Taiwan is located on west pacific typhoon and circum-pacific seismic zone. So the frequency which natural disasters, such as typhoon, earthquake, flood, and mudflows and landslide, occur is much higher than other countries. The natural disasters keep threatening our living environment, which is highly concerned by the public. In recent years, the government promulgated Disaster Prevention and Response Act and undertook a series of plans for disaster prevention and rescue and policy implementation. However, the development of science and technology, rapid social changes and increasing density of population make the work of disaster prevention and rescue more complicated. In addition, when a serious disaster occurs, most mayors of the local government still do not have any concept for the task of disaster rescue. Their not taking it seriously results in that the related departments can not be effectively integrated to deal with a contingency, which is blamed and queried by the public. This reveals the problem: Taiwan¡¦s disaster prevention and rescue mechanism is in chaos and operates slowly when the disaster just occurs. This research selected the disaster prevention and rescue system in the Hsiang level of Kaohsiung County as the case for study and focused on the organizational and functional aspects of this system. By the means of literature review, case study and questionnaire, this paper discussed the case how the government of Kaohsiung County handled the disasters caused by Mindulle typhoon and 0702 flood. It also examined the disaster prevention and rescue system in the Hsiang level of Kaohsiung County and identified which parts should be improved. From the conclusion of case study, this research also attempted to provide suggestions to the central and local government on the disaster prevention and rescue mechanism.

The most important aim of pre-positioning is to reduce the delivery lead time with eliminating the procurement stage by positioning items closer to the disaster area. The last 30 years&rsquo / data is used to designate the disaster trends / EM-DAT database is used to acquire the necessary data which includes the disaster locations, type of disasters and number of people affected. Also the most recent four years&rsquo / data is used for verification of the results. Locations of the optimal warehouses for pre-positioning are determined considering the generated emergency response scenarios. When we pursue this exploration, besides determining the optimal pre-positioning locations given by CARE International, we also determined where the natural disaster trend drifts towards.Therefore, this research tries to find an answer whether the disaster trends should be considered to determine the location of the pre-positioned items or not.

Research for the military mission of disaster-relief, take mental Health work for example Abstract National defense means defense of the national security. No matter in peacetime or wartime, the military mission of protecting the country is to ensure the welfare of the people and the national security under the consensus of civil defense. The motive of this research originates from the experience of the researchers who were actually involved in the disaster mental health work. Based on the aspect, the research deliberates on the problems which the military faces during the time of disaster-relief, and facilitates the positive effect and response of ¡§the civil mobilization¡¨. The purpose of the research is to adapt the military mission and the disaster mental health work, so that those will accord with the transformation of national defense policy and military thought. The text mainly discusses the differences between the real experience and the policy of mental health, and focuses on the valuable experience of the key persons, which collects the opinions from the papers and investigation. In the view of overall considerations and public policy, it researches about the development and meaningful framework of the disaster mental health work and the way which makes the military receiving much better care and multicultural counseling. The results also provide a reference about the research of the military mental health work. ¡§The national defense is not only the combat, but also the honorable career.¡¨ Nowadays, the military execute the mission of domestic disaster-relief lawfully. It is not only a kind of social responsibility, but also suits the wishes of the society. The long-term development of disaster mental health work can exhibit the professional value of the modern military. ¡¨To accept and win the traditional or modern war at the same time¡¨ is worth the common hopes of the civil. We hope much more that, when the disasters occur and threaten the beautiful island, Taiwan, the military can tell the civil at the first time:¡¨ Be relieved, The military are already ready for anything¡¨.

Organisations play a vital role in assisting communities to recover from disasters. They are the key providers of goods and services needed in both response and recovery efforts. They provide the employment which both anchors people to place and supports the taxation base to allow for necessary recovery spending. Finally, organisations are an integral part of much day to day functioning contributing immensely to people’s sense of ‘normality’ and psychological wellbeing. Yet, despite their overall importance in the recovery process, there are significant gaps in our existing knowledge with regard to how organisations respond and recover following disaster. This research fills one part of this gap by examining collaboration as an adaptive strategy enacted by organisations in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, which was heavily impacted by a series of major earthquakes, occurring in 2010 and 2011. Collaboration has been extensively investigated in a variety of settings and from numerous disciplinary perspectives. However, there are few studies that investigate the role of collaborative approaches to support post-disaster business recovery. This study investigates the type of collaborations that have occurred and how they evolved as organisations reacted to the resource and environmental change caused by the disaster. Using data collected through semi-structured interviews, survey and document analysis, a rich and detailed picture of the recovery journey is created for 26 Canterbury organisations including 14 collaborators, six non-traders, five continued traders and one new business. Collaborations included two or more individual businesses collaborating along with two multi-party, place based projects. Comparative analysis of the organisations’ experiences enabled the assessment of decisions, processes and outcomes of collaboration, as well as insight into the overall process of business recovery. This research adopted a primarily inductive, qualitative approach, drawing from both grounded theory and case study methodologies in order to generate theory from this rich and contextually situated data. Important findings include the importance of creating an enabling context which allows organisations to lead their own recovery, the creation of a framework for effective post-disaster collaboration and the importance of considering both economic and other outcomes. Collaboration is found to be an effective strategy enabling resumption of trade at a time when there seemed few other options available. While solving this need, many collaborators have discovered significant and unexpected benefits not just in terms of long term strategy but also with regard to wellbeing. Economic outcomes were less clear-cut. However, with approximately 70% of the Central Business District demolished and rebuilding only gaining momentum in late 2014, many organisations are still in a transition stage moving towards a new ‘normal’.

