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Enhanced communication for mt-2 submittals as part of the fema letters of map revision review partners program.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board and Mile High Flood Control District hold pre-submittal meetings. These meetings are a chance to answer questions about the Letter of Map Revision process. This joint effort has made for more complete submittals. It has also improved coordination among local agencies and mapping partners.

Preparedness Grant Effectiveness Case Study: New York City

In August 2021, FEMA conducted a grant effectiveness case study with New York City to understand how FEMA preparedness grant funding helped prepare the city’s mass fatality management (MFM) system for the significant increase in deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic. FEMA conducted this case study virtually with representatives from NYC’s MFM system, including NYC Emergency Management (NYCEM) and the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).

Blue Lake Rancheria Case Study: Impacts of Preparedness Grant Funding

In 2022, FEMA‘s National Preparedness Assessment Division conducted a grant effectiveness case study with the Blue Lake Rancheria to better understand the effects of preparedness grant funding investments made by the tribe. To conduct this case study, FEMA personnel held a virtual interview with Blue Lake Rancheria’s Office of Emergency Services in September 2022. During the case study, participants discussed the tribe’s use of preparedness grant dollars to invest in community resilience, investment and allocation strategies, and recommendations for improving FEMA’s administration of its preparedness grant programs.

Equity-Based Approach to Floodplain Management in Virginia

This presentation focuses on the history of environmental justice in the Commonwealth of Virginia and how those legacies impact current policies.

Equity In Region 3 Planning

The purpose of the Equity In Region 3 Planning brief is to provide an example of equity inclusion in a recent planning effort and to describe our path forward.

Voluntary Regional Planning Approach Builds Stronger Partnerships

In the mid-1990s, North Carolina was a leader in mitigation planning. In 1996, the state created a Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative. This grew outreach, training and funding support for North Carolina’s local planning efforts. This marked a milestone for North Carolina’s efforts to improve planning in its local jurisdictions.

New Jersey: County of Hunterdon Acquisition of Repetitive Loss Property

Hunterdon County will acquire flood-prone property impacted by Hurricane Ida to prevent future losses.

New Jersey: Berkeley Township Elevation of Three Homes

The township of Berkeley will raise three residential properties for long-term flood protection.

Partner Developed High-Water Mark Mural to Engage Community

Carson City, Nevada created a high-water mark mural that serves as both a teaching tool and a reminder of the community’s flood risk.

Texas: Harris County Flood Control District Buyout

A community in Harris County, Texas, is moving to higher ground to prepare for future floods by creating a natural floodplain.

International Case Studies in the Management of Disasters

Natural - manmade calamities and pandemics, table of contents, introduction, analyzing site security design principles in a built environment and implication for disaster preparedness: the case of istanbul sultanahmet square, turkey.

Today, the presence of unwanted activities threatening the safety of the field, which has negative effects on daily life and social psychology, is increasing day by day. There is no doubt that it is inevitable to avoid these threats, but it is possible to take some measures to reduce the destructive power of these threats. Nowadays, increasing terrorist attacks increase the importance of field safety design in urban areas. There is a loss of life in attacks around the world. The subject of this study is to investigate the design criteria related to the built environment and the measures to be taken in the case of bomb attacks in the built environment. In this study, a checklist will designed to measure the security design process around the building. The checklist titles are taken mainly from the “Safety design and Landscape Architecture” series of the Landscape Architecture Technical Information Series/LATIS publications by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the Risk Management Series of the Federal Emergency Management Agency/FEMA ( FEMA, 2003 , 2007 ; LATIS, 2016 ) and others. The checklist created as a result of literature review will be tested in Istanbul Sultanahmet Square. As a result of the study, it was determined that improvements should be made in the areas of vehicular and pedestrian access, parking lots, lighting and trash receptacle designs around Sultanahmet Square.

Local Knowledge in Russian Flood-prone Communities: A Case Study on Living with the Treacherous Waters

Owing to the climate change, the number of flood hazards and communities at risk is expected to rise. The increasing flood risk exposure is paralleled with an understanding that hard flood defense measures should be complemented with soft sociotechnical approaches to flood management. Among other things, this involves development of a dialogue between professionals and flood-prone communities to ensure that the decisions made correspond to the peculiarities of local socioenvironmental contexts. However, in practice, establishment of such a dialogue proves to be challenging. Flood-prone communities are often treated as mere recipients of professional knowledge and their local knowledge remains underrated. Building on an illustrative case study of one rural settlement in North-West Russia, we examine how at-risk communities develop their local knowledge and put it to use as they struggle with adverse impacts of flooding, when the existing flood protection means are insufficient. Our findings showcase that local knowledge of Russian flood-prone communities is axiomatic and tacit, acquired performatively through daily interaction of local residents with their natural and sociotechnical environments. Even if unacknowledged by both the local residents and flood management professionals as a valuable asset for long-term flood management, it is local knowledge that informs local communities' practices and enables their coexistence with the treacherous waters.

Financial Implications of Natural Disasters: A Case Study of Floods in Pakistan

Natural disasters occur all around the world, in the last two decades these natural disasters have brought sever damages to the world economy. Mostly developing countries bear severe consequences due to these natural disasters. In July 2010, Pakistan faced a massive flood, which affected almost all the countries. The disaster affected all sectors like daily life, transportation, infrastructure, etc., of the country. GOP did not have enough resources to cope with this giant disaster and called for international help. Local and international NGOs participated with GOP in the early phases of recovery. Millions of dollars were given away as the initial impact of this disaster, and GOP and other relief agents have spent other million to provide initial recovery and relief. GOP will need billions of dollars further to continue recovery from the disaster of 2010.

