GADRIACTIONSSTAY SAFE

Summer 2020
Volume 12— Number 1

COVID 191

Under the current prevailing circumstances, we hope you are coping welland staying safe.
Most of the activities planned for this year and next year are put on holdor will be arranged virtually. One of such event that is postponed andheld virtually is the 5th GADRI Global Summit which was planned to behosted by the European Commission Joint Research Institute in Milan,
Italy in March 2021. We are planning to host the 5th GADRI Global
Summit virtually in August 2021. We will share further details in the next
issue of the newsletter.

Contents• GADRI Lecture Series:• Building Back Better:In this issue, we are covering two online lectures delivered by two
members of GADRI; GADRI statement of Covid-19 and its review by Prof.
David Alexander, and other articles that may be of interest to you.

A Holistic ApproachtoPost-Disaster
RecoveryShould you wish to share any information with the GADRI community,
please do not hesitate to contact the GADRI Secretariat and we will
disseminate the information through GADRI website and the newsletter.

• Artificial IntelligenceWe hope you will take care of yourself and stay safe.

Based Systems andSatellite Imagery inDisaster
Risk
Reduction (DRR)

With best wishes,
Hirokazu Tatano and Wilma James• COVID-19

Professor Hirokazu Tatano received the Sir Richard Stone Prize of
the International Input-Output Association
Professor Hirokazu Tatano, DPRI, Kyoto University and Prof. Yoshio Kajitani,
Kagawa University received the Sir Richard Stone Prize from the International InputOutput Association, Austria for their paper on Applicability of a Spatial Computable
General Equilibrium Model to Assess the Short-Term Economic Impact of Natural
Disasters, Economic Systems Research, 30(3), pp.289-312, 2018, Kajitani, Y. andTatano, H.– in August 2020.
Sir Richard Stone Prize is awarded every other year for the best paper(s) that was
submitted and accepted for publication in IIOA's journal Economic Systems
Research in the two consecutive volumes. The prize is donated by Francis & Taylor,
the Publisher of the journal.

• Lessonsfrom
Disaster Research

• A

very
brief
comment on GADRIStatement by Prof.
David Alexander• Where Should We

Go
Now
Evidence Aidby• A Collection of Critical

Situations During Flood
Emergency Response

GADRI Lecture Series
Lectures by the following members of GADRI are now available via GADRI
homepage.
•Prof. Gretchen Kalonji, Dean of Sichuan University-Hong Kong Polytechnic
University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR), China•

Prof. Andrew Collins, Leader, Disaster and Development Network, Northumbria
University Newcastle, United Kingdom•

Prof. John Clammer, O. P. Jindal Global University, India

Free photos from Pixabay.

GADRI Actions is designed, formatted and edited by Hirokazu Tatano and Wilma James.

2

• The

Psychology ofDisaster
Recovery:
Linking Trauma Studies
with Disaster Relief

GADRI LECTURE SERIES

Building Back Better: A Holistic Approach to Post-Disaster Recovery
By Prof. John Clammer, O. P. Jindal Global University, India

for disaster recovery for students of “disasterology”,
architects and victims, whose healing and recovery
process can be deepened and accelerated bysensitive and holistic understanding of the fullrange of the meaning of ‘building back better”.

Prof. John Clammer, O. P. Jindal Global
University, India
John Clammer is Professor of Sociology at the
O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonepat, Delhi NCR,
India, where he teaches in the schools of Liberal
Arts, Law and Environmental Studies. He iscurrently Distinguished Visiting Professor at Kyoto
University and has been teaching in the Institute ofLiberal Arts and Sciences, and researching in
conjunction with the DPRI. He was formerly
professor of development sociology at the Institutefor Advanced Studies in Sustainability at the United
Nations University, and has taught and researchedat Sophia University, Tokyo, the National Universityof Singapore, the Bauhaus Universitat Weimar, anduniversities in South Korea, India, Argentina, theUK and Australia. Among his most recent
publications are the books “Cultures of Transition
and Sustainability”(2016) and “Cultural Rights andJustice: Sustainable Development, the Arts and theBody” (2019), both published in New York andLondon by Palgrave Macmillan.

The concept of ‘building back better” is well known.
This lecture was designed to broaden the idea by
incorporating a number of elements that are notalways stressed. Many post-disaster situations
have not involved architects in the design of new
housing and other structures, but the evidence isthat good and sustainable design, often beyond thecapacities of NGOs and government appointed
contractors, results in buildings that are enjoyed by
the users, are well-maintained and provide
psychological satisfaction. This is only true
however when local cultures, social structure andgender norms are also taken into primary accountin the design process. The lecture illustrated thiswith reference to a number of case studies, andalso drew attention to a number of other key
factors, including the rebuilding and/or reimaginingof the local economy (and relating rebuilding tothese needs), local demography, and the wellknown significance of involving the community in all
stage of planning, design and execution. At thesame time the lecture drew attention to thetendency to romanticize the idea of “community”
and to not pay sufficient attention to social
hierarchies, inequalities and local power structures.
While stressing the importance of design forsustainability (including drawing on vernaculararchitecture and architects), thee lecture also drew
parallels between post-disaster and post-conflictsituations, and suggested that the field of trauma
studiesispotentiallyvery
importantinunderstanding the psychology of post-disasterrecovery. In conclusion, the lecture suggested
policy implications, including the importance ofholism (involving architects, anthropologists,
ecologists, engineers, geologists and others) inpost-disaster planning) and the desirability ofincluding disaster prevention and reconstruction in
the educational curriculum, especially in schools ofarchitecture and urban planning.

