Sudha Arlikatti

Risk Area Accuracy and Hurricane Evacuation Expectations of Coastal Residents

This study examined the accuracy with which Texas coastal residents were able to locate their residences on hurricane risk area maps provided to them. Overall, only 36% of the respondents correctly identified their risk areas and another 28% were off by one risk area. Risk area accuracy shows minimal correlations with respondents’ demographic characteristics but is negatively correlated with the respondent’s previous hurricane exposure and evacuation experience. Ultimately, risk area accuracy appears to have little significance because it is uncorrelated with evacuation expectations. Instead, the latter were related to respondents’ previous hazard experience and expected evacuation context.

Assessing the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami on households: a modified domestic assets index approach

This paper offers a potential measurement solution for assessing disaster impacts and subsequent recovery at the household level by using a modified domestic assets index (MDAI) approach. Assessment of the utility of the domestic assets index first proposed by Bates, Killian and Peacock (1984) has been confined to earthquake areas in the Americas and southern Europe. This paper modifies and extends the approach to the Indian sub-continent and to coastal surge hazards utilizing data collected from 1,000 households impacted by the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004) in the Nagapattinam district of south-eastern India. The analyses suggest that the MDAI scale is a reliable and valid measure of household living conditions and is useful in assessing disaster impacts and tracking recovery efforts over time. It can facilitate longitudinal studies, encourage cross-cultural, cross-national comparisons of disaster impacts and inform national and international donors of the itemized monetary losses from disasters at the household level.

Sources of organisational resiliency during the Thailand floods of 2011: a test of the bonding and bridging hypotheses.

Based on the Institutional Collective Action framework, this research tests the impact of two competing hypotheses--bonding and bridging--on enhancing organisational resiliency. The bonding hypothesis posits that organisational resiliency can be achieved if an organisation works closely with others, whereas the bridging hypothesis argues that such a structure places considerable stress on an organisation and advocates for an organisation to position itself as a central actor to gain access to novel resources from a diverse set of entities to achieve resiliency. The paper analyses data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 44 public, private, and non-profit organisations serving communities affected by the Great Floods of 2011 in the Thai capital, Bangkok (urban), and in Pathum Thani (suburban) and Ayutthaya (rural) provinces. The findings suggest that: organisational resiliency was associated with the bridging effect; organisations in the rural province were more resilient than those in the suburban and urban centres; and private and non-governmental organisations generally were more resilient than public sector organisations. The findings highlight the importance of fostering multi-sector partnerships to enhance organisational resiliency for disaster response.

Using provincial baseline indicators to model geographic variations of disaster resilience in Thailand

Understanding a community’s capacity for responding to and recovering from natural disasters has been an emphasis of recent disaster research. In particular, scholars have called for the development of methodologies for measuring a location’s resilience to disasters. While several studies propose methodologies and frameworks for measuring disaster resilience in the USA, few studies examine and measure resilience in international settings. This study applies Cutter et al.’s (Glob Environ Change 18:598–606, 2008) Disaster Resilience of Place (DROP) model in order to examine disaster resilience at the provincial level in Thailand. Guided by the DROP model, 25 variables were selected from the 2000 and 2010 Thai Census and 2005–2006 Statistical Yearbook that served as indicators of resilience. Using a principal component analysis, a set of baseline metrics reflecting dimensions of community capacities that influence disaster resilience was created. This analysis resulted in four dimensions describing resilience: household assets, economic assets, community/response assets, and institutional assets. Using the derived index, a correlation analysis was then conducted to examine differences in rural and urban disaster resilience. While the results of the model suggest that disaster resilience is generally higher in the more urbanized areas, we also note that communities located in rural areas in Thailand may not necessarily be less resilient to the impacts of disasters and call for studies conducted at both the macrolevel (provincial level) and at microlevel (village or neighborhood level) to get a nuanced understanding of community resiliency.

How do you warn them if they speak only Spanish? Challenges for organizations in communicating risk to Colonias residents in Texas, USA

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the information channels used by public and nonprofit organizations to communicate disaster risk information to Colonias residents in Hidalgo County, Texas. It seeks to find creative and proactive solutions for organizations to improve risk education to these constituents. Design/methodology/approach – Initially a snowball sampling technique was used to conduct six face-to-face interviews. This was followed by an online survey sent to 64 reputational referrals, of which 23 completed the survey, generating a response rate of 34 percent. A comparative analysis between public and nonprofit organizations and the Fischers exact test were employed to analyze the data. Findings – Channel preferences for providing risk information varied with public organizations using the television (TV) and the nonprofit organizations using bilingual staff for outreach. The television, radio, public events, and bilingual staff were considered to be the most effective while soci...

