Search results

The considerable volume of rubble generated by the 2016–2017 earthquakes in central Italy reveals a significant issue in the post-disaster reconstruction phase. Drawing from the experience of Macerata province and the city of Camerino, the purpose of this paper is to explore a possible change of attitude in the reuse of heritage waste materials in the reconstruction process of damaged historical villages and towns in Italy.

This research outlines a comparison between national and regional directives on the rubble management on the one hand, and the praxis on the other, carrying out semi-structured interviews with experts who have been involved in the reconstruction process of Macerata province and Camerino, in Marche region.

The research reveals that the current vision in Italy for the management of disaster waste is still very close to the traditional paradigm that gives heritage waste an intrinsic value, worthy of great efforts for its collection, catalogue and preservation in view of the likely philological restoration of the damaged heritage. The most recent experiences in Camerino show that institutions responsible for the conservation of cultural heritage may accept a possible paradigm shift towards a more innovative and less expert-driven approach to heritage waste materials and their possible upcycling.

Within a critique of the traditional restoration paradigm, this article links disaster waste management to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, to enhance the long-term sustainability of historical villages and towns in Italy.

We consider what happened in the initial reconstruction interventions following the 6 April 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila (Italy). Using the disaster risk reduction and resilience paradigm, we discuss the cognitive and interactional failures of top-down approaches, and we analyse the main constraints to enacting inclusive social learning and socially-sustainable transformation and building back better more resilient communities in post-disaster reconstruction.

Our evidence comes from participant observation, action anthropology and analytic auto-ethnography conducted during the reconstruction phase following the L'Aquila earthquake. Findings were triangulated with document analysis, media analysis and retrospective interviewing conducted in 2013 and 2017.

The shift from civil defence to civil protection did not bring any advance in disaster management and development practice in terms of DRR and resilience. The militaristic command-and-control approach, which is still in vogue among civil protection systems, means that local political leaders become the civil protection authorities in a disaster area. As in the L'Aquila case, this exacerbates local social and environmental risks and impacts, inhibits local communities from learning and restricts them from participating in post-disaster interventions.

Most previous commentary on disaster recovery and reconstruction following the L'Aquila earthquake has focussed on the top-down approach carried out by the national government and the Italian Department of Civil Protection (DCP). This paper is unique in that it sheds light on how the command-and-control approach was also implemented by local authority figures and on how this undermined building back better more resilient communities.

The Environmental Protection Bureau of Taiwan established the South Star Project in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, as a solution to two problems facing the city—the urgent need to dispose of industrial wastes and the need to increase land for the city. To embank land from the sea, breakwaters were constructed. The material used to construct breakwaters was a mixture of furnace slag (waste from the steel industry) and fly ash (waste from power plants). After constructing the breakwaters, the ‘reclaimed land’ was used as a landfill for construction and public waste. In the future, these reclaimed lands will be used for the development of a deepwater port or sea airport. Construction of breakwaters is a very repetitive process, and any improvements made would help contractors reduce the duration of the operation, improve efficiency in the process and thereby reduce costs. This paper discusses the process of breakwater construction and the utilization of industrial wastes for the concrete work on the project. Data collected from the first stage of the South Star Project is used in the modelling, simulation and analysis of the process, in order to examine the interaction between different resources.

Between September 4, 2010 and mid-2013 a severe earthquake sequence struck Christchurch, the second largest city in New Zealand, causing multiple fatalities and the destruction of much of the central business district. Large areas of suburban residential housing were condemned with the prospect that entire neighbourhoods would be abandoned for several decades if not permanently. The recovery and rebuilding process was immediately placed high on central and local government agendas since Christchurch and the surrounding Canterbury region were and continue to be seen as crucial to the security and stability of the national economy. Programmes for recovery developed initially relied principally on one-off funding packages and strategies from central government, local government recovery plans and the settlement of commercial insurance claims. There remains, however, the spectre of Christchurch as a city of demolition sites and vacant lots for the best part of a decade if not longer. Furthermore, although local and national Civil Defence and Emergency Management systems were activated during the most severe seismic events the response operations did not always reach those in need as promptly as was expected. Residents in a number of communities and neighbourhoods are now conscious that when disaster strikes they are still likely to have to fend for themselves. This chapter documents and evaluates two specific “gap-filling” responses to the Christchurch earthquakes over a three-year period. The first response considered is a community-based project called “Greening the Rubble” which took root in October 2010 as the prospect of a central city of vacant lots and car parks worried a number of volunteers into action to temporarily cheer up empty public and private sites with pocket parks, native plant displays and cultural interventions. The second initiative scrutinised, the “Mt Pleasant Community Response Plan 2012–2013,” is one of the first community-based emergency response plans to emerge that has sought to complement official civil defence planning arrangements. Both responses are discussed in detail in the context of constantly changing and evolving hazardscapes and socio-economic and political conditions.

This commentary aims to provide an overview of how innovation in community mobilisation and collaboration can help address natural disasters quickly and more effectively. This is done using the example of the earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria and caused considerable damage, the full extent of which cannot yet be assessed.

This commentary was prepared by two researchers who collected a number of examples and assessed their contribution to earthquake mitigation.

This commentary confirms that applying digital technologies and other innovative approaches to disaster management can mobilise people and contribute to more effective disaster management, especially in disasters where every minute counts.

This commentary explains the role of active mobilisation of civil society using digital technologies and other innovative approaches during one of humanity's largest earthquakes. As far as the authors are aware, this issue has not yet been discussed in this way in contemporary literature.

This study investigates the carbon footprint of the alternative structure types and materials used for the reconstruction of schools in Haiti. Are recycled construction materials more environmental than virgin materials? To estimate which alternative construction solution has the smallest carbon footprint, a survey was made for the school model used for the reconstruction programme in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

The carbon footprint was calculated using life cycle assessment methodology for five different concrete structure alternatives and five different cement mixes for the same design of a school building. In addition, the uptake of CO₂ through the carbonation of concrete during 50 years was calculated.

The carbon footprint of recycled materials can be either the best or worst option, depending on how the materials are used. The difference to using virgin materials is not big. This is mainly due to the lower structural performance of recycled materials, which needs to be compensated for by using additional reinforcements. Using cement mixes that have high amounts of substitutes for cement seems to lower the carbon footprint of structures considerably. The uptake of CO₂ in carbonation has potential but requires an optimal design and environment.

The findings give information for humanitarian project managers and designers on lowering the carbon footprint of their construction projects.

PARLIAMENT passed the Equal Pay Act in 1970 and it comes into full force at the end of 1975. In the meantime a Government order could increase the pay of women to at least 90 per cent of men's by December 31st next year. Like other legislative forays into the industrial world in recent years, this Act, despite its deceptively simple title, bristles with problems and will greatly change the country's economic life.