Natural hazards are predicted to only increase in frequency and severity over the next decade, making it crucial to avoid their negative consequences by disaster risk reduction. Reducing risks of natural hazards is not a recent invention as it has been shown that indigenous and local communities possess indigenous and local knowledge systems related to reducing disaster risks. These knowledge systems are however largely being ignored in policy and research. They are also subjected to pressures which risk altering, eroding or destroying them. In this thesis, these indigenous and local knowledge systems and the pressures that might threaten them are explored through a field study with interviews and observations in rural indigenous and local communities in northern Thailand. The findings show clear evidence of multiple and varying types of indigenous and local knowledge systems, such as knowledges, practices, and beliefs that reduce disaster risk. However, multiple types of pressures to the indigenous and local knowledge systems are also found. These pressures have in some cases already resulted in a loss of indigenous and local knowledge systems, or risk doing so in the future. The conclusion of the thesis is that these indigenous and local knowledge systems and the pressures to them should be kept in close mind in research, policy and intervention to improve disaster risk reduction and not perpetuate the current western paradigm.

As the world gets more exposed to natural hazards, new practices of response to crisis have become a topic that requires innovation. FindMe Tag is a device designed in partnership with Frog and Sony that provides rescue teams with information on victims’ locations and their medical conditions. This data is used to facilitate the stages of reconnaissance and triage by quickly hierarchizing tactical priorities and areas of intervention.  Through this design practice, we proposed to mitigate the impact of hurricanes and tropical storms in low-income countries by addressing issues that search and rescue missions undertake to locate and prioritize victims. The outcome of this project, apart from the FindMe Tag device, was a digital interface for rescuers and citizens to receive and communicate different information.  In this design research, I will present some consequences and opportunities of this technological development. The proposed interface designs centred on the usage of different communication patterns to balance aspects of transparency and surveillance that affect differently the stakeholders involved in crisis response. Rather than using technologies to surveil citizens and share this information with authorities, the outcome of this research focused on providing both users with awareness and agency over the information they are sharing and receiving.

Social factors moderate the impacts of natural hazards, which means that households are affected differently when exposed to the same hazard. This differential impact of hazards can be explained by the concept of social vulnerability, which is commonly assessed to inform disaster preparedness and response action. Most of these assessments, however, focus their analyses on large administrative units and, consequently, neglect the heterogeneity of households within these units. This thesis leverages data from Malawi’s social registry (the UBR) to construct a Household Social Vulnerability Index for Nsanje – one of the most disaster-prone districts in Malawi. In Nsanje, geocoded socio-economic data was collected using a census-sweep approach with the goal of registering 100% of the district’s residents. From this dataset, indicators are deductively selected and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis to produce a social vulnerability score for each household. These index scores are mapped at a spatial resolution of 0,01°. By repurposing a social registry to inform a new set of actors, including humanitarian and disaster risk management practitioners, the thesis highlights the considerable scope for collaboration within the realm of data and information by actors and policy fields that traditionally largely have operated in isolation from one another.

No description available.

A transportation system is a critical infrastructure that is key for mobility in any community. Natural hazards can cause failure in transportation infrastructure and impede its routine performance. Ecological systems are resilient systems that are very similar to transportation systems. Diversity is a fundamental factor in ecological resilience, and it is recognized as an important property of transportation resilience. However, quantifying transportation diversity remains challenging, which makes it difficult to understand the influence of diversity on transportation performance and resilience. Consequently, three studies are undertaken to remedy this circumstance. The first study develops a novel approach – inspired by biodiversity in ecological stability theory – to characterize and measure transportation diversity by its richness (availability) and evenness (distribution). This transportation diversity approach is then applied to New York City (NYC) at the zip code level using the GIS data of transportation modes. The results demonstrate the variation of transportation diversity across the city. The characterized inherent and augmented complementarities start to uncover the dynamics of modal compensation and to demonstrate how transportation diversity contributes to this phenomenon. Moreover, the NYC zip codes with low transportation diversity are mainly in hurricane evacuation zones that are more vulnerable. Consequently, low transportation diversity in these areas could affect their post-disaster mobility. In the second study, the influence of transportation diversity on post-disaster mobility is examined by investigating the patterns of mobility in New York City one month before and after Hurricane Sandy using Twitter data. To characterize pre- and post-Sandy mobility patterns, the locations that individuals visited frequently were identified and travel distance, the radius of gyration, and mobility entropy were measured. Individuals were grouped according to the transportation diversity of their frequently visited locations. The findings reveal that individuals that lived in or visited zip codes with higher transportation diversity mostly experienced less disturbance in their mobility patterns after Sandy and the recovery of their mobility patterns was faster. The results confirm that transportation diversity affects the resilience of individual post-disaster mobility. The approach used in this study is one of the first to examine the root causes of changes in mobility patterns after extreme events by linking transportation infrastructure diversity to post-disaster mobility. Finally, the third study employs