Brief-Bio of Speaker: http://jslh.edu.in/johnrobert-clammer/

Lecture title: Building Back Better: A
Holistic Approach to Post-Disaster
Recovery
Abstract: The notion of “Build Back Better” is now
a familiar idea in post-disaster reconstruction. The
presentation examined this idea and sought toexpand it in a number of fresh directions. These
included the role of architects in post-disasterreconstruction; sociological approaches to recovery
including evidence from community studies,
network analysis of local social structures, anddemography;
culturalreconstruction
andexperiences of owner driven reconstruction andheritage management; and the social psychologyof recovery. The seminar also drew on thepresenter’s work in trauma studies and parallels
between natural disaster recovery and post-conflictsituations. It pointed to policy recommendations
that can be drawn from such an approach andhopefully applied to a range of post-disastersituations, and suggested innovations in education

3

GADRI LECTURE SERIESArtificial Intelligence Based Systems and Satellite Imagery inDisaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
By: Dr. Sudip Roy, IIT, Roorkee, India
Dr. Sudip Roy, Assistant Professor,
Department of Computer Science andEngineering of Indian Institute ofTechnology (IIT) Roorkee, India

often limited in disaster-affected areas, and it isextremely important to identify the areas ofmaximum damage. In a post-disaster scenario,

Dr. Sudip Roy is currently an Assistant Professor incoordinate among themselves for effective andefficient disaster relief supply. Such kind of disastergovernment agencies andorganizations (NGOs)
put

the Department of Computer Science andEngineering of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Roorkee, India. He is also an associated faculty
member of the Centre of Excellence in Disaster
Mitigation and Management in IIT Roorkee, India.
He received his bachelor of science degree inPhysics and bachelor of technology degree in
Computer Science and Engineering from the
University of Calcutta, India, in 2001 and 2004,
respectively. In 2009 and 2014, he received themaster of science (by research) and PhD degrees

non-governmental
their efforts to

response activities aim to fulfill humanitarian needs
as early as possible. However, in many developing
and under-developed countries, most of the existingdisaster mapping efforts are manual, which is timeconsuming and often leads to erroneous results.
Many times, it has been found hard to access the
emergency data timely, as these data are generally
fragmented
andincomplete.
Hence,
thegovernment agencies and NGOs require turningthese data into useful information.

in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT
Kharagpur, India, respectively. His researchinterests include electronic design automation,modelling and simulation, optimization techniques,and ICT for disaster management. He has
published 19 international peer-reviewed journal
papers and 38 international peer-reviewed
conference papers. He has authored one book, one
book chapter and two granted US patents. He hasreceived many awards and recently being therecipient of the Early Career Research Award fromthe Department of Science and Technology, Govt.
of India in 2017.

Lecture title: Artificial Intelligence
Based Systems and Satellite Imagery inDisaster Risk Reduction (DRR)

There are several disaster data available with us
such as satellite data, sensor data, social media
data, videos, etc. and with the help of artificial

Abstract:manage the activities related to disastermanagement more effectively to reduce the disasterrisk and mitigate it. Moreover, satellite imagery andintelligence

In recent years, many natural disasters are
becoming more dangerous partly due to climatechange, and their far-reaching impacts havenegatively affected people and wildlife across theworld. After a disaster, it is important to prioritize
rescueoperations,disaster
responseandcoordinate relief efforts. These are to be carried out
in a fast and efficient manner since resources are

4

(AI)

based techniques we can

GIS maps can give emergency and disaster
response officials a wealth of information forassessment, analysis and monitoring of natural
disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes andcyclone damage from small to large regions aroundthe globe.

