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

Encouraging Corporate Innovation for Our Homeland During the Best of Times for the Worst of Times: Extending Safety Act Protections to Natural Disasters’

This article first analyzes the innovative tort reform of the SAFETY Act and then argues for expansion of SAFETY Act type risk protection to natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires. The SAFETY Act was drafted to stimulate the development and deployment of technologies that combat terrorism by providing liability protection. Applying the same type of legislation to natural disasters will provide a commensurate benefit of encouraging preparedness and development of technologies that could mitigate harms resulting from natural disasters. The Department of Homeland Security voiced a desire to increase the use of the SAFETY Act by private industry. This article argues that one way to increase the utility of the SAFETY Act and provide more value for the American public is for Congress to extend SAFETY Act protections, by amendment or new legislation, to cover risk related to national catastrophes

The Common Disaster and the Unexpected Education: Delta Flight 1141 and the Discourse of Aviation Safety

News coverage of transportation disasters, such as the crash of Delia Flight 1141, reveal the disaster behavior of passengers, flight personnel and rescue workers. Within a mystery framework, the Flight 1141 discourse provides clues that readers can use to construe ( their own disaster behavior awareness. The media must expand their pedagogical role beyond natural and technological disasters and begin providing basic airplane safety behavior information

Impact of natural disasters on blood safety

Abstract Background and Objectives The use of blood and blood products is one of the necessities of clinics. Blood donation should comply with international criteria because of the probability of transmission of infections following blood transfusion. One of the priorities in reliable blood transfusion centers in the world and in our country will be the improvement of the donor recruitment methods. It seems that recent methods are useful in non-emergencies. The use of such methods in emergency cases like what happened in Bam earthquake is practically impossible. This study aims to see if this would endanger blood safety. Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional study, 4188 blood units including 2094 blood units collected (as case group) immediately after Bam earthquake and 2094 units collected (as control group) before Bam earthquake were studied. In this process all blood units in the case and control groups were tested for HBV, HCV and HIV by Elisa method. We repeated positive results by Elisa. If test results were positive again, we would use confirmation tests (western blot and RIBA). Results The results show that there is a significant difference in Binomial test between control and case group (PV<0.001) for HBV and HCV before and after Bam earthquake however, no difference was observed for HIV between two groups. Conclusions Higher rate of serologically positive results in case group shows that there is a higher risk in emergencies for transmission of viral infections. To decrease this risk, it is proposed that blood donation is managed by implementing control mechanisms in emergency conditions

Pengaruh Pelatihan Bencana dan Keselamatan Kerja Terhadap Respons Persepsi Mahaiswa Prodi Ilmu Kesehatan Masyarakat

Disasters are categorized as 2, namely natural disasters and non-natural disasters. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, landslides, fires. Non-natural disasters such as accidents at work, accidents at home, schools, boarding schools, campuses, shopping, roads and so forth. The aim of the study: to analyze the effect of disaster and work safety training on students' perceptions of knowledge and attitudes toward disaster risk The sample is a student of the public health study program at the State Islamic University of North Sumatra Medan. Data analysis with t-test. The results of the study: there was a significant effect of disaster and safety training on perceptual responses of student knowledge p-value of 0.0001 <0.05. There is a significant effect of disaster and occupational safety training on the perceptual responses of students' attitudes of p-value of 0.0001 <0.05. Knowledge and attitude cannot be separated. These two things are interconnected, with the knowledge of earthquake disaster preparedness it will affect one's attitude when a disaster occurs. The training stimulus builds a positive perception response. Disaster training is more effective and acceptable when combined with work safety and health material in the campus environment so that respondents are more easily accepted. Conclusion: Modification of disaster management and occupational health safety training is more easily understood by respondents. So that it effectively changes the respondents' knowledge and attitudes. The success of training as a means of changing knowledge and attitudes is determined by internal and external factors. Suggestion: implementation of safety and health at the university level needs to be done, to minimize the risk of accidents

