The international community has been working on reducing disaster risks for decades, investing millions of dollars and implementing hundreds of projects in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). There is a broad consensus nowadays between academia and practitioners of how disasters result from exposure and vulnerabilities, where it’s essential to reduce these vulnerabilities. However, regardless of all efforts made, vulnerabilities seem to persist and local knowledge is often limited due to the top-down approach of DRR-projects. Based on a field study in Huila, Colombia, this thesis examines why vulnerabilities persist by studying the local sense-making of disaster risks and DRR of the practitioners and consumers of these projects. A discourse analysis, grounded in a Foucauldian and post-structuralist approach, identifies and further analyzes discourses, considering power dynamics. The thesis findings highlight three different understandings of DRR among the participants: the Colombian Red Cross (CRC), the city's recipients and the indigenous community of Nasa Çxhaçxha. The dominant discourse of the CRC, focusing on DRR measures of self-reliance, generates knowledge that overlooks the contextual risks of the recipients, which strengthens what previous research has already concluded. The thesis can contribute to existing research by emphasizing how educational programmes for improving risk awareness have been too generalized and overlooked the contextual vulnerabilities and risks, which in turn has reproduced the dominant knowledge of DRR, generating a cyclic process that enganger to reproduce the risks and thereby also making the vulnerabilities persist.

As natural disasters have continued to become more prevalent in recent years, the need for effective disaster management efforts has become even more critical. Flooding is an extremely common natural disaster which can cause significant damage to homes and other property. Using low-cost drones, 3D cadastre models can be created and combined with flood models to quantify individual building risk before, during, and after flood events. As severe flooding devastated areas nearby to Virginia Tech, the need for accurate flood risk quantification became evident. In this work, we focused on the Appalachian area of the United States for flood modeling. The unique terrain of this area coupled with increasing major weather events has lead to devastating flooding in the area. In particular, we focused on an area in Southwest Virginia, Hurley, due to a devastating flood event in 2021 as well as its proximity to Virginia Tech. Digital Elevation Models from before the flood and available weather data are used to perform simulations of the flood event using HEC-RAS software. These were validated with measured water height values and found to be very accurate, with errors as low as 2 percent. After this, simulations are performed using the Digital Elevation Models created from drone imagery collected after the flood, and we found that a similar rainfall event on the new terrain would cause even worse flooding, with water depths between 29% and 105% higher. Simulations like these could be used to guide recovery efforts as well as aid response efforts for any future events. After this, a major flood event in 2022 shifted our focus to an area in Eastern Kentucky. The terrain in this area has been affected by significant surface coal mining, which became a focus due to the limited amount of research into the impacts of surface coal mining on flooding. Through the digitization of historical topographic maps, pre-mining terrain and land cover is compared to the current landscape with respect to runoff and flood potential. Additionally, multiple mine reclamation methods, including the regrowth of forest, grassland, or shrubland, were looked at to reduce the risk of major flooding in the future after mining has been completed. SWAT simulations showed a significant increase, as large as high as 55.8 percent, in surface runoff from the coal mining in the area. HEC-RAS simulations showed localized increases in flooding resulting from mine lands, with some areas seeing an increase of over 2 feet of water depth. Mine reclamation methods show the potential to reduce the amount of surface runoff, by as much 1 foot of water depth, although these ideal scenarios still do not reach pre-mined levels. While the impact which surface mining has had on the environment can not be fully reversed, significant improvements can be made to prevent future flooding in these areas. After these flood case studies, the water depth modeling is combined with high-resolution cadastre data to produce accurate flood risk assessments for the community and property level. / Doctor of Philosophy / As natural disasters have continued to become more prevalent in recent years, the need for effective disaster management efforts has become even more critical. Flooding is an extremely common natural disaster which can cause significant damage to homes and other property. Using aerial imagery, 3D models of buildings and property can be created and combined with