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1 – 10 of over 1000The purpose of this paper is to study major influencing factors on public satisfaction with regard to information disclosure amid typhoon disasters. Internal latent variables…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study major influencing factors on public satisfaction with regard to information disclosure amid typhoon disasters. Internal latent variables, including disaster information quality, information disclosure channels and disaster perception levels, significantly affected the degree of public satisfaction, which was key factors in determining account consumer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
By conducting the questionnaire survey in typhoon-prone areas, 326 copies of the questionnaire about public satisfaction towards government information disclosure about typhoon were collected. An exponential model of satisfaction about information disclosure amid typhoon disasters was constructed and analyzed through the selection of latent variables, the hypotheses of the structural relationship and the establishment of measurable variables.
Findings
Disaster information quality, disaster information disclosure channels and disaster perception levels were all positively correlated with the dimensions of information performance perception dimensions. Public expectations also made positive contributions to public satisfaction. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that public satisfaction affects the government image and public trust.
Originality/value
With the Leizhou Peninsula, China attacked by the typhoon disasters as an example, the SEM was adopted to simulate the routes and its feasibility and scientificity were validated. It is valuable to build and analyze an evaluation model based on a structural equation model underlying the public satisfaction towards information disclosure amid typhoon disasters.
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This paper addresses how local retailers remain resilient in negotiating the lead up to and immediate aftermath of two major disasters (Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae) within a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper addresses how local retailers remain resilient in negotiating the lead up to and immediate aftermath of two major disasters (Typhoons Nesat and Nalgae) within a developing urban context (Dagupan City, Pangasinan). It highlights the specific mechanisms by which urban traders engage the Philippines’ more pervasive and highly resilient “culture of disaster” vis-à -vis conditions of chronic natural hazard.
Methodology/approach
This study relies predominately on the traditional anthropological techniques of participant observation and informal/semi-structured interviews to gather relevant project data. Supplementing these two core methods are findings derived from secondary sources like local and provincial newspapers, government records, public and university libraries, and census findings.
Findings
Findings suggest that a continual cycle of disaster impact and response does not overtly affect small retailers’ entrepreneurial initiative. It becomes clear that a persistent threat of natural hazards fosters a rather fatalistic sense of self-reliance.
Research limitations/implications
Study was designed and funded as a quick-response study; therefore, the research timeframe was rather compressed and the informant pool somewhat limited.
Social implications
The Philippines is widely recognized as a “culture of disaster” given its volatile position along the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire” and “Typhoon Alley.” This distinction assumes added dimension as the effects of global climate change become increasingly pervasive at the local level.
Originality/value
This paper adds ethnographic detail to a growing body of data on small business resilience within disaster prone areas of the Global South amid intensifying global climate change.
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Hari Srinivas, Rajib Shaw and Yuko Nakagawa
On Wednesday October 20, 2004, Typhoon Tokage (called the “Typhoon no. 23 of 2004” in Japan), one of the deadliest storm in years, swept through most of the southern half of…
Abstract
On Wednesday October 20, 2004, Typhoon Tokage (called the “Typhoon no. 23 of 2004” in Japan), one of the deadliest storm in years, swept through most of the southern half of Japan. People were overcome by the massive waves and flash floods triggered by the typhoon's heavy rains and strong winds, which left at least 69 people dead, 20 missing, and some 342 injured, out of which 66 were serious injuries. The number of typhoon-related casualties was the highest in over a quarter of a century, and it further destroyed 50 homes, damaged 1,350 residences, and flooded 26,800 others. Typhoon Tokage was the tenth typhoon to make landfall in Japan in 2004. Storms and floods killed over 100 people in Japan that year, resulting in hundreds of millions of yen in damage, highlighting once again the importance of disaster management in both Japan and in East Asia.
Soledad Natalia Dalisay and Mylene T. De Guzman
The purpose of this paper is to look into the socio-cultural contexts that shaped people’s evacuation decisions during typhoon Haiyan in three affected areas in the Philippines.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look into the socio-cultural contexts that shaped people’s evacuation decisions during typhoon Haiyan in three affected areas in the Philippines.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a multi-sited ethnography that utilized interviews, focus group discussion and participatory risk mapping among selected women and men in areas affected by typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Findings
Coastal communities encounter threats from storm surges as brought about by typhoons. During such periods, disaster evacuation programs are implemented. In some instances, evacuation programs are met with resistance from community members. Such resistance has been attributed to the people’s hard headedness and ignorance of the potential impacts of living in hazard prone areas. This paper argues that it is not solely for these reasons that people refused to evacuate. Results showed that hesitance may also be due to other considerations and priorities vital to people. It is also because people had faith in the knowledge and strategies that they were able to develop by engaging with hazards through time. Furthermore, previous experiences with disaster evacuation programs cast doubt on their value in saving their lives. Life in the evacuation areas can be as dangerous if not more compared with living in their coastal homes. Some of the informants believed that they were being moved from hazard zones to death zones. This paper ends with recommendations for the development of evacuation programs that build people’s resilience while taking into consideration the local moral world in identified hazard zones in the Philippines.
Research limitations/implications
The study focused on three areas affected by typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, namely, Tacloban City, Guiuan, Eastern Samar, and San Francisco, Cebu.
Originality/value
Most research on disaster mitigation looked into the engineering and technology aspects. This paper looks into the socio-cultural contexts of disaster evacuation.
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This paper focuses on the adaptations societies make to climate-related disasters. How they learnt from them in the past should indicate how they will respond in the more…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the adaptations societies make to climate-related disasters. How they learnt from them in the past should indicate how they will respond in the more climate-stressed future. National typhoon disaster politics arise when citizens demand disaster protection from their state.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes one episode of typhoon politics in each of three Asian countries before 1945: the Philippines (1928), India (1942) and Japan (1934). These three countries show high variance in state capacity and level of democracy. Discourse data are found in contemporary newspaper accounts.
