Local Social Services in
Nordic Countries
in Times of Disaster
Report for the Nordic Council of MinistersGuðný Björk Eydal, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Carin Björngren Cuadra,
Rasmus Dahlberg, Björn Hvinden, Merja Rapeli and Tapio Salonen

Local Social Services in Nordic countries in Times of Disaster -Report for the Nordic Council of
MinistersGuðný Björk Eydal, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Carin Björngren Cuadra, Rasmus Dahlberg, Björn
Hvinden, Merja Rapeli, Tapio Salonen(PDF) ISBN 978-9935-9265-4-8 (EPUB)© Ministry of Welfare 2016, Reykjavík, IcelandThis publication has been published with financial support by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
However, the contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views, policies or recom‐
mendations of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................................................3
SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................................6
ABOUT THE AUTHORS ............................................................................................................................... 8
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 10
1.1 THE NORDIC COUNCIL OF MINISTERS .................................................................................................... 10
1.2 THE NORDIC WELFARE WATCH ............................................................................................................. 11
1.2.1 Nordic Welfare Indicators ............................................................................................................. 12
1.2.2 Welfare consequences of financial crises ...................................................................................... 12
1.2.3 The Nordic Welfare Watch – in Response to Crisis ....................................................................... 12
1.3 DISASTER RESEARCH IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES ................................................................................... 13
1.4 COOPERATION ON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IN NORDIC REGIONS AND ON EUROPEAN LEVEL ............ 16
1.5 MANAGING RISKS AND ENHANCING RESILIENCE ..................................................................................... 19
1.6 WHAT KINDS OF DISASTERS HAVE THE NORDIC COUNTRIES EXPERIENCED IN PAST DECADES?............... 21
1.7 THE NORDIC WELFARE STATES AND SOCIAL SERVICES IN TIMES OF DISASTER ........................................ 24
1.8 TERMINOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................... 27
1.8.1 Disaster .......................................................................................................................................... 28
1.8.2. Emergency Management ............................................................................................................... 30
1.8.3. Vulnerability and resilience .......................................................................................................... 30
1.9 PARTICIPANTS ........................................................................................................................................ 33
1.10 METHODS, MATERIAL AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT ................................................................ 34
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 37
2. SOCIAL SERVICES AND SOCIAL WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF DISASTER ........................... 43
2.1 THE ROLE OF LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN TIMES OF DISASTER ................................................................ 43
2.1.1 Enhancing resilience and working with vulnerable groups ........................................................... 45
2.1.2 Provision of psychosocial support to individuals, families and groups ......................................... 47
2.1.3 Community work ............................................................................................................................ 49
2.2 CO-OPERATION OF LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES WITH OTHER AGENTS ......................................................... 50
2.3 LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES AND DISASTER SOCIAL WORK.......................................................................... 52
2.3.1 Contribution of social work in relation to disasters ...................................................................... 55
2.3.2 Disaster social work and user involvement ................................................................................... 58
2.3.3 Education and the role of disaster social work .............................................................................. 60
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 61
3. DENMARK ................................................................................................................................................. 65
3.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 65
3.1.1 Geography and climate .................................................................................................................. 65
3.1.2 Demographics ................................................................................................................................ 65
3.1.3 The governmental system ............................................................................................................... 66
3.1.4 Disaster and risk profile ................................................................................................................ 67
3.2 LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES ........................................................................................................................ 67
3.3 THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................... 70
3.3.1 Tasks and objectives ...................................................................................................................... 72
3.3.2 Contingency planning .................................................................................................................... 73
3.3.3 The national level .......................................................................................................................... 73
3.3.4 The regional level .......................................................................................................................... 76
3.3.5 The municipal level ........................................................................................................................ 77
3.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies ........................................................... 77
3.4 LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES’ ROLE IN THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ......................................... 78
3.5 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................................... 79
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 82
4. FINLAND.................................................................................................................................................... 85
4.1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 853

4.1.1 Geography and climate .................................................................................................................. 85
4.1.2 Demographics ................................................................................................................................ 85
4.1.3 The governmental system ............................................................................................................... 86
4.1.4 Disaster and risk profile ................................................................................................................ 88
4.2 LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES ........................................................................................................................ 89
4.2.1 Example of local social services in Finland: The case of Vantaa.................................................. 91
4.3 THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................... 94
4.3.1 Tasks and objectives ...................................................................................................................... 96
4.3.2 Contingency planning .................................................................................................................... 97
4.3.3 The national level .......................................................................................................................... 97
4.3.4 The regional level .......................................................................................................................... 98
4.3.5 The municipal level ........................................................................................................................ 99
4.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies ........................................................... 99
4.4 THE ROLE OF LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................ 100
4.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 102
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 106
5. ICELAND ................................................................................................................................................. 110
5.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 110
5.1.1 Geography and climate ................................................................................................................ 110
5.1.2 Demographics .............................................................................................................................. 110
5.1.3 The governmental system ............................................................................................................. 111
5.1.4 Disaster and risk profile .............................................................................................................. 112
5.2. LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES ..................................................................................................................... 113
5.3 THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................. 114
5.3.1 Tasks and objectives .................................................................................................................... 117
5.3.2 Contingency planning .................................................................................................................. 118
5.3.3 The national level ........................................................................................................................ 118
5.3.4 The municipal level ...................................................................................................................... 121
5.3.5 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies ......................................................... 122
5.4 THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ........................................ 124
5.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 124
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 128
6. NORWAY ................................................................................................................................................. 132
6.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 132
6.1.1 Geography and climate ................................................................................................................ 132
6.1.2 Demographics .............................................................................................................................. 132
6.1.3 The governmental system ............................................................................................................. 134
6.1.4 Disaster and risk profile .............................................................................................................. 134
6.2 LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES ...................................................................................................................... 134
6.3 THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................. 136
6.3.1 Tasks and objectives .................................................................................................................... 137
6.3.2 Contingency planning .................................................................................................................. 139
6.3.3 The national level ........................................................................................................................ 140
6.3.4 The regional level ........................................................................................................................ 143
6.3.5 The municipal level ...................................................................................................................... 144
6.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies ......................................................... 146
6.4 THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ........................................ 146
6.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 147
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 150
7. SWEDEN .................................................................................................................................................. 153
7.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 153
7.1.1 Geography and climate ................................................................................................................ 153
7.1.2 Demographics .............................................................................................................................. 153
7.1.3 The governmental system ............................................................................................................. 154
7.1.4 Disaster and risk profile .............................................................................................................. 155
7.2 LOCAL SOCIAL SERVICES ...................................................................................................................... 156
7.3 THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................. 159

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7.3.1 Tasks and objectives .................................................................................................................... 161
7.3.2 Contingency planning .................................................................................................................. 163
7.3.3 The national level ........................................................................................................................ 163
7.3.4 The regional level ........................................................................................................................ 166
7.3.5 The municipal level ...................................................................................................................... 168
7.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies ......................................................... 168
7.4 THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SERVICES IN THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ........................................ 169
7.5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 171
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 174
8. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 178
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................................. 187

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SUMMARY
The project focused on the emergency management systems in the five Nordic countries.
It investigated whether local social services have a formal role in the contingency planningof the systems. The project was part of The Nordic Welfare Watch research project during
the Icelandic Presidency Program in the Nordic Council of Ministers 2014-2016. The council
financed the project.
The main findings show that Finland, Norway and Sweden specifically address therole of social services in times of disaster in their legal frameworks on emergency
management. Finland and Norway also address the role in the law on social services. In
Sweden, the role is more implicit as the social service act applies regardless ofcircumstances. All countries expect all authorities to make a contingency plan. This meansthat even if the law in Denmark and Iceland does not address the roles of social services,
the services are legally obligated to make contingency plans. Furthermore, Finland, Norway
and Sweden have prepared special guidelines on contingency planning for social services.
In recent years the Nordic countries have all faced disasters due to natural, technicaland man-made hazards. The frequency of such disasters is on the rise according toforecasts. In order to enhance resilience and preparedness of those most vulnerable indisasters, the involvement of local social services in the emergency management system isof vital importance. The literature shows how social services can enhance social and humaninvestment, the citizen’s economic participation and political empowerment. Furthermore,
the literature shows that the co-operation between social services and the voluntary sector
during the emergency and recovery phases is crucial, and the Red Cross is usually thelargest voluntary organization providing social services during disasters in all the countries.
The following recommendations build on the results of the project. Their purpose
is to make the Nordic Welfare States more resilient and better prepared for futurechallenges.

•

There is a need to share knowledge on how to increase the involvement of social
services in all phases of emergency management. The guidelines for social services'
contingency planning and their plans should be shared across the Nordic countries
and among various actors on the state, regional and local levels. This task could also
be implemented under the umbrella of the Svalbard Group.

6•

There is a need to make the role of social services known in the emergency
management systems, so that the relevant parties can activate the full potential ofsocial services in all phases of the disaster cycle. It is likewise important to informthe social services of emergency management law and organization in order tofacilitate effective co-operation in the event of disaster.

•

It is important to address the role of emergency management in the education ofsocial workers and social carers and enhance disaster research in the social
sciences.

•

It is important to create opportunities for the social services to prepare for futuredisasters. It is also important to include the social services in emergency
management exercises. The exercises might also be extended in scope in order tocover all phases of disasters. Nordic countries could share exercise scenarios
involving tasks for the social sector and make use of scenarios already developed.

•

The Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Welfare Center (NVC) should
address social sector preparedness issues. Social sector preparedness cooperation
should be enhanced under the umbrella of the Nordic Council of Ministers (Svalbard
Group) and collaborate closely with the Haga-process. Such high-level co-operation
enhances regional and local level co-operation.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORSGuðný Björk Eydal, PhD and licenced social worker, is a professor on the Faculty of Social
Work, University of Iceland. Guðný has served as Head of the Department of Sociology andthe Faculty of Social Work. Her main research field is social policy, with emphasis on family
and care policies in Iceland and the Nordic countries. She is directing the project Nordic
Welfare Watch in Response to Crisis and a long-term research project on the outcome ofthe paid parental leave legislation in Iceland with Professor Ingólfur V. Gíslason. Among her
recent publications is the book Fatherhood in the Nordic Welfare States—Comparing
Policies and Practice, which she edited with Professor Tine Rostgaard.

Carin Björngren Cuadra is MsocSc, PhD and an associate professor of social work at Malmö
University. Her main interests in the distribution of security and welfare, precarity, risk andvulnerability in the context of sustainable development underpin her research on social
services in crisis preparedness. In that context, she has studied the responses of humanservices to diversity, with a special interest in irregular migrants. Her recent international
publication is “Public Social Services’ encounters with irregular migrants in Sweden: on
reframing of recognisability” (2015) in the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies(13,302-320).

Rasmus Dahlberg has a background in History and holds an MA from the University ofSouthern Denmark. PhD Fellow at the Copenhagen Center for Disaster Research and theDanish Emergency Management Agency 2013-2016. He is currently a research assistant at
the Faculty of Law at Copenhagen University while finishing his PhD. He is the author ofseveral books about Danish disaster history and emergency management and co-editor ofDisaster Research: Multidisciplinary and International Perspectives (Routledge 2015). He isa certified first-aider with the Danish Red Cross.

Bjørn Hvinden, professor and Institute Director, NOVA, Oslo and Akershus University
College. He has an M.A. (1977) and PhD (1992), both in sociology. Currently, he is directing
an EU Horizon 2020 project on young people's agency related to job insecurity in nine8European countries (NEGOTIATE, 2015-2018) and the project Sustainable European
Welfare Societies on the relations between climate change and social welfare (2014-2018,
Research Council of Norway). His publications include Koch, Gullberg, Schøyen & Hvinden(2016) “Sustainable Welfare in the EU: Promoting synergies between climate and social
policies”, in Critical Social Policy (36, 4, 704-715).

Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir is Project Manager at the Social Science Research Institute anda PhD student at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Iceland (UoI). Her educational
background is in Sociology with an emphasis on employment, gender and the welfare
system. She has a BA in Sociology from UoI and an MA in Work Science from the University
of Gothenburg. Prior to her PhD studies, she managed research and service projects in thefield of social sciences as well as interdisciplinary research at the Social Science ResearchInstitute, University of Iceland.

Merja Rapeli is Ministerial Adviser, Preparedness Secretary, at the Ministry of Social Affairs
and Health in Finland. She seconded part time to the Finnish Security Committee’s
Secretariat. She has an M.Soc.Sc, (1990 Sociology), is a licensed Social Worker (1994),
Lic.Soc.Sc. (2015 Social Work) and doctoral student at the University of Jyväskylä. She
previously worked within local social and health care services in various positions and in
the Finnish Red Cross on preparedness issues.

Tapio Salonen is a Professor of Social Work at Malmö University. His main researchinterests include poverty, marginality, participatory strategies and social policy. He has led
a number of externally funded research projects on both the national and international
levels, and public inquiries, commissions and government committees have repeatedly
appointed him as an expert.

91. INTRODUCTION
Guðný Björk Eydal, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Carin Björngren Cuadra, Rasmus
Dahlberg, Merja Rapeli, Björn Hvinden and Tapio Salonen

This report is part of The Nordic Welfare Watch research project. It was carried out during
the Icelandic Presidency Program in the Nordic Council of Ministers 2014-2016 and was
funded by the Council. The Nordic Welfare Watch aims at promoting and strengthening thesustainability of Nordic welfare systems through cooperation, research and mutual
exchange of acquired experience and knowledge. A further objective is to provide means
and recommendations useful for policy making, to better prepare welfare systems to meet
future challenges1.
The aim of the following report is to investigate the roles of local social services intimes of disaster. Achieving this aim requires answering the following questions: Do local
social services have a formal role in the contingency planning of the emergency
management systems in the five Nordic countries? If so, what are these roles?

1.1 The Nordic Council of Ministers
The Nordic Council of Ministers is a forum for Nordic governmental cooperation. The
Council was established in 1971. The Prime Ministers from the five Nordic countries(Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) participate in the Council. The overall
responsibility for Nordic cooperation is in the hands of the Prime Ministers. They, in turn,delegate responsibility to the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation and to the Nordic
Committee for Co-operation that co-ordinate the daily work of the Nordic co-operation.
The Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland have the same representation as the othermember countries and participate in the Council of Ministers' work. They have the right toendorse the decisions taken in the Council of Ministers, to the extent allowed by theirrespective agreements on self-government (Norden, n.d.).
1

The Steering Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the Advisory Boards in therespective countries for their priceless work in reviewing the report and giving valuable comments and suggestions. We
would also like to thank the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland for proofreading at an earlier
stage and for layout work. We thank NORDRESS for fruitful cooperation in co-hosting the symposium Social Services inTimes of Disaster in Reykjavík 2015. Finally, we would like to thank Daniel Teague for his valuable work in proofreading
the report.
For further information on the project Nordic Welfare Watch, please see:https://eng.velferdarraduneyti.is/nordicwelfarewatch/about/10Each country holds the Presidency of the Council for a one-year period. As part ofthe presidency, the country in question initiates a Nordic research project. In 2014 thePrime Minister of Iceland was President of the Council. In 2014 Iceland initiated a projectcalled The Nordic Welfare Watch. It is a three-year project running from 2014-2016(Ministry of Welfare in Iceland, n.d.b).

1.2 The Nordic Welfare Watch
When the financial crisis hit Iceland in the autumn 2008, the country faced an
unprecedented situation (Daníelsson, 2008). It was obvious that it would be necessary to
make huge cuts in Iceland’s public expenditure that would affect the Icelandic population.
In February 2009, the Icelandic Government decided to set up a Welfare Watch to monitor
the social and financial consequences of the financial crisis for families and households in
Iceland. Furthermore, the Welfare Watch was intended to assess the measures alreadytaken and propose improvements. The Welfare Watch proved its value and played afundamental role in terms of improving the lot of various groups in society needing support(Arnalds, Jónsdóttir, Jónsdóttir, Jónsdóttir and Víkingsdóttir, 2015). Hence, in developing
projects for the Presidency, the Icelandic Government emphasised the lessons it learned
from the crisis, and how the preparedness of the Nordic welfare systems for future risks
and challenges could be enhanced.
The project proposed was titled The Nordic Welfare Watch. As stated above, it aims
at promoting and strengthening the sustainability of the Nordic welfare systems throughcooperation, research, and mutual exchange of experience and knowledge. It provides aforum for developing solutions and coordinated actions for meeting future challenges. This
forum also develops welfare indicators potentially useful for future policy making. The
overall aim of the project is to look into whether to establish a Nordic welfare watch. In
addition, how would such a program cooperate on preparedness efforts and crisis response
to future challenges that the Nordic countries may all have to tackle?
The Nordic Welfare Watch project is divided into three separate research projects:
1) Nordic welfare indicators
2) Welfare consequences of financial crises
3) The Nordic Welfare Watch – in Response to Crisis

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This report is one of the outcomes of the third sub-project, The Nordic Welfare Watch – in
Response to Crisis. Below is a short presentation of all three projects.

1.2.1 Nordic Welfare Indicators
The project on Nordic Welfare Indicators is based on social indicators developed following
the economic crisis in Iceland 2008. The Icelandic Welfare Watch proposed to the Icelandic
Government developing social indicators reflecting social and economic changes in
Icelandic society. The purpose of the indicators was to increase understanding of the
population’s current and future health and social needs and to monitor its well-being. In
addition, the indicators serve as a basis for policy making and political decisions. A groupof experts developed the indicators from different sectors of society. The current project
aims at creating such social indicators for all the Nordic countries. The Nordic Welfare
Indicators are seen as a tool to monitor and analyse developments in the Nordic welfare
systems. They also serve as input to policy making. The Nordic welfare indicators are seenas crucial tools for enhancing planning and decision-making procedures in times of crisis ordisaster caused by natural or man-made hazards (Ministry of Welfare in Iceland, n.d.).

1.2.2 Welfare consequences of financial crises
The aim of the second project, Welfare Consequences of Financial Crisis, is to assess andcompare the multi-dimensional consequences of the financial crises of the 1990s and themost recent crisis in 2008. The project focuses on the living conditions of the populations,policy environments and the effectiveness of policy reactions. The focus is on Finland,
Sweden and the Faeroe Islands regarding the crises of the 1990s. In Iceland’s case, theemphasis is on the crisis in 2008. The report will also explore the milder crises that year in
Norway and Denmark and assess why these countries were better sheltered from crisis.
The work involves building up a coordinated data bank of comparable information on all
relevant aspects of welfare consequences and policy timelines, characteristics and extents(Ministry of Welfare in Iceland, n.d.a).

1.2.3 The Nordic Welfare Watch – in Response to Crisis
The third project, The Nordic Welfare Watch – in Response to Crisis, aims at increasing
understanding of the extensive role that the welfare state, in particular the local social

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services, plays in crises and disasters. Local social services entail the municipal services
according to the law on local social services in each country. The tasks and organisation of
the local social services in the five countries vary somewhat, but the core task is to provide
all inhabitants with basic care services and assistance in times of need (Sipilä, 1997).
Historically, although health systems have been included in contingency planningand organization of emergency management, the role of local social services has beenrather unclear. Furthermore, the literature shows the need for the social services’
participation in all phases of disasters—mitigation, preparedness, response and, last but
not least, long-term recovery. Hence, the project aims at investigating the role of local
social services in the context of disaster. The project also addresses the risks that the Nordic
welfare state might face in the near future and evaluates the work and organization of the
Icelandic Welfare Watch established during the aftermath of the crisis in 2008 (Arnalds, etal., 2015).
Thus, the project breaks down into three independent subprojects:
1. Social Services in Times of Disaster: examines emergency response systems in the five
Nordic countries, focusing on the role of the local social services.
2. The Icelandic Welfare Watch: evaluates the work and organization of the Icelandic
Welfare Watch.
3. Preparing for risks: The Nordic Welfare States: maps the known risks that the Nordic
welfare system could face in coming years and evaluates what challenges they pose
for local social services (Ministry of Welfare in Iceland, n.d.b).
The final phase of the project entails using the results, in co-operation with the other two
Nordic Welfare Watch projects (Welfare Indicators and the Consequences of Financial
Crisis), to answer the question of whether there is a need for a Nordic Welfare Watch.

1.3 Disaster research in the Nordic countries
Research on disaster is a growing field in diverse disciplines. This also applies to the Nordic
countries. Like most other countries, they prepare for future risks. Disaster research is a
newcomer to the field of social sciences in the Nordic context. Nevertheless, in the past
years, several strong research institutions have applied social perspectives to disaster
research in the Nordic countries. No systematic review of the Nordic research or literatureon the contribution of Nordic social research to the disaster literature exists, but there are13some salient examples of research institutions and projects below (in most cases multidisciplinary).
Crismart – Crisis Management Research and Training (Crismart – Nationellt centrum
för krishanteringsstudier) was established in 1995. Crismart is part of the Swedish Defence
University, but it has emphasised international collaboration in its research. It focuses onboth scientific methods and proven experience when developing and communicatingknowledge on emergency management. Crismart is an important player when it comes toassisting organisations at all levels of society to enhance their preparedness and strengthen
their emergency management capabilities (Swedish Defence University, n.d.).
The Risk and Crisis Research Centre, RCR, is a part of Mid Sweden University,
established in 2010. Through its multi-disciplinary research, education and collaboration,
the Risk and Crisis Research Centre develops and disseminates knowledge on risk, crisis andsecurity, all for the benefit of society (Mid Sweden University, n.d.).
Lund University’s Centre for Risk Assessment and Management, LUCRAM, (Lunds
universitets centrum för riskanalys och riskmanagement) is a multi-disciplinary centre of
excellence, established in the early 1990s. Its aim is to initiate, support and engage ineducation and research within the area of risk management at Lund University (LUCRAM,
n.d.).
Copenhagen Center for Disaster Research, COPE, was established by the
Copenhagen Business School and the University of Copenhagen. It is an example of a newtransdisciplinary research centre. Its focus is on promoting collaborative research anddisseminating the results, thus advancing knowledge in the field (COPE, n.d.).
In Norway, Stavanger University and the International Research Institute ofStavanger, IRIS, (Forskningsinstituttet IRIS) established SEROS - Centre for Risk
Management and Societal Safety (SEROS – Senter for risikostyring og samfunnssikkerhet),
in 2009. The centre is based on collaboration of a number of research groups with parallel
teaching and research interests, from three departments at the University and two at IRIS2(SEROS, n.d.). In Bergen the project Organizing for societal security and crisis management- Building governance capacity and legitimacy (GOVCAP), at the Uni Research Rokkan

2Department of Health studies, Department of Media, Culture and Social Sciences and the Department of Industrial

Economics, Risk Management and Planning at the University at Stavanger, and the Department for Social Science andBusiness Development and the Department for Energy at IRIS.

14

Centre, studies governance capacity and governance legitimacy for societal security andcrisis management, in different types of management situations and crises. It is acomparative project: Norway, Sweden, the Netherland, Germany and UK (Uni Research
Rokkan Centre, n.d.).
There are also multidisciplinary institutions in the field of Traumatic Stress in theNordic countries, e.g., the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies,
NKVTS, (Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress), which was establishedin 2003. The centre is a subsidiary of UNIRAND AS3, which in turn is wholly owned by the
University of Oslo. The centre’s objective is to strengthen knowledge of and competenceon violence and traumatic stress. The centre engages in research and development work,
teaching, and dissemination of knowledge, guidance and counselling. In its disseminationof research results, the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies
collaborates with the regional centres for violence, traumatic stress and suicide prevention(RVTS). The Centre employs approximately 80 persons from a variety of disciplines andprofessional backgrounds, but concentrates on medicine (psychiatry) and a wide range ofsocial sciences (NKVTS, n.d.).
Another important dimension is research on peace and conflicts, offered in many
Nordic institutions, e.g., the Tampere Peace Research Institute, TAPRI, (founded in 1969),
which is part of Tampere University. It conducts multidisciplinary research about how tosecure and maintain peace, and how to mitigate and resolve international and national
conflicts. The overarching goal is to study the root causes of wars and conflicts, conflictcycles and the preconditions of conflict resolution and durable peace. The Tampere Peace
Research Institute also has a Master’s program (TAPRI, n.d.).
Disaster research emphasises preparedness, and enhancing resilience in societies is
growing. A good example is presented in the book Towards a more dangerous future?
Climate change, vulnerability and adaption in Norway [Mot en farligere fremtid? Omklimaendringer, sårbarhet og tilpasning i Norge] (Bye, Lien og Rod, 2013), where theauthors map future risks in Norway due to climate change and discuss the vulnerabilitiesof the local municipalities as well as their responses. Hence, in 2013, NordForsk launched

3 For further information on UNIRAND AS, see website: https://www.unirand.uio.no/15

a call for applications for a centre of excellence in the Nordic Societal Security Programmeaiming at increased research of societal security.
Two centres, The NORDRESS Centre - Nordic Centre of Excellence on Resilience andSocietal Security and The Nordic Centre for Security Technologies and Societal Values,
NordSTEVA, were established with support from NordForsk (NordForsk, 2014). The aim of
NORDRESS is to conduct multidisciplinary studies in order to enhance societal security andresilience to disasters caused by natural hazards. Partners from 15 institutions in all Nordic
countries cooperate to increase the resilience of individuals, communities, infrastructure
and institutions (NORDRESS, n.d.). The aim of NordSTEVA is to map and analyse theconnections between security technologies and societal values. This involves exploring, on
one hand, the concentration of technologies showing promise in providing for humanneeds and, on the other, to link these technologies to cultural traditions making up thesocietal values we deem most worthy of protecting (NordSTEVA, n.d.)
Despite the growth in disaster research in all the Nordic countries, few projects haveaddressed the role of the social services in times of disaster, and the knowledge of local
social services in the context of disasters is thus currently limited in the Nordic regions(Cuadra, 2015; Rapeli, 2016a).

1.4 Cooperation on emergency management in Nordic regions and on European
level
The Nordic countries participate in both Nordic and European co-operation on emergency
management, and even though neither Iceland nor Norway is a member of the EU, the cooperation on the European level is very important for all the Nordic countries. This section
provides a short presentation of the main institutions and projects.
The so-called Haga process frames the Nordic Cooperation on Civil Security andEmergency Management (and preparedness) between all five Nordic countries. The goal of
the Haga Declaration is to enhance the Nordic countries’ resilience, strengthen theircommon response and their impact outside the Nordic countries. The declaration focuseson non-warlike emergencies, such as major accidents, disasters caused by natural hazards,
pandemics and cyber-attacks. In April 2009, the guiding declaration was adopted at theHaga Royal Estate outside Stockholm, following a series of high-level meetings that16continue annually between these countries. The declaration aims at a border-free
approach to tackling major civil crises and further development of Nordic cooperation by
jointly exploring specific fields for deeper cooperation. Examples include rescue services,
exercises and training, CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) preparedness,crisis communication with the population, use of volunteers, and research anddevelopment (Bailes and Sandö, 2015).
Through the Nordic Declaration on Solidarity in 2011, the Nordic countries
cooperate to meet challenges in foreign and security policy in a spirit of solidarity. This
includes tackling any kind of disaster, caused by natural or man-made hazards. Should a
Nordic country be struck by hazard and request assistance, the other Nordic countries will
provide it with relevant means (Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iceland, 2011). Despite theclose co-operation, only Denmark, Iceland and Norway are members of NATO, and Iceland
and Norway are not members of the European Union.
NORDRED – det Nordiska räddningstjänstsamarbetet is a Nordic cooperation on
emergency management. The founding countries are Denmark and Norway (1989). Finlandand Sweden became members in 1992 and Iceland in 2001. The NORDRED frameworkagreement involves emergency cooperation, in terms of assistance and collaboration on
both emergencies and developing and enhancing emergency management in the Nordic
countries (Nordred, n.d.).
The Nordic Health Preparedness Group (The Svalbard Group) is based on the Nordic
Health Preparedness Agreement that was signed in 2002. In addition to the five Nordic
countries, the autonomous regions of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland are also
members. The Nordic Health Preparedness Agreement’s purpose is to provide a foundation
for cooperation between the Nordic countries in pursuing their aim of preparing anddeveloping health and medical care preparedness for better handling of emergencies anddisasters. Examples include disasters caused by natural hazards and events (accidents andacts of terror), involving, for instance, radioactive emissions, biological substances andchemical substances.
The Agreement applies to cooperation between the responsible authorities in theareas of health and social services. The participating countries commit to the following:

providing assistance to one another upon request, insofar as possible under the provisionsof this Agreement,

17







informing one another, as promptly as possible, of measures they plan to implement, or
are implementing, that will have, or are expected to have, significant impact on the other
Nordic countries,
promoting cooperation and insofar as possible removing obstacles in national legislation,
regulations and other rules of law,providing opportunities for the exchange of experience, cooperation and competencebuilding,
promoting development of cooperation in this area,
informing one another of relevant changes in the countries’ preparedness regulations,
including amendments to legislation (Norden, n.d.a, Article 4).

The Svalbard Group consists of representatives from each Nordic country and theautonomous areas. The group is responsible for disseminating the contents of theagreement and implementing the measures needed. In June 2016 the Nordic Council of
Ministers adopted a new mandate for the Svalbard Group. It extended the scope ofcooperation to social sector preparedness.
European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, ECHO, coordinates European
emergency management efforts. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism coordinates
assistance from EU member states to disaster-stricken countries within and outside theunion in the form of in-kind donations or deployment of on-site specialists orassessment/coordination experts. European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid
assistance is coordinated from the Emergency Response Coordination Center, ERCC, in
Brussels, Belgium. In recent times, the mechanism was activated to deliver assistance toHaiti after the 2010 earthquake, as well as in the 2014 Ebola outbreak and the 2015
migration crisis in Europe. The Nordic non-EU member states -Iceland and Norwayparticipate in the emergency management mechanism on equal terms with the 28 EU
member states.
On the European level, the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction, DRR,
provides a platform for the European region, including the Nordic region, to encourage andfacilitate the exchange of information and knowledge among partners4. DRR is part of theUnited Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)5. It has the overall
aim of creating a safer Europe by reducing the impact of natural hazards through the

4 Neither Iceland nor Denmark has a national platform in DRR (UNISDR, 2014).
5 UNISDR—United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction—is an organization to “serve as the focal point in the United

Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activitiesof the United Nations system and regional organizations and activities in socio-economic and humanitarian fields”(UNISDR, n.d.).

18

reduction of vulnerability. It also has the purpose of enhancing the capacity to minimise
the consequences of disasters. Furthermore, its activities involve measures facilitating
implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action and the Sendai Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction (UNISDR, 2011; UNISDR, n.d.).

1.5 Managing risks and enhancing resilience
Due to the increasing number of disasters (Zakour, 2013), societies and communities are
increasing preparedness and prevention (Tan and Yuen, 2013). Tesh is one of the leading
proponents of turning towards resilience in disaster preparedness. Drawing on his
experience with the UK Cabinet Office, he offered his view of the main trends in disastermanagement in European countries. He states that there is a shift from traditional thinking
on national security to the need of national “resilience”, based on how the countries can“withstand, respond to and recover from shocks” (Tesh, 2015, p. 1). The member states at
the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in Japan adopted the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. In June 2015, the UN General
Assembly endorsed the framework. The framework also emphasises shifting frommanaging disaster to managing risks. This view, that governments are prioritizing theirmeasures for managing national disasters, emphasising pro-active risk management in cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders, private and public, as well as in the voluntary
sectors and civil society, resonates well with the findings of Dahlberg, Johannessen-Henry,
Raju and Tulsiani (2015) on Critical Infrastructure Protection as well as one of the National
Academies’ “national imperative” in the US (National Academies, 2012).
Furthermore, Tesh (2015, p. 1) points out that one of the main trends in emergency
management is its localisation: “Local governments are adopting similar methods to thenational level (systematic all-hazards risk assessment and proactive contingency planning;
forming local alliances with other public, private and voluntary sector organisations
especially Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; and, communicating and engaging withbusinesses and communities).” The reason for this development is that the local actors aremost often the first responders, and it is thus considered important to enhance their
preparedness in addition to emergency management. Tesh also points out that the
movement towards less centralisation involves a movement from a top-down to a bottom-

19

up style and less reliance on the public sector. Tesh (2015, p. 9) points out that United
Nations’ International Strategy for Disaster Reduction reported that Sweden has“combined its tradition of decentralization with administrative modernisation”. The
bottom-up style and the emphasis on different actors’ collaboration mean that
communities, households and individuals also have a role to play in disasters. He also statesthat “asking people to share the burden of responsibility means much greater information
sharing, and enhanced communication... before, during and after a crisis.” (Tesh, 2015, p.
1). With an eye to the aftermath of disaster, Rowlands (2013) points out that communities
enabled, for example, to manage their own recovery are tapping into their resourcefulness
and in control of the processes.
As pointed out above, the shift from focusing on managing disasters to managing
risks calls for wider understanding of how to enhance communications and co-operation
between individuals, families, communities, companies and organizations that might nothave co-operated in another context. Meeting a disaster is no longer regarded as a task fortrained experts only. It is a shared task of a prepared and resilient society. Hence, enhancing
risk management demands new knowledge and methods on how to enhance theparticipation of all potential partners (Rowlands, 2013; Danielsson, Sparf, Karlsson and
Oscarsson, 2015, Lango, Lægreid and Rykkja, 2011).
Multiple factors influence a society’s resilience. These include “economies,
infrastructure, environment, government and social systems” (Tesh, 2015, p. 1). The socioeconomic status of the inhabitants in the society in question is among the factors defining
resilience. Tierney and Smith (2012, p. 125) point out that “new ways of thinking about
recovery processes emphasize the extent to which axes of diversity and social inequality
structure both recovery processes and their outcomes.”
The literature has shown that the factors defining recovery include age, class,ethnicity, family status and gender (Tierney, 2006). In line with this knowledge, EU member
states are encouraged to “take into consideration the capabilities of both men and womenand the specific vulnerabilities of children, women, the elderly, the poor, and the disabled,
and to actively engage all relevant stakeholders” (Tesh, 2015, p. 19). Hence, in addition to
being community-based and enhancing the participation and effective cooperation ofvarious stakeholders in the community, disaster risk reduction should also be gender-, ageand disability-sensitive (Tesh, 2015).

20

1.6 What kinds of disasters have the Nordic countries experienced in past
decades?
Disasters cause heavy casualties and destroy livelihoods all over the world. From 2000 to
2012, 1.7 million people died in disasters. The estimated damage was US$ 1.7 trillion(UNISDR, 2013). The number of disasters is increasing and affecting more people than
before. This trend further underlines the importance of research in this field. During thedecade from the late 1990s to 2010, the number of disasters rose from 250 to 400 per year
(Zakour and Gillespie, 2013). In addition, Tan and Yuen (2013) point out the increased
number of reports of earthquakes and other disasters, such as hurricanes, tsunamis, andheat waves. This observation builds on indicators showing the increased frequency ofhazards resulting from extreme weather and climate events (Seneviratne et al., 2012). In
addition to the increased disasters from natural forces, there are also more hazards due totechnological failure and other major accidents, as well as adverse social causes, forexample, terrorist attacks and wars (Hallin, 2014).
The European region is also prone to this variety of disasters. Europe now faces asocial and humanitarian crisis due to political failures to respond to the current refugee
migration, mainly induced by wars in the Middle East. However, statistics indicate that the
majority of casualties and economic losses in Europe are due to weather-related disasters.
This is of concern since the effect of global climate change most likely increases thefrequency and severity of weather-related hazards (UNISDR, 2011).
In last 20 years, the Nordic countries have faced disasters caused by natural hazards,
major technological and infrastructural failure and accidents, as well as epidemic illnesses
and socially characterised negative events. Table 1 shows examples of events experienced
in the last 20 years. They necessarily call for social services to differing degrees.
The Nordic examples below make it obvious that the consequences of adverse events
stretch beyond event sites in the modern world. Salient examples are pandemics and the
Asian Pacific Ocean Tsunami in 2004. Due to global interconnectedness, these disasters
affected the Nordic countries as national disasters because numerous Nordic citizens wereamong the fatalities (e.g. Statens offentliga utredningar, 2005).

