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Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 40027

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Kalliopi Sapountzaki

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Guest Editor

Department of Geography, Harokopio University of Athens, 176 71 Athens, Greece
Interests: disaster management; risk communication; risk governance and risk management; sustainability; spatial planning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Disasters are the most harmful processes affecting sustainability and sustainable development. Disasters and disaster losses continue to increase and expand in area, value and frequency, despite intense management efforts at local, national, regional and international levels. The reasons lie with deterioration and increasing trends of the causal factors of disasters: the hazards (the triggering extreme phenomena) and the exposure to hazards and vulnerability (propensity for losses). The increase in hazards is due to climate change; exposure is due to the location of spatial developments and their expansion into hazard-prone areas and also to technology-based systemic interconnections; and vulnerability increase originates from growing social inequalities, marginalization and poverty, forced migration and the low-risk perceptions of institutions, communities and individuals.

Obviously, disaster risk mitigation is a major policy stake at all levels, from global to the local community and individual households. This stake is even more important for the most vulnerable groups, communities, regions and countries, which are not necessarily the least developed but are probably those with poorly functioning institutions, as COVID-19 management failures have pointed to.

Our available means versus disaster risk are planning measures, technologies and actions opposing hazards, restricting exposure, reducing/controlling vulnerability and/or enhancing resilience (the capacity to anticipate, absorb, resist, adapt to, transform and recover from disasters). Some of these measures put limits on development or necessitate resource engagement. Hence, their societal acceptance is a challenge for disaster management and appropriate risk communication and governance—the only means to meet this challenge.

The Special Issue will discuss the economic, social, cultural, political, behavioral, technological and other processes in producing, increasing and transferring risks; identify successful resilience/adaptation practices of institutions, social groups and individuals at all levels in various geographical contexts; offer examples of sectoral policies targeting vulnerability and exposure inequalities and dynamics; and present significant risk communication efforts in changing risk culture and achieving the alignment of subjective with objective risks.

Prof. Dr. Kalliopi Sapountzaki
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Vulnerability to natural, climate change and technological hazards
Human, social, economic, institutional, cultural and systemic vulnerability
Pre- and post-disaster vulnerability
Risk-blind and risk-sensitive (spatial) development
Disaster-resilient communities, groups, businesses, households and individuals
Pro-active and re-active resilience
Integration of disaster risk mitigation in sectoral policies (health, education, spatial planning, housing, energy, transportation, etc.)
Risk culture
Risk communication and governance
Databases for vulnerability and resilience indicators
Institutions, organizations and funding mechanisms (at international, regional, national and local levels) for disaster risk mitigation and resilience enhancement.

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

8 pages, 187 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management, and Resilience under Disasters

by Kalliopi Sapountzaki

Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3589; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063589 - 18 Mar 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2183

Abstract

The present Special Issue is devoted to vulnerability management and resilience-building as cornerstones of disaster risk mitigation [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

26 pages, 7478 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Innovative Action for Forest Fire Prevention in Kythira Island, Greece, through Mobilization and Cooperation of the Population: Methodology and Challenges

by Gavriil Xanthopoulos, Miltiadis Athanasiou, Alexia Nikiforaki, Konstantinos Kaoukis, Georgios Mantakas, Panagiotis Xanthopoulos, Charalampos Papoutsakis, Aikaterini Christopoulou, Stavros Sofronas, Miltos Gletsos and Vassiliki Varela

Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 594; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020594 - 6 Jan 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4334

Abstract

The island of Kythira in Greece suffered a major forest fire in 2017 that burned 8.91% of its total area and revealed many challenges regarding fire management. Following that, the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature joined forces with the Institute of Mediterranean and Forest Ecosystems in a project aiming to improve fire prevention there through mobilization and cooperation of the population. This paper describes the methodology and the results. The latter include an in-depth analysis of fire statistics for the island, development of a forest fuels map, and prevention planning for selected settlements based on fire modeling and on an assessment of the vulnerability of 610 structures, carried out with the contribution of groups of volunteers. Emphasis was placed on informing locals, including students, through talks and workshops, on how to prevent forest fires and prepare their homes and themselves for such an event, and on mobilizing them to carry out fuel management and forest rehabilitation work. In the final section of the paper, the challenges that the two partners faced and the project achievements and shortcomings are presented and discussed, leading to conclusions that can be useful for similar efforts in other places in Greece and elsewhere. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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22 pages, 1083 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Building Resilience to Natural Hazards at a Local Level in Germany—Research Note on Dealing with Tensions at the Interface of Science and Practice

by Gérard Hutter, Alfred Olfert, Marco Neubert and Regine Ortlepp

Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12459; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212459 - 11 Nov 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2472