Challenges of Effective E-governance: Problems of Transparency, Infrastructure, and Connectivity in Kenya

Seven years after the e-governance strategy was conceptualized in Kenya in 2004, its vision of building trust and increasing transparency and citizen access to the government has received only limited success. This chapter presents an overview of the challenges in implementing the e-government initiatives in Kenya, which include endemic corruption and lack of citizen involvement within many ranks of Kenyan society, low Internet penetration and connectivity in poor rural households, and costly satellite transmission. The authors detail a few successes such as the M-PESA program which facilitates online money transfer and the recent (July 2009) laying of the underground SEACOM fiber-optic cable that will increase Internet penetration, and provide faster, affordable Internet to more Kenyans. They close on a positive note that increased expenditure on ICT infrastructure and renewed emphasis by the Kenyan government to reduce corruption and increase government accountability will help in expanding e-governance initiatives in Kenya in years to come.

Determinants of Emergency Management Decision Support Software Technology: An Empirical Analysis of Social Influence in Technology Adoption

Abstract Technology is being applied to governmental functions with the intent to improve governmental operations. Most research on technology acceptance has focused on the private sector with less being applied to the public sector, and little applied to the domain of disaster management. As we continue to expand upon technological applications in governmental affairs, it is important to understand how the increasing role of information and communications technology (ICT) affects disaster management. Utilizing a conceptual model adapting Venkatesh et al’s (2003) unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model to an emergency management context, factors of performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence along with emergency management specific factors such as threat perception, disaster history, social vulnerability, disaster exercises and emergency management collaboration are used to examine the intent to use EMDSS. Multiple regression analysis using data obtained from a survey of local emergency managers in FEMA Region VI taken in the fall of 2012 indicate that social influence, effort expectancy, community social vulnerability and collaboration among emergency management agencies influences the intent to use EMDSS technology. This study contributes to our understanding of technology adoption among local governments by showing that the factors that influence emergency management officials’ intent to use EMDSS differ from factors found in private sector applications. Most notably, in EMDSS applications, social influence and ease of use are the strongest predictors of intent to use rather than performance expectations.

Adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by local emergency management agencies in the United States

Abstract Although local emergency management agencies are increasingly using various technologies to improve disaster management, little research provides an understanding of the linkages between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use and independent IT departments. Using a survey of local emergency managers in the United States of America, this study focuses on the relationship between the presence of an independent IT department within an emergency management agency and their adoption of three types of ICTs – emergency operations, risk communication, and social media technologies. The findings indicate that emergency management agencies are more likely to use all three types of ICTs when an independent IT department exists in-house. On the other hand, challenges of the ever changing ICTs are alleviated when there is no designated IT department. Implications for practice with regards to reducing barriers to ICT use for emergency management are discussed.

Multi-sector Partnerships in Disaster Housing Recovery: An Examination of Housing Development Approaches in India

Post-disaster recovery is inextricably linked with housing and livelihoods recovery. However, there is a dearth of studies that systematically discuss a country’s multi-sector partnership arrangements in the context of disaster housing recovery. To fill this gap, the authors examine housing policy changes in India through the lens of housing recovery programs initiated in the aftermath of the Killari earthquake in the Latur district of Maharashtra in 1993, the Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat in 2001, and the Great Tsunami of 2004 in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. Since the early 1990s under the flagship of the housing reform movement in India and inspired by global disaster risk reduction strategies, the adoption of public-private-nonprofit partnerships in housing recovery packages have been steadily evolving, and strongly encouraged. This chapter highlights the various approaches adopted in three states of India. The challenges of choosing and implementing owner driven, donor assisted participatory or subsidiary housing approaches, and village adoption, relocation and matching programs, in disaster impacted communities are detailed. The case studies demonstrate lessons learned and suggest improvements to foster synergistic multi-sector partnerships for housing recovery that are self-sustaining and intertwined with overall economic development objectives of communities.

Challenges for Multi-sector Organizations in Tracking and Sheltering Registered Sex Offenders in Disasters

Abstract Emergency response personnel are called upon by society to solve, in a short and urgent time frame, policy dilemmas that have been perplexing even under conditions of leisurely consideration. In the wake of hurricane Katrina the methods for preparing, designating, operating and maintaining safe General Population Shelters (GPS) and Sex Offender Shelters (SOS) for unique populations received increased national scrutiny. This was because post Katrina, over 2000-registered sex offenders were placed into shelters and then evacuated to 30 states without the knowledge of the judicial system or the receiving states. The rapid proliferation of sex offender minimal use distance/ residence laws have created a new set of location conflicts and exacerbated problems for multi-sector organizations involved in providing safe post-disaster temporary shelters for the evacuees.This paper examines these conflicting residence laws, the variety of sex offender shelter types available, and the challenges faced by the Red Cross, emergency managers and law enforcement agencies in using these alternatives while trying to provide equitable shelter options for all. Data consists of systematic searches of news media reports, journal articles, FEMA reports, and state/ federal laws and regulations. Additionally, face to face interviews were conducted with seven key informants– emergency managers from three cities in the North Texas Region, two high ranking American Red Cross personnel, and two law enforcement officials concerned with providing safe shelters to evacuees in Texas.The paper is concluded by offering future considerations for research and suggesting that multi-sector, multi-level organizations work together in sharing their challenges and finding common ground that will prevent the diversion of resources and multiplicity of efforts. This will ensure that mass care and sheltering operations become more streamlined, and more reflective of the latest scientific knowledge.