1,721,715 research outputs found
Editorial : 4th International Conference on Building Resilience, Building Resilience 2014, 8-10 September 2014, Salford Quays, United kingdom
No full textThis volume includes selected papers presented at the 4th International Conference on Building Resilience, held in MediaCity, Salford Quays, United Kingdom from 8th – 11th September 2014. The conference was organised by: the Centre for Disaster Resilience, University of Salford, United Kingdom; the Global Disaster Resilience Centre, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom; and the ANDROID Disaster Resilience Network, a project of the EU Lifelong Learning Programme.The conference was organised in association with: the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR); the International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment; the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC); the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO; the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT); Collaborative Action towards Disaster Resilience Education (CADRE); Collaborative Action towards Societal Challenges through Awareness, Development, and Education (CASCADE); and, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).The conference incorporated keynote addresses by: Professor Martin Hall, Vice Chancellor, University of Salford; Dan Lewis, Chief, Urban Risk Reduction, UN-HABITAT; Dan Lewis, Chief, Urban Risk Reduction, UNHABITAT; Professor Siri Hettige, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and and Adjunct Professor, RMIT University, Australia; Professor Janaka Ruwanpura, Vice-Provost (International), University of Calgary, Canada; and, Professor Samantha Hettiarachchi, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Flash Flood Assessment for Wadi Mousa City-Jordan
No full textThis paper aims to assess risks due to potential Flash Floods hazards in Wadi Mousa and to determine the magnitude of flows for flash flood hazards and construct Floodplain Zone maps for the selected flood return periods of 25, 50, 75 and 100 years. Wadi Mousa is considered an ephemeral wadi with intermittent flash flood of flows that can exceed the 298 m3/s threshold. Its floods, however, do not flow every year. Nevertheless, at certain years the extent of flood can be huge. The surface drainage may be broadly divided into sub-catchments according to drainage namely; Wadi Als-Sader, Wadi Jelwakh with Wadi Khaleel, Wadi Al-Maghir. Wadi Zarraba is the confluence of the three sub- catchments. The study covers an area of 53.3 km2 and comprises a high semi -arid infrequent flash floods generated by heavy rainstorm over the catchment and flows to Wadi Araba. Average annual rainfall of Wadi Mousa was calculated of 178 mm, and average annual evapotranspiration is 1300 mm per year. The runoff analysis indicates that only rainfall events exceeding 22 mm within the 24 hour period would generate runoff
Challenges in Creating a Disaster Resilient Built Environment
No full textWith the increase in occurrences of high impact disasters, the concept of risk reduction and resilience is widely recognised.
Recent disasters have highlighted the exposure of urban cities to natural disasters and emphasised the need of making cities resilient to disasters. Built environment plays an important role in every city and need to be functional and operational at a time of a disaster and is expected to provide protection to people and other facilities. However, recent disasters have highlighted the
vulnerability of the built assets to natural disasters and therefore it is very much important to focus on creating a disaster resilient
built environment within cities. However the process of making a disaster resilient built environment is a complex process where
many challenges are involved. Accordingly the paper aims at exploring the challenges involved in building a disaster resilient built environment. Paper discusses the findings of some expert interviews and three case studies which have been conducted in Sri Lanka by selecting three cities which are potentially vulnerable to threats posed by natural hazards. The empirical evidence
revealed, lack of regulatory frameworks; unplanned cities and urbanisation; old building stocks and at risk infrastructure; unauthorised structures; institutional arrangements; inadequate capacities of municipal councils; lack of funding; inadequacy of qualified human resources; and corruption and unlawful activities as major challenges for creating a disaster resilient built environment within Sri Lankan cities. The paper proposes a set of recommendations to address these prevailing concerns and to build a more resilient built environment within cities
Conflict, post conflict and post-conflict reconstruction: exploring the associated challenges
No full textThis chapter aims to explore the associated post-conflict reconstruction challenges through identifying the links and interdependencies between conflict, post conflict and post-conflict reconstruction, based on a
comprehensive literature survey and review (reports, journal articles and conference papers) carried out on conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction. The chapter starts with an introduction to conflicts identifying their causes and impact. The next section describes the conflict circle followed by an introduction to the post-conflict environment. The last section is focused on post-conflict reconstruction through identifying key activities, challenges and dilemmas. A summary of the chapter is provided at the end
Preparing, responding and re-opening:Lessons from the UK to emerge during the COVID-19 pandemic
