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PubMed1995

Struggles of neonatology staff and the network system in the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake disaster.

More than 5500 people were killed in the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake disaster. Most of the neonatal intensive care units (NICU) could not offer proper services as a result of the earthquake and the Hyogo Emergency System for Neonates could not function. No one imagined that such a great disaster would occur in their home town, Kobe; however, the devastation of the quake has raised the opportunity to examine the operation of neonatal medicine in an emergency. We sent out questionnaires to perinatologists in the damaged area 2-3 months after the quake. Some hospitals in the demolished area suffered such serious damage that they could not continue work as NICU, and some in the surrounding area had problems in a number of areas, including staff, room capacity and transport methods. Under these difficult circumstances the greatest problem encountered by staff was maintaining fundamental care in NICU, that is to say keeping temperature, formula (nutrition) and prevention of infection techniques operating. In this report we discuss the effects on neonatal medicine of the earthquake in Kobe. Medical staff struggled patiently and made great efforts to recover and maintain the functioning of NICU. We believe this information will be useful for neonatology staff in other areas which may experience an earthquake in the future.

Community Networks↗
PubMed1994

Volcanic disaster mitigation in the Philippines: experience from Mt. Pinatubo.

Considerable progress has been made in volcanic disaster mitigation in the Philippines during the last four decades, since the devastating Hibok-Hibok eruption in 1951 and the establishment of the Commission on Volcanology (COMVOL), the forerunner of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) in 1952. The management of the Pinatubo Volcano eruption crisis of 1991-92 marks the highest point in the development of volcanic disaster mitigation in the country. State-of-the-art volcano monitoring techniques and instruments were applied; the eruption was accurately predicted; hazards zonation maps were prepared and disseminated a month before the violent explosions; an alert and warning system was designed and implemented; and the disaster response machinery was mobilized on time. The unprecedented magnitude and lingering nature of the hazards, however, and their widespread, long-term impacts have sorely tested the capability of the country's volcanic disaster mitigation systems. In particular, the lahar threat has triggered controversies and put decision makers in a dilemma of choosing between adaptive versus confrontational/control approaches. At least three strategies have been articulated and adopted in varying degrees and forms: (1) the establishment of a lahar monitoring-warning-evacuation system to deal with the lahar problem on an emergency basis; (2) relocation of settlements from the hazard zones; and (3) installation of engineering countermeasures to control/divert the lahar flows and protect settlements. A combination of the three appears to be the best, but the most effective and least costly mix remains to be determined.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed1994

The efficacy of the neo-liberal individual choice model for encouraging post-disaster change: developments in the East Cape region of New Zealand following Cyclone Bola (March 1988).

The government of New Zealand instituted a new policy of disaster response in an attempt to bring about change and development in the relatively remote agricultural region which was struck by a severe cyclone in March 1988. The new policy involved a change from payment for restoration to compensation for loss. This new policy was based on the neo-liberal position that individual choice should prevail in decision making and that significant change will result from this adherence to an individual decision making approach. The new policy did not accomplish any significant degree of change in the intended areas of land ownership and land use. Most of the farmers used the compensation funds to carry out on-farm restoration work which facilitated the resumption of pre-cyclone farming activities. It is argued that the efficacy of a neo-liberal individual choice model for accomplishing post-disaster change and development is limited and that a more institutionally and organisationally based approach would be much more effective and efficient.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1994

Strategy and organizational disaster preparedness.

Strategy is introduced as a predictor of disaster preparedness. Tests with multiple regression show that strategy, disaster experience and capacity for disaster response are the strongest predictors of preparedness. We conclude that the measure of strategy warrants further refinement and that the study of preparedness must move from idiosyncratic, disconnected studies to a more theoretically organized set of studies that verify useful guidelines for monitoring and enhancing disaster preparedness.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed1995

Desert locusts in Africa: a disaster?

Migrating locusts, especially the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria), have been feared in Africa for thousands of years as famine-inducing pests. Instead of simply waiting for outbreaks to occur, attempts are being made to take preventive action against these pests. Since the breeding areas of the desert locust are distributed across the entire Sahel region, the Arabian peninsula, Pakistan and India, a gigantic logistical and organizational effort is required. Every year, millions of dollars are spent on these preventive control measures, which are still unable to prevent locust plagues completely. The outbreaks in 1987/88 and 1993/94 are the most recent examples. Exactly how large potential disasters caused by gigantic locust swarms may be and whether the effort and expense involved in preventing them pays off economically has never been systematically investigated. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) project, 'Integrated Biological Control of Grasshoppers and Locusts', has attempted to assess, on the basis of the available data, what the costs and potential benefits are and to identify the difficulties involved in developing an effective strategy.

Africa↗
PubMed1995

Choice and constraints in floodplain occupation: the influence of structural factors on residential location in peninsular Malaysia.

In Peninsular Malaysia 'structural' factors are found to influence strongly people's persistent occupation of floodplains. Thus, despite a high level of flood hazard awareness, a high level of pessimism and a high level of expectation of future floods, poorer individuals seldom attempt to leave for more advantageous locations but are instead trapped in their present locations by structural factors such as poverty, low residential and occupational mobility, low educational attainment, traditional land inheritance, government aid, and government disaster preparedness, relief and rehabilitation programmes. These forces exert a strong influence upon individuals and largely control their choice of residential location in response to flood hazards, thereby reinforcing the persistent occupation of floodplains. Structural factors such as landlessness, rural-urban migration, floodplain encroachment and squatting are also highly influential in leading people to move. Even for those who move, structural factors have largely confined their choice of residential location to urban floodplains.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1995

The American print news media 'construction' of five natural disasters.

In 1985, five international 'natural' disasters received prominent print news media coverage in the United States. Content analyses of selected print news media accounts of these five disasters were conducted. The purported evidence of alleged cause-effect relationships describing and explaining these disasters as 'objective' realities was evaluated in the light of the subjective selection of explanatory factors, themes, frameworks, and value assumptions which underlie the media's analysis and 'construction' of these events as 'natural' disasters. Analysis of the American print news media coverage of these disasters indicated an emphasis upon the dramatic, descriptive, climatological or geological qualities of these events rather than upon causal explanations emphasizing the role of human acts or omissions in the development of these disasters. The print news media 'constructed' these events as 'natural' disasters despite clear evidence of their hybrid, natural-human origins.

Bangladesh↗