As disaster sites are generally not easily
accessible, therefore, the use of satellite imagery
has become a valuable source of information forassessing the impact of devastating events. For
example, Figure 1 shows the pre- and post-disastersatellite images captured for 2013 Haiyan supertyphoon in Philippines.
The use of satellite imagery has become
increasingly popular for disaster monitoring andresponse. Thus, it is essential to develop asatellite integrated robust classification system forsurveillance of the disaster-affected areas, which
can be used in route mapping for relief supply, fundrelease, biodiversity planning, damage mapping,and other disaster estimation purposes.
For
example, Figure 2 presents a post-disaster satellite
image of an affected region and a kind of mappingof damage levels on that satellite image (Pink: nodamage, Blue: major damage), which may be
useful for relief logistics and recovery. In the firstpart of this talk, we discussed on several
applications of AI based systems for effective
management of both natural and human-madedisasters. There are many different futurechallenges to explore the capabilities of AI-driven
systems in different phases (preparedness,

response, prevention/mitigation, and recovery) of
the disaster management cycle.
It is required to explore how AI based systems forsatellite imagery can be useful for disaster risk
reduction (DRR). In order to identify the areas,

5

which have been most severely affected by adisaster, we explored the use of AI based systems
for satellite imagery. In the last part of this talk, we
discussed about our recent work that was acceptedfor publication in a reputed international conference
namely IEEE IGARSS 2020 (IEEE International
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium2020). This framework will help to find the reason
behind the widespread devastation in the remotearea and enable emergency responders to gain
lead-timeforsupplying
emergency
reliefoperations.
We combined different image
descriptors and it is able to achieve comparable
results as obtained by the existing state-of-the-art
methods. In addition, the proposed framework
attains better results (in terms of accuracy)compared to the deep convolutional neural network
at a lower computational cost.

At the end of the talk, we discussed on how thenear real-time AI in the satellite imagery can be
useful in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disasterrisk governance (DRG).

COVID 19 and GADRICOVID-19 – Lessons from Disaster
Research
Decades of disaster research provide importantlessons that will help us through the COVID-19
pandemic.
Speaking as one, the leaders andmembers of the Global Alliance of Disaster ResearchInstitutes, the North American Alliance of Hazards
and Disaster Research Institutes, United Kingdom
Alliance for Disaster Research and the Africa
Alliance for Disaster Research Institutions know that:

Third, failure to prepare most impacts those who are
marginalized and disenfranchised—the poor, thesick, minorities, immigrants, refugees, the uninsured
and children. For nations where social safety nets
are frayed or non-existent, residents will depend on
financial support and rescue packages from theirgovernment.
Without
copingandrecoverymechanisms, resort is to reactive ad-hoc emergency
spending rather than investments in community
resilience that would avoid hardship in the first place.

First, this global pandemic has been widely
anticipated and foretold. Experts over many years
forecast a pandemic with scale of illness, swiftness of
spread, scarcity of critical medical resources andprofound impact on society such as we are now
experiencing. Current response efforts and decisionmaking are benefiting from previous pandemic anddisaster research. Disaster research provides anessential science foundation for effective decision
making before, during and after a crisis strikes.

Fourth, abiding by core principles of risk
communication can save lives. Decades of research
have established best practices for effective
communications in a disaster. These include
messages tailored to specific audiences from trusted
sources on what to do and how to do it, especially formore vulnerable groups less likely to receive
information through traditional channels. Many ofthese core principles are currently being violated.
This must stop, as lives are being lost. We need tohave effective risk communication.

Second, much of this knowledge did not translate
into adequate preparedness. This is part of a larger
phenomenon that experts have identified as“planning for the last disaster.” We often invest in
getting ready for the last disaster with a fading senseof urgency as time passes. Stockpiling of resources
and redundancy in capacity is seen as wasteful andis eliminated rather than being recognized as
preparedness for inevitable extreme weather,geophysical, epidemic or other hazards. Discounting
future impacts over current circumstances may becharacteristically human, but this myopia based on
short-term, political or economic benefits isparticularly common among persons and entities
making decisions in the public-political arena who,
moreover, don’t bear the brunt of their decisions. We
know from past studies that actions taken in advanceto prepare for known risks consistently result inavoided losses many times greater than the cost.

Fifth, transparency, situational awareness andrecovery planning are essential. Only when we truly
understand the risk and most effective responses
can we all contribute to the solution. Many fields ofscience rely on global and open exchange of data. A
continuing stream of ambiguous and incomplete
messages erodes public confidence and the ability toeffectively manage the disaster. While the current
priority is rightly focused on preventing the spread of
COVID-19, responding to the needs of those infected
and addressing the severe economic dislocations, it
is also important to begin planning for recovery. As
early as possible, a longer-term vision of the impact,
recovery planning and endgame are needed so thatpeople and businesses can plan, act and recover.

6

Sixth, extreme events evoke remarkable acts ofaltruism but also can bring about a disturbing lack ofhumanity. It is important to celebrate positive
actions, including mutual support for friends andstrangers in need. It is just as crucial that we remain
watchful for abuse and wrongdoing at all levels ofsociety and take action to confront inappropriate
behaviour.

natural hazards, and not lose sight of the long-term
issue of climate change. Moreover, COVID-19
requires that we adapt some established emergency
management practices, like planning for emergency
evacuation shelters.
Sound science is essential to good decisions.
Disaster research finds that those who embrace
evidence-based preparedness in their risk
management practices suffer less and reboundquicker.