flood models to quantify flood risk. As severe flooding devastated areas nearby to Virginia Tech, the need for accurate flood risk quantification became evident. In this work, we focused on the Appalachian area of the United States for flood modeling. The unique terrain of this area coupled with increasing major weather events has lead to devastating flooding in the area. In particular, we focused on an area in Southwest Virginia, Hurley, due to a devastating flood event in 2021 as well as its proximity to Virginia Tech. The terrain from before the flood and available weather data are used to simulate the flood event using a software program known as HEC-RAS. After this, flood event simulations are performed using the updated terrain models created from aerial imagery collected after the flood. These flood depth simulations showed that a similar rainfall event on the new terrain would cause even worse flooding, with water depth doubling in one area. This information could be used to guide recovery efforts as well as aid response efforts for any future events. After this, a major flood event in 2022 shifted our focus to an area in Eastern Kentucky. This area has been affected by significant surface coal mining, which became a focus to determine the impact of mining on floods. Pre-mining terrain and land cover is compared to the current landscape with respect to flooding. Additionally, multiple mine reclamation methods, including the growth of forests, grasslands, or shrubs, were looked at to reduce the risk of major flooding in the future after mining has been completed. Hydrological simulations showed a significant increase in water runoff, as large as 55.8 percent, from the coal mining in the area. Flood depth simulations showed localized increases in flooding resulting from mine lands, with some areas increasing by over 2 feet of water depth. Mine reclamation methods show the potential to reduce the amount of surface runoff, although not quite to pre-mined levels. While the impact which surface mining has had on the environment can not be fully reversed, significant improvements can be made to reduce future flooding in these areas. After these flood case studies, the water depth modeling is combined with high-resolution property data to produce accurate flood risk assessments for the community and property level.

This paper argues for the utilisation of Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse the Australian governments disaster risk frameworks and plans to find if their depiction, or lack thereof, of indigenous knowledge and people can be traced parallel to their historical treatment of indigenous Australians. Focusing on matters of inequality which plague the indigenous people of Australia, I discuss how indigenous people and their knowledge have been disregarded within the drafting of Australia’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management plans and frameworks, resulting in a lack of inclusion and consideration of the benefit of their indigenous communities and their knowledge. The need for this study lies in the fact that the field of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management is focused upon an epistemologically scientific form of study, often subsuming other avenues of knowledge attainment which can prove helpful in reducing and managing disaster risk. To do this, the study considers the historical treatment of indigenous Australians to contextualise the meanings of words, sentences, and statements within the documents, focusing on matters of ethnic inequality, to answer the question: How can the Australian governmental discourse surrounding indigenous people and their knowledge within Australia’s disaster preparation frameworks exemplify the ongoing issue of indigenous inequality globally?

In 2020, the world and foremost vulnerable groups are facing “new” challenges. Dual crises of coexisting hazards like natural hazards occurring amid the COVID-19 pandemic has become more than a prediction. Hence, this thesis is a case study of dual crises and of how organisations and actors act upon those crises. With the aim to examine how the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) includes vulnerable groups in disaster risk reduction related matters amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a qualitative text analysis has been performed on the selection of five of UNDRR’s publications. Developed from the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction’s four ‘Priorities for Action’ guidelines, four analytical questions were asked to the material. The findings suggest that UNDRR does include vulnerable groups by mainly addressing the lack of resilience among vulnerable groups. However, a lack of concrete suggestions on how to strengthen vulnerable groups resilience and effective responses in the long term was noted. Due to the short time frame in which COVID-19 has existed, the research on vulnerable groups in dual crises of various hazards are still scarce, but nevertheless very much needed as to develop responses adapted towards both biological hazard and natural hazard impacts.