the transportation diversity approach to investigate modal accessibility and social exclusion. Transportation infrastructure is a sociotechnical system and transport equity is crucial for access to opportunities and services such as jobs and infrastructure. The social exclusion caused by transport inequity could be intensified after natural disasters that can cause failure in a transportation system. One approach to determine transport equity is access to transportation modes. Common catchment area approaches to assess the equity of access to transportation modes cannot differentiate between the equity of access to modes in sub-regions of an area. The transportation diversity approach overcomes this shortcoming, and it is applied to all transportation modes in NYC zip codes to measure the equity of access. Zip codes were grouped in quartiles based on their transportation diversity. Using the American Community Survey data, a set of important socioeconomic and transport usage factors were compared in the quartile groups. The results indicated the relationship between transportation diversity and income, vehicle ownership, commute time, and commute mode. This relationship highlighted that social exclusion is linked with transport inequity. The results also revealed that the inequity of the transport system in zip codes with low transportation diversity affects poor individuals more than non-poor and the zip codes with a majority of black and Hispanic populations are impacted more. Further consideration of the impacts of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in NYC shows that people in areas with a lower transportation diversity were affected more and the transport inequity in these areas made it difficult to cope with these disasters and caused post-disaster social exclusion. Therefore, enhancing transportation diversity should support transport equity and reduce social exclusion under normal situations and during extreme events. Together, these three studies illustrate the influence of transportation diversity on the resilience of this infrastructure. They highlight the importance of the provision and distribution of all transportation modes, their influence on mobility during normal situations and extreme events and their contribution toward mitigating social exclusion. Finally, these studies suggest that transportation diversity can contribute to more targeted and equitable transportation and community resilience planning, which should help decision-makers allocate scarce resources more effectively. / Doctor of Philosophy / Transportation systems are very important in every city. Natural disasters like hurricanes and floods can destroy roads and inundate metro tunnels that can cause problems for mobility. Ecological systems like forests are very resilient because they have experienced disturbances like natural disasters for millions of years. Ecological systems and transportation systems are very similar; for example, both have different components (different species in an ecological system and different modes in a transportation system). Because of such similarities, we can learn from ecological resilience to improve transportation resilience. Having a variety of species in an ecological system makes it diverse. Diversity is the most important factor in ecological resilience, and it is also recognized as an important factor in transportation resilience. Current methods cannot effectively quantify transportation diversity – the variety of modes in a system – so determining its impact on transportation resilience remains a challenge. In this dissertation, principles of ecological diversity are adapted to characterize transportation infrastructure to develop a new approach to measure transportation diversity; metrics include the availability of transportation modes and their distribution in a community. The developed approach was applied in New York City (NYC) at the zip code level. Locations with low transportation diversity (fewer modes and/or unequal distribution) were identified, and most of these zip codes are located in hurricane evacuation zones. Consequently, these zip codes with the least diverse transportation systems are the most vulnerable, which can cause serious issues during emergency evacuations and the ability of people to access work or essential services. Therefore, in a city hit by a natural disaster, understanding the relationship between people's mobility and a transportation system's diversity is important. Twitter data was used to find the places that people in NYC visited regularly for one month before and one month after Hurricane Sandy. Subsequently, using different methods, the pre- and post-disaster mobility patterns of these individuals were characterized. The results show that after the disaster, individuals had a higher chance of maintaining their pre-disaster mobility patterns if they were living in and/or visiting areas with high transportation diversity. Based on these findings, we confirmed the influence of transportation diversity on post-disaster mobility. In addition, the transportation infrastructure should provide equitable service to all individuals, during normal operations and extreme events. One of the ways to determine this equality is equity of access to transportation modes. Hence, transportation diversity was used as an indicator for equity of access to transportation modes to overcome the limitations of current methods like catchment area approaches. NYC zip codes were grouped based on their transportation diversity and a set of important socioeconomic and transport related factors were compared among these groups. The comparison of socioeconomic and transport related factors in zip codes showed that the zip codes with lower transportation diversity are also more socioeconomically deprived. This highlights the likely influence of transportation diversity on social exclusion. Further consideration of the impacts of Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in NYC shows that people in areas with a lower transportation diversity were affected more and the transport inequity in these areas made it difficult to cope with these disasters and caused post-disaster social exclusion. Therefore, enhancing transportation diversity should support transport equity and reduce social exclusion under normal situations and during extreme events. The investigations conducted highlight the importance of the provision and distribution of all transportation modes, their influence on mobility during normal situations and extreme events and their contribution toward mitigating social exclusion. Finally, the collective results suggest that transportation diversity can contribute to more targeted and equitable transportation and community resilience planning, which should help decision-makers allocate scarce resources more effectively.