Microcase Studies on Managing Tourism Destinations in the Aftermath of Disasters

Comparing the experiences of african states in managing ebola outbreaks from 2014 into 2020 *.

Eradicating Ebola from West Africa was struggled with from 2014 through 2016. While at first inefficient and ineffective, undeniable progress was made in responding to the outbreak once countries and organizations steeled themselves for the task at hand. A separate outbreak occurred concurrently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during this period. This episode marked the seventh time that DRC had dealt with the virus over a roughly 45-year span. In 2017, there was an eighth occurrence. Moreover, in 2018, DRC faced its ninth and tenth outbreaks. Comparing the experiences of countries in West Africa facing the disease for the first time, with a state that has a long history addressing its impact, is offered here as a means of better understanding successful disease management where public health epidemics are concerned. Results indicate that early investment in cultivating disease-specific practices, combined with establishing cooperative networks of actors across levels of political response, enables improved mitigation and response during outbreaks.

Kerala Nipah Virus Outbreak 2018: The Need for Global Surveillance of Zoonotic Diseases

Managing visiting scholars' program during the covid-19 pandemic.

International mobility outgoing and incoming from almost every university around the world is not just oriented to highly educative standards among them, but to enhance the development of international competences for students, as well as for academics. While students' mobility are mostly an individual effort that implies individual consequences, academics' mobility involve several resources from universities and trigger collective processes such as research collaboration, visiting lecturers, exchange experiences and best practices meetings, plenary sessions, classes, among others. This case study aims to provide insights about how planned activities related for/with visiting international scholars suffer major disruption and collateral damages when an unplanned and unexpected global crisis occurs, which forces them to react immediately under different real-time decisions and nonexistent protocols. The chapter focuses on Latin America, using the case of the Global Business Week organized by Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM) in Mexico, and involving visiting scholars from Peru and Colombia.

Managing E-commerce During a Pandemic: Lessons from GrubHub During COVID-19

The GrubHub Inc, started as a small food ordering service in Chicago in 2004, and has developed into an e-commerce food delivery giant worth over $3 billion. Since its merger with Seamless in 2013, GrubHub has experienced 53% year-over-year growth in revenue. While online food ordering commerce has been expanding over the years, due to the COVID-19, the industry is experiencing an economic shock. Consumers have begun to isolate themselves from outside as much as possible and local shops have been started to close one by one. As a result, demand has been shrinking to services such as GrubHub, even though otherwise would be expected. In order to survive, the company has to employ new measures and devise new ways of conducting business to protect its competitiveness through catering recently changed needs of community due to the pandemic. This case study explains and demonstrates the set of steps that are taken by GrubHub and their effects on its customers, key business partners, shareholder, and stakeholders.

The Role of Communications in Managing a Disaster: The Case of COVID-19 in Vietnam

Despite a ravaging pandemic worldwide, Vietnam managed to contain the local outbreak, partly owing to its carefully implemented risk communications campaign. This chapter investigated the effectiveness of official Vietnam government communications, the sentiment of foreign media reporting on Vietnam, and any challenges. Content analysis was applied to samples from government communications (43 samples); international articles (46); and social media conversations (33). Official government communications were quite accurate, timely, and effective in displaying transparency, employing war symbolism, and shared responsibility, but should more clearly separate between state and expert, offer differing views, and highlight the benefits of compliance. International articles praised the government's viral PSA TikTok video, its transparency, and the netizens' nationalist narratives. While some evidence was found for infodemic, blaming, and heroization, the sample was too small to be conclusive. Future studies should expand the timeframe to a longer duration, quantitatively appraise a wider sampling of social media conversations, and possibly conduct primary interviews with experts, policy makers, and the public.

Passage from the Tourist Gaze to the Wicked Gaze: A Case Study on COVID-19 with Special Reference to Argentina

The Day the World Stopped is a science fiction film that narrates the days of mankind amid an alien invasion headed to avoid the climate change. We made the decision to use a similar title to narrate the facts that precede the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, and its immediate effects on the industry of tourism. Over years, scholars cited John Urry and his insight over the tourist gaze as well as the importance of tourism as a social institution. Of course, Urry never imagined that one day this global world would end. This chapter centers on the needs of discussing the concept of the wicked gaze, which exhibits the end of hospitality, a tendency emerged after 9/11. This chapter punctuates on the decline of hospitality—at least as it was imagined by ancient philosophers—in a way that the tourist gaze sets the pace to a wicked gaze. Whether hospitality and free transit were the foundational values of West, COVID-19, and the resulted state of emergency reveals a new unknown process of feudalization which comes to stay. The chapter is framed based on long-dormant philosophical debates, but given the complexity of this issue, the efforts deserve our attention.

COVID-19 Outbreak in Finland: Case Study on the Management of Pandemics

COVID-19 has created an unprecedented situation for Finland like never before. These are desperate times for Finland. And desperate times need desperate measures. The Government of Finland is pulling out all the stops and doing everything possible in its continued fight against COVID-19 virus. The crisis primarily erupted due to the initial delay in action and lack of preparedness required to tackle this kind of crisis. Communication channels were put to best use by the Finnish Government in an effort to reach out to all the people in Finland. The people living in Finland should strictly follow the guidelines and support the measures by the Government in full tandem to ensure that the COVID-19 virus is defeated and stops further transmission by breaking the chain. This paper portrays different possible trajectories and outcomes associated with the impacts of the pandemic in Finland.

