Charlotte Brown

Disaster Waste Management: A Review Article

Depending on their nature and severity, disasters can create large volumes of debris and waste. The waste can overwhelm existing solid waste management facilities and impact on other emergency response and recovery activities. If poorly managed, the waste can have significant environmental and public health impacts and can affect the overall recovery process. This paper presents a system overview of disaster waste management based on existing literature. The main literature available to date comprises disaster waste management plans or guidelines and isolated case studies. There is ample discussion on technical management options such as temporary storage sites, recycling, disposal, etc.; however, there is little or no guidance on how these various management options are selected post-disaster. The literature does not specifically address the impact or appropriateness of existing legislation, organisational structures and funding mechanisms on disaster waste management programmes, nor does it satisfactorily cover the social impact of disaster waste management programmes. It is envisaged that the discussion presented in this paper, and the literature gaps identified, will form a basis for future comprehensive and cohesive research on disaster waste management. In turn, research will lead to better preparedness and response to disaster waste management problems.

Waste management as a 'Lifeline'? A New Zealand case study analysis.

Purpose – Lifelines (also referred to as critical infrastructure) are referred to here as the essential infrastructure and services that support the life of our community. In a disaster response and recovery situation, provision of Lifelines, is essential. New Zealand has several mechanisms to improve the responses of lifeline service providers in a disaster situation, including pre‐event planning and coordination groups and legislative provisions for timely response in an emergency. Currently, waste management is not formally included in either the coordination process or the legislative provisions for Lifelines. This paper aims to address whether or not waste management should be included in these.Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative and semi‐qualitative matrix‐based assessments were used to determine the relative importance of provision of waste management services in a disaster‐recovery situation.Findings – The paper argues that waste management should be included in Lifeline planning in New Zeal...

Business recovery: an assessment framework

This paper presents a Business Recovery Assessment Framework (BRAF) to help researchers and practitioners design robust, repeatable, and comparable studies of business recovery in various post-disruption contexts. Studies assessing business recovery without adequately considering the research aims, recovery definitions, and indicators can produce misleading findings. The BRAF is composed of a series of steps that guide the decisions that researchers need to make to ensure: (i) that recovery is indeed being measured; (ii) that the indicators of recovery that are selected align with the objectives of the study and the definition of recovery; and, where necessary, (iii) that appropriate comparative control variables are in place. The paper draws on a large dataset of business surveys collected following the earthquakes in Canterbury, New Zealand, on 4 September 2010 and 22 February 2011 to demonstrate the varied conclusions that different recovery indicators can produce and to justify the need for a systematic approach to business recovery assessments.

Measuring the organizational resilience of critical infrastructure providers: A New Zealand case study

Abstract Modern societies are becoming increasingly dependent on critical infrastructure services. This dependence is not only on the technology used in infrastructures, but also on the organizations that manage the infrastructures. Initiatives that assess infrastructure resilience often concentrate on strengthening the physical infrastructure through robustness and redundancy. Few studies recognize the important role of critical infrastructure providers. This study presents a method for assessing the organizational resilience of critical infrastructure providers. The method is demonstrated using data from a group of critical infrastructure providers in New Zealand. The application of the Benchmark Resilience Tool developed by Resilient Organisations reveals that the surveyed organizations are strong in effective partnerships, but are weak in breaking silos and in conducting stress testing plans. The results also indicate that senior managers have much more positive views of the resilience of their organizations compared with other staff members.