Team Performance in Flood Emergency Response: A Conceptual Model and Scale Development

Based on the literature on knowledge integration, social media, and emergency management, the purpose of this paper to present our conceptual model of EM team performance and propose a rigorous approach in scale development and validation it, scale which can be used to assess organizations volunteer and staff work on flood field used social media. This study conceptualizes the construct of EM team performance and generates an initial 39 item EM task scale. Based on the sample data, this study provides an empirical validation of the EMTP constructs and its underlying dimensionality, and develops a generic EMT scale with desirable psychometric properties, including face validity, content validity and pilot testing.This study develops and validates a 30-item EM task scale with 6 constructs (task characteristic, task technology, task technology fit, social media usage, knowledge integration and EM team performance). This study is a pioneering effort to develop and validate EMTP scale and will contribute to the development of knowledge integration literature and add to the repository of rigorous research instruments for researcher’s utilization

Lessons in Building Professional Networks During Times of Crisis and their Impact on Nuclear Security Culture: The Case of the Black Sea Women in Nuclear Network

This paper describes the establishment of a new professional network for women in nuclear that represents the interests of professionals in the Black Sea region. The paper examines the benefits of creating and sustaining professional networks for women, and it underlines the role of such networks in strengthening regional security culture during times of crisis using the Black Sea Women in Nuclear Network (BSWN) as a case study. In general, the network provides an interdisciplinary platform for professionals to promote gender equity and increase women’s leadership roles, as well as professional exchanges, mentoring, and training opportunities. More specifically, since its inception, the network has spearheaded several unique programs and initiatives. Many BSWN members currently work in challenging environments, which means they are especially adept at rapidly transforming problems into solutions. The network has provided concrete support to its community during the war in Ukraine and the earthquake in Türkiye and facilitated information-sharing on available resources and reliable news. With its own programs, the network provides a particular regional platform that complements other organizations’ efforts

Building a resilient skills ecosystem: situational analysis report on the forward path of education and training in light of the pandemic and 4IR/5IR shifts in the ETD sector: schooling subsector

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered unprecedented disruptions across various sectors, particularly in education and training. The Education, Training, and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP SETA) explored the profound impact of the pandemic within the framework of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on its constituencies. This report focuses on the Schooling subsector in South Africa. The analysis delves into the dynamic shifts in technology, skills demand, and learning paradigms brought about by the intersection of the 4IR and the pandemic.

Location Based Service for improving Chabot Disaster Management Evacuator Palu

The devastating earthquake that struck Palu on the island of Sulawesi last September ripped through the Earth's crust at a rare high speed, scientists have found. When the disaster is over, many natural disaster victims need immediate help. The call center provided is usually busy with services and complaints from victims of natural disasters. The greater the impact of natural disasters, the more information services that must be carried out. By using CEPAT chatbot for disaster evacuation in Palu, information about evacuation place can be given to victim by access it. Then when the victim shares their location, CEPAT will give the nearest evacuation place information using LBS improvement Chabot

Redefining the setting of intervention in combating violence against women: The voice of professionals in emergencies

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a worldwide phenomenon, comparable to global epidemics and pandemics. The most widespread form of violence is domestic violence (DV). During the COVID-19 pandemic, DV increased because the former reinforced the underlying risk factors. The most appropriate model to address GBV is the ecological model, which allows addressing individual, relational, collective, and organisational levels of analysis and their interaction. Aim of the study was to identify organizational dimensions to improve the effectiveness of services against GBV in emergencies. To this end, ten professionals from gender-based anti-violence services who served during the lock-out were interviewed. The interviews were conducted and analysed through Thematic Analysis Methodology. Results show that during the pandemic many difficulties arose in the organisation of interventions and settings, and new potentials emerged too, especially in remote work, which offered new possibilities to reorganise the services work. The pandemic results highlight methods and strategies that can be applied to develop an operational model to deal with violence against people during emergencie

