Emergency and Disaster Management Commons^™

Protect Small Businesses: Addressing Security Threats And Insider Risks, Alan Saquella

Publications

Small businesses face unique security challenges that make them highly vulnerable compared to larger organizations. While large companies often have dedicated teams of cybersecurity experts, fraud examiners, investigators and the resources to implement robust security measures, small businesses typically operate with limited budgets and minimal staff, making them prime targets for a variety of internal and external threats.

More Inland Homeowners Are Experiencing Floods, But Few Have Flood Insurance, Julian Tiburcio

Capstones

Wherever it rains, it can flood. More inland homeowners who never expected to see their homes flood are finding themselves inundated by rain as climate change intensifies extreme storms and weather patterns. Many homeowners decide to buy homes not realizing that flooding isn’t limited to coastal areas, so they forego flood insurance coverage, leaving their biggest asset at risk.

Breaking The Yoke: A Systematic Unmasking Of Challenges To Sustainable Rural Development In South Sudan, Gai Chol Paul

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

South Sudan, a young nation grappling with the legacy of protracted conflict, faces significant challenges in fostering sustainable rural development. While the immense potential of its vast agricultural lands remains largely untapped, the persistent triple threat of insecurity, deficient infrastructure, and the absence of robust government policy actively hinders progress. The ongoing armed conflict, characterized by inter-communal violence and sporadic attacks, casts a long shadow over rural areas in South Sudan. Thus, I developed this mixed-method multiple-case study, grounded in the sustainable livelihoods framework, to explore challenges that hinder sustainable rural development in South Sudan. I collected data through document …

Impact Of Safety Training On Employee's Perceptions Of Organizational Safety Culture, Brooke Reid-Graves

Dissertations

Workplace safety and well-being are vital for all workers, regardless of their profession (Young et al., 2022). Studies show that providing employees with training focused on recognizing hazards and implementing safety practices is essential for reducing occupational risks (Namian et al., 2020; Rose & Rae, 2017). Research underscores the importance of fostering a positive organizational safety culture for risk reduction (Berry et al., 2020; Downey, 2019). Understanding the impact of safety training on shaping an organization’s safety culture is key to promoting safe working environments (Mahjoub, 2013).

This study utilized the perspectives of high school staff regarding safety training and …

Building Community Resilience Through Community Participatory Asset Mapping For Emergency Preparedness, Cassandra Y. Davila

2024 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

A community's capacity to prepare, manage, and recover from a disaster determines its level of resilience. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends engaging community members in resilience planning to ensure sustainable strategies are implemented. This project uses community-based asset mapping to identify how community participatory methods influence community resilience to combat emergency events. An asset map documents a community’s existing resources, highlighting its strengths. Focus group discussions in the urban area will be conducted to obtain feedback about existing assets and suggestions for additional resources to include. The expected result of this project is to build a comprehensive map of …

Challenges, Coping Strategies, And Benefits Of Animal-Assisted Crisis Response Following Disasters And Traumatic Events, Yvonne M. Eaton-Stull, Batya G. Jaffe, Kay Scott, Makenzie Shiller

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Animal-assisted crisis response (AACR) is an innovative intervention whereby highly trained comfort dogs offer support in the aftermath of disasters and traumatic events. This qualitative cross-sectional exploratory study investigated the experiences of specialized, experienced AACR handlers. A snowball sampling yielded 99 experienced responders who completed an anonymous electronic survey. Data was analyzed using a qualitative coding process with Atlas.ti. This study explored emotional challenges, handlers’ coping strategies, and benefits provided by the AACR comfort dog. Forty-eight percent of AACR handlers saw human-made crises as the most challenging deployments. Seventy-two percent of handlers rated their distress during a deployment a 3, …

The Liability Of Classification Societies : A Comparative Study With A Focus On Criminal Liability Under The Law Of The Republic Of Korea And Other Jurisdictions, Hyunho Kim

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Domestication Of Imo Instrument : An Assessment Of The National Legislations Of Vanuatu Implementing Imo Instruments With Reference To The Iii Code., Seiloni Akanete Toakuru

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Managing The Waste Problem From Cargo Ships In The Area Of Ko Aichang, Thailand : The Educator’S Perspective, Thanasorn Siangsai, Rtn.