The COVID-19 Crisis Management in the Republic of Korea

Until recently, the business environment was characterized by a world in which nations were more connected than ever before. Unfortunately, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has virtually ended the borderless and globalized world we were accustomed to. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic at a news conference in Geneva on March 11, 2020. The multifaceted nature of this invisible virus is impacting the world at many levels, and this unprecedented pandemic may best be characterized as an economic and health war against humanity. More international cooperation is crucial for effectively dealing with the present pandemic (and future pandemics) because all nations are vulnerable, and it is highly unlikely that any pandemic would affect only one country. Therefore, this case study takes a sociological approach, examining various social institutions and cultural facets (i.e., government, press freedom, information technology [IT] infrastructure, healthcare systems, and institutional collectivism) to understand how South Korea is handling the crisis while drawing important implications for other countries. All aspects of how Korea is handling COVID-19 may not be applicable to other countries, such as those with fewer IT infrastructures and less institutional collectivism. However, its methods still offer profound insights into how countries espousing democratic values rooted in openness and transparency to both domestic and worldwide communities can help overcome the current challenge. As such, the authors believe that Korea's innovative approach and experience can inform other nations dealing with COVD-19, while also leading to greater international collaboration for better preparedness when such pandemics occur in the future. This case study also considers implications for both public policy and organization, and the authors pose critical questions and offer practical solutions for dealing with the current pandemic.

Empowering Patients through Social Media and Implications for Crisis Management: The Case of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Empowered patients are allies to the healthcare system, especially in emergency situations. Social media use has emerged to be a major means by which patients interact with the healthcare system, and in times such as the current COVID-19 situation social media has to play an even greater crisis management role by empowering patients. Social media channels serve numerous beneficial purposes, despite them also being blamed for the spread of misinformation during this crisis. In this Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) focused case study, we will discuss the increasingly greater role being played by the social media in healthcare in the region and how that empowers not just the patients but the system as a whole. In the GCC region, the healthcare sector is found to reflect a steady growth, leading to an increased drive for empowering patients by lowering the barriers to effective communication and consultation through online media. As of today, social media has become an element of the telehealth infrastructure being deployed in the region. During COVID-19, patients are seen to leverage it pointedly for online health consultations thereby lowering the stress on the healthcare system and adding to efficiencies.

Technology in Medicine: COVID-19 and the “Coming of Age” of Telehealth

Telehealth has been playing a progressively significant role in the management of the COVID-19 crisis. The enforcement of social distancing measures has had the consequence of reduced technology distance in almost every walk of life. In this chapter, based primarily on the still-unfolding experiences of deploying it during the current situation, we argue that telehealth has finally come of age and that it is time to move it from the peripheries to the center of the twenty-first-century healthcare. To provide a live context to the discussion, several instances of how telehealth strengthened our healthcare systems during the COVID-19 crisis are presented.

Dr. Babu George
Dr. Qamaruddin Mahar

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The 2015 Chennai Flood: A Case for Developing City Resilience Strategies

Soumita Chakraborty , Umamaheshwaran Rajasekar

Over the last 25 years, the world has seen a rise in the frequency of natural disasters in rich and poor countries alike. Today, there are more people at risk from natural hazards than ever before, with those in developing countries particularly at risk. This essay series is intended to explore measures that have been taken, and could be taken, in order to improve responses to the threat or occurrence of natural disasters in the MENA and Indo-Pacific regions. Read More . ..

The Chennai metropolitan region (CMA), with an area of 1,189 sq kms and a population of 8,653,521, is the fourth-largest populated city in India. [1] This city, located in north eastern part of Tamil Nadu is a flat plain bounded on the east by Bay of Bengal and on the remaining three sides by Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur districts. Expansion in terms of area as well as population has led to a shift in land use and land cover patterns across the region.

Situated along the eastern coast of India, Chennai is exposed to violent storm surges and flooding during northeast monsoons (September to November). Although local flooding is an annual phenomenon in selected parts of the city, extreme events, such as the 1918 cyclone and 1985 floods, had faded from people’s memory. [2] However, history repeated itself in the city and neighboring coastal districts in November-December 2015, when a devastating flood affected more than 4 million people, claimed more than 470 lives and resulted in enormous economic loss. [3]

The sudden and unprecedented nature of the flood led to ad hoc and uncoordinated relief and response activities by different governmental and non-governmental agencies. Industrial and commercial centers were forced to temporarily shut down their production due to loss of power, shelter and limited logistics. Amid the chaos and widespread impact, the event brought people and institutions in and outside Chennai together, to provide support to the victims affected by the flood. Help reached the affected areas and their residents from different sections of society and in variety of forms. The lessons from this case study and others like it can help urban centers elsewhere in Asia to plan for similar eventualities.

Challenges Faced During and Following the Event

Flooding often handicaps the affected community by adversely affecting its educational system, food availability, mobility and access to energy on a daily basis. Chennai was no exception: daily functions became a challenge for the entire city.

School authorities faced numerous challenges, ranging from the sudden need to shift and secure school records / admit cards and postpone exams, to maintaining physical infrastructure and equipping schools to serve as shelters. Following the event, school authorities faced yet another set of daunting tasks related to the resumption of the academic session (e.g. repairing and replacing furniture, etc.) in schools that had been shuttered (for 10 to 33 days) in various parts of the city.