Lastly, as our global community struggles with the
pandemic, we must also continue to be prepared forflooding, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and other

By: GADRI Secretary-General, members of the GADRI Board of Directors, GADRI Advisory Board, and othermembers of GADRI

for Applied System Analysis (IIASA), Austria•

Hirokazu Tatano, DPRI, Kyoto University, Japan•Charles Scawthorn,
Berkeley, USA•

Lori Peek, Colorado University, Boulder CO, USA•

Paul Kovacs, University of Western Ontario,
Canada•Andrew Collins, Northumbria University, U.K.

•

Gretchen Kalonji, Sichuan University, China•

Manabu Hashimoto, DPRI, Kyoto University,
Japan

•

Renn Ortwin, Institue for Advances Studies(IASS), Germany•

Qian Ye, Earth Surface Processes and Resource
Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University,
China

•

Khalid Mosalam, University of California, Berkeley,USA•

Wei-Sen Li, National Science and Technology
Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR), Chinese
Taipei•Mohsen Ghafory-Ashtiany, Iranian Earthquake
Engineering Association (IEEA), Iran•

Jörgen Sparf, Mid Sweden University, Sweden•

Walter Ammann, lobal Risk Forum (GRF Davos),
Switzerland•

Peter Sammonds, Institute for Risk and Disaster
Reduction (IRDR), University College London, UK

Kaoru Takara, Graduate School of Advanced
Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (Shishukan), Kyoto University, Japan•David Alexander, Institute for Risk and Disaster
Reduction (IRDR), University College London, UK

Gary Wilson, GNS Science - Te Pu Ao, New
Zealand•

Desmond Manatsa, Bindura University of Science
Education, Zimbabwe•

Tom de Groeve, European Commission, Joint
Research Centre (JRC), Italy•

Rajib Shaw, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC),
Keio University, Japan•

Irasema Alcántara-Ayala, Institute of Geography,
National Autonomous University of Mexico(UNAM), Mexico•

Rodrigo Cienfuegos, Centro Nacional deInvestigacion par la Gestion de Desastres
Naturales (CIGIDEN), Santiago, Chile

David Eisenman, University of California, Los
Angeles, USA•

Melanie Gall, Arizona State University, USA•

Fumihiko Imamura, International ResearchInstitute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku
University, Japan•

Karl Kim, University of Hawaii, USA•

Jamie Kruse, East Carolina University, USA••

Yuichi Ono, International Research Institute ofDisaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University,
Japan

Selwyn Mahon, American University of
Caribbean School of Medicine, St Maarten•

Rich Olson, Florida International University, USA

Stefan Hochrainer-Stigler, International Institute•Jean-Paul Pinelli, Florida Tech, USA•••

UniversityofCalifornia,

Zita Sebesvari, Institute for Environment andHuman Security, United Nations University,
Germany•

John van de Lindt, Colorado State University, USA•

Toshio Koike, Public Works Research Institute(PWRI), International Centre for Water Hazard and
Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspicesof UNESCO, Japan•

Mahua Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Roorkee, India•

Indrajit Pal, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT),
Thailand

•

•

7

the

COVID-19 -Lessons from Disaster Research

A very brief comment on the GADRI statement
By Prof. David Alexander, IRDR, UCL"Tell me, my man. Which is the quickest way to go to
Dublin?""Well, to begin with, Sir, I wouldn't start from here."

Title: COVID-19 – Lessons from disaster
research
This is good: short, pertinent and to the point.
"... this global pandemic has been widely anticipatedand foretold. Experts over many years forecast apandemic with scale of illness, swiftness of spread,scarcity of critical medical resources and profound
impact on society such as we are now experiencing.
Current response efforts and decision-making are
benefiting from previous pandemic and disaster
research. Disaster research provides an essential
science foundation for effective decision making
before, during and after a crisis strikes."
The planning scenario has been compiled for at least
12 years. What is striking about the progress of theCovid-19 pandemic is the lack of input at many
official levels of disaster specialists, risk managers
and emergency planners. These fields are dominatedby everyone from epidemiologists to economists, whohave no specific expertise in managing disasters as
disasters.
"...much of this knowledge did not translate into
adequate preparedness. This is part of a larger
phenomenon that experts have identified as“planning for the last disaster.” We often invest in
getting ready for the last disaster with a fading senseof urgency as time passes. Stockpiling of resources
and redundancy in capacity is seen as wasteful andis eliminated rather than being recognized as
preparedness for inevitable extreme weather,geophysical, epidemic or other hazards. Discounting
future impacts over current circumstances may becharacteristically human, but this myopia based on
short-term, political or economic benefits isparticularly common among persons and entities
making decisions in the public-political arena who,
moreover, don’t bear the brunt of their decisions. We
know from past studies that actions taken in advanceto prepare for known risks consistently result inavoided losses many times greater than the cost."
Governments knew this so the real question is why
was preparedness so badly neglected? In a world inwhich austerity has achieved massive transfers of