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Legal Analysis Of Piracy And Armed Robbery At Sea Law In Liberia's Maritime Jurisdictions, Stephen Yekeson Kamara

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Estimating The Economic Impact Of A Natural Disaster On The Workforce Resiliency: An Analysis Of The Virginia Beach - Chesapeake - Norfolk Metropolitan Statistical Area, Robert M. Mcnab, Yin-Hsuen Chen, George Mcleod

Presentations, Lectures, Posters, Reports

In this paper, we explore the potential economic impacts associated with a major hurricane making landfall in Hampton Roads. We estimate the direct damages from a Florence-like Category 3 hurricane with a 3.6 feet tidal offset are estimated at $15.6 billion, equivalent to 10% of the 2022 regional GDP. If we apply existing flood insurance rates to these projected damages, we estimate that the total economic impact would exceed $12 billion with a short-term loss of more than 76,000 jobs. The job losses are concentrated in sectors that provide services to households which would bear the brunt of damages during …

Public-Private Partnerships In Fema: Strengthening Communities Nationwide, Rachael A. Zerr

Publications and Research

This paper explores the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in strengthening communities through collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It defines FEMA’s mission and outlines the concept of PPPs, emphasizing their importance in enhancing disaster response and recovery efforts. The paper provides framework for establishing a PPP with FEMA, including key steps and practices for successful collaboration. Additionally, it highlights several examples of effective PPPs, including a longstanding partnership with Verizon Wireless. Drawing from FEMA reports and private sector publications, the paper demonstrates how these partnerships contribute to resilience and preparedness, illustrating their potential to improve the efficiency …

The Jackson Water Crisis Across The Lifespan: Living And Dying For Clean Water, Ashley W. Jones, Antonio J. Gardner

Journal of Public Health in the Deep South

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the midst of freezing temperatures from a snowstorm, the city of Jackson, MS faced the potential demise of its drinking water infrastructure. Triggered by the freezing of water pipes in the city and a subsequent fire at a local water treatment facility, the lack of clean, accessible water made daily tasks more difficult for the city’s older adult population who had limited mobility, income, and ability to relocate. This commentary examines the effects of ongoing water infrastructure issues in Jackson, MS and its effect on aging in place. Considerations for a …

Investigating Public Acceptance Of Responses To Public Emergencies: Based On Text Transparency And Empathy Sentiment Analysis, Xuefeng Zhang, Yelin Huang

Journal of Scientific Information Research

[Purpose/significance]Regarding the responses to public emergencies published by official agencies on social media, this study aims to measure information transparency and empathy in the response text, and further to investigate their influence on public acceptance of responses. [Method/process]This study used public emergency responses published on Sina Weibo, a Chinese popular social media, as data source. Through carefully collecting and filtering, we finally acquired 170 public emergency responses released from 2021 to 2023. Furthermore, by using methods of content analysis, manual coding, and natural language processing, we measured information transparency of responses from three aspects: information disclosure, information accuracy, and information …

Providing End-Of-Life Counseling: A Narrative Inquiry, Carol Hecht, Sibyl West

Adultspan Journal

This qualitative study aimed to address the gap in the research related to end-of-life counseling by exploring the experiences of counselors working with clients at end of life. While counseling literature and education are lacking regarding end of life, many counselors will work alongside clients approaching death. The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to better understand the nuanced experiences of counselors providing end-of-life counseling and (b) to explore the supports and preparations helpful for counselors to provide end-of-life counseling. A narrative approach, using the Listening Guide (Gilligan, 2015), was employed to analyze and present the stories of three …

Considerations Of Medicare Telehealth Services With Older Adults, Sonah Kho, Amanda Dediego

Adultspan Journal

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic set in motion a rapid expansion of mental health services offered via telehealth. With this rapid expansion came the need to examine how policy and practice should be shaped in a future where telehealth is considered common in counseling practice. For counselors to understand how to support older adult clients in using telehealth services, they must understand telehealth policy. Following the eligibility of licensed counselors to participate in Medicare, counselors need to stay abreast of regulatory changes regarding restrictions and regulations on use of telehealth for mental and behavioral health services, including video and …

Neuro-Symbolic Ai For Deep Analysis Of Social Media Big Data, Vedant Khandelwal, Manas Gaur, Ugur Kursuncu, Valerie Shalin, Amit P. Sheth