Full text linkA year after the first human cases of Covid-19 were identified in late 2019, the global Covid-19 pandemic had already killed more than 2.25 million people and infected more than 103 million people. By late 2020, the disease caused by this novel coronavirus had resulted in devastating health, economic, social and environmental impacts on countries across the world. In attempting to reduce these impacts, governments have introduced a wide range of different measures and with varying levels of success. The novel coronavirus has hit Europe especially hard, and the UK has had one of the continent’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks, recording among the highest Covid-19 deaths per million people. The UK Government has taken numerous measures to minimise the virus’s impacts across three stages of the pandemic: preparedness, responding, and re-opening. This study evaluates the UK pandemic risk governance approach by examining the strengths, weaknesses and challenges across these three stages. The study is based on a systematic desk review of publications in the Science Direct, Emerald and Google Scholar databases. A literature review protocol was developed in carrying out the study. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, forty-six papers were selected from the three databases for the review. The analysis revealed several best practices within the UK pandemic risk governance system but also exposed shortcomings and challenges related to each of the preparedness, response and re-opening stages. Further analysis of this literature also revealed potential strategies to overcome these challenges. These included strengthening pandemic preparedness measures, strengthening social and economic support systems and assuring risk governance mechanisms. The study provides valuable insights on areas to be strengthened for future pandemic preparedness and response measures
A more decentralized governance framework for pandemic response:A multi-stakeholder approach for COVID-19 preparedness and planning in Sri Lanka
Full text linkThe entire world is in an unprecedented dysfunction since 11 th March 2020 when the WHO declared a global pandemic as unprecedented health and socioeconomic issues emerged with the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated 53 coronavirus diseases (COVID-19). This challenging pandemic has created a greater shock on regular activities of every social strata resulting in a significant decline in economic growth and health sector progression. A serious wearing down of infrastructure, human resources and emergency response in the public health sector was visible in many countries, irrespective of the level of economic and social development. In this backdrop, many scholars are exploring appropriate and effective resilient systems to govern pandemic risks in varied settings. It is observed that Sri Lanka's pandemic response is not properly embedded with the country's Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) framework and in many aspects, it is heavily reliant on the public health sector authority. In further elaborating the identified gap, this study explored many possible policy amalgamations that can be considered to improve the effectiveness of pandemic response activities at sub-national levels in Sri Lanka. Many government authorities, universities, volunteer agencies including NGOs, private sector organisations and the community can be efficiently integrated into pandemic response activities, vesting necessary responsibilities and authority for contingency and financial decision making at the sub-national level. This system further ensures the unique and contextual approach in pandemic response at the Divisional Secretariat level of each sub-region, which consists of diverse cultures. A large number of public officers are employed at District Secretary (DS) level in different areas of work such as finance, statistic and information, development, public health, livelihood, legal, police, child protection and probation, social welfare, elderly care, poverty alleviation, etc. within the public administration protocol adopted in Sri Lanka. These official positions can also be effectively integrated with the pandemic preparedness and response mechanisms at sub-national level
Building Resilience:Introduction
Full text linkThe recent COVID-19 pandemic has been perceived and experienced by most governments and societies across the globe as an unprecedented shock. However, facts reveal that pandemics have been far from alien. Before the advent of the Coronavirus, a number of outbreaks have repeatedly triggered the world ranging from those as early as the Spanish flu of 1918, the Asian flu of 1957 to more recent outbreaks such as HIV/AIDS in 1981, SARS in 2003 and MERS in 2012. Most countries have demonstrated a low level of preparedness for COVID-19, have failed to incorporate pandemics in their Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies, and to act on the basis of science and warnings about the threat of a pandemic. COVID-19 has given rise to complex risk scenarios and compound vulnerabilities which most countries have hardly anticipated. Most countries have barely recognized multi-hazard scenarios although now they are faced with the challenge of responding to extreme climatic events such as floods, earthquakes and landslides in the midst of their boundless efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has called into question the viability of existing response mechanisms to climatic events and urged relevant stakeholders to rethink their approaches, at all levels. The effects of the pandemic have not failed to transcend the health sector, cascading into other sectors such as the economy, society, legal systems and politics. This way, the pandemic has not just dismantled one part of a system but failed the entire system thereby showcasing the systemic nature of risks
COVID-19 nexus with food security and sustainable growth:Impacts, implications and road to resilience in Sri Lanka
