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Blurred Boundaries, Shared Practices: Disaster Studies as an Emerging Discipline and Disaster Management as a Field of Practice

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Disaster Studies

Part of the book series: Disaster Studies and Management ((DSDM))

Abstract

Concepts and vocabularies used to represent objects and processes are socially constructed by human beings and vary from one society (or culture) to another. “Scientific” accounts of disasters are produced by observers with differing degrees of educational training, research experience, perceptual capacities and ideational frameworks. Understanding how these varying cognitive elements interact to discursively shape that which we come to take as knowledge is the goal of post-positivism and transdisciplinarity is a strong invocation that moves in that direction and beyond. This chapter reviews the diversity of definitions of disaster, the way they are classified and traces the epistemological history of the definitions that shape the emerging discipline of disaster studies. It discusses the blurred boundaries between disaster studies as an emerging discipline and the practice of disaster management. Reflecting on disaster management as a profession, it critiques managerialism and its consequences. The final section engages critically with the notion of humanitarianism, closely linked with the idea of disaster management. Although conventionally regarded as a noble enterprise, humanitarianism is not unproblematic and is in fact, riddled with dilemmas and challenges.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Another example of complex causes is the theory that suggests that besides human activities, an unusual extra terrestrial event—“a proton flux” triggered the massive cloudburst on 16 and 17 June 2013, over Kedarnath, Uttarakhand (India). It was the unusual solar event where protons emitted by the sun accelerated to very high energies that resulted in an anomalous rise in atmospheric temperature (Mukherjee 2014).

  2. 2.

    See NASA (2019) for overlooked landslides in many parts of Africa and South America.

  3. 3.

    Global Humanitarian Overview (2019).

  4. 4.

    Asian Development Outlook (2019).

  5. 5.

    Postmodern critical theory politicizes social problems “by situating them in historical and cultural contexts, to implicate themselves in the process of collecting and analyzing data, and to relativize their findings” (Lindlof and Taylor 2002, p. 52).

  6. 6.

    Assault on trade unionism, the end of industrial relations and the advent of human resource management also marked the 1990s. Political conditions engendered by the new right governmental and ideological projects saw scholars’ migration to management studies from social science disciplines owing to universities’ cuts in the social science departments (as in the UK).

  7. 7.

    Critical work extended from organization studies to management and related disciplines such as accounting, human resource management, information systems to a great extent and marketing and operations research to a lesser extent.

  8. 8.

    In maintaining both aspects of “doing things right”—vis-a-vis efficiency and systematic action—and “doing the right things”—by reacting to the situation and following the best course of action based on personal knowledge, skill and experience—Lystbaek suggests the use of the Stacey Matrix which employs parameters of uncertainty (compliant with the second wave) and agreement (with the first) to overcome the shortcomings of the first two waves.

  9. 9.

    Gayle Smith was an aid practitioner with years of experience in Africa.

  10. 10.

    HROs are “humanitarian relief organizations”, including both NGOs such as World Vision, Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières as well as IOs such as the UNHCR, WFP, WHO, UNDP, and ECHO, as well as the International Committee for the Red Cross which does not fit neatly into either category.

  11. 11.

    This is a edited volume and a collection originally published as Interventions Humanitaires which gathers Southern views on topical debates.

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Appendices

The references for the Appendix are at the end of this chapter.

Appendix 1: Diverse Scholarly and Policy Definitions of a Disaster

The references for the Appendix are at the end of this chapter.

1.1 Disaster

  • Different from accidents

Disaster: Differentiating a disaster from an accident “is the extensiveness of the involvement of organizations and other segments within the community … In a community disaster, the pattern of damage may extend to several different places in the community rather than being focalized as it is within a community accident. Also, a number of community structures, perhaps including those that might house the traditional emergency organizations, might be damaged or destroyed. … The increased involvement of other non-emergency organizations then creates the need for coordination of activity and for new patterns of communication among parts of the community that previously had no reason to communicate” (Dynes 1998, 119).