21

The examples below also show that those reporting disasters and crisis need toacknowledge adverse events rooted in peoples’ living conditions and relations (Hallin,2013). Discussion of such events the last three decades has been in terms of social risks
that, under certain circumstances, can manifest in social disasters and crisis. This implies
that social issues have partly been framed as security issues. Thus, police and rescue
services approach them as such, rather than as issues of social rights that are traditionallythe responsibility of social work (Hallin, 2013). From a social work perspective, it is essential
to note the common hallmark of social risks: underpinning them are long-term underlying
societal changes. Such changes involve the processes of globalisation (such as restructuringof economies and production) as well as the restructuring of the welfare state through deregularisation, privatisation and individualisation. These processes have resulted in a
growing number of people being uncertain about social issues, such as education, work,
pensions, health as well as safety and security. This has in turn led to deepened segregationand marginalisation. Against this backdrop, social risk can be defined as thepossibility/probability of undesired events, conditions or behaviours originating in humanrelations and structural and individual living conditions (Hallin, 2014) that determine
people's functioning and capabilities (Hallin, 2014, with reference to Nussbaum, 2000).
Hence, these social roots differentiate social risk from other types of risks (Hallin, 2014).

Table 1.1

Examples of major disasters in the Nordic countries the last 20 years

Denmark
2015: Repeatedfloods affect thesouthern parts of thecountry

Finland2014: Jämijärvi
parachuters’ airplane
accident/crash

Iceland2014: Volcanic
eruption, Holuhraun

Sweden2015: Attack inschool Trollhättan
2015: Flooding
2015: Cases of Ebola
virus

2011: Volcanic
eruption, Grímsvötn

Norway2014-2015:
Repeated floods,e.g., Falm, Odda andVoss2015: Avalanche at
Longyearbyen
2014: Wildfires,Lærdal and Flatanger

2014: Terrorist
attack in
Copenhagen2013: Severe winterstorms (Eino andSeija)

2013: Two severe
autumn storms
wreak havoc andcause severe
flooding

2011: Severe winterstorm (Tapani =Dagmar)2010: Volcanic
eruption,
Eyjafjallajökull

2013: Terrorist
attack in Algeria, 5Norwegians killed

2013: Youth riots,
Husby

2014: Forest fire
(Västmanland)
2014: Flooding,south west Sweden

22

Table 1.1 cont.

Examples of major disasters in the Nordic countries the last 20 years

2011: Copenhagen
metropolitan area hit
by cloudburst (Most
costly insurance
event in Europe thatyear)
2009: Pandemic flu

2010: Series ofsevere summer
thunder storms (Astaet al.)

2008: MI 6.3
earthquake near
Selfoss withwidespread damage
to property

2009: Shooting at
shopping mall, Espoo

2006: Flash flooding
in several river
basins2004: Fireworks
accident at N.P.
Johnsen’s fireworks
factory, Kolding

2008: Shooting at
school in Kauhajoki

2004: Volcanic
eruption, Grímsvötn

2001: SAS passenger
jet, bound for
Copenhagen,crashed in Italy; 118
dead, 48 from Nordic
countries
Collision of thefreight ship “Tern”
and the oil tanker“Baltic Carrier” eastof Falster
1999: Severe
hurricane

2011: Terrorist
attack on Utoya
Island and in theexecutive
government quarter
in Oslo2009: Sea accident,
oil spill, ”Full City”
Quick clay slide,
Namsos2008: Forest fire,
Froland2008: Rock slide inÅlesund2007: Shooting at
school in Tuusula

2007: Petroleum
accident, oil spill
Statfjord A, in the
North Sea

2005: Flood Ivalo,
Kittila2005: Helicopter
accident over sea

2004: The ship
“Rosknes” capsizes,

2004: Massive.
2004: Petroleum
Transport accidents,
accident, gasÄänekoski
blowout,(Konginkangas)
Snorrefeltet
2004: South East Asian Tsunami affected all Nordic countries
2002: Suspected
2000: Volcanic
2000: Train accident,
deliberate act witheruption in Hekla inÅsta
explosives atFebruary
shopping centre in
Vantaa2000: MI 6.4
earthquakes in Junein the southernlowlands withwidespread damage
to property
1999: Coachaccident, Heinola
1999: Fire at an oldpeople's home,
Maaninka
1998: Railway
accident in Jyväskylä
and Jokela
1996: Collapse ofhigh-density pulp
mass tank in
Valkeakoski

1995: Snowavalanches:
Flateyri and Þingeyri,

1999: Catamaran
ship Sleipner went
on a reef and sank instorm
1996: Air crash at
Svalbard

2011: Fresh watercontamination by
Cryptosporidium,Östersund2010: Suicide
bomber, Stockholm

2006: Flooding,Western Sweden
Forest fire,
Bodträskfors
Landslide, Småröd

2005: Storm (Per),
Götaland
Storm (Gudrun),Southern Sweden
Flooding, Götaland
2004: Flooding,Småland2003: Murder of a
Minister
2003:Flooding,Småland2002: Flooding,South Götaland
2001: Flooding,Sundsvall
2000: Flooding,
Arvika municipality
and South Norrland
1999: Fire on ferry“Princess Ragnhild”

1998: Discothequefire in Gothenburg
1995: Grounding of
M/S “Silja Europa” inthe archipelago off
Stockholm

1994: The sinking of the ferry MS Estonia affected all Nordic countries but particularly, Finland and Sweden

The table shows that the Nordic countries have experienced a wide range of disasters, andthat they are dealing with quite different risk profiles. While flooding, fires and storms have
hit all the countries, flooding has caused most of the damage in Denmark, Norway and23

Sweden. Forest fires, however, have particularly hit Norway and Sweden. Avalanches andlandslides are more common in Iceland and Norway. Iceland has a special profile due to its
frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. At their worst, the effect of the eruptions is
global, as was the case with the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. All the countries haveexperienced accidents at sea, but severe sea accidents have hit Finland and Sweden inparticular (e.g., MS “Estonia” in 1994).
In terms of undesired social events, all Nordic countries but one have faced armed
violence perpetrated by persons identifying themselves with an extreme political and/or
religious ideology, such as right-wing and racist as well as Islamic ideals. Norway faced abomb attack in Oslo and the mass shooting at Utoya in 20116. Sweden and Finland have
faced armed violence in schools in the form of mass shootings (in Finland 2007 and 2008)
and a racist mass sword attack (in Sweden 2015). Denmark faced shootings in Copenhagen(2015) in a cultural centre and outside a synagogue. Although the current migration policy
crisis in Europe affects the Nordic countries to differing degrees, it is of concern to many
local social services in terms of psychological and social crisis support, housing andintegration programs (e.g. MSB, 2014).
The United Nations University for Environment and Human Security recently ranked
the risk of becoming a disaster victim due to vulnerability and natural hazards. The study
covered 173 countries and focused on 28 indicators7. Despite quite frequent occurrencesof natural hazards in the Nordic countries, they are among the countries at lowest risk—
Iceland No. 168, Sweden No. 164, Finland No. 163, Norway No. 161 and Denmark No. 151
out of 173 (UNU-EHS and BEH, 2013).

1.7 The Nordic welfare states and social services in times of disaster
The Nordic countries are known for their extensive welfare systems. These systems provide
their citizens with social and healthcare services from cradle to grave. However, policychanges since the early 1990s have come in the wake of the economic crises. They have
involved a decline in coverage as well as increased marketization along the lines of New
Public Management. These trends have challenged the universalistic character of the

6 The issue of the known risks that the Nordic welfare states have to prepare for is addressed in another part of the

project. The report on the results is expected in 2017.
7 The indicators do address exposure to natural hazards, susceptibility, adaptive capacities and coping capacities.

24

Nordic Model (Anttonen, Häikiö, and Stefánsson, 2012; Kvist, Fritzell, Hvinden, Kangas,
2012; Larsson, Letell and Thörn, 2012). Despite some changes in recent decades, the Nordic
countries still provide health care to all on a universal basis. They do so either free of charge
or with modest user payments. There are modest user fees for pre-schools, but education
is otherwise provided to all on a universal basis free of charge. In addition, extensive social
services are provided. These social services are inclusive and universal in character. Thisemphasises that all citizens have the same rights, and that they should be supported toactively participate in society and, when possible, also in the labour market (Arts andGelissen, 2010; Anttonen, et al., 2012; Esping-Andersen, 1991; Kautto, Fritzel, Hvinden,
Kvist and Uustialo, 2005; Harslov and Ulmestig, 2013).

Table 1.2

Nordic countries, social expenditure in relation to the GDP, % of the population at riskof poverty or social exclusion* and Gini coefficient of equalized disposable income**in 2013

Social expenditure
At risk of poverty or social exclusion
Gini coefficient

Denmark
34.6
18.9
27.5

Finland
31.2
16.0
25.4

Iceland
25.2
13.0
24.0

Norway
25.2
14.1
22.7

Sweden
30.5
16.4
24.9

EU-27
..
24.5
30.5

Sources: Eurostat, n.d.; NOSOSCO, 2014.
* This indicator corresponds to the sum of persons who are: at risk of poverty or severely materially deprived or living inhouseholds with very low work intensity** The Gini coefficient is defined as the relationship of cumulative shares of the population arranged according to the level of
equivalent disposable income, to the cumulative share of the equivalent total disposable income received by them.

Local municipalities usually provide social services. These services are an importantcomponent of the Nordic welfare system, ensuring the basic needs of all citizens as well as
providing a wide range of services, including both preventive and care services (Anttonen,
Häikiö, and Stefánsson, 2012; Sipilä, 1997). The Nordic welfare states are also known for
their generous benefit systems. All citizens receive benefits in case of childbirth, sickness,
unemployment, disability or old age. The Social Insurance systems usually pay benefits thatare based on previous income. They thus ensure the recipients a decent standard of living(Esser and Palme, 2010). In addition to social insurance, all the Nordic countries provide
those who have exhausted all other possibilities of income with financial assistance(Kuivalainen and Nelson, 2011). Local social services administer the financial assistance. As
the following table 1.3 shows, up to 4-8% of all families receive this assistance annually.

25

Table 1.3

Nordic countries, % of total population drawing social assistance, in total, by age as %of their age groups and family type as % of all families 2012/2013

Total of all familiesAge
18-25 years
25-39 years
40-54 years
55-64 years
65+ years
Family type
Single men without children
Single women without children
Married/cohabiting couples without children
Single men with children
Single women with children
Married/cohabiting couples with children

Denmark
6.3

Finland
8.0

Iceland
6.5

Norway4.4

Sweden
5.7

..
..
..
..
..

14.1
8.6
6.8
4.6
1.4

6.9
5.5
2.8
1.6
0.6

5.7
5.2
3.7
1.8
0.4

7.6
5.1
3.7
2.5
0.5

9.3
4.3
2.9
9.5
21.0
6.2

13.6
8.2
2.0
16.0
25.3
4.7

19.4
8.9
0.5
17.7
24.3
1.2

6.9
4.3
1.8
5.6
14.0
3.2

7.3
9.0
1.0
7.8
22.3
2.7

Source: NOSOSCO, 2014.

The municipalities are responsible for providing social services, in addition to financial
assistance, to ensure all inhabitants have basic care, particularly disabled people, children
and elderly people. Child protection is also one of the municipalities’ tasks. While thelegislature provides the legal framework for local social services in the Nordic countries,
they are organized and delivered at the local level. Thus, the content, quality and volumeof services might differ between municipalities in the country in question. How much thestate contributes to the financing of social services from country to country differs greatly,and contributions can also vary between different types of services (NOSOSCO, 2014).
Quite extensive research was done on the Nordic welfare systems following the
economic crises, both in the 1990s and after the 2008 crisis, but there is little research in
the Nordic literature on their role in other types of disasters (Cuadra, 2015; Rapeli, 2016a).
The roles of social services have been discussed in relation to psychological first aid andpsychological debriefing in projects that have emphasised psychosocial support (e.g.,Bernharðsdóttir, 2001; Eydal and Árnadóttir, 2004; Nieminen Kristoffersson, 2002). The
roles of social services have also been discussed in projects on local emergency andemergency management (Cuadra, 2015; Eydal and Ingimarsdóttir, 2013; Rapeli, 2016a andb; Þorvaldsdóttir et al., 2008), in projects on communication in disasters (Danielsson et al.,2015) and the services for disabled people (Sparf, 2014). However, there is no systematiccomparative research on the role of local social services in times of disaster in the Nordic
countries.

26

As the introduction stated, this report examines the role of local social services intimes of disaster. The aim is to answer two questions: Do the local social services have aformal role according to contingency planning in the five Nordic countries’ emergency
management systems? If so, what are the roles? The academic disaster literature as wellas the emergency management apply a disaster cycle, that should cover the four main
phases of disaster management, Mitigation or Prevention, Preparedness, Response andRecovery (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The emergency management cycle

As further discussed in chapter 2, local social services do have important roles in all phasesof disaster. Hence, the fact that the social services can contribute to all four phases of theemergency management cycle calls for investigation into their roles in all these phases.

1.8 Terminology
Each discipline has its own specific language and terminology. Knowing the terminology
and having a common perception of the concepts is fundamental in fruitful cooperation
and advancement of the knowledge in each field. The UNISDR United Nations International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction has developed basic definitions of disaster risk reduction
concepts to promote common understanding of the topic for use by the public, authorities
and practitioners. The concepts are based on broad consideration of various international
experts and practitioners (UNISDR, n.d.a). The definitions of the major concepts in thisreport are based on the UNISDR 2009 version.

27

1.8.1 Disaster
UNISDR defines a disaster as: “A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or asociety involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses andimpacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its
own resources” (UNISDR, 2009). The UNISDR adds the following comment to explain theconcept further:
Disasters are often described as a result of the combination of the exposure to ahazard; the conditions of vulnerability that are present; and insufficient capacity or
measures to reduce or cope with the potential negative consequences. Disaster
impacts may include loss of life, injury, disease and other negative effects on humanphysical, mental and social well-being, together with damage to property,
destruction of assets, loss of services, social and economic disruption andenvironmental degradation (UNISDR, n.d.a).

Disasters are often divided into categories. The Sendai Framework distinguishes between
small-scale and large-scale, frequent and rare, sudden and slow-onset disasters, caused bynatural and man-made hazards, and related environmental, technolgical and biologicalhazards and risks (United Nations, 2015). The division between natural and manmade
disaster has become blurred in recent decades. As scholars have pointed out, the extreme
weather that has caused many major disasters might be the result of how people haveendangered the ecological balance of nature. This is sometimes described as“anthropocene”, where man has become man’s greatest enemy. Along the same line ofthought, crisis and disasters originating from environmental degradation, such as foodsecurity (famine), (mass) migration and fiscal crisis, are categorised as crises and/or
disasters when considered from the perspective of social work (Dominelli, 2012; Evans andReid, 2014). These examples underline what has already been mentioned. Namely,
undesired phenomena that can be inferred from social conditions and relations (Hallin,2013) can be identified as social disasters. Examples of these include terrorist attacks andsocial riots and unrest in cities (Boin and ‘t Hart 2007) or the case of children murderingother children (Enander, Hede and Lajksjö, 2014). Such phenomena call upon the responseof social services.
The meaning of the term disaster in the Nordic context depends on the country inquestion. In Denmark katastrofe derives from the Greek “katastrophé” (meaning“overturn”). It traditionally denotes a “severe event or accident resulting in grave and often

28

sudden damages, fatalities or suffering, e.g., earthquakes or war” (Den Danske Ordbog,n.d.). The word appears commonly in the public discourse. In 2010 alone the word wasused 30,421 times in Danish written media, while the Danish word “democracy” appeared
only 29,548 times (InfoMedia, e.d.). In Finland, the concept of disturbances(häiriötilanne/störningssituation) is used instead of disasters or catastrophes. Disturbanceis the key concept used in policies and strategies, such as in the Security Strategy for Society(Yhteiskunnan turvallisuusstrategia) (Ministry of Defence in Finland, 2011) and
Government Resolution on Comprehensive Security (Government, 2012). “Disturbancesrefer to a threat or an incident which endangers, at least momentarily or in a regionallylimited way, the security or functioning of society or the livelihood of the population. The
authorities and other actors need to co-operate and communicate in a wider or closer
fashion to manage such situations” (Ministry of Defence in Finland, 2011, p. 14.) On theother hand, the Finnish Cyber Security Strategy (Secretariat of the Security and Defence
Committee, 2013) recognizes the term crisis but not disturbances. In the case of Iceland,
the concept natural hazard (náttúruhamfarir) is the most used concept, reflecting thefrequency of disasters caused by natural hazards (Þorvaldsdóttir, et al., 2008). In Norway,
the concept of katastrofe is used. The Ministry of Health’s definition is “A disaster refers to
unexpected and potentially traumatizing events of such size that it affects many persons at
the same time and the number of persons in need of help in a certain area is too big to becovered by the resources in the area in question” (Norwegian Directorate of Health, 2016,p. 14, translation by authors). Cuadra (2015, p. 2) points out “the concept disaster is notcommonly used in Swedish discourse, but rather concepts such as crisis, serious event,emergency and accidents. This line gives discursively primacy to situations which have notyet exceeded the ability and resources to cope, but still involves a serious strains as regard
resources.” The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och
beredskap) recently launched the term “societal disturbances” (samhällstörningar) as acommon denominator for phenomena and events threatening societal protective values,
regardless of their cause or severity in terms of consequences (MSB, 2014). Hence, thedifferent concepts used in the Nordic countries are good support for the argument to apply
the definitions from the UNISDR.

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1.8.2. Emergency Management
The UNISDR defines the concept of emergency management as: “The organization andmanagement of resources and responsibilities for addressing all aspects of emergencies, inparticular preparedness, response and initial recovery steps.” The following text further
explains the concept:
A crisis or emergency is a threatening condition that requires urgent action. Effective
emergency action can avoid the escalation of an event into a disaster. Emergency
management involves plans and institutional arrangements to engage and guide theefforts of government, non-government, voluntary and private agencies incomprehensive and coordinated ways to respond to the entire spectrum of
emergency needs. The expression disaster management is sometimes used insteadof emergency management (UNISDR, n.d.a).

Tan (2013) explains how, for the most part, the term emergency management has replaced
the term civil defence. That term has been related to the wartime protection of civilians.
Some nations have also used the concept of civil protection in later times. Professionals
and academics have also used the concept of disaster risk reduction (UNISDR, 2009) that
focuses on being prepared for disasters. Many of the Nordic countries have adapted to thischange in the naming of their institutions, e.g., DEMA the Danish Emergency Management.
This trend also supports the decision to apply the definition of the UNISDR and apply theconcept emergency management in the report instead of disaster or crisis management.
One of the fundamental roles of emergency management is contingency planning.
According to the UNISDR, contingency planning is defined to be “a management processthat analyses specific potential events or emerging situations that might threaten societyor the environment and establishes arrangements in advance to enable timely, effective
and appropriate responses to such events and situations” (UNISDR, 2009, p. 11).

1.8.3. Vulnerability and resilience
Mitigating the impact of hazards and enhancing the capacity to deal with the consequencesof the disasters requires knowledge of a community’s characteristics and circumstances, its
strengths and vulnerabilities (Lein, 2008). Thus, the concept of vulnerability has become acentral concept in disaster research (Zakour and Gillespie, 2013). According to the UNISDR’s
definition, vulnerability refers to “the characteristics and circumstances of a community,
system or asset that make it susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard”. The concept
is further explained in the comment:

30

There are many aspects of vulnerability, arising from various physical, social,economic, and environmental factors. Examples may include poor design andconstruction of buildings, inadequate protection of assets, lack of public information
and awareness, limited official recognition of risks and preparedness measures, anddisregard for wise environmental management. Vulnerability varies significantly
within a community and over time. This definition identifies vulnerability as acharacteristic of the element of interest (community, system or asset), which is
independent of its exposure. However, in common use the word is often used more
broadly to include the element’s exposure (UNISDR, n.d.a).

According to McEntire (2007), disaster vulnerability is the degree to which
individuals, groups, and societies are vulnerable to the consequences of disasters. People’s
living conditions, both social and geographical, vary, and this makes them either less ormore vulnerable in disaster situations. Through the years, the focus has been on thegeographical conditions, but in recent years, the awareness of social conditions has been
increasing. Disasters are more likely to strike people with a low income harder; likewise,
people with poor social status, the elderly, small children and people with a weak social
support network (Gillespie, 2010). The impact of wealth, race and age on how disaster can
hit groups in the same society differently became extremely clear in hurricane Katarina(e.g. Masozera, Bailey and Kerchner, 2006; Comfort, 2006; Sharkey, 2007). The concept ofvulnerability is at times considered difficult to define and operationalize, but through theconcept, vulnerability studies have moved the focus from geographical circumstances to
one including the social factors affecting people's situations in society and exposing certain
groups more to the destructive effects of hazards. A main strength of the concept,
according to Oliver-Smith (2004, p. 10), is that it forms “the conceptual nexus that links therelationship that people have with their environment to social forces and institutions andthe cultural values that sustain or contest them, thereby providing a framework for
capturing and analysing the multidimensionality of disasters, and better informing
programs for recovery and mitigation”.
While the concept has proven useful in emergency management, there are alsorisks involved. Lein (2008) points out that as early as 1997, Hewitt warned about the danger
involved in applying the concept of vulnerability. For example, it approaches people as
weak and passive and without the capacity to shape their own lives. Lein (2008) points out
the risk of reinforcing existing prejudices, negative stereotypes and questioning
explanations of the living conditions and fate of specific communities that become labelled31

if the concept is not applied with caution. Due to this commentary, a shift has taken placein the literature from emphasising vulnerability towards emphasising resilience andadaptive capacity (Wisner, Blaikie, Cannon and Davis, 2004).
The UNISDR defines resilience as: “The ability of a system, community or society
exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of ahazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restorationof its essential basic structures and functions.” The concept is further explained by thecomment: “Resilience means the ability to “resile from” or “spring back from” a shock. The
resilience of a community in respect to potential hazard events is determined by the degree
to which the community has the necessary resources and capability to organise itself bothprior to and during times of need (UNISDR, n.d.a). The concept resilience, comprising
capacity, strength and adaptability, has been used for centuries (Alexander, 2013).
According to Norris, Tracy and Galea (2009), it is the process by which a social system
recovers rapidly and efficiently from the consequences of disaster, and reaches, or
surpasses, pre-disaster levels of functioning.
The concept’s definition and the way academia understands and implements it in
the practical context are not the same, as organisations define resilience and use theconcept more widely in disaster risk reduction (Dahlberg, Johannessen-Henry, Raju andTulsiani, 2015). Resilience may be seen as an emerging property of complex socioeconomic/technological systems that can be hard to design due to interdependencies andunpredictability, but possible to enable and encourage. Two fundamental understandingsof resilience have been identified: engineered resilience, enabling systems to “bounceback” to the level of performance prior to a disruption, and ecological resilience, found innatural systems that are able to “bounce forward” into a new steady state (Dahlberg,2015). One key principle of the resilience concept is that the contextual environment inwhich these events occur must frame our understanding of resilience (Adamson, 2014).
Whether the focus is on either the vulnerability concept or the resilience concept, both areuseful in the pursuit of greater understanding of societal causes of disasters and disasterseverity (Gillespie, 2010).

32

1.9 Participants
Professor Guðný Björk Eydal, Faculty of Social Work, at the University of Iceland, directed
the project. The project was placed at the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) at the
University of Iceland. Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, project manager at SSRI and a PhD student
at the University of Iceland, was the project manager. Each country had a representativeon the steering committee (SC) of the project:••••

Denmark: Rasmus Dahlberg, PhD Fellow at the Danish Emergency Management
Agency and the University of Copenhagen.
Finland: Merja Rapeli, Ministerial Adviser at the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Health, PhD student at the University of Jyväskylä
Norway: Björn Hvinden, Professor, NOVA, Oslo and Akershus University College ofApplied Sciences.
Sweden: Tapio Salonen, Professor, Faculty of Health and Society and Carin
Björngren Cuadra, Associate Professor, Malmö University.

The country leaders appointed lead their own advisory board (AB) of five to seven experts
who have researched the role of welfare systems/social services or are currently working
as specialists in the emergency management systems. The following list shows the AB
members from each country:

The Danish advisory board
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Christina Anderskov, International Strategist and Sustainability Coordinator,
Copenhagen Municipality.
Ziga Friberg, Project Manager, Psychosocial focal point, Danish Red Cross.
Lis Montes de Oca, Assistant Professor in Social Work, VIA Faculty of Education &Social Studies, Aarhus.
Marie Østergaard Møller, Senior Researcher, KORA, Danish Institute for Local andRegional Government Research.
Inge Mønster-Kjær, Research assistant, Copenhagen Business School.
Nanna Grave Poulsen, Head of section, Danish Health Authority.
Annlize Troest, Managing doctor, Danish Health Authority.

The Finnish advisory board•••

Elina Aaltio, Project researcher, National Institute for Health and Welfare.
Anna Cantell-Forsbom, Director of Family Services, City of Vantaa, Health and Social
Welfare.
Henna Haravuori, Senior researcher, National Institute for Health and Welfare.

33

•
•
•
•

Aila Puustinen-Korhonen, Senior Specialist, Association of Finnish Local andRegional Authorities.
Kati Närhi, Professor, University of Jyväskylä.
Juho Saari, Professor, University of Tampere.
Tarja Wiikinkoski, Head of Rescue and Preparedness Department, Regional State
Administrative Agency, Western and Inland Finland.

The Icelandic advisory board
•
•
•
•
•
•

Stefán Eiríksson, Executive Director, Department of Welfare, City of Reykjavík.
Ragnheiður Hergeirsdóttir, Project Manager, Directorate of Labour.
Gyða Hjartardóttir, Specialist in Social Services, Icelandic Association of Local
Authorities.
Guðrún Jóhannesdóttir, Project Manager and Environmental and Social Scientist,
Department of Civil Civil Protection and Emergency Management.
Víðir Reynisson, Chief Inspector, South Iceland Police.
Kristján Sturluson, Director of Administration, Hafnarfjörður Municipality.

The Norwegian advisory board
•
•
•
•
•

Arnfinn Andersen, Research Director, Norwegian Centre for Violence and TraumaticStress Studies.
Atle Dyregrov, Head of professional issues, Center for Crisis Psychology.
Per Lægreid, Professor, Department of Administration and Organization Theory,
University of Bergen.
Hans Stifoss-Hanssen, Professor, Centre for Diakonia and Professional Practice,
Diakonhjemmet University College.
Oddrun Sæter, Professor/Head of research, The Urban Research Program Oslo andAkershus University College.

The Swedish advisory board
•
•
•
•
•
•

Erna Danielsson, Docent, Risk and Crisis Research Centre (RCR), Mid Sweden
University.
Ann Enander, Docent, Swedish Defence University.
Per-Olof Hallin, Professor, Urban Studies, Malmö University.
Markus Planmo, Administrator, Swedish Local Authorities and Regions.
Johanna Sandwall, Preparedness Director, the National Board of Health andWelfare.
Bengt Sundelius, Professor, Uppsala University, and strategic advisor at the Swedish
Civil Contingencies Agency.

1.10 Methods, material and the structure of the report
The study is an empirical study, and the data consist of documents, laws, reports and publicrecords. The data have been gathered and analysed with support from the literature. The

34

report is written for stake-holders, students, researchers and policy makers, who might
have to address the role of social services and the welfare state in the context of emergency
management in the Nordic countries.
The members of the Steering Committee (SC) wrote the report, but the membersof the Advisory Boards gave their advice and comments on the report's draft. Professor
Eydal and Ómarsdóttir, the project manager and PhD student, drafted the first frameworkof the report and presented it to the SC in a meeting in spring 2015. Eydal and Ómarsdóttir
then further worked on the first draft, with members of the SC that made valuable
contributions. In autumn 2015, the draft went to the SC members for review. The
comments and suggestions were then discussed thoroughly in an SC meeting. Eydal andÓmarsdóttir worked on the proposed changes and, in co-operation with SC members,
revised the draft that the SC again discussed and commented on in a meeting in January
2016. The revised draft was then sent to all 31 members of the Advisory Boards in all thecountries. Ómarsdóttir then worked on the comments, and the SC finally worked throughthe final draft of the report and discussed it at an SC meeting in spring 2016. Eydal, Cuadra
and Rapeli then worked with final changes during the summer 2016. Hence, the report is
co-authored by all the members of the steering committee, but the advisory boards haveread a draft of the report and provided valuable advice and comments. The SC members
are co-authoring the report, but the order of the authors is according to contribution andresponsibility for the text, e.g., the first author of the chapters that address each country
are from the country in question.
Chapter two discusses disaster in the context of social services and social work. It
draws upon the literature, introducing research on the role of local social services and social
work in times of disaster.
The five following chapters explore the structure of the emergency management
system and the social services system in all five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Each country’s chapter starts with a general introduction to
the geography and climate, demographics, governmental system, and the disaster and risk
profile. Despite many similarities in these countries, they still have their own
characteristics, which are important to recognise, in order for the reader to understand thecontext of the emergency and social services in each case. The chapters on each country
then discuss the legal and institutional framework of both the social services and the35emergency management systems in order to investigate whether the social services areincluded in the contingency plans of the emergency management systems, and, if so, what
their roles are.
The final chapter compares the outcomes and discusses conclusions andrecommendations, based on the results from the project.

36

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2. SOCIAL SERVICES AND SOCIAL WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF DISASTER
Guðný Björk Eydal, Carin Björngren Cuadra, Merja Rapeli, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir,
Rasmus Dahlberg, Björn Hvinden and Tapio Salonen

2.1 The role of local social services in times of disasterIn recent years, the literature has emphasised the important role of social services inmanaging disasters at the local level and enhancing inhabitants’ resilience (e.g., Gillespie
and Danso, 2010; Tesh, 2015). Furthermore, the growing literature on the role of local
social services reports its important roles in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response
and recovery (Cuadra, 2015; Dominelli, 2012; Elliott, 2010; Mathbor, 2007; Thomas and
Healy, 2010, Rowlands, 2013). An example is Rowlands, who conducted research on
Australia’s disaster recovery planning and management approach. The study points out thefollowing: “The full range of community and social service providers needs to be integrated
into response and recovery processes, through the recovery plan, so that these resources
can be harnessed for the community” (Rowlands, 2013, p. 15).
All modern welfare states provide social services. These include both social careservices and social assistance. Their main goal is to ensure the basic needs of inhabitantsfor care and support. The definition of basic needs and the division of labour between local
social services and other actors, as well as the degree of centralization of services, vary bycountry (Sipilä, 1997; Munday, 2004). Furthermore, the size of the local social services
depends on various factors.
First, ideologies and politics frame the volume and role of social services. In somecountries, the third sector provides a substantial part of the social services. In such cases,
municipal services are not as extensive. Another defining factor is the population’s needfor such services, e.g., the demographic composition of the group of inhabitants. Last but
not least, the definition of the role of the local social services is an important factor. For
example, it matters whether the role is primarily to provide basic services to individuals
and families, or the role is to include structural and preventive work and working with thecommunity, usually adopting the methods of community work.
As mentioned in the introduction, despite the strong tradition and extensive rolesof local social services in the Nordic countries, research on its roles during times of disaster43

has not been extensive. Two case studies are ongoing. The Swedish project Stärkt roll för
socialtjänsten i kommunala risk- och sårbarhetsanalyser (Sorca), led by Carin Björngren
Cuadra (2015), focuses on developing and testing a model. The model contributes to theintegration of municipal risk and vulnerability analysis in Social Services’ core operations.
In addition, the aim is to safeguard that the knowledge and the perspectives of Social
Services are taken into account in risk and vulnerability analysis. The project is operating infour Swedish municipalities and ends in 2016. In Finland Merja Rapeli is conducting a study
on social services and social work disaster preparedness. The aim is to assess the level of
preparedness and the disaster-related roles of social work and services in Finland.
Preparedness plan documents of local social services form the main data of her research(Rapeli, 2016a). These projects point to the importance of increased research anddevelopment regarding the role of social services in the context of disasters. Hence, despite
the facts that the Nordic countries are known for their extensive welfare systems, and that
extensive literature exists on the Nordic welfare model, only few studies have addressed
the role of the welfare state in the context of disaster. Thus, the Nordic countries have a
lot to learn from countries that have extensive experience in the field but might not havebeen influential in welfare research. In this regard, Mathbor (2007, p. 358) points out that“in the wake of the disasters brought about in the United States by Hurricanes Katarina,
Rita and Wilma, American social workers have much to learn from countries that have
faced similar tragedies including those in South Asia, particularly Bangladesh…that [have]developed a successful mechanism that utilizes social capital to recover and rebuild after
each disaster that hits the country.”
Hence, this chapter’s aim is to review the literature and highlight some of the main
issues regarding the roles social services played in times of disaster: enhancing resilienceand working with vulnerable groups; providing psychosocial support and working with thecommunity. The literature emphasises the need for co-operation between institutions andthe third sector. Thus, the chapter discusses in short the co-operation of the local social
services with other agents. Social workers are the biggest professional group working
within the social services. The chapter therefore also briefly addresses the contribution ofdisaster social work to the field.

442.1.1 Enhancing resilience and working with vulnerable groups
The social services have important knowledge that is relevant to disasters, specifically
about the needs and strengths of the community and the needs and characteristics ofvulnerable groups. This knowledge emanated from the fact that local social services daily
reduce vulnerability and enhances resilience in everyday life (Cuadra, 2015).
As already mentioned, the literature clearly shows how socioeconomic status candetermine the capacity to prepare for disastrous events, their immediate impact as well as
the outcomes during the aftermath and reconstruction after disasters. Some groups are
more vulnerable than others due to various factors like age, health, gender, family
situation, etc. Mathbor (2007, p. 358) states: “The literature on disaster management
reveals that vulnerable populations tend to be the ones that suffer most.”
Regarding the capacity to prepare for disasters, Zakour and Gillespie (2014) explain
how poor populations have fewer resources to do so. They often lack resources to relocateaway from unsafe land and tend to have less or no insurance. When disaster strikes, they
have fewer resources in reserve, compared to groups that are better off financially.
Priestley and Hemingway (2007) investigated disability and disaster. They concluded that
despite differences in the response capacity of rich and poor countries, there were also
“unsettling similarities in the experiences of disabled people from poor, predominantly
black, communities (whether in Aceh [Indonesia] or Louisiana [US]). In this sense, theboundaries of the excluded ‘majority world’ continue to be less defined by geography thanby poverty and structural inequality” (Priestley and Hemingway, 2007, p. 38). Furthermore,
Pyles points out what is well documented in social work research: “low-income andmarginalized communities are likely to suffer a downward spiral of deterioration after adisaster” (2007, p. 321). Bolin (1993) investigated the recovery after the Northridge
earthquakes in California and concluded that recovery mostly depended on the access to
assistance and other social protection. Factors such as class, race and culture influenced
such access. Social groups like renters, the unemployed, or homeless people did not accessdisaster assistance. Social services, due to their close contacts with vulnerable individuals
and groups in the community, could ideally provide important perspectives and knowledge
that other actors could benefit from both before, during and after disastrous events.
Bolin’s research on earthquake victims showed that their rate of recovery reflected
the underlying class structure and distribution of resources. Hence, it took lower45

socioeconomic status victims longer to regain permanent housing. Bolin concluded: “unlessthere is an effort by governments to reduce social inequalities and improve living
conditions for lower-income victims during reconstruction, the recovery process will tend
to mirror pre-existing social inequalities and may, in fact, intensify them” (Bolin, 1993, p.
87). Studies have shown an increase in family violence and child abuse following disasters(Catani et al., 2010; Curtis, Miller, & Berry, 2000). The role of social services and social workin rebuilding lives post-disaster can also be salient, and they can make an essential
contribution to disaster recovery by facilitating community development, restoring
livelihoods, providing psychosocial support, and enhancing capacity in local communities(Drolet and Ersing, 2014; Mathbor, 2010; Cronin, Ryan and Coughlan, 2010; Thomas and
Healy, 2010).
There is a growing literature on how disaster programs can be adjusted to meet theneeds of vulnerable groups, in particular programs and policies that are sensitive to theneeds of the elderly and disabled (e.g., Barusch, 2011; Gutman and Yon, 2014; Hartog,
2014; Priestley and Hemingway, 2007; Vakis, 2006). However, there is still an information
gap, according to Gutman and Yon (2014). They conducted a literature review of researchon abuse and neglect of elderly people in disaster situations. For example, they stressedthat evacuation is extremely demanding for the elderly, and there are recent examples ofprofessionals that have left their patients in times of disaster. Soliman and Rogge haveemphasised that the “complex dynamics of disasters and disaster management are natural
breeding grounds for ethical uncertainty and dilemma” (2002, p. 3). Two recent examples
of such events are discussed by Barusch (2011): In a hospital near the Fukushima plant,
medical staff abandoned 128 persons, and after Hurricane Katarina hit New Orleans, thefew staff left at the Memorial Medical Centre decided to give the patients lethal doses ofmorphine and benzodiazepine sedatives (that are not recommended for elderly patients).
The professionals were prosecuted but the jury refused to indict the accused. According toBarusch (2011, p. 348), “leaving the doctor free to become a passionate advocate forlegislation provides legal immunity to physicians for their actions in times of disaster.”
These extreme examples serve as a reminder that even in societies with high standards ofhealth and social services, disasters bring challenges calling for preparedness from socialand health service institutions on the local level. According to Soliman and Rogge (2002, p.