Abstract

Building resilience is a core element of urban resilience that refers to both the (1) intended physical change of the building stock and the related blue, green, and grey infrastructure, as well as (2) the social process of increasing resilience through the goal-driven cooperation of scientists and practitioners. Building resilience at the interface of science and practice is characterized by tensions and a range of approaches to dealing with tensions. To specify this proposition, this research note adopts a strategic spatial planning perspective and introduces the typology of “motors of change” from organizational and management research. We focus on a goal-driven motor of change (“teleology”) and highlight three approaches to dealing with tensions: developing a strategic focus of knowledge integration, setting priorities to enhance resilience as a pro-active ability of disaster risk reduction (DRR), and compromising in the management of trade-offs, such as those between the scales of resilience. For the purpose of illustration, this research note refers to examples of building resilience at a local level in Germany, dealing with heat stress in urban areas, managing the risk of extreme flood events, and analyzing the resilience of innovative infrastructure solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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15 pages, 601 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Language of Risk and Vulnerability in Covering the COVID-19 Pandemic in Swedish Mass Media in 2020: Implications for the Sustainable Management of Elderly Care

by Katarina Giritli Nygren, Maja Klinga, Anna Olofsson and Susanna Öhman

Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10533; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910533 - 23 Sep 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2379

Abstract

The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic—in terms of climate, economy and social aspects—cannot yet be fully assessed, but we can already see how the pandemic is intensifying already existing socio-economic inequalities. This applies to different population groups, particularly the elderly. In this article, our goal is to identify the linguistic constructions of elderly citizens in Swedish mass media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 from a sociological and corpus linguistics perspective. More specifically, our aim is to explore the discursive formations of the elderly in Swedish media during the pandemic and how these formations relate to risk as well as the discursive constructions of in- and out-groups. Drawing on corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS), inspired by discourse–historical analysis (DHA), we examine the media coverage of COVID-19 by three Swedish newspapers published during 2020: Aftonbladet, a national tabloid; Svenska Dagbladet, a national morning newspaper; and Dalademokraten, a regional morning newspaper. In this article, the news articles and their messages are considered performative to the extent that—for example, at the same time as a story is expressed—the elderly are at risk of becoming seriously ill due to COVID-19; moreover, a position of vulnerability for the elderly is simultaneously created. The result reveals that the elderly were constructed as an at-risk group, while visitors, personnel and nursing homes were constructed as being risky or a threat to the elderly. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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25 pages, 5569 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integration of GIS-Based Multicriteria Decision Analysis and Analytic Hierarchy Process for Flood-Hazard Assessment in the Megalo Rema River Catchment (East Attica, Greece)

by Efthimios Karymbalis, Maria Andreou, Dimitrios-Vasileios Batzakis, Konstantinos Tsanakas and Sotirios Karalis

Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10232; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810232 - 14 Sep 2021

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3997

Abstract

This study deals with the flood-hazard assessment and mapping in the catchment of Megalo Rema (East Attica, Greece). Flood-hazard zones were identified utilizing Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS). Five factors were considered as the most influential parameters for the water course when high storm-water runoff exceeds drainage system capacity and were taken into account. These factors include slope, elevation, distance from stream channels, geological formations in terms of their hydro-lithological behavior and land cover. To obtain the final weights for each factor, rules of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) were applied. The final flood-hazard assessment and mapping of the study area were produced through Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) procedures. The final map showed that approximately 26.3 km², which corresponds to 22.7% of the total area of the catchment, belongs to the high flood risk zone, while approximately 25 km², corresponding to ~15% of the catchment, is of very high flood risk. The highly and very highly prone to flooding areas are located mostly at the southern and western parts of the catchment. Furthermore, the areas on both sides of the channel along the lower reaches of the main stream are of high and very high risk. The highly and very highly prone to flooding areas are relatively low-lying, gently sloping and extensively urbanized, and host the densely populated settlements of Rafina-Pikermi, Penteli, Pallini, Peania, Spata, Glika Nera, Gerakas and Anthousa. The accuracy of the flood-hazard map was verified by correlating flood events of the last 30 years, the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System (HEC–RAS) simulation and quantitative geomorphological analysis with the flood-hazard level. The results of our approach provide decision makers with important information for land-use planning at a regional scale, determining safe and unsafe areas for urban development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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16 pages, 4839 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Disaster Risk Awareness: The Turkish Migrants Living in Northern Italy

by Funda Atun and Chiara Fonio

Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10140; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810140 - 10 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2354