Faculty Publications

This tutorial introduces a neuro-symbolic AI framework to analyze big data from social media platforms. Integrating human-curated knowledge through symbolic AI with the pattern recognition capabilities of neural networks enhances the adaptability and efficiency of traditional neural network approaches. Knowledge-guided zero-shot learning techniques enable swift adaption to new linguistic contexts and emerging events [6]. Participants will explore how to design, develop, and utilize these models in specific domains, such as public health surveillance, that require dynamic adaptation to new terminologies. This session The tutorial aims to equip attendees with practical skills and a deep understanding of how to apply neuro-symbolic …

Leadership In Collaborative Emergency Management For Compound Hurricane-Pandemic Threats: Insights From Practitioners' Experiences, Norah Alshayhan, Saige Hill, Marina Saitgalina, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Emergency management is a key government function for mitigating risks and reducing the impacts of disasters. Emergency management leaders play a critical role in preparing for and responding to disasters whose impacts are exacerbated by a pandemic. Using the example of the compound threat of hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic, this qualitative research uses insights from emergency management professionals to describe collaborative approaches and leadership skills that help balance the needs for stability and flexibility. Data collected using focus groups and one-on-one interviews with emergency management professionals highlight that collaboration involved existing and new partners in a changing and uncertain …

Insurance Coverage And Flood Exposure In The Gulf Of Mexico Region: Risk, Social Vulnerability, Urban Form, And Scale, Anissa J. Hyde

LSU Master's Theses

Increasing flood losses in the Gulf of Mexico pose serious threats to resilience and insurability. The purpose of this study is to understand how scale, social vulnerability, risk and urban form relate to NFIP insurance coverage and flood exposure. Our multilevel models identify that flooding is significantly clustered by region and counties, especially shoreline counties. Our measures of risk suggest that the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas underestimates risk and exposure when compared with Flood Factor, and that there is some compensation in terms of insurance coverage, suggesting a pattern of adverse selection. Older housing stock appears both less insured …

Current And Emerging Trends In The Management Of International Disasters, Laura M. Phipps, David A. Mcentire

Mavs Open Press Open Educational Resources - Archive

This edited book examines major problems facing the international disaster community as well as innovative solutions to global emergency management, focusing on the current and emerging trends in disaster management that cross geographic, social, and political borders.

20,000 Ft. View: An Introduction To Emergency Management, Bethany Swindell, Jamie Stacy

ATU Faculty OER Books and Materials

This book adopts a "20,000-foot view" approach, offering an essential understanding of emergency management without delving into operational specifics. It doesn't detail day-to-day practices of emergency management offices. Instead, it paints a high-level portrait of the field's core principles. This approach equips readers with a broad framework—a canvas onto which they can later add layers of specialized knowledge.

A Study Of The Impact And Mitigation Strategies For Community-Defined Historic Places At Immediate (Within Three Decades) Risk Of Sea Level Rise, Isaac Quaye

All Theses

The rising sea level casts formidable threats on community-based historic places within coastal communities. These community-defined historic places derive their meaning from local values and are more recognized within the local community. Unlike recognized iconic historic places, these resources are confronted with inadequate resources to address the impacts of punctuated climate events. This study investigates the imminent threats posed by sea level rise (SLR) to community-defined historic places within the next three decades (2025) and explores mitigation strategies proposed by stakeholders. The study used a GIS-based (enhanced bathtub model) to model the impact of coastal inundation on three historic places …

Further Developing Drought Early Warning Information Systems Using Mixed-Methods And Multiple Streams Of Data, Caily Claire Schwartz

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Drought is a complex phenomenon with varying degrees of impacts and monitoring methods. No drought is alike, creating a challenge for both water managers and communities. No area is immune to a drought. Due to the cyclical nature of drought events, clear information to those impacted is necessary to reduce risk and move towards proactive responses, as opposed to reactive responses. To better provide communication and mitigation tools, Drought Early Warning Information Systems (DEWIS) have been developed in various regions and contexts. To improve early warning, an understanding of the end user’s perceptions of risk, and the applicability of data …

Analysis Of Drought-Flood Abrupt Alternation Events And Their Impacts In Kenya, Betty Makena

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Drought-Flood Abrupt Alternation (DFAA) is a compound disaster event that refers to the abrupt shift of extreme drought events to extreme floods resulting in exacerbated impacts on already vulnerable communities and hindering their coping abilities. This study aimed to analyze drought-flood abrupt alternation events and their impacts in Kenya. The first chapter aimed to understand historical drought events in the Greater Horn of Africa and their impacts, while drawing comparisons with the recent 2020-2022 drought period, referred to as the ‘triple dip La Niña’. Datasets used in this study include the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS), Normalized …