Flooding often handicaps the affected community by adversely affecting its educational system, food availability, mobility and access to energy on a daily basis.

Food logistics arrangements across the affected communities included the unavailability of manufacturing capacity and delivery mechanisms. The lack of accessibility to several parts of Chennai due to severe flooding made identification of delivery points and transport routes more difficult, which deprived some local communities of basic food supplies required for survival. During the first 24 hours of flooding, the main concern of the local supermarkets providing food supplies to surrounding areas, was to safeguard perishable items not only from getting wet but also to keep them from spoiling (since there was no electricity). However, it was critical for them to meet customer demand, keeping in mind the limited food availability and lack of communication within their management team.

First responders and information providers faced difficulties in providing accurate real time information to local communities on flooded areas, accessibility of roads, road condition, traffic flow and current weather scenario.

Flooding of roads, tracks and supporting infrastructure, delayed and suspended provision of necessary services. Moreover, several hospital staff were unable to get to work or extend their support due to being affected by the flood themselves. It was a greater challenge for hospital authorities, to safeguard patients admitted to Intensive and Critical Care units (ICU) or those under ventilation through maintenance of power supply.

The Chennai flood had a devastating impact on businesses, especially on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who were unprepared and vulnerable to both direct and indirect impacts. Flood water entered the first level of most of the offices and shops, reaching a height of approximately two meters in some areas. This damaged products, stocks, storage units, electrical equipment. In post disaster scenario, several businessmen in Chennai were unable to operate for three months due to lack of process-service delivery, finance, logistics, management implications and loss of customer base. Service station owners too had a hard time in recovering broken cars, fixing damaged engines, car interiors, upholsteries and external impact damages. In post flood scenario fungal attack and rusting were additional issues faced by them to continue their business.

Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) faced a plethora of challenges and obstacles, as did official first responders ...

Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) faced tough challenges, such as contingency planning at zone/ district level, stock piling of relief materials/supplies, arranging for inter-agency coordination, preparing evacuation plans, providing public information and conducting field exercises. Service providers in the transport sector had to undertake route planning and ensure priority management. Situation worsened due to lack of mechanisms to mitigate impacts of flood, such as road closure notification, absence of traffic control warning signs, emergency detour routes, etc. which are essential during such extreme events. Thus, they procured boats and hired fishermen to commute to inundated parts of the city.

Likewise, government officials — first responders, such as the fire department, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the police, in particular — faced a plethora of challenges and obstacles. They not only had the responsibility of conducting rescue operations, but also of road clearance and provision of other facilities to ensure supply of basic necessities throughout the affected communities. The fire department managed calls, coordinated between departments and controlled water distribution system, in the absence of power for prolonged periods. They had to function with disrupted utility services, clear streets of debris, waste and fallen trees in low lying areas and also ensure steady and quick pumping out of water from flooded pockets. NDRF on the other hand, was required to conduct timely rescue operations with small teams, coordinate with local officials, mobilize limited human resources to priority areas and commute using limited transport vehicles and boats. They also had electricity constraints in setting up onsite operational coordination control room (OSOCC) and shelters for both their team as well as the local community. In some instances, the Chennai police were unable to ensure effective and timely response, due to lack of common command system, clear assignment of duties and demarcation of roles to respective officials, for times of emergency.

Resilience Efforts

Various segments of society assisted local communities and relief providers in affected parts of Chennai to cope with the flood. The Chennai government, private schools and the Parent Association were three strong pillars which supported victims in the aftermath of the flood. School children from Hosur made artefacts for sale at an art show to raise funds for a severely affected government school in Poonamallee. Another group of 15 teachers and 40 alumni of the TVS Academy School of Hosur, travelled to Chennai to help improve the infrastructure of Aringar Anna Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Poonamallee. These groups extended help in painting damaged walls, blackboards and building new toilets. During and post flood, government schools were used as relief camps where food and health issues were partially covered by government and parent association.

Various segments of society assisted local communities and relief providers in affected parts of Chennai to cope with the flood.

Private enterprises, such as restaurants, taxi service providers and automobile service centers, also joined hands with the government to provide relief to the flood affected population. Kolapasi, a Chennai-based restaurant, was turned into a temporary food relief agency. Social media was used for awareness generation on the initiative and also to raise funds. Individuals of all age groups and across all professions, supported this initiative by volunteering to cook, wash utensils, pack and deliver food. About 1.7 lakhs food boxes were distributed across the city.

The ride-hailing company Ola started operating boats, which also provided an important learning for future preparedness measures. They strategically identified water routes for providing service to even the most inaccessible areas. They also helped the Fire Department in conducting their rescue operations. Similarly, a vegetable and milk supply chain, Heritage Fresh, sold their commodities at a subsidized rate when prices in parts of Chennai were on the rise. Mobile vegetable shops also put in efforts to reach out to as many flood affected people as possible. Online food service providers, such as Zomato, added one extra meal on behalf of the company for every order that was placed for the stranded people.

The impact of flood on health sector was a complex issue, as the threats to health were both direct (for example, flash flood) and indirect (for example, a hospital needing to be closed due to flooding). To protect and promote health of patients and minimize health risks, sustained treatment for chronic infectious disease were provided through voluntary camps. 51 patients were evacuated and ICU wards were shifted to first floor; special care was taken while shifting new born babies, mental patients, elderly or patients with disabilities; cleanliness was ensured by internal experts using prescribed norms and dosage of chemicals and sump pumps were installed in hospitals to drain out water. Adequate stock of medicine, injections and IV fluids (intravenous) were available for continued medical care of the patients. Immediate actions in response to the flash flood situation from the ESIC was to direct all capacities of the existing health care system towards flood relief, prevention of disease outbreak, water disinfection and vigilance for future outbreaks.