463), pre-disaster actives are needed in order to deliver “ethical, efficient and effective postdisaster services”.
As pointed out earlier, in section 1.8 on terminology, Lein (2008) warns about thedanger of classifying people as vulnerable. It might reinforce prejudices, negative
stereotyping and labelling. Lein also points out that when people are consideredvulnerable, they are thereby regarded as weak and not able to make decisions regarding
their own lives. Hence, the literature stresses that it is important for policy makers, experts
and researchers to include, e.g., organizations of disabled and elderly people among theagents of disaster recovery and preparedness and to seek ways to apply user involvement
regardless of age and the background of the users (Priestly and Hemingway, 2007). The
members of the groups in question should be regarded as experts on their own lives andneeds and, thus, included in all phases of decision making about their lives andcircumstances. The findings from the EU project emBRACE—Building Resilience Amongst
Communities in Europe—underlines the importance of user-involvement. The project
explored community resilience in the context of several natural hazards that occur acrossEurope. One of its tasks was to understand the community resilience to heat wave hazards,
with focus on the elderly. The results revealed that the elderly often have considerable
knowledge about how to manage heat-wave risk. They often find the top-down
information strategies invasive and do not follow them. Therefore, in order to enhance themanagement of heat wave risk, the local authorities and other carers can help the elderly
consider their own risk, and how this can be managed. This is missing in top-down public
information campaigns. Even though they may reach those most at risk, the campaigns may
not lead to behaviour change (emBRACE, n.d.).

2.1.2 Provision of psychosocial support to individuals, families and groups
As pointed out in the introduction, this study focuses on the role of social services. It does
not address the extensive role of health services in disasters8. Hence, the methods andresults of early mental health intervention, often referred to as psychological first aid andposttraumatic therapy, are outside the frame of this study. Social services sometimes takean active part in providing clinical therapy, but it might more commonly provide
8 For further information on psychosocial support within the Nordic countries, NORDRESS report Resilience to natural

hazards: An overview of institutional arrangements and practices in the Nordic countries (Harjanenne et al., 2016).

47

psychological first aid and counselling during the aftermath of disaster. They could do thiseither as part of regular social services or in co-operation with other agents. The literatureoften refers to psychosocial support. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies defines psychosocial as “the close relationship between the individual
and the collective aspects of any social entity.” Psychosocial support is intended to help
individuals and communities “to heal the psychological wounds and rebuild social
structures after an emergency or a critical event. It can help change people into active
survivors rather than passive victims” (IFRC, n.d.). The Red Cross is one of the important
actors providing psychosocial support, also in the Nordic countries, as further discussed infollowing chapters on each country (Eydal and Árnadóttir, 2004).
Australia has outlined an approach to psychosocial intervention in its disasterplanning (Rowlands, 2013). Among the methods applied in Australia is case management.
This is a method originally developed by Mary Richmond (1917) in the early years of social
work. The intention is to provide the client with a holistic picture of the services that could
be applied. This approach has been influential in local social services and social work in theNordic countries (Levin, 2000). Rowlands (2013) points out that the components of casemanagement, “out-reach, assessment, joint planning, referring, monitoring, and advocacy
are core to the tasks undertaken in a disaster recovery context” and are thus well fitted tofacilitate recovery9. According to Bell (2008) case management was applied successfully
during the aftermath of Katrina.
In discussions about the roles of social services, the need of support on practicalissues during the aftermath of disasters is often underplayed. Bolin studied the recovery
process after the earthquakes that took place in Whittier Narrows and Loma Prieta in 1987.
He stresses the importance of so-called practical issues in the recovery and concludes:“Household recovery, community reconstruction, and individual psychosocial distress are
three linked aspects of the overall recovery process” (1993, p. 21). Newburn, whoinvestigated the services during the aftermath of the Hillsborough accident and Bradford
fire, also discusses the importance of practical help. He said clients do not find offers ofpractical help as threatening as offers of counselling. Newburn also states that by offeringand providing practical help in accordance with the client’s need, the social worker can
9 Rowlands (2013) also points out that due to their understanding of grief and loss response, social services can act asconsultants to partner agencies and in rescue and physical rebuilding.

48

establish the client’s trust. He concludes that “such tasks are not only important inthemselves, but they are also valuable because they help facilitate the trust that is
important if other work is to be undertaken. It is ironic therefore that these aspects of thework are often accorded relatively little importance in analysis of the social work task after
disaster” (1993, 122).
Rowlands (2013, p. 8) points out that a disaster is a group event, and that “theorganization and processes of the social environment are the greatest resources for
personal recovery, mitigating the impact of stress and trauma and determining the effectsof health and well-being in the aftermath”. Padgett (2002) concluded in her study of theaftermath of 9/11 among New York City inhabitants that they preferred to work together
in informal and formal group settings rather than individual sessions when working on theirrecovery. Hence, in addition to working with individuals and families, it is considered
important that the local services (and other formal services) provide support on the grouplevel as well as support and information to the informal social systems that might beoverwhelmed by the disaster. Such work can include assistance in organizing events andgatherings in groups and clubs. It can also include various rituals, e.g., in religious
communities. It can as well include creating opportunities for people to meet and mutuallydeal with their experiences from their disaster (Rowlands, 2013). Following disasters, thebereaved in both Norway and Finland have found such collective gatherings very helpful(Dyregrov, Dyregrov, Straume, & Grønvold Bugge, 2014; Dyregrov, Straume, & Saari, 2009).
In this context, it may be of interest that a review of the literature (Linnell, 2013) concluded
that people prefer to participate in their own pre-existing networks (of different kinds, e.g.,family, work, associations) rather than networks that are specifically created to respond tocrisis. Community work often co-operates with the third sector, which maintains methods
to estimate the capacities and needs of the communities. Against this backdrop,community work is one of the important tasks of social services that calls for a certain
sensibility when organising activities, as discussed further in the next section.

2.1.3 Community work
Community work is a traditional working method in social work. It is usually part of thesocial work education curriculum. One of the main ideas in community work is thatrecovery or change of an individual and community is often seen as related to change in49

social and societal structures (e.g., Lundy, 2004). Therefore, community work in disasterrelated contexts should aim at preventing and changing dysfunctional structures that may
cause the problems instead of adjusting to them. As stated above, the role of social services
in terms of community work differs from country to country. Hence, social workers acquire
training in different methods of community work (Hutchinson, 2009). For example, there isa strong tradition of community work in the UK, and community workers are a part of local
social services. In the Nordic countries, community work has been one of the main working
methods in social work (Hutckinson, 2009), but in Norway it is also usual for psychologists
to specialize in community psychology (Carlquist, Nafstad, Blakar, 2007).
Social services can work with the community in all phases of disasters. Mathbor(2007, p. 4) stresses in his work the importance of community preparedness and states:“Communities that are well trained culturally, socially and psychologically are better
prepared and more effective in responding to the aftermath of disasters. My previous workand research in this area indicate that community capacity building through effective
utilization of social capital is crucial in disaster management projects.”
Community work is also an important contribution to the community’s recovery,
and the literature stresses this to be an important part of the recovery phase. According to
Rowlands (2013), solution-focused approaches to intervention and a sound understandingof community development principles are essential in facilitating community recovery. In
recent years, the literature has emphasised the importance of grasping that recovery takes
time, and Newburn (1993) is one of the scholars pointing out the importance of applying along-term perspective during the aftermath of a disaster.

2.2 Co-operation of local social services with other agents
In case of disaster, the emergency management systems respond. If the local social services
are part of the contingency plan and have a role in the system, they will cooperate with the
emergency management system in some way. They will hence be co-operating, forexample, with professionals from the emergency and health services, rescue workers andvoluntary organizations. In a disaster, literally all governmental and non-governmental
agencies can be involved in emergency management, and these institutions all have theirown set of working methods, cultures and language. Hence, to cooperate under pressure50

is a challenge. At the same time, cooperation is the key to successful emergency
management, and the literature emphasises the importance of information passing
between all partners and, of course, including the community in question, in order toenhance as good cooperation and services as possible (Rowlands, 2013; Soliman andRogge, 2002; Tang, 2007). Soliman and Rogge (2002) draw on an example of disaster having
general values from the perspectives of survivors or parties otherwise affected in theirencounter with a variety of actors. They underline the importance of common, clear andsimple procedures for those who have experienced a disaster. Hence, a clear division oflabour and good collaboration between institutions is essential from the perspective of thepersons affected by the disaster.
Keeping in mind the needs of the clients, the service providers' challenge is tosynchronize their work to avoid gaps in services or duplication or lack of information forthe client (Rowlands, 2013). Tan (2013, p. 155) is one of the scholars stressing theimportance of the continuity of the services:
More than a humane social response, social workers and other professional disastermanagers need to effectively organize and plan for an impact that endures. It is
important to be involved from the onset of rescue and support, through disasterplanning to long-term housing and social construction. There should be continuity inthe services and programs that cater to the longer term needs, such as social
emotional support to survivors and the social development of family and community
after the trauma.

Hence, where the institutions usually providing services in the community are the main
service providers, from a user’s perspective, a one-stop shop method is recommended.
Rowlands (2013) also points out the importance of carefully planning thewithdrawal of services added to regular services during the emergency phase. Similarly, if
services have been provided outside the core service system and then transferred into thesystem, that process has to be carefully planned.
In addition to municipalities, both the private sector and voluntary organizations
can provide social services. According to the literature, disaster usually increases the rolesof voluntary organizations since local social services often lack enough manpower to takeon all the additional tasks due to the crisis. Therefore, in the case of local social services,the quality of the cooperation with the third sector is of extreme importance to the client.
It is in addition important that there are no legal hindrances to cooperation between
different actors (Soliman and Rogge, 2002). Bearing this in mind, it is thought provoking

51

that the results from the ADAPT project (Awareness of Disaster Prevention for Vulnerable
Groups, that was conducted in Italy, Germany and Denmark) showed that there was bothformal and informal critical knowledge about the needs of the elderly and people withdisabilities in the social and health sectors. However, lack of structure of the information
prevented it from being fully used in times of disasters (ADAPT, n.d.; Volterrani, 2016).
The Risk and Crisis Research Center at the Mid University in Sweden has emphasised
research on the collaboration of different actors. The MOSAIC project (Multi Organizational
Situational Assessment in Crisis) is a case in point. It focused on collaboration between
emergency services, elderly care and school personnel. The methods employed wereinterviews and experiment. The findings showed that professionals from different sectors
differed in their understanding of the rationale of the risk and emergency management
field. They were unfamiliar with the other professions’ competence and routines, and they
acted in accordance with their own professions working methods. There is an
institutionalized view of what emergency management is and is not: the attributes
attached to a school as a place for teachers and schoolchildren, or to an elderly care centre
as a place for care personnel are not recognized during a crisis. They fall outside theboundaries of emergency management, which is the work done, for example, by firefighters and managers at a higher organizational level. The work to rebuild and normalize
everyday life for local society, done by teachers and elderly care personnel, was neverrecognized as part of the emergency management tasks. Similarly, while both voluntaryorganizations and individual agents often engage in attempts to help when crises arise insociety, these actors are often invisible in emergency responses, even though individuals
could already have started the rescue work before the official rescue teams arrive. Findings
show that emergency organizations cordon off the site of an incident, and it becomes theirworkplace, and this is what others see as handling the crisis. The actors do not regard
activities on the periphery of the site as part of the emergency management tasks.

2.3 Local social services and disaster social work
Social workers are the largest profession working in local social services. Hence, this section
discusses the main characteristics of disaster social work. Furthermore, the literaturesometimes makes little distinction between social services and social work. However, the52

distinctions between the services and the profession are important in the Nordic countries.
Multi-professional teams provide municipal social services, while social workers work notonly in social services but also in health care, education and the justice system. It goes
without saying that many of the issues this section raises also apply to other professions,e.g., all health professions and their working methods. Skills and knowledge are importantin disaster work. Under ideal circumstances many professional teams provide these skills
and knowledge, in cooperation with the private and the third sector.
There are about half a million social workers in the 80 countries that are membersof the International Federation of Social Work. Their institutions, politics and culture frame
their work. However, some general characteristics are central to the profession, its corevalues and methods (IFSW, n.d.). Disaster relief work has historically been part of social
work and even Charity Organizations Societies, to which the roots of professional social
work in the US can be traced, provided relief services in the Chicago fire of 1871 and the
San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 (Yanay and Benjamin 2005; Zakour, 1996).
Research in disaster social work gained attention in the 1990s and has flourished since then(Dominelli, 2012; Gillespie and Danso, 2010; Henderson, 2013; Jenson, 2005; Mathbor,2010; 2011; Streeter and Murty, 1996; Tan, 2013; 2013a; Zakour, 2013). However, disastersocial work has only recently caught the attention of Nordic scholars (e.g., Cuadra, 2015;
Rapeli, 2016a). But why should social work contribute to emergency management? Besides
the fact that disasters are increasing, and people might not really have a choice in thematter, the literature reports that the approaches of social work are very useful indisasters. To quote Dominelli (2012, p. 659): “Whether reducing risks, mitigating disaster,
providing relief or long-term reconstruction, social workers have much to offer.” According
to Cuadra (2015, p. 1), the main focus of disaster social work tends to be the local level,
and the tasks of social work are diverse: “It involves preventive interventions as well as
distribution of emergency aid, identification of the most exposed… support to theindividual and its closest to recover after critical situations, reconstructions of social
functions as well as being a channel for information and mediator between individuals,
communities and organizations.” However, as Pyles (2007, p. 321) points out, “a review ofthe social work literature shows that social work has been less involved in the rebuilding
and community development than in traumatic stress intervention and the coordination ofrelief efforts.”53

Yanay and Benjamin (2005) are among the scholars emphasising that social workers
should be engaged in disaster work. They provide a list of reasons for this:First, they have the basic training enabling them to relate to the needs of individuals,
families and groups. Second most social workers have some knowledge and experiencein crisis intervention, family dynamics and loss. Third most social workers are wellinformed about existing welfare programs and services and can refer people to otheragencies for specialized help. Fourth, employed in a large variety of agencies, including
hospitals, schools, community facilities and even private and public work places social
workers can easily make contacts, becoming an invaluable helping network (Yanay and
Benjamin, 2005, 27).

In addition to this, the fact that most social workers are also trained in community work
could be added (Hutchinson, 2009). Zakour & Gillespie have both written extensively on
disaster social work. They state: “Social work examines and intervenes in systems at alllevels, from the individual to nation states to global initiatives. This orientation is consistent
with the conceptualization of disasters as affecting systems at all levels” (Zakour &Gillespie, 2014, p. 12). As social workers are educated and trained to work on micro-, mesoand macro- levels and apply a holistic perspective in their analysis and work, their skills area valuable asset in disaster work (Cuadra, 2015; Adeger et al. 2005 in Mathbor, 2007).
Thomas and Healy (2010, p. 255) are among the scholars discussing why the social
work profession can contribute to disaster work. They state:With their holistic and people–centered approach, social workers recognize needs
that others overlook. They identify the special needs of vulnerable populations in
disaster planning … realize that caregivers and responders often need care, and soforth. Social work discovered the value of the strength-based and empowerment
approaches long before they became widely used in disaster intervention.

Hence, social workers are trained to focus on starting where the person is, that is,approaching every individual on hers or his terms (Bliss and Meehan, 2008). Social workers
work according to a global code of ethics. Usually, each country also provides a national
code as well. Among the core values of social work are respect for the inherent worth anddignity of all, respect for self-determination, promoting the right to participate, treatingeach person as a whole and identifying and developing strengths. The code also stresses
the responsibility of social workers to promote social justice and advocate for their clients,
when needed (IFSW, n.d.). The ethical code is a very important tool in times of disasters.
Tan & Yuen (2013), for example, point out the importance of informed consent and selfdetermination when decisions are made after disasters, often under uncertainty and stress.

54

As discussed above in the section on Social Services, disasters often pose new ethicaldilemmas when the time for decision-making is very limited, putting the code of ethics tothe test (Soliman and Rogge, 2002).

2.3.1 Contribution of social work in relation to disasters
Due to the wide scope of the profession’s knowledge and expertise, social work has muchto offer in the pre- and post-disaster phases as well as in the disaster response phase. Elliot(2010) presents a social development model that broadens the role of social work beyond
response and disaster intervention to include the planning, recovery and development
phases of disaster intervention. The model may be applied in disasters resulting fromnatural and man-made hazards. It highlights individual and community strengths andempowerment, capacity building and the role played by human and social capital at allstages of disaster (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. A Social Development Model for Infusing Disaster Planning, Management and Response
into the Social Work Curriculum
Source: Elliot, 2010, p. 96.

55

Rapeli (2016b) applied Elliot’s (2010) model as the theoretical framework in aninternational systematic review of social work roles in disasters. Table 4 sets out the many
activities in disaster situations where social work tasks were evident. The outcome of thereview was that disaster social work emphasized social and human investments althoughsome of the articles also found social work tasks involving economic participation andpolitical empowerment.
Table 2.1

Social work tasks in relation to disasters according to Rapeli’s systematic review

Social Investment
1. Outreach
2. Identification and needs assessment of the affected
3. Linking of those in need with resources and further support / referral services
4. Support for special groups in need
5. Temporary housing
6. Delivery of food and clothing
7. Practical help
8. Providing information
9. Ensuring safety of the affected
10. Support for community development and reconstruction
11. Information for the communities
12. Support groups
13. Support for NGOs to ensure efficient aid
14. Guidance, support and coordination of voluntary action
Economic Participation
15. Financial support
16. Support for getting jobs
17. Support for applying for insurance and benefits
18. Channelling funds and goods raised
19. Developing means for livelihoods with communities
20. Promoting micro credits
Political Empowerment
21. Motivation and activation of victims to get support and benefits they have rights to
22. Support for decision makers and management in advocating the needs of the most vulnerable
23. Advocacy for changes in policy if the most vulnerable do not get benefits
24. Conflict mediation between communities and government
Human Investment
25. Psychosocial support
26. Trauma counselling
27. Bereavement counselling
28. Family reunion
29. Support for Disaster Victim Identification personnel
30. Support at funerals
31. Help line for psychosocial support
Source: Rapeli, 2016b.

The circumstances and types of disasters in each community define to some extent the roleof social work and social services. In the UK, the role of social services in disasters became
defined after “the decade of disasters” (Hodgkinson and Steward, 1991). In 1985 theBradford Football stadium fire injured hundreds and killed 55 of the 12,000 at the stadium.
Millions viewed the event on television. Newburn points out that the “social services were56

thrown into the crisis by having to respond to something that they had few plans, priorarrangements or agreed methods for dealing with” (1993, p. 34). According to Newburn,the experience from this work has influenced the role of social services in the context ofdisasters. In 1989 the Hillsborough disaster occurred. The nine social service departments
there drew lessons from the Bradford fire experience, applying the same methods ofoutreach. After this experience, the British Home Office concluded: “The prime
responsibility for handling disasters should remain at the local level where the immediate
resources and expertise are found” (Newburn, 1993, p. 188). This is still valid, and, in an
emergency, the Adult Social Care and Children’s Services can take on or co-ordinate orcontract out leadership of the social and psychological support. The emphasis still remains
on providing coherent community social and psychological support (UK Gov, n.d.).
Europe has faced a rising threat of antagonistic and terrorist acts, such as the 2011
terrorist attack on Utoya Island and the executive government quarter in Oslo, and theattack in Brussels in 2016. In this regard social work in the Nordic countries can learn fromthe experiences of, for example, Israel. The high frequency of emergencies involving death
and/or injuries has resulted in a high state of preparedness of the social services in the caseof Jerusalem (Yanay and Benjamin, 2005). The municipal Department of Social Services inJerusalem is the leading agency in the city’s relief work. In a severe emergency, routinesocial services stop, and the social workers are mobilized to their pre-assigned stations in
the city. There they are involved in the seven relief-operation stations and staff theJerusalem Hot Line. Some of the social workers are stationed on site, where they assess theneeds for services. They also try to reduce anxiety and panic among those who havesuffered or witnessed the event, as well as the rescuers. In addition, social workers assist
the police and work with the families of the victims. An example is when a person is missing.
The social worker will be assigned to follow the family through the procedure of search,
identification, returning home and assisting with announcing a death to extended family.
Following the event, social workers provide outreach work among people that might feel
isolated, as well as practical assistance like housing or other resources (Yanay and
Benjamin, 2005).
There are various interesting examples from all over the world of the role of social
work related to disasters. For example, in Taiwan after the Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999,
social workers were actively responding right after the disaster and supporting the victims

57

in recovery. Their role included standing beside the next of kin of the dead, even digging
corpses out of the debris. They also arranged shelter, food, temporary housing and benefits
for those affected. Social workers worked in rescue and resettlement, as well asreconstruction of the communities (Chou, 2003). This process entailed a joint effort for acommunity kitchen that could be a first step (Li, Hsiao, Lu, Wang and Huang, 2016).
Following the Victorian bushfires in Australia, social workers acted as case managers,
counsellors, and community development workers. In this way, they provided relief forindividuals, families and communities that the disaster affected (Hickson and Lehmann,2014).
The many recommendations on disaster social work (Rapeli, 2016b) can help
provide an overview of social work tasks in the context of crisis and disasters. Multi-sectoral
work, for example, has been recommended. This means that social workers should widen
their networks to traditional disaster management actors, like the police and rescue
service. Cooperation with other disaster management actors is vital in many ways: gaining
a situational picture of the disaster, ensuring the safety of those affected, providing
advocacy and so on. During Australia’s offshore response to an Asian tsunami, for example,
it was found that clarity of communication channels and reporting arrangements between
organizations was essential (Manning, Millar, Newton and Webb, 2006). Social work should
also develop its community-based and structural social work interventions in the context
of disasters, and disaster social work should be included in the training programs (Rapeli,
2016b).
Even though the literature agrees on the important role of social work in times ofdisasters, tension between the importance of working on the individual level withpsychosocial support and counselling and emphasizing community work can be observed(Pyles, 2007; Rowlands, 2013). Such tension is a recurring theme in the history andtraditions of social work (Cuadra, 2015).
2.3.2 Disaster social work and user involvement
An important contribution of social work to the field of disaster studies is the importanceof user involvement regarding both preparedness and emergency management. Mathbor(2007, p. 358) writes: “Many of my publications emphasize that experts by experience, thatis, the local people, must be consulted by development practitioners and programs from58

the beginning of their involvement”. Furthermore, according to Soliman and Rogge (2002),
the literature reports that community members’ participation is critical to effective andspeedy recovery.
Linnell (2013) conducted a systematic review of the disaster literature on
community approaches involving the public in emergency management. The review
concluded that the literature emphasises that the people and people’s capacities shall bein focus rather than what risks and hazards they might have to face. The literature alsostresses that people prefer to participate in their own pre-existing networks (of different
kinds, e.g., family, work, associations) rather than networks that are created specifically for
responding to crisis. Linnell (2013, p. 4) also concludes that, due to different types of
discrimination, it is important to enhance empowerment by capacity building and inclusive
voluntary community work. Indeed, “all members of the community should be part of theemergency management team, including social and community service groups.” When
Linnell’s recommendations are compared to the Social Work Code of Ethics, theresemblance is striking (NASW, n.d.; Linnell, 2013). Despite the importance of involving the
inhabitants in planning and preparedness, social work still plays a minor role in emergency
management (Dominelli, 2015). Actually, Linnell (2013) reports that the literatureemphasizes increasing interdisciplinary cooperation between public and, private
institutions. He quotes Aguirre (2006), who mentions 17 disaster-relevant institutions:“family, religion, politics, economy, medicine and health, education, science, law andcourts, risk management (including insurance companies as well as the police), fire fightersand other response instrumentalities), mass media and communication, transportation,energy, food, water, leisure and entertainment, construction and other built environment
activities, and land use environmental regulation and protection.” Interestingly, Aguirre’s
list does not mention social or welfare services or voluntary organizations. Thus, Linnell(2013, p. 20) adds to the list a discussion on the civic infrastructure of community that “iscomprised of the public’s collective wisdom and capability to solve problems; voluntary
associations…and social service organizations that look out for the well-being of various
groups”.

592.3.3 Education and the role of disaster social work
Rapeli (2016b) points out that even though social work has been an active part of disasterwork, many scholars have argued that social work as a profession should take a greater rolein disaster management (Dominelli, 2012; Elliott, 2010; Mathbor, 2007; Thomas and Healy,2010). Scholars also point to the need for incorporating disaster social work into thecurriculum for social work education (Adamson, 2014; Newhill and Sites, 2000 in Rapeli,
2016b).
Thomas and Healy (2010, p. 255) point out that “social workers are engaged invarious phases of disaster response, whether or not they are prepared for effective
practice.” They also point out that given the enormity and frequency of disasters in recent
years, “it becomes imperative that the social work curriculum prepare students to meetthese challenges, especially those who might be working in developing regions of theworld” (Thomas and Healy, 2010, p. 261). Mathbor (2007, p. 359) states: “However social
work educators in the USA have not yet prioritized or developed sufficiently disastermanagement as an integral part of the social work curriculum and practice.” Thus, there isalso a strong call for including courses on disasters in the social work curriculum, forexample, from International Association of Schools of Social Work, IASSW, (Adamson, 2014;
Social Dialogue, 2013). In the Nordic countries, Iceland is the only country providing amandatory course in the field of disaster social work (University of Iceland, n.d.). The
University of Aarhus offers two diploma programs in disaster social work, with emphasison conflict resolution and families and children (Aarhus University, n.d.). Hence, the Nordic
schools of Social Work have in general not responded to the International Association of
Schools of Social Work’s call.

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3. DENMARK
Rasmus Dahlberg, Guðný Björk Eydal, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Carin Björngren
Cuadra, Björn Hvinden, Merja Rapeli and Tapio Salonen

3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Geography and climate
Denmark is a small country, compared to its neighbouring countries, and is geographicallythe smallest of the five nations in the Nordic Region. The land area, which covers 42,890
km2 (total area 43,561 km2) with 58.9% or 25,329km2 as arable land, is made the most of
by the inhabitants (Norden, n.d.; European Commission, n.d.c). The coastline in Denmarkis exceptionally long, around 7,300 km, which corresponds to almost one and a half metersof coast per inhabitant. One of the main geographical characteristics of Denmark is its manyislands (391 in total). The largest islands are Sjælland, the North Jutland island, Fyn, Lolland
and Bornholm (European Commission, n.d.b; Statistics Denmark, 2015). The climate in
Denmark is marked as temperate with cool summers and mild windy winters (European
Commission, n.d.b).

3.1.2 Demographics
Denmark is the most densely populated country in the Nordic Region, with almost 5.7
million inhabitants in 2015 (Statistics Denmark, 2015). The population density in 2014 was
130.5 /km2, which is by far the highest population density in the Nordic countries. The
population in the capital area10 in 2014 was 1,246,611 inhabitants (Norden, n.d.). The
median age11 of the population in 2015 was 41.8 years, 42.8 for women and 40.9 for men(CIA, n.d.). The Danish population is gradually getting older, mostly due to the increase ofpeople over the age of 80 (Statistics Denmark, 2015). The life expectancy for Danes isslightly lower than in the other Nordic countries. In 2015 the life expectancy for women
was 81.8 years and 76.8 years for men (CIA, n.d.). In 2015 the fertility rate in Denmark was

10 Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Albertslund, Brøndby, Gentofte, Gladsaxe, Glostrup, Herlev, Hvidovre, Lyngby-Taarbæk,Rødovre, Tårnby and Vallensbæk municipalities, and urban parts of Ballerup, Rudersdal, Furesø, Ishøj By and Greve
Strand.
11 The median age divides the population into two numerically equal groups; that is, half of the population is younger
than the medan age and half of the population is older.

65

1.73 children born per woman and the infant mortality rate 4.05 in every 1,000 live births(CIA, n.d.). In 2015 the total dependency ratio12 was 55.9% and the potential support ratio13
was 3.4.
At the start of 2015, immigrants and descendants comprised 11.6% of the total
Danish population. About 8.9% were immigrants and 2.8% descendants. Around 53% of all
immigrants and descendants originate from European countries. The largest group comesfrom Turkey (9.4%) (Statistics Denmark, 2015). Denmark saw a doubling in asylum seekers
between 2013 and 2014. In 2015, 21,225 persons applied for asylum in Denmark, compared
to 14,792 in 2014. Nearly half of asylum seekers in 2014 came from Syria (7,087), andSyrians as a group were more than three times bigger than the next biggest group, Eritreans(2,285) (Udlændinge-, Integrations- og Boligministeriet, 2015).
The total employment rate in 2013 was 72.5% (Statistics Denmark, 2015). In 2015
the unemployment rate was 4.7% (CIA, n.d.). The expenditure on social affairs14 in Denmark
as a percentage of GDP in 2012 was 34.6% (NOSOSCO, 2015).

3.1.3 The governmental system
Denmark is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a multi-party system. The
political power is not in the hands of Queen Margrethe II, and she does not interfere in thepolitical life or express political opinions. The parliament (Folketinget, 179 seats) is thecountry's highest authority (Norden, n.d.). The Government governs the country according
to laws passed by the Parliament. The Government normally comprises about 20 ministers,
headed by the Prime Minister. Danish ministers may or may not sit in Folketinget while
holding office (CIA, n.d.; Danish Parliament, n.d.). Denmark has been a member of the EU
since 1973 and a member of NATO since its formation in 1949 (Norden, n.d.).

12 The total dependency ratio is the ratio of the combined youth population (ages 0-14) and elderly population (aged 65+)

per 100 people of working age (15-64). A high total dependency ratio indicates that the working-age population and theoverall economy face a greater burden to support and provide social services for youth and elderly persons, who areoften economically dependent.
13 The potential support ratio is the number of working-age people (15-64) per one elderly person (aged 65+). As a
population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support theelderly.
14 The expenditure on social affairs includes expenditures on benefits to families and children, expenditures on benefits
to the unemployed, expenditures on sickness benefits, expenditures on pensions, other cash benefits and services to theelderly, expenditures on pensions, other cash benefits and services to the disabled, expenditures on benefits and services
to surviving relatives, expenditures on housing benefits, and expenditures on other social benefits.

66

Denmark is divided into five regions, each governed by regional councils elected
every four years. The tasks of the regions include health care (which accounts for morethan 90 percent of the region's economy), the operation of social and special education
institutions as well as regional development. Furthermore, the regions are in charge ofvarious tasks within the areas of public transport, tourism, education and soil pollution(Danske regioner, n.d.).
Denmark is divided into 98 municipalities, each governed by a council and a mayor.
The municipal councils are elected every four years. The municipalities are responsible fora number of tasks, such as environmental control, providing day-care centres, schools,
adult education, care of the elderly, specialised social services and road building (CIA, n.d.,n.d.; KL, n.d.).

3.1.4 Disaster and risk profile
Fires, storms, cloudbursts, snow storms, oil spills, technical accidents and terrorist attacks
are the types of disasters Denmark has faced in recent years. There have been several
severe cloudbursts, and the one in 2011 even hit the centre of the capital (Dahlberg, 2015).
Flooding is a seasonal risk in parts of Jutland and along the southern coast of Lollandand Falster, which are protected from the sea by a system of dikes (European Commission,n.d.b). The serious consequences of the changing global climate are affecting Denmark as
well as other countries. An increase in extreme weather events in recent years in Denmark
has posed severe challenges, mainly related to water level management (DEMA, 2013). In
recent years, severe flooding has also occurred in other areas, such as Frederikssund (2013)
and Vejle (2015). The terrorist threat to Denmark is transnational. Thus, it is very much
related to developments in terms of global threat. Due to politicial changes in the Middle
East and North Africa, along with other factors, the current overall threat picture against
Denmark is considered more fragmented, dynamic and complex than before (DEMA, 2013).

