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The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of smart systems and emerging technologies for disaster risk management (DRM) in Nepal. This delves into specific technologies, including advanced connection and communication technologies, AI, big data analytics, autonomous vehicles and advanced robotics, examining their capabilities and potential contributions to DRM. Further, it discusses the possibility of implementing these technologies in Nepal, considering the existing policies and regulations, as well as the challenges that need to be addressed for successful integration.

For this review journal series of search strategy for identifying relevant journals, the initial examination of results, a manual assessment, geographical refinement, establishment of criteria for the final selection, quality assessment and data management, along with a discussion of limitations. Before delving into the relevant literature within the field of research interest, the authors identified guiding keywords. Further, the authors refined the list by filtering for articles specifically related to Nepal, resulting in a final selection. The final selection of these 95 articles was based on their direct relevance to the research topics and their specific connection in the context of Nepal.

The way technology is used to reduce disaster risk has changed significantly in Nepal over the past few years. Every catastrophe has given us a chance to shift to something innovative. The use of new emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, autonomous vehicles, advanced robotics and advanced connection and communication technologies are increasing for the purpose of generating risk knowledge, reducing disaster risk and saving the loss of lives and properties. The authors conclude that the successful implementation of smart systems and emerging technologies for disaster risk management in Nepal has the potential to significantly improve the country's resilience and minimize the impact of future disasters. By leveraging data-driven decision-making, enhanced connectivity and automation, Nepal can build a more proactive, adaptive and efficient disaster management ecosystem.

Studies on the application of smart systems in Nepal are limited and scattered across different database. This work collects together such literatures to understand the current status of the application of the smart system and technologies and highlights the challenges and way forward for effective disaster risk management in Nepal. Therefore, this work is an original one and adds value to the existing literatures.

This paper aims to examine and compare extant literature on the application of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques in humanitarian operations (HOs) and humanitarian supply chains (HSCs). It identifies the status of existing research in the field and suggests a roadmap for academicians to undertake further research in HOs and HSCs using MCDM techniques.

The paper systematically reviews the research on MCDM applications in HO and HSC domains from 2011 to 2022, as the field gained traction post-2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami phenomena. In the first step, an exhaustive search for journal articles is conducted using 48 keyword searches. To ensure quality, only those articles published in journals featuring in the first quartile of the Scimago Journal Ranking were selected. A total of 103 peer-reviewed articles were selected for the review and then segregated into different categories for analysis.

The paper highlights insufficient high-quality research in HOs that utilizes MCDM methods. It proposes a roadmap for scholars to enhance the research outcomes by advocating adopting mixed methods. The analysis of various studies revealed a notable absence of contextual reference. A contextual mind map specific to HOs has been developed to assist future research endeavors. This resource can guide researchers in determining the appropriate contextual framework for their studies.

This paper will help practitioners understand the research carried out in the field. The aspiring researchers will identify the gap in the extant research and work on future research directions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review on applying MCDM in HOs and HSCs. It summarises the current status and proposes future research directions.

This research explores the drivers that determine the ability of spontaneous volunteer groups (SVGs) to sustain their operations. That sustainability aims to support those affected in the community beyond the response phases of a disaster and into the recovery and mitigation phases to build resilience to the next disaster.

To investigate the sustainability of spontaneous volunteering that takes place in the aftermath of a disaster, we conducted qualitative interviews in three English locations where groups of spontaneous volunteers emerged following major floods. We analysed our qualitative data using thematic analysis.

Our findings theorise the drivers of SVG sustainability and present these in four themes: (1) assessment of ongoing needs; (2) organisation of resources to address that need; (3) leadership and followership creating a weight of operational capability and (4) influence of political will. Through exploring these drivers, we uncover key factors to developing a sustainable SVG system including trusted leadership and social capital.

We show how the four drivers interact to support the continuity of SVGs and sustain their operations. This has implications for how leaders of SVGs create a volunteering environment that encourages ongoing involvement and has implications for officials to view SVGs as a support rather than a risk.

The novelty of our paper is in rejecting the argument of the temporal limit of SVGs to the response phase by theorising the drivers that make their operations sustainable for recovery and resilience building to mitigate the next disaster. This includes our examination of the interplay between those drivers.

Businesses are increasingly vulnerable and exposed to physical climate change risks, which can cascade through local, national and international supply chains. Currently, few methodologies can capture how physical risks impact businesses via the supply chains, yet outside the business literature, methodologies such as sustainability assessments can assess cascading impacts.

Adopting a scoping review framework by Arksey and O'Malley (2005) and the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), this paper reviews 27 articles that assess climate risk in supply chains.

The literature on supply chain risks of climate change using quantitative techniques is limited. Our review confirms that no research adopts sustainability assessment methods to assess climate risk at a business-level.