Disaster: “The label ‘disaster’ rather than ‘accident’ carries with it not only the implication that … an event … was of extraordinary misfortune … but also the implication that it could (unlike most accidents) have been prevented … disasters are events which fall within our scope of concern to prevent and in principle are events which may be prevented, and that we have a consequent obligation to attempt to prevent them” (Allinson 1993, 168–169).

  • Different from hazard

Disaster: “The distinction between natural hazards or disasters and their man-made (or technological) counterparts is often difficult to sustain…we are dealing with a physical event which makes an impact on human beings and their environment…a natural disaster can be defined as some rapid, instantaneous or profound impact of the natural environment upon the socio-economic system” (Alexander 1993, 4).

  • Vulnerability, social phenomena

Disasters: “From a vulnerability perspective, are understood as bound up in the specific histories and socio-cultural practices of the affected people taken in the context of their political and economic systems” (Bolin with Stanford 1998, 8).

  • Beyond coping capacity

Disaster: “A disaster is a non-routine event that exceeds the capacity of the affected area to respond to it in such a way as to save lives; to preserve property; and to maintain the social, ecological, economic, and political stability of the affected region” (Pearce 2000, Chaps. 2, 5).

  • Psychological

Disaster: “… Allen Barton characterized disaster as a type of collective stress situation in which ‘many members of a social system fail to receive expected conditions of life from the system’ (1969: 38). For Barton, what distinguishes disasters from other types of collective stress, such as war, is that the sources of disasters are external rather than internal” (Tierney et al. 2001, 9).

Disaster: Events that “… release repressed anxiety [and constitute a] loss of control of social order” (Horlick-Jones 1995, 305).

Disaster: The result of negative social and environmental impacts, state (condition) of collective stress in a community, or a contradiction between the capacity to cope with destructive agents and their negative impacts (Pelanda 1982 according to Porfiriev 1995, 287–288).

  • Insurance

Disaster: “For insurance purposes a disaster is defined internationally as an event that causes at least US$5 million in reimbursable losses” (Alexander, no date, 4).

“The value of a vulnerability approach (to the study of hazards and disasters) lies in its openness to cultural specificity, social variability, diversity, contingency, and local agency” (Bolin with Stanford 1998, 20).

“A vulnerability approach [to hazards and disasters] directs attention back to people and the common everyday aspects of their lives that make them more or less likely to be caught up in a disaster” (Bolin with Stanford 1998, 20).

Disaster: “Disasters are fundamentally social phenomena; they involve the intersection of the physical processes of a hazard agent with the local characteristics of everyday life in a place and larger social and economic forces that structure that realm” (Bolin with Stanford 1998, 27).

“Disasters are easily characterized as unfortunate things that happen from time to time to people and their cities. What is missing in this view is any understanding of the ways that political and economic forces create conditions that result in an earthquake having disastrous impacts for some people and communities…”.

Disaster: “A disaster is a normatively defined occasion in a community when extraordinary efforts are taken to protect and benefit some social resource whose existence is perceived as threatened” (Dynes 1998, 113).

  • Subjective

Disaster: “Disasters are subjective phenomena. They arise from the behaviour of complex systems, are perceived and take place in a specific socio-economic, historical, cultural and chronological context” (Horlick-Jones and Peters 1991a, 147).

“…a disaster is at some basic level a social construction, its essence to be found in the organization of communities, rather than in an environmental phenomenon with destructive or disruptive effects for a society” (Oliver-Smith 1998, 181).

  • Systemic failure

Disaster: “…disasters arise from the exposure of vulnerable populations to hostile environments generated by the failure of complex systems…such systems are made vulnerable to failure by the complex interplay of factors including elements of the political economy environment in which the system is embedded” (Horlick-Jones and Peters 1991b, 41).

