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Accra, the capital of Ghana is far away from major earthquake zones of the world, but has a history of destructive earthquakes. However, its seismic risk does not attract the requisite attention. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of Accra's seismic risk, discuss challenges faced and risk‐reduction initiatives, and then to propose specific strategies that are necessary to reduce this risk.

The approach taken is to: give an overview of Accra's profile and seismicity; discuss disaster management structures in place and the challenges faced; discuss seismic risk‐reduction programs; discuss the risk‐reduction strategies of two cities in other developing countries, with the view of identifying specific strategies that would be helpful to Accra; and conclude with specific risk‐reduction action measures that are important for Accra.

A number of specific recommendations to reduce Accra's seismic risk are made at the end of the paper. Among these, the need to set up a national organization with the sole mandate of championing seismic risk reduction is identified as a critical step needed. Without this, and others, the paper contends that Accra would not experience any significant reduction of its seismic risk.

The paper presents a viewpoint of important action steps that need to be taken to reduce Accra's seismic risk. The points raised in the paper are considered as important first steps necessary for any form of sustainable disaster risk reduction. The paper would thus be of interest to any person or organization interested in helping reduce Accra's seismic risk.

This is the first paper to put Accra's seismic risk in a global context, and then propose action steps that are necessary to help reduce this risk.

This paper aims to explore how different risk perceptions of experts, institutions and laymen have to be taken into consideration if non-governmental organizations and donors want to include the community in disaster risk reduction. Otherwise, community-based disaster risk management will not be community-based.

This research is based on an intensive literature review, as well as a four-month felt study in Kathmandu (November 2011-February 2012). This study explores, from a social constructive point of view, the relationship among international, national and local actors in the effort to conduct disaster risk reduction in Nepal through a community-based approach.

The Kathmandu Valley is at risk of being hit by an earthquake at anytime. If an earthquake hits, it will cause total devastation. Although the Nepalese are aware of the risks of a potential earthquake, very few have begun preparations. The author finds that the lack of preparation is partly caused by different risk perceptions among experts, institutions and laymen.

Involving the community in disaster risk reduction today is widely accepted as the right way to work with disaster risk reduction. But, rarely the question is made: are we really involving the community by taking their risk perception serious, and not just accepting the risk perceptions from experts and institutions of science as being the right way to perceive disaster risk. The author finds that there is a tendency to ignore the community in community-based earthquake preparedness in Nepal.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Lebanon are among the most active groups supporting community welfare and advocating for human rights and policy reform. However, these organizations still lack the basic awareness and commitment needed to expand their role in earthquake disaster risk reduction. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the exposure of Lebanon to destructive earthquakes and to address the urgent need for CSOs to expand its contribution in earthquake disaster risk reduction supporting public awareness programs and strategic mitigation plans.

The paper sets out to alert CSOs about the seismic hazards of Lebanon and offers a discussion for an active engagement role of Lebanese CSOs in future earthquake disaster risk reduction. The focus is to outline a strategy that may facilitate the engagement of CSOs in building the resilience of Lebanese community against destructive earthquakes.

The proposed strategic plan suggests a leading role of Lebanese universities that call for the establishment of a disaster mitigation coalition leading to CSOs active involvement and effective contribution in collaborating with government and private sector to enhance the resilience capacity of the Lebanese community against future earthquake events.

The implication of the paper is beneficial to community leaders of Lebanon because it highlights the importance of direct engagement of CSOs in earthquake disaster risk reduction which has never been previously emphasized, evaluated or even discussed in the Lebanese studies.

The purpose of this paper is to increase public participation in the reduction process of growing disaster risk in developing countries by making optimum benefit from the richness of Islamic teaching toward developing an effective and scientifically sound risk communication and education plan that blends with historical traditions, religious beliefs and indigenous knowledge.

The paper presents the correlation between the guiding principle of earthquake risk reduction and the views of Islam on disaster, earthquake, God's bounty, the earth, good deeds, as well as human behavior, safety and vitality in order to clear existing misconceptions and it shows the issues of environment protection, risk management, safety and human life in terms of religious teaching.

The dissemination of this type of knowledge has helped to clear the misconceptions and increase people's understanding of and knowledge about disaster‐related issues; as a necessary step in the process of disaster risk reduction and improving safety and development, all of which can be viewed as demonstrations of God's love for humankind.

It is the first time that this noble correlation between religion and risk reduction has been explained in a paper, and it is expected to open the road for research and discussion on this topic.

Nepal is exposed to frequent earthquakes. There is a felt need for promoting disaster risk reduction action at community level, promoting existing community cohesion for use in disaster preparedness and replication of positive experiences. Involvement of women has been identified as one of the effective ways to motivate and mobilize communities to reduce disaster risks and enhance disaster preparedness. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Frontline program was implemented in the four communities of Chandragiri municipality during 2015 with support from GNDR. Preparing the local risk profile and the action plans to reduce those identified risk was the main approach of the Frontline program.

During the Frontline survey, the community identified earthquake as the top threat in the community and non-structural mitigation as one of the priority actions. The members of the women network started advocating for earthquake safe communities and implementing the risk reduction measures. This action has developed understanding of the process, scientifically and systematically, and boosted their confidence with important new technical skills and new leadership roles in their community to mitigate the earthquake risk.

This case study records the experience of the women’s group in Nepal using their NSM learning in their own houses to reduce vulnerability. They started vulnerability reduction with their own kitchens and bedrooms by fastening their cupboards, frames, freezes, gas cylinders, etc. This led to implementing the mitigation measures in their locality and outside their community. This has been a step toward achieving a safer community through safer houses and schools.

The purposes of this article are to outline the existing seismic risk in Lebanon and to identify the crucial role of Lebanese school education in advancing both a culture of safety and the resilience of Lebanese communities to destructive earthquakes.

