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As famine takes hold in South Sudan and threatens to spread to northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen, world leaders must immediately step up to fully fund the United Nations' appeal for $6.3 billion. Of this amount, $4.9 billion is urgently needed by July for critical assistance, including health, food, nutrition, and water. If lives are to be saved, humanitarian agencies must be able to rapidly scale up and access people in need. World leaders must not walk away from key meetings, such as the Group of Seven Taormina Summit in Italy and the Group of Twenty Hamburg Summit in Germany, without taking action to increase funding, improve access, resolve conflict and insecurity, and ensure that emergency relief is coupled with long-term approaches to building resilience in affected countries.

Emergency material vehicle dispatching and routing (EMVDR) is an important task in emergency relief after large-scale earthquake disasters. However, EMVDR is subject to dynamic disaster environment, with uncertainty surrounding elements such as the transportation network and relief materials. Accurate and dynamic emergency material dispatching and routing is difficult. This paper proposes an effective and efficient multi-objective multi-dynamic-constraint emergency material vehicle dispatching and routing model. Considering travel time, road capacity, and material supply and demand, the proposed EMVDR model is to deliver emergency materials from multiple emergency material depositories to multiple disaster points while satisfying the objectives of maximizing transport efficiency and minimizing the difference of material urgency degrees among multiple disaster points at any one time. Furthermore, a continuous-time dynamic network flow method is developed to solve this complicated model. The collected data from Ludian earthquake were used to conduct our experiments in the post-quake and the results demonstrate that: (1) the EMVDR model adapts to the dynamic disaster environment very well; (2) considering the difference of material urgency degree, the material loss ratio is −10.7%, but the variance of urgency degree decreases from 2.39 to 0.37; (3) the EMVDR model shows good performance in time and space, which allows for decisions to be made nearly in real time. This paper can provide spatial decision-making support for emergency material relief in large-scale earthquake disasters.

Crowdsensing systems can be either participatory or opportunistic, depending on whether the user intentionally contributes data, or she simply acts as the bearer of a sensing device from which data is transparently collected. In this paper, we propose hybrid crowdsensing, a social media-based paradigm which aims at combining the strengths of both participatory and opportunistic crowdsensing. With hybrid crowdsensing, possibly relevant data is collected via an opportunistic approach. Then, users that spontaneously contributed are directly contacted and asked to provide additional information following a participatory approach. To demonstrate its feasibility and usefulness, we experimented the proposed paradigm for involving Twitter users in an emergency relief scenario. For each of the two real-world experiments we analyze the answer ratio to our questions, their time distribution, and responders' willingness to collaborate. Results support the adoption of hybrid crowdsensing, especially in those practical scenarios where users are emotionally involved.

Decision support is required for effective planning on all kinds of scheduling scenarios. The stochastic scenarios and uncertainty in demands make the scheduling task complex. Multiple objectives in terms of cost, timing window, priorities and travel routes are the driving factors in the scheduling task. These objectives are often associated with given constraints like time, cost, resource limit etc. To meet all these objectives with the given constraints, it requires effective scheduling methods. Among different application areas of scheduling, emergency relief and staff scheduling are two domains which present major challenges for the scheduling research. These two areas provide analogy with many other areas of scheduling. Issues like finding appropriate locations and establishing them in appropriate group, discovering effective path for routing and making efficient plan for distribution and servicing are major challenges for these two and related scheduling cases. This paper covers a survey study on some of the recent papers of these areas that highlights the problem formulations, technologies, methods and algorithms applied. It provides a literature review on technologies and algorithms applied in the area of emergency case relief scheduling and staff scheduling.

In this article, I mobilize key JuD publications to demonstrate that while the JuD preaches murderous jihad against non-believers outside of Pakistan, it collaborates with the state in trying to dissuade Pakistanis from undertaking violence within the state, whether against state or non-state targets, to include Pakistan’s various religious minorities. Unsurprisingly, some of JuD’s numerous publications deal with the Hindu and Christian minorities within Pakistan, which are the largest religious minorities in the country. In this essay, I exposit what JuD says about these non-Muslims who live among Pakistani Muslims, including Ahmadis, about which the organization is generally silent. I argue here that while it supports brutal slaughter of so-called kuffar (pl. of kafar, “nonbeliever”) abroad, it argues for the conversion of religious minorities at home through the provision of medical and other social services, emergency relief and extensive proselytization.

Cuba currently has more than 38,000 health workers providing emergency relief, long-term community-based care and medical education to some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. This current outreach to 76 countries positions Cuba as a leader in global health outreach. This has been well documented and praised by many scholars and policy makers alike. While many acknowledge the importance and impact of the Cuba’s global effort, there is very little understanding as to why Cuba makes such a large global health commitment in the first place. I argue that solidarity is in fact a mixture of national pride, self-interest and humanistic outreach. Ultimately, it is a calculated effort to overcome current structures of inequity and exploitation on a global scale by expanding new opportunities for health professionals dedicated to providing care in marginalized communities.