Funds for energy and fuel supply were of least priority, but their demand was high in slums and remote areas where it was required for the survival of sick family members, the elderly and children. Organizations like Oxfam, provided support through the provision of energy and fuel supply to households. Private companies like Servals Pvt Ltd. initiated a similar program of providing specially designed rehabilitation kit, which included a kerosene stove, water filter, utensils, disinfectant, etc. to the slum dwellers, manual laborers and villagers in the worst hit areas, who were not covered under government programs. Along with the kit, training was also provided to ensure optimum utilization of the given products.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) suffered both direct (physical) and indirect (man-days/ sales) loss. They demanded government to provide interest free loans and delay their tax payment along with other repayments. SMEs took adequate measures to build resilience against future floods through installation of electrical points at a raised height and flood defense barriers within their premises, securing databases by using online recovery systems, etc.

Vehicle service stations, such as Harsha Toyota collected and repaired cars that broke down due to water logging. Company ordered its dealerships to take extra space for flood affected cars while insurance companies were asked to clear their claims on time. They also provided discounted service packages, such as completely waiving labor charges, and offering ten percent discounts on spare parts, roadside assistance, loyalty points of up to Rs. 20,000, 50 percent discounts on car renewal and an exchange bonus up to Rs. 30,000 to flood-affected areas. The 2015 Chennai flash flood made all the car companies (e.g., Toyota, BMW, Renault, Maruti, Hyundai, Nissan, etc.) rethink and develop more sustainable business continuity plan for production, maintenance and parking. Several online and local sellers including a number of automobile portals, such as Copart, has a separate page exclusively for cars damaged in Chennai floods for holding auctions.

Hotel authority liaised with local authorities (i.e., police and fire service and incorporated emergency plans and services wherever possible. Guests were relocated and although flood kits (water proof clothing, blanket, candle/torches, etc.) was provided to all, there is a need to strengthen response and relief capacity of hotels.

Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), such as Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) mobilized over 700 volunteers for carrying out rescue, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction work, which included arranging food, shelter, cleaning up after flood water resided, waste management, spraying of insecticides and distribution of relief kit. They used half-cut plastic tank boats to rescue stranded people, conducted community based training programmes in health risks and fostered behavioral changes to support all social groups. TNTJ also became one of the coordinating facilitator through establishment of community, zone and district level mechanism with local partners, frontline workers and line departments.

Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Maps, played an important role in bringing all the service providers and individuals to work together for reducing the impact and helping the flood affected population recover better. These platforms helped disseminate information, broadcast further warnings, inform people of the undertaken initiatives, call for volunteers in respective sectors, crowdsource and map the waterlogged or inundated areas. Professor Amit Sheth and his team at Wright State University in the United States carried out a new National Science Fund (NSF)-funded project, the Social and Physical Sensing Enabled Decision Support for Disaster Management and Response. This technology was mobilized to monitor and analyze social media and crowdsourcing for better situational awareness of Chennai flood. Companies, such as BSNL, Paytm, Airtel and Zomato, also pitched in to help Chennai flood victims.

Towards Building Urban Disaster Risk Resilience

The 2015 Chennai flood caused by the torrential downpour brought city life to a standstill. It affected socio-economic condition of the district, maimed critical infrastructure, stranded animals and humans, disrupted services and flooded major parts of the city. The incorporation of flood preparedness measures will help reduce the extent of their impact on people, their life and property in future, along with giving them better coping abilities.

Best practices from Chennai flood case study should be used to strengthen existing risk handling capacities as well as learn lessons, to help replicate similar initiatives for preparedness of other Indian cities. This will also enable the government to coordinate and collaborate with similar service providers across the city for conducting efficient rescue and response operations in future. Best practices extrapolated from this case study could also prove useful to local and national officials from countries throughout Asia and the Middle East, all of whom continue to wrestle with the complex challenges associated with responding to responding to natural disasters in urban settings.

Prioritized interventions and emergency responses which can be used to reduce urban risk, redevelop city plans and ensure effective disaster relief operations in future are listed below.

➢ As was reflected in the initiatives undertaken by several CBOS, particularly TNTJ, disaster response should address the humanitarian imperative; adhere to the principles of neutrality and impartiality; and ensure local participation and accountability, along with respecting local culture and custom. Thus, awareness generation and capacity building programs should promote inclusive flood disaster management approaches. Operational and sustainable livelihood models should be developed in the aftermath of such emergencies for weaker sections of the society. Disaster resistant shelters, public buildings and critical infrastructure, such as water and sewerage networks, need to be improved in order to avoid water logging and enhance community resilience.

➢ Cities need to develop broadcasting systems to inform the affected community about real time extreme events in different locales and provide updates on current road, flood, weather, food and energy supply scenario. Social media helps develop a two-way communication which helps acquire real time information from the community itself.

➢ Development of city disaster risk resilience strategy will better enable government and non-government organizations in phasing out adaptation and mitigation measures during normalcy.

➢ To ensure community level disaster preparedness, designed trainings should include actions or steps to be taken by citizen prior to, during and after disaster scenarios. Emergency respondents need to have basic first aid skills, such as airway management, bleeding control and simple triage.