3.2 Local social services
The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior is responsible for the development of policies
on social affairs, but the municipalities and the regions administer and pay most of thesocial benefits and services (NOSOSCO, 2013). The Social Assistance Act (Bistandsloven) of

67

1976 was replaced in 1998 by the Act on Social Services No. 1093/2013 (Serviceloven). It
emphasises the shift towards services in addition to social assistance. Besides the Act on
Social Services, the Active Social Policy Act (Lov om aktiv socialpolitik) was enacted in 1998.
The Active Social Policy Act No. 1193/2014 addresses social assistance, activation
measures, and rehabilitation.
The municipalities can organize the social services, as they like, as long as they
follow the legal framework. The idea is that services should be organised as close to thecitizens as possible, and that they are close to the responsible politicians. The level of local
taxes ranged from 23% to 28% in 2011. This difference is one of the factors explaining thedifferent level of services among the Danish municipalities (The Ministry of Social Affairs
and Integration, 2012).
According to the Consolidation Act on Social Services No. 1093/2013, the aims of
local social services are “to offer counselling and support so as to prevent social problems;
to offer general services designed to serve as preventive measures at the same time; andto satisfy needs resulting from impaired physical or mental function or special social
problems.” The Act also states that it is the duty of the municipality to allocate temporary
housing if a single person or a family is homeless. The Act emphasises the importance ofself-reliance, and it states that the “purpose of the assistance shall be to improve thecapability of the individual” and to enhance the quality of life. Furthermore the Act stresses
that individuals are responsible for themselves and their family, and that assistance shallbe provided on the basis of individual assessment of the need of the recipientmunicipalities (The Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration in Denmark, 2012).
All inhabitants shall be entitled to counselling free of charge. The “purpose of suchcounselling is to prevent social problems and to help the citizen overcome immediate
difficulties and, in the longer term, enable the citizen to deal with problems as they arise
without outside assistance” municipalities (The Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration in
Denmark, 2012). Furthermore, in times of disasters, both municipalities and regions are
responsible for psychosocial support (krisestøtte). The psychosocial therapy (kriseterapi),
needed in the follow-up, is a service which the regions are responsible for(Sundhedsstyrelsen, 2014).
The municipalities in Denmark have numerous legal obligations towards families
with children. They have the legal obligation to provide family-related counselling, free of68charge, to parents and people who are becoming parents. They shall also provide services
and support for children with impaired physical or mental function or that are in particularneed for support, and provide special facilities, e.g., day care facilities. Furthermore, themunicipality can decide to pay supplementary subsidies to parents receiving cash for carebenefits under the Child-Care Leave Act (Dagtilbudsloven) No. 501/2007 (Eydal and
Rostgaard, 2011). The Act on Social Services emphasises that if a child is in need of special
support, the municipality is obligated to perform a child protection examination, if possible
in cooperation with the parents and children over 15 years. Furthermore, according to theAct, young persons between the ages of 18-22 can receive support to start an independent
life outside the parental home.
The Act on Social Services also states that the “municipal council shall ensure thatthe measures and activities affecting children, young persons and their families are
implemented in such a manner as to promote the development, well-being andindependence of children and young persons.” The municipality is obligated to prepare a
special child policy, and the Act obliges the municipality to organize child protection,
including a “contingency plan for the prevention, early detection and processing of cases
involving abuse of children and young persons”. The Act also contains a provision on special
support for children and young persons that shall be provided by applying a case-by-caseassessment so that the support can be adapted to the specific situation of the individual
child and his/her family (The Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration in Denmark, 2012).
The Act on Social Services Counselling also regulates services for persons with
impaired physical or mental function. According to the social services scheme, the local
authorities have the primary obligation to assist people who are suffering from mental
illnesses (The Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration in Denmark, 2012). The
municipalities are obligated to provide a wide range of services, including personal
assistance and attendance. Home help and support to the elderly are also among theobligations of the municipality. In Denmark, the municipalities have extensive
responsibilities towards the elderly, including outreach health services (Nordens
Välfärdscenter, 2015).
Furthermore, the municipality shall provide for the treatment of drug addicts,
including counselling services, motivation, treatment and post-treatment. Social services

69also provide support and services to homeless people (The Ministry of Social Affairs andIntegration in Denmark, 2012).
Last but not least, the municipalities shall provide social assistance in accordancewith the Active Social Policy Act No. 1193/2014. The inhabitants can apply to themunicipality for social assistance (kontanthjælp) when all other support options have been
exhausted under the Active Social Policy Act. Social assistance is means-tested. It can be
paid either as a substitute for income or as a supplement to low income. Furthermore, it
can also be paid in the form of grants for special expenses, e.g., health costs, medical
treatment or equipment in the home. Married couples were obligated to provide for eachother, but this rule was abolished as of 1 January 2016 (Beskæftigelsesministeriet, n.d.).
The number of children, the length of time that the applicant has lived in Denmark, as wellas the age of the applicant are also taken into consideration since the amount of benefit islower for individuals under the age of 25 and those who have lived in Denmark for less thaneight years. In these cases, the benefit is named start allowance (starthjælp). Furthermore,
assets above a certain ceiling of both applicants and their spouses would be taken into
consideration. If the reason for the application is unemployment, the applicant is obligatedto participate in interviews and activation measures/work (MISSOC, 2013).

3.3 The emergency management system
The emergency management system in Denmark is designed to be general and flexible inorder to handle all kinds of adverse incidents and disasters involving different authorities,
both at the central and local levels (see Figure 3). The main actors of the national
emergency management system are the rescue and fire services, the police, and the healthcare system. The authorities activate the system when the day-to-day response systemcannot cope with an incident, or if the situation demands crosscutting coordination andmutual orientation among sectors or geographical areas (DEMA, 2015).

70

Figure 3. The Danish emergency management system: National Organisational Chart
Source: DEMA, 2015.

Five general principles guide the work on emergency management and contingency
planning in Denmark:








Sector responsibility: the department or agency having daily responsibility for agiven sector retains responsibility for the sector during crises.
Similarity: in so far as possible, the procedures and division of responsibilities
applied on a day-to-day basis should also be applied in emergency management.
The greatest similarity possible between the daily setup and the emergency
management setup must be maintained in order to minimize the extent oforganizational re-arrangements when activating the emergency management
organization.
Subsidiarity: emergency management and emergency management should be
handled at the lowest organisational level possible.
Cooperation: authorities are responsible for cooperating and coordinating witheach other in terms of both preparedness planning and emergency
management.
Precaution: in a situation with unclear or incomplete information, it is always
preferable to establish a higher, rather than a lower level of preparedness.
Subsequently, adjustments to the preparedness level can quickly be made inorder to minimize strain on resources (DEMA, 2015, p. 5).

All authorities operate in accordance with the general principles, promoting
decentralisation in the emergency management system. Crosscutting coordination within
the emergency management system can operate on four levels:

71






The government’s emergency management organisation
The National Operational Staff (Den Nationale Operative Stab)
The 12 local operational staffs
The local incident command in the response area (DEMA, 2015a, p. 9).

The emergency number 112 is the only emergency number in Denmark whether calls
regard police matters, health or rescue services. Calls are answered in Danish, English,
Swedish and Norwegian, and people with hearing and speech impairment are provided
with a number for text message communication to emergency call centres (European
Commission, n.d.a).

3.3.1 Tasks and objectives
In general, the emergency management in Denmark operates in accordance with threeacts, the Emergency Management Act, that is the Consolidation Act (Beredskabsloven) No.
660/2009, the Act on Shelters (Beskyttelsesrumloven) No. 723/2003, and the Act on Safety
and Environmental Control of Nuclear Installations (Lov om sikkerhedsmæssige og
miljømæssige forhold ved atomanlæg m.v.) No. 244/1976. Furthermore, other acts provide
instructions on the preparedness and emergency management system, for example, theHealth Act (Sundhedsloven) No. 1202/2014, the Epidemic Act (Epidemiloven) No. 814/2009,
and the Police Act (Politiloven) No. 444/2004.
According to the Emergency Management Act (No 660/2009), the task of the fireand rescue services is to prevent, limit and redress personal injury, property damage aswell as damage to the environment caused by adverse events or disasters. The Act on
Shelters constitutes a framework for maintenance, preparation and operation of shelters,
while the Nuclear Installations Act specifies the rules for nuclear reactor facilities intended
for the disposal of radioactive waste and transport of nuclear fuel15 (DEMA, n.d.a). The
Health Act requires regions and municipalities to have a specified health preparedness
plan. The Epidemic Act regulates the management of serious infectious diseases, and the
Police Act regulates the role of police in the context of disasters.
The primary objective of the Danish emergency management system is to mitigate
the effects of major accidents and disasters and arrange for the continuous functioning of

15Denmark decommissioned its last nuclear reactor in 2006.

72

society during disasters (European Commission, n.d.). The main tasks of the system include
providing an overview of the situation at all times in order for the authorities involved tomake fast and effective decisions at any level. The system also ensures resourcefulcollaboration and coordination of operations and resources across different authorities andlevels of response efforts. Furthermore, the system disseminates information andguidelines in order for the public to take appropriate self-protecting measures (DEMA,
2015).

3.3.2 Contingency planning
The National Emergency Management Plan (National Beredskabsplan) defines the national
emergency management system in Denmark. One of the plan’s main purposes is todetermine the framework and procedures for the cooperation of numerous different
bodies in managing an adverse event or a disaster. Consequently, the National Emergency
Management Plan comprises an overview of the national emergency management system,
including its organisation, distribution of responsibility as well as the competence of andcontribution from each authority in the emergency management process. The plan applies
to all authorities at all times and to all kinds of incidents, but is mainly intended in times ofadverse events that involve a coordinated response. The responsibility for producing andrevising the National Emergency Management Plan is in the hands of the Minister ofDefence, according to the Emergency Management Act (Ch. 5, §26) (DEMA, 2015).
According to chapter five of the Emergency Management Act, all governmental
authorities can be asked to participate, and all authorities are expected “to plan for thecontinuity and maintenance of vital societal functions in case of major accidents anddisasters. This includes the development of preparedness plans” (DEMA, 2015, p.7). Thus,
authorities on all administrative levels must be prepared to apply emergency management
measures in their own sector, assist other authorities and participate in cross-sectional
emergency management.

3.3.3 The national level
The Minister of Defence’s responsibilities include contingency planning coordination,
implementation of appropriate measures and sectors that are not under any other73

authorities (European Commission, n.d.). The Emergency Management Group16(Kriseberedskabsgruppen) is responsible for revising and testing the National Emergency
Management Plan. However, all exercises are coordinated jointly with the Danish
Emergency Management Agency (DEMA, Beredskabsstyrelsen) and the national police(Rigspolitiet) (DEMA, 2015).
The organisation of the government’s emergency management comprises two
committees.

The

first

is TheGovernment

Security Committee(Regeringens

Sikkerhedsudvalg). It is informed of any adverse event or disaster. In addition, it addresses
political and strategic matters. The Prime Minister chairs the committee, which has
representatives from the Ministers of Economic and Business Affairs, Foreign Affairs,
Defence and Justice. The second committee is the Senior Officials’ Security Committee(Embedsmandsudvalget for Sikkerhedsspørgsmål). It receives information from the
National Operational Staff and involved sector ministries. Moreover, the committee has anadvisory role in strategic and political matters towards the Government Security
Committee. The committee consists of the permanent secretaries of the ministries that are
represented in the Government Security Committee, as well as the Heads of the DefenceIntelligence Service (Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste) and the Danish Security andIntelligence Service (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste). The Prime Minister’s Office can invite
ad hoc members. Unrepresented committees and ministries can request to join (DEMA,
2015).
Inter-agency coordination and clear levels of command and control are ensured by
the National Operational Staff. It establishes and maintains an overview of the current
situation, coordinates and ensures active cooperation and efficient coordination ofoperations and resources across different authorities and administrative levels. The
National Operational Staff is activated in emergencies that cannot be handled on a regionalor local level, and during the occurrence of multiple simultaneous events going on invarious regions/parts of the country. The National Police chairs the National Operational
Staff. Its other members are the Danish Emergency Management Agency, Joint Defence
Command Denmark (Værnsfælles Forsvarskommando), the Defence Intelligence Service,
16 A representative from the Ministry of Defence chairs the group, but the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, andHealth all appoint a representative as well as the Defence Command of Denmark, The Danish Intelligence Service, theDanish Emergency Management Agency, the National Police, Danish Security and Intelligence Services and the Danish
Health Authority.

74

the

DanishSecurity

andIntelligence

Service,theDanishHealthAuthority(Sundhedsstyrelsen), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Udenrigsministeriet). Additionally,
the National Operational Staff calls in members ad hoc from relevant authorities, if
necessary. The National

Operational Staff operates the Central

Operational

Communication Staff (Det Centrale Operative Kommunikationsberedskab). The Central
Operational Communication Staff is responsible for providing information to the public andthe media. During disasters abroad, the International Operational Staff (Den Internationale
Operative Stab) is responsible for general coordinating functions to ensure appropriate
responses to assist Danish citizens (DEMA, 2015).
DEMA was established in 1993 when the Danish Emergency Management Act
entered into force. DEMA took over the tasks of the Civil Defence Agency and theGovernmental Fire Inspection Agency. DEMA is a governmental agency under the Ministryof Defence. Its aim is to mitigate the impact of adverse events and disasters on society andprevent harm to people, property and the environment (DEMA, n.d.e).
DEMA is organised into different units, each responsible for its area covering partof Danish emergency response. At DEMA there are centres on core tasks, such as The
Centre for Fire Prevention, Centre for Preparedness Planning and Emergency Management,
Centre for Emergency Preparedness Monitoring and Guidance, Centre for Education,
Centre for Logistics and Acquisition, National Division, International Division, Chemical
Division and Nuclear Division. In addition to these, there are two colleges, one of them witha large training area (DEMA, n.d.d.). Furthermore, DEMA is responsible for the Danish
national fire and rescue services and has directive responsibilities for fire prevention andruns five regional fire and rescue centres that assist local fire and rescue services in case ofmajor accidents or disasters. In addition to the employed staff of 600 persons, DEMA canactivate up to 1,150 conscripts, non-commissioned officers and volunteers. Additionally,
there are two voluntary response forces available to assist the fire and rescue services witharound 400 volunteers (DEMA, n.d.f).
DEMA is responsible for coordinating contingency planning. This function comprises
several tasks that involve coordination of the National Emergency Plan, counselling andguidelines for authorities on all administrative levels regarding contingency planning andguidance within various sectors and coordination between sectors (DEMA, n.d.b; DEMA,
n.d.c.). Furthermore, DEMA jointly coordinates planning and conducting national

75

emergency management exercises. It also assesses and monitors national and cross-sector
vulnerabilities (DEMA, n.d.d).
DEMA underscores the importance of all organisations playing an important part indisaster risk reduction (DEMA, 2015a), including those with no traditional preparednessrole.
The Danish Health Authority has the overall responsibility in the health sector. In
emergency management, the Danish Health Authority’s task is national coordination ofoperations within the health sector. It also issues necessary guidelines and instructions on
both regional and municipal levels and assists respective bodies during their response
operation. If the Danish Health Authority deems it necessary, it may activate its crisis staff
to work specifically on the actual event. As pointed out above, all regions and municipalities
must issue or revise their health preparedness plan every fourth year and must send theplan to the Danish Health Authority for advice and consent (Danish Health Authority, n.d).

3.3.4 The regional level
Major incidents or disasters activate a Local Operational Staff (Lokal beredskabsstab) to
manage cross-sectorial coordination and cooperation. There is one Local Operational Staff
in each of the 12 police districts. It is activated when an adverse event affects the districtin question. The police chair the Local Operational Staff, which consists of representatives
from the local defence region, DEMA’s regional fire and rescue centre, the municipality,
and the region’s health preparedness organization. If needed, the police can invite ad hoc
members from other relevant bodies. If the incident involves more than one district, theHead of the National Police may designate one district to be responsible for the joint effort(DEMA, 2015).
As mentioned, state level rescue preparedness consists of five regional fire andrescue centres providing assistance to the local fire and rescue services whenevernecessary. As of 2016, the municipal fire and rescue services in Denmark are merged into
24 fire and rescue service organisations, while the health services remain organised in thefive health regions and police services in 12 districts. This results in administrative divisions
overlapping in various ways. The health regions manage prehospital and ambulanceservices, and private companies can be hired on a contractual basis to deliver prehospital
services (DEMA, n.d.f; European Commission, n.d.).

76

3.3.5 The municipal level
In a major incident, an on-site Local Command (Kommandostadet) will be established in
the response area. The Local Command’s work involves collaboration between the police’s
response leader, the fire and rescue services’ response leader, and the health response
leader. Additional ad hoc leaders can be included. General coordination management is the
responsibility of the police’s response leader. The fire and rescue services’ incident
commander is responsible for technical and safety on-site management, and the healthresponse leader is in charge of prehospital response (DEMA, 2015; Beredskabsstyrelsen,2013). Thus, the Chief of Police ensures that coordination of the response is as effective as
possible.
In addition to legal obligations in terms of the Emergency Management Act andcontingency planning for the muncipality, the Health Act states that the municipalities must
prepare a contingency plan on health matters. This plan can cover the health-related social
services, e.g. home care of elderly. And as stated above, before a municipality council canpass a health contingency plan, it must be sent to the Danish Health Authority for advice
and consent.

3.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies
Nongovernmental agencies and the voluntary sector play a certain role in the Danish
system of emergency management. DEMA has large units of volunteers and the non-profit
Danish Civil Protection League (Beredskabsforbundet) has 5000 members. The volunteers
are organised locally as support for the fire brigades. They aim to increase the general
population's knowledge of preparedness and prevention and enhance their resiliencethrough education on preparedness issues. The Danish Civil Protection League is involvedin training and educating the volunteers on food provision and temporary housing, fireservice, rescue work and the use of rescue dogs, communication and SAR-teams (Searchand Rescue). Furthermore, the Danish Civil Protection League offers various courses, e.g.,in first aid, community preparedness and disaster management (European Commission,n.d.).
The Danish Home Guard (Hjemmeværnet) is a volunteer military organisation andthe fourth service of the Danish military. It takes part in the defence and support of the77country. Besides providing support to the Armed Forces, the organisation supports thepolice, the emergency services and other relevant authorities in their operations during
adverse events. The number of members is approximately 46,600 and around 15% of thevolunteers are women (Hjemmeværnet, n.d.).
The Danish Red Cross (Røde Kors i Danmark) is not formally involved in thecontingency planning within regions and municipalities. However, it can cooperate in crisisand disaster management as well as disaster reduction. The tradition of cooperation
between the Red Cross and municipalities is not strong, but the Red Cross can be a vital
resource for regions and municipalities. It can activate an acute team during major events,
and the Red Cross is also ready with relief, logistics and assistance when the first emergency
relief work is over. Furthermore, the Danish Red Cross can provide psychosocial support,e.g., outreach services (door-to-door visits), safety zones, community meetings andsupport groups, a psychosocial hotline staffed by trained volunteers as well as informationand practical help. This service covers the whole country (Danish Red Cross, n.d.; Danish
Red Cross, n.d.a). Telephone hotlines, which are often run by the voluntary sector, areimportant tools for maintaining contact with vulnerable groups.

3.4 Local social services’ role in the emergency management system
As mentioned, all authorities are legally obliged to plan for the continuity of fundamentalsocietal functions in times of adverse events as well as assist other authorities andparticipate in cross-sectional emergency management. Contingency planning at themunicipal level reflects this. A contingency plan includes an overall plan describing
municipal preparedness and emergency management and subplans, including plans forresponse and continuity of vital functions within the municipality in various sectors. Thismeans that local social services in Denmark are required to develop their own contingency
plan to ensure proper and immediate response measures, in order to ensure continuity of
their key operations and respond to emergencies (e.g., Kobenhavns Kommune, 2006;2011). In the guidelines prepared by DEMA the role of social services is mentioned but
there are no special guidelines for social services (DEMA, 2009).
As mentioned above both the municipality and the regions also have to prepare
health contingency plans, which the Danish Health Authority oversees. These plans cover78

the social service preparedness that includes health matters. The Danish Health Authority
oversees these tasks while DEMA oversees other social service tasks (Region Hovedstaden,2013).
Hence, the local social services do have clear legal duty to produce a contingency
plan and the municipalities should address their roles in their own plans. Similarly the
special health preparedness plans shall address social service tasks related to health.
However, each municipality defines the roles of social services and the authors of thereport did not find any research on the issue. Hence, it is difficult to conclude about thestatues of the contingency plans in all 98 municipalities. Furthermore, the fact that thesocial services have a clearly defined legal obligation regarding the contingency planning
does not necessarily mean that the needs of all vulnerable groups are represented in theplanning e.g., the Ministry of Children, Gender Equality, Integration and Social Affairs
criticised the emergency management system in a report on the Disability Policy Action
Plan 2013. The ministry underlined that the Emergency Preparedness Act does not refer
explicitly to the needs of people with disabilities. Furthermore the report stated that therelevant agencies do not have sufficient knowledge on how to include people withdisabilities during disasters, e.g. in the case of evacuation. Additionally, the SMS-based
early warning system was criticised for not taking into account deaf foreigners (Ministry ofChildren, Gender Equality, Integration and Social Affairs in Denmark, 2013).

3.5 Conclusion
According to the Danish Emergency Management Act, all governmental authorities can be
asked to participate, and all authorities are expected “to plan for the continuity andmaintenance of vital societal functions in case of major accidents and disasters. This
includes the development of preparedness plans” (DEMA, 2015, p. 7). Hence, all municipal
authorities, including the local social services, have to plan for maintaining their critical
functions in the event of major accidents and crisis. Usually, the municipality prepares aplan, and the plan of the social services is a sub-plan in the overall plan (see table 3.1).
Furthermore according to the Danish Health Act both regions and municipalities are
required to prepare a specified health contingency plan. Hence, in times of disaster thesocial services that are relevant to health care are under the command of the Danish Health79Authority. DEMA, the Danish Emergency Organisation, is in charge of the contingency
planning of the social services.
Table 3.1

Conclusion: Social services in Denmark’s contingency planning

Emergency Management
Ministry responsible
Coherent body of law on EM?

Committee/council/board at national level?
Are social services represented in thecommittee/board/council?
EM national institution or authority?
No. of staff?
Main principles?

EM cooperating with voluntary organizations according
to formal contracts?
Conscripts and volunteers

Role of local social services in emergency management
Does the act on EM address the role of local social
services?
Does the legal framework address the role of local
social services in relation to EM?
Does the legal framework outline distinctiverole/roles?
Are social services legally obligated to prepare acontingency plan?
Does the law on social services specifically address therole of the services in the context of disaster?
Are there specific guidelines for social service
contingency planning?

Ministry of Defence
Yes, the Emergency Management Act
The Act on Shelters
The Act on Safety and Environmental Control of Nuclear
Installations
Yes,
the Emergency Management GroupNo, Ministry of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Justice and
Health are represented
Yes, DEMA
600
Sector responsibility
Similarity
Subsidiarity
Cooperation
Precaution
Yes,
legislation/formal contracts
Danish Civil Protection League (Beredskabsforbundet) has
5000 members. DEMA can activate up to 1,150
conscripts. There are two voluntary response forces
available with around 400 volunteers, and the Danish
Home Guard (Hjemmeværnet), a volunteer militaryorganisation, has 46,600 members.
No
Yes,
in the Emergency Act (all institutions) and in the Health
Act
No
Yes,
all authorities have a legal obligation to produce a planNoNo, just the general guidelines for all authorities provided
by DEMA

DEMA is responsible for coordinating contingency planning and providing counselling andguidelines for authorities on all administrative levels regarding the planning and guidance
within various sectors and coordination between sectors (DEMA, n.d.b; DEMA, n.d.c.).
However there are no specific instructions for social services reg. contingency plans nor isthere any systematic information about how many municipalities have special contingency
plans for social services.
DEMA is responsible for following up on the municipalities’ planning, but it isdifficult to review the results of such activities as they are not published on the DEMA

80

website or on municipalities’ homepages. It fell outside the scope of this report to request
insight into specific plans and processes. The 98 municipalities in Denmark all make theirown plans, and it would be very useful for not only them but also other Nordic countries if
the plans of the social services could be published (if possible for security reasons). To
publish the plans can also enhance co-operation between different municipalities and also
cross-sectional co-operation since other actors might benefit from reading what the social
services consider to be their role in case of emergency. The fact that there exist notresearch nor report on the role of social services in case of disaster in Denmark also speaks
for the need of such comprehensive knowledge. Furthermore, due to the practice that eachmunicipality makes an agreement with the Danish Red Cross, it would also be important togather comprehensive knowledge about its roles in previous disasters and learn more
about the division of labour between the social services and the Danish Red Cross during
disasters.
The Danish Social Service Act does not address the role of social services in times ofdisaster, nor does it mention the contingency plans. The instructions from DEMA on how
to make a contingency plan make references to social services, but aside from that, notmuch information on their role can be found it the documents and information form DEMA.
Hence there seems to an ample space for informing sectors, DEMA and the social service
about each other’s role and duties.
The Danish system of emergency management emphasizes the subsidiarity
principle that the contingency planning shall be made as close to the citizen as possible,
and this also applies also to the local social services. This fact should make it easier to cooperate across sectors within the municipality. However, the fact that all the main actorsof the national emergency management system (the rescue and fire services, the police,
and the health care system) are organized on the regional level calls for emphasis onenhancing the co-operation between municipal and regional levels.

81

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Nordens Välfärdscenter. (2015). Social Protection in the Nordic countries. Retrieved on the 4th ofFebruary 2016: http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:798076/FULLTEXT02.pdf.
NOSOSCO. (2013). Social Protection in the Nordic Countries. Copenhagen: Council of Ministers.
NOSOSCO. (2015). Social Protection in the Nordic Countries. Scope, expenditure and financing.
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Sundhedsstyrelsen. (2014). Styrkelse af den psykosociale indsats ved beredskabshændelser.
Copenhagen: Sundhetsstyrelsen. Retrieved on the 24th of June 2016:
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4. FINLAND
Merja Rapeli, Guðný Björk Eydal, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Björn Hvinden, Carin
Björngren Cuadra, Rasmus Dahlberg and Tapio Salonen

4.1 Introduction
4.1.1 Geography and climate
Finland is often referred to as the “land of a thousand lakes”. This is no surprise since there
are around 188,000 lakes, covering more than 500 m² of the country. Inland lakes and rivers
make up 10% of the country. Finland’s land area is 303,898 km² (total area 338,440 km2).
Only 6% (22,805 km2) of it is arable. Another main geographical characteristic in Finland is
its forests. They cover almost two thirds of the land mass (Norden, n.d.). The mean
temperature in Finland is several degrees higher than in other areas in these latitudes. The
inland waters, the Baltic Sea and the airflow from the Atlantic raise the temperature in
Finland (European Commission, n.d.b).

4.1.2 Demographics
At the end of 2015 Finland’s population was nearly 5.5 million. About one million
inhabitants lived in the area in and around Helsinki (Statistics Finland, n.d.). The population
density in 2014 was 17.9 /km2, which is quite similar to Norway. The population in thecapital area17 in 2014 was 1,090,616 inhabitants (Norden, n.d.).
The median age18 of the population in 2015 was 42.4 years, 44.3 years for womenand 40.7 years for men (CIA, n.d.). The Finnish population is getting older, and the numberof persons aged 65 or older has doubled since the mid-70s (Indexmundi, 2015). The average
life expectancy in Finland in 2014 was 83.86 years for women and 77.8 years for men(Statistics Finland, 2015). The gender difference is greater in Finland than in other Nordic
countries (Statistics Finland, 2015a). In 2015 the fertility rate in Finland was 1.75 children
born per woman. The infant mortality rate was 2.52 per 1000 live births (CIA, n.d.). The

17 Helsinki, Espoo (Esbo), Kauniainen (Grankulla) and Vantaa (Vanda).

18 For the definition of median age, please see page 66.

85total dependency ratio19 in 2015 was 58.3%. The potential support ratio20 in 2015 was 3.1(CIA, n.d.).
At the end of 2014 immigrants comprised 5.9% of the Finnish population. Around
22% of all immigrants originate from the former Soviet Union and the second largest grouporiginates from Estonia (14%) (Statistics Finland, n.d.a). Net immigration to Finland in 2014
was 16,020 persons, down 2,030 from the year before. Immigration to Finland from theother EU countries was 15,380 in 2014. Finland had a migration gain of 5,270 persons fromthe EU countries. This is lower than the year before (Statistics Finland, 2015b).
Between 2010 and 2014, Finland received 3000-4000 asylum seekers per year, of
which the biggest country of origin was Iraq (22.6% in 2014) (Refugee Advice Centre, 2016).
The migration rose rapidly in 2015. Finland received well over 30,000 asylum seekers andestablished tens of new reception centres in the country (Ministry of the Interior in Finland,
n.d.a). Integration of the newcomers into Finnish society will be a challenge in the coming
years.
In November 2015, 70.7% of all people aged 16-67 living in Finland were employed.
The total unemployment rate in November 2015 year stood at 8.4%, 9.2% for men and7.2% for women (Statistics Finland, 2015b). The expenditure on social affairs21 in Finland asa percentage of GDP in 2012 was 31.2% (NOSOSCO, 2015). The growth in social protection
expenditure in 2014 was particularly due to expenditures connected with old age andunemployment (Statistics Finland, 2016).

4.1.3 The governmental system
The form of government in Finland is a republic. The president, is elected by the people
and he/she has real power over foreign affairs, EU policy and major military decisions. On
all other matters, the parliament is the country’s highest authority (Eduskunta 200 seats)(Norden, n.d.).
In Finland there are six Regional State Administrative Agencies (Aluehallintovirasto)
and 15 Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (Elinkeino-,
liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus). They all work in close collaboration with the local authorities.

19 For definition of total dependency ratio, please see page 66.
20 For definition of potential support ratio, please see page 66.
21 For more detailed information on what expenditure on social affairs includes, please see page 66.

86

The national government appoints the heads of these administrative units. The main roleof regional state administrative authorities is to steer and supervise local authorities; hence
they also have executive power on certain issues. The areas of responsibility of Regional
State Administrative Agencies are basic public services, legal rights and permits, educationand culture, occupational health and safety, environmental permits and rescue services
and preparedness.
In addition to the state regional authorities, there are 18 regions in Finland, plus theautonomous province of Åland. These 18 regional councils are statutory joint municipal
authorities operating in accordance with the principles of local self-government. They
operate as regional development and planning authorities and safeguard regional
interests. They focus on common regional needs and the material and cultural well-beingof their regions (Local Finland, n.d.a). The present Government of Finland aims to reform
regional governance in the country. Regional governance will be based on the existing 18
regional councils or counties. Most of the currently state-directed regional functions as wellas many of the municipality-directed functions will be transferred to the regional counties.
For example, by 2019 the 18 counties will organise rescue services as well as all public socialand health care services. The reform of regional administration will be one of the biggest
administrational reforms ever in Finland (Government Communications Department,
2016).
Finland is divided into 317 municipalities (2015), each governed by a council andmayor. The municipal councils are elected every four years. They are self-governing entities
with the right to decide their own affairs according to law (Local Finland, n.d.). They are
responsible for providing their inhabitants with mandatory basic services, such as
education and culture, environmental services and technical infrastructure. Social welfare
and health care are the largest local government functions. The right to social welfare andhealth services is a fundamental right of the entire population. Municipalities are
responsible for providing the social welfare and health care services required by law. Theyeither provide the services or secure them from other organisations or private sector
providers (Local Finland, n.d.b). Finland is a member of the EU (since 1995), and its currency
is the euro. Finland is not a member of NATO (Norden, n.d.).

87

4.1.4 Disaster and risk profile
Finland has faced disasters in recent years resulting from storms, floods, mass shootings,
and transport accidents (European Commission, n.d.). Finland completed its National Risk
Assessment in 2015. The assessment is primarily drafted from the perspective of
emergency management. It thus takes all society’s vital functions into account. The
assessment identified risks that may have wide regional or national impact and require
managing through resources coordinated between several authorities. The National Risk
Assessment regards six wideranging threats and 15 serious regional events as the main risksfacing the country. The wideranging hazards named in the National Risk Assessment areserious disruptions of the energy supply, risks in the cyber domain, serious humaninfectious diseases, a security-policy-related crisis, a severe nuclear accident and solar
storms. The serious regional events named in the Risk Assessment are as follows: extensive
rapid flooding in urban areas, serious chemical accidents or explosions at a plant handling
dangerous substances, major maritime, aviation, rail transport and road traffic accidents,
several simultaneously occurring major forest fires, other major fires, disruption of thewater supply, a large-scale winter storm followed by a long cold spell, a severe thunderstorm, a terrorist act or targeted violence, violent and large-scale civil disturbances and amass influx of migrants (Ministry of the Interior in Finland, n.d.b).
Finland is facing a number of structural and societal challenges, including an ageing
society, increased need for services due to multi-morbidity, increasing socioeconomic andhealth inequalities, accumulation of social and health problems, such as poverty,
unemployment, poor health and poor mental health. The dependency ratio is alarming
although there are great regional differences in demographic changes. There are also
inequalities in the availability and quality of care and this should be improved
simultaneously with improvement in productivity and reduction of the sustainability gap(Vaarama, Karvonen, Kestilä, Moisio and Muuri, 2014). In addition, urbanisation,interconnectedness, globalisation and the changing hazard patterns caused by climatechange create challenges for Finnish society. These challenges threaten the maintenanceof a high level of resilience. In order to meet these challenges, Finland must strengthen thelinkages for policy implementation, monitoring and tackling the risk perception gap acrosslevels of government. Furthermore, the country should strengthen national policy on the88preparation for large-scale risks, increased prevention and risk reduction efforts (UNIDSR,
EC and OECD, 2014).

4.2 Local social services
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is responsible for planning, steering andimplementing social and health policy in Finland (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health,n.d.a). The Regional Administrative Authorities guide and monitor public and private social
welfare and health care services produced at the local level. The municipalities organize
and mainly produce the actual services.
The aim of combined social and health care services is close collaboration between
the services. In many municipalities they are administratively integrated. Functional
integration varies by municipality. The idea of integrating these services in Finland isstrongly based on the state’s structural and organizational requirements for municipalities.
Small municipalities’ capacity to provide basic health care services has been considered too
weak. Thus, since 1970 basic health care services have been organised in municipalities orjoint municipal service areas of more than 10,000 inhabitants. On the other hand, themunicipalities, regardless of their size, have organised social services until theestablishment of the so-called Paras-legislation in 2007, that is, the Act on Restructuring
Local Government and Services No. 169/2007 (Laki kunta- ja palvelurakenneuudistuksesta).
With the Act, the Government wanted to increase the efficiency of local social and healthcare services. The act set the minimum population base for basic health care services andsocial services at 20,000 residents. To achieve this minimum population, the municipalities
with less than 20,000 residents either merged with neighbouring municipalities or formed
collaborative service areas. The law also aimed at creating and strengthening regional
cooperation on services and promoting cooperation between social and health services(Kokko et al., 2009).
The organisation of basic social and health care varies, but the 317 municipalities
carried out their responsibility for the services in 2015. Single municipalities or joint social
service areas can purchase part of the services from the private sector or a third sector
organisation. In Finland, approximately 30% of social services are privately produced89

(Arajärvi and Väyrynen, 2011). In 2015 there were 20 hospital districts providing special
health care services in Finland.
The government of Finland is in the process of reforming social welfare and healthcare services. The government is expected to enact the reform before January 2019.
According to the policy, the tasks of organising the social welfare and health care services
will be reformed into 18 autonomous regions, or counties, in the country. According to the
Finnish Government, the objective of social welfare and health care reforms is to achieve
uniform service quality and availability in accordance with the Constitution. Social welfare
and health care services will be integrated to form customer-oriented entities, and basic
public services will be strengthened. Financing of the services will also be reformed in order
to increase the customers’ choice of services (Government Reform Packages, 2015.)
Finland adopted a new Social Welfare Act No. 1301/2014 (Sosiaalihuoltolaki) in
2014. All municipalities were obliged to implement it before April 1st 2015. The aim of the
new act is to enhance equal access of the services, to promote early intervention and wellbeing of people instead of specialized services, strengthen client-centred approaches inservices and secure services for the clients in their own living environments. Increasing
multi-sectoral cooperation is also one of the aims of the Act. According to the Act, thedelivery of the social services should be based on the client’s needs. The services must beorganized to support managing of everyday life situations and needs. For example, housing
and financial support, fighting social exclusion and violence within the family andelsewhere, supporting inclusion, support to persons in sudden crisis situations, supportingchildren’s development and well-being, supporting needs deriving from substance abuse,mental health problems, disability, seniority or other physical, mental, social, or cognitive
disabilities threatening everyday life. In addition, the clients’ relatives and next of kin mustbe supported. The following social services must be organized in each social welfare andhealth care service area: social work, case management, social rehabilitation, family casemanagement, home care, home service and institutional care services, transportation,
substance abuse and mental care, child and family counselling, and other services
according to the needs of clients. Emergency social services and monitored parent and childmeetings must also be organized.
In June 2016 the Government published a proposal for legislative changes in theSocial Welfare Act, Health Care Act and urgent social and health care. According to the90

proposals, emergency social services will be strengthened and linked better with the healthservices and prehospital emergency care, and five university hospital areas will bestrengthened as well. The aim is also to clarify the organization of psychosocial support
after disasters as an integrated service produced in coordination by social and health careservices (Government Communications Department, 2016). In Finland, psychosocial
support and services is understood to consist of psychiatric support, social work, social
services and spiritual support provided by faith-based organizations (Sosiaali- ja
terveysministeriön julkaisuja, 2009, p. 12).
There is also special legislation on social welfare services, such as the Act on the
Status and Rights of Social Care Clients, which includes issues of data security. Special
legislation also covers child welfare, child day care, the treatment of substance abusers,
and the special care of people with intellectual disabilities, disability services, informal care
support, family care, rehabilitation and elderly people (Ministry of Social Affairs and Healthin Finland, 2016.)