Findings
In each case, the typhoon disaster politics were shaped by the “distance” (geographical, institutional, class and cultural) between citizen-victims and the state. Where that distance was great (rural Philippines, Bengal-India), the state tended to minimise victimhood. Where it was small (urban Japan), adaptation was serious and rapid.
Social implications
The findings should stimulate public discussion of the way in which past social relations and power dynamics surrounding climate-related disasters might influence the present. As the political character of climate change adaptation grows clearer, so does the need for debate to be well-informed.
Originality/value
Most historical work on climate-related disasters has focused either on the natural phenomena, or on their societal impact. The present paper's focus on adaptation is part of a small but growing scholarly effort to bend the debate towards the evolution of adaptive capacity.
Tran Thuc, Tran Thanh Thuy and Huynh Thi Lan Huong
This paper aims to develop a multi-hazard risk assessment method based on probability theory and a set of economic, social and environmental indicators, which considers the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a multi-hazard risk assessment method based on probability theory and a set of economic, social and environmental indicators, which considers the increase in hazards when they occur concurrently or consecutively.
Design/methodology/approach
Disaster risk assessment generally considers the impact and vulnerability of a single hazard to the affected location/object without considering the combination of multiple hazards occurring concurrently or consecutively. However, disasters are often closely related, occurring in combination or at the same time. Probability theory was used to assess multi-hazard, and a matrix method was used to assess the interaction of hazard vulnerabilities.
Findings
The results of the case study for the Mid-Central Coastal Region show that the proportions of districts at a very high class of multi-hazard, multi-vulnerabilities and multi-hazard risk are 81%, 89% and 82%, respectively. Multi-hazard risk level tends to decrease from North to South and from East to West. A total of 100% of coastal districts are at high to very high multi-hazard risk classes. The research results could assist in the development of disaster risk reduction programs towards sustainable development and support the management to reduce risks caused by multi-hazard.
Originality/value
The multi-risk assessment method developed in this study is based on published literature, allowing to compare quantitatively multiple risk caused by multi-hazard occurring concurrently or consecutively, in which, a relative increase in hazard and vulnerability is considered. The method includes the assessment of three components of disaster risk including multi-hazard, exposure and multi-vulnerability. Probability and Copula theories were used to assess multi-hazard, and a matrix method was used to assess the interaction intensity of multi-vulnerabilities in the system.
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Rico C. Ancog, Carmelita M. Rebancos and Zenaida M. Sumalde
This paper aims to determine and compare the vulnerability of selected indigenous communities in the Philippines using several integrated index development approaches. Better…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to determine and compare the vulnerability of selected indigenous communities in the Philippines using several integrated index development approaches. Better understanding on how negative impacts of climate change could be effectively reduced is the identification of appropriate vulnerability assessment approach that is applicable to the local and cultural contexts. Critical in the case of indigenous communities is the analyses of determinants of vulnerability by and with themselves.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the survey data of combined 169 households, vulnerability scores of two adjacent Alangan Mangyan indigenous communities were quantified utilizing a set of 31 indicators that were systematically combined via the balanced-weighted (composite index) and unbalanced-weighted (principal component analysis) approaches.
Findings
The computed vulnerability scores of the Alangan Mangyan communities using several approaches yielded varying results. In both study sites, the degree of vulnerability is differentiated even among households of indigenous communities of comparable socio-economic characteristics. The developed indices confirm that typhoons, level of education, literacy rate and monthly income were found to have direct effect on the Alangan Mangyan communities’ vulnerability.
Originality/value
The study has successfully tested various methodological frameworks in implementing vulnerability assessment applicable in the context of indigenous communities in the Philippines. Results highlighted the need to simultaneously implement several vulnerability assessment approaches to allow comparison of results instead of solely basing climate change vulnerability-reduction programs to be implemented to a single assessment approach.
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Charlie Labarda, Meredith Del Pilar Labarda and Exaltacion Ellevera Lamberte
Resilient health facilities, particularly hospitals, are critical for a responsive local health system in post-disaster settings. The purpose of this paper is to look at the…
Abstract
Purpose
Resilient health facilities, particularly hospitals, are critical for a responsive local health system in post-disaster settings. The purpose of this paper is to look at the experiences of two hospitals (public and private) in Tacloban City, Philippines in the aftermath of a super typhoon and their respective delivery of health services in such setting.
Design/methodology/approach
It described the impact of Typhoon Haiyan on health services delivery capacity and the factors instrumental in the resilience of the case hospitals. Lessons learned from the hospitals’ experiences, both at the level of the hospital staff and the institution, were also drawn. Disaster preparedness of case hospitals were assessed along several domains of resilience. Key informant interviews among stakeholders were conducted with key themes on disaster resilience extracted.
Findings
Disaster preparedness scores for case hospitals were different from each other and were reflected in their experiences of health services delivery in the aftermath of the disaster.
Research limitations/implications
This study on hospital resilience of two case hospitals, in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, is exploratory in nature. The retrospective design of the study made it prone to recall bias. Further, the use of self-report measures for hospital resilience needs to be validated by more objective measures. The lack of baseline pre-disaster resilience indicators and the unpredictability of disasters could perhaps be addressed by a longitudinal study on hospital resilience in disasters in the future.
Originality/value
This study revealed several key findings. Some of the themes that emerged were: public health in disaster is the responsibility of both public and private hospitals; need for flexibility in disaster preparedness and planning, disaster resilience is an emergent process not a static construct, chaos results from zeal without coordination, and the need for integration of disaster preparedness in daily processes and structures of hospital facilities.
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