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This paper aims to study a dynamic post-disaster emergency planning (PDEP) problem in an integrated network through the investigation of the selection of shelters, medical centers and distribution centers (DCs), and the allocation of evacuees and injured people. The resource and people assignment in multiple periods are considered.

A mathematical formulation is provided for the PDEP problem. The authors decompose the model into two sub-models as follows: the primary model is an integer programming model and the subproblem is a nonlinear programming model with continuous variables. The simulated annealing is used to solve the primary problem, and particle swarm optimization (PSO) mixed with beetle antennae search (BAS) is used to solve the subproblem.

The paper finds that BAS can increase the stability of PSO and keep the advantages of PSO’s rapid convergence. By implementing these algorithms on emergency planning after the Wenchuan earthquake that happened in China in 2008, this paper finds that the priority of different levels of injured people is influenced by several factors. Even within the same disaster, the priority of different levels of injured can be inconsistent because of the differences in resource levels.

The authors integrate the shelters, medical centers and DCs as a system, and simultaneously, consider evacuees and injured people and different resource assignments. The authors divide the injured people into three levels and use survival rate function to simulate the survival conditions of different people. The authors provide an improved PSO algorithm to solve the problem.

The purpose of this study is to examine people’s preferences for some of the key attributes of emergency shelters, including type, privacy level, location, spatial arrangement and pet-friendliness.

Choice experiment (CE) method was used in this study. A standard CE questionnaire was designed and completed by a sample of 293 residents of the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario (Canada), during the winter of 2015.

When using publicly provided shelters, people prefer to stay in hotels, places of worship and then community shelters, in that order. These findings correspond to the values that they place for various attributes through the CE survey. Findings show that responders place the highest values for emergency shelters that provide more privacy, located close to their home, and are pet friendly. Type of shelter and the “arrangement” attributes were not found to be as important and valuable.

This study uses a convenient sampling method as such may not fully represent the study population.

Emergency shelter provision by local, regional and national governments cost significant amount of money and thus it is important that the society get the maximum benefit from it. This will be possible when users’ preferences are considered in planning, design, and operation of emergency shelters. The findings enable emergency managers to perform cost-benefit analysis an increase the efficiency of emergency shelters.

While previous studies have examined emergency-shelter types, characteristics and user-satisfaction levels, this is a novel study because it uses a choice experiment method to extract monetary values for key emergency-shelter attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the level of disaster preparedness of institutional care and sheltered housing services provided by the private sector in Finland.

A web-based questionnaire was completed by businesses producing institutional care and sheltered housing services in Finland. They answered questions on disaster preparedness, impacts of recent hazards, measures taken during the hazards and connections to disaster risk management actors and relatives of their residents during the hazards.

The study showed that only 19 percent of the private service providers had a disaster preparedness plan, and only 11 percent reported that it was a requirement agreed on with the service purchaser. The size of the unit predicted only partly the differences in the level of preparedness. The major impacts of storms were on energy supply, leading to disruptions in the daily activities of the services.

The most vulnerable to disasters are people dependent on others, which include those receiving social services. Consequently, this study recommends that preparedness planning should be legally mandated requirement for all social service providers. In addition, the local governments’ service purchasers should include private services in their disaster preparedness activities.

Private businesses are increasingly involved in producing social services in Finland; hence, their preparedness to face hazards and connection with disaster risk management partners is vital. This study increases knowledge of private institutional care and sheltered housing services’ disaster preparedness, which has seldom been the focus of studies.

The coastal zone of Bangladesh that is in the front line of the battle against climate change faced over 200 natural disasters in the past 40 years, and most of the disasters were cyclones. The inevitable cyclone shelter (CS), the backbone of disaster management (DM), provides short-term safety for the disaster victims in Bangladesh. This study aims to explore the community-based limitations and sustainable development features of CSs including the gender issues.

A questionnaire survey was carried out among 230 community people to identify the requirements and sustainable development features of CSs. A field visit was carried out in 23 CSs to capture its existing facilities. Key informant interviews were conducted in the office of Upazila Engineers to strengthen survey data.

This research found that the plan of CSs, quality of construction, capacity, facilities, entrance and exit, space allocation, management and policy were not capable enough to fulfill the needs and requirements of the community people. Due to lack of separate facilities, women and girls avoided shelters for fear of sexual and mental harassment in CSs, as they had experiences in the earlier events of cyclones. Insufficient facilities discourage community from using the shelters.