South Africa, like many other developing countries, faces a growing problem of informal settlements which are mushrooming in and around the major urban centres. Living conditions within these settlements are typically poor with residents facing a range of basic livelihoods challenges, exacerbated by poverty, inequality and social exclusion. Unplanned and rapid urbanisation, from which informal settlements originate, and existing conditions in these areas, heighten risk to disaster and provide the conditions that turn natural and man-made events into major livelihoods disruptions. The most devastating of these disruptions are disasters brought on by uncontrolled fires, extreme wet weather and associated flooding. To forestall disaster, minimise livelihoods disruptions and debilitating loss of assets, and safeguard developmental progress, local governments have increasingly adopted risk reduction approaches to their development planning and implementation. Among some of the critical risk reduction measures adopted is the deployment of communication interventions meant to cultivate a culture of risk avoidance among at-risk communities. While it is largely accepted that developmental losses can be considerably reduced if people are properly educated and well-prepared for a disaster, it is also widely recognised that current tools and guidelines for communication of disaster risk in developing communities have largely proved inadequate. Among leading criticisms is that the communication interventions implemented neither fully cater for the contemporary proactive and pre-emptive (risk minimising) approach to disaster risk management nor the developmental imperatives of the disaster risk reduction paradigm. This study, therefore, sought to propose a conceptual framework for the reorientation of thinking and improvement of the on-the-ground practice of disaster risk communication in South African municipalities, and to ensure, among other things, that the practice of disaster risk communication in South Africa places participation of at-risk communities at the centre of communication interventions for disaster risk reduction. A literature study was conducted to explore what principles of the participatory approach to development communication could be applicable to a framework for disaster risk communication interventions. Following the literature study, an empirical study into the contemporary disaster risk communication practice in the three study sites of Cape Town, George and uThungulu District was carried out. The field study comprised semi-structured interviews with disaster risk communication managers and other key informants, and focus group discussions with members of informally settled communities in the study areas. Using a hybrid thematic analytic approach, the data gathered empirically were analysed against the salient themes derived from the literature study and those emerging as the empirical study progressed, and from that process a conceptual framework for disaster risk participatory communication for at-risk communities in South African municipalities was developed and proposed. In conclusion, guidance was also given for translation of the conceptual framework into actual practice by disaster risk managers and other disaster risk reduction role-players in South Africa. / PhD (Communication Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

People and the surrounding environment are affected by development. In striving to improve their livelihoods, people have through their development activities and exploitation of natural resources contributed to the degradation of the environment. The environment is seen as the totality of the biosphere within which anthropological and ecological activities take place. These activities are influenced by forces of nature, and in some events referred to as hazards, which can cause disruption, injury and loss of life. This premise forms the basic concept of disaster, to which people and the environment react from a position of vulnerability. Vulnerability is multi-faceted construct that is primarily associated with social conditions. It relates to concepts of development planning and environmental management from a causal as well as a preventative perspective. Since disaster risk reduction has become the key focus of mankind’s reaction to disasters, the concept of vulnerability has also become a key focus for research, and has linked various research communities, particularly those involved in disaster risk management, climate change adaption and development research in a multi-disciplinary research environment. Socio-economic developments inspired mainly by the Second World War have since the 1940s focused research attention on development planning and disaster risk management. Hazards-based research made way for a focus on vulnerability research so as to reduce disaster risk. At the same time, an increased focus on development planning triggered a shift in philosophy away from a procedural rational planning approach to strategic, communicative planning. Disaster risk reduction along the lines of development planning has seen the emergence of a multi-disciplinary approach to vulnerability research. An apparent increase in disaster-related losses and environmental degradation has nonetheless changed people’s thoughts and alerted them to the unsustainability of the course of development. With the introduction of the Bruntland Report in 1987, the concept of sustainable development was introduced as a long-term environmental strategy. Sustainable development objectives have created a focus on the human–environment system and an understanding