Disaster: “A major natural disaster, in the sociological sense, can be thought of as a failure of the social systems constituting a community to adapt to an environmental event … It should also be viewed as the failure to develop and distribute, among other things, technology in the form of housing and community infrastructure capable of withstanding such an event” (Peacock and Ragsdale 1997, 24).

  • Non-trivial disruption, significant

Disaster: “… disasters are significant events … The disruption associated with disaster is, by customary standards, non-trivial. Disasters are neither confined to isolated subsystems (a single household) nor are they of fleeting duration…. Disasters involve the disruption of important societal routines…. If damage could be prevented or reduced through human protective action, then disaster—the physical consequence of the intersection of society and natural forces—would not exist. Disaster is a function of knowledge … When knowledge is adequate, no external force can produce disaster; ships ride out storms, buildings shake but do not collapse in earthquakes, flood levees hold, etc. … When knowledge is inadequate, disaster results” (Stallings 1998, 128–129).

  • Hazard impact, disruption

Disaster: “Disasters, in contrast to risks and hazards, are singular or interactive hazard events…that have a profound impact on local people or places either in terms of injuries, property damages, loss of life, or environmental impacts” (Mitchell and Cutter 1997, 10).

Disaster: A disaster is an event concentrated in time and space, in which a society or one of its subdivisions undergoes physical harm and social disruption, such that all or some essential functions of the society or subdivision are impaired (paraphrased from Fritz 1961 by Kreps 1995, 256).

Disaster: “…a process involving the combination of a potentially destructive agent(s) from the natural, modified and/or constructed environment and a population in a socially and economically produced condition of vulnerability, resulting in a perceived disruption of the customary relative satisfactions of individual and social needs for physical survival, social order and meaning” (Oliver-Smith 1998, 186).

Disasters: “… disasters are conjunctions of historical happenings and social definitions of physical harm and social disruption” (Kreps 1998, 34).

Disaster: “… a state/condition destabilizing the social system that manifests itself in a malfunctioning or disruption of connections and communications between its elements or social units (communities, social groups and individuals); partial or total destruction/demolition; physical and psychological overloads suffered by some of these elements; thus making it necessary to take extraordinary or emergency countermeasures to re-establish stability” (Porfiriev 1995, 291).

  • Objective criteria

Disaster: “Disasters are non-routine events in societies or their larger subdivisions (e.g. regions, communities) that involve social disruption and physical harm. Among the key defining properties of such events are (1) length of forewarning, (2) magnitude of impact, (3) scope of impact, and (4) duration of impact” (Kreps 1998, 34).

  • Types

Disaster: “An occurrence or threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of property resulting from a natural or human-made cause, including, but not limited to, fire, flood, snowstorm, ice storm, tornado, windstorm, wave action, oil spill, water contamination, utility failure, hazardous peacetime radiological incident, major transportation accident, hazardous materials incident, epidemic, air contamination, blight, drought, infestation, explosion, or hostile military action, or paramilitary action, or similar occurrences resulting from terrorist activities, riots, or civil disorders” (Michigan EMD 1998, 5).

  • Ecological

Disaster: “When viewed from an ecological-symbolic perspective, the real issue is not the quality of the disaster agent per se, but whether or not it significantly alters the relationship between a community, its built, modified or biophysical environments, and how people interpret and experience the changes in those environments” (Kroll-Smith and Couch 1991, 361).

  • Economic decisions

Disaster: “… earthquakes are quite harmless until you decide to put millions of people and two trillion dollars in real estate atop scissile fault zones” (Riesner 1993, 501).

Evolving and offering definitions can be highly contentious since all terminologies are social constructs. Besides, most writing is produced and received in contexts that are inevitably affected by the structures of social and political power and the institutions that shape discourse. The primary purposes of a discipline are description and explanation rather than judgement and canonization.

