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Socio-Technological Aspects in Disaster Mitigation

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Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance
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Synonyms

Crises; Emergencies; Hazards

Definition

Measures that eliminate or reduce the impacts and risks of hazards through proactive measures taken before an emergency or disaster occurs.

A clear understanding of the concept the socio-technical dimensions of disasters is critically important for those responsible for mitigation. Leavitt and Kiefer (2006) recommended that emergency planners look at disaster mitigation from a systems approach. They argued that it was important not only to appreciate how social and technical systems were vulnerable when disasters happen but perhaps more important to understand that significant failure is often most common where different systems converge.

What is Mitigation?

Three common themes emerge from the definitions of disaster. First, the mitigation of disasters is a sustained and ongoing event, unlike disaster relief, which is short term (Haddow et al. 2008). Second, mitigation is designed to lessen or diminish the negative impacts of a disaster...

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Correspondence to John J. Kiefer .

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Kiefer, J.J. (2017). Socio-Technological Aspects in Disaster Mitigation. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_816-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_816-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

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