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This study investigated pre-evacuation times and evacuation behaviors of vulnerable people during the 2018 flooding in Shimobara, Okayama, Japan, and the flood-triggered factory explosion, a natural hazard-triggered technological accident known as a natural-hazard-triggered technological accidents (Natech). This study examined factors that affected evacuation decisions and pre-evacuation time, estimated the evacuation time in case of no explosion and identified community disaster prevention organization response efforts for vulnerable people.

Interviews with all 18 vulnerable people who experienced the event were conducted. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the effect of six factors on evacuation time and reasons for delayed evacuation.

Factors affecting evacuation decisions included the sound of the explosion, followed by recommendations from relatives and the community disaster prevention organization. Explosion-related injuries delayed early evacuation, but experience of previous disasters and damage had a positive effect on early evacuation. The explosion sound accelerated evacuation of non-injured people; however, explosion-related injuries significantly delayed evacuation of injured individuals. The Shimobara community disaster prevention organization’s disaster response included a vulnerable people registry, visits to all local households and a multilayered approach that enabled monitoring of all households.

This is the first study to examine the evacuation behavior of vulnerable people and community responses during a Natech event.

The purpose of this paper is to review different microfinance products and services that can be offered to reduce the financial vulnerabilities of communities at risk. Following a detail literature review, the effectiveness of different forms of microfinance services in creating resilience in the affected communities was analysed and whether they can be applied to mitigate the risk of future disasters was assessed. In addition, the study was conducted to assess whether microcredit can help reduce direct risk exposure of the poor through income smoothing.

This study is based on a review of existing theories.

The notion that most vulnerable communities are financially weak is evident from studies. This study finds that microcredit can help reduce direct risk exposure of poor through income smoothing, while saving can help them recover from the losses of disasters. Our review also suggests that there is no specific model of microfinance services which can have a holistic impact on the financial capacity-building, particularly during the rehabilitation process.

There are different categories of microfinance products with distinct characteristics and associated benefits to the communities. Some of the major microfinance products as identified in this study are, saving products, credit products and insurance products. These products have multidimensional benefits, as there are many approaches adopted by microfinance institutions (MFIs) and clients regarding the use of these products. However this study focuses on the use of these products towards resilience development in the community. Other applications of these products still need to be explored.

There is a need for a comprehensive financial tool that can be effectively applied to expedite the process of rehabilitation and reduce the financial impact of disasters on the community, particularly the poor. Major issues in the context of disasters faced by MFIs to design their products in the affected areas are also highlighted in the study.

The study throws lights on different microfinancial tools such as microloans, microcredits and cash for work, etc. offered by banks and other organizations and highlights their role in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of those affected by disasters in different parts of the world.

This paper contributes to the discourse of microfinance and its social applications in developing countries. It provides original role of microfinance as a tool for creating community resilience to the impacts of disasters.

A national study has highlighted the need for regeneration planning to take on board the housing, care and support needs of vulnerable, isolated people with community care needs. Few areas explicitly mapped the needs of vulnerable people or had a community care dimension to their regeneration aims and commissioning plan.

The purpose of this paper is to examine vulnerability conditions to flood disasters in Tokwe-Mukorsi community, Zimbabwe and identifies the barriers that constrained the community from relocating to safe sites.

Using a questionnaire survey, field observations and interviews, the paper examines the biophysical and social vulnerability of the Tokwe-Mukorsi community, Zimbabwe, as well as the barriers that prevented it from relocating to safe sites. A thematic analysis of the large volumes of qualitative data from interviews and walk-through analyses was conducted. Descriptive statistics were used in analysing quantitative data from questionnaires.

Results reveal that households living upstream and downstream of the dam were highly vulnerable to floods. Their biophysical vulnerability was partly induced by the construction of the dam whose basin encroached into the farming and settlement area. The extremely vulnerable group were households living below level of 660 m where five saddle dams had been constructed. The built environment of the community exhibited ignorance of standard building codes. The poor socio-economic conditions of the community and the incessant rains experienced over two weeks contributed to the flood disaster in early 2014. The Tokwe-Mukorsi community failed to relocate to safe places partly due to lack of compensation, absence of basic infrastructure and drought occurrence in relocation sites.