➢ Emotional impact of the event on both workers as well as victims need to be addressed and documented for informing city disaster management plan.

➢ GIS-based evacuation plans, including current flood water flow, emergency routes, water depth, obstacles and possible search and rescue (SAR) interventions, need to be prepared. Existing capacity needs to be strengthened and assistance programmes should be provided to existing or new SAR teams at district and state level, for future preparedness. In addition, there is also a need to prepare Flood Risk Maps highlighting availability of grocery stores, restaurants, public utilities, food storage units, hospitals, residential homes for elderly people, high flood prone areas, etc.

➢ Communication systems, including early warning and public awareness mechanisms, need to be established in order to disseminate information during adverse conditions. (There is also an urgent need to prioritize child protection for the prevention of child trafficking during disasters.)

➢ Adaptation strategies need to ensure raised utility and reduced food cost through development and strengthening of local food suppliers. Food supply chain should be maintained by improved coordination and efficiency between producers, suppliers and retailers.

➢ Local flood plain maps, should inform construction practices (e.g., selection of appropriate materials for walls and floors).

➢ In flood-prone areas, water proofing should be mandated for emergency facilities like- power control room, water treatment plants, sewerage plants, etc. Emergency food and assets (generator sets, fuel) area should be at an elevated level to prevent inundation due to flooding.

Note: The detailed assessment of interventions undertaken during and post Chennai floods was funded by Rockefeller Foundation under the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network program. The study was conducted by Taru Leading Edge and IFMR Chennai.

[1] “Chennai Metropolitan Urban Region Population 2011 Census,” accessed May 29, 2017, http://www.census2011.co.in/census/metropolitan/435-chennai.html .

[2] Deepa H. Ramakrishnan, “Memories of Rain Ravaged Madras,” The Hindu, December 9, 2015, accessed May 29, 2017, http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/floods-in-madras-over-years… .

[3] “Letter from Chennai- Saving a home from floods,” The National, January 17, 2015, accessed May 29, 2017, http://www.thenational.ae/world/south-asia/20151213/letter-fromchennai-saving-a-home-from-the-floods ; “When Chennai was logged out and how,” Deccan Chronicle, accessed March 29, 2017; and http://www.deccanchronicle.com/151203/nation-currentaffairs/article/when-chennai- was-logged-out-and-how.B. Narasimhan, “Storm water drainage of Chennai: Lacuna, Assets, and Way Forward.” Presentation made at “Resilient Chennai: Summit on Urban Flooding,” hosted by 100 Resilient Cities in partnership with the Corporation of Chennai (2016).

The Middle East Institute (MEI) is an independent, non-partisan, non-for-profit, educational organization. It does not engage in advocacy and its scholars’ opinions are their own. MEI welcomes financial donations, but retains sole editorial control over its work and its publications reflect only the authors’ views. For a listing of MEI donors, please click her e .

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This Collection contains Landslide Mitigation and Disaster Risk Management Case Studies and Good Practice to support humanitarian workers in their operations and interventions for the mitigation or response of a landslide disaster. Current guidance comes from leading local and global organizations and institutions: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), ECHO, IFRC, REACH, Shelter Projects, The World Bank, UNISDR, University of Antananarivo, USGS. Please send suggestions for additional content for this Collection to [email protected] , or create your own Collection on the Library! You might find other helpful collections on humanitarian natural disaster shelter response and collections that are specific to natural disaster management below.

Resources on this Collection

Management of Slope Stability in Communities (MoSSaiC) in Saint Lucia

Safer Cities 12 Demonstration Housing Construction for Landslide and Flood Prone Areas A case study from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka

Words into Action Guidelines 3. Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment

Interaction of Dams and Landslides—Case Studies and Mitigation

Peru – 2012 – Flooding and Land Slides

Nepal: Flood and Landslide

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Landslides Mitigation in Shelter and Settlements - Technical Guidelines

This Collection contains technical guidelines and recommendations to design proper Shelter and Settlement interventions in landslides prone areas. Current guidance comes from leading local and global organizations and institutions: Bureau of Indian Standards, Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 10, IOM, ISCG, National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Portland State University, UNHCR, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), WFP. Please send suggestions for additional content for this Collection to [email protected] , or create your own Collection on the Library! You might find other helpful collections on humanitarian natural disaster shelter and settlement response and collections that are specific to natural disaster management below.

Post Disaster Engineering - Reports and Case Studies

Proposed Description:This Collection is part of the 'Post-Disaster Engineering Channel', aimed at improving post-disaster shelter outcomes. It contains resources including practical approaches, case studies and reports. The collection offers guidance to different stakeholders on key considerations to take in post-disaster reconstruction. It adopts a self-recovery approach to rebuilding and in doing so embraces the concept of ‘self-recovery’ efforts process where disaster-affected households repair, build or rebuild their shelter themselves or through local builders. Please send suggestions for additional content for this Channel to [email protected] , or create your own Collection on the Library!

Natural Disaster Management in Mozambique

The "Natural Disaster Management in Mozambique" Collection, aimed at improving natural disaster management outcomes. This Collection compiles localised knowledge on the Mozambican context, i.e., its heat wave hazard distribution, its seismic wave distribution, its landslide hazard distribution, its geography, and its national idiosyncrasies, among others.

Following these localisation efforts, the Collection includes several resources in Portuguese.