Evolving Community Preparedness: Analysis Of United States Pandemic Health Disaster Readiness, Jessy Rugeyo

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown substantial gaps in counties' preparedness and response capacity across the United States. This study analyzes the relationship between county-level pandemic preparedness and confirmed COVID-19 cases using secondary data from the FEMA's National Household Survey (NHS) and county-level COVID-19 data from the CDC. The data show a negative relationship between preparedness levels and COVID-19 positive rates, highlighting the necessity of proactive readiness measures. Individual risk assessment, motivation for preparedness, and socioeconomic variables have a major influence on confirmed cases. Higher levels of education, income, and preparedness are associated with lower positive rates, emphasizing the importance of …

Climate And Extreme Weather Event Impacts On Administrators, Direct Care Staff, And Residents In Oregon Assisted Living, Residential Care, And Memory Care Communities, 2024, Dani Himes, Jacklyn Kohon, Madeline Fox, Laura Rodriguez, Sarah Dys, Diana Jacoby, Paula Carder

Institute on Aging Publications

This brief report on AL/RC staff and resident experiences with climate events highlights the voices of AL/RC direct care staff, former direct care staff, residents, administrators, and management representatives to promote well-being in these care settings. This study can inform Oregon’s efforts to support long-term care workforce readiness for future climate emergencies and inform future quantitative data collection on AL/RC and other long-term care workers, including those employed in home health agencies, nursing facilities, and adult foster homes.

Cyber Threats, Cyber Risks, And Cybersecurity Responses: Modeling Whole-Of-Nation Strategy Implementation For American Organizations And Citizens, Vincent Leon Guerrero

All Dissertations

Amid a landscape of cyber attacks on America occurring below the threshold of armed conflict, strategic national policy efforts recommend a whole-of-nation approach where individuals and public and private organizations increase their defensive posture in cyberspace. Motivation to address the risk of a cyber event includes a continuum of cyber threats that can range from low-level disruptive events to cybercrime and cyber espionage to the possibility of a potentially catastrophic attack on critical infrastructure. In this dissertation, I conduct a survey experiment of various cyber threat conditions and cyber policies to model cybersecurity responses, risk perceptions to a possible cyber …

Threat And Hazard Identification And Risk Assessment (Thira) Guidance For Railroads, Frances L. Edwards, Daniel C. Goodrich

Mineta Transportation Institute

Climate change creates new challenges for all critical transportation infrastructure, especially for railroads with an open system that is continuously exposed to the elements. A Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) is a necessary first step for an organization to understand the challenges and develop strategies for adaptation to them. In many cases, the railroad sector is uniquely positioned to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through mitigation steps. This guide will assist railroad risk managers and emergency managers to evaluate the risks and determine how best to respond to them through preparation, mitigation, or adaptation. The THIRA is the …

Lessons Learned: Daniela Klingebiel, Yasemin Sim Esmen

Journal of Financial Crises

Daniela Klingebiel was principal portfolio manager with the World Bank’s Pension and Endowment Department, Hedge Funds, during the Global Financial Crisis. Throughout her career, she has written many papers on financial crises, comparing various governments’ attempts to manage them and dissecting what has worked and why. This Lessons Learned summary is based on an interview with Klingebiel held on February 4 and March 3, 2021.

Design And Evaluation Of An Esa-Based Method Of Ensemble Subsetting For A Wofs (Warn On Forecast-Like System), Daniel J. Butler

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Forecasting severe thunderstorm environments in the southeastern United States can be challenging due to mesoscale heterogeneities such as shortwave troughs, pre-existing airmass boundaries, cold fronts aloft, low-level jets, dry air intrusions, and mesoscale lows. To combat these challenges, ensemble sensitivity analysis (ESA) may be applied to a Warn-on-Forecast (WOF)-like ensemble to improve forecasts of severe convection through ensemble weighting and subsetting. Ensemble-based weighting and subsetting uses ensemble members that most accurately represent the thunderstorm environment in areas of mesoscale heterogeneity. This study creates and evaluates the ensemble-based weighting and subsetting in four cases of severe thunderstorm occurrence. The open parameter …