4.2.1 Example of local social services in Finland: The case of Vantaa
The Vantaa case is presented here as an example of the Finnish social sector’s
preparedness. Vantaa is situated in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. It is the fourth biggest
city in Finland with 210,000 inhabitants. About 20% of the population is under the age of
16, while 14.5 percent are older than 64. Ten percent of the population is originally fromother countries, hence there are 100 languages spoken in the city. The biggest language
groups after Finnish and Swedish are Russian, Estonian and Somali.
Vantaa produces and integrates social and health care services (Figure 4).

91

Figure 4. Vantaa Social and Health Care Services
Source: Vantaa, n.d.

The Health and Social Welfare Committee and City Executive Board updates Vantaa’s
Health and Social Welfare Department's preparedness plan approximately every third year.
The preparedness plan is based on risk assessment. The greatest city-level risks are masscasualty accidents, fires in an institution or residential care units, floods, destructive
storms, acts of terror, emissions of hazardous substances, infectious diseases and mass
immigration. The greatest risks to the functioning of the Health and Social Welfare
Department's provision of services are disruptions of the energy supply, water
management, IT systems or data communications. Outsourcing of several services is aserious challenge to the manageability of the service package.
Potentially hazardous situations occurring in the city demand that the authorities
take special action. Normal organization and authorizations are applied. Basic level
preparedness consists of maintaining the preparedness plan. Each operating unit must haveup-to-date rescue plans and around-the-clock emergency preparedness. Personnel aretrained and cooperation with essential external actors has been agreed. During hazards thelevel of preparedness is raised. Tasks are re-evaluated, and functions are increased andstreamlined. Employees prepare themselves to assume other tasks, e.g., in services for
substance abuse care, mediation and preventive social work. Material is checked andsupplemented if needed, and communications and alarm systems are verified. Required
training and guidance are also arranged, and the possibility of paying social benefits for the92

clients in advance is ensured. Full preparedness will only be set in emergency conditions
within 2-5 days. It requires government decision. In such cases, the entire organization shallhave the operational capability required for the emergency. If the situation is prolonged,
the use of resources will be further prioritized to ensure vital services. Social services focus
on ensuring minimum social assistance for the citizens, arranging care, for example, fororphaned children. The basic idea is that in a state of emergency, normal legislation andorganization shall be applied to the extent possible.
The Health and Social Welfare Department's civil defense duties are first aid,
treating patients and emergency care. Social services take care of shelter, food, clothing
and other basic care of accident victims and evacuees. Social services together with healthcare provide psychosocial support. Social service employees have been divided into teams
responsible for caring for the population and employees in the civil defense organization.
Food-supply teams are created during disasters. The Social Emergency and Crisis Center
coordinates psychosocial support. It consists of employees from family counselling clinics
and psychological services. When required, care teams will help in mass decontaminationof people after radiation or gas emissions.
Leadership in a state of emergency and during disasters is based on valid legislation.
The city's deputy mayors head their own departments, supported by departmental
management groups. The Health and Social Welfare Committee leads operations, but someof its authority may be transferred to the chair or an office-holder. The mayor and his staff
lead the city in a special command centre, shared by the city and the rescue department.
At the command centre, the director of Health Services is responsible for emergency care,
whereas the director of Family Services is responsible for maintenance of those in need.
The departments’ training plans include training in basic preparedness. The main
aim of the training is to maintain awareness of the preparedness plan and employees' own
positions and duties in case of disruptions and emergencies. If a threat arises, employees
are given training related to it. Employees participate in drills arranged by the defense
forces and the government, annual Search and Rescue drills, Barents Rescue exercises andcivil defense courses
Vantaa City's Social Emergency and Crisis Center (Sosiaali- ja kriisipäivystys) is a vital
actor in cases of crisis and disaster. It is part of the city’s Health and Social Welfare
Department. The centre provides mandatory services in social emergencies, social services

93

outside office hours, emergency child protection 24/7, support in acute traumatic crises,
police social work and psychosocial support in disasters. The main reasons for contacting
the service are, for example, domestic violence, a caregiver's sudden illness, or a situation
threatening the safety of a child (intoxication, mental problems). The customer
him/herself, or his/her relative or friend can seek help and get services free of charge.
The Social Emergency and Crisis Center is always prepared for catastrophes andresponsible for arranging psychosocial support in case of accidents and disasters.
Psychosocial support consists of psychological first-aid and acute social services. The needfor support and care may continue for years. Vantaa's Social Emergency and Crisis Centerhas a special status in the Finnish preparedness system. The Ministry of Social Affairs and
Health authorises it to provide nationwide psychosocial services and consultation for othermunicipalities if needed (Vantaa.fi, n.d.).

4.3 The emergency management system
The preparedness and emergency management system in Finland is based on acomprehensive concept of security and the Resolution on Security Strategy for Society in
Finland. The resolution provides guidelines to all actors of society, i.e., to ministries,
regional and local administration for safeguarding national sovereignty, promoting the
population’s security and well-being, and maintaining the functioning of society. The
approach of the strategy is multi-agency and multi-hazard. It places greater emphasis on
the role of municipalities than previous crisis strategies have (Ministry of Defence inFinland, 2011). Municipal, regional and state level management are all involved in disasterrisk management as seen in Figure 5 (Ministry of Defence in Finland, 2011, p. 56;
Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 2009, p. 51).

94

Figure 5. Disaster management principles in Finland
Sources: Adapted from Ministry of Defence, 2011 and Valtioneuvoston kanslia, 2009.

Two main principles guide the work on emergency management and contingency planningin Finland:Each authority continues its normal activities during disasters, but may have specificadditional responsibilities.

As few new bodies as possible are introduced into emergency management. Thismeans that organisational changes are kept to a minimum.

The approach of the Security Strategy, along with its principles, promotes decentralisationof the emergency management system.
Police, Emergency Response Centres (112) and defence forces are statecoordinated in Finland. There is only one emergency number, 112, and the Emergency
Response Centre Administration (Hätäkeskuslaitos) handles emergency calls. The
Emergency Response Centre Administration is a national-level agency, with emergency
response centres throughout the country. The agency is under the Ministry of the Interior,which, with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, is responsible for guiding the agency’s
performance. The main tasks of the Emergency Response Centre Administration arereceiving emergency calls involving the police, rescue services and social and healthservices; handling communications regarding the safety of people, property, and theenvironment, and communicating received information to appropriate assisting95

authorities. The Act on Emergency Response Centre Activities entered into force on January
1st 2001. It promotes the safety of citizens, restructures the provision of emergency
response centre services and improves the coverage and quality of services (Ministry of theInterior in Finland, n.d.). The voluntary sector has its own alarm system. It is connected withthe emergency response centres (112). The voluntary Rescue Services have a regional
alarm system, which includes the Finnish Red Cross.
Collaboration between civil and military authorities is organised at eachadministrative level. The Defence Forces are obliged to participate in rescue operations,civil defence and support of all civil emergency management actors in accordance with
relevant regulations (European Commission, n.d.a).

4.3.1 Tasks and objectives
Generally, emergency management in Finland operates in accordance with three acts—the
Emergency Powers Act (Valmiuslaki) No. 1552/2011, the Rescue Act (Pelastuslaki) No.
379/2011, and the Act on Emergency Response Services (Laki hätäkeskustoiminnasta) No.
692/2010. However, various other acts have directives on disaster risk reduction andmanagement and contingency planning. Examples include the Electricity Markets Act(Sähkömarkkinalaki) No. 588/2013, the Act on Information Management Governance in
Public Administration (Laki julkisen hallinnon tietohallinnon ohjauksesta) No. 634/2011, theHealth Care Act (Terveydenhuoltolki) No. 1326/2010, and the Health Protection Act(Terveydensuojelulaki) No. 763/1994.
The most important tasks of the Finnish emergency management system aresafeguarding the population’s security and well-being and ensuring vital functions insociety in all situations (Ministry of Defence in Finland, 2011). Each sector of society is
responsible for its disaster management procedures in Finland. The leading coordination
organization of response operations depends on the type of crisis. Each ministry is
responsible for the strategic tasks relevant to its domain of operation, and the Security
Strategy for Society lists the key functions vital to society and the responsible ministry.
When several authorities from different branches of the administration are
involved in disaster management and response, the Prime Minister’s Office takes on the
responsibility of coordination at the state level. At the local level, the coordination of96

operations is most often under the rescue services, depending on the case (Ministry of
Defence in Finland, 2011).

4.3.2 Contingency planning
Contingency planning in Finland is mandatory for public services at all levels ofadministration (national, regional and local), in accordance with the Emergency Powers
Act. Each ministry, within its mandate, is in charge of preparedness issues (Ministry of
Defence in Finland, 2011). Each authority is responsible for its statutory functions at all
times. This means that all sectors of authorities are responsible for their own preparedness,such as making contingency plans, acquiring special equipment and training personnel(European Commission, n.d.b).

4.3.3 The national level
In order to ensure cooperation between the relatively independent ministries, ministerial
Chiefs of Preparedness are appointed. They are put in charge of contingency planning andthe necessary measures for emergency preparedness. The Prime Minister's Office
coordinates contingency planning, facilitated by the ministerial Chiefs of Preparedness(Ministry of Defence in Finland, 2011).
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and its sector is responsible for the
population’s income security, capability to function and insurance. These tasks refer to thecapability to provide comprehensive social security and social, health and environmental
health care services. These tasks also cover the functioning of social and private insurance(Ministry of Defence in Finland, 2011).
The Ministry of the Interior's Department for Rescue Services directs and monitors
rescue services. The tasks of the Finnish rescue services are divided into accident
prevention, rescue operations and civil defence. There are around 5000 full-time
employees in the professional rescue service departments and about 15,000 voluntary
rescuers mainly in more remote and scarcely populated areas (European Commission,n.d.a).

97

4.3.4 The regional level
As noted earlier, Finland has six Regional State Administrative Agencies and 15 Centres for
Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. The main role of Regional State
Administrative Authorities in the field of preparedness and contingency planning iscoordinating, guiding and monitoring disaster preparedness on the local level andorganizing preparedness exercises and training on disaster management. Finland is divided
into 22 rescue service regions. The regional rescue departments are responsible forproviding local rescue services in their area. Regional rescue services are operated incooperation with the municipalities of the region, as defined by law. They operate invarious kinds of emergencies, such as fires, daily accidents and major disasters. They are aswell major actors in civil defence. When several authorities from different administrator
branches are involved in a rescue operation, the rescue authority coordinates theoperations at the regional level (European Commission, n.d.a). Reform of regional
administration will occur in the very near future. The reforms will include reducing the
rescue service regions by 2019 (Government Communications Department, 2016). The fiveuniversity hospital service area organises prehospital emergency care. These services are
an integral part of the emergency services of health care (Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön
julkaisuja, 2011).
As noted earlier, health care, social services and regional governance will bereformed by the end of 2018 to modernise services and improve the sustainability ofgeneral government finances. The reform has several dimensions: reform of health careand social welfare, reform of fire and rescue services and reform of regional government.
In addition to social, health care and rescue services, the counties (regional government)
will be responsible for environmental healthcare, regional development duties and tasks
related to the promotion of business enterprise, planning and steering of regional land use,
promoting the identity and culture of the counties and other statutory regional services
assigned to the counties. In the future, the municipalities will be communities of local
involvement, democracy, culture and vitality. They will manage the duties related tomunicipal self-government as decided by the residents (general mandate) and local duties
defined by law. The municipalities will be responsible for managing and promoting
employment, promoting engagement and culture, promoting health and well-being,
services related to sports, culture and other leisure activities, youth services, as well as local

98industrial policy, land use, construction and urban planning (Government Communications
Department, 2016).

4.3.5 The municipal level
Municipalities are currently responsible for a number of the vital functions that areorganized in cooperation with neighbouring municipalities. Rescue services and specialized
health care services are among these functions and are already organized jointly at theregional level. According to legislation from 2007, the Paras-legislation, the basic healthcare services and social services shall be organized in areas where the population exceeds
20,000 inhabitants. This has led to many new regionally based social and health care service
organizations (Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, 2013).

4.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies
The voluntary sector in Finland plays a vital role in emergencies. Volunteers are trained toprovide psychosocial support, and primary help tasks are organized under the umbrella of
the Voluntary Rescue Service in Finland22. It is an organization of 50 different NGOs and iscoordinated by the Finnish Red Cross (Suomen Punainen Risti). Additionally, the Finnish Red
Cross has a pool of professional crisis psychologists who are activated when needed in mass
emergencies (Rapeli, 2014).
The Red Cross coordinates first-aid training and first-aid programmes in Finland andis responsible for training trainers. The program is divided into first aid and health, on the
one hand, and life-saving first aid, on the other. All who participate in first-aid courses
receive the same training throughout the country. The Finnish Red Cross maintains aregister of approved first-aid trainers and monitors the number of people trained in firstaid (Finnish Red Cross, 2014).
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has an agreement with the Finnish Red
Cross on support from volunteers for social and health care authorities. The agreement
outlines the cooperation between the authorities and the Red Cross branches at the local
level. The following tasks are examples of the volunteer support mentioned in the social
services’ preparedness plans:
22 For further information on The Voluntary Rescue Service, see link: https://vapepa.fi/en/a-network-that-saves-human-lives/99 provide help and support in everyday life during crisis, logistical support, child care and shelter, provide general psychosocial support,
 provide material help, including financial aid, clothing, organizing donations of clothes, offering
blankets, mattresses and cooking equipment for the use of those in need, organize additional staff to help the basic services, for example, in elderly homes, child care andcare of disabled persons, provide volunteers for evacuation centres and for providing food and clothing, provide use of the organizations’ facilities, evacuation of, for example, the elderly to volunteers’
private homes,
 provide support for the authorities during mass influx,
 provide preparedness training.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health encourages local authorities to make agreementswith the Red Cross on the use of volunteers during aid operations. The decision is based on
the government-approved security strategy for Finland (Rapeli, 2014). Furthermore, thevoluntary fire brigades play an important role in the rescue services system. As mentioned,
the Finnish rescue services have access to volunteers when needed. Around 15,000 rescue
volunteers can be activated. They work mainly in more remote and scarcely populatedareas. They participate in operations in accordance with an agreement with the permanent
rescue service authority in the region. The number of voluntary and part-time rescue
practitioners is 14,300 in 635 voluntary fire brigades (European Commission, n.d.a).

4.4 The role of local social services in the emergency management system
The Emergency Powers Act mandates that all authorities, which include the public social
welfare services at the local level, shall prepare contingency plans. According to the Social
Welfare Act, support in crisis situations and emergency social services, as well as otherservices mentioned in the law, must be provided at the local level. The Health Care Act
1326/2010 requires that “each health care unit shall produce a plan for quality
management and for ensuring patient safety. The plan shall include arrangements for
improving patient safety in cooperation with social services”. Mental health services
coordinate psychosocial support for individuals and society in sudden crises, and theservices shall be planned and implemented in coordination with local social and health careservices. Urgent psychosocial support shall be provided for patients regardless of theirplace of residence according to the Health Care Act.

100

According to the Rescue Act, “social welfare and health authorities and the agencies
in the relevant administrative sector, in accordance with the division of labour laid down inthe statutes on them, are responsible for organizing emergency medical care, services
concerning psychosocial support as well as the services and accommodation of those in
distress as a result of accidents.” The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has outlined
guidelines for local level social welfare service preparedness planning (Ministry of Social
Affairs and Health in Finland, 2008). These guidelines for the above mentioned services andaccommodation of those affected are mandatory for the local social welfare services. Thesetasks are also mentioned in the Government Proposal of the Social Welfare Act. The
guidelines provide the framework for the local social services preparedness planning andfor emergencies. The Ministry also provided guidelines for local social services on the
preparedness and functioning of evacuation centres (in 2015), safety and security planningof social and health care services (in 2011) and preparedness and provision of psychosocial
support in crisis situations (in 2009) (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland, n.d.).
Furthermore, every year the Ministry organizes two-day courses on social and health caredisaster risk management. The program is for management personnel in municipalities andsocial and health care service areas. Disaster risk management courses, seminars andexercises are also organized in cooperation with various partners, for example, theEmergency Service College (Pelastusopisto), the Regional State Administrative Agencies
and the National Emergency Supply Agency (Huoltovarmuuskeskus) (Ministry of Social
Affairs and Health in Finland, n.d.).
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has a 24/7 officer on duty. The officer’s
responsibility is to keep the political and administrative level management informed of
possible emergencies. Social and emergency services of Vantaa City act as a national
support organ for local level psychosocial services. In a largescale emergency, the on-duty
officer grants Vantaa City a mandate to assess the situation and support local social
services, if needed (European Commission, n.d.a).
On a regional level, the social and health sector authorities guide and monitor the
local level disaster preparedness activities. In long-lasting response situations they gather
information and a situational picture of the region.
The contingency plans on the local level consist of a general plan and subplans foreach service sector. The plans cover all the functions and client groups of social services,101

such as child protection services, mental care and substance abuse care, social assistance,
care for the elderly and disabled, as well as psychosocial support, and the services andaccommodation mentioned in the Rescue Act (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health inFinland, 2008).
The vast majority of the municipalities (84%) have complied with their duty to writea preparedness plan for social welfare services in Finland. Furthermore, the majority of theplans (77%) are revised every three years. According to the written contingency plans, thesocial services seem to be well prepared for the continuity of their services andpsychosocial support tasks. However, there seem to be discrepancies in how to supportsocial services management regarding situational awareness, alarm procedures and theinteraction with private social services (Rapeli, 2016).
The tasks of the social emergency services are most often related to child protection
and family violence issues. In 2009, only 16% of the emergency social services in Finland
served as first responders in emergencies (Reissell et al., 2012). The new Social Welfare Act
recognises social emergency services, as well as social support in crisis situations, and the
local service areas should improve their support for people affected in crisis situations in
the future.

4.5 Conclusion
In Finland the Emergency Powers Act (2011) mandates that all public services at all levelsof administration complete contingency planning. There are specific paragraphs in the act
for social services that can be activated in a state of emergency if needed. The role of thelocal social services in Finnish contingency planning is mentioned in the Rescue Act (2011).
The role is to take care of the sheltering, nutrition and clothing of those affected as well as
supporting the rescue personnel. This role is also noted in the report with governmental
bill for the Social Welfare Act (2014). The act also states that local social services must
provide support for people affected in crisis situations and arrange emergency social
services. The role of social services and contingency planning has guidelines in the
Handbook on Emergency Planning in Social Services, published by the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Health in 2008 (please see the following Table 4.1 for more detailed
information).

102

Table 4.1

Conclusion: Social services in contingency planning in Finland

Emergency Management
Ministry responsible

Coherent body of law on
EM?
Committee/council/board
at national level?
Are social services
represented in thecommittee/board/council?
EM national institution or
authority?
No. of staff?

Each ministry is responsible for emergency management within its respective
administrative sector, but the Prime Minister's Office co-ordinates matters during
major disasters
Yes, the Emergency Powers Act No. 1552/2011
The Rescue Act No. 379/2011
The Act on Emergency Response Services No. 692/201023
Yes,
Security Committee
Yes, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Healthrepresenting social and health care, environmental health and social security andinsurance issues is a member of the Committee.
No-

Main principles?

In securing the functions vital to society, the commonly accepted and observed
principles of Finnish society are to be followed:
Democracy and the rule of law, sharing responsibility across society, retaining thenormal division of duties, flexible preparedness control, cost-effectiveness,safeguarding of resources, taking the international dimension of preparedness into
account, monitoring of preparedness development, co-ordination of the measures.
EM cooperating withYes
voluntary organizations
Formal agreement with contracts in the rescue sector, border and coast guard,
according to formal
police and the defence forces. MoA with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
contracts?
Local level agreements between the municipalities and NGOs.
Conscripts and volunteers
Volunteers in the fire brigades, 15,000
Voluntary Rescue Service (incl. the Finnish Red Cross) 22,500
Sea rescue volunteers 2000
Air rescue volunteers 400
Role of local social services in emergency management
Does the act on EM
Yes, there are specific paragraphs in the Emergency Powers Act (2011) for social
address the role of local
services to be activated in a state of emergencysocial services?
As roles for the social services, the Rescue Act (2011) mentions sheltering, nutritionand clothing of those affected as well as support for the rescue personnel.
Does the legal framework
Yes, the role is noted in the pre works of the Social Welfare Act (2014). The act
address the role of local
states that local social services must provide support for people affected in crisis
social services in relation
situations and arrange emergency social services as well as psychosocial support.
to EM?
Does the legal framework
Yes, sheltering, nutrition and clothing of those affected as well as support for theoutline distinctive
rescue personnel, support for people affected in crisis situations, emergency social
role/roles?
services. Continuity of the ordinary social services.
Are social services legally
Yes, the Emergency Powers Act (2011) mandates that all public services at all levels
obligated to prepare aof administration shall complete contingency planning. Social services complete a
contingency plan?
sub-plan for the sector to be incorporated into the municipality’s plan.

Finland also has other legislation concerning EM, like the legislation related to the International Health Regulations andEU-legislation of Cross-border Health Threats as well as legislation on business continuity in the energy sector. Only thecentral legislation concerning common EM, especially in the social sector, is noted here.
23

103

Table 4.1 cont.

Conclusion: Social services in contingency planning in Finland

Does the law on social
services specificallyaddress the role of theservices in the context ofdisaster?
Are there specificguidelines for social service
contingency planning?

Yes, the role is noted well in the preface of the Social Welfare Act (2014). The Act’s
paragraphs note that local social services must provide support for people affectedin crises and arrange emergency social services as well as psychosocial support.

Yes, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health published the Handbook on Emergency
Planning in Social Services in 2008.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health published the Handbook on Evacuation
Shelters in 2015, Safety and Security Planning of Social and Health Care Services in2011 and Preparedness and Provision of Psychosocial Support in Crisis Situations in
2009.

The social welfare sector is relatively well recognized in Finland in the present disaster risk
management structures. This might derive from the comprehensive security model that is
outlined in the Security Strategy for Society 2010. The strategy recognizes all sectors ofsociety as vital for emergency management and this idea is very well implemented in alllevels of administration. Finland also has a long history of contingency planning, which wasnever cut down after the II World War.
In Finland there is no national authority that has the role of coordinating various
sectors and areas of responsibility. During disturbances that have national level impacts
the Prime Minister’s Office takes the responsibility of coordination at the state level. At the
local level the operation’s coordination belongs most often to the rescue services, hence
depending on the case.
The social sector is included in the municipalities’, regions and state level
contingency plans. The social sector has written sub contingency plans, which are part of
the whole municipalities’ plans. However, disaster risk management could be better
outlined in the social welfare legislation and the increasing private social welfare services
should be better included in the preparedness cooperation.
Finland is facing one of the largest administrative reforms ever in its history while
the regional administration and the social welfare and health care services are reformedby the year of 2019. The reform will have its implications also to disaster risk managementadministration in all levels of society. Presently the regional and local level public
administration, including the administration of social welfare and health care services, isorganised in many overlapping geographical areas. The on-going reform will hopefully unify
the geographical areas and in that way also benefit disaster risk management.

104

The voluntary sector in Finland plays a vital role in emergency situations. Regarding
the social sector tasks, volunteers are trained to provide psychosocial support and primary
help. Their tasks are organised under the umbrella of the Voluntary Rescue Service, whichis coordinated by the Finnish Red Cross. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has amemorandum of understanding with the Finnish Red Cross on support from volunteers forsocial and health care authorities, but the implementation of the agreement should befurther improved in the municipalities.

105

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Vaarama, M., Karvonen, S., Kestilä, L. Moisio, P. and Muuri, A. (2014). Suomalaisten hyvinvointi
2014. Helsinki: THL.

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5. ICELAND
Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Guðný Björk Eydal, Rasmus Dahlberg, Carin Björngren
Cuadra, Björn Hvinden, Merja Rapeli and Tapio Salonen

5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 Geography and climate
Iceland is a volcanic island in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean. The country is locatednear the Arctic Circle, and half of the landmass of its northernmost island, Grímsey, lies
within the Arctic Circle. The land area of Iceland is 90,154 km2 (total area 103,000 km2).
Although the country is 2.5 times the size of Denmark, only just over 1% of the land is arable(1,865km2). The majority of the country’s terrain is covered by large lava fields, plateaux
and glaciers. Iceland is one of the youngest landmasses on the planet. It formed
approximately 25 million years ago. Consequently, the island is volcanically active, and thelandscape is characterised by geysers and volcanoes (Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Iceland,n.d.; Norden, n.d.).
Due to the Gulf Stream, the winters in Iceland are milder than in most places at similar
latitude. The climate is temperate, moderated by the North Atlantic current. Winters are
mild but windy, and the summers are damp and cool (European commission, n.d.b).

5.1.2 Demographics
At the beginning of 2015, Iceland's population was 329,100. A majority of the inhabitatns,
208,752 lived in the capital area24 (Statistics Iceland, n.d.). The population density in theice-free areas in 2014 was 3.6/km2 (Norden, n.d; Statistics Iceland, n.d.a). The median age
25 of the population in 2015 was 36.0 years, 36.7 for women and 35.4 for men (CIA, n.d.).

Although the Icelandic population is on average younger than in Denmark, Finland, Norway
and Sweden, the population is gradually getting older. While the average age in 2015 was
37.5 years, the average age in 1990 was 32.5 years (Statistics Iceland, n.d.). Iceland’s life
expectancy is among the highest in Europe. In 2015 the life expectancy for women was 85.2
years and 80.8 years for men. In 2015 the fertility rate in Iceland was 2.02 children born
24 Reykjavik, Kópavogur, Seltjarnarnes, Garðabær, Hafnarfjörður, Mosfellsbær, Kjósarhreppur and Álftarnes.

25 For definition of median age, please see page 65.

110per woman. Furthermore, Iceland has the lowest infant mortality rate in all of Europe, 2.06
per 1,000 live births (CIA, n.d.). In 2015 the total dependency ratio26 was 51.6%, and thepotential support ratio27 was 4.8 (CIA, n.d.).
At the start of 2015 immigrants and descendants comprised 10.0% of the Icelandic
population; 8.9% were immigrants and 1.1% were descendants. Around 38% of all
immigrants and descendants originate from Poland, and the second largest groups
originate from Lithuania (5.1%) and the Philippines (5.0%) (Statistics Iceland, 2015). In
2015, the Directorate of Immigration in Iceland received 354 applications for asylum. This
was twice as many as in previous years. The largest number of asylum seekers came from
Albania (30%), Syria (8%), Iraq (8%) and Macedonia (8%). In 2015, Iceland granted asylum
to 66 persons and offered 16 residence permits on humanitarian grounds. Eighty-two
applications did not receive substantive review. The reasons for this included thatapplicants already had protection in other countries. Others withdrew their applications(Útlendingastofnun, 2015).
In 2015 84.2% of all people living in Iceland, aged 16 to 64, were employed. The
unemployment rate that year was 4%, 4.1% for women and 3.9% for men (Statistics Iceland,2015). In 2012, 6.3% of the population received social assistance, and 25.2% of thecountry’s GDP went for social expenditure28 (Norden, n.d.; NOSOSCO, 2015).

5.1.3 The governmental system
Iceland is a constitutional republic with a multi-party system. The President is the head ofstate, and the Government exercises executive power. The Icelandic parliament (Alþingi)
consists of 63 representatives that are elected every fourth year. The legislative power isvested in both the Parliament and the President, but in practice it is the Parliament that
holds the legislative power, while the President gives formal consent on acts of Parliament.
The judicial court system of Iceland comprises eight district courts (héraðsdómar) and theSupreme Court (Hæstiréttur Íslands) (Stjórnarráð Íslands, n.d.; Government Offices of
Iceland, n.d.).

26 For definition of total dependency ratio, see pabe 66.
27 For definition of potential support ratio, see page 66.
28 For more detailed information on what expenditure on social affairs includes, see page 66.

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Iceland is not a member of the EU. However, it takes part in European economic cooperation through the EEA Agreement. In essence, the EEA Agreement unites the EU
member states and the three EFTA EEA states (Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway) into asingle market that seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services andpeople (Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Iceland, n.d.a). Iceland has been a member of NATOsince it’s founding in 1949 (Norden, n.d.). Iceland is, however, the only NATO member
maintaining no standing army. It ensures its security and defence by cooperating with othercountries. During the Second World War, the United States took over the defence of
Iceland from the British. This arrangement continued until 2006 when the United States
decided to withdraw its forces. Subsequently, Iceland took over its air defence system andbecame a part of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence. Today, the Icelandic Coast
Guard (Landhelgisgæsla Íslands) and the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police(Ríkislögreglustjórinn) are responsible for all operations of the Icelandic air defence systemand other surveillance and defence-related projects (Landhelgisgæsla Íslands, n.d.).
Iceland is divided into 74 municipalities. They are governed by local authorities,
which is a collective term for city government, town government and parish councils thatare elected every four years in democratic elections. The municipalities are responsible fora number of tasks, such as providing day-care services and preschools, elementary schools,
adult education and social services. These include services for disabled people and homecare services for older people (Association of Local Authorities in Iceland, n.d.).

5.1.4 Disaster and risk profile
Iceland is located in the middle of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which separates the North
American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The plates are constantly moving farther apart.
Consequently, earth tremors frequently shake parts of the country (Ministry for Foreign
Affairs in Iceland, n.d.a). Earthquakes are most frequent in southern and the northern
Iceland. Other known risks are frequent volcanic eruptions. On average, Icelandexperiences a major volcanic event once every five years. In addition, sub-glacial eruptions
also cause outburst floods in glacial rivers. Furthermore, the country’s geothermal heat canbe dangerous. Geysers and hot springs attract many tourists and in such areas steam
explosions, dangerous gas and ground subsidence can cause accidents (National
Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, 2011).

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The climate in Iceland also poses risks. Storms are frequent, and ice and snow makeroads impassable. In some parts of the country, avalanches have buried homes and caused
death. In spring, when snow starts to melt, there is a risk of floods. Other known risks are
shipwrecks, fires and accidental pollution (National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police,
Civil Protection, 2011).

5.2. Local social services
The Ministry of Welfare is responsible for the administration of and policy making for social
affairs, health and social security in Iceland (Ministry of Welfare in Iceland, n.d.). The rootsof the local social services in Iceland can be traced back 1100 years to when the settlers
divided the country into municipalities. Their role was to prevent poverty and provide help
to the poor when the extended family could not assist the individual/family in question. In
comparison to most other European countries, the church played a minor role in providing
help to the poor. The Act on the Poor of 1280 remained unchanged until the 18th century.
No institutions or poor houses existed in Iceland, and when the municipalities provided apoor person with help, they moved the person to the farm offering to accept the lowest
payment from the municipality to care for the person in question (Broddadóttir, Eydal,
Hrafnsdóttir and Sigurðardóttir 1997; Gunnlaugsson, 1993). This system of family careremained in place until the early 20th century when laws on financial support and social
assistance came into force in 1905. These laws were revised several times. However, in the
1960s discussion began of the need for a comprehensive law on the local social services.
Such a law, however, did not enter into force until 1991 with the passage of the Act on
Local Authorities’ Social Services (Lög um félagsþjónustu sveitarfélaga) No. 40/1991.
The aim of the Act on Local Authorities' Social Services “is to guarantee financial
and social security and to work for the welfare of the inhabitants on the basis of mutualaid”. Minor amendments have been made to the Act since 1991 but in 2014 the Ministerof Social Affairs appointed a committee to revise the Act (Velferðarráðuneytið, 2014).
Under the Act, social services shall include social counselling, financial assistance, homehelp, services for children and young persons, services for the elderly and disabled people,
housing assistance, assistance for substance abusers and unemployment registration andemployment services. The Act strongly emphasises the autonomy of the municipalities

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having duties to guarantee financial and social security of the inhabitants. However, they
can decide how the services are designed and provided. Furthermore, the municipalities
have to provide child protection in accordance with the Child Protection Act (Lög um
barnavernd) No. 80/2002. Each municipality has to appoint a social service committee andthe municipality can decide to make the social service committee responsible for childprotection or to appoint a special child protection committee. However, a municipality
must have at least 1,500 inhabitants in order to appoint a child protection committee (Eydal
and Guðmundsson, 2012). The financial assistance clearly shows the independence ofmunicipalities regarding the level and organization of the services. All citizens unable tosupport themselves can apply for social assistance in the municipality where they have legal
residence. The municipality makes its own rules about the level of and conditions forfinancial assistance (Eydal and Marteinsdóttir, 2011).
In many cases the municipalities provide the services in cooperation with the statee.g., for years the Directorate of Labour, a special state agency, has provided registration
for unemployment and employment services (Eydal, Guðmundsson and Bjarnason, 2012;
Vinnumálastofnun, n.d.). In addition, while the Act has been in force, the municipalities
have been responsible for services that the state previously provided, e.g., the services
provided to disabled people in 2011. Municipalities have attempted, e.g., in Akureyri andHornafjördur, to coordinate social home help services and home nursing for the elderly.
This is the responsibility of the state-run health care centres. Despite positive evaluationsof such attempts to merge social and health services for the elderly, the Minister of Healthdid not extend the project, and it was closed down (Óskarsson, 2011). In Reykjavik, thestate-financed local social services and home nursing have been co-ordinated since 2009.

5.3 The emergency management system
Iceland’s emergency management uses the all-hazard approach. Its response is planned
according to a national organisational system, named the SÁBF system, which stands forcommand, planning, logistic and operations (stjórnun, áætlun, bjargir og framkvæmd). The
source of the system is the US Incident Command System and National Incident

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Management System29. It has been adapted to national and local conditions (DCPEM, n.d.j).
Four general principles guide the work on emergency management and contingency
planning in Iceland:Sector responsibility: the department or agency that is responsible for an activity undernormal conditions should also be responsible for such operations in an emergency.
Proximity: emergencies should be handled at the lowest possible level in society.
Equality: to the extent possible, operations should be organised in the same way during
emergencies as under normal conditions.
Coordination: all response bodies coordinate their response operations in preparedness
planning and emergency management to guarantee efficient use of equipment and humanresources

These principles promote decentralisation of the emergency management system andmaking decisions at the lowest level possible (Ríkislögreglustjóri Almannavarnadeild, 2011).
The Civil Protection and Security Council30 (Almannavarna- og öryggismálaráð) is
responsible at three-year intervals for policy formulation on preparedness, emergency
management and security. However, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency
Management (Almannavarnadeild ríkislögreglustjóra) is responsible for the dailyadministration of preparedness and emergency management.
The emergency management system operates on two administrative levels: thenational and municipal levels (see Figure 6).

29 The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardised approach to the command, control, and coordination of

emergency response. It provides a common hierarchy within which responders from multiple agencies can be effective.
It was initially developed to address challenges of inter-agency responses to wildfires in California and Arizona, but today
it is a component of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in the US, where it has evolved into use in allhazards situations. Furthermore, ICS has served as a pattern for similar approaches internationally (FEMA, n.d.).
30 The members of the Civil Protection and Security Council are: the Prime Minister, the Ministers of the Interior,Transport and Telecommunications, the Environment and Natural Resources, Welfare (formerly the Minister of Health),
Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Industries and Innovation. The Prime Minister may co-opt up to two ministers to siton the council. The Permanent Secretaries of the above-mentioned ministries, The National Commissioner of the
Icelandic Police and the Director of the Icelandic Coast Guard, the Director of the Post and Telecommunications
Administration, the Director of the Icelandic Transport Authority and the Director of the National Roads Administration,
the Director of the Icelandic Meteorological Office, the Director of the Iceland Fire Authority and the Director of theEnvironmental Agency, the Director-General of Public Health, the Epidemiological Officer and the Director of the National
Radiological Protection Authority, the Director of the National Energy Authority and the Director of Landsnet,
representatives of the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue, the Icelandic Red Cross and of the coordinatedemergency alert service (112). In addition, the Prime Minister appoints two representatives to the council in accordancewith nominations by the Union of Local Authorities in Iceland.

