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The purpose of this paper is to present a first exploration of governmental duty of care towards scientists involved in science diplomacy by focusing on disaster research.

The method is a conceptual exploration, using specific case studies and potential scenarios within theories and practices of science diplomacy and duty of care, to raise questions and to suggest policy recommendations for government. The focus on disaster research links the analysis to disaster diplomacy, namely, how and why disaster-related activities (in this case, science) do and do not influence peace and conflict.

From examining case studies of, and outputs and outcomes from, disaster-related science diplomacy, governments need to consider duty of care issues in advance and develop a science diplomacy strategy, rather than responding after the fact or developing policy ad hoc.

Policy recommendations are provided to try to ensure that governments avoid simply reacting after a crisis, instead being ready for a situation before it arises and drawing on others’ experience to improve their own actions.

Improved interaction between science and society is discussed in the context of diplomacy, especially for disaster-related activities.

Governmental duty of care has not before been applied to science diplomacy. The focus on disaster-related science further provides a comparatively new dimension for science diplomacy.

The purpose of the paper is to persuade all partners in disaster management to take action and create a pair of synergistic and invincible forces – government and people – that interact to bring about a reduction in the impact of natural hazards in Uttaranchal, India.

There is an urgent need for a comprehensive tool to make the community aware of its right to safety. Today, policies and planning for disaster management are a State subject, in which the participation of the community is negligible. Therefore, disaster management has become supply‐driven instead of demand‐driven.

A Citizen's Charter of Disaster Management is considered to be another appropriate tool to bring in citizen‐centric governance. The Charter aspires to meet the present and anticipated needs of citizens in an efficient manner by eradicating errors and wastage through a scientific approach with participation between government and citizens.

The analysis is based on the experience gained over a period of seven years (1999‐2005). The period is short for developing any hypothesis, but sufficient care has been taken to consider vital factors.

With the help of the Citizen's Charter of Disaster Management, the quality of public services can be improved. To make society safer it is required that people should know the mandate of the Department of Disaster Management concerned, how one can get in touch with its officials, what to expect by way of services, and how to seek a remedy if something goes wrong.

The Citizen's Charter of Disaster Management does not by itself create new legal rights, but it certainly helps in enforcing existing rights.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of international law in disaster prevention and management, with a particular focus on the emerging field of international disaster law (IDL), and its relationship with international human rights law. It further introduces the four articles of the special column of this journal issue, dedicated to disasters and international law.

The analysis is based upon primary sources of legislation and policy, as well as academic literature on disasters and international law.

Although the field of IDL is in its infancy, the authors argue that this emergent area does have the potential to gain widespread recognition as a distinct field of law, and that this may benefit the wider disaster management community.

The paper introduces key legal features and themes relating to international law and disasters, highlighting their relevance for disaster management. The added value is to widen the discussion on aspects of disasters regulated by international law, thus facilitating the future exchange with other academic subjects and operational fields.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles and responsibilities of non-state actors (NSAs) in contributing to disaster governance from an international human rights law (IHRL) perspective. In particular, it examines how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and business enterprises are implicated.

The paper analyzes a range of IHRL instruments, particularly treaties and international soft-law documents, and it utilizes the concepts “human rights-based approaches” (HRBAs) and “direct”/“indirect” human rights obligations to frame and understand how IHRL responsibilities for NSAs arise from these instruments.

IHRL not only includes relevant standards for NSAs in the area of disaster management, but NGOs and businesses also actively engage with IHRL and HRBAs by means of (soft) self-regulatory instruments to further clarify their responsibilities.

The findings are of interest to all actors involved in disaster governance, and are instructive for NGOs and businesses seeking to improve the design of disaster management activity. The research addresses only the responsibility of NGOs and private companies, but the framework of analysis set out is equally of interest to other actors’ activities.

The implications of IHRL for NSAs involved in disaster management are still poorly understood, despite their vast engagement. This study contributes by clarifying the roles and IHRL responsibilities of NGOs and businesses specifically, and articulates how applications of HRBAs may improve the protection of persons.

The purpose of this paper is to explore avenues of corporate accountability in disasters, using the Samarco chemical sludge disaster, which took place in 2015 in Brazil, as case study.

The paper considers possible ways of enhancing corporate accountability in disasters, focusing on one particular international mechanism on multinational enterprises (MNEs), which addresses both human rights and environmental issues. The research is based on the location and assessment of a variety of written sources (i.e. normative instruments, academic literature, publications by practitioners, civil society organizations, and the media). The paper makes suggestions on the potential of using existent international accountability mechanisms in similar disasters.

The paper identifies key measures taken by national authorities to address the disaster. It also considers how the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Guidelines for MNEs could be used to pursue corporate accountability.

This is a desk-based research, chiefly conducted on documental analysis rather than fieldwork.

The paper might provide useful insights for organizations and communities facing similar challenges linked to multinational corporate activities that adversely affect human rights and the environment.

The study brings to attention normative standards relatively unknown to the disaster community, which may help raise interest on them, and lead to their potential use in future disaster situations. Furthermore, to date the Samarco chemical sludge has received scant attention from the academic literature.

Can sustainability disclosures be a tool for executing image restoration strategies after corporate manslaughter? This is the question explored in this study of Costa Crociere's sustainability reports after the Concordia disaster.

Merging traditional textual content analysis with visual analysis and supported by machine learning tools, this is a predominantly qualitative study framed by legitimacy theory, image restoration theory and impression management.

Costa Crociere's voluntary sustainability reporting is strongly influenced by a mix of text and visual signals that distract readers' attention from the disaster. A “nothing really happened” communication strategy pervades the disclosures, with the only rational motivation being to change perceptions and erase memories of this tragic and avoidable event.