Abstract

In this study, we analysed the socio-demographic characteristics and disaster risk awareness of the Turkish migrants living in northern Italy. We initiated the study with an extensive face-to-face questionnaire with 544 individual respondents. With the help of the questionnaire, we gathered information on the socio-demographic structure of the Turkish community living in the area and the immigrants’ disaster experience, their level of disaster preparedness and disaster risk awareness, and their potential behaviour during an emergency. Additionally, we conducted focus group meetings in Milan, Lecco, Como and Varese with 49 migrants living in the region. In the focus group meetings, we discussed the migrants’ awareness of disasters and potential behaviour patterns during emergencies. We collected the informative booklets and past event reports prepared by civil protection centres and municipalities and used them in focus group meetings to collect participants’ opinions. The results show that the migrant communities’ disaster risk awareness is low, but their capacity to adapt to suddenly changing conditions is higher than presumed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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26 pages, 4053 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Crisis Communication after Earthquakes in Greece and Japan: Effects on Seismic Disaster Management

by Anna Fokaefs and Kalliopi Sapountzaki

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9257; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169257 - 18 Aug 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6732

Abstract

The communication of emergency information shortly before or after the manifestation of seismic hazards is a crucial part of disaster management. Crisis communication aims to protect, support and guide the public and emergency services throughout the response and recovery phase. In the case of seismic events, a fundamental query refers to how the information to be released to the public immediately after/before the seismic event affects disaster impacts and management. This paper addresses the uncertainty involved in emergency seismic information, identifies the sources, means, content and mode of emergency communication and points to the effects of different models of crisis communication on public perceptions, on emergency responses and, hence, on disaster management. A review of past experiences of seismic crisis communication strategies in earthquake-prone countries, namely Greece and Japan, reveals successes and failures in managing uncertainty, and in building public trust and improving response capacities. The findings include the importance of crisis communication in seismic disaster management, the levels/layers of uncertainty involved in emergency seismic information and how they impact risk perceptions, the public trust/mistrust effect on scientific and management institutions as well as some recommendations for seismic crisis communication strategies to minimize uncertainty and improve emergency responses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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19 pages, 7627 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comprehensive Assessment of Exposure and Vulnerabilities in Multi-Hazard Urban Environments: A Key Tool for Risk-Informed Planning Strategies

by Adriana Galderisi and Giada Limongi

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9055; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169055 - 12 Aug 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3803

Abstract

Although the increase in the frequency and intensity of disasters assigns a key role to disaster risk management in current debate on sustainable development, the efforts of national and local authorities to develop risk-informed planning strategies and increase disaster preparedness are still limited. In multi-hazard urban environments, the main criticality to support risk-informed planning strategies is the persisting lack of effective knowledge bases focused on the vulnerability of exposed assets to different hazards. Hence, this contribution, according to the first priority of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction—understanding disaster risk—and by tidying up methods and indicators developed in both EU research projects and scientific studies devoted to multi-risk and vulnerability assessment, aims at better using available knowledge to guide risk-informed spatial planning. In detail, an indicator-based method to carry out a comprehensive exposure and vulnerability analysis has been outlined and tested on a case study area, the multi-hazard urban area of Campi Flegrei, located in the western part of the metropolitan city of Naples in the South of Italy. The proposed method may contribute to the building up of an effective risk knowledge base, enabling planners to easily access information on exposure and vulnerabilities to different hazards, and to differently combine them into output maps capable of supporting risk- informed planning strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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16 pages, 3418 KiB

Open AccessArticle

(Non)Environmental Alternative Action Organizations under the Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis: A Comparative European Perspective

by Maria Kousis and Katrin Uba

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8989; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168989 - 11 Aug 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2223