Penataan Kota Bermuatan Antisipasi Bencana

. Many types of disasters are resulted from natural phenomenon that cannot be avoided. What should we do is reducing the risks of the disasters. Here human safety is placed in the first priority. Each type of natural disaster brings specific hazard. Learning from previous disasters and scientific data of an area (or a city), we can analyze the potential of hazards, vulnerability, and strategy of mitigation for each threat of disaster. In reducing the risks of natural disasters, a city should be equipped with integrated plan for anticipating disasters. Follow are steps that should be needed: (1) Identifying disaster potentials; (2) Setting-up spatial plan that contains disaster-preparedness; and (3) Building institutions and tools of disaster management

Do Natural Disasters Affect Human Capital? An Assessment Based on Existing Empirical Evidence

The last few years have seen a notable increase in the number of studies investigating the causes and effects of natural disasters in many dimensions. This paper seeks to review and assess available empirical evidence on the ex-post microeconomic effects of natural disasters on the accumulation of human capital, focusing on consumption, nutrition, education and health, including mental health. Three major findings come forward from this work. First, disasters appear to bring substantial damages to human capital, including death and destruction, and produce deleterious consequences on nutrition, education, health and many income-generating processes. Furthermore, some of these detrimental effects are both large and long-lasting. Second, there is a large degree of heterogeneity in the size – but not much in the direction – of the impacts on different socioeconomic groups. Yet, an empirical regularity across natural hazards is that the poorest carry the heaviest burden of the effects of disasters across different determinants and outcomes of human capital. Finally, although the occurrence of natural hazards is mostly out of control of authorities, there still is a significant room for policy action to minimize their impacts on the accumulation of human capital. We highlight the importance of flexible safety nets as well as the double critical role of accurate and reliable information to monitor risks and vulnerabilities, and identify the impacts and responses of households once they are hit by a disaster. The paper also lays out existing knowledge gaps, particularly in regard to the need of improving our understanding of the impacts of disasters on health outcomes, the mechanisms of transmission and the persistence of the effects in the long-run.natural disasters, human capital accumulation

Earthquake early warning system

As the climate undergoes changes, the number of natural disasters increase and the severity of these occurrences increases over time. As the population of human race increases, natural protective terrains and barriers were destroyed for urbanization due to the exploitation of vulnerable areas on the earth. Earthquakes are unpredictable and as an initiative to adapt to climate changes and as a strategy to reduce earthquake disaster risk, early warning systems (EWS) has been internationally recognized to play a role in providing alerts to the public so that safety precaution procedures and protocols can be implemented in response to earthquake occurrences..

Health Facilities Safety in Natural Disasters: Experiences and Challenges from South East Europe

The United Nations named 2010 as a year of natural disasters, and launched a worldwide campaign to improve the safety of schools and hospitals from natural disasters. In the region of South East Europe, Croatia and Serbia have suffered the greatest impacts of natural disasters on their communities and health facilities. In this paper the disaster management approaches of the two countries are compared, with a special emphasis on the existing technological and legislative systems for safety and protection of health facilities and people. Strategic measures that should be taken in future to provide better safety for health facilities and populations, based on the best practices and positive experiences in other countries are recommended. Due to the expected consequences of global climate change in the region and the increased different environmental risks both countries need to refine their disaster preparedness strategies. Also, in the South East Europe, the effects of a natural disaster are amplified in the health sector due to its critical medical infrastructure. Therefore, the principles of environmental security should be implemented in public health policies in the described region, along with principles of disaster management through regional collaborations

Issue Brief: Saving by Mitigating

Natural disasters can cause loss of life, inflict damage to buildings and infrastructure, and have devastating consequences for a community’s economic, social, and environmental well-being. Hazard mitigation means reducing damages from disasters. Local governments have the responsibility to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens. Proactive mitigation policies and actions help reduce risk and create safer, more disaster-resilient communities. Mitigation is an investment in your community’s future safety, equity, and sustainability