An Ecological Risk Management and Capacity Building Model

Australian Journal of Psychology

2019

Self Cite

115

Facilitating people's ability to anticipate, prepare for and recover from disaster is an important component of the UNISDR strategy for disaster risk reduction. Following a discussion of the functional characteristics of preparedness, this paper first discusses how hazard characteristics and psychological constructs influence people's ability to anticipate uncertain future events. It then reviews how psychological theories (Health Belief Model, Protection Motivation Theory, PrE Theory, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Critical Awareness Theory, Social Marketing, Protective Action Decision Model, Social Capital, Community Engagement Theory and Social Identity Theory) can inform understanding of preparedness for likely and current hazard events. Discussion then then turns to applying concepts and theories to understanding preparedness for current disasters. The all‐hazards and cross‐cultural applicability of preparedness theory is discussed, as are a need for a critical appraisal of preparedness, its predictors, and the nature and development of the preparedness process and its application in facilitating effective intervention strategies.

Section: Developing Preparedness Theory: the Social‐environmental Conmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disaster risk reduction: Psychological perspectives on preparedness

Australian Journal of Psychology

2019

Self Cite

115

“…The formal planning processes may, in fact, disempower individuals and communities who then place greater reliance on government or “someone else” to warn them of, and rescue them from, natural hazard events [ 55 , 56 , 57 ]. In contrast research indicates that, to be effective, rather than “top down” DRR behaviors need to be embedded into the normal everyday practices of a community [ 25 , 45 , 55 ]. There is evidence that embedded cultural understandings of the environment and hazards together with life-long learning are effective contributors to “resilience” [ 34 , 58 , 59 , 60 ] and where there is a diminished sense of connection with “community”, individuals and families become relatively more vulnerable [ 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustaining a Transformative Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy: Grandmothers’ Telling and Singing Tsunami Stories for over 100 Years Saving Lives on Simeulue Island

Sutton

Buergelt

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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As projections about the number and scale of natural hazard events and their impact on human populations grow, increasing attention is being paid to developing effective means for preparing for and mitigating those impacts. At the same time there is an emerging understanding that gradual and incremental changes in disaster risk reduction (DRR) will not adequately meet the future needs of vulnerable populations. Transformational changes have been identified as a necessary requirement to avoid ongoing large-scale losses of life and property and models have been proposed to recalibrate DRR strategies to achieve transformative changes. One cited example of a transformative change in DRR is that of Simeulue Island. Simeulue Island suffered two tsunamis approximately 100 years apart (1907, 2004) with markedly different impacts. This paper looks in detail at the cognitive and developmental mechanisms Simeulue co-opted to sustain the transformational change throughout the 20th century. Information from interviews and observation identified the role of grandmothers have in the effective communication of risk as well as motivating appropriate action to save lives. The possibility of similarly overlooked, local, and pre-existing community capacities for transformative change in DRR is then discussed.

“…make significant contributions to the natural hazard risks posed to societies and their citizens (Paton, 2017). Acknowledgement of this relationship underpins recognition of a need for DRR policies, plans, and applications to accommodate social-environmental–hazard interdependencies [40,41]. A transformative DRR issue arises here because societies (and their members) differ regarding how they construe social-environmental–hazard interdependencies.…”

Section: Transformation In Pre-event Drr Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk, Transformation and Adaptation: Ideas for Reframing Approaches to Disaster Risk Reduction

Buergelt

2019

IJERPH

Self Cite

Recognition of projected increases in exposure to large-scale hazard events over the coming decades has identified a need to develop how disaster risk reduction and recovery are conceptualized and enacted. This paper discusses some strategies for pursing this goal in both disaster recovery and preparedness settings. The approaches discussed include understanding how communities learn from their hazardous experiences and transform these lessons into beliefs, relationships and capabilities that build future adaptive capacity. The paper draws on examples of transformative learning that illustrate how people can make fundamental shifts in how they think about, prepare for and respond to environmental challenge and change. Regarding transformation in pre-event settings, the paper first discusses why the addition of transformative strategies to disaster risk reduction programs is required. These include a need for rethinking socio-environmental relationships, increasing risk acceptance in the context of evolving hazardscapes, and countering beliefs regarding not preparing. The paper then offers strategies for motivating transformation and consolidating the outcomes of transformation in pre-event disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies. A preliminary model that could inform the development of research questions on the development of transformative outcomes and their consolidation in enduring adaptive processes is presented.