In this article, we discuss the role of the Netherlands with respect to the Darfur crisis during 2003–2005. From the moment the crisis broke out, the Netherlands was active as a major donor and tried to facilitate political solutions. During the period January 2004–July 2005, it functioned as the (acting) presidency of the Council of the European Union and was therefore involved in creating a common EU position. We discuss how policy was made while observing internal (domestic) and external (international) influences. We conclude that the Netherlands was partially successful in establishing a more active EU position regarding Darfur. However, we also find evidence that, eventually, the EU has lagged behind the response of the UN Security Council, despite being a major donor to emergency relief and the African Union mission in Sudan.

Istanbul and its immediate surroundings have witnessed many earthquakes from the 16th century to the present, the most severe of which were as follows: 10th September, 1509; 25th May, 1719; 22nd May, 1766; 10th July, 1894 and 17th August, 1999, the last of which is also known as the Marmara Earthquake. Chosen as the focus of this study were those earthquakes which, in light of their limitation of place, amplitude (magnitude) and time, led to the constitution of new post-earthquake housing practices. As a first step, general information about the 1509, 1719, 1766, 1894, 1999 earthquakes was appraised. Then, with the aim of providing holistic data for different disciplines that research this issue, the study examines the housing units constructed during the emergency relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction stages in the the aftermath of the earthquakes. For the five earthquakes, the resulting data of post-earthquake housing practices are set out in such a way as to explain the historical process of the practices involved.

Due to mission requirements in the field of deep space exploration, emergency relief, intelligent mobile etc., based on the cross research with vehicle terramechanics, vehicle engineering and mobile robotics, this paper carried out researches of lunar rover, lightly wheeled unmanned ground platform, quadruped mobile platform etc., and proposals application prospect in future.

The post-earthquake rapid accurate assessment of macro influence of seismic ground motion is of significance for earthquake emergency relief, post-earthquake reconstruction and scientific research. The seismic intensity distribution map released by the Lushan earthquake field team of the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) five days after the strong earthquake (M7.0) occurred in Lushan County of Sichuan Ya’an City at 8:02 on April 20, 2013 provides a scientific basis for emergency relief, economic loss assessment and post-earthquake reconstruction. In this paper, the means for blind estimation of macroscopic intensity, field estimation of macro intensity, and review of intensity, as well as corresponding problems are discussed in detail, and the intensity distribution characteristics of the Lushan “4.20” M7.0 earthquake and its influential factors are analyzed, providing a reference for future seismic intensity assessments.

Humanitarian water treatment interventions vary from package bulk ‘kits’ to household (point-of-use) options. Whereas the former can be perceived to be too complex to operate, the latter, whilst relatively simple and effective, has logistical requirements that may hinder its application during relief operations. This study evaluates the potential of a semi-decentralised water treatment approach for humanitarian emergencies. Its performance was evaluated against the relevant water quality treatment objectives (The Sphere Project) under controlled laboratory conditions using a synthetic test water. Results revealed that whilst the recommended minimum free chlorine residual levels were not attained (possibly due to high chlorine demand of test water), all other treatment objectives were within desired values, namely

Where does the humanitarian community sit in relation to continuing debates about the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)? The third pillar of R2P is often seen as the practical manifestation of an older idea of humanitarian intervention, given much attention after the Rwandan genocide and Srebrenica. Many humanitarians have long been reticent about the idea of so-called humanitarian intervention and, thus, of R2P. This article examines the logic behind this reticence and explores the practical relationship between R2P and humanitarian action. In particular, it focuses on three major crises during Holmes’s time as Emergency Relief Coordination – Darfur, Sri Lanka and Myanmar – and goes on to consider briefly how and why R2P has been invoked, or not, in the more recent crises of Libya and Syria. It concludes with reflections about the implications for the future.

Disaster relief operations are complex and can benefit greatly from careful planning. Improved disaster preparedness can help save lifes, reduce the suffering of survivors, and enable communities to restart normal life more quickly. In this paper, we discuss the actors involved in humanitarian logistics and the different phases of relief efforts. As the characteristics of the needs of victims changes after the time, distinctive logistics operations for each phase are required. In this paper, we focus especially on planning for the first phase of emergency relief. An evaluation model is developed and applied to evaluate the current plans of relief operations in response to the three most likely earthquake scenarios to affect Aichi prefecture. We also evaluate a proposed plan to demonstrate the improvement in operation when coordination between government agencies and logistics companies is accomplished.