Ideas from diverse disciplines are interconnected, albeit in complex ways, and it is through deepening these interconnections that a more holistic or integrated understanding of disasters as a phenomenon and what they mean to people will emerge. The ability to use multiple methods is a requirement for those researching or examining disasters. Role of power structures within society and across institutions, language, social hegemony, subjectivities, indigenous knowledge—all point to the fact that the notion of disasters is socially constructed. However, work around questions such as what kind of ideological contexts inform existing imaginaries of disasters remains limited.

Besides these scholarly definitions, countries with clear policies and governance structures also define disasters for their own operational purposes. Disaster management and emergency management are used interchangeably, where countries like the USA and India call it disaster management, while New Zealand, Australia and the UK call it emergency management.

1.2 Disasters Defined in Different Countries’ Official Documents

  • Australia

A serious disruption to community life which threatens or causes death or injury in that community and/or damage to property which is beyond the day-to-day capacity of the prescribed statutory authorities and which requires special mobilization and organization of resources other than those normally available to those authorities.

National Strategy for Disaster Resilience, (Appendix B: Glossary) Council of Australian Governments, February 2011. Government of Australia, p. 22.

Available at: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/emergency/files/national-strategy-disaster-resilience.pdf.

  • Bangladesh

The Government of Bangladesh has defined disaster as an event, natural or man-made, sudden or progressive that seriously disrupts the functioning of a society, causing human, material or environmental losses of such severity that the affected community has to respond by taking exceptional measures.

Government of Bangladesh, 1999.

  • India

“Disaster” means a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.

The Disaster Management Act, 2005, No. 53 of 2005, (23 December 2005).

http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/DisasterManagementPlanMCA.pdf.

  • Japan

“Disaster means a storm, heavy rain, heavy snow, flood, high tide, earthquake, tsunami or other unusual natural event, or a conflagration or explosion, or any other damage of similar extent from a cause to be prescribed by ordinance”.

Disaster Countermeasures Basics Act, Act No. 233, 15 November 1961, National Land Agency, Japan.

http://www.adrc.asia/documents/law/DisasterCountermeasuresBasicAct.pdf.

  • Philippines

“Disaster”—a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources. Disasters are often described as a result of the combination of: the exposure to a hazard; 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 human, physical, mental and social well-being, together with damage to property, destruction of assets, loss of services, social and economic disruption and environmental degradation.

Section 3, Republic Act No. 10121 (RA 10121)Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, 2010, Government of Philippines.

http://www.gov.ph/2010/05/27/republic-act-no-10121/.

  • South Africa

“Disaster” means a progressive or sudden, widespread or localized, natural or human-caused occurrence which

  1. (a)

    causes or threatens to cause

    1. (i)

      death, injury or disease;

    2. (ii)

      damage to property, infrastructure or the environment; or

    3. (iii)

      disruption of the life of a community; and

  2. (b)

    is of a magnitude that exceeds the ability of those affected by the disaster to cope with its effects using only their own resources.

Disaster Management Act, 2002, No. 57 of 2002, 30 December 2002, Government of South Africa.

http://www.cogta.gov.za/sites/cogtapub/Acts/DISASTER%20MANAGEMENT%20ACT.pdf.

  • UK

  1. (1)

    “Emergency” means

    1. (a)

      an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK,

    2. (b)

      an event or situation which threatens serious damage to the environment of a place in the UK or

    3. (c)

      war, or terrorism, which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK.

  2. (2)

    For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), an event or situation threatens damage to human welfare only if it involves, causes or may cause

    1. (a)

      loss of human life,

    2. (b)

      human illness or injury,

    3. (c)

      homelessness,

    4. (d)

      damage to property,

    5. (e)

      disruption of a supply of money, food, water, energy or fuel,

    6. (f)

      disruption of a system of communication,

    7. (g)

      disruption of facilities for transport or

    8. (h)

      disruption of services relating to health.