Women and girls were shy to share their experience in CSs. The historical data were limited in the study area. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research presents the actual community-based outcome. During CCRIP training program, the authors met 3,625 community people, and participatory discussions were made to explore the participants’ experiences and perceptions about the sustainable development of CSs.

South-Asian coastal zones are prone to natural, quasi-natural hazard and disasters, where shelters are required for protecting lives of community people during such disasters such as cyclones, storm surges, and floods. Therefore, this study can help in making sustainable development decisions in terms of constructing shelters in disaster-prone countries like Bangladesh.

The outcomes of this investigation are useful for uplifting psychosocial status to protect lives during disasters such as cyclones, storm surges and floods and increase accessibility to shelters, and users will consider CSs as a social asset. In turn, the acceptability of CSs into community level are expected to be increased for combating against cyclones, storm surges, and floods.

This study introduces the bottom-up approach that refers to the community-based decision-making to identify the limitations and sustainable improvement of CSs. This research contributes to bridging the gaps between decision-makers and users of CSs. From the authors’ field experience, it can be said that this is the first fieldwork regarding the objectives.

Finding an appropriate place for temporary housing after an earthquake is one of the main challenges of disaster risk management, especially in developing countries. Therefore, it is necessary to create pre-disaster location plans for the homeless population. This study aims to systematically find safe places and select suitable sites according to influential factors.

The research methodology used is a descriptive–analytical method. A field survey with a quantitative–qualitative approach is applied to recognize physical vulnerabilities and select suitable sites for temporary settlements. Due to the occurrence of several earthquakes in recent decades around the city of Isfahan, Iran, this area has been studied. Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, geographic information system and rapid visual screening have been used for data analysis.

According to the site selection and vulnerability criteria and their prioritization, the findings indicate that 60% of the study area is vulnerable. Moreover, vacant lots, stadiums and public green spaces that can be used as multi-purpose sites are the most appropriate options for the temporary settlement.

The research criteria are generalizable and can be used for decision-making, concerning urban fabric vulnerability and site selection of temporary housing in cities exposed to earthquake risk.

Cultural features, accessibility, land conditions, the slope and type of land, availability and construction materials were addressed in locating temporary settlements. In addition to vacant lots and open spaces, safe buildings were also identified for temporary housing, and religious minorities and similar communities were considered.

Changing climate dynamics have resulted in a confluence of disaster events to which Louisiana government leaders and emergency managers have never before had to respond simultaneously: a global pandemic and an “epidemic” of landfalling hurricanes during the 2020 season (eight cones over Louisiana) with challenging, unusual characteristics: (1) two hurricanes passing over the same location within 36 hours, a fujiwhara – Hurricanes Marco and Laura, (2) 150 mile-per-hour winds inadequately forecasted and of an almost unprecedented speed, (3) a difficult to forecast surge magnitude that led to incorrect immediate response, (4) delayed long-term recovery efforts from responders outside of the area because of initial reporting errors regarding surge heights and wind speed, and (5) a storm, Zeta, that passed directly over a densely populated area that would have been hard hit by rain if the storm had slowed. In addition, the number and closeness in dates of storm occurrences led to lengthy coastal high-water levels. To these co-occurring threats forecasters, state and local officials and residents responded with expertise and commitment, adhering to close collaboration, modifying evacuations and undertaking protective measures, all contributing to a low death rate from storms and a modest death rate from COVID. More just outcomes were supported by the general capacity of the responders, commitment to keep the residents informed about both risks and appropriate responses to them and the provision of special services, calculated for the new situation of the pandemic and the storm epidemic, for those without the means to respond adequately to both.

An unprecedented scale of human migration has lead humanitarians to view camps as long-term settlements rather than temporary holding facilities. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of and identify challenges with this proposed new approach to camp design.

Based on the camp design literature, the authors developed an interview guide and checklist for data collection. A multi-site case study and within- and cross-case analysis was then conducted.

The findings suggest that the proposed new approach is implemented only to a limited extent, and mostly in a stepwise manner. As camps mature, there is a shift toward the new approach, but most camps are established using the traditional top-down, temporary, and isolated approach.