Alongside the need to quantify physical risks to businesses is the growing awareness that climate change impacts traverse global supply chains. We review the state of the literature on methodological approaches and identify the opportunities for researchers to use sustainability assessment methods to assess climate risk in the supply chains of an individual business.

This research investigated the impacts of COVID-19 on construction enterprises and good practices adopted by the enterprises in reducing COVID-19 risks. The Sendai Framework (TSF) is widely accepted as a strategic roadmap to reduce disaster risks throughout the life cycle of a disaster. As such, with the aim of enhancing the resilience of Australian construction enterprises, the identified good practices were mapped with TSF priorities to consolidate COVID-19 risk reduction practices that can be adopted by Australian construction enterprises.

Case study research approach was used, and three case studies were conducted with small, medium and large construction enterprises. Small, medium and large enterprises were selected based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics classification of the business size. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with three executive members from the three enterprises. Data were analysed using content analysis.

The study found that construction enterprises faced demand and supply side impacts. Infrastructure projects, funded by public sector clients and larger enterprises were least affected. Investments and demand for residential and other building projects were reduced by private sector clients, affecting small and medium enterprises. Findings also show that the construction enterprises adopted good practices in identifying, managing, investing on resilience and recovery that align with TSF priorities. All three enterprises agreed on some common good practices on risk identification, risk management and effective recovery. Different views were shared on investments related to disaster resilience.

This study contributes to mitigate the COVID-19 impacts on construction enterprises and subsequent economic and social impacts.

This research found how Australian construction enterprises survived during COVID-19. The study adopted TSF to construction and COVID-19 context while consolidating COVID-19 risk reduction practices.

This research proposes a novel risk assessment model to elucidate the risk propagation process of industrial safety accidents triggered by natural disasters (Natech), identifies key factors influencing urban carrying capacity and mitigates uncertainties and subjectivity due to data scarcity in Natech risk assessment.

Utilizing disaster chain theory and Bayesian network (BN), we describe the cascading effects of Natechs, identifying critical nodes of urban system failure. Then we propose an urban carrying capacity assessment method using the coefficient of variation and cloud BN, constructing an indicator system for infrastructure, population and environmental carrying capacity. The model determines interval values of assessment indicators and weights missing data nodes using the coefficient of variation and the cloud model. A case study using data from the Pearl River Delta region validates the model.

(1) Urban development in the Pearl River Delta relies heavily on population carrying capacity. (2) The region’s social development model struggles to cope with rapid industrial growth. (3) There is a significant disparity in carrying capacity among cities, with some trends contrary to urban development. (4) The Cloud BN outperforms the classical Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) gate fuzzy method in describing real-world fuzzy and random situations.

The present research proposes a novel framework for evaluating the urban carrying capacity of industrial areas in the face of Natechs. By developing a BN risk assessment model that integrates cloud models, the research addresses the issue of scarce objective data and reduces the subjectivity inherent in previous studies that heavily relied on expert opinions. The results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms the classical fuzzy BNs.

Research indicates a significant risk of economic crime associated with post-disaster funding. The purpose of this paper is to assess the characteristics of post-disaster funding that make it susceptible to the risk of economic crime and to analyse how the statutory and regulatory disaster risk management instruments of South Africa aim to manage post-disaster events.

This paper uses secondary sources such as, but not limited to, legislation, institutional reports, textbooks and peer-reviewed academic journal articles.

Post-disaster funding is inherently susceptible to economic crime due to characteristics identified such as time pressure; substantial inflow of money, goods and services; inadequate needs assessment, large-scale reconstruction and the involvement of contractors or suppliers; power imbalance; and the responsibility of governments. The Disaster Management Act and National Disaster Management Framework provide an extensive regulatory framework for mitigating post-disaster funding risks by attempting to find a balance between quick aid distribution and financial controls. This paper finds that even though South Africa is known to have some of the best disaster risk management laws, the pervasive nature of the characteristics could still render post-disaster funding structures susceptible to the risk of economic crime.

There is limited scientific research on this topic. The expected prevalence of future disasters requires the regulatory and legislative disaster risk management instruments to evolve concomitantly. Research on this topic must continue to ensure that risks associated with post-disaster funding and its susceptibility to economic crime can be mitigated as far as possible.

Disasters are occurring worldwide, and Sri Lanka has also become a victim of multiple disasters. Though there is a disaster management mechanism from the national level to the local level in Sri Lanka, several gaps are identified in pre- and postdisaster management activities. Among them, the responsibilities of local-level stakeholders in flood management activities are not performing at a satisfactory level. Therefore, the flood damage from the previous events was too great. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to assess the roles, responsibilities and performance of stakeholders involved in local-level flood risk management activities.