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Figure 6. The Icelandic Emergency Management System: National Organisational Chart
Source: The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police - The Department of Civil Protection, 2015.

The 112 national emergency number is the only emergency number in Iceland. It pertains
to all parties responding to accidents, fire, crime, search, rescue and disasters caused bynatural hazards on land, at sea, or in the air. In addition, Iceland‘s child protection duty
officers can be reached by contacting 112 (Neyðarlínan, n.d.). This service is available day
and night year-round. It can be reached anywhere in Iceland, from any telephone, by voiceor SMS. Emergency Alert 112 (112 – Neyðarlínan) operates the emergency alert system.
Emergency Alert 112’s service is threefold: the operation of the 112 national emergency
number, the National Tetra Telecommunication Service (Tetra), and the Icelandic Maritime
Service (Vaktstöð siglinga). The Emergency Alert 112 is also responsible for the TETRA
public safety radio network in Iceland. All responding units around the country use it,
including the police, the ambulance and fire services, the search and rescue units, and theenergy companies (Neydarlinan, n.d.). The Icelandic Coast Guard is responsible for thecoordination and execution of all maritime and aeronautical search and rescue operationsin the Icelandic search and rescue service. The agency operates the Joint Rescue
Coordination Centre in Reykjavik (Björgunarstjórnstöð sjófarenda og loftfara). The centre’s
main duties are monitoring and controlling emergency telecommunications and controllingthe automatic Ship Reporting Duty and general radio communications with ships and boats(Icelandic Coast Guard, n.d.; Icelandic Coast Guard, n.d.a).

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Iceland has no armed forces, but the country ensures its security and defence withother measures domestically and by cooperating with other countries. The National
Commissioner of the Icelandic Police and the Icelandic Coast Guard are responsible forsecurity and defence matters (Icelandic Coast Guard, n.d.a).

5.3.1 Tasks and objectives
The main tasks and objectives of Icelandic Civil Protection, according to the Civil Protection
Act (Lög um Almannavarnir) No. 82/2008, are to prepare, organise and implement
measures aimed at protecting the well-being and safety of the public and keeping it from
harm; protecting property and the environment from damage, disasters (resulting fromnatural or man-made hazards), pandemics, military action or other types of disaster. This
involves measures of risk assessment, prevention/mitigation, preparedness, mitigation,
emergency assistance and recovery. The tasks regarding emergency assistance involve
providing assistance, due to losses incurred, and assisting people during emergencies(European Commission, n.d.b). The state is responsible for emergency management
countrywide, on land, in the air and at sea, while the local authorities are responsible for
emergency management at the local level in collaboration with the state (Civil Protection
Act No. 82/2008).
A number of regulations further define the structure and roles of response bodies
in the emergency management system. The Regulation on the Working Procedure of the
Civil Protection and Security Council (Reglugerð um starfshætti almannavarna- ogöryggismálaráðs) No. 459/2009 applies to the national level. It specifies the organisationof the council’s work. The Regulation on the Content and Design of Response Plans(Reglugerð um efni og gerð viðbragðsáætlana) No. 323/2010 applies to all governmental
levels. As its name suggests, it outlines what the response plan should include and theprocess of designing the plan. The Regulation on the Organisation of the Coordination andCommand Centre (Reglugerð um skipulag og störf stjórnar samhæfingar- og stjórnstöðvar
og viðbragðsaðila almannavarna) No. 100/2009 applies to the national level. It comprises
the centre’s tasks. The Regulation on the Civil Protection Act’s Alert Levels (Reglugerð um
flokkun almannavarnastiga) No. 650/2009 outlines the emergency levels. The National
Commissioner of the Icelandic Police takes decisions on emergency levels on the state level,in consultation with the relevant Chief of Police.

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Other relevant laws and regulations include the Act on Emergency Alert-112 (Lögum samræmda neyðarsímsvörun) No. 25/1995, the Act on the Icelandic Coast Guard (Lögum Landhelgisgæslu Íslands) No. 52/2006, the Act on Fire Protection (Lög um brunavarnir)
No. 75/2000, and the Police Act (Lögreglulög) No. 90/1996 (European Commission, n.d.).

5.3.2 Contingency planning
In accordance with the Civil Protection Act and Regulation on preparedness plans, eachministry and its subordinate agencies are obliged to prepare a contingency plan covering
the organisation of measures in emergencies. The same applies to the municipalities andbodies under their administration. They are obliged to draw up contingency plans, basedon the risk assessment in their administrative districts.
The contingency planning is twofold, a general one and a specific one designed fora specific area (DCPEM, n.d.31). The general contingency plan describes how to respond toany hazard or disaster situation in Iceland regardless of location or likelihood. It is based onstandardised plans for a general response to disasters. Specific plans, which are much moredetailed than the general one, cover higly likely events (for example volcanic eruptions,large earthquakes and influenza pandemics) (DCPEM, n.d.h). The contingency plans arereviewed as often as considered necessary (Civil Protection Act No. 82/2008; European
Commission, n.d.). Additionally, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency
Management has issued a checklist on continuity of operations, for both the public andprivate sector, regarding continuity of operations designed to assist in contingency
planning (DCPEM, n.d.i).

5.3.3 The national level
The Minister of the Interior is the supreme authority in the field of emergency management
at the national level. Each government ministry and its subordinate bodies have a duty of
preparedness planning and emergency management within its area of responsibility. The
Minister delegates administrative responsibility to the National Commissioner of the
Icelandic Police. The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police oversees matters, such
31 There is nothing in the Civil Protection Act suggesting that local authorities should consult local residents in the process

of formulating contingency plans; nevertheless, the inhabitants were consulted when the last risk assessment report wasdone (Almannavarnir/Jóhannesdóttir, 2011).

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as hazard and risk assessments, mitigation and contingency planning, and is responsible fornationwide coordination. Furthermore, the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police
makes decisions on civil protection alert levels at any given time, in consultation with therelevant nine district Chiefs of Police. The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police
ensures that measures are taken in accordance with the Government’s emergency
management and security policy (Civil Protection Act No. 82, 2008).
The responsibilities of the Civil Protection and Security Council mainly involve
formulating the government policy on emergency management and security. The policy isreviewed every three years. The policy presents a description of the current situation andprospects for emergency management and security. The policy also addresses the structureof emergency management and security affairs, preventative actions, coordination of thecontent of contingency plans, and the functions of public bodies in preparedness matters.
Additionally, the policy addresses the required stock levels, the recovery phase and othermeasures the council considers necessary (Civil Protection Act No. 82, 2008).
The current policy, The Policy on State Civil Protection and Security for 2015-1017(Stefna í almannavarna- og öryggismálum ríkisins 2015-2017) is based on the threefollowing components:Emergency response system: all emergency response measures are based on
the same emergency response system during emergencies, with the National
Crisis Co-ordination Center (Samhæfingar- og stjórnstöð) in a key coordinationrole.
Vital infrastructure: the security and functions of vital infrastructurecomponents necessary for the functions of society and the economy are to be
secured.
Public security and law enforcement: the security of the public should beensured insofar as possible against various hazards, natural and man-made(Ministry of Interior in Iceland, 2015, p.6).

The policy for the period 2015-2017 entails a list of projects that shall be emphasised during
these three years. The project list includes the effort to enhance the co-operation of the
Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, with scientists from thenatural and social sciences. The policy does not address the role of social services (Ministryof Interior in Iceland, 2015). The Prime Minister chairs the council, but the Ministers of theInterior, Environment and Natural Resources, Health, Foreign Affairs, and Industries andInnovation are all members of the council (Civil Protection Act No. 82/2008).

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In the wake of disasters, the Civil Protection Investigation Committee(Rannsóknarnefnd almannavarna) operates independently, examining the use ofcontingency plans and the measures taken by the response bodies (Civil Protection Act No.
82/2008).
The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management
The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police operates the Department of Civil
Protection and Emergency Management. The department is responsible for the dailyadministration of preparedness and emergency management. The Department of Civil
Protection and Emergency Management supervises the structure of emergency
management measures, at both the national and local levels. The main tasks of the
Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management involve coordination ofmonitoring, assessing and responding to hazard events, both before, during and after the
events (DCPEM, n.d.a). The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management’s
role during emergency operations is to provide outside assistance (national orinternational) for the affected area, as the Chief of Police deems necessary, in collaboration
with the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police (European Commission, n.d.).
Furthermore, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management supervises
the preparation of risk assessments in consultation with the Civil Protection Committees(almannavarnanefndir) and participates in preparing contingency plans for both the public
and private sectors. The employed staff of the Department of Civil Protection andEmergency Management consists of 9 full-time employees (DCPEM, n.d.a; DCPEM, n.d.b).
The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management operates the
National Crisis Co-ordination Centre, located in Reykjavík. The centre can be activated asnecessary. Coordination and overall control of emergency management operations arecarried out in the centre. It provides and mobilizes human resources, equipment and tools
for the area requesting assistance. Furthermore, the centre plays an advisory role andtherefore has access to researchers and other experts in various fields when needed. The
centre coordinates all operations between districts during a state of emergency, supervises
the ambulance services and coordinates registration of the people affected (DCPEM, n.d.c).
Following disasters, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency
Management has authority to open a Temporary Service Centre (Tímabundin120þjónustumiðstöð). The role of the centre is to provide support and services to the people
affected and disseminate information (DCPEM, n.d.d).

5.3.4 The municipal level
Municipalities in Iceland do, in case of disasters, play an important role in the emergency
management in addition to their daily tasks and obligations according to research on
emergency management (Bernharðsdóttir and Svedin, 2004; Eydal and Árnadóttir, 2004;
Pétursdóttir and Sigurjónsdóttir, 2008; Þorvaldsdóttir, Bernharðsdóttir, Sigurjónsdóttir,
Oddsson and Pétursdóttir, 2008). Daily they provide services32, which become more
extensive during and in the aftermath of disasters (Sverrisson and Hannesson, 2007).
Local authorities appoint Civil Protection Committees in each municipality. The
main role of the Civil Protection Committees is to conduct and review risk assessments,
prepare contingency plans and conduct exercises for the contingency plans, incollaboration with the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. Eachcommittee consists of the Chief of Police, representatives from the local authorities andrepresentatives who in their daily work for the local authorities attend tasks that involvethe safety of the inhabitants. The Muncipalities can set up joint committees and by the endof 2015 the number of Civil Protection Committees was 21. Furthermore, municipalities
can collaborate on the preparation of contingency plans and enter into agreements on
mutual assistance (DCPEM, n.d.g).
The operational and site management is in the hands of the Chief of Police in thearea in question. The Chief of Police is a member of the operations committee(Aðgerðastjórn) with representative from the Civil Protection Committee in the district,representatives from the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (Slysavarnafélagið
Landsbjörg) and the Icelandic Red Cross (Rauði krossinn), and respone bodies in accordancewith the contingency plan. The committee operates the Local Crisis Co-ordination Center(Aðgerðastöð) that is in charge of local emergency management operations and cooperates
with the National Crisis Co-operation Center (DCPEM, n.d.f). The chief of police appoints asite manager who is in charge of the on-site coordination (DCPEM, n.d.e).
32 General obligations of municipalities involve road construction, providing water and electricity, domestic waste

collection services, fire brigades and ambulance services, as well as providing day-care services centres and preschools,
elementary-schools, adult education, and providing social services, including services for disabled people and home careservices for older people (Association of Local Authorities in Iceland, n.d.a).

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In hazard and disaster situations a national and district consultation team on
psychological first aid and trauma relief is activated. The team operates under the lead of
the Icelandic Red Cross according to an agreement with the National Commissioner of the
Icelandic Police. In addition to the leader from the Red Cross, representatives from the
Directorate of Health (Embætti Landlæknis), the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities(Samband íslenskra sveitarfélaga), the National curch (Þjóðkirkjan) and the University
hospital of Iceland (Landspítali) are appointed to the national team, while the district teams
have representatives from the health sector, the church, the local Red Cross and social
services (National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police et al., 2015).
In recent years, there has been substantial work on risk assessment in Iceland. The
Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management published a comprehensive
risk assessment in 2011. It covered all police districts33 in Iceland (National Commissionerof the Icelandic Police, 2011). It was based on the results from the risk assessment andresults from the project LVN34. The Department of Civil Protection and Emergency
Management, in cooperation with several municipalities, has worked on guidelines forcontingency planning for the municipalities, not yet published. The municipality of Árborg
has worked out a detailed contingency plan in accordance with the LVN that was for the
first time applied in the earthquakes in 2008 (Ingimarsdóttir, 2012), but there is only arecord of two other municipalities that have completed contingency plans (Sigurjónsdóttir,2009).

5.3.5 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies
Civil society and nongovernmental agencies play an important role in prevention andrescue work in Iceland. The Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue and the Icelandic
Red Cross have played important roles in certain emergency management matters inaccordance with an agreement with the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police.
Volunteers dedicate themselves to working within these agencies. Their joint mission is toprevent accidents, and save human lives and valuables. In order to fulfil this mission, a large
number of volunteers is available night and day all year round. The volunteers practice

33 There are nine police districts in Iceland.
34 The results from the LVN project (Long-term Response to Natural Disasters) provides guidelines to local authorities onrelief assistance and recovery following disasters caused by natural hazards.

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regularly. They are frequently activated for search and/or rescue missions. The importanceof these volunteer agencies is unquestionable, especially bearing in mind that Iceland
maintains no standing army (Bernharðsdóttir and Kristinsson, 2004; European Commission,n.d.a).
The main tasks of the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue include searchingfor and rescuing people, health and disaster relief, patrol and transport. The Icelandic
Association for Search and Rescue has rescue teams in all parts of the country. Its activities
gradually expanded and continue to play a major role in many aspects of accident
prevention and rescue operations in Iceland (Bernharðsdóttir and Kristinsson, 2004). By
current agreement, the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue’s main role is to search
for and rescue people, coordinate operations between police districts when assistance isprovided by the National Crisis Co-ordination Center, arrange and supervise the transportof rescue teams and equipment to and from disaster areas, and replace rescue teams andsupervise certain tasks in cooperation with the National Crisis Co-ordination Center. There
are some 18,000 members in the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue, working indifferent divisions (search and rescue, accident prevention, and youth groups)(Ríkislögreglustjórinn Almannavarnadeild, 2012; Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjörg, n.d.).
The Icelandic Red Cross is an important humanitarian organization in Iceland. A totalof 4000 Red Cross volunteers throughout the country are available when needed and some
750 volunteers have been trained to set up emergency shelters, supervise the waiting area
where relatives receive information, and provide psychosocial support and psychologicalfirst aid (IRC, n.d.). By current agreement, the Icelandic Red Cross’s main tasks are masssocial assistance and providing support to the people affected. The Icelandic Red Cross
supervises the activities of the emergency shelters. Their aim is to provide disaster victims
with safe facilities, where they can eat, rest and seek counselling and psychosocial support.
In cooperation with the National Crisis Co-ordination Center, the Icelandic Red Crossgathers information on the victims and provides information to relatives (IRC, n.d.a;
Ríkislögreglustjórin Almannavarnadeild, 2012a). In addition as mentioned, the Icelandic
Red Cross supervises psychological first-aid education and coordinates, under current
agreement, the psychological first aid and psychosocial support in the emergency
management structure in Iceland (IRC, n.d.a).

123

5.4 The role of social services in the emergency management system
The Civil Protection Act states that local authorities are responsible for emergency
management at the local level, but the Act does not define the role of social services during
disasters, nor do any other laws or regulations. Furthermore, the Act states that the Civil
Protection Committees should include representatives from local authorities who work on
daily tasks involving the safety of the residents (Civil Protection Act No. 82/2008). In
addition, two of the members in the Civil Protection and Security Council are
representatives from the Union of Local Authorities in Iceland. The expertise and scope ofwork of these local authorities’ representatives is not defined.

5.5 Conclusion
Icelandic contingency planning does not specifically mention the role of the local social
services, and the Act on Emergency Management does not address their role (please see
the following table 5.1 for more detailed information).

124

Table 5.1

Conclusion: Social services in the contingency planning in the case of Iceland

Emergency Management
Ministry responsible
Coherent body of law on EM?

Committee/council/board at national
level?
Are social services represented in thecommittee/board/council?

EM national institution or authority?
No. of staff?
Main principles?

The Ministry of the Interior
Yes, the Civil Protection Act No. 82/2008
The Regulation on working procedure of the Civil Protection and
Security Council No. 459/2009
The Regulation on the Content and Designing of Response Plans No.
323/2010
The Regulation on the organisation of the Coordination andCommand Centre No. 100/2009
The regulation on Civil Protection Act Alert Levels No. 650/2009
Yes, Civil Protection and Security Council
Yes, there is one Ministry of Welfare in Iceland, but there are two
ministers, a Minister of Social Affairs and Housing and a Minister of
Health. The Minister of Health is a member of the Civil Protectionand Security Council. The permanent secretary at the Ministry of
Welfare is a member, but according to the law, he is there as thepermanent Secretary of Health. Hence, his presence cannot beinterpreted as an emphasis on social issues.
Yes, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency
Management9
Responsibility
Similarity
Proximity
Cooperation
Yes,
formal agreement with contracts

EM cooperating with voluntaryorganizations according to formal
contracts?
Conscripts and volunteers
ICE-SAR 18,000 and IRC 750
Role of local social services in emergency management
Does the act on EM address the role ofNo
local social services?
Does the legal framework address the role
No (According to an agreement on how to organize psychologicalof local social services in relation to EM?
first aid and trauma relief, the social services shall appoint a
representative in the district team, but not in the legal framework)
Does the legal framework outline
No
distinctive role/roles?
Are social services legally obligated toYes, according to the Civil Protection Act, all municipalities andprepare a contingency plan?
municipal intuitions should have a contingency plan. Hence, thesocial services should make their own plans.
Does the law on social services specificallyNo
address the role of the services in thecontext of disaster?
Are there specific guidelines for social
No, but the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency
service contingency planning?
Management is preparing general guidelines for municipalities

Many of the tasks that social services have in other countries (discussed in chapter 2)
concerning e.g. emergency shelters and psycho-social support in the emergency phase isin the Icelandic system contracted to the Icelandic Red Cross. One possible explanation forthis might be historical, since the Red Cross has operated units in most municipalities but
the local social services developed relatively late in Iceland, in particular in smaller
municipalities. The disaster literature emphasis the importance of volunteer work during

125the times of disasters and that no social services has enough number of staff to provide theneeded services without the help of volunteers. Hence it is important to address thedivision of labour between the Red Cross and the social services and how theseorganizations can collaborate in all phases of the disaster cycle, not at least during theaftermath when the role of the municipalities is biggest (Sveinsdóttir, 2012; Þorvaldsdóttir
et al. 2008).
The social services are not mentioned in the law on Civil Protection from 2008, nor
is it mentioned in the policies for the period 2015-2017. The only case where the social
services are actually formally given a role in the documents, that were analysed in the
study, is in the agreement between the Red Cross, the Directorate of Health, the Icelandic
Association of Local Authorities, the National church and the University hospital of Icelandwith the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management on how to organize
the psychological first aid and trauma relief were the social services shall appoint a
representative in the district team.
All state and municipality institutions are by law obligated to make their own
contingency plans, but only a few municipalities have. Guidelines are being constructed forthe municipalities and it is expected that it will facilitate the work for the municipalities. To
our knowledge, no social service unit has conducted a contingency plan. As pointed out inthe introduction Iceland experienced a deep economic crisis in 2008 and this meant
increased pressure on the social services, hence it is logical that they were not adding newtasks on their agenda during this period. However if the social services are to become apart of the respondents it is important that it fulfils it legal obligation and informs both local
and national emergency respondents about what it could contribute with in times ofdisasters. The law on social services should also reflect the legal obligations in relation to
the law on Civil Protection; hence the contingency planning should be mentioned.
The social services are organized and financed on the local level but health care andhospitals on state level. The fact that the formal co-operation between the health and thesocial services differs between municipalities and health districts, might contribute to the
explanation of why the social services have not been included in the emergency
management to an higher extend, while the roles of the health sector is clearly defined.
However at the same time- the emphasis on the local level in the organization of theemergency management should enhance the possibilities for increased co-operation126

between the local civil protection committees and, in the time of disasters, the Local Crisis
Co-ordination Centres.
As table 5.1 shows clearly the social services are not represented in the Icelandic
Emergency Management System, but according to the policy for the period 2015-2017 oneof the projects that shall be prioritized is to enhance the co-operation of the Department
of Civil Protection and Emergency Management with scientists from natural and social
sciences. Hence this can only be interpreted as the emphasis on the social consequencesof disasters is gaining increased understanding among the policy makers.
Finally, in the case of Iceland it is important to gain more knowledge about the roleof the social services in previous disasters and what lessons can be learned from that. Whatroles have the social services played and how did they co-operate with the Red-Cross andother respondents are among the questions that should be emphasised in future research.
There has been a slow increase in disaster-studies in social sciences but when the frequency
of disasters in the case of Iceland is taken into consideration an increase is needed.

127

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131

6. NORWAY
Björn Hvinden, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Guðný Björk Eydal, Carin Björngren Cuadra,
Rasmus Dahlberg, Merja Rapeli and Tapio Salonen

6.1 Introduction
6.1.1 Geography and climate
Norway is known for its mountains and beautiful spectacular landscape. It stretches frombeaches and cliffs in the south through the mountain ranges in the middle of Norway tothe midnight sun at North Cape. The land area in Norway is 305,470 km2 (total area 323,787
km2). Due to the abundance of mountains, forests and plains, only about 3% of the land isarable, i.e., 8,155 km2 (Norden, n.d.). Because of the Gulf Stream and warm air currents,
Norway has a warmer climate than its latitude would suggest. The North Atlantic current
moderates the temperate climate along the coast, while Norway’s inland regions are colder
because mountains block the warm west winds from the sea. There are three different
climate zones in Norway. The southern part has a warm temperate humid climate, while
the mid- and northern regions have a humid snowy climate. The northern coastal areas andthe mountainous regions have an icey climate with long, cold winters and cool summers(European Commission, n.d.; Weather online, n.d.)6.1.2 Demographics
At the beginning of 2015 Norway had approximately 5.1 million inhabitants. In 2014 thepopulation density in Norway was 16.9 p/km2, which is quite similar to Finland. The
population in the capital area35 in 2014 was 1,210,220 (Statistics Norway, 2015; Norden,n.d.).
In 2015, the median age36 in Norway was 39.1 years, 39.9 for women and 38.3 formen (CIA, n.d.). Despite an aging population, the Norwegian population is on average
younger than the population of Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Norway’s average life
expectancy in 2015 was 83.8 years for women and 79.7 years for men. In 2015, the fertility
rate in Norway was 1.89 children born per woman. The infant mortality rate was 2.48 per
35 Oslo municipality and Akerhus County.

36 For definition of median age, please see page 65.

132

1000 live births (CIA, n.d.). In 2015 the total dependency ratio37 was 52.2% and thepotential support ratio38 4% (CIA, n.d.).
The number of immigrants in 2015 was approximately 848,000 (169.9% of the total
population). This is in accordance with the large population growth in recent years. The
number of foreign citizens has more than doubled since 2007. The largest group of foreign
citizens in Norway is Poles (100,000). The second largest groups are Swedes andLithuanians (Statistics Norway, n.d.). In 2015, 31,145 applications for asylum were lodged
in Norway. Most applications were from citizens of Syria (10,536) and Afghanistan (6,987).
That year the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration granted 5,411 persons asylum in
Norway, and 168 were offered residence permits on humanitarian grounds (UDI, n.d.).
In October 2015, the total employment rate was 67.9%. In 2014, women accounted
for 47% of the labour force. That year the labour force comprised 68% women and 75%
men, aged 15 to 74 (Statistics Norway, n.d.). The total unemployment rate at the end of2015 stood at 4.5% (Statistics Norway, n.d.b).
The statistics on people receiving public benefits include public spending that the
Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (Ny arbeids- og velferdsforvalting, NAV)
paid in connection with old age, absenteeism (sickness benefits, disability, vocational
rehabilitation allowances, work assessment allowances and rehabilitation allowances),
unemployment, children, medical assistance and other social security and benefit schemes.
Old age pensions made up more than 41% of the total expenditure, according to theNorwegian Labour and Welfare Administration in 2013. By far the biggest increase in
expenditures was for pension benefits from 2008 to 2013, i.e., 56%, while the other social
security and benefit schemes increased by 25% during the same period. This development
shows the growing number of old-age pensioners (Statistics Norway, n.d.a). In 2012, 3.4%of the population received social assistance, and 25% of the country’s GDP was on social
expenditure39 (Norden, n.d.; NOSOSCO, 2015).

37 For definition of total dependency ratio, please see page 66.
38 For definition of potential support ratio, please see page 66.
39 For more detailed information on what expenditure on social affairs includes, please see page 66.

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6.1.3 The governmental system
Norway has a constitutional monarchy with the king as the head of state, but theparliament (Stortinget, 169 seats) is the country's highest authority (Norden, n.d.).
Norway is divided into 19 counties. The central government has the highest
authority and supervision of county and municipal administration that have the sameadministrative status. The main responsibilities of the county authorities are upper
secondary schools, regional development and planning, county roads and public transport,
culture and cultural heritage, and environmental issues. There are 428 municipalities in
Norway. They are responsible for providing their inhabitants with basic statutory services,such as primary and lower secondary schools, nurseries/kindergartens, primary healthcare,social services for the elderly and disabled, local planning, water supply, and culturaldevelopment (Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation in Norway, 2014). Norway
is not a member of the EU, but participates in European economic co-operation throughthe EEA Agreement. The EEA Agreement extends the EU’s internal market to the three EEAEFTA states, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. Norway is a member of NATO since its
foundation in 1949 (Norden, n.d.).

6.1.4 Disaster and risk profile
Landslides and floods are the most common natural hazards causing damage in Norway
today. In recent years, Norway has also faced chemical and biological accidents,
infrastructure accidents, oil pollution and other spills of hazardous materials, large fires andwater works accidents (European Commission, n.d.). Over the last 30 years, there also havebeen air crashes and maritime and train disasters. In 2011 Norway was hit by bombing in
Oslo and mass shooting at Utoya Island, where young people from the Social Democratic
Party held their annual meeting. In 2013, five Norwegians were killed in the In Amenas
hostage crisis in Algeria.

6.2 Local social services
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is responsible for Norway’s welfare policy(Government, n.d.). According to the Act on Social Services in the Norwegian Labour andWelfare Administration (Lov om sosiale tjenester i arbeids- og velferdsforvaltningen) No.

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131/2009, the aims of the local social services in Norway are: to improve the living
conditions for the disadvantaged, contribute to social and economic security, including
ensuring that individuals can live in their own homes and enhance transition to work, social
inclusion and active participation in the society. The law shall contribute to vulnerable
children, young people and their families receiving comprehensive and coordinatedservice. The law shall contribute to equality and prevent social problems.
In 2006 the Labour and Welfare Administration Act (Lov om arbeids- og
velferdsforvaltningen, NAV-loven) No. 20/2006 was enacted. It was a radical reform of theNorwegian welfare system. The aim was to create a one-stop shop for all clients (Lægreid
and Rykkja, 2016). Whether they needed financial assistance from social insurance,
unemployment insurance or support from the municipality, they could seek services in one
place—their local NAV40 office. The NAV office also provides support for those eligible forparticipation in the labour market. NAV’s main goals are as follows:






More people active and working, fewer people on benefits
A well-functioning job market
Provide the right services and benefits at the right time
Provide good services tailored to the users' needs and circumstances
Comprehensive and efficient labour and welfare administration(NAV, n.d.a).

In 2015 there were 456 NAV offices in the country. The local authorities and the central
government run the NAV offices jointly. In addition to the services that have to be provided
in accordance with the Act on NAV, each local authority decides which elements of social
services it offers within NAV; hence, the services in the NAV office might vary from one
office to another (NAV, n.d.). The municipalities are responsible for providing the local
social services, but the state’s various obligations are also listed in the Act on Social Services
in the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration. They include that the state shallpartly finance the services (Ch. 2, §11). Under the act, municipalities shall also cooperatewith other relevant institutions and the voluntary sector (Ch. 3, § 13 & 14).
The Act on Social Services emphasises that each municipality shall acquire oversightof the circumstances of the inhabitants and pay special attention to developments that canlead to or maintain social problems. The municipalities shall try to counter such
40 NAV, originally an acronym for "New Labour and Welfare Administration” (Ny arbeids- og velferdsforvalting) is now

seen as a word.

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developments and work for a strong community and solidarity (Ch. 3, § 12). Furthermore,
the Act obliges the municipalities to provide housing for the inhabitants that are
disadvantaged and cannot ensure their interests in the housing market. Last but not least,
the social services shall provide counselling and advice on how to apply for assistance, otherentitlements, housing, employment agencies, services for children and family counselling,
health, financial advice and counselling to substance abusers and their families. In addition
to social services, each municipality is obligated to provide child welfare services(barnevernet) under the Child Welfare Act (Barnevernloven) No. 100/1992.

6.3 The emergency management system
The emergency management system in Norway emphasises a safe and robust society withthe vision of everyone sharing responsibility to safeguard life, health, the environment, vital
public functions and material assets (DSB, n.d.) The emergency management system
operates on three administrative levels—the ministerial/national, regional and municipal
levels. The rescue services are performed through cooperative effort, involving
government agencies, voluntary organizations and private enterprises (see Figure 7)(Ministry of Justice and Police in Norway, 2002).

Figure 7. The Norwegian emergency management system: National Organisational Chart
Source: European Commission, n.d.

136

The preparedness and emergency management work in Norway is based on four
fundamental principles:The principle of responsibility entails that the organisation responsible for an
activity in a normal situation is also responsible for necessary preparedness and for
dealing with extraordinary events.
The principle of similarity implies that the everyday organisational structure should
be maintained during times of disasters, if possible.
The proximity principle suggests that disasters should be handled at the lowest
level possible.
The principle of cooperation entails that authorities, businesses or agencies are all
responsible for ensuring the best possible cooperation with relevant stakeholders
and agencies in the work of preparedness and emergency management.
(Regulation relating to instructions for the ministries’ work on civil protection andpreparedness, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security’s coordination role,supervision and central crisis management (Instruks for departementenes arbeid
med samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap, Justis- og beredskapsdepartementets
samordningsrolle, tilsynfunksjon og sentral krisehåndtering), No. 535/2012,translation by authors).

The principles promote decision making at the lowest administrative level possible andsimilarity in the daily set-up and the emergency set-up to the extent possible. The principles
thus encourage decentralisation of the preparedness and emergency management system.
There are three emergency numbers in Norway: 110 for fire and major accidents,
112 for police and the rescue coordination centre, and 113 for ambulance medical
emergencies (New in Norway, n.d.)
Civilian-military cooperation in Norway emphasises total mobilisation of all possible
civilian and military resources in order to limit serious incidents in peacetime and/or duringwar. The aim is to protect lives and health and to maintain the key functions of society.
Today, Norway focuses more on its armed forces’ supporting civil society and close
cooperation between civil preparedness and military defence. During disasters inpeacetime, this means supplementary assistance to the civil authorities that cannot
manage disaster on their own. Moreover, during full military mobilisation, the army needs
resources from civilian society. This underlines the importance of keeping the functions ofcivilian society in good order (European Commission, n.d.a).

6.3.1 Tasks and objectives
The overall objectives of emergency management are organisation and implementation of
measures preventing disasters and efficient handling of emergencies that arise. The

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purpose is to ensure that interruptions to important societal functions and large accidents
do not entail large societal losses. Society has to be prepared to meet any threat andsituations that arise. The main focus is on:







Preventive activities, including health, environment and security work
Ensuring that agencies with emergency responsibilities are able to tackle major
incidents, including acts of terrorism and/or mass destruction
Coordinated and purposeful work to ensure protection of critical infrastructure
Increased cooperation, including plans and exercises, between civil and military
authorities
The ability of intelligence and security services to analyse, warn and prevent
different forms of terrorism in Norway
Holistic and coordinated emergency management centrally, regionally and locally(European Commission, n.d.b)

The legal framework includes several main laws and regulations on preparedness andemergency management. The purpose of Civil Protection Act (Lov om kommunal
beredskapsplikt, sivile beskyttelsestiltak og Sivilforsvaret) No. 45/2010 is to protect
people’s lives and health and prevent damage to property. The Act outlines the tasks andresponsibilities of Civil Defence (Sivilforsvaret). The agency’s purpose is to plan andimplement measures to protect the population and the environment and prevent damage
to property. The Act also regulates the responsibilities of municipalities for risk analyses
and contingency plans.
A number of regulations are connected with the Civil Protection Act. One of themis the Regulation relating to instructions for the ministries’ work on civil protection andpreparedness, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security’s coordination role, supervisionand central crisis management No. 535/2012. The regulation provides guidelines for
emergency management and preparedness work in the civilian sector. The guidelines
describe the four principles, the responsibilities each ministry has in this respect, thecoordination and supervision role of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and the roleof the Crisis Support Unit (Krisestøtteenheten). The Regulation relating to instructions for
the Rescue Service (Instruks for redningstjenesten) No. 1102/2013 describes theorganisation for the rescue service in Norway. The regulation relating to instructions for
the County Governors and the Governor in Svalbard on societal security, preparedness andcrisis management (Instruks for fylkesmannens og Sysselmannen på Svalbards arbeid med
samfunnssikkerhet, beredskap og krisehåndtering) No. 703/2015 entails county-level138responsibilities. The instructions' purpose is to provide guidelines for county governors in
relation to societal security and preparedness and the coordination of emergency
management during disasters. The Regulation relating to municipal preparedness duty
(Forskrift om kommunal beredskapsplikt) No. 894/2011 expands municipal preparedness
obligations.
The aim of the Health and Social Preparedness Act (Lov om helsemessig og social
beredskap) No. 56/2000 is to protect people's lives and health and to help ensure necessary
medical treatment and social support for people in disasters. Actors covered by this act are
responsible for being able to continue, reorganise and expand their operations, if needed
during disasters, on the basis of their daily services. The Act also charges them with
updating plans and conducting regular drills.
A number of regulations are associated with the Health and Social Preparedness
Act. One of them is the Regulation relating to requirements for preparedness planning andpreparedness work (Forskrift om krav til beredskapsplanlegging og beredskapsarbeid mv.
etter lov om helsemessig og sosial beredskap) No. 881/2001. It states that actors are
obliged to draw up a contingency plan, as stated in the Health and Social Preparedness Act,
must provide measures, ensuring the necessary provision of services during disasters. The
contingency plans should be based on risk assessments, including overview of responsibility
and authority, warning routines, procedures for operative management, and coordinationof plans. This applies to entities on state, regional and local levels.
Legislation, such as the Security Act (Lov om forebyggende sikkerhetstjeneste) No.
10/1998, the Police Act (Lov om politiet) No. 53/1995, the Fire and Explotion Prevention
Act (Lov om vern mot brann, eksplosjon og ulykker med farlig stoff og om brannvesenets
redningsoppgaver) No. 20/2002, and the Protection Against Pollution Act (Lov om vern mot
forurensninger og om avfall) No. 6/1981 are also important in the context of disaster(European Commission, n.d.a).