The findings are based on four camps in four different countries and do not provide an exhaustive global coverage.

The insights the authors derived and the challenges identified from the empirical evidence can be used to better plan future camps.

The results can support improvements in camp design, thus alleviating suffering for both refugees and host communities, particularly in developing countries. In particular, the trade-off between a permanent solution and the temporary must be accounted for.

The study contributes to the literature by developing and proposing a conceptual framework to camp design. The cross-case analysis provides an initial understanding and categorization of challenges with implementing the new approach. It also suggests an evolutionary perspective of camp design.

The inevitable occurrence of natural disasters and crisis arising from them causes a lot of losses globally, particularly in disaster-prone countries such as Iran. One of the main issues considered by organizations involved in crisis management is the selection of suitable sites for temporary sheltering for disaster victims. This study aims to choose safe places to establish temporary sheltering in urban environment.

Initially, relevant factors are identified by reviewing literature and through consultation with disaster experts. Next, the important layers were collected and analytical hierarchy process was used to assess the criteria weights based on their effectiveness on selection of safe sites for temporary sheltering. Finally, for integrating layers of factors, overlay and fuzzy models were used in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, and subsequently, a proper map was prepared and suitable areas were identified.

7 main criteria and 19 sub-criteria were selected to provide safe places for temporary sheltering. The results of fuzzy model in this study provide more accurate and limited safe areas for temporary sheltering when compared to index overlay model.

The results of this study will help decision-makers and local and regional managers to reduce the vulnerability of at-risk communities in urban environments. Moreover, choosing appropriate places for temporary shelters would help build community disaster resilience according to these criteria.

This study aims to evaluate the coastal disaster resilience and the disaster management framework of Sri Lanka, by conducting a case study in a few coastal areas in the district of Matara which were majorly affected in 2004 by the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Although it has been 15 years since the disaster struck the country, Sri Lanka is still struggling in building back better. This reveals the need to strengthen the action plan toward coastal disaster management by identifying the barriers and challenges that still exist in policies and frameworks, the use of technology in evacuation planning, implementation of evacuation plans and capacity building of the community.

This study was conducted through structured and in-depth interviews among the general public and government officials targeting the eventual outcome as to ascertain barriers incorporated with the disaster management framework and then possible improvements to the framework were identified and suggested.

The findings showed that the practice of an administrative-oriented disaster management framework was a key element in creating a welfare-oriented community that is still building back better in Matara, which was one of the worst affected cities in the country during the 2004 Tsunami.

This paper facilitates resilience development by identifying the overall development of the system after 2004. The required modifications needed to strengthen the system have thereby been identified through the developed output which was produced by analyzing the barriers and challenges.

This research aims to identify the qualitative differences between local hazard mitigation plan (LHMP) of the developing country when compared to those of developed countries. It also seeks to demonstrate the relative importance of public private partnership and the need for PPs to be integrated into LHMP because they help to create strong LHMP, thereby making communities will become more resilient to not only floods but also other natural disasters. It focuses on the components of hazard mitigation from a developed country perspective and how these influence the contents/focus of the LHMP especially when compared to those of a developing country.

Based on official information such as population, climate and major threat that has faced, research sites were selected. Each LHMP can be downloaded from the official city websites, except Korea. Through plan evacuation protocols the LHMP for each city – USA (Baltimore), Japan (Kumamoto) and Korea (Pohang) – were assessed three times by the research team. Plans were evaluated using a plan coding evacuation process.

The LHMP of the developing country did not contain maps illustrating to the people who are exposed to flood and evacuation routes and who are vulnerable (both economically and physically), when compared with the developed countries plan. However, quicker response because of simple political hierarchy can be possible in Japan and Korea when compared to the USA, which has three different tiers of political governments – federal, State and Local government – though Korea is a developing country.

In recent times, pre-disaster response, which is a proactive approach to natural disasters, is an emerging issue rather than post disaster response because of sustainable and resilient ideas of the locals that have repeatedly suffered from natural hazards. This study compares LHMPs of each country to better understand strengths and weakness, as well as to identify strategies that will enhance the quality of mitigation plan for the developed country and developing country. It is hoped that this study will inform and augment existing literature by assisting underdeveloped and developing countries suffering from floods with the preparation of their LHMPs based on the suggestion of this research.