The calculation of social vulnerability indices is beyond the scope of this study due to non-availability of quantitative data at community level.

This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of why some communities may fail to relocate despite being highly vulnerable to flood disasters.

Within a neoliberal environment, financial vulnerability of households has become an increasing challenge and there is a requirement of financial literacy education, a necessary activity to facilitate sustainable development and well-being. However, this is seldom a mainstream discourse in social work deliberations. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

First, introducing the neoliberal impact on financial well-being and capability for vulnerable households, the authors’ postulation is substantiated on a seven-point argument. The contexts of financially vulnerable households are sketched. Second, a conceptualisation of financial literacy is offered, and third, perspectives on and approaches to financial literacy as a fundamental capability are presented. This is followed by a theoretical foundation of community education as a practice model in social work to develop financial capabilities. In the fifth place, prevailing practices of Financial Capabilities Development (FCD) programmes are offered. Subsequently, the implications of a neoliberal environment for social work practice are examined.

The revised global definition of social work encourages the profession to understand and address the structural causes of social problems through collective interventions. As a response, it is argued that community education towards FCD of vulnerable households within a neoliberal environment should be an essential discourse in social development.

The authors reflect on the significance of FCD, highlighting its contribution towards human security and sustainable development. Although this paper draws on Southern African contexts, the discourse finds resonance in other contexts across the world.

This paper aims to present a case study-based approach to identify resource-poor communities with limited abilities to cope with the adverse effects of climate change. The study area is the Nkonkobe Local Municipality, in the Eastern Cape which is one of South Africa’s provinces ranked as being extremely vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change because of high incidences of poverty and limited access to public services such as water and education. Although adaptive capacity and vulnerability assessments help to guide policy formulation and implementation by identifying communities with low coping capacities, policy implementers often find it difficult to fully exploit the utility of these assessments because of difficulties in identifying vulnerable communities. The paper attempts to bridge this gap by providing a user-friendly, replicable, practically implementable and adaptable methodology that can be used to cost-effectively and timeously identify vulnerable communities with low coping capacities.

A geostatistical approach was used to assess and evaluate adaptive capacities of resource-poor communities in the Nkonkobe Local Municipality. The geospatial component of this approach consisted of a multi-step Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based technique that was improvised to map adaptive capacities of different communities. The statistical component used demographic indicators comprising literacy levels, income levels, population age profiles and access to water to run automated summation and ranking of indicator scores in ArcGIS 10.2 to produce maps that show spatial locations of communities with varying levels of adaptive capacities on a scale ranging from low, medium to high.

The analysis identified 14 villages with low adaptive capacities from a total of 180 villages in the Nkonkobe Local Municipality. This finding is important because it suggests that our methodology can be effectively used to objectively identify communities that are vulnerable to climate change.

The paper presents a tool that could be used for targeting assistance to climate change vulnerable communities. The methodology proposed is of general applicability in guiding public policy interventions aimed at reaching, protecting and uplifting socio-economically disadvantaged populations in both rural and urban settings.

The approach’s ability to identify vulnerable communities is useful because it aids the identification of resource-poor communities that deserve priority consideration when planning adaptation action plans to deliver support and assistance to those least capable of effectively coping with the adverse effects of climate change induced vulnerabilities.

Based upon a six-year research study with a community street soccer programme, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the different faces of the researcher undertaking sensitive research – vulnerable, reflexive, reciprocal, and emotionally fatigued, in addition to the potential impacts on others, including research assistants and transcribers.

The paper draws on detailed notes and observations from a research journal kept throughout the project using an auto-ethnographic approach.

The paper discusses how the author attempted to nurture and protect himself as the person within the researcher, and managed the doubts and stresses faced by those undertaking sensitive research with vulnerable communities.

As more research is undertaken with vulnerable communities, and more researchers share their experiences, the self-care strategies, the author and others have employed may become standard practice for research training and practice.

In partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation, the RAHS Program Office (RPO) of the National Security Coordination Secretariat at the Prime Minister's Office in Singapore has undertaken the innovative approach of the Searchlight function to systematically make sense of the current contextual environment to be better positioned to anticipate the future of poor and vulnerable communities. This paper aims to outline the approach taken and to offer a glimpse into the next steps.

Using the expertise and knowledge from the Searchlight newsletters, RPO applied its SKAN‐to‐Trend Process to funnel down newsletters and generate themes for investigation. The process is augmented by the RAHS 2.0 system, to collect and classify data generated to analyse and understand relationships therein, and anticipate as well as discover emerging issues.

The scenario building tools allowed the RPO analysts to use systems thinking to build systems maps and influence diagrams to help identify critical drivers based on influence and to understand the relationships between driving forces. From the systems map, critical feedback loops were identified and analysed, and evidence marshalled to support alternative policy options to help overcome the vicious cycles of the poor and vulnerable communities.

Although the approach may seem limited in terms of breadth, it does provide a more in‐depth study of relevant insights and themes.

The selection process was done by analysts whose selections will necessarily be subjective depending on each of the analysts' worldview and leanings. This was balanced by gathering a team of analysts from RPO from diverse backgrounds, from the sciences and engineering to the arts.

It is evident that the expanding gulf of growing inequality will tear the social fabric because poverty and inequality are so intricately linked.

The paper shows that, as a visualisation partner, RPO will present a diversity of perspectives through the utilisation of its risk assessment and horizon scanning processes and tools to help understand the pathways of poor and vulnerable communities.

The Philippines is among the countries vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. However, many local government units (LGUs) and the people themselves are not aware of the climate change phenomenon and do not have the capacity to undertake appropriate climate change adaptation measures. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the climate change adaptation strategies of communities and LGUs and the barriers and recommendations to enhance their adaptive capacity.

The study covered five communities vulnerable to climate change impacts. Information on extreme climatic events and their impacts and adaptation strategies undertaken were gathered through focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews. LGU staff members were assisted in the preparation of their climate change adaptation plan (CCAP).

The LGUs and communities have low adaptive capacity and employed temporary adaptation strategies. Strong social cohesion and spontaneous collective action are factors that could enhance the communities' adaptive capacity. The pursuit of awareness raising and capacity building activities on climate change phenomena, alternative livelihood, preparedness and adaptation possibilities, technology and infrastructure development and collective action, which are critical adaptive capacity enhancement factors were laid‐out in the CCAP.

The paper presents the barriers that constrain the adaptive capacity of communities and LGUs, the recommended adaptive capacity enhancement measures to overcome these barriers and the highlights of the CCAP jointly prepared by the partner LGUs and scientists.

Epidemics and pandemics can result in sudden morbidity and mortality as well as social and economic disruption. However, the humanitarian logistics and supply chain management (HLSCM) field has been mostly focusing on life saving operations after natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. There is no research within the HLSCM literature neither on the unique properties of vulnerable groups, nor their underlying risk factors or how to mitigate them. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the uniqueness of some vulnerable groups and motivated us to conduct a structured literature review to identify research needs in HLSCM with regards to vulnerable populations.

The authors conduct a systematic review of literature on the intersection of epidemics/pandemics, humanitarian operations and vulnerable populations. They utilize the Scopus database to search for peer-reviewed journal articles published in English. Our search results in 366 articles which we reduced to 139 after filtering.

There is no research within the HLSCM literature on the unique properties of various vulnerable populations. The authors show that HLSCM scholars can contribute to literature by investigating operational and logistical challenges of serving vulnerable populations through multi-disciplinary research, research on the intersection of public health and supply chain management, research on the intersection of ethics and operations management, and research on cross-sectoral partnerships.

The authors’ work is limited to peer-reviewed journal articles published in English. They did not include books, conference proceedings and think-tank or NGO reports. However, the authors do recognize that these sources can be very valuable.

To best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to review the literature on vulnerable populations under the threat of epidemics and pandemics.