The problem facing the Tlokwe Local Municipality is that it is Constitutional and legislatively obliged to avoid and/or mitigate the impact of potential disasters within its boundaries, through the effective management of potential disaster risks and disasters. The lack of effective risk management tools is especially concerning in the context of the water catchment management of the Mooi River, which is the main water supply of the Tlokwe local Municipality. The Mooi River is exposed to many potential catchment related hazards that could affect the municipality of which the origins are both anthropogenic and natural. Although, many of the impacts on the catchment arise beyond the boundaries and the control of the municipality, this does not relieve the municipality from the responsibility to develop tools to manage the risks. The aim of the study is to assist in addressing the above stated problem through establishing the requirements for a conceptual model for an effective spatial information system that will assist the municipality in effectively managing the potential disaster risks and disasters that may arise in the Mooi River Catchment area that could impact on the Tlokwe Local Municiaplity. The aim gives rise to three-research questions that are formulated as research objectives that are used to identify the conceptual model requirements. The first is to identify and conceptualise the constitutional and legislative obligations in respect of disaster risk management in general and specifically those governing the disaster disk management in the water catchment area for the Mooi River. The study of this objective not only highlight the constitutional and legal obligations that the local municipality is subject to, but provides legislatives remedies that the local municipality can utilise to assist with disaster risks reduction. The second is to identify and conceptualise the generic hazards that are related to water catchment areas (including the related groundwater compartments) and those specific in the Mooi River catchment area. In this section, potential anthropogenic and natural hazards are listed, a methodology for risk and vulnerability analyses is provided, and a concise study of quaternary catchment C23D is provided. The third is to identify and conceptualize the requirements for an effective conceptual model of GIS for Disaster Risk Management in the Tlokwe Local Municipality. An overview of a GIS is provided. The essential components of a generic information system namely, people, software, hardware, procedures and processes, data and telecommunications or networks are discussed. The information and system requirements cumulating from the analyses of the three research questions, serve as the drivers of the goal, outcomes and transformation process of the system as well as the requirements for the conceptual model. In this section: a comparison of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Framework for Applied Systems Thinking (FAST), problem solving and the phases addressed in this study; the identification of the conceptual model requirements; and a concise systems conceptualisation of an effective GIS is provided. As the, mini-dissertation focuses on the needs for a conceptual model, the additional activities required before the system can be implemented are identified and formulated as recommendation that provide the opportunity for future research. / M Development and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The problem facing the Tlokwe Local Municipality is that it is Constitutional and legislatively obliged to avoid and/or mitigate the impact of potential disasters within its boundaries, through the effective management of potential disaster risks and disasters. The lack of effective risk management tools is especially concerning in the context of the water catchment management of the Mooi River, which is the main water supply of the Tlokwe local Municipality. The Mooi River is exposed to many potential catchment related hazards that could affect the municipality of which the origins are both anthropogenic and natural. Although, many of the impacts on the catchment arise beyond the boundaries and the control of the municipality, this does not relieve the municipality from the responsibility to develop tools to manage the risks. The aim of the study is to assist in addressing the above stated problem through establishing the requirements for a conceptual model for an effective spatial information system that will assist the municipality in effectively managing the potential disaster risks and disasters that may arise in the Mooi River Catchment area that could impact on the Tlokwe Local Municiaplity. The aim gives rise to three-research questions that are formulated as research objectives that are used to identify the conceptual model requirements. The first is to identify and conceptualise the constitutional and legislative obligations in respect of disaster risk management in general and specifically those governing the disaster disk management in the water catchment area for the Mooi River. The study of this objective not only highlight the constitutional and legal obligations that the local municipality is subject to, but provides legislatives remedies that the local municipality can utilise to assist with disaster risks reduction. The second is to identify and conceptualise the generic hazards that are related to water catchment areas (including the related groundwater