8

wealth from the poor to the rich, the answer is veryclear. Health and welfare services have been
reduced and privatised. The ideology that led tothese changes militates against emergency
preparedness. The confirmation of this can be seenin the economics of Covid-19: economists confirm
that they are a disaster for the majority and a huge
opportunity for enrichment for the wealthy.
Pandemics do provide business opportunities, above
all for those who command the mobility of capital.
Any failure to acknowledge this should be regarded
as naivety. Governments did not "forget" to stockpile,plan and prepare: they took the decision not to do so.
There is abundant evidence to confirm thisobservation: see for example, the UK National
Register if Civil Risks. For a decade, pandemics were
top of the list among 94 risks the country faces, andyet when the inevitable happened, the UK was
patently unprepared.
"...failure to prepare most impacts those who are
marginalized and disenfranchised—the poor, thesick, minorities, immigrants, refugees, the uninsured
and children. For nations where social safety nets arefrayed or non-existent, residents will depend on
financial support and rescue packages from theirgovernment.
Without
copingandrecoverymechanisms, resort is to reactive ad-hoc emergency
spending rather than investments in community
resilience that would avoid hardship in the first place."
We now see the inversion (temporarily?) of ideology
in expansion of welfare and support for healthsystems. Undoubtedly too little, too late to save many
lives and livelihoods, but a striking reversal
nonetheless.

In a world increasingly dominated by defensive"identity politics" solidarity is fast withering on thevine. We are seeing the subversion of emergency
response (Hungary) and negligence by demagogic
leaders (Brazil, USA). It is increasingly clear thattransparency, accountability and democracy arenecessary conditions for disaster risk reduction andthat point needs to be emphasised.
"...abiding by core principles of risk communication
can save lives. Decades of research haveestablishedbest
practicesforeffective
communications in a disaster.

"...These include messages tailored to specificaudiences from trusted sources on what to do andhow to do it, especially for more vulnerable groups
less likely to receive information through traditional
channels. Many of these core principles are
currently being violated. This must stop, as lives arebeing lost. We need to have effective risk
communication."
Decades of research have not been able to tackle
the radical changes of the last ten years. We now
have an information battle and an "infodemic". The
UN has acknowledged this. False and misleading
information are decisively out of control withpotentially catastrophic consequences. This leads tothe destruction of the mobile telephone equipmentthat emergency services depend upon, under theassumption that it causes viruses. Opposition tovaccination may be in retreat but its consequences
are now even more serious than before in terms of
the prevention of epidemics. Conspiracy theories
are the elephant in the room. They may beridiculous, but they can be extremely harmful. It is
not merely a question of providing good scientificinformation. That strategy has failed to curb them.
The question now is how to use reliable information
to combat them effectively.
"...transparency, situational awareness and recovery
planning are essential. Only when we truly
understand the risk and most effective responses
can we all contribute to the solution. Many fields ofscience rely on global and open exchange of data. A
continuing stream of ambiguous and incomplete
messages erodes public confidence and the ability
to effectively manage the disaster. While the current
priority is rightly focused on preventing the spread of
COVID-19, responding to the needs of those
infected and addressing the severe economic
dislocations, it is also important to begin planning forrecovery. As early as possible, a longer-term visionof the impact, recovery planning and endgame areneeded so that people and businesses can plan, act
and recover."We are dealing with decades of the ramping up ofcompetitiveness in science and scholarship. The
incessant ranking of institutions is one illustration of
this. To call very suddenly for cooperation whenprestige, funding and jobs depend on being able tobeat one's competitors is an absurdity. The funding
shortfall caused by the cessation or mutation ofactivities will be met by competing even moreenergetically than before. It has already started tohappen, for example in the university in which I
work.

"...extreme events evoke remarkable acts of altruism

9

but also can bring about a disturbing lack ofhumanity. It is important to celebrate positive
actions, including mutual support for friends andstrangers in need. It is just as crucial that we remain
watchful for abuse and wrongdoing at all levels ofsociety and take action to confront inappropriate
behaviour."
It is therefore time to re-evaluate Alan Barton'sconceptofthepost-disaster'therapeuticcommunity'. Abuse and wrong-doing occur within
the context of national and international situations.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a golden opportunity fororganised crime. In places like Italy and Colombia it
has taken over some of the role of the state inproviding employment and enhanced welfare.
Inappropriate behaviour starts with political leaders(Trump, Bolsonaro, Orbán) and can be capillary.
Factionalism rather than unity is the root problem.
"...as our global community struggles with the
pandemic, we must also continue to be prepared forflooding, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes and othernatural hazards, and not lose sight of the long-term
issue of climate change. Moreover, COVID-19
requires that we adapt some established emergency
management practices, like planning for emergency
evacuation shelters."
Emergency planning needs to move from a
simplistic basis to confronting the true complexity ofemergencies. Cascading, concurrent, compound,interacting and interconnected risks are the way of
the future. The field of emergency planning needs tobecome much more mature and to work out a wayof getting itself taken much more seriously.
"Sound science is essential to good decisions.
Disaster research finds that those who embrace
evidence-based preparedness in their risk
management practices suffer less and reboundquicker."
Evidence-based practice is inherently a good idea,
but Covid-19 is a good illustration of just how
incomplete, controversial, ambiguous and liable tomisinterpretation evidence actually is.
Conclusion: The GADRI umbrella could be a
powerful tool to promote good practice, but thisneeds to take account of (a) the context of themodern world - e.g. factionalism, identity politics,
information revolutions, the consequences of'infodemics', austerity, etc. - and (b) the challenge ofproviding real solutions based on workable analysesof existing complexity. Although the message canbe depoliticised to an extent in order to make it
appear impartial, there are now distinct limits to howmuch this can be done.

