Search Results (9)

Recent years have been exceptionally turbulent due to various crises such as COVID-19, wars, and natural disasters. We conduct a systematic literature review to address the current state of the regional economic resilience literature, a topic regaining significance amid recent global crises. Considering the findings, we not only conduct the most up-to-date analysis of resilience types but also innovate previous research by collecting and processing data on the spatial and income features of regions, providing statistics about shock coverage, and sharing insights into region types. Additionally, we supplement the systematic literature analysis methodology by experimenting with large language models and defining new search strategies. The results show that most of the literature covers European countries, while that covering all other countries is far behind. Empirical coverage comes from high- and upper-middle-income countries (~97% of research), highlighting the lack of analysis on lower-middle- and low-income countries. This brings into question the applicability of regional resilience policies worldwide. The latest papers still mainly analyze the Great Recession, the most covered shock in the regional economic resilience literature. Not all authors have turned their attention to more recent crises. Finally, we believe future research should focus more on compound resilience—how regional economies cope with cascading or simultaneous shocks. Full article

Aim: Utilizing the subjective experience of nurse executives who have supervised nurses during a major disaster in a hospital setting, this study aims to describe the subjective experience of nurse executives (NE) who have supervised nurses’ responses to major disasters. This paper will focus on strategies to support nursing response to disasters, specifically to strengthen resiliency and the ability to maintain function despite the shock of a disaster, including those caused by climate change. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 hospital-based nurse executives who supervised nurses during some of the worst natural and human-made disasters in different regions of the United States. A phenomenological approach was used to analyze and describe emerging themes from the qualitative data. Results: Three nurse executives demonstrated theme saturation for mitigation steps to augment traditional disaster readiness activities: (1) Assessment of human infrastructure: daily skills needed during disaster response; (2) Identification and study of failure points and metrics; (3) Strengthening human infrastructure: rectifying deficiencies; and (4) Monitoring metrics and making corrections during conventional periods. Conclusion: Mitigation steps may improve outcomes in hospital function during conventional times; therefore, these steps may improve resiliency and the ability to maintain functions during major disasters, including climate change. Full article

Prestressed concrete composite girder bridges with corrugated steel webs (PCCGBCSWs) are extensively employed in bridge construction because of their low dead weight, fast construction, and high prestressing efficiency. Moreover, PCCGBCSWs will experience deformation and failure of the corrugated steel webs, including steel fatigue and fracture, during earthquakes. These changes will introduce safety hazards, which can be addressed via bridge disaster prevention and mitigation. Because near-fault pulse-like ground motions (NFPLGMs) have high peak accelerations, these motions can easily cause damage to a bridge. Therefore, in this study, a seismic fragility assessment is performed for long-unit PCCGBCSWs subjected to NFPLGMs considering spatial variability effects, and a sensitivity evaluation of the seismic fragility is conducted considering girder type, bearing type, ground motion type, and apparent wave velocity to offer a point of reference for seismic design. The results show that PCCGBCSWs are less vulnerable than concrete bridges. The shock absorption effect of the friction pendulum bearing is better than that of the viscous damper. The impact of NFPLGMs on bridges is greater than that of near-fault non-pulse-like ground motions (NFNPLMs) and far-fault ground motions (FFGMs). The seismic fragility under nonuniform excitation conditions is greater than that under uniform excitation conditions, showing an increasing trend with decreasing apparent wave velocity. Full article