of relationships between anthropological and ecological entities. A special interest in spatial patterning and the geographic distribution of organisms has led to the development of landscape ecology as a study of spatial patterns and ecological processes. A need to capture environmental criteria in a computerised spatial database emerged in the 1960s, and gave rise to the development of geographic information systems (GIS) technology. GIS-based thinking about how the real world can be presented in various conceptualisations of data structures, led to the development of GIS science (GIScience). The latter was based on research by Michael Goodchild who seeks to redefine geographic concepts and their use in the context of geographic information systems. Hence GIS should be defined as a data-processing tool, as opposed to the popular view of a map-making tool. By approaching GIS from an information system perspective that includes the development of conceptual, logical and physical data models, a platform is provided for the integration of spatial-based disciplines such as development planning, environmental management and disaster risk management. A synthesis of the theoretical foundation of these three disciplines shows commonalities in terms of a multi-disciplinary approach, as well as a concern for the environment and for social upliftment based on sustainable development principles. They also share a strong spatial orientation, which provides for GIS technology to serve as an entry point for the integration of these disciplines. The aim of the current research was therefore to develop a GIS-based data model that would address the landscape-based relationships between spatial entities from a database design point of view. The model is founded on the principles of database design, specifically the concept of entity-relationship modelling. It also incorporates basic Boolean logic to identify the functioning of an entity in its landscape setting as either acceptable or unacceptable. This concept supports the analysis of environmental sensitivity and disaster risk from the level of small geographic units, thereby enabling vulnerability reduction efforts at a local scale. The research in hand was useful to define and investigate the theoretical grounding of development management, environmental management, disaster risk reduction and geographic information systems, as well as to identify their common focus areas. An analysis of GIS technology and the development of a data model provided a focus on database development as the key for providing an information-based entry point and integration of development management, environmental management, disaster risk management. A case study for an area near Richards Bay, where development affected a wetland by increased vulnerability to flooding, has proven the GIS-based data model to be valuable as a tool that can be implemented to reduce vulnerability through informed and improved planning practices. / PhD (Development and Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. 2015

South Africa, like many other developing countries, faces a growing problem of informal settlements which are mushrooming in and around the major urban centres. Living conditions within these settlements are typically poor with residents facing a range of basic livelihoods challenges, exacerbated by poverty, inequality and social exclusion. Unplanned and rapid urbanisation, from which informal settlements originate, and existing conditions in these areas, heighten risk to disaster and provide the conditions that turn natural and man-made events into major livelihoods disruptions. The most devastating of these disruptions are disasters brought on by uncontrolled fires, extreme wet weather and associated flooding. To forestall disaster, minimise livelihoods disruptions and debilitating loss of assets, and safeguard developmental progress, local governments have increasingly adopted risk reduction approaches to their development planning and implementation. Among some of the critical risk reduction measures adopted is the deployment of communication interventions meant to cultivate a culture of risk avoidance among at-risk communities. While it is largely accepted that developmental losses can be considerably reduced if people are properly educated and well-prepared for a disaster, it is also widely recognised that current tools and guidelines for communication of disaster risk in developing communities have largely proved inadequate. Among leading criticisms is that the communication interventions implemented neither fully cater for the contemporary proactive and pre-emptive (risk minimising) approach to disaster risk management nor the developmental imperatives of the disaster risk reduction paradigm. This study, therefore, sought to propose a conceptual framework for the reorientation of thinking and improvement of the on-the-ground practice of disaster risk communication in South African municipalities, and to ensure, among other things, that the practice of disaster risk communication in South Africa places participation of at-risk communities at the centre of communication interventions for disaster risk reduction. A literature study was conducted to explore what principles of the participatory approach to development communication could be applicable to a framework for disaster risk communication interventions. Following the literature study, an empirical study into the contemporary disaster risk communication practice in the three study sites of Cape Town, George and uThungulu District was carried out. The field study comprised semi-structured interviews with disaster risk communication managers and other key informants, and focus group discussions with members of informally settled communities in the study areas. Using a hybrid thematic analytic approach, the data gathered empirically were analysed against the salient themes derived from the literature study and those emerging as the empirical study progressed, and from that process a conceptual framework for disaster risk participatory communication for at-risk communities in South African municipalities was developed and proposed. In conclusion, guidance was also given for translation of the conceptual framework into actual practice by disaster risk managers and other disaster risk reduction role-players in South Africa. / PhD (Communication Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

