I will not go, I cannot go: cultural and social limitations of disaster preparedness in Asia, Africa, and Oceania

While much work has been invested in addressing the economic and technical basis of disaster preparedness, less effort has been directed towards understanding the cultural and social obstacles to and opportunities for disaster risk reduction. This paper presents local insights from five different national settings into the cultural and social contexts of disaster preparedness. In most cases, an early warning system was in place, but it failed to alert people to diverse environmental shocks. The research findings show that despite geographical and typological differences in these locations, the limitations of the systems were fairly similar. In Kenya, people received warnings, but from contradictory systems, whereas in the Philippines and on the island of Saipan, people did not understand the messages or take them seriously. In Bangladesh and Nepal, however, a deeper cultural and religious reasoning serves to explain disasters, and how to prevent them or find safety when they strike

Development of a Web-Based GIS Using SDI for Disaster Management

Spatial data and related technologies, particularly Geographical Information System (GIS) with the capability of display, retrieval, analysis and management of spatial data, have proven crucial for disaster management. However, there are currently different problems with availability, access and usage of spatial data for disaster management. The problems with spatial data become more serious during disaster response in which reliable and up-to-date spatial data describing current emergency situation are required for planning, decision-making, and coordination of activities. It is suggested that by having an effective and efficient spatial data framework and institutional arrangements and through cooperative efforts of involved organizations in disaster response for spatial data production and then sharing these data, it is possible to have required information, always available and accessible for use. In this respect, Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) can provide an appropriate environment for influencing participation of organizations in spatial data production process and sharing. Meanwhile, web-based GIS can provide appropriate tool for data entry and sharing as well as data analysis to support decision-making. This paper aims to describe development of a web-based GIS using SDI framework for disaster response. It is argued that the design and implementation of an SDI model and consideration of SDI development factors and issues, together with development of a web-based GIS, can assist disaster management agencies to improve the quality of their decision-making and increase efficiency and effectiveness in all levels of disaster management activities. The paper is based on an ongoing research project on the development of an SDI conceptual model and a prototype web-based system which can facilitate sharing, access and usage of spatial data in disaster management, particularly disaster response