compartments) and those specific in the Mooi River catchment area. In this section, potential anthropogenic and natural hazards are listed, a methodology for risk and vulnerability analyses is provided, and a concise study of quaternary catchment C23D is provided. The third is to identify and conceptualize the requirements for an effective conceptual model of GIS for Disaster Risk Management in the Tlokwe Local Municipality. An overview of a GIS is provided. The essential components of a generic information system namely, people, software, hardware, procedures and processes, data and telecommunications or networks are discussed. The information and system requirements cumulating from the analyses of the three research questions, serve as the drivers of the goal, outcomes and transformation process of the system as well as the requirements for the conceptual model. In this section: a comparison of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Framework for Applied Systems Thinking (FAST), problem solving and the phases addressed in this study; the identification of the conceptual model requirements; and a concise systems conceptualisation of an effective GIS is provided. As the, mini-dissertation focuses on the needs for a conceptual model, the additional activities required before the system can be implemented are identified and formulated as recommendation that provide the opportunity for future research. / M Development and Management, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Cette thèse porte sur le capital social et les mesures prises afin de se préparer aux aléas naturels aux Philippines. L’archipel est régulièrement soumis à de nombreux risques de catastrophe, générant parfois des conséquences désastreuses pour la population et le patrimoine économique du pays. Par ailleurs, ces îles portent un lourd héritage colonial rendant omniprésents les inégalités socioéconomiques, le manque de solidarité et la pauvreté. Le concept du capital social demeure encore très polémique, cependant nous croyons qu'il peut s'avérer utile afin de mieux réfléchir à la façon dont les sociétés humaines interagissent avec les aléas naturels. Nos recherches mettent en avant l’importance des inégalités socioéconomiques, du contexte et de l'échelle géographique dans l’analyse du capital social et de la préparation aux aléas. Elles soulignent d'autre part que la compréhension des dynamiques sociales, telles que la confiance et la participation communautaire, ne peut être atteinte sans une considération des contextes politiques. Nous avons porté une attention particulière à l'examen des contextes et des différentes formes de capital social, et ce, à plusieurs niveaux géographiques (village, municipalité, région, pays). Un nombre croissant d'études montre que l'inégalité économique entraîne des conséquences néfastes sur le capital social. Des recherches récentes ont également commencé à interroger les rapports entre le capital social et les catastrophes dites « naturelles ». Notre thèse établit un lien entre ces deux approches en couplant une analyse générale de la situation des Philippines à une étude approfondie d'une municipalité rurale isolée de la région des Visayas orientales. L'argument central de cette thèse est que l'inégalité économique produit des effets néfastes sur le capital social, entraînant des répercussions négatives sur la prévention des catastrophes « naturelles ». Par le biais de l'analyse de plusieurs échelles géographiques, cette thèse entend montrer comment les inégalités, de par leur impact sur le capital social, contribuent à augmenter les chances de voir les aléas naturels se constituer en désastres. Nous avançons qu'un usage circonspect du concept de capital social, prenant en compte les complexités politiques, historiques, et géographiques du contexte auquel il s'applique, a la capacité d'améliorer la manière dont les gens se préparent collectivement afin d'éviter que les aléas ne se transforment en catastrophes. / This thesis analyzes social capital and preparations for natural hazards in the Philippines. The research emphasizes the importance of inequalities, contextualization, and scale. It underlines the significance of historical and political contexts to better understand social dynamics. There is a growing body of scholarly literature that shows the detrimental repercussions of inequality on social capital. Social capital is still a debated concept but it can be useful for thinking about how human societies interact with natural hazards. The thesis thus contributes to the growing scientific inquiries which have begun to address the connections between social capital and “natural” disasters. This dissertation contributes to the links between these two fields of knowledge by analyzing the Filipino situation in general, as well as making a specific case study of a rural municipality in the Eastern Visayas region. The thesis’ central argument is that economic inequality is detrimental to social capital which then has negative repercussions on preparing for natural hazards. In an analysis at several geographical scales, this thesis shows how inequality, via social capital, makes societies more at risk of having natural hazards turn into disasters. The thesis argues that a cautious use of the concept of social capital, which is cognizant of the complexities of the context it is applied to, has the potential to improve the way people collectively prevent hazards from turning into disasters.