Although the analysis covered multiple sources of corporate information, media coverage was not one of them. A more in-depth exploration of sustainability reporting in the cruise industry, including evidence of similar cases, to test impression management theory would be a worthwhile avenue for future research.

While Costa Crociere technically followed the customary guidelines of disclosing human resource impacts, there was almost no acknowledgement of the people involved in the accident. Costa Concierevastly understated their responsibility for the accident, did not apologize, and conveyed very little remorse. The majority of disclosures centred on disaster recovery management.

The authors discuss why and how a company can overcome a legitimacy threat by completely freezing its voluntary sustainability reporting, and the authors show how a company can restore its image by minimizing specific aspects of an accident and shifting attention from the human victims to corporate operations. Incorporating image recognition driven by AI models and combining the results with narrative disclosures contributes an innovative and original analysis technique to the field of impression management. In addition, this research also contributes to our knowledge on the cruise industry – a sector currently under scrutiny for its ethical, social and environmental practices.

This paper aims to examine tweet posts regarding Typhoon Washi to contend the usefulness of social media and big data as an aid of post-disaster management. Through topic modelling and content analysis, this study examines the priorities of the victims expressed in Twitter and how the priorities changed over a year.

Social media, particularly Twitter, was where the data gathered. Using big data technology, the gathered data were processed and analysed according to the objectives of the study. Topic modelling was used in clustering words from different topics. Clustered words were then used for content analysis in determining the needs of the victims. Word frequency count was also used in determining what words were repeatedly used during the course period. To validate the gathered data online, government documents were requested and concerned government agencies were also interviewed.

Findings of this study argue that housing and relief goods have been the top priorities of the victims. Victims are seeking relief goods, especially when they are in evacuation centres. Also, the lack of legal basis hinders government officials from integrating social media information unto policymaking.

This study only reports Twitter posts containing keywords either, Sendong, SendongPH, Washi or TyphoonWashi. The keywords were determined based on the words that trended after Typhoon Washi struck.

For social media and big data to be adoptable and efficacious, supporting and facilitating conditions are necessary. Structural, technical and financial support, as well as legal framework, should be in place. Maintaining and sustaining positive attitude towards it should be taken care of.

Although many studies have been conducted on the usefulness of social media in times of disaster, many of these focused on the use of social media as medium that can efficiently spread information, and little has been done on how the government can use both social media and big data in collecting and analysing the needs of the victims. This study fills those gaps in social big data literature.

The purpose of this paper is to link debates around the international law on human rights and disaster management with the evolving debate around the human right to sanitation, in order to explore the extent to which states are obliged to account for sanitation in their disaster management efforts.

The paper is based on analysis of existing laws and policy relating to human rights, sanitation and disaster management. It further draws upon relevant academic literature.

The paper concludes that, while limitations exist, states have legal obligations to provide sanitation to persons affected by a disaster. It is further argued that a human rights-based approach to sanitation, if respected, can assist in strengthening disaster management efforts, while focusing on the persons who need it the most.

The analysis in this paper focuses on the obligations of states for people on their territory. Due to space limitations, it does not examine the complex issues relating to enforcement mechanisms available to disaster victims.

This is the first scholarly work directly linking the debates around international human rights law and disaster management, with human rights obligations in relation to sanitation. The clarification of obligation in relation to sanitation can assist in advocacy and planning, as well as in ensuring accountability and responsibility for human rights breaches in the disaster context.

Purpose – This study explores the relationship between federal, state, and local governments in regard to evacuation policies. The issue of evacuation enforcement by force is explored from a practical as well as moral perspective, and the overarching question of whether mandatory evacuation policy is merely symbolic is examined. Last, implications of policy making for vulnerable and marginalized populations is explored, and the question of whether criminalization of failure to comply with evacuation orders carries ill effects for certain segments of the population is examined.

Design/methodology/approach – This chapter first evaluates the legal logistics and policy foundation of evacuation orders at the national and state level. The chapter then explores the implications for local governments, notably first responders in implementing evacuation policy. Finally, policy recommendations related to improvements to existing evacuation policy for all levels of government are offered.

Findings – There is a gap in public policy between the expectations of the federal government and the implementation of evacuation policy at the local and state level. Policy and law changes that improve the ability of local governments to more effectively warn communities about the risks of noncompliance should occur in a way that minimizes the social disparities inherent in existing policy schemes.

Originality/value of paper – Evacuation policy is often considered as an afterthought to disaster planning and does not rise to the top of any government agenda until after a catastrophic event. This chapter encourages policy makers to be more proactive in developing evacuation policy that capitalizes on the effects of federalism to minimize the risks associated with natural and human-caused hazards.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on what can be learned about disaster risk reduction (DRR) from the L’Aquila trial of scientists. The court case was initiated because of a controversial meeting on 31 March 2009 of the Major Risks Committee (MRC), held under the auspices of the Italian Department of Civil Protection. The purpose of the meeting was to consider (prior to the fatal earthquake of 6 April 2009) disaster risk in the L’Aquila area, which was being affected by an earthquake swarm since October 2008.

The authors undertook a document analysis of trial materials, and a review of academic and media commentary about the trial.

The legal process revealed that disaster governance was inadequate and not informed by the DRR paradigm or international guidelines. Risk assessment was carried out only in a techno-scientific manner, with little acknowledgement of the social issues influencing risks at the local community level. There was no inclusion of local knowledge or engagement of local people in transformative DRR strategies.

Most previous commentary is inadequate in terms of not considering the institutional, scientific and social responsibilities for DRR as exposed by the trial. This paper is unique in that it considers the contents of the MRC meeting as well as all trial documents. It provides a comprehensive reflection on the implications of this case for DRR and the resilience of peoples and places at risk. It highlights that a switch from civil protection to community empowerment is needed to achieve sustainable outcomes at the local level.