COVID-19 – Where should
we go now?
By: Claire Allen, Operations Manager

Evidence Aid (www.evidenceaid.org) is a UKbased charity with international roots. It has
collated and translated more than 270
coronavirus-related research papers to aid
clinicians, policymakers and other decisionmakers around the world both in high and low
resource settings.

topic in the world media and in specificcountries. Studies summarised and translatedon the open access website range from infection
prevention and control (including for healthcare
workers) to social issues, mental health and theimpact on levels of domestic violence. The
collection includes summaries of systematic
reviews that might be relevant to the direct
impact of COVID-19 (including reviews of
emerging research as well a reviews of relevant
treatments) on health and other outcomes, theimpact of COVID-19 response on otherconditions and longer terms issues to consider
for the recovery period after COVID-19.

Starting at the beginning of March 2020,
Evidence Aid has (at mid-June 2020) publishedsummaries of more than 270 papers related to
COVID-19 – each translated into one or more ofseven languages – Arabic, Chinese Simplified,
Chinese Traditional, French, Italian, Portuguese
and Spanish (soon to be eight to include
German). Since the COVID-19 collection was
launched, over 70,000 people have used thewebsite(https://evidenceaid.org/evidence/coronavirus-covid-19/) from around the world.
International organisations, including the Pan
American Health Organisation and the World
Health Organisation, have praised Evidence
Aid’s work. Every day more summaries arebeing added to the collection and moretranslations uploaded.

Frontline workers and decision makers incountries around the world are crying out for
information they can swiftly absorb and apply
immediately in clinical settings. Most of theseworkers don’t have time to read through, what isnow, thousands of research papers. In fact,
evidence from the work Evidence Aid has donesuggests many may only have time to engage
with posts on social media. We need to givethem the information they need, in the format
need, in the language they need at the time thatthey need it.

The summaries are written by volunteers(including professors, doctors, nurses, medical
writers, PhD students and undergraduates) all
around the world. They are quality checked by apanel of experts, are intended for use by anyone– both in high and low resource settings. They
are freely available to anyone and the website ismobile-optimised. To ensure the relevance to
low resource settings articles are reviewed byvolunteers in those settings who can assess theapplicability to their health care delivery. The
volunteers are not only summary writers, butalso take part in screening, searching forrelevant records, administrative support andwebsite maintenance.

New research into COVID-19 is needed and vast
amounts of money are being spent on producing
it. But there is also an urgent need to ensure thatgovernments and health systems around theworld know about evidence relevant to COVID19 that already exists in order to save valuable
resources where possible. Evidence Aid and its
partners suggest that it is possible to prevent
wasted resources and the implementation ofpotentially harmful strategies if governments,
medical research bodies and UN bodies
provided organisations like Evidence Aid with afraction of the funding currently being poured
into primary studies seeking treatments andvaccines.

Unsurprisingly, some of the most popular
resources are those on the effectiveness of
facemasks and quarantine, although this oftenchanges related to what is a much-discussed

Although urgent action is needed now, the issue
goes much deeper than COVID-19.

10

COVID-19 – Where should wego now?

It would be pertinent to form a strong evidencebase for future health disasters like COVID-19.
Evidence Aid have long argued that theinternational organisations who made use of its
resources even before COVID-19 need toinvest in a proper evidence resource for healthdisasters. The fact that this hasn’t yet
happened and evidence resources are still
being produced around the world by manydifferent organisations is particularly frustrating
as COVID-19 is proving that systematic
reviews and wide dissemination of research are
far better value for money and more effective
than funding a massive number of new studies.
It is important that COVID-19 allows us to learn
from our mistakes and invest in better systems
for the future whilst not forgetting researchdone in the past.

than funding a massive number of new studies.
It is important that COVID-19 allows us to learn
from our mistakes and invest in better systems
for the future whilst not forgetting researchdone in the past.
With COVID-19 and other science researchchallenges in the disaster sector we see
funding of many studies that often don’t answer
key questions and that overlap or repeat what
has been done before. It would be better andless expensive if evidence-based study
outcomes were brought together and madequickly available in a range of languages.
Evidence Aid was established by people linked
to Cochrane, the internationally respected
medical research body. It has provided
researchcustodianship,
synthesis
andcommunication in clear accessible formats tothe humanitarian and disaster sectors for 15
years, being established after the Indian Ocean
tsunami.

