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This study aims to compare the humanitarian supply chains and logistics of two countries in earthquake preparedness by modifying and using a previously established preparedness evaluation framework.

A European flood emergency management system (FEMS) is a seven-dimensional framework to assess a country’s preparedness for flood emergencies. The FEMS framework was modified to apply to earthquakes. Leveraging a multiple explanatory case study approach with data analysis, the authors reconstructed the events of the earthquakes in Pakistan (2005) and Japan (2011) with an applied grading (1–5). Findings were evaluated within the adopted FEMS framework. From a practitioner’s perspective, the framework is applicable and can accelerate support in the field.

Pakistan lacked emergency plans before the 2005 earthquake. In contrast, Japan possessed emergency plans before the disaster, helping minimise casualties. Overall, Japan demonstrated considerably better emergency management effectiveness. However, both countries significantly lacked the distribution of responsibilities among actors.

Practical factors in the humanitarian supply chain are well understood. However, synthesising individual factors into a comprehensive framework is difficult, which the study solves by applying and adopting the FEMS framework to earthquakes. The developed framework allows practitioners a structured baseline for prioritising measures in the field. Furthermore, this study exemplifies the usefulness of cross-hazard research within emergency management and preparedness in a real-world scenario.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of gamification as a novel technique in motivating community engagement in disaster-related activities in order to address the question of how gamification can be incorporated into disaster emergency planning.

This study conducts a systematic literature review and explores available gamified applications for disaster emergency planning and their purpose of use. In total, 51 scholarly articles on the topic and 35 disaster-related gamified applications are reviewed.

The findings reveal the following: (a) gamified applications (n = 35) are used for education, research and intervention purposes; (b) gamified applications create new opportunities for community engagement and raise disaster awareness among the community in virtual environments; and (c) gamified applications help shape a new culture – i.e. gamified culture – that supports smart disaster emergency planning practice.

During the recent years, utilisation of game elements in non-game contexts – i.e., gamification – has become a popular approach in motivating people in various actions. Increasing research highlighted the benefits of gamification in enhancing community engagement, creating interactive environments, providing better behavioural outcomes and influencing democratic processes. Despite some of the applications indicating the potential of gamification in disaster emergency planning, the use of gamification technique in this discipline is an understudied area. This study reveals gamification can be incorporated into disaster emergency planning.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the effects of social media use on the resilience of organizations involved in emergency response. While social media has been utilized as a critical tool in the field of emergency management, few researchers have systemically examined its effect on organizations’ capacity to bounce back from catastrophic events. From the dimensional approach to social media use, this research focuses on the following three functions: providing information to local communities, transmitting information to local communities, and responding to the emotions of local communities.

The authors used survey data gleaned from 79 key organizations involved in emergency management to investigate the impact of social media use on resilience after a tragic flood in Seoul, South Korea in 2013. The authors also conducted interviews with ten emergency management officials to understand what administrative challenges they confront in using social media for their tasks.

The authors found that the provision of disaster information on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube has a positive effect on the perceived level of organizational resilience. In addition, social media use correlates positively with community emotional responses.

Given the focus on the emergency response to a natural disaster in urban areas, the results might not be generalizable to smaller cities or rural areas. The survey items that measure the perceptions of emergency managers may not represent the physical aspects of disaster recovery, such as the restoration of housing stock.

The findings suggest that public and nonprofit organizations can use social media to communicate with other organizations and the public in ways that demonstrate resilience. Emergency managers should address administrative challenges, such as trustworthiness of information delivered via social media and lack of personnel.

This paper provides systematic understandings of the effects of social media use on the resilience of the organizations that respond to a disaster.

The Arab world is made up of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These countries are subjected to many social, economic, political and geographical vulnerabilities contributing to increased risks or ineffective emergency and disaster management. This paper examines these vulnerabilities, how they may impact the country's ability to face disasters, and how they can improve disasters' overall management.

The author selected Qatar, Oman to represent the Arab oil-rich countries, while Jordan, Egypt and Morocco to represent non-oil rich countries. The research was conducted in a qualitative, inductive systematic literature review based on a well-established systematic literature review methodology. Selected literature was based on its recency and the countries in question.

The review reveals population gaps that could threaten the social system in the event of a disaster in countries like Qatar and Oman. The majority of the countries lack community engagement and pre-planning for emergency preparedness due to social and cultural barriers. Other nations like Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are prone to long-lasting economic challenges due to lack of resources, mismanagement or corruption. The paper also highlights the need to raise the educational attainment among citizens to understand disaster risk reduction.

This study utilized the research method developed by Williams et al. (2017) to present a comprehensive systematic and comparative review of disaster management in the Arab world. Considering that disaster and emergency management has remained disproportionately unexplored in the Arab world, this paper reviewed several vulnerabilities and how those vulnerabilities may affect disaster and emergency management efforts in the Arab countries.

The intensifying effects of climate change and the growing concentration of population in hazardous locations mean that, for many communities, disasters are increasingly becoming not only foreseeable, but inevitable. While much attention is, and should be, focused on what these foreseeable disasters require in terms of disaster planning and mitigation, attention should also be focused on a related and equally pressing phenomena: mismanagement of disaster response, particularly as climate proves an increasing stressor. Like disasters themselves, disaster mismanagement – while not entirely predictable – may exhibit some predictable patterns. This chapter explores past disaster management failures, considers how climate change may alter or exacerbate certain response pathologies, and evaluates some potential remedies that might mitigate these challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to review the vulnerability and challenges faced by Canadian pet owners in times of disaster and evaluate emergency preparedness measures put in place to address the identified issues.

Emergency preparedness strategies from different countries were identified to weigh against Canada’s state of preparedness.

Pet/animal owners without emergency plans for their animals are more vulnerable than non-pet owners when they need to flee from disaster; and as Canada faces disaster challenges, proactive preparedness in emergency demands awareness, cooperation and commitment from everyone –governments, corporations, community groups and individuals become a necessity.

Based on the identified need, the paper reviews strategies that engages pet owners in preparing for emergency in order to keep individuals and their communities safe. This paper will be beneficial to policy makers, researchers, health educators, scholars and emergency management professionals that read the journal.