6.3.2 Contingency planning
The responsibility for contingency planning lies at all levels of government. Each ministry is
responsible for preparedness work within its mandate, and municipalities are obliged tocarry out a risk and vulnerability analysis and plan and prepare for emergencies from shortand long-term perspectives (DSB, n.d.; DSB, n.d.a). All contingency plans are standardized

139

and coordinated with the aim of making the national contingency system work as a single
integrated response system during disasters (EPPR, n.d.). The Norwegian Directorate for
Civil Protection (Direktoratet for samfunnssikkerhet og beredskap, DSB) reviews theministries’ preparedness work on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The
Directorate aims at ensuring that the municipalities follow their duties for preparedness
issues (DSB, n.d.; DSB, n.d.a). However, as the municipalities may organize their follow-up
of responses to emergencies locally, the service experience of the survivors and bereaved
varies greatly, following accidents and disasters.
The Total Defence strategy guides contingency planning and emergency
management. The strategy emphasises the resilience of the nation’s infrastructure, bothmilitary and civilian, and the importance of safeguarding life, health and the welfare of the
population. The focus of the strategy is gradually shifting towards the importance of taking
into account new societal challenges like increased vulnerability in modern societies(Government, n.d.a). Thus, the total defence concept is wider than before and works bothways where civilians can provide support in times of military crises, and the military is
operationally prepared to assist civilian society in times of need (European Commission,n.d.a).

6.3.3 The national level
The Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet) is
responsible for the overall administrative coordination of the work on safety, security andcontingency planning within the civil sector.
The ministry is responsible for the development of national regulations and key
decision-making for the civil preparedness system. It is also in charge of the administrative
part of the Search and Rescue Service. In addition, each ministry is responsible forpreparedness and contingency planning within its own sector. Furthermore, each ministry
is responsible for coordinating its work with the work of other ministries on these issues.
In case of uncertainty regarding the ministries and responsibilities, the Prime Minister
appoints the lead ministry. Preparedness operations are performed cooperatively,
involving government agencies, voluntary organizations and private enterprises (Ministryof Justice and Police in Norway, 2002; European Commission, n.d.).

140

The Crisis Council (Kriserådet) is the highest coordinating body at the national levelof emergency management in Norway. It consists of five permanent members, thesecretary to the government at the office of the Prime Minister (Statsministerens kontor),
secretary generals in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utenriksdepartementet), the Ministryof Health and Care Services (Helse- og Omsorgsdepartementet), the Ministry of Defence(Forsvarsdepartementet), and the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. If necessary, theCouncil can include all other ministries, and representatives of underlying entities andspecial expert communities. The most affected ministry takes the lead in the Crisis Council.
Hence, neither the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs nor the Minister of Children andFamilies is a reprepresentative on the Crisis Council. The main function of the council is tocontribute to the central emergency management during disasters by ensuring strategic
assessments, coordination of measures implemented by different sectors and the flow of
coordinated information to the public and the media. The Department of Public Security
operates within the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The Department is responsible
for emergency management, and rescue and emergency work. The Emergency Support
Unit, which is part of the Department of Public Security, supports the ministries and the
Crisis Council in disasters (Ministry of Health and Care Services in Norway, 2014; Government,
n.d.b).
In 2015, the Prime Minister’s Office established a permanent secretariat(Sekretariat for Regjeringens Sikkerhetsutvalg) for preparedness and security matters. The
aim of this secretariat is to strengthen the coordination of preparedness and societal
security in Norway. It does not at all alter the division of responsibilities between the Prime
Minister’s Office and other ministries. The Ministry of Justice and Public Security still has
the general coordinating role for preparedness and emergency management, and theministries are responsible for these matters within their own sector (Government, 2015).

The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection
The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection supports the Ministry of Justice and Public
Security in coordinating preparedness and emergency management in Norway. Its main
objective is to maintain a full overview of risks and vulnerability within society, promotemeasures preventing or mitigating the consequences of adverse events, and guarantee
sufficient preparedness and disaster management (European Commission, n.d.). This141

includes preparing an annual national risk report, planning and executing exercises, andother emergency management measures. The annual national risk report describes
scenarios. These provide a basis for thematic structure in risk assessment, contingency
planning and exercises at all levels of government (Helsedirektoratet, 2011). Furthermore,
the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection’s responsibilities cover fire and electricalsafety, safety in the handling and transport of hazardous substances, as well as product andconsumer safety. The Directorate is moreover responsible for the professional andadministrative follow-up of the Norwegian Civil Defence, the Emergency Planning College(NUSB), the Norwegian Fire Academy (Norges Brannskole) and the Civil Defence's three
regional schools (Sivilforsvarets skole) (DSB, 2012).
There are around 600 full-time employees working at DSB, with 240 working at themain office and others in different regions in electrical supervision, DSB’s educational
centres and Civil Defence. The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection collaborates withthe county governors’ offices and other public sectors on emergency management,
covering both prevention and preparedness. The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection
aims at ensuring that all municipalities fulfil their obligation to conduct a risk assessment,
draft a contingency plan and prepare for emergencies with short- and long-term
perspectives. In emergencies, the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection coordinates
by collecting, analysing and disseminating information from county governors, relevant
agencies and international networks to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
Additionally, the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection provides resources, personnel
and expert advice to assist responsible authority in handling an adverse event (DSB, 2012;
Sivilforsvaret, n.d.).
The Norwegian Civil Defence is part of the Norwegian Directorate for Civil
Protection and is the most important national support resource for emergency services,like the police, the fire services and the health services, when these agencies needreinforcements. Civil Defence’s common tasks include fighting bush fires, pumping water
after flooding, evacuating civilians and search and rescue. Civil Defence provides training
for preparedness, response and rescue. Its clients include its own personnel and otherparties within the Norwegian rescue services. There are about 220 permanent employees
at 20 Civil Defence locations, and about 8,000 conscripts working in 135 operational units.

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The department relies on conscription. Both men and women between the ages of 18 and65 can be called to serve (Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection, 2012).

The Norwegian Search and Rescue Service
The Norwegian Search and Rescue Service (SAR service) is a coordinated nationwide set ofservices. Many parties contribute to the sole mission of rescuing people from perishing or
injury. The SAR service consists of governmental, private, and voluntary agencies that
contribute appropriate resources when needed. The basis of the coordination structure is
integration. This means that joint coordinating organisations direct the service. These
organisations are responsible for all types of rescue operations.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centres (Hovedredningssentralen) in Sola and Bodøand 27 local rescue coordination centres in the police districts direct the entire SAR
service’s operations in Norway. Each police district establishes a local rescue centre withthe local police commissioner as the leading actor. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre
has overarching operational responsibility for the search and rescue service. It is directly incharge of all sea and air rescue. Land rescue is generally in the hands of the local rescue
coordination centres, which in all rescue cases immediately notify the Joint Rescue
Coordination Centre (Helsedirektoratet, 2011; Ministry of Health and Care Services in
Norway, 2014).

6.3.4 The regional level
At the regional level, the county governors are responsible for coordinating and supervising
emergency management within their regions. Their role is to maintain an overview of risk
and vulnerability by preparing a risk and vulnerability analysis and a contingency plan for
the region. They do so in close cooperation with regional stakeholders. Furthermore, they
provide guidance to the municipalities as well as monitor how they meet their legal
requirements for preparedness and emergency management. The regional administrationis the link between local and central levels in the process of implementing measures andreporting in accordance with the Regulation relating to instructions for the County
Governors and the Governor in Svalbard on societal security, preparedness and crisis
management.

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The county governors appoint a Preparedness Council (Fylkesberedskapsråd) whichmeets at least once a year. The Council consists of representatives of regional stakeholders
responsible for critical infrastructure and critical social functions—the police and otheremergency services, the military, civil defence, NGOs, and county and state agencies withsignificant emergency tasks within the county. The role of the Preparedness Council is tocontribute to the risk and vulnerability issues and be a forum for discussion and planningon issues of societal security, preparedness and emergency management in accordancewith the Regulation relating to instructions for the County Governors and the Governor in
Svalbard on societal security, preparedness and crisis management.

6.3.5 The municipal level
The municipalities have comprehensive responsibility and play a key role in emergency
management and preparedness work. According to the Civil Protection Act, themunicipalities are obliged to draw up a comprehensive risk assessment and a generalcontingency plan. The plan has to be coordinated and integrated with other contingency
plans in the municipality.
The Regulation relating to municipal preparedness duty expands on themunicipality’s preparedness obligations. Risk assessment has to cover existing and futurerisks and vulnerability factors of possible significance to the municipality—within as well as
outside the municipality’s geographical area. The assessment should also address how
different risks and vulnerability factors can affect each other. This means, in particular,
challenges related to vital societal functions and possible loss of critical infrastructure.
Furthermore, the assessment should discuss the municipality’s ability to maintain its
activities when exposed to an adverse event, the need to alert the population andevacuate, and its ability to regain previous activities following disasters. In addition, aguideline is available to aid municipalities in implementing the regulation.
The contingency plan is coordinated in cooperation with other relevant actors, suchas health trusts, county authorities, the Norwegian Armed Forces (Forsvaret), the police,
Norwegian Civil Defence, local and joint rescue coordination centres, religious
communities, NGOs and private entities. This cooperation ensures the municipalities’
access to expertise in a wider geographical area. One of the minimum requirements
concerning the overall contingency plan is the municipality’s obligation to include a plan144

for its emergency management. Risk assessments provide the basis for contingency plans,and drills based on the plan are supposed to be practiced at least every other year
according to the Civil Protection Act.
In general, the municipalities are obliged to ensure and provide comprehensive andcoordinated support to local inhabitants. A part of this responsibility is to guarantee
psychosocial interventions in crises, accidents and disasters. Around 98% of Norwegianmunicipalities have established crisis support units that are activated when adverse eventsoccur. The composition of the units varies, but they usually include a doctor, a mental
health nurse, a child protection officer, a clergyman and a police officer. The units are often
called in through the emergency medical services or the police. The Norwegian Directorate
of Health (Helsedirektoratet) provides guidelines for psychosocial follow-up. In 2016 thedirectorate issued a new version of these guidelines, Mestring, samhørighet og håp Veileder for psykososiale tiltak ved kriser, ulykker og katastrofer (Helsedirektoratet, 2016).
In accordance with the National health preparedness plan, the municipalities are
responsible for offering appropriate assistance and care to people of foreign origin. Limited
language proficiency and little familiarity with society make immigrants, refugees and othernewcomers more vulnerable to disasters (Ministry of Health and Care Services in Norway,2014).
Since 2002, the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection conducts regularly asurvey among municipalities’ on their preparedness efforts. The results from the survey
serve as an important basis for prioritising and adapting future assistance from theNorwegian Directorate for Civil Protection and the county to the needs of themunicipalities. The latest survey in 2015 shows a positive trend in many aspects, compared
to a survey conducted in 2012. The majority (86%) of the participating municipalities statethat they have completed a comprehensive risk and vulnerability analysis. This is anincrease of 6%, compared to the survey in 2012. Moreover, 93% of participating
municipalities in the latest survey report that they have drawn up an overall contingency
plan (DSB, 2015). Beside the annual questions, the survey in 2016 also focused on the
preparedness of the municipalities for school shooting (DSB, 2016).

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6.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies
The voluntary sector plays an important role within the preparedness and emergency
management system in Norway. The Voluntary Organizations’ Forum for Rescue (Frivillige
Organisasjoners Redningsfaglige Forum) is an umbrella organization for the voluntary
rescue services in Norway. The volunteers in these organisations have the expertise, skills
and resources to tackle tasks on a broad basis, whether it is at sea, on land or in the air(FORF, n.d.).
There are a number of agreements between authorities in health and care services
and NGOs on how to support and perform different tasks in the emergency management
sector. This framework provides these authorities the opportunity to provide the resourcesand expertise needed. The Directorate of Health is the contact point for NGOs (Ministry of
Health and Care Services in Norway, 2014). The Norwegian Red Cross (Røde Kors), throughan agreement with the Directorate of Health, facilitates the operation of support forsurvivors and relatives in the event of disaster by activating support groups that assist thevictims and other people affected (Ministry of Health and Care Services in Norway, 2014).

6.4 The role of social services in the emergency management system
The Health and Social Preparedness Act aims at ensuring that the population has social andhealth services available in crises and disasters. The act states the municipalities’ obligation
to draw up contingency plans for the social care services for which they are responsible.
The Act also applies to private social care service providers and their personnel, but they
have limited planning responsibilities according to the Health and Social Preparedness Act.
The Regulation relating to requirements for preparedness planning and preparedness work
addresses the obligation of social services to ensure continuity of the services during
disasters. The services ought to base their contingency plans on risk assessments, including
an overview of responsibility and authority, warning routines, procedures for operative
management, and coordination of plans. Personnel with assigned tasks in the contingency
plan have to undergo training and have the necessary expertise and protective gear
(Ministry of Health and Care Services in Norway, 2014).
Furthermore, in accordance with Social Services Act, each municipality must
prepare a contingency plan on social services. The contingency plan on social services shall146be coordinated with other contingency plans on the municipal level. Moreover, the Act
requires municipalities to provide the necessary assistance during disasters, also in cases
when other municipalities need assistance. The county governor supervises the planningobligations of the municipalities.
In all preparedness activities relating to social care (and health) services andadministration, the Directorate of Health together with county governors, assist in ensuringthat cooperation is safeguarded in contingency planning and during crises. They do so by
providing guidelines, advice and guidance to the municipality. Furthermore, theDirectorate facilitates drills and implementation of expertise measures when needed(Ministry of Health and Care Services in Norway, 2014).
The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection’s survey in 2015 asked theparticipating municipalities whether they had prepared for the continuity of local healthand social services during disasters. Ninety-three percent of the municipalities answeredyes (DSB, 2015). However, the survey does not include a more detailed specification of thehealth preparedness measures, on the one hand, and the social services preparedness
measures, on the other.

6.5 Conclusion
Norway’s social services do have to prepare contingency plans, according to both the Act
on Health and Social Preparedness and the Act on Social Services. Hence, the role of social
services is clearly part of Norway’s emergency management (please see the following table
6.1 for more detailed info).

147

Table 6.1

Conclusion: Social services in Norway’s contingency planning

Emergency Management
Ministry responsible
Coherent body of law on EM?

Committee/council/board at national
level?
Are social services represented in thecommittee/board/council?

EM national institution or authority?
No. of staff?
Main principles?

EM cooperating with voluntaryorganizations according to formal
contracts?
Conscripts and volunteers

Ministry of Justice and Public Security
Yes, Civil Protection Act No. 45/2010
Regulation relating to instructions for the ministries’ work on civil
protection and preparedness, the Ministry of Justice and Public
Security’s coordination role, supervision and central crisis
management No. 535/2012
The Regulation relating to the municipal preparedness duty No.
894/2011
The Regulation relating to instructions for the rescue service No.
1102/2013
The Regulation for the county governors' and the Governor of
Svalbard's work with societal security, preparedness and emergency
management No. 703/2015
Health and Social Preparedness Act no. 56/2000
The Regulation relating to requirements for preparedness planningand preparedness work No. 881/2001
Yes, the Crisis Council (Kriserådet).
No, (but the Minister of Health and Care would represent social
services related to health and care).
Prime Minister’s Office
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Justice and the Police
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Health and Care (The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
is not represented)
Yes, DSB
600
Responsibility
Similarity
Proximity
Cooperation
Yes,
Contracts

About 8000 conscripts working in 135 operational units
The Civil Defence, 220 permanent employees
Role of local social services in emergency management
Does the act on EM address the role ofNo
local social services?
Does the legal framework address the role
Yes, the Health and Social Preparedness Act specifically mentionsof local social services in relation to EM?
social services and so does the Social Services Act.
The Regulation relating to requirements for preparedness planningand preparedness.
Does the legal framework outline
Yes, their roles are distinctively mentioned.
distinctive role/roles?
Are social services legally obligated toYes, both according to the Act on Health and Social Preparedness andprepare a contingency plan?
the Social Service Act.
Does the law on social services specificallyYes, the Social Services Act states that each municipality must prepare
address the role of the services in thea contingency plan on labour and welfare administration incontext of disaster?
accordance with the Health and Social Preparedness Act.
Are there specific guidelines for social
Yes, the national guidelines, provided by the Directorate of Health,service contingency planning?
include the Guideline for health and social preparedness in themunicipalities.

Hence, the local social services are clearly designed into the system of Emergency
Management, and it emphasises that the services shall be provided in case of disaster.
Furthermore, the Act on Social Services specially mentions that a municipality shall be148prepared to provide services for another municipality in disaster. The social services havea legal obligation to provide contingency plans, and there are special guidelines for making
the plan. Furthermore, the social services’ contingency plans shall be integrated into thecomprehensive contingency plans of the municipality. It is the county governor who
coordinates and oversees the preparation and the yearly revision of the municipalities’
contingency planning. The municipalities are also expected to hold exercises every other
year.
Surveys conducted by the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection show anincreasing number of municipalities that have a contingency plan, up to 93% in 2015 (DSB,2015). The survey asks about health and social contingency plans, but it would also be
important to ask specifically about the the local social services’ planning and get further
insights into their roles according to the plans. As pointed out earlier, it fell outside thescope of this report to request insight into specific plans and processes, but the highnumber of Norwegian municipalities that include social and health contingency plans into
their planning call for further investigation of the contents of the plans. Systematic
publication or review of the plans would be very useful for the other Nordic countries and,of course, other countries as well. Furthermore, if security does not hinder the publishingof the social service contingency plans, this practice could also enhance co-operation
between different municipalities, as well as cross-sectional co-operation. Other actors
might benefit from reading what the social services consider their role to be during an
emergency.
Research on the role of social services during disaster in Norway is lacking. Such
research would be a very important contribution to the literature, keeping in mind thedisasters that Norway has had to overcome in recent years.

149

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kriser, ulykker og katastrofer. Retrieved on the 4th of June 2016:
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151

Regulation relating to instructions for the rescue service No. 1102/2013 [Instruks for
redningstjenesten].
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the Ministry of Justice and Public Security’s coordination role, supervision and central crisis
management No. 535/2012 [Instruks for departementenes arbeid med samfunnssikkerhet
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sentral krisehåndtering].
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beredskapsplikt].
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7. SWEDEN
Carin Björngren Cuadra, Tapio Salonen, Guðný Björk Eydal, Ingibjörg Lilja Ómarsdóttir,
Rasmus Dahlberg, Björn Hvinden and Merja Rapeli

7.1 Introduction
7.1.1 Geography and climate
Sweden is the fifth largest country in Europe and the largest Nordic country. The land area
is 408,901 km2 (total area 447,420 km2) with 26,080 km2 of arable land (Norden, 2014). To
the east, the country has a coastline 3,218 km long. To the west, mountains separate
Sweden from Norway. A road and a rail bridge connect the southern part of the country
with Denmark. In the far north, the country reaches well over the Arctic Circle. Forests
cover approximately 64% of Sweden. Nine per cent of the country’s land mass is inland
lakes (Norden, 2014; Norden, n.d.). Another characteristic of Sweden is its islands. They
make up 2.6% of the country’s land area. Including the smallest islands, they number
221,800 islands in the sea, lakes and rivers (Norden, 2014).
The Gulf Stream influences Sweden's climate. There are three different climate
zones in Sweden. In the southern part of the country, humid air makes warm days feel
warmer and cold days feel colder. Winters are mild, and it seldom snows. The mid- andnorthern regions have a humid snowy climate, where snowfall is more common than in thesouthern part of the country. The mountainous regions have an icey climate with long, coldand dry winters (Weather online, n.d.).

7.1.2 Demographics
As of 31 July 2016, the population of Sweden was 9,920,881 (Statistics Sweden, n.d.). In
2014 the population density was 23.7 pop./km2 and the population in the capital area41
was 2,163,042 inhabitants (Norden, n.d.).
In 2015 the median age42 in Sweden was 41.2 years, 42.2 for women and 40.2 formen (CIA, n.d.). Life expectancy has increased and is expected to continue rising, leading to
41 Stockholm, Upplands Väsby, Vallentuna, Österåker, Värmdö, Järfälla, Ekerö, Huddinge, Botkyrka, Salem, Haninge,

Tyresö, Upplands-Bro, Nykvarn, Täby, Danderyd, Sollentuna, Södertälje, Nacka, Sundbyberg, Solna, Lidingö, Vaxholm,
Norrtälje, Sigtuna and Nynäshamn.
42 For definition of median age, please see page 65.

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an ageing population. The average life expectancy in Sweden in 2015 was 83.9 years for
women and 80 years for men. In 2015 the fertility rate in Sweden was 1.88 children born
per woman and the infant mortality rate was 2.6 in every life 1000 births (CIA, n.d.). In
2015, the total dependency ratio43 was 58.3 and the potential support ratio44 3.1 (CIA, n.d.).
In 2015 there were 1,603,551 foreign-born persons living in Sweden. This is 22.2%of the total population (Statistics Sweden, n.d.a). The largest groups of foreign-born people
in 2014 were born in Finland (158,488), Iraq (130,178) and Poland (81,697) (Statistics
Sweden, n.d.). The number of asylum seekers has risen rapidly in Sweden in the past years.
In 2010, the country received 31,819 applications for asylum, while in 2015 the number ofapplications had risen to 162,877. In the same period, the Swedish Migration Board(Migrationverket) increased the number of asylum grants from 8,732 in 2010 to 32,631 in
2015. Most of the applications in 2015 were from Syrian (51,338), Afghan (41,564) and Iraqi
citizens (20,857). By far the largest number of those granted asylum were citizens of Syria(18,523). There were also substantial numbers of citizens from Eritrea (6,542) andAfghanistan (1,088) (Migrationsverket, n.d.).
In terms of employment, in 2015 around 74% of people, aged 18 to 64, had a paid
job. There is not a large difference between the employment rate of men and women, as
76% of men were in paid work that year, compared to 72% of women. In 2015, 7.9% of thelabour force was unemployed. The unemployment rate for men was 8.2% and 7.2% forwomen (OECD, n.d.). In 2013, 3.5% of the population received social assistance and 30.5%of the country’s GDP was on social expenditure45 (Norden, n.d.; NOSOSCO, 2015).

7.1.3 The governmental system
At the national level, Sweden is a constitutional monarchy as the king or queen is the headof state. However, royal powers are limited to official and ceremonial functions. The
Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen, 349 seats) is elected on a four-year basis and is tasked with
law-making, budgeting and government oversight. The government that takes care of dayto-day governing derives from and is responsible to the Parliament, where the legislative
power resides due to the separation of the judicial, legislative and executive powers.

43For definition of total dependency ratio, please see page 66.
44 For definition of potential support ratio, please see page 66.
45 For more detailed information on what expenditure on social affairs includes, please see page 66.

154Government offices and central government agencies and administrations assist the
government according to The instrument of government (Kungörelse om beslutad ny
regeringsform) No. 152/1974. There are important constitutional conditions that are
somewhat different from the other Nordic countries. All authorities (national, regional,
local) are autonomous in applying the law (see ch. 12). This implies, for example, nooperational tasks or decision-making for ministries.
Sweden has three administrative levels of government: the national (State),regional (Cunty Administrative Boards and County Councils) and local authorities(Municipalities). The regional level is divided into 20 counties (Landsting och eller regioner,
currently under revision). The counties undertake political tasks through the county
councils. The county councils are responsible for overseeing tasks that municipalities
cannot handle at the local level or require coordination across a larger region. The mostnotable examples are health care under the Act on Health Care (Hälso- och sjukvårdlagen)No. 763/1982 and the Disaster Medicine Act (Lagen om Katastrofmedicin som en del av
svenska insatser utomlands m.m) No. 553/2008. The county councils are authorised to levy
income taxes to cover their costs.
However, included in emergency management are the 21 county administrative
boards (Länsstyrelser). These are governmental bodies at the regional level appointed by
the national government. They are especially relevant as they are important agents for local
authorities in the context of emergency management (elaborated below).
The local authorities (290 municipalities) derive their legal authority of selfgovernment from The Instrument of Government and Act on Municipalities(Kommunallagen) No. 900/1991, outlining that local authorities determine their own
affairs in accordance with the law. Each municipality has an elected assembly, themunicipal council. It takes decisions on municipal matters. The municipal council appoints
the municipal executive board (kommunalstyrelsen). The municipalities are responsible fora large share of public services, including education, municipal management, development
issues and rescue services as well as social services.

7.1.4 Disaster and risk profile
Sweden is geologically and geographically situated in a region that has been struck byneither earthquakes nor volcanic eruptions. Sweden’s geopolitical position has not resulted

155

in major terrorist attacks, but there have been a few assaults resulting in a comparatively
low number of casualties (Cuadra, 2015). A severe incident occurred in Stockholm in 2010
where only a suicide bomber was killed (Lindberg & Sundelius, 2012). Mostly flooding,winter storms, landslides, forest fires and ice floes have struck Sweden (European
Commission, n.d.; Bakken & Rhinard, 2013). There have also been shipping disasters withmajor casualties and injuries as well as emergencies due to major fires—for example, in1998 in a discotheque (Socialstyrelsen, 2009) and a major wild fire in 2014 (Government,2015). Sweden suffered severe casualties in the Asian tsunami in 2004. Many citizens wereon holiday in Thailand when the tsunami struck. About 550 Swedes died, and 1,500 were
injured. Much sorrow and distress followed in the wake of the disaster. The Swedish
population’s criticism of the government’s response was strong. This resulted in a public
investigation and systemic changes regarding crisis preparedness (Government, 2005) as
well as research (e.g. for example, Johannesson et al., 2009).
The National Risk and Capability Assessment 2014 (Risker och förmågor 2014) lists
potential future risks. The country’s major risks pertain to natural adverse events (e.g.,
flooding, storms, wildfires), contagious diseases (e.g., pandemics, epizootics, lack of
medicines), criminality (e.g., antagonistic threat/sabotage, terrorist attacks), dangerous
substances (for example, if chemicals or other dangerous substances spread due toaccidents and technical failure), and disturbances in electronic communication, power
supply and technologies for different supply systems (with consequences, for example, for
the Internet, alarm functions and the distribution and quality of water) (MSB, 2015).

7.2 Local social services
The local social services are in The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs’ political area of
responsibility (Government Offices of Sweden, n.d.). Municipalities organise the publicsocial services under the Social Services Act (Socialtjänstlagen) No. 453/2001. According to
Act on Municipalities, municipalities can decide which politically appointed committees
shall be responsible for the functions of Social Services and organize the services in the way
they deem most suitable, provided this is within the framework of the Social Services Act
and other relevant legislation. This authorisation has resulted in big differences in156

organisational solutions between municipalities (Morén, Blom, Lundgren and Perlinski,2010).
The Social Services Act was passed on 1 January 1982 and can be traced back several
centuries (Pettersson, 2011). It has been revised several times and was last restructured in
2002. The act leaves considerable room for discretion by virtue of its construction as aframework law. Such laws are goal-oriented and leave officials with considerable power toapply general rules individually (Socialstyrelsen, 2003).

The aims of the act are as follows:
On the basis of democracy and solidarity, the public social services shall promote
human beings’- economic and social safety,- equality in living conditions,- active participation in societal life.
Considering humans’ responsibility for their own and others’ social situation,social services, shall be oriented toward emancipating and developing individuals'
and groups’ own recourses. The activities shall be based on respect for humanautonomy and integrity (Ch. 1, §1).

The responsibility involves both structurally oriented ventures on the community level aswell as services. The former involves being well-informed of the living conditions of theentire population, actively participating in the planning of society, co-operating with othersocietal institutions (samhällsorgan) and promoting good living conditions in thecommunity (främja goda miljöer i kommunen). Services, on the other hand, can be either
general (such as providing information, counselling, out-reach programs, preventive work,etc.) or specific to individuals (for example, economic support or social assistance, childprotection, treatment for substance abuse, care and home assistance for the elderly,
services for disabled people and support for victims of crimes). Such services are commonlyorganised into three main areas. Specialised laws apply to some of these (see below):
individuals and families, care for persons with disabilities and the elderly. According to
Bergmark and Lundström (2005), emphasis on specialization in the delivery of services has
been growing at the expense of a generic perspective in Swedish social services since the1980s and onward.

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In line with the report's interest in emergency management, it is most relevant thatwithin each municipality’s area, it has ultimate responsibility for providing individuals withthe support and help they need according to the Social Services Act. It is also responsiblefor individuals residing in the municipality (Ch. 2, § 1). This responsibility is the basis forproviding services outside office hours and on weekends (so-called social services on call)(Social jour). The municipalities’ ultimate responsibility applies in the context of all phasesof emergencies. It is also the basis for psychosocial support (krisstöd) (see below).
The Social Services Act states that everyone should be guaranteed a reasonable
standard of living if the person’s needs cannot be met in other ways (Ch. 4 § 1). The
municipalities are also obliged to support and protect individuals only temporarily residingin the area. In practice, the responsibility for temporarily residing people has beeninterpreted to apply only to acute needs (related to distress or destitution). Acute needs
are needs that a person’s own income or other kinds of support, such as shelter, cannot
meet (Cuadra & Staaf, 2012).
The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) annually provides
national standards determining the amount of financial support. In 2013, 3.5% of theSwedish nation applied for financial assistance (NOSOSCO, 2015).
The Care of Young Persons Act (Lag om vård av unga, LVU) No. 52/1990 is special
legislation applying to public social services. It involves child protection. There is as well theCare of Alcoholics and Drug Abusers Act (Lag om vård av missbrukare i vissa fall, LVM) No.
870/1988. These acts concern involuntary care. These acts concern involuntary care. Social
services can initiate such care, but it is the Administrative Court (Förvaltningsrätten) thathas the authority to decide it. Moreover, the Act concerning Support and Services for
Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (Lag om stöd och service till vissa
funktionshindrade, LSS) No. 387/1993 outlines rights in this regard. It can involve personal
assistance as well as special accommodations with support from staff. These laws are
relevant in the context of disasters as they imply a certain responsibility in relation topersons subject to the laws.

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7.3 The emergency management system
The emergency management system in Sweden has been identified as one of the mostdecentralised systems in the world (Engberg & Wimelius, 2015). It forms part of a wider
approach to societal security and preparedness that involves protection against accidents,
crisis (emergencies) preparedness as well as civil defence (in the context of war). There is
a common orientation towards preparedness and the capacity to manage consequences ofadverse incidents—what is referred to as societal disturbances (samhällsstörningar)—inorder to have a common denominator regardless of the scale of the event and different
actors’ roles and responsibilities (MSB, 2014). Hence, a comprehensive notion of security
underpins the approach as well as an “all-hazard-plus” approach along the entire scale ofthreats (accidents, crisis and war). This apporach is understood as a “whole-of-society”
approach (Lindberg & Sundelius, 2012). The approach is oriented towards identified
protectable values (skyddsvärden) that derive from goals outlined by the government(Government, 2009). These are further connected to vital societal functions andinfrastructures (MSB, 2013). The values are people’s lives and health, societal functionality,
democracy, the role of law and human rights, environmental and economic values, andnational security (MSB, 2014a).
The emergency management system is based on three principles (Government,
2005a46):

The responsibility principle: the organisation responsible for an activity under normal conditions
should maintain its responsibility for such operations and initiate cross-sectoral cooperation intimes of emergency.
The similarity principle: to the extent possible, the organisation of all operations during
emergencies should be similar to their organisation under normal conditions.
The proximity principle: emergencies should be handled at the lowest possible level.

These principles promote decisionmaking at the lowest administrative level possible.
Organisations retain/keep their responsibility during emergencies, and the daily set-up andemergency set-up are similar insofar as possible. This encourages decentralisation of the
preparedness and emergency management system.

46

MSB has recommended that the Government revise the guiding principles to clarify to actors what their
responsibilities for coordination and being proactive are in emergencies (MSB, 2016). Consequently, the Government
underlines in its Budget Proposition 2017 (Budgetpropositionen för 2017), Proposition No. 17 2016, that coordination andtaking action are important components of taking responsibility (Government, 2016).

159

As the emergency management system follows the national governmental andadministrative structure of public responsibilities, it operates on the three different levelsof government: in government offices on the national level, governmental authorities on
the regional level and local activities on the municipal level (see Figure 8).

Figure 8. The Swedish emergency management system: National Organisational Chart
Source: Bakken & Rhinard, 2013, updated by the authors in relation to changes in 2014.

There is one emergency number in Sweden, 112, and SOS Alarm AB handles emergency
calls. SOS Alarm is a publicly owned company, owned jointly by the Swedish State and theSwedish Association of Local Municipalities and Counties. It operates in two areas: Alertingand Preparedness and Safety and Emergency Services. The area of Alerting andPreparedness operates with SOS 112, SOS Health Care, and rescue and emergency
management. Under an agreement with the state, SOS Alarm is responsible for the
emergency number 112 and is a part of the emergency preparedness system in Sweden.
This assignment involves collaboration with sea, air and mountain rescue services, and thepolice (SOS Alarm, n.d.). Municipalities can have agreements with SOS Alarm in order tohave their own alarm number and procedures for alerting the municipalities’ emergency
system. Such agreements also bear upon social services (SOS Alarm, n.d.).

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There is civil-military cooperation. This cooperation takes place at all administrative
levels and includes planning, international activities, training and exercises as well as joint
reporting to the government. The cooperation is currently subject to restructuring(Government, 2014). Regional military offices have been established. This implies
strengthened military-civilian cooperation involving reciprocal support. The restructuring
bears upon social services in terms of civil defence.

7.3.1 Tasks and objectives
The legal framework consists of laws, ordinances and regulations on societal security andpreparedness. Ordinance on crisis preparedness and authorities’ (responsible forsafeguarding) measures in heightened alert (Förordning om krisberedskap och
bevakningsansvariga myndigheters åtgärder vid höjd beredskap) No. 1052/2015 regulates
the demands on government authorities at national and regional levels (such as county
administrative boards). Under this ordinance, all Swedish governmental/national
authorities are obliged to carry out risk and vulnerability analyses in their own areas of
responsibility. This measure is to strengthen their own and Sweden's overall emergency
management capacity.
At regional (i.e., county councils) and local levels, Act on Municipal and County
Council Measures Prior to and During Extra-ordinary Events in Peacetime and During
Periods of Heightened Alert (Lag om kommuners och landstings åtgärder inför och vid
extraordinära händelser i fredstid och höjd beredskap) No. 544/2006 states thatmunicipalities and county councils should attain fundamental capacity for engaging in civil
defence activities. The act regulates planning of and preparation for the handling ofcomplex extraordinary events demanding coordinated management between various
societal activities at local and regional levels. Under this law, municipalities' tasks are to
perform risk and vulnerability analyses, develop contingency plans and prepare for crises,organise a emergency management committee as well as train and educate staff andpoliticians, be responsible for their geographic area (to coordinate all local actors) as well
as report to national authorities. Corresponding Ordinance on Municipalities’ Key Role andResponsibilities Prior to and During Extra-Ordinary Events in Peacetime and During Periodsof Heightened Alert No. 637/2006 addresses the municipalities’ key role and161responsibilities. Further regulations involve performance of and accounting for risk andvulnerability analyses as well as practical guidelines (MSB, 2011; MSBFS, 2015).
Civil Protection Act (Lagen om skydd mot olyckor, verbatime, protection against
accidents) No. 788/2003 outlines municipalities’ responsibility to organise rescue services
to prevent and limit harm to people and damage to property and the environment resulting
from adverse events. The same act also outlines the responsibilities for marine, air traffic
and mountain rescue services. These are national responsibilities. In addition, there areoperations involving radioactivity and major environmental rescue operations that arenational areas of response.
Taken together from the municipalities’ perspective, the legal framework involves
two related strands (Sparf, 2014), one for accidents and one for unexpected highconsequence events (crisis and disasters), referred to as extraordinary events or societal
disturbances (MSB, 2014). The municipalities commonly integrate these strands
organisationally, for example, for issues on safety and security. While the objective of
rescue services is, as mentioned, to prevent and limit harm to people and damage toproperty and the environment resulting from adverse events, the objectives of emergency
management are to protect the lives and health of populations, societal functionality, andthe ability to maintain vital values (Government, 2009).
Other relevant regulations are a series of government ordinances containing
instructions for the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Förordning med instruktion för
Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap) No. 1002/2008, Swedish Armed Forces(Förordning med instruktion för Försvarsmakten) No. 1266/2007, Government Offices(Förordning med instruktion för Regeringskansliet) No. 1515/1996, and County
Administrative Boards (Förordning med länsstyrelseinstruktion) No. 864/2002. In addition,
given this report’s focus, Act on regulating handling of dangerous and explosive substances(Lag om brandfarliga och explosiva varor) No. 1011/2010 might also be relevant along with
the Police Act (Polislag) No. 387/1984, Infectious Diseases Act (Smittskyddslag) No.
168/2004 and their related regulations, as well as the Planning and Building Act (Plan- och
bygglagen) No. 900/2010 and the Environmental Code (Miljöbalken) No. 808/1998. The
variety of laws makes it obvious that disaster prevention and management relates to a
multitude of political areas (Becker & Baez Ullberg, 2016). No specific legal regulation162

specifically targets volunteers and nongovernmental organizations (see section on civilsociety below).