OBJECTIVE: To identify elderly who are victims of falls, according to gender, who received care from prehospital services of Maringá, Paraná. METHODS: A cross-sectional exploratory study carried out with 1,444 elderly patients who suffered falls in Maringá in the period from 2006 to 2008. Data were gathered from prehospital care services, typed and processed using the Epi Info 6.04d(r). The χ² test was used to compare the falls in relation to gender (significance level = 0.05). RESULTS: The number of falls according to gender presented similar percentages, 51.0% for males and 49.0% for females. Significant differences between genders were observed regarding age (p < 0.001), presence of alcohol breath (p < 0.001), type of fall (p < 0.001), place of fall (p < 0.001), treatment at hospital (p = 0.023), number of injuries (p = 0.014), type of injury (p < 0.001) and injury location (p

This article addresses the rise of faith-based emergency relief by examining the US President’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS (PEPFAR), a public health intervention focused on the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that the theological turn in humanitarian aid serves to amplify ongoing dynamics in the domestic politics of sub-Saharan African states, where social services have assumed the form of chronic emergency relief and religious organizations have come to play an increasingly prominent role in the provision of such services. In the context of an ongoing public health crisis, PEPFAR has institutionalized the social authority of the Pentecostal and charismatic churches, leading to a semantic confluence between the postcolonial politics of emergency and the Pentecostal/Pauline theology of kairos or event. Far from being confined to the space of foreign aid, however, the faith-based turn in humanitarianism is in keeping with ongoing reforms in domestic social policy in the United States. While on the one hand the sustained welfare programmes of the New Deal and Great Society have been dismantled in favour of a system of emergency relief, on the other hand the federal government has intensified its moral, pedagogical and punitive interventions into the lives of the poor. The wilful transfer of welfare services to overtly religious service providers has played a decisive role in this process. The article concludes with a critical appraisal of the links between African and North American Pentecostal-evangelical churches and questions the revolutionary mission ascribed to Pauline political theology in recent political theory.

The objective of this paper is to present and demonstrate the use of goal programming and data envelopment analysis (GP-DEA) framework for the disaster relief supply chain (DRSC) design problem to help decision-makers who are responsible for disaster planning and management. For this, we develop a GP model with multi-objective functions, and each of the results from the GP is considered as a decision making unit (DMU). The impacts of the emergency relief facilities (ERFs) and the distribution channels between the facilities are evaluated and quantified concerning the efficiency and robustness. A case study using historical data in South Carolina is analysed with the framework. We identify that GP-DEA framework optimizes and evaluates DRSC layouts without any subjective judgment from decision-makers. Further, we also identify that the performance of DRSC layouts is the most significantly determined by the distribution channels. If any DRSC includes more influencing channels, its performance improves.

The objective of this study was to analyze the perception that healthcare professionals make of permanent and/or continuing education at the Mobile Emergency Care Services in a municipality in São Paulo state. This qualitative study was performed using thematic content analysis. Interviews were conducted with 30 healthcare professionals, which revealed two categories: Unawareness of the theme by the institutional actor; Realized and reported needs. Results showed that permanent education remains incipient at this service. A lack of compliance to protocols, ineffective communication, poor supervision, lack of preparation to care for psychiatric patients, need for humanization and a lack of psychological support to healthcare professionals were highlighted as problems to be solved. It was identified that permanent education should receive close attention as a strategy for improving practice in emergency care services. Understanding the concept and its implementation in everyday practice are a great challenge in this setting. Descriptors: Nursing; Education; Education, Continuing; Emergency Relief; Emergency Relief. Se objetivó analizar la percepción de profesionales sobre educación permanente y/o continua en el Servicio de Atención Móvil de Urgencias de un municipio del Estado de São Paulo. Estudio cualitativo utilizando análisis temático de contenido para evaluar los datos. Entrevistados 30 profesionales emergieron dos categorías: Desconocimiento de la temática por los actores institucionales; Necesidades percibidas e informadas. Los resultados revelaron que la educación permanente es aún incipiente en dicho servicio. Falta de utilización de protocolos, comunicación ineficaz, falla de supervisión, falta de capacitación para atención de pacientes psiquiátricos, carencia de humanización y falta de apoyo psicológico, son sindicados como problemas a resolver. El estudio permitió identificar que debe otorgarse gran atención a la educación permanente como estrategia de calificación de las prácticas en los servicios de urgencias y emergencias. La comprensión del concepto y la implantación en la práctica diaria se configuran como enorme desafío en tal escenario. Descriptores: Enfermería; Educación; Educación Continua; Socorro de Urgencia; Serviços Médicos de Emergência. O estudo objetivou analisar a percepção dos profissionais sobre educação permanente e/ou continuada no Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência de um município do Estado de São Paulo. Trata-se de estudo qualitativo que utilizou a análise temática de conteúdo para análise dos dados. Das entrevistas com 30 profissionais emergiram duas categorias: Desconhecimento da temática pelos atores institucionais; Necessidades percebidas e relatadas. Os resultados revelaram que a educação permanente ainda é incipiente nesse serviço. Ausência de uso de protocolos, comunicação ineficaz, falha na supervisão, falta de capacitação para o atendimento a pacientes psiquiátricos, carência de humanização e falta de apoio psicológico aos profissionais são apontados como problemas a serem resolvidos. O estudo possibilitou identificar que grande atenção deve ser dada à educação permanente como estratégia de qualificação das práticas nos serviços de urgência e emergência. A compreensão do conceito e a implantação na prática diária configuram-se em enorme desafio nesse cenário. Descritores: Enfermagem; Educação; Educação Continuada; Socorro de Urgência; Serviços Médicos de Emergência.

