APPLICATION OF CELL PHONE STATISTICS FOR ESTIMATING STRANDED PEOPLE BEHAVIOR AFTER SEVERE EARTHQUAKE IN TOKYO

In this paper, we present a walking home simulation as anticipated after a large earthquake, and analyze people’s behaviors, walking and stopping, including the crowding of facilities by those unable to walk all the way home. For creating the necessary data for this simulation, we construct a method to estimate the spatiotemporal distribution of people with detailed individual information such as sex-age classification, and home location, by assembling population distribution data (Mobile Spatial Statistics and Person Trip survey data). The walking home simulation results verified significant variations in the crowding of facilities for stranded people due to differences in the day of the week and the time of the earthquake. Locations in Tokyo with insufficient numbers of facilities for stranded people were identified and some spatiotemporal characteristics of crowding, such as changes in crowding with time elapsed since the earthquake, were described

STRESS-STRAIN CAPACITY ANALYSIS FOR THE IMPACT OF NATURAL DISASTERS ON COUPLED INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES

Infrastructure facilities serve as the backbone of the communities and industries by sustaining social and economic activities through their services. However, the physical impact of a disaster can have an adverse effect on the functioning of the infrastructure. In addition, the affected infrastructure facilities are unable to adequately meet the needs of the community immediately after the disaster. Thus, to compensate for gaps in services, infrastructure facilities are likely to run their systems, such that it puts additional stress on their resources that exceeds their designed capacities at the expense of level of service. For example, after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, disrupted utility services, limited available road networks, and the lack of civic governance influenced the capacity of all essential service providers such as hospitals. Furthermore, the hospitals that were impacted by the earthquake had limited resources, such as water and power utility for operating the hospitals, beds for patients, medical staff, and medical supplies, to meet the increased health needs of the community. As a result, the hospitals in Haiti had to put excessive stress on their available resources, as their remaining capacities were not enough to accommodate the increased number of patients without assistance from NGOs or other external entities. If the emergency managers of the hospitals were able to evaluate their remaining capacities based on the excessive stress so that they could make appropriate strategies for mitigating the excessive stress ahead of time, the infrastructure facility would have serviced the affected communities more efficiently

Investigating Tourists\u27 Decision Making and Intentions for Outdoor Recreation Participation During Early COVID-19

This dissertation aims at discerning tourists’ behaviors and decision making processes for outdoor recreation participation, during the early COVID-19 pandemic. An outdoor recreation trip is defined in this study as “a journey involving at least one overnight stay away from home, and where the purpose is to engage in recreational activities in an outdoor or natural environment.” This dissertation first explores the factors that inhibit tourists’ desires for participating in outdoor recreation trips, the strategies they apply to avoid COVID-19 transmission, and the motivational factors that induce their desires for outdoor recreation participation in the COVID-19 context. The impact of COVID-19 is heterogeneous, in nature, with some liberals about the virus whereas the others being more cautious. Then, this dissertation identifies the tourist segments in the population based on their COVID-19 perceptions, and their ability to apply strategies during planning or participating in outdoor recreation trips. Additionally, how tourists\u27 COVID-19 perceptions along with their information search behavior affect the formation of attitudes, desires, social norms, and intentions to participate in outdoor recreation trips in the future is described. Finally, from a group of respondents who recently participated in outdoor recreation trips, this study discerns the relationship between tourists’ evaluation of COVID-19 measures at the destination and tourists\u27 value, satisfaction, and future intentions to visit or recommend the destination to others. Based on different analyses, this study sheds light on tourists\u27 perceptions and behaviors which are useful for tourism destinations and managers to develop marketing, operational, and advertising strategies

Special Interest Groups Versus Voters and the Political Economics of Attention

We examine whether representatives are more likely to serve long-term campaign donors instead of constituents during times of low media attention to politics. Based on 425 roll calls between 2005 and 2014 in the US House of Representatives, we show that representatives are more likely to vote with special interests and against constituency interests when the two are in conflict. Importantly, the latter effect is significantly larger when there is less attention on politics due to exogenous newsworthy events. The opportunistic behavior seems not to be mediated by short-term scheduling of sensitive votes right after distracting events

Natural disasters : what is the role for social safety nets?

This paper makes the case for why safety nets are an important tool for managing the risk of natural hazards. The use of safety nets is advocated both ex ante, to prevent and mitigate the impact of natural disaster and ex post, to cope with the impacts of natural shocks. Firstly, the paper explores the implications of contextual factors to be taken into account in the design of an effective safety net system to respond to the needs generated by natural disasters. Learning from the responses to a number of recent natural disasters, a typology of the different types of natural hazards which require different approaches to reduce their risk is introduced. Secondly, the paper considers some'guidelines'for improving the design and implementation of safety nets either to prevent and/or to recover from natural disasters. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations for more effective safety net and suggestions for addressing key issues are outlined.Safety Nets and Transfers,Hazard Risk Management,Food&Beverage Industry,Labor Policies,Natural Disasters