Renata Albergaria de Mello Bandeira

Evaluation of community leaders’ perception regarding Alerta Rio, the warning system for landslides caused by heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro

Warning systems help reduce damage and save lives in disasters; however, there is a lack of research analyzing the population perception of these systems. In Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), because the city slums face the risk of landslides caused by heavy rains, a siren early warning system named “Alerta Rio” was installed in 102 areas. The purpose of this paper was to understand the perception of community leaders regarding this alert system. To this end, a survey was conducted with community leaders to collect data on whether and why the public do or do not attend to the alert. Results indicated that (1) public adherence to Alerta Rio is low despite the generally positive view of the system, (2) local violence was reported as the reason for staying at home to protect one’s property, and (3) problems with temporary shelters and the routes to them result in lack of people’s involvement in the system. Whereas these factors are similar to population perception regarding other warning systems, the community leaders also raised the public’s lack of trust in the city hall’s adopted concept of risk and in the politicians as a relevant factor in the population perception of Alerta Rio. These factors, together with the lack of prevention policies complementary with the alert system, led to perception of reduced importance of the system. For potential solutions to enhance alarm compliance, this study recommends improvement in communication, educational programs, and public engagement strategies tailored for each target group.

Cadeia de suprimentos humanitária: uma análise dos processos de atuação em desastres naturais

This paper presents an analysis of the logistical processes adopted in response operations to six natural disasters that occurred between 2000 and 2011: Mozambique (2000), Indian Ocean (2004), Pakistan (2005), Haiti (2010), Japan (2011), and Brazil (2011). The selection of the studied events was based on the extent of their impact, considering the number of casualties and the number of victims affected by the disaster. Based on an analysis of secondary data, the best practices, the problems that occurred and the main challenges of these humanitarian operations are identified. As a result, suggestions are proposed to improve the effectiveness and the success rate of the logistics process in other humanitarian response operations. Finally, this study contributes to the identification of procedures that can serve as the basis for the development of more effective models for the response operations of similar events.