It would be pertinent to form a strong evidencebase for future health disasters like COVID-19.
Evidence Aid have long argued that theinternational organisations who made use of its
resources even before COVID-19 need toinvest in a proper evidence resource for healthdisasters. The fact that this hasn’t yet
happened and evidence resources are still
being produced around the world by manydifferent organisations is particularly frustrating
as COVID-19 is proving that systematic
reviews and wide dissemination of research are
far better value for money and more effective

We are still accepting volunteers for the projectso if you think you can help us, please do
contact Claire Allen (callen@evidenceaid.org).

11

Collection of Critical Situations
during Flood Emergency Response
Miho Ohara and Masakazu Fujikane
International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM)
Under the auspices of UNESCO, Public Works Research Institute (PWRI), Japan

Figure 1 Cover pages of the main content and appendix
The International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk
Management (ICHARM) under the auspices of
UNESCO has published a booklet entitled“Collection of Critical Situations during Flood
Emergency Response,” aiming to improve theemergency
response
capacities
oflocal
governments for more effective management offlood disasters. The collection consists of the maincontent, “local government response,” and an
appendix, “local government response under COVID-19.” It is downloadable in PDF file format on thewebsite(https://www.pwri.go.jp/icharm/
special_topic/20200625_flood_response_collection_e.html).

where the response to a disaster did not go well, of
which many of the case study examples serve asadvice to other local governments on how to combat
disasters. Indeed, there are reports of similar criticalsituations
experiencedbynumerous
local
governments. And, many of the other affected local
governments would doubtless express regret if they
did not know about these cases in advance.

Defining critical situations in which local government
officers have a hard time making sensible decisions
because they panic, don’t know what to do, areconfused or in dilemma, etc., during an emergency
response effort, ICHARM collected typical criticalsituations from the review reports of past flood
disasters in Japan. As a result, some 500 cases
offering instructive lessons to be learned werecollected from the 2,000 or so pages in the 30
documents read. The booklet features 28 typicalcases of critical situations, each printed on a twopage spread with lessons in terms of “Facilities,”“Procedure,” and “Skill” to assist local government
officers in taking more practical measures.

Several local governments in Japan have recently
published after-action review reports (post-disaster
reports), in which they review their emergency
response during a disaster and identify lessons toimprove their efforts based on their disaster
experience. These reports include plenty of wise
feedback from personnel members who offer theircontrition and improvement proposals about cases12In emergency response during a flood disaster amid
the COVID-19 crisis, it is important to conduct
infection prevention measures in guiding residents’evacuation and admitting them to evacuation
centers, in addition to the measures taken inconventional flood disaster response. To this end,
the “Appendix for local government response under
COVID-19” describes 28 possible critical situations
and necessary countermeasures in case of a flood
disaster under the plague in terms of “Facilities,”“Procedure,” “Public relations” and “During disaster
response.” Here, the classification of “Public
relations” is used instead of “Skill” raised in the maincontent “local government response” as fomenting
the “Skill” requires time under the urgent risks offlooding under COVID-19. Nevertheless, continuing
to push the “public relations” perspective will help tofoment “human skills”. The appendix refers toseveral guidelines issued by the Cabinet Office andthe Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan,
and“A guideline for the creation ofcountermeasures against flood disasters during apandemic situation (COVID-19)”, which was coauthored by Associate Professor KOYAMA Maki ofGifu University and Professor KANBARA Sakiko of
the University of Kochi.
Since flood emergency response under COVID-19 is
new experience for local governments, thispublication aims to provide some hints for them toplan necessary countermeasures considering theirneeds and situations, including the prevalence of thedisease among the residents.
We hope that this publication can help local
government officers to cope with disasters, not assomething distant from their reality but as their
immediate problem, and enhance the response
capacity of their organizations against disasters.

Figure 2 Sample page of the appendix on local government response under COVID-19

For further information, visit: - https://www.pwri.go.jp/icharm/
special_topic/20200625_flood_response_collection_e.html

13

The Psychology of Disaster Recovery:
Linking Trauma Studies with Disaster
ReliefBy Prof. John Clammer, O. P. Jindal Global University, India