Within this collection you will be able to find resources published by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the World Meteorological Organization, African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (AC,United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat, World Health Organization (WHO, Foreign - Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Norwegian Red Cross, Global Risk Identification Program, Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades, República de Moçambique, República de Moçambique, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), among others.

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v.14(1); 2022

Inter-agency collaboration and disaster management: A case study of the 2005 earthquake disaster in Pakistan

1 Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Humanities, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbotttabad Campus, Pakistan

Tahir Mahmood

2 Department of Rural Development and Sociology, Karakorum International University, Daimir-Chilas Campus, Pakistan

Sajjad A. Khan

3 Department of International Relations, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan

Muhammad Shahnawaz

4 Advanced Research Centre, Karakorum International University, Daimir-Chilas Campus, Pakistan

Adnan A. Dogar

Fazli subhan.

5 Lasoona Project funded by Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, District Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan

Khoula Begum

6 Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Karakorum International University, Daimir-Chilas Campus, Pakistan

Associated Data

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

In post disastrous situations, coordinated and integrated interventions aimed at relief and rehabilitation not only help facilitate reaching out to the affected communities in a timely fashion but also pave the way to channel scarce and valued resources towards end users in an efficient and effective manner. This article attempts to trace the origins and gradual development of ‘inter-agency collaboration’ and the implications thereof for disaster management strategies in Pakistan through an analysis of relief and rehabilitation interventions undertaken by the Government of Pakistan in collaboration with local and international Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and relief agencies in the ex post of the 2005 earthquake. Data for this study were collected through structured and semi-structured interviews from government officials, representatives of NGOs and relief agencies and ordinary women and men in the earthquake stricken localities of Balakot and Mansehra districts of Pakistan. On the heels of the 2005 earthquake, both local NGOs and faith-based organisations in concert with international NGOs and relief agencies from around the world rushed to assist Pakistan in it’s rescue and relief operations at a time when the country was faced with the twin dilemma of both the non-existence of peculiar institutional arrangements for disaster management and a lack of the necessary technical and financial resources. The aftermath of the 2005 earthquake offered opportunity to the Government of Pakistan and the NGOs and relief agencies alike to transform their individual interventions into a robust and organised ‘inter-agency collaboration’, which was later on realised in the form of establishment of a national disaster management organisation called the ‘Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA)’. The establishment of ERRA not only paved the way for avoiding duplication and wastage of resources but also ensued in reaching out to the affected communities in a timely fashion. The Pakistani case offers implications in terms of highlighting the salience of establishing ‘inter-agency collaboration’ in other settings.

Introduction

The early 21st century has witnessed a multitude of natural calamities ranging from massive earthquakes and cyclones through to disastrous tsunamis. The human and physical costs emanating from such disasters have been colossal (Guha-Sapir, Below & Hoyois 2015 ; OECD 2003 ; UN 2010 ). Asia, in particular, has remained the epicentre of natural calamities such as the Asian Tsunami (2004), Pakistan’s Earthquake (2005), Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis (2008), China’s Wenchuan Earthquake (2008), Pakistan’s floods (2010) and Japan’s Tsunami (2011). The ravages of such calamities warrant the establishment and promotion of robust relief collaboration at regional and global levels alike (Lai et al. 2009 ; Yi & Yang 2014 ). During the past few decades or so, South Asia alone has witnessed around 1333 disasters, which wreaked havoc not only on physical infrastructure (causing devastation of assets worth US$105 billion) but also took the lives of more than 980 000 people. Ironically, these disasters also pushed around 2.4 billion people into a state of utter vulnerability (SAARC 2011 ). At such critical junctures, uncertainty and inefficient service delivery have served to exacerbate the predicament of those who had already paid a huge price. During the 21st century, host country governments, civil society organisations (CSOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) engaged in disaster management have put an overarching emphasis on fostering planning and establishing collaboration amongst various jurisdictions and organisations in order to help substantiate the capabilities of disaster torn countries to respond swiftly and effectively to disastrous situations (Berman & Korosec 2005 ; Lai 2012 ; Nolte, Martin & Boenigk 2012 ; UNISDR 2005 ).

Collaboration is both desirable and necessary for coping with the ravages of natural disasters (Bryson, Crosby & Stone 2006 ) that can barely be managed single handedly by host countries, international organisations or non-governmental organization (NGOs) (Agranoff & McGuire 2004 ). Collaboration refers to the interaction between actors who work together in anticipation to attain mutual interests through accomplishment of a set of complex goals and a collective responsibility for interconnected tasks, which cannot be accomplished individually (McNamara 2012 ). Inter-agency collaboration, on the contrary, generally entails partnership amongst government, business, non-profits and philanthropists, communities and/or the public as a whole for achieving a common goal through pooling of various resources, shared decision-making and accountability (Bryson et al. 2006 ; Kamensky 2004 ). Collaboration amongst key players is an integral component of emergency response. The scope and nature of collaboration is determined by two important factors, that is, the needs of disaster-affected communities and the goals of collaborating actors (Kapucu & Garayev 2011 ). Furthermore, collaboration also entails establishing partnerships, either short term or long term, in multiple areas or across different levels of government to address a wide variety of social problems (Comfort, Boin & Demchak 2010 ; Kapucu 2012 ; Quick & Feldman 2014 ). During the past two decades or so, inter-agency collaboration has gained much attention amongst scholars, policymakers and professionals to grapple with the most challenging societal problems (Ansell & Gash 2008 ; Bryson et al. 2006 ; McGuire 2006 ; Rethemeyer 2005 ). Notwithstanding, the emergence of a voluminous literature on inter-agency collaboration our understanding of how communities recover from disastrous events through inter-agency collaboration is still naive (Comfort & Kapucu 2006 ; Emerson, Nabatchi & Balogh 2012 ; Kapucu 2006 ). This article attempts to contribute to the literature that emphasises the role of inter-agency collaboration in natural disasters through an analysis of the processes and formation of collaboration in the October 2005 post-earthquake Pakistan.