Consumer Location Based Service Perceptions and Response: a focus on Location Based Services and Emerging Mobile Lifestyles

Location Based Services (LBS) and electronically mediated lifestyles (e-lifestyles) represent emergent new areas with approaches (e.g. apps and e-activities) billed to change customer experiences and responses. Marketers are confronted with a challenge of understanding how consumers engage with mobile services and how to design appropriate strategies towards that (Donovan, 2013). A review of extant literature has indicated that the implementation of marketing strategies based on LBS is still in its infancy, and yet to gain widespread acceptance by consumers. The role of individual differences in consumer response to LBS is not reported in any substantive way in the literature- yet we know that e-lifestyles are now shaping different consumer responses to LBS. This PhD addresses this important area, with a focus on the role of e-lifestyles in consumer response to location-based services. The study relied on a sequential multimethod qualitative method of enquiry. Initially, in the first phase of data collection, relevant LBS websites were observed over a three-month period to explore consumer familiarity, attitudes and experience, offering some rich insights into consumer LBS awareness. In phase two of the research, specialist interviews (thirty-eight in total) were used in conjunction with cartoon tests as an effective way to establish the role of e-lifestyles, situational decision making as well as capturing actual (typical) consumer response in LBS encounters. In phase three, three focus groups were conducted with different user groups (young students, young professionals and older established working participants with families) to examine the role of individual factors in consumer LBS response. Findings in the study point to good experience with LBS with some selective engagement depending on user group profile, which broke down into ‘Involved’, ‘Observer’ or ‘Transaction’ orientations. Phase two (innovative cartoon tests) led to findings that mapped actual consumer response pathways in simulated encounters- four response pathways unique to this study emerged (immediate, delayed/future response, socially-mediated response and indifference). Findings also point towards influential individual factors such as variation on the basis of life stage, distinct patterns of proactivity and reactivity to LBS messages and the importance of situational factors on the nature of LBS response. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on LBS and e-lifestyles theory by providing deeper insights on actual consumer response process in typical LBS encounters (e.g. the UK context). It adds fresh insights into typical response processes by using specialist scenarios reflective of typical LBS encounters to map key response pathways, capturing ‘live’ customer experiences of different forms of LBS and interrogating the rationale behind individual responses using LBS scenarios. Findings also offer a clearer classification of customer response types (e.g. proactive and self-referencing LBS; reactive and cross-referencing LBS). By combining situational context, e-lifestyle and individual attributes influencing individual response to LBS in a single study, this research takes forward the argument of Weiss (2013) on the need for more in-depth examination of consumer response to LBS and takes further previous LBS adoption studies (Zhou, 2012)

Information use and decision-making for evacuation at Fuego volcano, Guatemala

For populations living with risk to rapid-onset environmental hazards, an effective early warning system (EWS) may be the most viable short- to mid-term solution for risk reduction. At Fuego volcano, Guatemala, more than 60,000 people distributed between more than 30 small communities live within the identified hazard zones for pyroclastic density currents (PDCS), highly lethal hot avalanches and surges of volcanic gases, rock, and ash. Despite ongoing risk reduction efforts by scientific and civil protection authorities, more than 400 people died during a paroxysmal eruption on 3 June 2018 when PDCs reached populated areas. A high-end resort, La Reunión, evacuated before the climactic PDCs, suffering no casualties, while the town of San Miguel Los Lotes did not, resulting in the loss of possibly 40% or more of its population. Since that event, paroxysmal eruptions continue to threaten the communities on Fuego’s slopes. This dissertation uses a mix of ethnographic and other source analysis methods to address the following broad questions pertaining to a single case study: · What information was available for evacuation decision-making leading up to the deadly 3 June 2018 pyroclastic density currents, how was it used by key stakeholders, and how did the ability to use this information impact the outcomes for La Reunión and San Miguel Los Lotes? · Are evacuation decision-making practices since the 3 June 2018 disaster sufficient to avert disaster in a paroxysm of similar characteristics? · How do cultural gender expectations impact evacuation strategies and how can women’s experiences in evacuation inform future risk reduction strategies? Results of these three studies indicate that the two government agencies were unable to fulfill their responsibilities of knowledge generation and decision-making during the crisis and the town of San Miguel Los Lotes was unequipped to make crucial evacuation decisions without this external support, while the La Reunión resort was able to evacuate independently. Current crisis management practices would be too slow and geographically too limited to avert a disaster with characteristics, including an escalation timeline, similar to that of the June 2018 eruption, in part because the system does not have well-defined acceptable risk thresholds on which to base evacuation decisions and no clear criteria for decision-making. Because communities prioritize women, children, and the elderly for evacuation while men stay behind to protect property, evacuations disproportionately leave men exposed to the threat and place the burden of evacuation with large families on the women. This research demonstrates the importance of explicitly including decision-making processes, resources and infrastructure for taking protective actions, and consideration of competing risks into EWS models. To be effective, an EWS must be designed within the limitations of the scientific, technological, economic, and socio-political context in which it operates