This paper sets out to illustrate the exposure of Lebanon to seismic hazards and to investigate the current status of Lebanese public schools in terms of their preparedness for earthquake events. Interviews were conducted with principals from 17 different schools. From these interviews emerged the following four themes: curriculum deficiency, the structural vulnerability of school buildings, a lack of preparedness for natural hazards and the need for community engagement in this regard.

School principals in Lebanon confirmed the need for schools to engage in earthquake disaster preparedness and mitigation, as well as to show an enthusiastic attitude for earthquake hazard reduction in terms of hazard education, greater preparedness and community engagement.

As this article highlights the important role of school education in promoting earthquake disaster risk reduction, it has beneficial implications for educators, policymakers, administrators and government officials.

The purpose of this paper is to examine why building owners are often reluctant to adopt adequate mitigation measures despite the vulnerability of their buildings to earthquake disasters, by exploring the economic-related barriers to earthquake mitigation decisions.

A case study research method was adopted and interviews chosen as the method of data collection.

Critical economic-related impediments that inhibited seismic retrofitting of earthquake-prone buildings were revealed in this study. Economic-related barriers identified include perception about financial involvement in retrofitting, property market conditions, high insurance premiums and deductibles, and the high cost of retrofitting. The availability of financial incentives such as low interest loans, tax deductibles, the implementation of a risk-based insurance premium scale and promoting increased knowledge and awareness of seismic risks and mitigation measures in the property market place are likely to address the economic-related challenges faced by property owners when undertaking seismic retrofitting projects. The provision of financial incentives specifically for seismic retrofitting should be introduced in policy-implementation programme tailored to local governments’ level of risks exposure and available resources.

The recommendations provided in this study suggest strategies and answers to questions aimed at understanding the types of incentives that city councils and environmental hazard managers should focus on in their attempt to ensure that property owners actively participate in earthquake risk mitigation.

This paper adopts a holistic perspective for investigating earthquake risk mitigation by examining the opinions of the different stakeholders involved in seismic retrofit decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated multi-risk identification procedure for World Cultural Heritage (WCH) sites exposed to seismic events, while considering characteristics of disasters from earthquakes in a multi-hazard context on one side and particular aspects of WCH (e.g. outstanding universal values and associated condition of authenticity and integrity) on the other.

An interdisciplinary review of current relevant approaches, methods, and practices is conducted through the existing literature of disaster risk management, heritage conservation, and seismology. Furthermore, a document analysis of concrete cases affected by seismic events supports concepts and the procedure.

This paper results in a methodology of identifying multi-risk of disasters induced by earthquakes. A bow-tie analysis diagram in combination with a risk identification matrix is developed for illustrating a multiple emergency scenario in identifying possible impacts of earthquakes’ primary effects, secondary hazards, and human-threats on tangible and intangible attributes of cultural properties.

The research aims to provide specialists and practitioners from multiple sectors engaged in pre-disaster risk mitigation and preparedness plan for cultural heritage with a practical risk identification tool. The proposed method, in a multiple hazard context, intends to enhance risk assessment procedure for determining more appropriate risk reduction strategies in the decision-making process.

This paper, through emphasising “earthquake disaster risk” rather than “earthquake risk”, illuminates the significance of quake-followed secondary hazards, potential human-induced hazards and human errors in the risk identification process, due to the fact that while a disaster may begin with a quake, its full scope might be triggered by a combination of the mentioned potential threats.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the unique and necessary role that Middle Eastern educational institutions must play to reduce the negative influence of fatalism regarding risk perception and disasters.

This paper is based on conceptual analysis and real situational cases to confirm the existing fatalistic attitudes in the Middle Eastern communities and shows how education can be used to reduce and limit the negative effects of such fatalism on earthquake risk mitigation.

The paper calls for the integration of critical thinking along with disaster risk education throughout the schools’ system to reduce the dominating culture of fatalism and to facilitate the implementation of disaster risk reduction strategies in the Middle Eastern communities. In addition, the assistance of the religion instructors and clergy, in reducing fatalistic attitudes has positive implications.

The paper represents an effort to accelerate the implementation of earthquake disaster risk reduction strategies in the Middle Eastern vulnerable communities. It uncovers the mask on one of the most critical social issues that has for long time hindered social progress in the Middle East region.

Recent earthquake-induced liquefaction events and associated losses have increased researchers’ interest into liquefaction risk reduction interventions. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there was no scholarly literature related to an economic appraisal of these risk reduction interventions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the issues in applying cost–benefit analysis (CBA) principles to the evaluation of technical mitigations to reduce earthquake-induced liquefaction risk.

CBA has been substantially used for risk mitigation option appraisal for a number of hazard threats. Previous literature in the form of systematic reviews, individual research and case studies, together with liquefaction risk and loss modelling literature, was used to develop a theoretical model of CBA for earthquake-induced liquefaction mitigation interventions. The model was tested using a scenario in a two-day workshop.

Because liquefaction risk reduction techniques are relatively new, there is limited damage modelling and cost data available for use within CBAs. As such end users need to make significant assumptions when linking the results of technical investigations of damage to built-asset performance and probabilistic loss modelling resulting in many potential interventions being not cost-effective for low-impact disasters. This study questions whether a probabilistic approach should really be applied to localised rapid onset events like liquefaction, arguing that a deterministic approach for localised knowledge and context would be a better base for the cost-effectiveness mitigation interventions.

This paper makes an original contribution to literature through a critical review of CBA approaches applied to disaster mitigation interventions. Further, this paper identifies challenges and limitations of applying probabilistic based CBA models to localised rapid onset disaster events where human losses are minimal and historic data is sparse; challenging researchers to develop new deterministic based approaches that use localised knowledge and context to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of mitigation interventions.