  3. (3)

    For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), an event or situation threatens damage to the environment only if it involves, causes or may cause

    1. (a)

      contamination of land, water or air with biological, chemical or radio-active matter or

    2. (b)

      disruption or destruction of plant life or animal life.

Civil Contingencies Act, 2004, Section 1, Government of UK.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/36/section/1.

  • USA

An occurrence that has resulted in property damage, deaths and/or injuries to a community (FEMA 1990, Definitions and Terms, Instruction 5000, 2) p. 17. Available at: https://training.fema.gov/hiedu/docs/terms%20and%20definitions/terms%20and%20definitions.pdf.

  • New Zealand

“Emergency” means a situation that

  1. (a)

    is the result of any happening, whether natural or otherwise, including, without limitation, any explosion, earthquake, eruption, tsunami, land movement, flood, storm, tornado, cyclone, serious fire, leakage or spillage of any dangerous gas or substance, technological failure, infestation, plague, epidemic, failure of or disruption to an emergency service or a lifeline utility, or actual or imminent attack or warlike act,

  2. (b)

    causes or may cause loss of life or injury or illness or distress or in any way endangers the safety of the public or property in New Zealand or any part of New Zealand and

  3. (c)

    cannot be dealt with by emergency services, or otherwise requires a significant and coordinated response under this Act.

Civil Defence Emergency Management Act of 2002, Section 4 (New Zealand)2002, No. 33 (17 October 2002).

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0033/latest/DLM149795.html.

Appendix 2: Definitions of Disaster Management

The references for the Appendix are at the end of this chapter.

2.1 Disaster Management

Disaster Management: “Disaster management is the process of forming common objectives and common values in order to encourage participants to plan for and deal with potential and actual disasters” (Pearce 2000, Chaps. 2, 11).

“A process that assists communities to respond, both pre- and post-disaster, in such a way as to save lives, to preserve property; and to maintain the ecological, economic, and political stability of the impacted region” (Pearce 2000, Chap. 5, p. 6).

The Red Cross and Red Crescent societies define disaster management as the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all humanitarian aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, response and recovery in order to lessen the impact of disasters.

http://www.wcpt.org/disaster-management/wh18thjune22014at-is-disaster-management.

Disaster management includes administrative decisions and operational activities that involve prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation. Disaster management involves all levels of government. Non-governmental and community-based organizations play a vital role in the process.

Modern disaster management goes beyond post-disaster assistance. It now includes pre-disaster planning and preparedness activities, organizational planning, training, information management, public relations and many other fields. Crisis management is important but is only a part of the responsibility of a disaster manager. The newer paradigm is the Total Risk Management (TRM) which takes a holistic approach to risk reduction (ADPC nd).

Disaster management concepts have gradually developed at different levels, where people are more aware that there is more to disaster management than merely reaction to events. Sound disaster management is the effective application of holistic management techniques to hazards and their relationship with vulnerability. In other words, it is the effective application of risk management techniques to all hazards and all vulnerability factors. The ultimate aim of disaster management is to manage circumstances in such a way that the outcome is not a disaster (Stenchion 1997).

Disaster management is a process or strategy that is implemented before, during or after any type of catastrophic event takes place. This process can be initiated whenever anything threatens to disrupt normal operations or puts people’s lives at risk. Governments at all levels as well as many businesses create their own disaster plans that make it possible to overcome various catastrophes and return to functioning normally as quickly as possible (http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-disaster-management.htm).

Disaster management occupies an important place in this country’s policy framework as it is the poor and the under-privileged who are worst affected on account of calamities/disasters. The National Disaster Framework [a road map] covers institutional mechanisms, disaster prevention strategy, early warning system, disaster mitigation, preparedness and response and human resource development. The expected inputs, areas of intervention and agencies to be involved at the national, state and district levels have been identified and listed in the road map. This road map has been shared with all the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. Ministries and Departments of Government of India and the State Governments/UT Administrations have been advised to develop their respective road maps taking the national roadmap as abroad guidelines (Disaster Management In India—UNISDR).