The Deduru Oya basin in Sri Lanka was selected as the study area. The study hypothesized that “ineffective roles, responsibilities and performance of local level stakeholders have weakened the flood risk management in the Deduru Oya basin.” The stratified random sampling method selected the sample (n = 425) from the flood-vulnerable population. Primary data were collected through a questionnaire survey, key informant interviews and field observations. Secondary data were collected from reports, work plans, journal papers and published maps. Descriptive data analysis methods and thematic data analysis methods were used in the study.

About 69% of the respondents state that they are not satisfied with the involvement of government agencies in local-level flood risk management activities, while 10% of the respondents state that they are satisfied. The thematic analysis reveals several gaps, such as the lack of reservations in the Deduru Oya, improper land use practices, no inundation areas are identified and mapped out and the effects of illegal sand mining in the Deduru Oya. In addition to that, the lack of legal power vested in local governments in disaster management and the weaknesses of current legislation on flood risk management are the other major courses of local-level ineffectiveness.

The current research was limited to studying the involvement of local-level stakeholders in flood risk management, but the involvement of subnational and national-level stakeholders should be studied in future research.

This paper examines the involvement of local-level stakeholders in flood risk management. The results of the study confirm that the roles and responsibilities of local-level stakeholders are not well-defined and mandated, and therefore, the performance of stakeholders involved is minimal. Therefore, the results highlight the need for a well-established community-based flood risk management mechanism.

The safety of high-speed rail operation environments is an important guarantee for the safe operation of high-speed rail. The operating environment of the high-speed rail is complex, and the main factors affecting the safety of high-speed rail operating environment include meteorological disasters, perimeter intrusion and external environmental hazards. The purpose of the paper is to elaborate on the current research status and team research progress on the perception of safety situation in high-speed rail operation environment and to propose directions for further research in the future.

In terms of the mechanism and spatio-temporal evolution law of the main influencing factors on the safety of high-speed rail operation environments, the research status is elaborated, and the latest research progress and achievements of the team are introduced. This paper elaborates on the research status and introduces the latest research progress and achievements of the team in terms of meteorological, perimeter and external environmental situation perception methods for high-speed rail operation.

Based on the technical route of “situational awareness evaluation warning active control,” a technical system for monitoring the safety of high-speed train operation environments has been formed. Relevant theoretical and technical research and application have been carried out around the impact of meteorological disasters, perimeter intrusion and the external environment on high-speed rail safety. These works strongly support the improvement of China’s railway environmental safety guarantee technology.

With the operation of CR450 high-speed trains with a speed of 400 km per hour and the application of high-speed train autonomous driving technology in the future, new and higher requirements have been put forward for the safety of high-speed rail operation environments. The following five aspects of work are urgently needed: (1) Research the single factor disaster mechanism of wind, rain, snow, lightning, etc. for high-speed railways with a speed of 400 kms per hour, and based on this, study the evolution characteristics of multiple safety factors and the correlation between the high-speed driving safety environment, revealing the coupling disaster mechanism of multiple influencing factors; (2) Research covers multi-source data fusion methods and associated features such as disaster monitoring data, meteorological information, route characteristics and terrain and landforms, studying the spatio-temporal evolution laws of meteorological disasters, perimeter intrusions and external environmental hazards; (3) In terms of meteorological disaster situation awareness, research high-precision prediction methods for meteorological information time series along high-speed rail lines and study the realization of small-scale real-time dynamic and accurate prediction of meteorological disasters along high-speed rail lines; (4) In terms of perimeter intrusion, research a multi-modal fusion perception method for typical scenarios of high-speed rail operation in all time, all weather and all coverage and combine artificial intelligence technology to achieve comprehensive and accurate perception of perimeter security risks along the high-speed rail line and (5) In terms of external environment, based on the existing general network framework for change detection, we will carry out research on change detection and algorithms in the surrounding environment of high-speed rail.

Due to the unknown location, size and timing of disasters, the rapid response required by humanitarian operations (HO) faces high uncertainty and limited time to raise funds. These harsh realities make HO challenging. This study aims to systematically capture the complex dynamic relationships between operations in humanitarian settings.

To achieve this goal, the authors undertook a systematic review of the extant academic literature linking HO to system dynamics (SD) simulation.

The research reviews 88 papers to propose a taxonomy of different topics covered in the literature; a framework represented through a causal loop diagram (CLD) to summarise the taxonomy, offering a view of operational activities and their linkages before and after disasters; and a research agenda for future research avenues.

As the authors provide an adequate representation of reality, the findings can help decision makers understand the problems faced in HO and make more effective decisions.

While other reviews on the application of SD in HO have focused on specific subjects, the current research presents a broad view, summarising the main results of a comprehensive CLD.