This research explored the extent to which two hospitals in the City of Victoria are prepared for a future earthquake event. The goal is to examine the level of emergency preparedness of two tertiary care hospitals in Victoria for dealing with the potential damage caused by an earthquake in the region. The research objectives are aimed at highlighting current strengths regarding health sector emergency preparedness, reducing the vulnerability of the health sector by identifying key areas of improvement, and ultimately, increasing the capacity of the health sector to respond to the damages sustained by earthquakes. A small-scale mixed-methods approach was taken to assess hospital preparedness. A structured survey was administered to 26 key informants who were selected specifically based on their prior knowledge, experience and current roles and responsibilities pertaining to Disaster and Emergency Management in the province. A concerted effort was made to include a sample of participants from each of five target populations at the Provincial, Health Authority, and Local Health Authority levels. Data analysis included quantitative and qualitative techniques to generate simple statistics and thematic coding of the interview transcripts to identify main themes and patterns. Both quantitative and qualitative insights were used to provide a clearer picture of hospital preparedness and to foster credibility and dependability of key results. The findings and results confirm that there are excellent levels of engagement and integration between the Local Government, BC Ambulance Service and Fire Departments. There is room for improvement in regards to engaging and integrating NGOs with Hospital planning. Robust plans and protocols were found to be in place for Communication Systems, Emergency Operations Centres and Public Information and Media Relations. Hospital level respondents reported having less Emergency Management education and Training and had participated in fewer disaster exercises compared to Provincial and Local Emergency Managers. Although 76% of respondents had participated in a disaster exercise, only 5 % had responded to an earthquake. Only 23% of respondents had activated their planning in response to an earthquake. The results emphasize the immediate need for increased engagement and integration of earthquake response planning between health system stakeholders, communities and all levels of government. At the hospital level, increased attention needs to be directed to the following operational areas: Mass Casualty Planning, Resource Stockpiling, Department Level Contingency Plans, Evacuation and Relocation Protocols and Procedures, Volunteer Coordination Protocols, and Internal and External Traffic flow. Lastly, the results highlight the need for increased disaster education and training for front line acute care employees, hospital administrators and management staff. In addition to training and education, multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency exercises should be undertaken to engage all key community stakeholders and to promote a more integrated and optimal response in the event of an earthquake. / Graduate

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

Thesis (D.Min.)--South Florida Center for Theological Studies, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 207-212).

Gender inequality greatly affects the vulnerability of women in many areas of societal development. Gender mainstreaming is used as a strategy to include a gender perspective in policy and practice to decrease vulnerability. In regular development there is a discrepancy between policy and practice, but especially so in contexts of disaster. This thesis aims to examine how gender mainstreaming strategies are implemented in disaster risk reduction. The main purpose is to create an understanding of how such processes translate into practice both in relief efforts and resilience-building projects. A case-study of the Swedish Red Cross is the foundation of this thesis, looking at how these processes flow from theory to policy to practice. Semi-structured interviews with professionals from the field serve as the main method. A content analysis of IFRC policies regulating gender action will supplement the interviews. The results illustrate a discrepancy between the gender-focused policy and a women-centric implementation, and further highlight the role of donors and ‘the Tyranny of Urgency’. These results, and consequently this thesis, contributes to recognizing the feminization of responsibility in the field of development in general, but especially in the context of disaster.

Deparment of Urban and Regional Planning / MURP / The frequency of natural disasters in informal settlements has been on the increase globally, Yet approximately 1 billion people still live in informal settlements world-wide. In South Africa, about 1.2 million people live in informal settlements characterised by inadequate infrastructure, lack of effective land use and spatial planning, high densities and are highly exposed to the risk of disasters. In general, there is a close link between informal settlements as spaces of habitation and exposure to disaster risks. Reflecting on disaster risk reduction strategies for informal settlements is therefore imperative particularly from an urban and regional planning perspective. Therefore, this work uses a case study of Hlophekane an informal settlement located in Greater Giyani Local Municipality under the Limpopo Province's Mopani District in South Africa to illustrate these concerns. The main purpose of this study is to develop disaster risk reduction strategies for Hlophekane Informal Settlement. The study sought to identify and characterize the nature of disasters in Hlophekane Informal Settlement. Data was collected from 90 households that live in Hlophekane Informal Settlement through a questionnaire survey and 3 key informant interviews were conducted. Furthermore, the study mapped disaster risk zones in Hlophekane Informal Settlement using GIS. Collected data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) making use of a thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. Microsoft computer software packages and Geographical Information System (GIS) were used to map disaster hotspots zones. Data was presented through the use of tables, graphs, and maps. Qualitative data was analysed making use of a range of processes and procedures to generate explanations, understanding or interpretation of the experiences of people and situations in the disaster context. The study findings in disaster risk reduction strategies are expected to provide lessons for reducing disasters in the area from an urban and regional planning perspective. Disaster Risk Reduction strategies suitable for informal settlements such as Hlophekane must be sustainable, cost effective and involve the community. A combination of the multi-sectoral and multi-displinary approaches is one of the disaster risk reduction strategies that can be implemented. This strategy integrates different sectors, government departments, NGO’s and the affected communities. Out of this strategy, several projects were identified such as in situ upgrading, roll over upgrading and complete relocation. From those projects, in situ upgrading is the most suitable, convenient and cost-effective strategy that can be implemented. / NRF