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Bangladesh is one of the most disaster‐prone countries in the world. Natural disasters adversely affect the country's economy and deter its development. Thus preparedness for the disasters, along with effective prevention and mitigation measures, is imperative for sustainable development of the country. The purpose of this paper is to examine the present state of disaster preparedness in the country with special attention to the more frequent and damaging disasters – flood and cyclone.

A detailed study of the effects of natural disasters, disaster prevention and mitigation measures, and institutional setting for disaster preparedness was undertaken.

Plans and programs have been formulated to manage natural disasters. In a “Cyclone Preparedness Program”, trained volunteers facilitate emergency response and proper use of the multi‐purpose shelters. Within an institutional framework for disaster management, several Non‐Government Organizations (NGOs) work for disaster preparedness alongside the government organizations. Their formal and nonformal education programs on disaster preparedness have a common objective of promoting resilient and sustainable communities.

Planning and design of structural interventions for prevention and mitigation of natural disasters should be done more carefully to avoid adverse impacts on the environment. A participatory approach is essential in this process. Education and awareness‐building programs need wider and easier access to the people.

The paper concludes that the institutional arrangement for cyclone preparedness and response is unique and efficient, and that participation of NGOs in the preparedness program contributes significantly toward sustainable development. These lessons will be important for development planning in other sectors.

The regular occurrence of natural disasters elevates the need for an effective method to measure organizational preparedness in responding to the adverse impact of disasters. In this context, this paper presents a new decision support model to assess organizational disaster preparedness using both subjective and objective disaster preparedness criteria in a multi-criteria decision-making context.

The statistical variance method is integrated with the proximity value index (PVI) technique to determine priority scores in order to rank organizational disaster readiness.

The results of applying the integrated model developed herein enable decision-makers to make informed decisions for assigning priority ranking of organizational disaster preparedness in a simpler and more efficient way.

Human resource is the most impacting criterion affecting hospital preparedness in undertaking action to cure disaster victims.

This paper offers an exemplar of a simple and efficient decision-making process considering the subjectivity associated with decision-making as well as the objectivity of data used for determining the priority ranking of organizational disaster preparedness.

Integrating statistical variance method with the PVI technique is novel and it has not been presented in previous studies. In fact, this study is the first to integrate both methods for selecting the priority ranking of organizational disaster preparedness.

The purpose of this study is to identify the preparedness of disaster mitigation agency officers in both urban and rural areas as high vulnerability zones in Aceh, Indonesia, in dealing with disasters.

This cross-sectional study adopted a conceptual framework from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and United Nations of Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) (LIPI-UNESCO/ISDR, 2006), explaining the study of community preparedness in anticipating earthquake and tsunami disasters. The framework of the study consists of five disaster preparedness parameters, namely, knowledge and attitude to face disasters, policies and guidelines, emergency response plans, disaster early warning systems and mobilization of resources. This conceptual framework was developed after the 2004 tsunami through an analysis study in the three provinces in Indonesia (Aceh, Padang and Bengkulu) experiencing earthquakes and tsunamis. This conceptual framework serves as a guideline and is in line with the objective of the regional disaster management Agency to reduce disaster risk through increasing community preparedness, especially providers or officers in anticipating disasters.

There was a significant difference in disaster preparedness among officers from the urban and rural areas. The area size, location accessibility, the communication network and disaster detection and warning facilities could associate with the results.

The respondents were selected from only two districts in Aceh Province, Indonesia, which are vulnerable to disasters. The study only identifies the disaster preparedness among disaster management agency officers (DMAOs) adopted from LIPI-UNESCO/ISDR about community preparedness in anticipating disasters particularly tsunami and earthquake. Therefore, the results of this study may have limited generalizability to other areas in Indonesia and beyond.