The definition given by the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Government of India offers an overview of various facets of disaster management. This is an academic definition, which portrays an ideal situation.

Disaster management means a continuous and integrated process of planning, organizing, coordinating and implementing measures which are necessary or expedient for

  • prevention of danger or threat of any disaster;

  • mitigation or reduction of risk of any disaster or its severity or consequences;

  • capacity building;

  • preparedness to deal with any disaster;

  • prompt response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster;

  • assessing the severity or magnitude of effects of any disaster;

  • evacuation, rescue and relief;

  • rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Disaster management means arrangements about managing the potential adverse effects of an event, including, for example, arrangements for mitigating, preventing, preparing for, responding to and recovering from a disaster (The Disaster Management Act, 2003, State of Queensland 2003).

UNISDR defined disaster risk management in 2007 as: “The systematic process of using administrative directives, organizations and operational skills and capacities to implement strategies, policies and improved coping capacities in order to lessen the adverse impacts of hazards and the possibility of disaster”. Unlike phases of disasters, this definition emphasis on the building capacities in order to manage the disaster. This term is an extension of the more general term “risk management” to address the specific issue of disaster risks. Disaster risk management aims to avoid, lessen or transfer the adverse effects of hazards through activities and measures for prevention, mitigation and preparedness.

Disaster management or emergency management is a discipline that involves preparing for disaster before it happens, responding to disasters immediately, as well as supporting and rebuilding societies after the natural or human-made disasters have occurred (Compiled from different sources).

Disaster management is a term that encompasses a range of policies and practices developed to prevent manage and reduce the impact of disasters. Henstra and McBean (2005) in their paper “Canadian Disaster Management Policy: Moving towards a Paradigm Shift?”

According to Cuny (1992), “disaster management” can be defined as the range of activities designed to maintain control over disaster and emergency situations and to provide a framework or helping those who are at risk to avoid or recover from the impact of the disaster.

Disaster management aims to reduce, or avoid, the potential losses from hazards, assure promote and appropriate assistance to victims of disaster and achieve and effective recovery. This is an anthropocentric statement, which focuses on reducing the human sufferings (Warfield nd).

The Johns Hopkins and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies published a public health guide to emergencies (2008): (Indonesia after the earthquake that hit Java—May 2006) during the relief phase of Indonesian earthquake of 2006. The document proposes and formulates the following definition of disaster management which conveys the important idea that protecting populations and property also involves the estimation of risks, preparation, activities which will mitigate the consequences of predictable hazards and post-disaster reconstruction in a way that will decrease vulnerabilities.

Disaster risk management includes sum total of all activities, programmes and measures which can be taken up before, during and after a disaster with the purpose to avoid a disaster, reduce its impact or recover from its losses (Dey and Singh 2006).

Disaster management includes administrative decisions and operational activities that include prevention, mitigation, response, preparedness, recovery, rehabilitation. Disaster management involves all levels of government. Nongovernmental and community-based organizations play a vital role in the process. Modern disaster management goes beyond post-disaster assistance. It now includes pre-disaster planning and preparedness activities, organizational planning, training, information management, public relations and many other fields. The newer paradigm is the Total Risk Management (TRM) which takes a holistic approach to risk reduction.

A process that assists communities to respond, both pre- and post-disaster, in such a way as to save lives, to preserve property; and to maintain the ecological, economic and political stability of the impacted region (Pearce 2000).

Disaster management concepts have gradually developed at different levels, where people are more aware that there is more to disaster management than merely reaction to events. Sound disaster management is the effective application of holistic management techniques to hazards and their relationship with vulnerability. In other words, it is the effective application of risk management techniques to all hazards and all vulnerability factors. The ultimate aim of disaster management is to manage circumstances in such a way that the outcome is not a disaster (Stenchion 1997).

