十三个特殊的“农民工”

2008年春季，我国南方大部分地区经历了一场百年不遇的特大冰雪灾害。冰灾之后，成千上万的救灾队伍从四面八方赶来，支援一线的抗灾救援战斗。其中，有一支特殊的救灾队伍引起了社会的广泛关注，这就是来自河北省唐山市玉田县东八里铺村的“农民抗灾小分队”。这支“农民抗灾小分队”由13个人组成，他们的队长就是36岁的宋志永。     

国际新闻

正粮农组织亚洲应对海啸等自然灾害能力加强但仍然任重道远2014年12月22日粮农组织今天在新闻公报中指出,十年以来,受印度洋海啸影响最严重的几个国家的备灾能力和灾后应对能力均有所加强,一些国家制定了早期灾害预警系统和明确标示的海啸疏散路线,多项防灾措施目前已经到位,但粮农组织最近主办的东盟成员国研讨会强调,由于人口的快速增长和城市化,以及自然资源受侵蚀和气候变化等因素的影响,气候引发的事件给东盟地区带来的威胁最大,各国仍需进一步提高其抗灾能力。参加此次研讨会的代表均认为,农业、畜牧业、渔业、水产养殖业和林业等部门必须更加积极地参与国家和区域减灾和灾害管理决策的制定讨程,在资金方面作出明确承诺,以帮助     

宋代至清朝时期中国海阳县的海洋灾害相关研究

海洋灾害对社会、经济和生命财产有着严重的危害,我国潮州府海阳县地处我国东南沿海,从古代时期就是海洋灾害多发地区。本文主要针对海阳县从宋代至清朝时期发生的海洋灾害的种类、特点以及影响进行整理、概括、分析,并以史为鉴,充分发挥我们当今所有的科技水平和资源,提出我们防御海洋灾害的主要对策,提高我们防御海洋灾害的能力,减小海洋灾害的危害和影响。     

论产业升级的灾害环境

灾害对产业和生命财产冲击产生的不良后果受灾害类型制约.面对灾情的冲击,从战略思维角度,要求进行顶层系统设计、应急处置、分步干预和灾后重建;从经济发展角度,可选择遏制蔓延、稳定产业、优化结构和创新支撑等应对方略.人类应更加注重非传统安全问题的挑战,构建应对灾害的命运共同体.     

城市减灾防灾能力提升中的公众灾害意识培育

减灾防灾能力的提升,是城市可持续发展的必备条件。而城市减灾防灾能力提升的前提是公众灾害意识的培育。针对当前频繁发生的各种灾害,本文就培育公众灾害意识的路径,从教育、演练、制度等层面进行探讨。     

"小河大灾"警示

巧家县特大洪涝泥石流灾害调查 经过4天紧张搜救,截至7月16日早晨,云南省巧家县小河镇特大洪涝泥石流灾害已造成19人死亡、26人失踪、43人受伤,失踪者生还希望渺茫。这场损失惨重的灾害发生在一条小河炉房沟边,虽然灾害是由持续降雨天气引起的,但还有一些原因不容忽视。眼下地质灾害防治任务异常严峻,＂小河大灾＂现象值得警惕。     

城市演进与城市灾害

城市是自然灾害与人为灾害的巨大承载体,城市兴衰存亡与城市灾害息息相关。城市不同发展阶段使城市灾害有不同表现形式和特点,其趋势是危害越来越大,同时城市发展对城市灾害又有着缩小效应。     

灾害视角下“流民心态”对文化融合的影响

由于灾害移民物质条件的急剧恶化和精神世界严重受损,在心理上容易产生负面情绪,本文尝试以"流民心态"进行阐述。人作为文化的载体,在这种心态下会对文化融合产生很大程度的影响。本文首先分析灾害的含义及其影响,侧重于灾害移民的特征及心理分析,从而阐释"流民心态"的表现和成因,最后尝试给出解决的对策。     

城市交通拥堵灾害的管理与控制研究

随着我国城镇化建设水平的提高和进程的加快,交通拥堵已经成为一种城市灾害,如何治理城市中的交通拥堵问题是城市灾害法律控制研究的重要方面.城市交通拥堵作为现代城市中常见的一种现象,有其自身的表现形式和特殊的致灾因子,是城市管理者急需解决的难题.从法治社会的角度而言,城市交通拥堵灾害的治理离不开法律的基础和支持作用,通过各种治理方式与法律的结合,从而有效治理城市交通拥堵灾害.     