In the context of climate change, it is important to examine the correlation between farmers’ disaster shock experience and their entrepreneurial inclination, as well as its adaptive mechanisms for rural development. We define farmers’ entrepreneurship as farmers engaging in self-employment or business operation, then analyze the positive and negative correlations between disaster shock experience and farmers’ entrepreneurship and propose that there is a U-shaped relationship between them. We develop a mechanism based on the mediating role of farmers’ risk appetite and the moderating role of government support. Based on a survey of 39,113 households from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey, we test our hypotheses using a probit model and structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that disaster shock experience strongly correlates with farmers’ entrepreneurship. Over time, a U-shaped trend emerges between them, in which disaster shock experience can deter farmers’ entrepreneurship through risk appetite, while government support can alleviate this inhibitory effect. Moreover, different types of disasters show the same U-shaped trend, but the relationship differs based on farmers’ gender and income levels. These findings suggest that rural areas should enhance their development capacity and disaster resilience, and the government should establish long-term support mechanisms for entrepreneurship. Additionally, farmers need to accurately understand and cope with disaster shock experience, so they can uncover the potential value and opportunities it presents. Full article

Drought is one of the most challenging disasters that impact the natural and cultural ecosystems across the world, especially in the climate dependent sectors of arid and semi-arid areas. The aim of this article is to share the experiences gained and enhance the readers’ awareness on the status of drought and process of the early warning systems (EWS) in south India. Drought status of three agroecologically different states is included in this article, such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, Karur, Thuthukudi, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Trichy and Thirunelveli districts are water scarce compared to other districts in the state. The districts such as Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki and Palakkad in Kerala have received lesser rainfall compared to the other parts of the state during the period 1981 to 2019. In Telangana, the mandals such as Nagarkurnool, Jogulamba-Gadwal, Wanaparthy, Mahabubnagar Nalgonda and Yedadri are frequently hit by dry spells and droughts. As a case study, weather early warning dissemination, carried out at Parambikulam Aliyar basin, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, during Khariff and Rabi seasons, using IMDs medium and extended range forecast is also elaborated in particular in the article. As far as the accuracy of forecast is concerned, probability of false detection (false alarm rate) was found to be 0.81 for Khariff and 0.30 for Rabi season, indicating the need for better performance in the accuracy of dry spell early warning, disaster preparedness and response. In-spite of this, access to early warning has supported the farmers during harvest and land preparation with a utility score of 72% and 59%, respectively. In Parambikulam Aliyar basin, remote sensing products such as MODIS-NDVI, NDWI and TWI was also used to identify the real-time progression of monthly vegetative condition for Kharif and Rabi seasons. NDVI values were used to monitor the district level vegetation condition and compared it with the drought year 2016, the difference in area under barren land was 76% less during Khariff, 2021 and 44% during Rabi, 2021.This study is a compilation of lessons learned from different states and the existing knowledge and practice in early warnings, and recommends the need for a holistic approach in drought and dry spell monitoring along with better accuracy and dissemination to minimize climate-related shocks in agriculture. Full article

The influence of regional climate change (CC) on agricultural production variance in the Mediterranean region has been discussed based on the assessment of the last decade. Most of the Mediterranean region has experienced frequent natural disasters, expanding population, increase in temperature, and increase in the surface of the Mediterranean Sea. Furthermore, the temperature in the Mediterranean area is rising 25% faster than the rest of the globe, and in the summer, it is warming 40% faster than the global average. Climate change can alter the food supply, restrict access to food, and degrade food quality. Temperature rises, changes in precipitation patterns, changes in severe weather events, and decreased water availability, for example, might all result in lower agricultural production. The fact that most Mediterranean nations rely on imported basic foodstuffs adds to the severity of the situation. Instability and insecurity of agricultural supply in the region might lead to massive population movement, transforming most Mediterranean nations into a global source of instability. Based on the experience of similar geographical locations, the article has highlighted the essential elements affecting crop productivity and the five domains of water, ecosystems, food, health, and security. Despite the region’s complexity, the Mediterranean region has been offered an overall assessment that predicts the best strategy for the best solution. Such an attempt describes a methodical integration of scientific discoveries to understand better the combined hazards illustrated by the fact that CC has affected food production, resulting in widespread insecurity. Utilizing current technologies in agricultural production has been recommended to support regional nations in reaching higher yields. The significance of this study could be realized by mitigating climatic shocks through a sustainable food production system to accomplish development goals in vulnerable nations. Full article

