短地震救灾组织时间。它集成了地震应急工作的全过程辅助功能。本系统对运行设备要求低,运行速度快,维护容易,操作方法简单,通用型设计,全国(全球)适用。用其建设地震应急指挥系统,投资省,见效快,运行维护成本低,可得到物美价廉的功效。     

Social vulnerability to floods: a case study of Huaihe River Basin

Since ancient times, floods occurred frequently in Huaihe River with significant casualties and economic losses. In developing measures for disaster prevention or emergency response for disaster relief, the study of social vulnerability to floods in Huaihe River Basin should be strengthened. Based on the latest socioeconomic data, the index system of social vulnerability to floods was constructed from three dimensions: population, economy, and flood prevention. Sensitive indexes were identified from the original indexes by principal component analysis, and the social vulnerability index for floods was calculated for Huaihe River Basin. The results described the characteristics of the spatial distribution. It also demonstrated that vulnerability manifests itself as a regional phenomenon, with significant changes from city to city across the Huaihe River Basin. Understanding the impacts of changes in vulnerability was crucial in developing measures to prevent floods.