Conflicts in Africa as Compound Disasters: Complex Crises Requiring Comprehensive Responses

Wachira, George Mukundi

doi:10.1111/1468-5973.00042

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…A transboundary crisis often begins with a glitch in one system that crosses over to other systems, snowballing and cascading into a compounded disaster (Turner 1978; Jervis 1997; Wachira 1997; Rochlin 1999). The electricity blackout in the northeastern United States in the summer of 2003, which was triggered by a falling tree, is a good example (Schulman and Roe 2007).…”

Section: Managing Transboundary Crises: Trends and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Transboundary Crises: What Role for the European Union?

2008

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The nation‐state faces an increasing number of what we refer to as “transboundary threats.” A transboundary threat is characterized by the potential to cross geographical and functional boundaries. These characteristics outstrip the capacity of nation‐states and national bureaucracies that were designed to deal with more classic threats. The institutional challenge, we argue, is to build effective transboundary systems for managing these complex threats. In this essay, we ask what role the European Union can play in such an endeavor. We document the EU’s growing crisis management and security capacities and offer an initial assessment of these capacities. We surmise that the EU will play a significant but rather circumscribed role, one which reflects the EU’s unique system of supranational governance.

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Section: Managing Transboundary Crises: Trends and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Transboundary Crises: What Role for the European Union?

2008

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“…The compound disasters (Wachira, 1997) laid bare the different and unequal treatment from the US government (Willison et al, 2019). Though historically high levels of federal disaster aid were approved for Puerto Rico after the hurricanes, historically low proportions of aid had been disbursed by the time our team began its research, almost 4 years after the disasters.…”

Section: Research Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collecting and communicating perishable data in a post-disaster context: rapid research and rapid dissemination

Gorbea Díaz,

Chopel,

Fernós Sagebién

et al. 2023

Front. Sociol.

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ContextPuerto Rico experienced four natural disasters in 4 years (2017–2021): Hurricanes Irma and Maria, thousands of earthquakes reaching 6.4 magnitude, and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, our team sought to understand the impact of disaster aid distribution on poverty and economic inequality, and their relationship to the spread of COVID-19 across Puerto Rico. Rapid research was required to ensure we could collect perishable data within this ever-changing context.ChallengesOur mixed methods design relied on both secondary and primary data. Because analyses of the former were to inform where and how to collect the latter, timing was of the essence. The data sources identified were not readily available to the public, and thus required gaining access through direct requests to government agencies. The requests coincided with a transition between administrations after an election. This resulted in unexpected delays. Once in the field, the team had to balance the rapid nature of the research with the mindful work to avoid compounding traumas experienced by participants, heightened risk for re-traumatization and fatigue, the risk of COVID-19, the digital divide, and intermittent electrical and telecommunication services.AdaptationsIn response to the delayed access to secondary data, we adjusted our research question. We continued to collect data as they became available, incorporating some immediately into analyses, and cleaning and storing others for future research opportunities. To overcome ongoing trauma challenges and prevent fatigue, we recruited and hired a large temporary team, including members of communities where we collected data. By recruiting participants and co-researchers at the same time and place, we both collapsed time between these activities and increased our team's contextual competency. To adapt to challenges presented by the pandemic, we created hybrid data collection procedures where some data were collected online, and some in person, while maintaining COVID-19 protections. We used similar adaptations for dissemination.LessonsRapid research needs to be agile. Working within a convergence framework to investigate wicked problems had the unexpected added benefit of providing our team with a variety of disciplinary approaches which proved helpful in adapting to the changing conditions in the field. In addition to the resourcefulness of a transdisciplinary team, it is important to be willing to pivot in response to changes and to collect data where and when you can. To increase participation, opportunities need to be designed with flexibility, mindful of competing demands faced by individuals willing to collaborate. Collecting and analyzing data iteratively and utilizing local resources can enable rapid research that is rigorous and yields rich data.ContributionsOur team applied the lessons learned to structure a rapid and iterative dissemination plan. We combined member-checking with community-level dissemination, enabling us to hone findings further before presenting to policy makers and media. Rapid research creates opportunities to make data-informed program and policy adjustments when they can be most impactful. Both the media and policy makers pay closer attention to research on current events. Hence, our recommendation is to do more rapid research! The more we do, the better we will get at it, and the more accustomed community leaders, policy makers, and program designers will become to using data to inform decisions.

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“…Articles in the literature have identified different types of multiple disasters. When different hazards occur in the same community at the same time, these are called compound disasters (Wachira 1997 ). Klibi et al ( 2018 ) provide a two-stage stochastic formulation to design a relief network for facility location and stock prepositioning considering the inter-arrival time between two hazards.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two-stage stochastic formulation for relief operations with multiple agencies in simultaneous disasters

Rodríguez-Espíndola

2023

OR Spectrum

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The increasing damage caused by disasters is a major challenge for disaster management authorities, especially in instances where simultaneous disasters affect different geographical areas. The uncertainty and chaotic conditions caused by these situations combined with the inherent complexity of collaboration between multiple stakeholders complicates delivering support for disaster victims. Decisions related to facility location, procurement, stock prepositioning and relief distribution are essential to ensure the provision of relief for these victims. There is a need to provide analytical models that can support integrated decision-making in settings with uncertainty caused by simultaneous disasters. However, there are no formulations tackling these decisions combining multiple suppliers, multiple agencies, and simultaneous disasters. This article introduces a novel bi-objective two-stage stochastic formulation for disaster preparedness and immediate response considering the interaction of multiple stakeholders in uncertain environments caused by the occurrence of simultaneous disasters. At the first stage, decisions related to the selection of suppliers, critical facilities, agencies involved, and pre-disaster procurement are defined. Resource allocation, relief distribution and procurement of extra resources after the events are decided at the second stage. The model was tested on data from the situation caused by simultaneous hurricanes and storms in Mexico during September of 2013. The case is contrasted with instances planning for disasters independently. The results show how planning for multiple disasters can help understand the real boundaries of the disaster response system, the benefits of integrated decision-making, the impact of deploying only the agencies required, and the criticality of considering human resources in disaster planning.

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Conflicts in Africa as Compound Disasters: Complex Crises Requiring Comprehensive Responses

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Managing Transboundary Crises: What Role for the European Union?

Managing Transboundary Crises: What Role for the European Union?

Collecting and communicating perishable data in a post-disaster context: rapid research and rapid dissemination

Two-stage stochastic formulation for relief operations with multiple agencies in simultaneous disasters

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