2.2 Emergency Management

Emergency Management: The entire process of planning and intervention for rescue and relief to reduce impact of emergencies as well as the response and recovery measures, to mitigate the significant social, economic and environmental consequences to communities and ultimately to the country, usually through an emergency operation centre, EOC (Disaster and Emergency Reference Centre 1998).

Emergency Management: The process by which the uncertainties that exist in potentially hazardous situations can be minimized and public safety maximized. The goal is to limit the costs of emergencies or disasters through the implementation of a series of strategies and tactics reflecting the full life cycle of disaster, i.e. preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation (Drabek 2004).

Emergency Management: “Emergency management is the discipline and profession of applying science, technology, planning, and management to deal with extreme events that can injure or kill large numbers of people, do extensive damage to property, and disrupt community life” (Hoetmer and Drabek 1991, xvii).

Emergency Management: A range of measures to manage risks to communities and the environment. It involves the development and maintenance of arrangements to prevent the effect of, prepare for, respond to or recover from events causing significant community disruption or environmental damage (Salter 1997–98, 28).

Emergency Management: The organization and management of resources for dealing with all aspects of emergencies. Emergency management involves the plans, structures and arrangements which are established to bring together the normal endeavours of government, voluntary and private agencies in a comprehensive and coordinated way to deal with the whole spectrum of emergency needs including prevention, response and recovery (Compiled from multiple sources).

2.3 Crisis Management

Crisis Management: “Key to crisis management is an accurate and timely diagnosis of the criticality of the problems and the dynamics of events that ensue. This requires knowledge, skills, courageous leadership full of risk-taking ability and vigilance. Successful crisis management also requires motivation, a sense of urgency, commitment and creative thinking with a long-term strategic vision. In managing crises, established organizational norms, culture, rules and procedures become major obstacles: administrators and bureaucrats tend to protect themselves by playing a bureaucratic game and hiding behind organizational and legal shelters. A sense of urgency gives way to inertia and organizational sheltering and self-protection by managers and staff alike…. Successful crisis management requires: (1) sensing the urgency of the matter; (2) thinking creatively and strategically to solving the crisis; (3) taking bold actions and acting courageously and sincerely; (4) breaking away from the self-protective organizational culture by taking risks and actions that may produce optimum solutions in which there would be no significant losers and (5) maintaining a continuous presence in the rapidly changing situation with unfolding dramatic events” (Farazmand 2001, 4). Crisis Management: Coordination of actions during acute emergency (Disaster and Emergency Reference Center 1998).

Crisis Management: In the literature that exists so far, the term “crisis management” has been widely employed. But this terminology is ambiguous. “crisis management” can be taken to refer either to managing a crisis after it has arisen—that is, intervening in a crisis situation—or managing in such a way that a crisis does not arise in the first place. The blanket term “crisis management” is thus a conceptual blanket that covers a multitude of sins. It is best to avoid the usage of such a label, since the inclusion of the word “management” in such a label implies that the process so labelled is envisioned as a solution to the problem of crises in general. This, however, is not really the case. At best, so-called crisis management addresses only crises that have already arisen and usually only when such crises have become either imminent or already actualized disasters (Allinson 1993, 92).

Since “crisis management” is used in the literature to refer for the most part to either how one responds to an existent crisis or how one might anticipate crises and therefore be able to respond to them, crisis management most often connotes crisis intervention management whether after the onset of the disaster or in anticipation of a disaster. In either of these two modes, it is nevertheless a “Band-Aid” approach since it either comes into effect after the wound or primarily addresses itself to having a Band-Aid ready to cover the wound immediately so that the wound does not bleed overly much (Allinson 1993, 93). References 12th July, 2019.

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Andharia, J. (2020). Blurred Boundaries, Shared Practices: Disaster Studies as an Emerging Discipline and Disaster Management as a Field of Practice. In: Andharia, J. (eds) Disaster Studies. Disaster Studies and Management. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9339-7_2

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