As a type of urban life project in China, bridges need a certain capacity of trains running safely after an earthquake to ensure and guarantee transportation on railway lines, post-disaster reconstruction and relief work. Since aftershocks may occur after the main shock, the earthquake-induced irregularity and aftershock intensity are fully considered, based on the running safety index in the seismic design of bridges. However, there is a lack of research on the running safety of trains after an earthquake; it is mainly judged on experience, and lacks theoretical basis. In this paper, the established finite element model of a train bridge interaction system with symmetry was considered. The point estimation method (PEM) combined with moment expansion approximation (MEA) is used for random calculation of the Housner Intensity (HI). Furthermore, running safety indexes were analyzed and the running safety performance of a simply supported bridge with symmetry was assessed under a post-earthquake condition. Then the limit value, to ensure the traffic safety performance after an earthquake, is calculated based on stochastic analysis. The HI can be calculated with full consideration of the randomness of aftershock intensity and structural parameters. On this basis, a calculation method of the HI that considers the randomness of aftershock intensity is proposed. This study can be helpful for the performance-based design of symmetric railway structures under post-earthquake conditions. Full article

To examine whether tourism can effectively stimulate economic growth following a disaster shock, we apply a panel threshold regression technique to test the threshold effect of tourism development on economic growth of the 36 Wenchuan earthquake-affected counties in 2008–2016. The empirical results using the panel fixed-effects model show that tourism significantly contributes to economic growth, supporting the validity of the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH) for the disaster-affected destinations. The results of the panel threshold regression model also indicate a threshold effect of tourism development on economic growth, implying that counties with different conditions of tourism specialization and industrial structure experience different impacts on the tourism-growth nexus. Specifically, the estimated coefficients of tourism on economic growth decrease with the levels of tourism specialization and industrial structure exceeding the threshold value. Based on the Tourism Area Life Cycle theory (TALC), we further divide the 36 disaster-stricken counties into six types based on the evolution of tourism specialization: Exploration-stage type, involvement-stage type, transition-stage type, development-stage type, consolidation-stage type, and stagnation-stage type. The empirical findings and managerial implications discussed are generally applicable to policymakers seeking new ways to invigorate the economy in other disaster-affected destinations. Full article

Coal and gas outburst is one of the major serious natural disasters during underground coal, and the shock air flow produced by outburst has a huge threat on the mine safety. In order to study the two-phase flow of a mixture of pulverized coal and gas of a mixture of pulverized coal and gas migration properties and its shock effect during the process of coal and gas outburst, the coal samples of the outburst coal seam in Yuyang Coal Mine, Chongqing, China were selected as the experimental subjects. By using the self-developed coal and gas outburst simulation test device, we simulated the law of two-phase flow of a mixture of pulverized coal and gas in the roadway network where outburst happened. The results showed that the air in the roadway around the outburst port is disturbed by the shock wave, where the pressure and temperature are abruptly changed. For the initial gas pressure of 0.35 MPa, the air pressure in different locations of the roadway fluctuated and eventually remain stable, and the overpressure of the outburst shock wave was about 20~35 kPa. The overpressure in the main roadway and the distance from the outburst port showed a decreasing trend. The highest value of temperature in the roadway increased by 0.25 °C and the highest value of gas concentration reached 38.12% during the experiment. With the action of shock air flow, the pulverized coal transportation in the roadway could be roughly divided into three stages, which are the accelerated movement stage, decelerated movement stage and the particle settling stage respectively. Total of 180.7 kg pulverized coal of outburst in this experiment were erupted, and most of them were accumulated in the main roadway. Through the analysis of the law of outburst shock wave propagation, a shock wave propagation model considering gas desorption efficiency was established. The relationships of shock wave overpressure and outburst intensity, gas desorption rate, initial gas pressure, cross section and distance of the roadway were obtained, which can provide a reference for the protection of coal and gas outburst and control of catastrophic ventilation. Full article