One of the relatively neglected aspects of post-disasterstudies suggest “hidden” links that are not often

recovery is its psychological dimension. Yet anyone

recognized. These include, as suggested above, thewith knowledge of such situations will recognize

radical transformation of familiar landscapes andimmediately that the experience of passing through aspaces, but also includes economic factors, not only innatural disaster (or a conflict situation) leaves deep

the more obvious sense of the loss of livelihood andpsychological scars. Loss of home and the personally

income and perhaps the destruction of the tools of

precious things that it contains (quite apart from their

one’s trade, but the loss of the sense of self associatedeconomic value), physical hurt, the loss of familywith that occupation when it is snatched away frommembers, friends and neighbours, and, something that

oneself. This is confirmed by sociological andis hardly recognized at all, the loss of familiar

psychological studies of the long term unemployed,landscapes and the configuration of spaces in which

where while loss of income is clearly a critical factor,

one has lived, and perhaps grown up. But recognizing

the loss of the ability to position oneself in society, tothese factors suggests a strong link between post-

take pride in a professional competence, howeverdisaster recovery and trauma studies, a field in which

humble it might be, and the inability to answer thethe author of this short piece has worked. Most earlier

question “And what do you do?” that forms an

studies of trauma from a psychological or sociologicalimportant part of our identity are equally significant.

point of view have been primarily concerned withRelated to this are questions of age and gender – ineither individual trauma resulting usually fromfact of the demography of disaster-hit communities. In

unsought

violence

the case of Aceh in Indonesia, devastated by the Indian

experienced in such contexts as being a crime victim,

Ocean tsunami, many younger men were sparedor with war and conflict. With time, however, thisbecause they were away from their villages when theframework has been gradually expanding to include

wave struck. They physically survived, but at thethe experiences of such groups as refugees and other

terrible psychological cost of losing parents, children

displaced groups, and, as I suggest here, is aand younger siblings. What might be called the

profoundly important approach for post-disaster“differential psychology” of disasters is probably as

studies and practical intervention in the recovery

important as the economic impact, and certainly plays

process.

a key role in the re-establishment of communities,

sexualviolations

or

from

which are “damaged” not only by material destruction,“Build Back Better” approaches have rightly stressedbut even more deeply by the fragmentation of social

the reconstruction of community as an essential

ties that can never be reconstituted in anything likeelement in post-disaster reconstruction, and that itself

their original form.

has strong links with social psychology. But trauma

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Studies of war survivors, and of military personnel who

insights of medical sociology which is concerned

have fought in such situations, have shown theamong other things with notions of illness, of illness

prevalence of PTSD – severe and chronic post-

narratives in which the sick try to make sense of theirtraumatic stress disorder – and the extent to which thisexperience and find meaning in it, and with howmanifests itself in lack of social trust, insecurity andrecovery happens. The parallels here are significant

excessive reactions to any event or circumstance thatand provide potentially fruitful insights into not only

recalls the origin trauma, numbness, and a long term

illness, but recovery from any traumatic experience.

sense of meaninglessness in life.
These are also the symptoms exhibited by survivors ofnatural disasters. And similarly, as with war trauma,
healing takes place largely through the restoration of atrustworthy community, and by a process of mutual

healing – by survivors, not to survivors (however usefulFootnote:
There is a growing literature in trauma studies.
Among the interesting studies are:•

Cathy Caruth (1996) Unclaimed Experience:
Trauma, Narrative and History. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press.

•

Didier Fassin and Richard Rechtman (2009),
The Empire of Trauma. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.

•

Saskia Sassen (2014) Expulsions: Brutality andComplexity in the Global World. Cambridge MA:
Harvard University Press.

•

John Clammer (2012) Culture, Development andSocial Theory. New York and London: Zed
Press.

•

Jonathan Shay (1994) Achilles in Vietnam:
Trauma and the Undoing of Character. New
York: Scribner.

professional psychiatric and other help may be atcertain points in the recovery process). A lot of thishealing process has to do with the survivors being able
to create narratives, stories of what has happened tothem that allow them to re-integrate their memories
with the re-establishment of something like a “normal”
life again. Equally important is the wider communitythat helps to reintegrate survivors and to assist them inthe slow movement from the status of “victims” tothat of full “citizens” again.

This should not be

underestimated: studies of war trauma victims haveshown that a large part of their long term problem isthat society after a while does not want to listen: it
wants to forget exactly what the victim can neverforget.
Traumastudies

provideanimportant

link

in

establishing methods and approaches to post-disasterrecovery, and is also a valuable way of applying the15

GADRI Members
Geographical Distribution of GADRI as of 31 August 2020

Established in March 2015, the Global Alliance ofDisaster Research Institutes support theimplementation of the Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR) andthe work of the Scientific and Technical Advisory
Group of the United Nations Office for Disaster
Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
GADRI strives to deepen the understanding ofdisasters and find implementable solutions toachieve disaster resilience; i.e. human, technicalsystem and infrastructure resilience, survivability
and well-being, by integrating knowledge andtechnologies from around the world. Over 200
institutions have joined GADRI.
GADRI Secretariat is currently headquartered andhosted by the Disaster Prevention ResearchInstitute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
GADRI membership is free; and completely
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To join GADRI, please contact the GADRISecretariat: secretariat-gadri@dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI)
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Kyoto 611-0011, JAPAN
Tel: +81-774-38-4621
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E-mail: secretariat-gadri@dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp
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