Evaluation of disaster response management in Iraq resulting from terrorism

Since 2003, Iraq has been experiencing an unprecedented series of disasters; both human made and natural, and this has given rise to increased attention by policymakers to the country's arrangements for disaster management. Disaster response, which refers to actions “taken immediately before, during, or directly after an emergency occurs, to save lives [and] minimise damage to property” is one of the critical phases in the Disaster Management life cycle. The focus of this study is on disaster response management associated with the events caused by terrorism activities in Iraq. The study analyses and evaluates the basic functions of disaster management operations (planning, organising, directing, controlling); these are presented as weaknesses, strengths and recommendations, which are identified for effective disaster response management. This research adopts a single holistic case study approach, where the Iraqi General Directorate of Civil Defence is the case study and disaster response management is the unit of analysis. The Iraqi General Directorate of Civil Defence is considered as the critical case for this study as they are the main administrative body responsible for responding to disasters stemming from terrorism in Iraq. A mixed methods approach is used to improve the validity and reliability of the research. As such, the findings are based on semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys with executives responsible for disaster response in the Iraqi General Directorate of Civil Defence. In addition, a documentary review of all major documents related to disaster response management in this directorate is undertaken. Conceptual content analysis is used to articulate the primary data and this is then analysed in the context of the secondary data, by conducting cross analysis between the four different stages of disaster response management. The findings show that disaster response management is a significantly important stage in the disaster management cycle, as an efficient and effective response will ultimately minimise the loss of life and damage to property. Whilst there are some weaknesses and limited implementation of several elements of good practice in disaster response management in the current disaster response practices, there are some strengths which should be built upon. The final recommendations are made up of eleven sets of different themes, based on findings from both the secondary and primary data. This study contributes to the scarce literature currently published on the subject of disaster response management in developing countries, such as Iraq. The uniqueness of such studies could be attributed to the very limited attempts that have been made in the past to explore disaster response management, possibly due to the difficulty in collecting data around terrorism activities. The practical contribution of this study is the potential improvement of the current disaster response practices and the systems of disaster response management, which will ultimately minimise the loss of life and damage to property. The recommendations proposed in this study could potentially improve the immediate response system to serve Iraq’s disaster management in the future

Challenges during disaster response planning resulting from war operations and terrorism in Iraq

Challenges during disaster response planning resulting from war operations and terrorism in Ira

Understanding the terminologies: Disaster, crisis and emergency

Despite the fact that there is a difference between the terms disaster, crisis and emergency, they are closely interconnected, interdependent and overlap significantly. With a blurred line between the definitions of these terms, the mainstream literature uses the terms disaster, crisis and emergency interchangeably and in combination such as 'disaster crisis management' and 'crisis and emergency management'. The aim of this article is to systematically and critically review the arguments and counterarguments about the definitions of disaster, crisis, and emergency to date. A comprehensive literature review in the relevant field has been conducted in order to improve understanding of these phenomena. A qualitative conceptual content analysis has been carried out to establish the differences and similarities between disaster, crisis and emergency. The analysis reveals that the sudden nature of the event and the damage caused are the common features of all three terms, though emergency is not always of a sudden nature. Further, many common features have been identified between disaster and crisis, so that they can be used interchangeably up to a certain extent. The term emergency does not share many common features with the other two terms and has some contradictory features. Also, the authors conclude that both crisis and emergency would lead to disaster if the event were neglected or mismanaged

Microbial community composition of deep-sea corals from the Red Sea provides insight into functional adaption to a unique environment

Microbes associated with deep-sea corals remain poorly studied. The lack of symbiotic algae suggests that associated microbes may play a fundamental role in maintaining a viable coral host via acquisition and recycling of nutrients. Here we employed 16 S rRNA gene sequencing to study bacterial communities of three deep-sea scleractinian corals from the Red Sea, Dendrophyllia sp., Eguchipsammia fistula, and Rhizotrochus typus. We found diverse, species-specific microbiomes, distinct from the surrounding seawater. Microbiomes were comprised of few abundant bacteria, which constituted the majority of sequences (up to 58% depending on the coral species). In addition, we found a high diversity of rare bacteria (taxa at 90% of all bacteria). Interestingly, we identified anaerobic bacteria, potentially providing metabolic functions at low oxygen conditions, as well as bacteria harboring the potential to degrade crude oil components. Considering the presence of oil and gas fields in the Red Sea, these bacteria may unlock this carbon source for the coral host. In conclusion, the prevailing environmental conditions of the deep Red Sea (>20 °C, <2 mg oxygen L−1) may require distinct functional adaptations, and our data suggest that bacterial communities may contribute to coral functioning in this challenging environment.This work was supported from baseline funds to CRV and under the Center Competitive Funding (CCF) Program FCC/1/1973-18-01 by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

Understanding the Use of Crisis Informatics Technology among Older Adults

Mass emergencies increasingly pose significant threats to human life, with a disproportionate burden being incurred by older adults. Research has explored how mobile technology can mitigate the effects of mass emergencies. However, less work has examined how mobile technologies support older adults during emergencies, considering their unique needs. To address this research gap, we interviewed 16 older adults who had recent experience with an emergency evacuation to understand the perceived value of using mobile technology during emergencies. We found that there was a lack of awareness and engagement with existing crisis apps. Our findings characterize the ways in which our participants did and did not feel crisis informatics tools address human values, including basic needs and esteem needs. We contribute an understanding of how older adults used mobile technology during emergencies and their perspectives on how well such tools address human values.Comment: 10 page

Latent Thermal Energy Storage Technologies and Applications: A Review

The achievement of European climate energy objectives which are contained in the European Union's (EU) “20-20-20” targets and in the European Commission's (EC) Energy Roadmap 2050 is possible, among other things, through the use of energy storage technologies. The use of thermal energy storage (TES) in the energy system allows to conserving energy, increase the overall efficiency of the systems by eliminating differences between supply and demand for energy. The article presents different methods of thermal energy storage including sensible heat storage, latent heat storage and thermochemical energy storage, focusing mainly on phase change materials (PCMs) as a form of suitable solution for energy utilisation to fill the gap between demand and supply to improve the energy efficiency of a system . PCMs allow the storage of latent thermal energy during phase change at almost stable temperature. The article presents a classification of PCMs according to their chemical nature as organic, inorganic and eutectic and by the phase transition with their advantages and disadvantages. In addition, different methods of improving the effectiveness of the PCM materials such as employing cascaded latent heat thermal energy storage system, encapsulation of PCMs and shape-stabilisation are presented in the paper. Furthermore, the use of PCM materials in buildings, power generation, food industry and automotive applications are presented and the modelling tools for analysing the functionality of PCMs materials are compared and classified