7.3.2 Contingency planning
The responsibility for contingency planning lies with all levels of government (DeschampsBerger, 2015). As indicated, all national authorities are obliged to carry out risk andvulnerability assessments in their own areas of responsibility under Ordinance on crisis
preparedness and authorities’ (responsible for safeguarding) measures in heightened alert.
As also indicated above, Act on measures to be taken by municipalities and county
council in preparedness for and during extraordinary incidents during peacetime andperiods of heightened alert requires municipalities as well as county councils to perform
risk and vulnerability analysis, develop contingency plans and prepare for crisis andorganize an emergency management committee as well as train and educate staff andpoliticians. Municipal responsibility includes all areas of operation and, thus, also social
services. Furthermore, municipalities are responsible for their geographic area, i.e., forcoordinating all local actors and reporting to national authorities. This implies anticipatedcooperation with both public and private actors (Lindberg & Sundelius, 2012) bearing upon
contingency planning.

7.3.3 The national level
The government is responsible for emergency management at the national level (Bakken& Rhinard, 2013). The government’s forum for information sharing and discussion, The
Crisis Management Council, is led by the Minister for Home Affairs’ State Secretary. The
Council, normally includes central authorities such as the National Police Commissioner,
the Head of the Swedish Security Service, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
and the Directors-General of the National Grid (Svenska kraftnät), the Swedish Civil
Contingencies Agency, Swedish Radiation Safety Authority and, most important to ourinterest, the National Board of Health and Welfare, and County Governor represents thecounty administrative boards. Representatives of the ministries responsible for relevant
agencies may also take part.
Since October 2014, the overall political responsibility for civil emergency planningat the ministerial level lies with the Ministry of Justice. In accordance with the overall

163

objective of ensuring effective cross-ministerial coordination within the government, since2014, the Crisis Management Coordination Secretariat has been under the Ministry ofJustice (established in 2008) (MSB, n.d.). The secretariat continuously monitors domestic
and international events, threats and risks 24/7, assists the ministries with contingency
planning and communication, and organises training sessions and exercises. During a crisis
bearing upon the national level, the secretariat supports the ministries with emergency
management implementation, raises alarms, gathers information and provides
comprehensive analysis of the crisis landscape and its societal impact (Bakken & Rhinard,2013).
Other authorities have more specialized roles. The National Board for Health andWelfare, which is highly relevant to this report’s focus, is responsible for areas involving
health care and social services, patient safety and epidemiology. It drafts regulations andgeneral advice, produces and develops statistics and knowledge for health and medicalcare and social services. The Board works with emergency preparedness in health care andsocial service. In doing so, the Board supports, coordinates and monitors health care andsocial services before, during and after a disaster. It thus aims at strengthening emergency
preparedness, based on laws, regulations and general advice. The role during a crisis is
primarily to support the counties and municipalities with expertise and equipment(Socialstyrelsen, 2009). Its expertise involves nuclear, biological, chemical, and radioactive
areas, as well as psychosocial support (Bakken & Rhinard, 2013). The Board is generally
responsible for developing, maintaining and disseminating expertise on and knowledge ofdisaster medicine within the authority's area of activity. It is also responsible for putting
expertise at the disposal of society in crises and disasters. Moreover, as indicated, theBoard carries out risk and vulnerability analyses (under Ordinance on crisis preparedness
and authorities’ measures in heightened alert) within its area of responsibility on a yearlybasis. This consequently involves social services. The Board shall also be capable ofmaintaining a leadership role if the crisis affects their area of responsibility. It shall also
cooperate with county councils, municipalities and other organizations and agencies.
The Swedish Police Authority (Polismyndigheten) is a supervisory central
administration for the Swedish Police. It is responsible for coordinating emergency-related
police operations. It also assumes operational responsibility under specific circumstances(Polisen, n.d.). Still, the local police districts usually take charge even during extraordinary164

incidents. The services provided by the police during crises include the sealing of accident
areas, identification of killed persons and notification of relatives, related criminal
investigations and event assessments (Polisen, n.d.).
Upon request of The Swedish Police Authority, the Armed Forces provide support
for counterterrorism, in accordance with the Act on support from the Armed Forces to the
Police in fighting terrorism (Lag om Försvarsmaktens stöd till polisen vid
terrorismbekämpning) No. 343/2006. The Swedish Security Services (Säkerhetspolisen)
carry out intelligence, along with the National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets
Radioanstalt) and units of the Swedish Police Authority and The Swedish Armed Forces.
The Swedish Armed Forces, in addition to their military obligations, are also
responsible for providing support to civil authorities during peacetime crises, under theOrdinance containing instructions for Swedish Armed Forces. They support rescue service
operations, for example, by providing transport (like helicopters) and human resources andby mobilising the National Home Guard (Hemvärnet – Nationella skyddsstyrkorna). Other
relevant national agencies, inter alia, all addressed by the Ordinance on crisis preparedness
and authorities’ measures in heightened alert, that are responsible for safeguarding include
the Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket), the Board of Migration, the National Food
Agency (Livsmedelsverket), National Post and Telecom Agency (Post- och telestyrelsen), theSwedish Road Administration (Vägverket), the Migration Agency (Migrationsverket), theSwedish Civil Contingencies Agency (Myndigheten för samhällskydd och beredskap, MSB),
the

Coast

Guard

(Kustbevakningen),

PublicHealthAgencyof

Sweden(Folkhälsomyndigheten), National Veterinary Institute (Statens veterinärmedicinska
anstalt), the Radiation Safety Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten), the National Grid,the

Transport

Administration(Trafikverket),

and

the

Transport

Agency(Transportstyrelsen).

165

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency is a national authority. Its role is coordinating
various sectors and areas of responsibility utilising the “whole-of-society” approachmentioned above (Lindberg & Sundelius, 2012). The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency’s
mandate reflects this role—i.e., to deal with the entire spectrum ranging from threats torisks and from everyday accidents to major crises and disasters as well as civil defence indifferent phases, before, during and after the occurrence of incidents according to theOrdinance containing instructions for the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. The agency’s
brief is to build resilience across sectors and levels of government (Lindberg & Sundelius,
2012). The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency’s assignments involve safeguarding andanalysing 24/7, to ascertain the current situation and act as an operational agency, given
certain severe circumstances and the need of coordination. However, in line with theprinciple of responsibility, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency does not take over the
responsibility of other actors during emergencies but has the role of coordinating various
sectors and areas of responsibility. There are 850 full-time employees at the Swedish Civil
Contingencies Agency organised in four departments (MSB, n.d.).
The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency provides ordinances, regulations andguidance. These introduce methodologies and provide examples. The Guide on Risk andVulnerability Analyses (MSB, 2011) for all government levels is an example of this.
Furthermore, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency is a major funder of research (MSB,
2012) in the area of safety and security as well as an organiser of education and exercises(inter alia for staff in rescue services).

7.3.4 The regional level
The 21 county administrative boards (Länsstyrelser) at the regional level are responsible
for coordinating emergency planning activities within their geographic area (län). These
include exercises, risk and vulnerability analyses. The boards also act as clearing houses
between public and private partners within their geographic area (län). As indicated, they
are also responsible for having contingency plans in place to handle situations before,
during and after a disaster according to the Ordinance on crisis preparedness andauthorities’ measures in heightened alert. In this context, the county administrative boards
provide continuous support and assistance to the local level. They also monitor the role of166

municipalities regarding compliance with laws and ordinances according to Ordinance, No.
825/2007

containing

countygovernment

instruction(Förordningmed

länsstyrelseinstruktion).
During disasters, when there is need of multi-sectorial and/or multi-municipal
cooperation, the County administrative boards are expected to coordinate the appropriate
measures with relevant actors (including key companies) at local, regional and centrallevels. They shall also provide support to maintain the level of responsibility. In addition, insuch situations, the county administrative boards have the overall responsibility forreporting the need for national support in the event of a major emergency. They are also
responsible for coordinating contact with the media during major emergencies and crises
according to the ordinance on crisis preparedness and authorities’ measures in heightenedalert.
For this report, the county councils at the regional level are also of some interest.
They are reasonable for health care under Act on Health Care as well as disaster medicine
under the Disaster Medicine Act. Under the regulation for Disaster Medicine Preparedness(Föreskrift om katastrofmedicinsk beredskap) No. 22/2013, the county councils must havean official in its health care system authorised to establish immediate regional medical
command and thereby control the overall available medical resources within the region.
Each county council determines whether an event must be declared a major incident, andwhat regional medical preparedness plan to activate. This will depend on the capacity andresources available at the time. The County Council should plan for collaboration during
major incidents. The planning of cooperation with other actors at local, regional andnational levels must remain current with municipalities, other counties, municipal
agencies, the regional police and agencies.
County Councils' planning for major incidents should include psycosocial support tothose affected by or at risk of mental illness due to a major event. From the municipal andsocial services perspective, this implies that the regional-local cooperation involves theirinteraction in organising psychosocial support. The county councils offer psychological andpsychiatric support to those directly affected by the event. However, the municipalities’
approach is broader in terms of services and target groups (Socialstyrelsen, 2008).
Furthermore, the fact that the home care delivered in municipalities is organised in close
cooperation with social services and county councils (regarding medical staff)

167

(Socialstyrelsen, 2006) has obvious implications for emergency management from theperspective of social services.

7.3.5 The municipal level
In accordance with the principle of responsibility, the 290 Swedish municipalities play animportant role in emergency management, emergency planning and preparedness under
Act on Municipal and County Council Measures in Preparedness for and during
Extraordinary Incidents during Peacetime and Periods of Heightened Alert. They are thus
expected to heavily engage in all phases of emergency management within theirgeographical area, including preparation (risk and vulnerability analysis, contingency
planning, education and training of personnel and politicians) and response (themaintenance of vital societal functions and infrastructures, reporting, crisis coordinationand information to the public. Maintaining vital functions is understood to involve theplanning of the continuity of services (“service continuity”) (MSB, 2011; MSBFS 2015).
Under the same act, in emergencies the mayor is the highest civilian authority in themunicipality.
The municipalities operate fire brigades and rescue services and are thus
responsible for a great variety of operations, including fire fighting, major traffic accidents,
forest fires and chemical accidents under the Civil Protection Act. They target events acrossthe entire spectrum (from everyday accidents to major crises and war) that involve
demands for rescue operations. The municipalities are also responsible for their land use
planning under the Planning and Building Act and Environmental Code, which is deemed to
be an aspect of disaster risk reduction (Becker & Baez Ullberg, 2016).

7.3.6 Civil society and nongovernmental engagements/agencies
The involvement of civil society and volunteers in preparedness and emergency
management is highly relevant. There are 18 voluntary defence organisations (for example
for transportation, radio communication and working dogs). One of these is the Civil
Defence League (Civilförsvarsförbundet). It focuses on safety in everyday life and in timesof crisis. It organizes training activities, such as first aid, risk awareness, emergency supportand voluntary reinforcement resources. The number of members in the Civil Defence
League is approximately 19,700 (Civil Defence League, n.d.a).

168

In 2013, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges
Kommuner och Landsting) and the Civil Defence League jointly launched a plan, including
recommendations to municipalities on the involvement of non-governmentalorganizations in preparedness and emergency management. The recommendations
suggested ways to improve civil society's involvement. These included setting up Voluntary
Resource Groups as well as formalizing agreements with the groups aimed at clarifying thecriteria for responsibilities. Currently, the Civil Defence League organizes and educates the
Voluntary Resource Groups (at present in place in 162 municipalities). The aim of the
Voluntary Resource Groups is to reinforce the municipalities’ resources, for example, forevacuation, dissemination of information and other practical activities during emergencies(Civil Defence League, n.d.), which bear upon the social services.
The Swedish Red Cross (Svenska Röda Korset) is one of the Voluntary Defence
Organisations. It is committed to providing emergency and humanitarian relief bothnationally and internationally through its network of volunteers and delegates. In Sweden,
the Red Cross provides emergency services through first-aid teams, mobile emergency
units and counselling support groups managed by specially trained volunteers. The Red
Cross endeavours also to increase knowledge on how to prevent injuries and how to takecare of wounded and ill people by offering first-aid courses for the National Home Guard(Swedish Red Cross, n.d.). Furthermore, they run eleven centres for those injured in war
and victims of torture. They provide rehabilitation (Swedish Red Cross, 2015), which is very
relevant, given the current refugee migration.
Faith-based civil society organisations are also engaged in the emergency
management system. In many municipalities, the Swedish Church (Svenska kyrkan), as wellas congregations of other faiths, participates in the organisation of psychosocial support(Socialstyrelsen, 2006). Furthermore, since 2012, Missing People Sweden arranges searchand rescue operations on a voluntary and local basis (Missing People Sweden, n.d.).

7.4 The role of social services in the emergency management system
The municipalities’ responsibility for Public Social Services in the context of emergencies
derives from the Act on Municipalities’ and County Councils’ Measures as well as from thecorresponding ordinances and regulations. The outlined responsibilities are expected to be169

operationalised in the social services. It is noteworthy that neither the Social Services Act
nor other legislation governing social services specifically addresses municipalities’
responsibility for operations involving crisis and serious incidents (Socialstyrelsen, 2009).
Rather, the principle of responsibility underpinning the emergency system implies thatwhat the Social Services Act outlines about responsibility also applies under criticalcircumstances as well as in all phases of emergencies. Consequently, each municipality is
responsible at all times for social services for people residing in the municipality. It is also
responsible for ensuring that people receive the support and help they need. This involves
upholding the continuity of services (MSBSF, 2015) for persons already receiving them aswell as the support and services needed in the wake of the situation. This might involve as
well persons with no previous contact (Socialstyrelsen, 2009). Examples of the latter might
involve evacuation and psychosocial support. In most municipalities, social services
organise psychosocial support. This is commonly done in cooperation with health care,education, police, faith-based organisations and voluntary organisations (DeschampsBerger, 2015). Responsibility for emergencies thus relates to ordinary requirements ofquality, safety, sustainability and planning in order to maintain existing operations andmanage the tasks ahead. Consequently, the municipalities must plan according to what isdeemed necessary to manage emergencies (Socialstyrelsen, 2009).
Social services also organise or take part in activities in cooperation with otherpartners that are relevant to our interests such as activities targeting social risks. These
activities range from participating in interventions targeting youth (i.e., collective violent
criminal behaviour) to engaging in long-term promotion of living conditions. An example ofthe former is “ear-to-the-ground” strategies involving meetings on a regular basis withactors for information sharing and planning (Länsstyrelsen Skåne, 2014). A local exampleof the latter is the formation of “The trans-bordering team” (Gränsöverskridande Teamet)targeting children through cooperation between social services and schools (Malmö stad,n.d.). Further, many municipalities organise support for persons wanting to leave violent
organisations (Herz, 2016). In the context of violent extremism, it must be said that social
services can initiate involuntary care of underaged persons aiming at engaging in warfare(Socialstyrelsen, 2016).
As indicated, the municipalities receive support from and are guided by the National
Board of Health and Welfare regarding emergency management, mitigating vulnerabilities

170

and withstanding threats and risks. The National Board of Health and Welfare’s 2015 risk
and vulnerability analysis identified some shortcomings within its area of responsibility.
These related mostly to the role and function of public social services in emergencies. Thisoutcome is considered critical, especially when taking into account that emergencies canlead to increased demand for services from already known groups as well as new groups.
Furthermore, the Board deemed it equally critical that in previous crises, social services
tended to focus more on the continuity of services and much less on the services needed
following crises (Socialstyrelsen, 2015). This finding underlines the need for public social
services to plan strategically for not only measures maintaining the functions of theirtraditional services but also ways to inform and contact people with whom they have noestablished contact (Socialstyrelsen, 2009).

7.5 Conclusion
The Swedish legal framework of the emergency management system addresses social
services in a regulation (Please see table 7.1). Yet, its role is not addressed explicitly.
Furthermore, in terms of contingency planning, social services is a municipal area of
operation. It is included in the municipal venture in this regard and has no explicit
responsibility under the law to develop crisis preparedness of its own. Consequently, social
services are expected to be included in structures and processes underpinning crisis
preparedness, such as risk and vulnerability analysis, planning for contingencies and service
continuity, educating and training staff and reporting to regional and national authorities.
Regarding the role of social services, it is most relevant that neither the Social
Services Act nor other legislation governing the social services, addresses specifically the
responsibility of municipalities for operations in case of crisis and serious incidents. Rather,in terms of responsibility, the Social Services Act outlines responsibility. It also applies
under critical circumstances as well as in the context of all phases of emergencies.
Consequently, each municipality is responsible for social services at all times for people
residing in the municipality and is responsible for ensuring that they receive the supportand help they need. In crisis this involves maintaining the continuity of services as well as
providing services called for in the situation, like crisis support. The latter is commonlyorganised in cooperation with county councils, education, police and civil society. This171

approach involves a need for public social service to plan strategically, not only measuresthat maintain the functions of their traditional services but also how to inform and get incontact with people with whom they have no established contact, but who might need help
during a crisis (Socialstyrelsen, 2009).
With this backdrop, and given the continuous development of the emergency
management system along with on-going societal changes, we conclude that a revision ofexisting guidelines would be beneficial. Further, it would be important to gain more
knowledge about social services’ practical enactment of their role in contingency planning
as well as in manifested crisis. Some important aspects involve current approaches toservice continuity and cooperation with other actors, public as well as private, and actors
from civil society. It would also be of interest to check the current development of militarycivilian cooperation, and what civil defence implies for social services.

172

Table 7.1

Conclusion: Social services in Sweden’s contingency planning

Emergency Management
Ministry responsible
Coherent body of law on EM?

Committee/council/board at national level?
Are social services represented in thecommittee/board/council?

EM national institution or authority?
No. of staff?
Main principles?

EM cooperating with voluntary organizations
according to formal contracts?
Conscripts and volunteers

The Ministry of the Justice
Yes, act on Municipal and County Council Measures
Prior to and During Extra-Ordinary Events in Peacetimeand During Periods of Heightened Alert, No. 544/2006,
and its corresponding Ordinance No. 637/2006
Regulation MSBFS 2015:5
The ordinance on crisis preparedness and authorities’(that are responsible to guard) measures in heightenedalert (national and regional level), No. 1052/2015
The Civil Protection Act No. 778/2003 regulating rescue
services as well as national responsibilities in terms ofrescue operations
Yes, the Crisis Management Council
Yes, social Services is represented by the National Boardof Health and Welfare as well as through the Social
Ministry. Led by the Minister for Home Affairs’ State
Secretary, it normally includes the National Police
Commissioner, the Head of the Swedish Security
Service, the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces
and the Directors-General of the National Grid, theSwedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the National Boardof Health and Welfare and the Swedish Radiation Safety
Authority, a County Governor, representing the county
administrative boards. Representatives of the ministries
responsible for relevant agencies may also take part.
The Minister for Home Affairs’ State Secretary may also
co-opt other members if necessary.
Yes, MSB
850
Responsibility
Similarity
Proximity
Yes,
agreements on both national and local level
There are 18 Voluntary Defence Organisation, including
the Red Cross and Civil Defence League. The latter
focuses on safety in everyday life and in times of crisis. It
organizes training activities, such as first aid, risk
awareness, emergency support and voluntary
reinforcement resources. The number of members in
the Civil Defence League is approximately 19,700.

Role of local social services in emergency management
Does the act on EM address the role of local social
No
services?
Does the legal framework address the role of local
Yes,
social services in relation to EM?
in the regulation
Does the legal framework outline distinctiveNorole/roles?
Are social services legally obligated to prepare a
Yes, all authorities and municipalities are obligated tocontingency plan?
make contingency plans. Social services are, as amunicipal area of operation, included in municipal
responsibility in this regard.
Does the law on social services specifically address
No, however, the Social Services Act and related social
the role of the services in the context of disaster?
acts apply under all circumstances. The municipalities’
ultimate responsibility applies in the context of allphases of emergencies.
Are there specific guidelines for social service
Yes, the National Board of Health and Welfare havecontingency planning?
issued guidelines as regards emergency management (in2009) and crisis support (in 2008).

173

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1778. CONCLUSION
Guðný Björk Eydal, Carin Björngren Cuadra, Merja Rapeli, Rasmus Dahlberg, Ingibjörg
Lilja Ómarsdóttir, Björn Hvinden and Tapio Salonen

The aim of this report was to investigate the roles of local social services in times of disaster.
We asked the following questions: Do local social services have a formal role in thecontingency planning of the emergency management systems in the five Nordic countries?
If so, what are these roles? Disasters usually allow limited time to make decisions, and highvalues are at stake. Hence, the literature recommends that the level of preparedness be as
high as possible, and that contingency plans formally lay out the division of labour between
respondents.
The results show that the countries in question have chosen quite different paths
regarding this issue (see further discussion below). Municipalities do have legal obligations
to make contingency plans in all the countries, but Finland, Norway and Sweden specificallyaddress the role of social services in times of disaster. They do so within both the legal
frameworks on emergency management and in the case of Finland and Norway also in thelaw on social services. All countries expect all authorities to make a contingency plan, but
only Finland, Norway and Sweden prepare special guidelines for social services on thecontingency planning.
In the introduction we discussed the wide cooperation that the Nordic countries
have established in the fields of emergency management, civil defence and healthpreparedness management, both among the Nordic countries and in the European context.
All the Nordic countries have strong systems of emergency management, and all but
Iceland have their own defence forces that can be mobilised in times of need. The countries
have similar ideas about the main principles of emergency management: responsibility,
similarity, proximity and cooperation47. The report also addressed how the Nordic
countries are also widely known for their strong welfare systems. The Social Democratic
Welfare Model is often referred to as a role model for other countries. Hence, all the Nordic
countries have two strong systems that are intended to respond to disasters: the47 Sweden is in the process of amending its principles in autumn 2016.

178

emergency management systems are directed to respond to certain types of majordisasters, while the welfare systems usually respond daily on the micro level to crises ofindividuals or families. However, they respond as well to social problems and crisis on thecommunity level. The literature shows the importance of the co-operation of these twosystems, due to both the increase in disasters and the emphasis on participation of the
inhabitants and communities in emergency management. The welfare system has tools andinformation to meet the needs of the most vulnerable groups in the society, and theliterature has shown that disasters hit these groups hardest. Hence, the institutions of thewelfare systems, in particular the local social services, have proven to be very important.
Recent events in the Nordic countries have raised questions on co-operation of thesystems, e.g., when the countries faced massive increases in the number of refugees in2015. The aftermath of the financial and bank crisis in Iceland in October 2008 raised
thoughts on why the emergency management and the welfare systems are not responding
jointly in a coherent manner. Then, public protests and riots led to the government’s
resignation, and the nation’s trust in most governmental institutions collapsed (Bjarnason,
2014; Bernburg, 2016). The Icelandic government established a special welfare watch tooversee the situation, but the government did not trigger the emergency management
system, nor did it have a representative in the welfare watch (Arnalds, Jónsdóttir,
Jónsdóttir, Jónsdóttir and Víkingsdóttir, 2015).
Despite the importance of social services during disasters, only a few researchers
have addressed the role of the welfare state in relation to disasters in the Nordic countries.
The literature shows that the role of the health care system is usual well defined andimplemented as part of the contingency plans. However, when we searched for literatureor reports addressing the roles of the social services, we found only two on-going projects,
one in Finland (Rapeli, 2016a) and the other in Sweden (Cuadra, 2015). Our search thus
convinced us that comparative research on the roles of local social services in relation tocontingency planning would add to knowledge to the field. Hence, we consider the reportan important contribution for stakeholders and policy makers. It is also valid input into thegrowing intersectional disaster research in the Nordic countries and around the world.

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Role of social services in relation to disasters
In chapter two, we presented a literature review on the role of social services in times ofdisaster. The review showed very clearly how the local social services in other countries
have played both extensive and important roles in times of disaster. Furthermore, theliterature suggests that the role could be even bigger if the full potential of the local social
services were applied in all phases of the disaster cycle. This would enhance resilience ofindividuals, communities and nations as a whole.
International agreements agreed by the UN World Conference on Disasters Risk
Reduction, e.g., the Sendai Framework for Disaster Reduction 2015-2030, bears witness tothe shift from managing disasters to emphasising pro-active risk management. This calls for
co-operation of a wide range of stakeholders, in the private and public sector, the voluntary
sector and civil society. Localisation and user-involvement is emphasised in order toenhance the resilience and proactive contingency planning of both individuals andcommunities. The literature and the stakeholders point out that no matter how efficientthe emergency management is on the state level, it is the local actors that are most often
the first responders. After the emergency phase is over, it is the local community that is themost important actor during recovery. Hence, as pointed out in the introduction, meeting
disaster is regarded as a shared task of prepared and resilient communities.
The literature has mapped how multiple factors influence resilience and recovery,
including age, diversity, gender and social inequality. The literature shows that vulnerable
groups suffer most from disasters, and they have fewer resources to prepare for it. Despite
increasing deprivation and segregation in the Nordic countries, they can still pride
themselves that a relatively low proportion of people live at the defined levels of poverty
and social exclusion. In addition, international comparison shows them to be among thesafest countries in the world in terms of disasters and vulnerabilities. The inhabitants of theNordic countries generally place high trust in their governments. As the list of recent majordisasters shows, in recent years, the Nordic countries have all faced major crises due tonatural, technical and man-made factors, and if predictions about the increase in disasters
are correct, the frequency is on the rise. Hence, even though the Nordic countries havebeen able to protect their citizens from social ills, the welfare state is facing more
complicated tasks than before. In addition, we must bear in mind that the nations are180

growing older, and the dependency ratio is increasing. At the same time, the projected
number of both natural and social disasters is increasing. These facts call for criticalexamination of how we utilise the resources earmarked to ensure the nations’ welfare.
Applying social services to enhance resilience and preparedness of those most vulnerable
in disasters is of vital importance.
Furthermore, the growing literature on the role of local social services reports theirimportant roles in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery for not only
vulnerable groups but also all inhabitants generally. The literature has therefore
emphasised that plans must integrate the providers of social services into disaster risk
management in all phases of disasters. As discussed at length in chapter two, the role ofsocial services and social work in rebuilding lives post-disaster can also be salient, and they
can make an essential contribution to disaster recovery by facilitating community
development, restoring livelihoods, providing psychosocial support, and enhancing
capacity in local communities. We must also recall the importance of close co-operation
between social services and the voluntary sector during the emergency and recovery
phase. For example, the Red Cross is usually the biggest voluntary organization providing
social services during disasters in all the countries.
Social workers are the largest profession working in local social services, but theliterature sometimes makes little distinction between social services and social work.
Chapter two discussed some of the main distinguishing features. The review showed thatthe resources of social work could also be used more in relation to disasters. Social workers’
practices emphasise user involvement and working closely with vulnerable populations indifferent institutional settings. This is valuable when shifting from a top-down approach topro-active risk management. Emphasising the role of individuals and local communities’abilities will enhance resilience. Furthermore, the literature emphasises social workers’
knowledge of the methods of community work. These methods build on the participationof a community’s members. Hence, the literature points out how social workers’ holistic
and people-centred approach can contribute, based on empowerment approaches. In thisrespect, it is important to recall the model by Elliot (2010). Her model addresses the social
work tasks in all phases of disaster intervention. Rapeli (2016) applied her model andsystematically reviewed the role of social work in disasters. Her results provide us with alist of tasks performed by social workers, as reported in the literature. Local social services

181

in the Nordic countries could include all these tasks. Hence, in addition to social and humaninvestment, the social services could enhance citizens’ economic participation and politicalempowerment.
Table 8.1

Social work tasks in relation to disasters according to Rapeli’s systematic review

Social Investment
1. Outreach
2. Identification and needs assessment of the affected
3. Linking of those in need with resources and further support / referral services
4. Support for special groups in need
5. Temporary housing
6. Delivery of food and clothing
7. Practical help
8. Providing information
9. Ensuring safety of the affected
10. Support for community development and reconstruction
11. Information for the communities
12. Support groups
13. Support for NGOs to ensure efficient aid
14. Guidance, support and coordination of voluntary action
Economic Participation
15. Financial support
16. Support for getting jobs
Economic Participation – cont.
17. Support for applying for insurance and benefits
18. Channelling funds and goods raised
19. Developing means for livelihoods with communities
20. Promoting micro credits
Political Empowerment
21. Motivation and activation of victims to get support and benefits they have rights to
22. Support for decision makers and management in advocating the needs of the most vulnerable
23. Advocacy for changes in policy if the most vulnerable do not get benefits
24. Conflict mediation between communities and government
Human Investment
25. Psychosocial support
26. Trauma counselling
27. Bereavement counselling
28. Family reunion
29. Support for Disaster Victim Identification personnel
30. Support at funerals
31. Help line for psychosocial support
Source: Rapeli, 2016b.

As discussed in chapter two, the local circumstances and types of disasters in eachmunicipality define to some extent the role of social services. Hence, this is important tokeep in mind when discussing and defining the roles of local social services.

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Are social services included in contingency planning?
Tables 8.2 and 8.3 present the main points made in the concluding sections of the chapterson all five countries. First, the comparison shows quite different approaches to the overall
organization of emergency management. All countries except Finland have an institution
overseeing emergency management. In Finland, the Office of the Prime Minister coordinates tasks in times of major disaster. However, due to the high degree of sectorial
responsibility, there is no need for a special institution in Finland.
The numbers staffing the emergency management institutions, as well as ministries
and national authorities’ explicit responsibilities to support (and/or monitor) the local level,
reveal possible sources of support for social services making their contingency plans. An
indicator of this is whether special guidelines have been prepared. In the case of Iceland,that has a relatively high number of disasters caused by natural hazards, the number ofstaff there is 9 persons, compared to 600 in Denmark and Norway and 850 in Sweden.
However, the emergency management institutions all have similar tasks, thus Iceland’s low
number of inhabitants does not mean that the Icelandic institution has fewer tasks.
All the Nordic countries have a strong voluntary sector that adds to the resourcesof their formal emergency management. In relation to social services, the voluntary sector
provides important contributions to disaster management in all the countries. However,the level of formalisation differs. In some countries, there are formal contracts for theirrole on the state level. For example, in Iceland the voluntary organisations play key roles.
In other cases, contracts are made on the local level when needed, e.g., in Denmark.
Because local social services are unable to provide all needed services in a major disasterwithout the resources of voluntary organizations (in most cases the Red Cross), clearly
articulating the division of labour between the local social services and civil society isimportant in contingency planning and, if possible, formal contracts as well.

183

Table 8.2

Main features of emergency management systems in the Nordic countries

Ministry responsible

Coherent body of law on EM?
Committee/council/board at national
level?
EM national institution or authority?
No. of staff?
EM cooperating with voluntaryorganizations according to formal
contracts?

Denmark
Ministry of
Defence

Iceland
The Ministryof theInterior

NorwayMinistry ofJustice andPublicSecurity

SwedenMinistryof Justice

Yes
Yes

FinlandEach
Ministry, but
Prime
Minister's
Office Coordinates incase ofmajorydisasters
Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

Yes, DEMA
600
Yes

No
Yes

Yes, DCPEM
9
Yes

Yes, DSB
600
Yes

Yes, MSB
850
Yes

Table 8.3 below compares the legal framework for the role of social services in relation tocontingency planning. Finland, Norway and Sweden all specifically address social services
in their emergency management legal frameworks. These countries also prepare special
guidelines for social services’ contingency plans. In comparison, neither Denmark nor
Iceland mentions social services specifically in their emergency management acts, nor dothey prepare special guidelines for social services. As mentioned above, all authorities havea legal obligation to make contingency plans in all the countries. Hence, even if the law
does not address social services, the law obligates authorities to make contingency plans—also in Denmark and Iceland. Another point of difference between the countries is whether
the act on social services recognizes that social services play a specific role in disasters. The
Danish and the Icelandic social services acts do not address this, but the acts of Finland andNorway stipulate on these matters. In Sweden, the role is more implicit as the social act
applies regardless of circumstances. We also noticed that it is more usual for the emergency
management systems to focus on the health authorities than the social services in nationalcross-sectional co-operation. We conclude from this that the visibility of social services
within the emergency management system could improve. Their invisibility also applies todisaster research. As pointed out above, the role of social services in times of disaster has
only been investigated in Finland and Sweden.

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Table 8.3

Are social services addressed in the contingency plans and in the EM systems?

Role of local social services in emergency management
Does the act on EM address the role of local social
services?
Does the legal framework address the role of local social
services in relation to EM?
Does the legal framework outline distinctive role/roles?
Are social services legally obligated to prepare acontingency plan?
Does the law on social services specifically address therole of the services in the context of disaster?
Are there specific guidelines for social service
contingency planning?

Denmark

Finland

Iceland

NorwaySweden

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No
Yes

Yes
Yes

No
Yes

Yes
Yes

No
Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Chapter two discussed the local circumstances and types of disasters in each municipality.
To some extent, circumstances and disaster types define the role of social services. This istherefore important to keep in mind when discussing and defining the roles of local social
services. Hence, another sub-project within the Nordic Welfare Watch project addresses
the known risks in each Nordic country and examines what challenges these risks pose for
local social services. Furthermore, this study has examined only the legal framework andthe formal planning on the role of local social services. It has not examined how they would
play out in an actual disaster. There is a need for such case studies on how social services
have prepared for and responded to disasters. Such a project has already been planned aspart of NORDRESS, the NordForsk centre of excellence on societal security, which willcompare actual cases (NORDRESS, n.d.). Hence, we hope that these additional projects
provide valuable insights and knowledge about the important roles played by local social
services in times of disaster.
We hope that the report will enhance the important role of local social services inemergency management, hence making the Nordic Welfare States more resilient andbetter prepared for future challenges.

The following recommendations might serve as stepping-stones in that direction:•

There is a need to share knowledge on how to increase the involvement of social
services in all phases of emergency management. The guidelines for social services'
contingency planning and their plans should be shared across the Nordic countries
and among various actors on the state, regional and local levels. This task could also
be implemented under the umbrella of the Svalbard Group.

185

•

There is a need to make the role of social services known in the emergency
management systems, so that the relevant parties can activate the full potential ofsocial services in all phases of the disaster cycle. It is likewise important to informthe social services of emergency management law and organization in order tofacilitate effective co-operation in the event of disaster.

•

It is important to address the role of emergency management in the education ofsocial workers and social carers and enhance disaster research in the social
sciences.

•

It is important to create opportunities for the social services to prepare for futuredisasters. It is also important to include the social services in emergency
management exercises. The exercises might also be extended in scope in order tocover all phases of disasters. Nordic countries could share exercise scenarios
involving tasks for the social sector and make use of scenarios already developed.

•

The Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Welfare Center (NVC) should
address social sector preparedness issues. Social sector preparedness cooperation
should be enhanced under the umbrella of the Nordic Council of Ministers (Svalbard
Group) and collaborate closely with the Haga-process. Such high-level co-operation
enhances regional and local level co-operation.

186

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