大雪无情

近日来，一场大范围的雨雪冰冻灾害牵动了全国人民的心。翻看各地的灾情，上海灾害预警由“黄”升至“橙”。江苏21个市县雪深超过历史极值。安徽降雪持续17天数十年来罕见……     

The Political Economy of FEMA Disaster Payments

We find that presidential and congressional influences affect the rate of disaster declaration and the allocation of FEMA disaster expenditures across states. States politically important to the president have a higher rate of disaster declaration by the president, and disaster expenditures are higher in states having congressional representation on FEMA oversight committees. Election year impacts are also found. Our models predict that nearly half of all disaster relief is motivated politically rather than by need. The findings reject a purely altruistic model of FEMA assistance and question the relative effectiveness of government versus private disaster relief.     

Disasters and Social Inequalities

In this article, I review recent research on the relationship between social inequalities and disasters, focusing on the areas of social vulnerability to disaster and social inequalities in disaster recovery. I highlight how race, class, and gender structure the disaster experience such that marginalized populations are most vulnerable to the negative consequences of a disaster and face significant challenges in recovery. Then, I discuss the next steps for advancing disaster studies. First, scholars should work to develop improved methodologies for disaster research. Second, theoretical work on defining, theorizing, and classifying disasters is needed. Finally, the field should incorporate other intersectional dimensions of social inequality into the study of disasters.     

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: The highest casualties and largest reconstruction funds—Characteristics of major disasters and future challenges in developed countries

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake was a disaster that led to the greatest number of casualties related to any form of natural disaster seen in developed countries since World War II. Furthermore, this earthquake occurred in an area where tsunami countermeasures had been prioritized. This disaster, therefore, led to the question “Is it impossible to reduce the number of victims of huge catastrophes, even in cases in which advanced disaster prevention measures have been taken?” Part of the reason this particular earthquake caused the largest number of deaths was because the tsunami that followed — which exceeded the “design load” of the seawall — hit the urban area. In addition, the tsunami, which also exceeded the “estimated loads” of the established disaster prevention plan, caused many “evacuation failures.” Another factor that contributed to the deaths was that the disaster prevention measures, up to that point, had relied primarily on the recognition that disasters could be prevented by the development of “hard,” or tangible, disaster prevention facilities in addition to “soft,” or intangible, measures, such as issuing warnings, without imposing space restrictions. Another characteristic of the Great East Japan Earthquake was that the largest reconstruction budget associated with any disaster in postwar Japan was compiled for it. Although the reconstruction project was over-specified for the disaster-afflicted area in terms of scale, cost, and duration of reconstruction, many unused land areas were also created in the new urban areas created during the reconstruction project. Furthermore, the reconstruction projects undertaken with the huge reconstruction budget were not based on the “choice to rebuild the lives” of the disaster-afflicted areas and the victims, but were rather implemented while simultaneously “marginalizing” said victims and areas as a whole. The over-specified reconstruction projects and the associated marginalization of disaster victims tend to exist in a mutually regulated relationship. Therefore, there are concerns about the future sustainability of the noted disaster-afflicted areas, which are already suffering from a severe population decline. Based on the previously presented discussion, it is possible to highlight various issues associated with disaster measures implemented in developed countries. First, regardless of how advanced disaster measures are, a “surge in disaster damage” can occur, which can lead to a “black swan” event. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate disaster prevention measures based on the assumption that such crises will occur in the future. Second, it is necessary for developed countries to determine how best to formulate reconstruction policies to avoid marginalizing disaster victims as well as to prevent over-specified reconstruction. In examining these two issues, the common problem that arises is how to conduct “risk assessment and enable its acceptance” most calmly immediately after a disaster and then formulate disaster prevention measures based on such assessment. Finally, the future of disaster sociology is detailed in this work. More specifically, in order for disaster sociology to escape its “marginal” status in sociology, it is necessary to consider “disaster” in the context of both a social structure and a social change—similar to how risk theory views the issue.     