Social media and knowledge integration based emergency response performance model

Emergency Response (ER) during the flood is increasingly being characterized as a complex phase in disaster management as it involves multi-organizational settings. This scenario causes miscommunication, lack of coordination and difficulty in making life-saving decisions, which decreases organisational performance. Accordingly, Knowledge Integration (KI) can reduce and resolve problems of coordination and communications which lead to decisions being made at a proper time, thereby increasing the task of Non- Government Organisations (NGOs)’ capabilities to achieve better performance. Moreover, use of Social Media (SM) provides many advantages that may assist in eliminating KI’s challenges and enhancing its dissemination at low cost, particularly for NGOs that work in disparate places. Despite this, current research into the improvement of task performance using KI through SM in the emergency response context is, unfortunately, limited. Most of the studies are not empirical and there is a lack of theoretical foundation for improving task performance using KI, in addition to using SM to facilitate KI in the flood disaster ER. Hence, it is important to address these issues. The main objective of this study is to identify the factors that influence the Emergency Response Task Performance (ERTP). In this research, the factors which affect the performance of ER tasks were elicited through a review of the literature to identify the essential factors influential NGOs’ emergency response. Then, this study developed an ERTP model by combining Knowledge-Based Theory (KBT) of the firm and the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) theory, used to utilise technology. This study applied a quantitative approach to examine these factors. Based on purposive sampling, questionnaires were distributed to over 700 staff and volunteers working for 12 NGOs in Sudan. Smart PLS 2.0 M3 and IBM SPSS Statistics version 24 were used to analyse the data. The results revealed that KI is a significant factor related to ERTP. In addition, it was found that the SM usage factor was significantly related to KI. Furthermore, this study discovered significant differences among the various experiences of volunteers and staff when it comes to utilising SM for knowledge integration in the context of ER response. The results of the study contribute to the body of knowledge by providing a model for ER managers, team members in NGOs and decision-makers to use it as a guideline for successfully assessing and validating ERTP. Additionally, it sets guidelines that may be useful for NGOs in the effective use of social media as a platform for integrating knowledge. Finally, this study provides recommendations to flood decision-makers who are considering enhancing the performance of the tasks within their organisations

Disaster Anarchy

Due to the devastating effects of global warming, natural disasters have been increasing at a brutal pace all around the globe. Shockingly poor state-led relief efforts have been cause for much misery among those affected. In fact, the most successful disaster responses have come from anarchist-inspired social movements. These have been the target of both repression and intense curiosity on part of governmental entities looking to co-opt these autonomous movement practices.*BR**BR*In this groundbreaking and timely book, Rhiannon Firth provides a comprehensive anarchist approach to understanding and responding to natural disasters, drawing on historical and contemporary sources as well as empirical case studies. Offering a new framework to address one of the 21st century's most pressing problems, Firth introduces disaster anarchism as a powerful tool to provide a break from capitalism and the state even beyond the scope of disaster relief