A quick and simple approach for reactor—emergency relief system design—for runaway chemical reactions is presented. A cookbook for system sizing with all main characteristic dimensions and parameters is shown on one realistic example from process industry. System design was done based on existing theories, standards, and correlations obtained from the literature, which were implemented for presented case. A simple and effective method for emergency relief system is shown, which may serve as an example for similar systems design. Obtained results may contribute to better understanding of blow down system frequently used in industrial plants, for increasing safety, decreasing explosion damage, and alleviating the ecological problems together with environmental pollution in case of industrial accidents.

Humanitarian action is undergoing profound changes. Beyond the emergency relief phase, it is becoming involved in the processes that enable victims to regain their autonomy and, more recently, in prevention and risk-reduction policies. This trend is similar to that experienced by humanitarian medicine which, after focusing on emergency situations, is now involved in rehabilitation and prevention programs. The concept of resilience is perfectly suited to each phase of humanitarian interventions. Moreover, local communities are increasingly seeking to achieve their humanitarian emancipation. This trend must be anticipated, specifically by profiling future aid workers, and is similar to that faced by humanitarian medicine.

Man and machine Positioning System of Underground Coal Mines in the Iron Mine Exploitation of Loufan Ludi Mining Limited Company is based on the ZigBee Wireless Communication Technology. It realizes the effective management of the precise positioning of Man-machine and the workers. This article describes the composition of the system, the performance and management of content and network formation. The application practice shows that the underground man-machine positioning system based on ZigBee technology has played an important role in the underground personnel information management and security hedge. Such system could better meet the needs of the mine safety management and there is great prospect of application of it.

Although a wealthy country, Australia nevertheless has pockets of poverty which remain resistant to anti-poverty policies. After describing the dimensions and demographics of poverty with emphasis given to Indigenous Austalians, the paper describes how Australian governments have responded, particularly in terms of the system of income security. Within that system, social work plays a unique role; one which illustrates how social workers can contribute in a pivotal manner to poverty alleviation. Their role also illustrates how the Australian government has positioned social work as a key profession to its social policy agenda. The paper also notes that while social work is central to the government's response to poverty, its role in the system of emergency relief payments funded by government and delivered by the non-profit sector is more muted.

In emergencies, access to water plays a critical role in limiting loss of life. Point of use water treatment (PoUWT) is increasingly being used to fill this need. One emerging PoUWT technology is Hydration Technology Innovations'™ (HTI's) osmotic water purification system, which produces a clean sugar–electrolyte drink from almost any water source. This drink not only hydrates users, but also relieves malnutrition and diarrheal illness, two of the most prolific killers in refugee camps and disaster relief scenarios. In this study, HTI's HydroWell™ system is independently evaluated for on contaminant removal, cost, and material availability. Bench-top testing showed that HTI's systems have superior contaminant removal, rejecting > 88.3% of copper, lead, arsenic, and chromium at concentrations of 10 mg/L. The cost of the drink could be minimized to 0.23 USD/L by adjusting process variables. A sensitivity analysis showed significant room for cost reductions, especially if draw solutes could be locally sourced or if the system lifetime could be extended through the use of cleaning reagents or pretreatment. Further research on long-term operations and maintenance and community–technology interaction could yield more information about the efficacy of forward osmosis for this application.

This paper concerns multimodal transport systems (MTS) represented by a supernetworks in which several unimodal networks are connected by transfer links and focuses on the scheduling problems encountered in these systems. Assuming unimodal networks are modeled as cyclic lines, i.e. the routes determining stream-like moving transportation means, a problem of an alternative itinerary selection for an origin-destination (O-D) trip in the context of emergency relief is considered. Emergency relief dealing with the contingency events and deciding on MTS robustness can be evaluated in terms of feasible itineraries for assumed (O-D) trip. Since itinerary planning problem, constitutes a common routing and scheduling decision faced by travelers, hence the main question regards of itinerary re-planning and particularly a method aimed at prototyping of mode sequences and paths selections. The declarative model of multimodal processes driven itinerary planning problem is our main contribution. Illustrative examples providing alternative itineraries in some cases of MTS malfunction are presented.