Full text linkCovid-19 pandemic, one of the most significant humanitarian and development setbacks faced by humankind in the known history, imposes immeasurable risks to the progress of sustainable development and human wellbeing. It is a health crisis that went beyond anyone’s control, leading to a global pandemic, but on the other end, it is an economic catastrophe that might takes years, if not decades, for a full recovery. Impacts vary from region to region, country to country and district to district, depending on how resilient, lean, agile the systems are. However, impacts are undoubtedly immense. Developed, developing, and least developed countries are battling to regain social, cultural and economic progress. Due to the pandemic, Sustainable Development Goals, commonly known as SDGs, the global blueprint with clearly set development targets to be achieved by 2030, has faced enormous strain as never before. Among 17 goals of the SDGs, Goal 1: No Poverty, Goal 2: Zero Hunger, Goal 03: Good Health and Well-being, Goal 4: Quality Education, and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth have been pushed back by the pandemic. While the pandemic has significant impacts on all the goals and targets, this chapter specifically discusses the impacts of Covid-19 on goals 1 and 2 and their overall impacts on food security and sustainable growth, with particular emphasis on Sri Lanka. The chapter also discusses potential recovery options to regain the path to SDG, prosperity and splendour in the island nation
Measuring quality : how does this improve construction performance?
No full textThe paper charts the history and development of the Hong Kong Housing Department (HKHD) Performance Assessment Scoring System (PASS) from 1990 to the present day and examines its effect on facilitating change to the quality of construction work of building contractors engaged in the production of public sector housing projects Hong Kong. The paper builds partly on empirical research carried out by the author as part of a doctoral thesis from 2000 to 2005, on experiential knowledge and also on some relevant case studies. The outcomes from this earlier research and validation of PASS based on results derived from the system since the research was originally undertaken are of benefit to practitioners and academics working and studying in the areas of performance assessment and organisational culture and change. The conclusions presented in the paper further underpin the connection established in previous research between strong organisational culture and project and corporate success. Organisational culture was measured using a survey instrument originally developed by Denison and Neale (1994), adapted for the environment of the study, and corporate success was measured by the PASS system mentioned above. The major results of the original study indicate that there is significant linkage between strong organisational cultures and business success and the detailed findings were that, (1) strong organisational culture was positively associated a high level of company effectiveness, (2) a high level of company effectiveness was positively associated with the cultural traits of ‘consistency’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘mission’, and (3) a high level of company effectiveness was positively associated with the combined cultural traits represented by the dimensions of ‘external focus’ and ‘stable culture’. Several opportunities to take forward this research have been identified, including extending the study to other countries and also longitudinally re-evaluating some of the original case studies to ascertain how organisational cultures have changed or further developed in relation to the changing construction climate in Hong Kong
Analysing the effectiveness of varied stakeholder segments in preparedness planning for epidemics and pandemics in Sri Lanka:Application of Social Network Analysis (SNA)
Full text linkThe COVID-19 outbreak has caused severe disruptions in health, social, economic, and political sectors highlighting the need for focusing on the dynamic nature of systemic risks. The cascading impacts of the COVID-19 have already evidenced the systemic nature of risks related to biological outbreaks. Therefore, the emulation of a multi-sectoral approach for preparedness planning related to biological hazards has become a global concern. This research aims at outlining major stakeholders in epidemic and pandemic preparedness planning in Sri Lanka including those who are responsible for potential cascading impacts. The process of identifying stakeholders and their roles has drawn on a review of secondary literature and primary data gathered through in-depth interviews conducted with key informants in the disaster management and public health sectors in the country. Social Network Analysis approach was used to visualise and analyse the network of stakeholders. Findings have highlighted that currently, the preparedness planning related to epidemics and pandemics in Sri Lanka is a health sector-led process. There is a pressing need for a unified legal framework and a streamlined system of governance for risk management related to biological hazards in the country. Furthermore, it is important to broaden the scope of stakeholders involved in preparedness planning for biological hazards and to include the private sector, international development agencies, and community-based organisations. Moreover, there is a need to intensify the national focus on building economic and social resilience to address the potential cascading impacts. Key findings of this study will help to enhance the effectiveness of preparedness planning for biological hazards, through a multi-sectoral approach operational under a unified legal framewor
- …