Lorsque les aléas naturels se déroulent en catastrophes, les réponses des religieux, de l’Etat, et d’autres acteurs puissants dans une société révèlent à la fois les relations complexes entre ces parties et leur pouvoir dans la production des espaces auxquelles les survivants accèdent. La réponse en cas de catastrophe comprend la création d’espaces post-catastrophes, tels que des centres d’évacuation, des logements de transition et des sites de réinstallation permanente, qui ciblent spécifiquement un sous-ensemble particulier de survivants, et visent à les aider à survivre, à faire face, et à se remettre de la catastrophe. Les acteurs puissants dans une société dirigent les processus de secours, de récupération et de reconstruction sont des acteurs puissants qui cherchent à problématiser et à rendre un problème technique dans des termes qu’ils sont idéalement placés pour aborder à travers une variété d'interventions. Ce projet de recherche vise à répondre à la question: où les survivants d'une catastrophe reconstruisent-ils leurs vies et leurs moyens de subsistance? Il enquête sur un cas spécifique de la migration environnementale dans laquelle des dizaines de milliers d'habitants ont été déplacés de façon permanente et temporaire de leurs résidences habituelles après le typhon Sendong à Cagayan de Oro, Philippines en 2011. La recherche est basée sur des entretiens avec les acteurs puissants et les survivants, des vidéos participatives réalisées par des survivants pauvres urbains, et des activités de cartographie. L’étude se fonde sur la théorie féministe, les études de migration, les études dans la gouvernementalité, la recherche sur les changements de l’environnement planétaire, et les études régionales afin de situer les diverses expériences de la migration dans un contexte géographique et historique. Cette thèse propose une topographie critique dans laquelle les processus et les pratiques de production d’espaces post-catastrophe sont exposés. Parce que l’espace est nécessairement malléable, fluide, et relationnelle en raison de l'évolution constante des activités, des conflits, et des expériences qui se déroulent dans le paysage, une analyse de l'espace doit être formulée en termes de relations sociales qui se produisent dans et au-delà de ses frontières poreuses. En conséquence, cette étude explore comment les relations sociales entre les survivants et les acteurs puissants sont liées à l’exclusion, la gouvernementalité, la mobilité, et la production des espaces, des lieux et des territoires. Il constate que, si les trajectoires de migration de la plupart des survivants ont été confinés à l'intérieur des limites de la ville, les expériences de ces survivants et leur utilisation des espaces urbains sont très différentes. Ces différences peuvent être expliquées par des structures politiques, économiques, et sociales, et par les différences religieuses, économiques, et de genre. En outre, il fait valoir que les espaces post-catastrophe doivent être considérés comme des «espaces d’exclusion» où les fiduciaires exercent une rationalité gouvernementale. C’est-à-dire, les espaces post-catastrophe prétendument inclusives servent à marginaliser davantage les populations vulnérables. Ces espaces offrent aussi des occasions pour les acteurs puissants dans la société philippine d'effectuer des interventions gouvernementales dans lesquelles certaines personnes et les paysages sont simplifiées, rendues lisibles, et améliorés. / When natural hazards unfold into disasters, the responses of religious, state, and other trustees reveal both the complex relationships among these parties and their power in producing the spaces accessed by the survivors. The disaster response includes the creation of post-disaster spaces, such as evacuation centres, transitional housing, and permanent resettlement sites, that specifically target or appeal to a particular subset of survivors, and aim to help them to survive, to cope with, and to recover from the disaster. The trustees directing the processes of disaster relief, recovery, and rebuilding are powerful actors who seek to problematise and render technical an issue in terms that they are ideally placed to address through a variety of interventions. This research project sets out to answer the question: where do the survivors of a disaster rebuild their lives and livelihoods? It investigates a specific case of environmental migration in which tens of thousands of residents were permanently and temporarily displaced from their usual places of residence after Typhoon Sendong in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines in 2011. The research is based on interviews with trustees and survivors, participatory videos made by urban poor survivors, and mapping activities. The study draws on feminist theory, migration studies, studies in governmentality, global environmental change literature, and regional studies to situate diverse experiences of migration within a geographical and historical context. This dissertation offers a critical topography in which the processes and practices of producing post-disaster spaces are exposed. Because space is necessarily malleable, fluid, and relational due to the ever-changing activities, conflict, and experiences unfolding in the landscape, any analysis of space must be formulated in terms of the social relations occurring within and beyond its porous boundaries. Accordingly, this study explores how the social relations among survivors and trustees are linked to exclusion, governmentality, mobility, and space- and place-making. It finds that although the migration trajectories of most survivors were confined within the city limits, the experiences of these survivors and their use of urban spaces were vastly different. These differences can be explained by political, economic, and social structures, and by religious, economic, and gender differences. Furthermore, it argues that post-disaster spaces are best understood as “spaces of exclusion” where trustees exercise a governmental rationality. That is, purportedly inclusive post-disaster spaces serve to further marginalise vulnerable populations. These spaces also open opportunities for trustees to carry out governmental interventions in which certain people and landscapes are simplified, rendered legible, and improved.

No description available.