The famine in Somalia 2011–2012 is a call for critical reflection and improvement. This article reviews lessons emerging from the series of articles in this special edition of Global Food Security, and identifies global implications for famine prevention, mitigation, and response in five key areas: the delay in response, the criteria for declaring a famine, the response, humanitarian space, and accountability. Three areas are identified for further research, including implications of Somalia 2011 for practice and policy; linkages to the resilience agenda and the imperative to prevent—not just respond to—famine; and implications for famine theory. Whether or not famines continue to be part of human existence or are finally relegated to history depends on how well we learn from the experience of Somalia 2011–2012, and how well this learning is incorporated into future policy and practice.

In many countries, short-acting β2-agonist inhalers have traditionally been coloured blue. This inhaled therapy has also conventionally been known as a ‘reliever’ by patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs), in comparison with ‘preventer’ medications (inhaled steroids). With the rapidly changing market in inhaled therapy for COPD and asthma and growing numbers of devices, there has been some concern that the erosion of traditional colour conventions is leading to patients (and HCPs) becoming confused about the role of different therapies. In order to assess whether there was concern over the perceived changing colour conventions, the UK Inhaler Group carried out a large online survey of patients and HCPs. The aim was to determine how patients and HCPS identify and describe inhaled drugs, and how this might impact on use of medicines and safety. The results of the survey highlighted the importance of the term ‘blue inhaler’ for patients with only 11.3% never referring to the colour when referring to their inhaler. For HCPs, 95% felt colour conventions were important when referring to reliever medication. In addition, HCPs appear to refer to inhalers mainly by colour when talking to patients. Our conclusions were that the concept of a ‘blue inhaler’ remains important to patients and healthcare professionals. These results add to the debate about the need to formalise the colour coding of inhaled therapies, in particular using the colour blue for inhalers for rapid relief of symptoms, as this convention may be an important measure and contributor to patient safety. Our survey should provide impetus for all interested parties to discuss and agree a formal industry-wide approach to colour coding of inhaled therapies for the benefit of patients and carers and HCPs. An official color-code system should be introduced for inhaled medication as UK survey results indicate the importance of the blue inhaler. Monica Fletcher at Education for Health in Warwick and colleagues on behalf of the UK Inhaler Group conducted a survey of 596 healthcare professionals and 2127 patients with airways disease to determine how important colored labelling is on inhaler medication. Traditionally, the short-acting beta 2 ‘reliever’ inhaler is colored blue – an unofficial color-coding system that, as the survey revealed, 89 per cent of patients and 95 per cent of healthcare professionals frequently refer to when discussing medication. With the increase in inhaler types available, there is concern that blue may be used for inhalers not designed for emergency relief, potentially putting patient safety at risk. Fletcher’s team therefore call for an official, universal color-coding system for inhaled medication.

The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa made it clear that international emergency assistance must be strengthened [1]. The Japanese government has contributed to combating infectious disease outbreaks by extending emergency aid to affected countries through international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Red Cross, and by providing emergency relief directly to affected countries. The Japanese government also dispatches individual experts on infectious diseases to affected regions through the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network of the WHO [2]. During the Ebola virus outbreak, Japan contributed approximately USD173 million in emergency aid and through various technical cooperation programs, and dispatched 20 experts to the affected countries through the WHO [3].

IEEE is offering a mobile emergency relief program committed to assisting victims of natural disasters with short-term solutions for communications, computer-access, and power. These temporary emergency relief provisions help people stay connected and make sure they can access the help they need. The method of providing these services is through the IEEE USA-sponsored Mobile Outreach VEhicle (MOVE). This vehicle has a large array of technology available that will support affected victims by providing USB-based charging devices, displaying information provided by relief organizations, and making two-way communications available (on a limited basis). IEEE volunteers will deploy the vehicle to disaster areas at the request of the American Red Cross Organization. When the vehicle is not deployed, IEEE volunteers will also conduct community outreach and learning opportunities for the general public in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). This paper describes the needs identification, focus group interview, design, and development activity of the IEEE MOVE Vehicle. Special emphasis will be made on the functionality of the vehicle and development of relationships with sponsoring organizations.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (in this paper, it is referred to as UAV) is widely used in the field of electric power emergency relief. The route planning time of traditional UAV emergency relief system is too long to deliver the disaster delay, and its inaccurate image feedback lead to blind command. In this paper, a fast high precision UAV power emergency relief system has been successfully designed, mainly including route map fast planning system, automatic high-precision UAV flight platform and ground monitoring command system. The route map fast planning system has been designed based on the C language, GIS Data development technology and image recognition technology. Automatic high-precision UAV flight platform mainly include UAV flight platform, multiple picture Video segmentation processor and camera fixed device. UAV route planning can be finished fast, nearly 60% of the planning map time has been saved than traditional UAV system.