People and the surrounding environment are affected by development. In striving to improve their livelihoods, people have through their development activities and exploitation of natural resources contributed to the degradation of the environment. The environment is seen as the totality of the biosphere within which anthropological and ecological activities take place. These activities are influenced by forces of nature, and in some events referred to as hazards, which can cause disruption, injury and loss of life. This premise forms the basic concept of disaster, to which people and the environment react from a position of vulnerability. Vulnerability is multi-faceted construct that is primarily associated with social conditions. It relates to concepts of development planning and environmental management from a causal as well as a preventative perspective. Since disaster risk reduction has become the key focus of mankind’s reaction to disasters, the concept of vulnerability has also become a key focus for research, and has linked various research communities, particularly those involved in disaster risk management, climate change adaption and development research in a multi-disciplinary research environment. Socio-economic developments inspired mainly by the Second World War have since the 1940s focused research attention on development planning and disaster risk management. Hazards-based research made way for a focus on vulnerability research so as to reduce disaster risk. At the same time, an increased focus on development planning triggered a shift in philosophy away from a procedural rational planning approach to strategic, communicative planning. Disaster risk reduction along the lines of development planning has seen the emergence of a multi-disciplinary approach to vulnerability research. An apparent increase in disaster-related losses and environmental degradation has nonetheless changed people’s thoughts and alerted them to the unsustainability of the course of development. With the introduction of the Bruntland Report in 1987, the concept of sustainable development was introduced as a long-term environmental strategy. Sustainable development objectives have created a focus on the human–environment system and an understanding of relationships between anthropological and ecological entities. A special interest in spatial patterning and the geographic distribution of organisms has led to the development of landscape ecology as a study of spatial patterns and ecological processes. A need to capture environmental criteria in a computerised spatial database emerged in the 1960s, and gave rise to the development of geographic information systems (GIS) technology. GIS-based thinking about how the real world can be presented in various conceptualisations of data structures, led to the development of GIS science (GIScience). The latter was based on research by Michael Goodchild who seeks to redefine geographic concepts and their use in the context of geographic information systems. Hence GIS should be defined as a data-processing tool, as opposed to the popular view of a map-making tool. By approaching GIS from an information system perspective that includes the development of conceptual, logical and physical data models, a platform is provided for the integration of spatial-based disciplines such as development planning, environmental management and disaster risk management. A synthesis of the theoretical foundation of these three disciplines shows commonalities in terms of a multi-disciplinary approach, as well as a concern for the environment and for social upliftment based on sustainable development principles. They also share a strong spatial orientation, which provides for GIS technology to serve as an entry point for the integration of these disciplines. The aim of the current research was therefore to develop a GIS-based data model that would address the landscape-based relationships between spatial entities from a database design point of view. The model is founded on the principles of database design, specifically the concept of entity-relationship modelling. It also incorporates basic Boolean logic to identify the functioning of an entity in its landscape setting as either acceptable or unacceptable. This concept supports the analysis of environmental sensitivity and disaster risk from the level of small geographic units, thereby enabling vulnerability reduction efforts at a local scale. The research in hand was useful to define and investigate the theoretical grounding of development management, environmental management, disaster risk reduction and geographic information systems, as well as to identify their common focus areas. An analysis of GIS technology and the development of a data model provided a focus on database development as the key for providing an information-based entry point and integration of development management, environmental management, disaster risk management. A case study for an area near Richards Bay, where development affected a wetland by increased vulnerability to flooding, has proven the GIS-based data model to be valuable as a tool that can be implemented to reduce vulnerability through informed and improved planning practices. / PhD (Development and Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus. 2015

