Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus

Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus
Author: Atsushi Hanatani
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2018-09-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351006800

In addressing humanitarian crises, the international community has long understood the need to extend beyond providing immediate relief, and to engage with long-term recovery activities and the prevention of similar crises in the future. However, this continuum from short-term relief to rehabilitation and development has often proved difficult to achieve. This book aims to shed light on the continuum of humanitarian crisis management, particularly from the viewpoint of major bilateral donors and agencies. Focusing on cases of armed conflicts and disasters, the authors describe the evolution of approaches and lessons learnt in practice when moving from emergency relief to recovery and prevention of future crises. Drawing on an extensive research project conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency Research Institute, this book compares how a range of international organizations, bilateral cooperation agencies, NGOs, and research institutes have approached the continuum in international humanitarian crisis management. The book draws on six humanitarian crises case studies, each resulting from armed conflict or natural disasters: Timor-Leste, South Sudan, the Syrian crisis, Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, and Typhoon Yolanda. The book concludes by proposing a common conceptual framework designed to appeal to different stakeholders involved in crisis management. Following on from the World Humanitarian Summit, where a new way of working on the humanitarian-development nexus was highlighted as one of five major priority trends, this book is a timely contribution to the debate which should interest researchers of humanitarian studies, conflict and peace studies, and disaster risk-management.

The Legacy of Hurricane Mitch

The Legacy of Hurricane Mitch
Author: Marisa O. Ensor
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2022-05-10
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816549303

Around the world disaster vulnerability is on the rise. The incidence and intensity of disasters have increased in recent decades with lives being shattered and resources being destroyed across broad geographic regions each year. As it swept across the Honduran landscape, the exceptional size, power and duration of Hurricane Mitch abruptly and brutally altered the already diminished economic, social, and environmental conditions of the population. In the aftermath of the disaster a group of seven socio-environmental scientists set out to investigate the root causes of the heightened vulnerability that characterized pre-Mitch Honduras, the impact of the catastrophe on the local society, and the subsequent recovery efforts. Edited by Marisa O. Ensor, this volume presents the findings of their investigation. The Legacy of Hurricane Mitch offers a comprehensive analysis of the immediate and long-term consequences of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. Based on longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork and environmental assessments, this volume illustrates the importance of adopting an approach to disaster research and practice that places “natural” trigger events within their political, cultural, and socio-economic contexts. The contributors make a compelling case against post-disaster recovery efforts that limit themselves to alleviating the symptoms, rather than confronting the root causes of the vulnerability that prefigured the disaster.

Sea of Storms

Sea of Storms
Author: Stuart B. Schwartz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2016-07-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0691173605

A panoramic social history of hurricanes in the Caribbean The diverse cultures of the Caribbean have been shaped as much by hurricanes as they have by diplomacy, commerce, or the legacy of colonial rule. In this panoramic work of social history, Stuart Schwartz examines how Caribbean societies have responded to the dangers of hurricanes, and how these destructive storms have influenced the region's history, from the rise of plantations, to slavery and its abolition, to migrations, racial conflict, and war. Taking readers from the voyages of Columbus to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Schwartz looks at the ethical, political, and economic challenges that hurricanes posed to the Caribbean’s indigenous populations and the different European peoples who ventured to the New World to exploit its riches. He describes how the United States provided the model for responding to environmental threats when it emerged as a major power and began to exert its influence over the Caribbean in the nineteenth century, and how the region’s governments came to assume greater responsibilities for prevention and relief, efforts that by the end of the twentieth century were being questioned by free-market neoliberals. Schwartz sheds light on catastrophes like Katrina by framing them within a long and contentious history of human interaction with the natural world. Spanning more than five centuries and drawing on extensive archival research in Europe and the Americas, Sea of Storms emphasizes the continuing role of race, social inequality, and economic ideology in the shaping of our responses to natural disaster.

State of Disaster

State of Disaster
Author: Maria Cristina Garcia
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2022-08-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1469669978

Natural disasters and the dire effects of climate change cause massive population displacements and lead to some of the most intractable political and humanitarian challenges seen today. Yet, as Maria Cristina Garcia observes in this critical history of U.S. policy on migration in the Global South, there is actually no such thing as a "climate refugee" under current U.S. law. Most initiatives intended to assist those who must migrate are flawed and ineffective from inception because they are derived from outmoded policies. In a world of climate change, U.S. refugee policy simply does not work. Garcia focuses on Central America and the Caribbean, where natural disasters have repeatedly worsened poverty, inequality, and domestic and international political tensions. She explains that the creation of better U.S. policy for those escaping disasters is severely limited by the 1980 Refugee Act, which continues to be applied almost exclusively for reasons of persecution directly related to politics, race, religion, and identity. Garcia contends that the United States must transform its outdated migration policies to address today's realities. Climate change and natural disasters are here to stay, and much of the human devastation left in their wake is essentially a policy choice.

Management of Dead Bodies in Disaster Situations

Management of Dead Bodies in Disaster Situations
Author: Mary Elizabeth Stonaker
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2008-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1437900631

This manual will ensure that the management of massive fatalities forms part of disaster preparedness and response plans, and that it is a fundamental aspect of humanitarian assistance to survivors and rehabilitation and reconstruction programs. The manual provides the technical information that will support the correct approach to handling dead bodies. Contents: Preparedness for mass deaths; Medicolegal work in major disasters; Health considerations in cases of mass fatalities; Sociocultural aspects; Psychological aspects; Legal aspects; Cases studies; Final recommendations; Myths and realities of management of dead bodies in disasters; and Glossary. Illustrations.

Storm World

Storm World
Author: Chris Mooney
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2008-08-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0547416083

An investigation into climate change and increasingly dangerous hurricanes from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Republican War on Science. A leading science journalist delves into a red-hot debate in meteorology: whether the increasing ferocity of hurricanes is connected to global warming. In the wake of Katrina, Chris Mooney follows the careers of leading scientists on either side of the argument through the 2006 hurricane season, tracing how the media, special interests, politics, and the weather itself have skewed and amplified what was already a fraught scientific debate. As Mooney puts it: “Scientists, like hurricanes, do extraordinary things at high wind speeds.” Mooney—a New Orleans native, host of the Point of Inquiry podcast, and author of The Republican Brain—has written “a well-researched, nuanced book” that closely examines whether we as a society should be held responsible for making hurricanes even bigger monsters than they already are (The New York Times). “Mooney serves his readers as both an empiricist who gathers data and an analyst who puts it into context. The result is an important book, whose author succeeds admirably in both his roles.” —The Plain Dealer “Engaging and readable . . . Mooney catches real science in the act and, in so doing, weaves a story as intriguing as it is important.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “Mooney has hit upon an important and controversial topic, and attacks it with vigor.” —The Boston Globe “An absorbing, informed account of the politics behind a pressing contemporary controversy.” —Kirkus Reviews

Black Beaches and Bayous

Black Beaches and Bayous
Author: Lisa A. Eargle
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2012-11-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0761859799

Black Beaches and Bayous: The BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster provides a multidisciplinary, international perspective on one of the major disaster events within the United States during the last ten years. Scholars from various disciplines including sociology, political science, ecology, psychology, and criminal justice investigate the different components and issues associated with this event. The contributors address topics such as the social and historical context of fossil fuel use, steps within the technological disaster process, and similarities and differences between this disaster and other technological disasters. They also discuss the social and psychological impacts on Gulf Coast residents, the transformation of natural ecological systems, changes in risk assessment, and media portrayals of the Obama administration and its response to this disaster.