The results of this study could possibly serve as recommendations for policymakers and disaster management agencies, particularly in rural areas to prepare contingency plans that involve both internal and external institutions to arrange the regulations related to community-based emergency response plans and disaster early warning systems. Such programs of education, training and disaster drill needed to be in place and conducted regularly for the officers in a rural area. Finally, the other sub-scales showed no difference in disaster preparedness, however, collaboration and support to each other in disaster risk reduction plan by improving the capacity building, policy enhancement and disaster management guidelines are required. Also, attempts to optimize logistics adequacy, budget allocations and disaster preparedness education and training for both DMAOs are strongly recommended through the lens of the study. The results of the study might useful for further research that could be developed based on this current study.

The emergency response plans and disaster early warning systems were significantly different between the rural and urban officers in disaster preparedness. Attending disaster management programs, experiences in responding to disasters and the availability of facilities and funds could be considered in ascertaining the preparedness of officers to deal with disasters.

The authors investigate the role of community engagement in the connection between disaster mitigation and disaster preparedness. Using a vulnerability-to-hazard framework built by the European Union, the authors study the case of Aceh province, Indonesia, which was hit hard by Asian tsunami in 2004.

The research design uses a single case study research. The authors study the case of Aceh province, Indonesia, by comparing improvements in disaster mitigation and disaster preparedness in a period longer than ten years beginning in 2004, right before the Asian tsunami that devastated the province. Aware that the connection between mitigation and preparedness is a broad research topic, the authors focus on the domain of pre-disaster evacuation.

The authors find that Aceh province has made substantial improvements in healthcare facilities and road quality (mitigation) as well as early alert systems and evacuation plans (preparedness). Socio-economic indicators of the community have improved substantially as well. However, there is a lack of safe sheltering areas as well as poor road signaling maintenance, which threatens the effectiveness of infrastructural improvements. The authors propose that community engagement would connect disaster mitigation and disaster preparedness. The connecting element is community-based maintenance of critical infrastructure such as road signals, which the government could facilitate by leveraging on operational transparency.

The findings open avenues for future research on the actionable engagement of communities in disaster mitigation and disaster preparedness.

This paper contributes to three areas of humanitarian logistics research: disaster management cycle (DMC), pre-disaster evacuations and community engagement in disaster management.

Balochistan is one of the earthquake disaster prone areas in Pakistan. Earthquakes adversely affect people and their economy, therefore disaster preparedness especially at the community level is imperative to avoid future damages. The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues associated with community preparedness in earthquake prone areas and recommend upgrading the community preparedness, and improving coordination between provincial and national agencies during disasters and seismic emergencies.

The study is based on field visits. Observations, key informant interviews and group discussions were conducted to analyze the preparedness, both at community and organizational levels.

Disaster impacts are still handled by provincial level organizations in Balochistan. Disaster management authorities do not implement any activities related to preparedness at local levels, and focus more on reactive and top‐down approaches. On the other hand, community is vulnerable to multiple hazards associated with earthquakes. The study reveals that the available institutional framework does not meet community needs. Both the government institutes and communities are not well prepared, therefore communities get affected from time to time due to earthquake hazards in Balochistan.

Disaster management authorities should implement projects and activities at the local levels to empower communities for disaster preparedness and for disaster risk reduction.

The paper concludes that for efficient preparedness the coordination should be improved between the provincial and national level agencies and community preparedness needs to be enhanced for upgrading people's awareness and defensive mechanism for safeguarding their lives with reference to seismic emergencies.

Traditionally, facilities professionals are responsible for maintaining business operations after a disaster by safeguarding people and the physical infrastructure. While most organisations equate disaster preparedness to business continuity, the aftermath of 9/11 brought forth some startling realisations about business survival and business crisis. Boeing, a global company that was affected in a number of unexpected ways, embarked on an approach that separated, yet integrated the Disaster Preparedness Community with the Business Community. The result was a Business Continuity Model that fostered further development of robust Business Continuity Plans to serve employees, customers, stakeholders and community. Facilities professionals, equipped with an understanding of today’s business crisis and the Business Continuity Model, can serve as a partner to their Business Continuity Representative to educate, develop and execute a Business Continuity Plan that ensures business continuance through any unforeseen event.