Disasters are always local in their impact, and therefore approaches towards their alleviation need to be designed and implemented based on this certainty. Since the 1960s there has been a constant evolution in the common understanding of international disaster management. Various measures and structures were created to plan for emergency relief and the management of a disastrous event. Despite international efforts which aimed to reduce the impact of natural and anthropogenic hazards on humankind, very little progress was made. Loss of life, property, infrastructure and economic livelihoods are on the increase without any indication of improvement. Developmental activities can in most instances be blamed for the high level of disaster risk present in communities. On the other hand, very little has been done in the international arena (through a multi-disciplinary approach) to ensure a developmental focus on disaster risk. This study investigates the current state of disaster management practices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) by benchmarking its activities against established frameworks applied in the developed world for disaster management. The aim of this thesis was primarily to provide a comprehensive framework for disaster risk management in KSA. Such a framework will serve as a guideline for all spheres of government on a strategic level in order to implement disaster risk management. Conclusions to the research demonstrate the importance of linking government policy and practice on disaster risk management across different stakeholders involved in managing disaster risk. This study proposed an integrated model for disaster management by introducing the dual paradigm of disaster management (proactive mindset and reactive mindset). In a nutshell, this thesis aimed to develop a comprehensive multi-disciplinary disaster risk management framework that would be tailor-made for the strategic management arena in Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Interior (Directorate of Civil Defence). The research provides the reader with a background study on the international development of the concept of disaster risk management and its components. It focuses on disaster risk management within the Saudi Arabian context. Four international disaster risk management frameworks are analytically compared and aligned with international best practices. Subsequently, the proposed Framework for Disaster in Saudi Arabia is analysed.

The aim of this thesis is to provide theoretical evidence that a disaster risk reduction perspective within peacebuilding programmes, particularly in countries where disasters and conflict overlap, can contribute positively to the transformation of conflict into sustainable peace. An increasing number of disasters in fragile states and countries affected by armed conflict has brought the attention to know in which way disasters and conflicts collide when they come to occur in the same area, and how disasters can influence on-going peace processes. In order to demonstrate that argument the thesis draws the evolution of the disaster risk management models and peacebuilding frameworks along the last decades and make use of a comprehensive theoretical background to support the subsequent analysis. This thesis contributes to the academic literature and humanitarian reports of studies describing the relation between disasters and conflict but, more concretely, it aims to fill the gap in research studying the links between a disaster risk reduction strategy and peacebuilding programmes. The conclusions of the thesis are that disaster risk reduction initiatives contribute positively in several ways to the different key areas of peacebuilding programmes either as concrete initiatives or as a crosscutting issue. / El objeto de esta tesis es proporcionar sustento teórico a la idea de que una perspectiva de reducción de riesgos de desastre en el marco de programas de construcción de paz puede contribuir positivamente a transformar el conflicto en una paz sostenible, particularmente en países donde desastres naturales y conflicto confluyen. Un número creciente de desastres naturales que acontecen en estados frágiles o países afectados por conflicto armado atrae la atención de profesionales y académicos del ámbito humanitario con el fin de conocer mejor el modo en que conflicto y desastre natural se influyen mutuamente. Esta tesis describe la evolución en las últimas décadas de los modelos de gestión de riesgos de desastre y los marcos operacionales de construcción de paz, además, se sustenta en una amplia base teórica para llevar a cabo el análisis pertinente. La intención es contribuir modestamente a la literatura académica que se ocupa de estudiar la ayuda humanitaria, así como tratar de colaborar en encontrar posibles vínculos entre una estrategia de reducción de riesgos de desastre y los programas de construcción de paz. Las conclusiones de esta tesis indican que las iniciativas de reducción de riegos de desastre contribuyen positivamente en distintos aspectos de las áreas de trabajo de los programas de construcción de paz, ya sea como actividades concretas o como un eje transversal a todo el programa.