Whenever a natural disaster strikes, many IEEE members wish they could go to help. IEEE volunteers have always been quick to rally around a meaningful technology initiative designed to educate young and old, alike, and provide social benefit and comfort to others. IEEE is offering a mobile emergency relief program committed to assisting victims of natural disasters with short-term communications, computer, and power solutions. These temporary emergency relief provisions will help people stay connected and make sure they can access the help they need. The method of providing these services is through the IEEE-USA-sponsored MOVE Vehicle. This vehicle has a large array of technology available which will support affected victims by providing USB-based charging devices, by displaying information provided by relief organizations, and by making two-way communications available (on a limited basis). IEEE volunteers will deploy the vehicle at the request of the American Red Cross Organization to disaster areas. Volunteers will maintain the equipment and distribute power devices. When the vehicle is not deployed, IEEE volunteers will also conduct community outreach and learning opportunities for the general public in the area of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). This is a strategic opportunity to maximize public awareness for IEEE, increase public awareness of engineering, encourage STEM-related activities, educate and encourage more students in pursuing a career in engineering. This paper will describe the specific technology deployed in the IEEE MOVE vehicle. In particular, the solar charging and diesel generator charging capabilities will be described, as well as the power distribution methodologies employed. The paper will also describe the equipment needed and system design for two-way data communications available in the vehicle.

The aim of this study was to empirically investigate a set of personality traits based on self-evaluations in relation to workplace deviance among volunteers at one of the national Emergency Relief departments, and to determine the importance of personality characteristics in contributing to volunteers’ workplace deviance. A cross-sectional research was conducted with self-reported questionnaire. The participants were 200 volunteers attached to six emergency relief centers in Peninsular Malaysia. Data were analysed using SPSS version 19.0 software. Data analysis procedures; descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were conducted. The findings confirmed the importance of taking personality traits into consideration during the process of recruitment of volunteers to minimise workplace deviance. This study contributes on the crucial role of volunteers’ personality traits that can be an imperative factor to minimise workplace deviance.

Background: Assessing whether and how the expenditure of emergency cash transfer programs (CTPs) relates to child nutritional status is a necessary step for informed program design and targeting. Objective: We hypothesized that greater child food expenditures would have a protective effect against the risk of acute malnutrition in the context of a food crisis in Niger. Methods: We investigated the relationship between food and medical expenditures and acute malnutrition in children aged 6 to 36 months through an observational cohort study of 420 households enrolled in an emergency CTP in Niger. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the risk of acute malnutrition while adjusting for relevant child and household characteristics. Results: Seventy-four (18% of the cohort) children developed acute malnutrition. The risk was 1.79 times higher among ill children than healthy children (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.79; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10-2.92; P < .05), nearly 3 times higher among children in the poorest households than those in wealthier households (HR: 2.98; 95% CI: 1.86-4.78; P < .001), and 2.85 times lower with each unit increase in baseline weight-for-height Z score (HR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.23-0.53; P < .001). Food expenditures were not associated with risk (HR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.87-1.07; P > .05). Conclusion: Our findings highlight the importance of the health-related determinants of child undernutrition and suggest that a potential role of emergency CTPs may be to enable and promote health service access where services exist. They also indicate a need for more sustained poverty reduction and undernutrition prevention activities in concert with well-timed and strategic use of emergency interventions.

The disaster emergency relief plays a vital role in reducing casualties and economic losses. Emergency logistics scheduling (ELS) aims at dispatching emergency resources to the victims of disasters, which is an important event of disaster relief. In this paper, a model for ELS in disaster relief is built that includes several suppliers with a variety of resources, several kinds of vehicles, and multiple disasters. To ensure timely and effective dispatching, an objective is first designed to minimize the completion time of scheduling and the total unsatisfied time of the whole relief. Then, a multi-agent genetic algorithm (MAGA) is proposed to solve this problem. Four evolutionary operators, namely, the crossover, mutation, self-learning and the effective neighborhood competition operators are designed for agents. The proposed algorithm is applied to the case of Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan, and the experimental results show that the performance of this algorithm is better than that of genetic algorithm and memetic algorithm.

Emergency logistics is most important to disaster response operations, and the loss caused by the disaster will be reduced significantly if the logistics is scheduled efficiently. In this paper we investigate an emergency relief logistics scheduling problem with three transportation modes. The first stage is to select the transportation modes available efficiently and coordinately, and the goal of the first stage is to minimize the cost caused by selecting transportation modes for the demand points. The second stage is to determine the transportation and dispatching for relief supplies to each demand point by using the transport modes determined by the first stage. The objective of the second stage is to minimize the unsatisfied demand cost for the demand points. We propose DPSO algorithm and BPSO algorithm to solve two stages respectively. Numerical experiments show that the proposed algorithms are effective and stability.