Abstract

Hard economic times have been considered obstacles for environmental activism by many environmental scholars, yet works, mostly based on case studies, on alternative action organizations (AAOs) during times of increasing livelihood vulnerability show considerable environmental activism. We explain this inconsistency by arguing that AAOs mobilizing at times of crisis opt for direct action, using strategies of citizens’ solidarity initiatives centering on meeting basic needs and sustainability goals and thereby carry on the environmental claim-making in a new way. To this end, we compare environmental AAOs (EAAOs) with non-environmental ones using a cross-national dataset of 4157 hubs-retrieved AAOs active during the economic crisis (2007–2016), in France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Given that EAAOs constitute more than one-third of all AAOs, it is clear that environmental protection or sustainable development are not neglected even at times of economic hardships. Instead, the crisis provides an opportunity to broaden the scope of action for existing organizations that can adopt sustainability activities focusing on alternative practices and lifestyles, improving societal resilience. We further show that EAAOs tend to be informal and, to an extent, more concentrated on contention and protests than non-environmental organizations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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11 pages, 1606 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Telluric and Climate-Related Risk Awareness, and Risk Mitigation Strategies in the Azores Archipelago: First Steps for Building Societal Resilience

by Ante Ivčević, Isabel Estrela Rego, Rui Gaspar and Vania Statzu

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8653; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158653 - 3 Aug 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2461

Abstract

Islands are often considered excellent socio-ecological laboratories for testing the rapidity of global change since they experience the climate effects of sea-level rise faster than other areas. The Azores are a Portuguese volcanic archipelago located on the junction of the three tectonic plates: the Eurasian, the African and the North American plates. São Miguel, the main island of the Azores archipelago, hosts three active volcanoes, but the last significant volcanic eruption was the Capelinhos volcano on the island of Faial in 1957. Hence, the Azores offers the opportunity to assess insular risk awareness, facing both telluric and climate-related hazards. The key research question emerges from their natural situation: how does the local population perceive the threat of the natural hazards that occur in Azores? Because risks are socially constructed and depend on the uniqueness of territories, risk mitigation strategies must focus on the individual experiences of local dwellers, as a relationship between risk awareness and such strategies may be expected. To analyze this relationship, a web-based survey with a questionnaire including these variables was administered to a sample of Azoreans. The study aimed to assess risk awareness of the Azorean population and find a relationship between this and reported mitigation strategies. The results gave a preliminary insight into Azorean risk awareness of natural hazards and showed a significant positive relationship between risk awareness-raising activities and reported mitigation strategies. This is relevant information for municipalities and regional governments of areas with similar risk exposures, showing that, although risk awareness alone is not enough for measures to be implemented, it may be an important motivational first step for this to occur. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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23 pages, 4128 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Risk Assessment and Management—A Comparative Study of the Current State of Affairs in Chile and Ecuador

by Stefan Greiving, Leonie Schödl, Karl-Heinz Gaudry, Iris Katherine Quintana Miralles, Benjamín Prado Larraín, Mark Fleischhauer, Myriam Margoth Jácome Guerra and Jonathan Tobar

Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1366; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031366 - 28 Jan 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5034

Abstract

In Chile and Ecuador, multiple hazards and dynamic processes in vulnerability pose a high risk. Spatial planning and emergency management can contribute to disaster risk management but they follow different goals. However, global goals, such as from UN-ISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction) and UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) can potentially support cities and regions in defining concerted action. This paper aims at measuring the performance of Chile and Ecuador in regard to the aforementioned policy goals. Although both countries show considerable progresses in the implementation of the UN strategies, it is doubtful that the existing global monitoring approach is appropriately designed for measuring the real situation on the ground. Our paper is based on a desktop research combined with stakeholder workshops and expert interviews. Overall, both countries made considerable progress in regard to disaster preparedness and monitoring. However, multi-risks are rarely considered and there is still increasing vulnerability due to the expansion of informal settlements. The risk management is characterized by an imbalanced distribution of financial resources and institutional capacities between the metropolitan regions and smaller municipalities, and by low public participation and hardly community-based approaches. The paper underlines the importance for more qualitative, in-depth studies on the root causes of disaster risk which could complement the global monitoring which is very much focused on quantitative data and shows inconsistency between input and output indicators. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management and Resilience under Disasters)

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