Although the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 explicitly recognizes the need for psychosocial support and mental health services, the focus of this and many disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) plans lies in the response, recovery, and rehabilitation phases. Less attention has been given to how mental health aspects affect the predisaster phase. This chapter explores the less understood concept of “resistance” in the perspectives model of disaster mental health, which is related to DRRM themes of “prevention and mitigation” and “preparedness” interventions. Four strategies are identified by which DRRM interventions can contribute to psychosocial support and mental health: increasing stress resistance, fostering cohesion and social support, fostering positive cognition, and building self-efficacy and hardiness. We review the cases of the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand and report existing socio-political DRRM initiatives for prevention, mitigation, and preparedness that can potentially enhance resistance as a predisaster intervention. Beyond medical services or clinical mental health interventions for select populations, DRRM interventions can benefit the general public. Despite natural intersections, there remains a need for deliberate and targeted initiatives that explore how vertical pyschosocial care programs can be created to straddle both DRRM and health sectors in practice.

Foreign residents in Japan are classified as one vulnerable group at risk of disasters. Therefore, various measures are in place to engage, educate and offer first-hand experiences of disaster countermeasures required to overcome systematic disaster preparedness problems. However, the need for Japan to prevent the spread and infection of COVID-19 has necessitated measures that prohibit public gatherings and other social activities. This study aims to look at how these arrangements have impacted public engagement approaches to disaster preparedness for foreign residents within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

This study identifies local organizations and examines their methods of engagement that enhance the disaster preparedness of foreign residents in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. The activities are examined in the context of when there was no COVID-19 pandemic and the current state of the pandemic. A change in activities attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic is then extracted and explained through field surveys and interviews with the relevant organization.

This study reveals that most disaster preparedness activities were best accomplished through in-person engagements. Nevertheless, online engagements have become the alternative option because of COVID-19 infection prevention. This change has widen the coverage of some activities but major setbacks include events cancelations and technical and technological challenges attributed to using online platforms.

This study did not examine the effectiveness of pre-COVID-19 pandemic engagement approaches and current changes attributed to the pandemic; many public engagement literatures acknowledge success to include the number of participants, the abilities of organizations to find ways to effectively and positively engage their stakeholders for meaningful partnerships, the number of clicks, access to a website and comments made online. Therefore, as organizations in this study have shown a glimpse of the above characteristics, there are indications of some level of effectiveness in their engagement approaches even amid a pandemic.

To avoid such situations in the future, there is the need for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, local governments and associated organizations to develop public engagement approaches that are flexible to resist or cope with in-person, remote encounters, or sudden circumstances that could potentially derail planned activities.

The most effects attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic are the cancelation of many disaster drill exercises, community disaster walks, training of volunteers for foreign residents’ assistance and many hours of “Yasashii Nihongo” lesson. The cancelation of activities is a setback to the efforts of self-help and mutual aid campaigns by authorities to reduce the impacts of disasters.

The spirit of inclusion has been an embodiment of disaster management approaches in Japan for years for which policy recognitions have been tagged along the dimensions of public aid, self-help and mutual aid. These are aimed at engaging the populace, especially foreign residents in disaster training and exercises, language study and other communal activities for disaster preparedness. However, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, there have been a series of restrictions on gathering and inter-personal public engagement activities in Japan. As foreigners are classified as the most vulnerable to disaster in Japan, it is important to understand how these restrictions will/are affecting the efforts of integration and disaster preparedness, which are a crucial part of the Government’s effort to reduce casualties and damage in the anticipated Nankai megathrust earthquake. Besides the results being useful for government interventions, it also adds to the knowledge of the repercussion of COVID-19 and how to plan for emergencies.

This paper discusses what local governments must do to prepare for various disasters, including terrorist attacks. It provides background information on preparedness and highlights lessons from prior research. It also identifies the process of establishing local ordinances, assessing risk, creating emergency operations plans, acquiring resources, instituting mutual aid agreements, training, exercising and educating the public. Finally, it concludes with recommendations to implement these preparedness measures.