This paper investigates the use of early warning tools as part of Ethiopia's Disaster Risk Management framework. Analyzing, in particular, the Livelihoods, Early Assessment and Protection tool, Livelihood Integrated Assessment and Hotspots Assessments, the paper delineates the scope and objectives of existing early warning tools, their commonalities and limitations. From a disaster risk financing and insurance perspective, the paper investigates possible enhancements in the existing early warning framework and its use that could facilitate greater timeliness of drought response. The paper argues that based on the existing early warning instruments and continued improvements to the early warning systems, it is possible to enable early action during the onset of a drought.

Climate change has considerably increased the likelihood of experiencing extreme weather events. Governments in developing countries have a limited capacity to smooth the losses created by extreme weather, and could potentially benefit from the introduction of disaster funds, that is, ex-ante budgeting allocations for post-disaster reconstruction. So far the implementation of disaster funds has been limited, in part because it is still unclear whether disaster funds provide a cost-effective way of coping with these losses. By taking advantage of the sharp rules that govern the municipal-level eligibility for reconstruction funds in Mexico, this paper provides some of the first estimates of the impact of disaster funds on local economic activity. The main finding is that access to disaster funding boosts local economic activity between 2 and 4 percent in the year following the disaster. Another finding is that the positive impact of disaster funds on local economic recovery can persist for as long as a year and a half after the disaster. Consistent with these findings, we additionally show that access to disaster funding leads to a large and sustained 76 percent increase in the growth of local construction employment. This labor market impact slightly precedes the overall increase in local economic activity.

Disasters resulting from natural hazards represent an important challenge for Colombia’s fiscal sustainability and stability. Colombia is one of the countries with the highest recurrence rate of disasters caused by natural hazards in Latin America (see the Annex)1. As the country’s population and economy continue to grow, so will the economic losses resulting from such events, an average of 600 disaster events of which is reported per year2. Colombia’s rate of economic growth is increasing the base of assets exposed to disaster risks, which may lead to significant increases in losses, particularly if investments in new assets are not accompanied by plans for mitigating disaster risk. The Government of Colombia (GoC) recognizes the importance of mitigating these events and has taken several steps to mainstream disaster risk management into its policy and programs, as evinced by the National Development Plan ‘2014-2018’, ‘all for a New Country’. The MHCP is committed to developing strategies for reducing its contingent liabilities in relation to disasters and to managing the fiscal risk resulting from these events. This document presents the priority policy objectives that have been established to assess, reduce, and manage fiscal risk due to natural disasters. It also describes the MHCP’s efforts to progress its policy objectives in the long term. These policy objectives represent the MHCP’s ex ante policy framework regarding management of financial and fiscal disaster risk. The MHCP identifies three priority policy objectives in order to strengthen management of the Government’s contingent liabilities and thus support the goal of achieving macroeconomic stability and fiscal balance. The policy objectives are: (i) identification and understanding of fiscal risk due to disasters; (ii) financial management of natural disaster risk, including the implementation of innovative financial instruments; and (iii) catastrophe risk insurance for public assets.

Origin. Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders was founded in 1971 by a small group of doctors and journalists who believed that all people have a right to emergency relief.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal purpose was to stop the Great Depression. The article task is to show knowledge of Polish diplomacy about the program. It is based on Wiktor Podoski’s elaboration Nowy ład Roosevelta. Author was an employee of Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his book he describes realization of New Deal from 1933 to 1936. The article presents how Podoski showed the program and each act. He shows, in great detail, some of the reforms and biggest institutions appointed under the New Deal: National Recovery Administration, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Public Works Administration. Many of the reforms were skipped or only mentioned by author. Information showed by him weren’t always accurate. Some of the reforms of the second phase of the program are described with author’s opinion about their future. Article also shows, as a summary reforms of New Deal of the years 1936–1937. Nowy Ład Franklina Delano Roosevelta miał na celu powstrzymanie wielkiego kryzysu. Artykuł ma za zadanie pokazać wiedzę polskiej dyplomacji na temat programu. Jest on oparty na opracowaniu Wiktora Podoskiego Nowy ład Roosevelta. Autor był pracownikiem polskiego Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych. Opisuje on realizację Nowego Ładu od 1933 do 1936 r. W artykule odzwierciedlone zostało to, jak Podoski przedstawił program oraz poszczególne ustawy. Szczegółowo ukazuje on niektóre reformy, a także największe instytucje powołane w ramach Nowego Ładu: National Recovery Administration, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration oraz Public Works Administration. Wielu ustaw autor pominął lub tylko o nich wspomniał. Przedstawione przez niego informacje nie zawsze były niedokładne. Niektóre z reform drugiej fazy programu zostały opisane wraz z opinią autora na temat ich przyszłości. W artykule zostały również ukazane, jako podsumowanie, reformy Nowego Ładu z okresu 1936–1939.

Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted in New York in September 2015, increased attention has been placed on fragile states, where most people live under the poverty line. Because the SDGs focus more on marginalized people, it will become necessary to address issues concerning fragile and conflict-affected countries. Eight out of fifty fragile states are located in Asia and 30% of the overall fragile state population is expected to reside in Asia. Thus, there is an urgent need for policy efforts to address problems regarding fragile states such as severe poverty and underdevelopment. Furthermore, five out of eight Asian fragile states are categorized as priority partner countries of Korea for 2016-2020. However, Korea's support to the fragile states has concentrated on emergency relief and humanitarian aid for recovery and reconstruction after conflicts or disasters. This is not enough to resolve fragilities and thus it is necessary to establish cooperation strategies to support fragile states.This paper provides policy implications on why and how Korea should prepare a cooperation strategy for supporting fragile states in Asia by analyzing and reviewing the definition and scope and current development situation, as well as Korea's policy and support for fragile states.

On 11 March 2011, a catastrophic 9.0-magnitude earthquake shook Northeastern Japan and triggered a tsunami that rose more than 40 meters. In the days following the disaster, Tenrikyo, a new religious movement founded by Nakayama Miki (1798–1887) in 1838, initiated an extensive emergency relief campaign that lasted over four months and involved approximately 18,600 of the religion’s Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps (Saigai kyūen hinokishin tai) members and several thousands of ordinary Tenrikyō adherents (Tenrikyō Nyōsu 2011x).1 The emergency response included the distribution of drinking water, hot meals, and material aid; the removal of debris and mud left by the earthquake and tsunami; medical care by doctors and nurses from Tenrikyō’s hospital, Ikoi no Ie; and recreational activities for children in disaster-area shelters. Tenrikyō’s fundraising campaign conducted between 12 March and 31 December 2011 raised 450 million yen for delivery to the prefectural governments of Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate and an additional 285 million for Tenrikyō’s Disaster Relief Hinokishin Corps and for Tenrikyō branch churches damaged by the disaster (Tenrikyō Nyōsu 2011b).2 Tenrikyō’s response was rapid and well organized, and the campaign amounted to the largest disaster relief effort that the organization had staged in its history.

A relief, vent, or disposal system is an emergency system for discharging gas during abnormal conditions, by manual or controlled means or by an automatic pressure relief valve from a pressurized vessel or piping system, to the atmosphere to relieve pressure in excess of the maximum allowable working pressure or design pressure. The relief system may include the relief device, the collection piping, flashback protection, and a gas outlet. The relief system outlet may be either vented or flared. If designed properly, vent or flare emergency relief systems from pressure vessels may be combined. This chapter also discusses relief device selection; procedures for sizing vapors, liquids, two-phase liquids/gases and steam; installation considerations; and disposal system design.

Debris occurs from the ruin and wreckage of structures during a disaster. Proper removal of debris is of great importance because it blocks roads and prohibits emergency aid teams from accessing disaster affected regions. Poor disaster management, lack of efficiency and delays in debris removal cause disruptions in providing shelter, nutrition, healthcare and communication services to disaster victims, and more importantly, result in loss of lives. Due to the importance of systematic and efficient debris removal from the perspectives of improving disaster victims quality of life and allowing the transportation of emergency relief materials, the focus of this study is on providing emergency relief supplies to disaster affected regions as soon as possible by unblocking roads through removing the accumulated debris. We develop a mathematical model for the problem that requires long CPU times for large instances. Since it is crucial to act quickly in an emergency case, we also propose a heuristic methodology that solves instances with an average gap of 1% and optimum ratio of 80.83%. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people are affected by natural disasters. The number of casualties is usually increased by lack of clean water, food, shelter, and adequate medical care during the aftermath. One of the main problems influencing relief distribution is the state of the post-disaster road network. In this paper, we consider the problem of scheduling the emergency repair of a rural road network that has been damaged by the occurrence of a natural disaster. This problem, which we call the Network Repair Crew Scheduling and Routing Problem addresses the scheduling and routing of a repair crew optimizing accessibility to the towns and villages that demand humanitarian relief by repairing roads. We develop both an exact dynamic programming (DP) algorithm and an iterated greedy-randomized constructive procedure to solve the problem and compare the performance of both approaches on small- to medium-scale instances. Our numerical analysis of the solution structure validates the optimization model and provides managerial insights into the problem and its solutions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. and Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) within the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS). All rights reserved.