Planning to Plan: A Process to Involve Child Welfare Agencies in Disaster Preparedness Planning

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when child welfare officials in Louisiana reported they did not know the whereabouts of all their children in foster care, disaster planning in public child welfare became a new area of concern. This article reports on a process of engaging seven public child welfare agencies in planning for disasters that could affect child safety and service delivery. The Washington Metropolitan Area Disaster Planning Project used a strengths-based approach to help agencies responsible for protecting and serving children in foster care and families at risk of abuse and neglect develop plans to augment and continue service delivery and responsiveness in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster. The processes of gathering information on disaster responsiveness, interviewing community and professional informants, developing a template to guide disaster planning within the agencies, and implementing a tabletop exercise are described. As a result of this consultation effort agencies became aware that disaster planning at the state and county levels had proceeded without child welfare at the table, that the increase in need for child welfare services during a disaster was not recognized by disaster professionals, and that practicing disaster responsiveness is necessary to assure readiness.     

Disaster mental health services: a personal perspective

1. Services that may be provided by psychiatric-mental health nurses following a disaster include education, intervention, problem solving, advocacy, and referral. 2. Nurses providing disaster mental health services must be flexible and creative. Strong observational skills and teamwork are also essential characteristics in disaster settings. 3. Psychiatric-mental health nurses who wish to receive training for disaster mental health volunteer opportunities should contact their local chapter of the American Red Cross.     

Disabled people and disaster management in New Zealand: examining online media messages

This article explores how disability and disabled people were portrayed in New Zealand online media between 2006 and 2016, with specific reference to disasters. Following a process of content analysis, the findings indicated that post disaster, persistent advocacy was required and ensuring accessibility, immediately following a disaster as well as in the recovery phase, was a significant issue. Disabled people were also primarily presented as a vulnerable cohort and the wide-ranging issues highlighted in the media suggest they currently have minimal voice in the four disaster management stages of risk reduction, readiness, response and recovery. This article emphasises the utilisation of relationships, skills and knowledge between individuals and Disabled People’s Organisations to strengthen the disability and disaster management discourse and activity. Increased inclusion of disabled people across all phases of disaster management will assist with the New Zealand government meeting its aspiration of a non-disabling society, especially during future disaster events.     

Older adults' narratives about a flood disaster: Resilience, coherence, and personal identity

Older adults are a vulnerable group in a disaster and are more at risk of adverse effects as a result. This paper draws on the use of narrative theory in health and gerontology studies to examine how a disruptive disaster was storied. Narrative interviews were conducted with nine older adults aged over 65 years who had recently experienced a flood disaster. The participants' narratives about the disruptive event were integrated with past personal events that spanned more than seven decades. The disaster became a reference point for previous challenging experiences, which created biographical continuity, coherence and order over time. Furthermore, the disaster stories were about biography and identity, and showed how older adults made sense of the flood from a life-course perspective. The use of narrative approaches provides an insight into how the flood disaster was experienced, and reveals how four older adults storied their experiences of a significant life challenge.     

The professional's psychological response in disaster: implications for practice.

1. Victims typically experience recurring and distressing thoughts about a disaster and attempt to avoid thoughts and behavior associated with the event. As one works through the stressful event, the victim vacillates between intrusion and avoidance, with the magnitude of those oscillations being much stronger at first. 2. Although health-care workers may respond effectively following a disaster, they are not immune to its stresses. They must attend to the victims, regardless of their own needs, taxing even the toughest of the tough. 3. A crisis team should be established to work with the staff before disaster strikes, to be highly visible during a disaster to maintain staff support and emotional stability. They should take an active role in organizing and conducting mandatory debriefing sessions after a disaster to ward off traumatic effects.     

DR communication in the South African context: A conceptual paper

Within the disaster risk reduction field the term that is used to encompass all pre- and post-disaster phases such as disaster planning, preparedness, prevention, mitigation, warning, impact, rescue, relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery (Van Niekerk, 2008, p. 367), is disaster risk reduction, response and recovery, shortly referred to as DR⁴. DR⁴ communication refers to communication, management applied during the disaster management phases.