Amongst natural hazards, earthquake stands out as the most disastrous calamity, which wreaks havoc to physical infrastructure and subsequently turns the socio-economic fabrics for a society into topsy-turvy (Cooper, Donnelly & Johnson 2011 ; Dore & Etkin 2000 ; Hallegatte & Przyluski 2010 ). Before the onset of the October 2005 earthquake, disaster management in Pakistan, like other developing countries, had received little if any attention. Consequently, the 2005 catastrophic earthquake played out as a challenge for the government of Pakistan in terms of responding to and recovering from the ravages of the so-called earthquake. On the heels of the 2005 earthquake, the Government of Pakistan sought to secure both technical and financial assistance from international community. The call prompted a large number of organisations, both national and international, to come to the rescue of the disaster-affected communities. Notwithstanding, bestowed with massive financial assistance, the Government of Pakistan was faced with the dilemma of how to coordinate the activities of different actors in a disaster situation. This study employs the Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) Inter-agency collaboration model (ICM) as a framework of analysis to trace the origins, establishment and nature of collaboration between or amongst the Government of Pakistan and other actors. The ICM comprises five key components, that is, initial condition, process dimension, structure and governance, contingencies and constraints, and outcomes and accountability. Inter-agency collaboration model has been extensively applied to various forms of partnerships and collaborations between key players including host country governments, NGOs and local communities in disastrous situation (Lai 2012 ; Simo & Bies 2007 ).

This study conceptualises ICM as a relationship established between Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (ERRA, an organisation established by the Government of Pakistan in the ex post of the 2005 earthquake) and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) during 2005 earthquake response and recovery phases. The article specifically emphasises probing the effectiveness of inter-agency collaboration in disastrous situations such as the 2005 earthquake. The analysis in this article demonstrates how inter-agency collaboration ensued in radically overhauling existing institutional arrangements associated with disaster management in Pakistan and facilitated the collaborators to effectively cope with ravages of the October 2005 notorious calamity.

Inter-agency collaboration in disaster management

Over the last two decades or so, the scale and scope of natural and man-made disasters have dramatically increased. The ineffectiveness of traditional disaster management approaches has given way to the emergence of decentralised emergency management systems. This shift is being prompted by the exigency to collaborate during various stages of a disastrous situation (Kapucu & Garayev 2011 ). Inter-agency collaboration serves as an integral component of modern disaster management (Waugh & Streib 2006 ). Disasters, be that natural or man-made, open up window of opportunity for bringing multiple actors together. More often than not, such actors not only belong to different nationalities but also vary considerably in terms of their capacities, values, norms and objectives (Kettl 2008; Mitchell 2006 ). The effectiveness and efficiency of such organisations, however, largely depend upon the level of collaboration in disaster situations (Bryson et al. 2006 ; Drabek & McEntire 2002 ; Vangen & Huxham 2003 ). The responding agencies with limited capacity and capabilities seek to establish partnerships to pool their various resources, sharing of expertise and information for a larger collaboration in any disaster (McDonald 2008 ). Collaboration might take on a variety of forms such as transboundary collaborative response by voluntary organisations during Asian Tsunami 2004 (Lai 2012 ), intergovernmental collaboration during Wenchuan earthquake in China 2008 (Guo & Kapucu 2015 ) and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 (Simo & Bies 2007 ) and multi-organisational collaboration in 2004 post-tsunami Tamil Nadu, India (Raju & Becker 2013 ). The success of different variants of collaboration, however, depends not only on the capacities of collaborative agencies but also on how adequately they collaborate during different phases of disasters (Samba 2010 ).

Large-scale calamities often pose considerable challenges to responding agencies such as non-profit organisations, the private sector, volunteer organisations and even community groups with varying capacities and capabilities (Kulatunga 2011 ). At times, these actors face difficulties in undertaking their roles and responsibilities particularly when the skills and capacities of other collaborating agencies are unbeknown to them. Such assorted resources may be a challenge for responding agencies (Gryszkiewicz & Chen 2010 ). Collaboration is generally regarded as a panacea to cope with the issue of poor performance (Eide et al. 2013 ). In order to avoid duplication of activities and to effectively channelise available resources, it is imperative to institutionalise the coordination process (Raju & Van Niekerk 2013 ).

Disaster management in Pakistan

Until the 2005 earthquake, like other developing countries, disaster management in Pakistan had received little if any attention until at least the onset of the 2005 earthquake. Disaster management was conceived of as an area that remained in the shadows in mainstream development planning process. Consequently, disaster management departments or organisations in Pakistan largely remained under-resourced, incapacitated, lacked administrative experiences and hierarchal structure extending from national to local levels (Mustafa 2001 ; National Disaster Management Authority [NDMA] 2010 ). Before the onset of the 2005 earthquake both a coherent national policy framework and institutional arrangements of the sort required to cope with mega disasters were non-existent in Pakistan (Cheema, Mehmood & Imran 2016 ; NDMA 2010 ). Around 27 organisations (both Federal and Provincial) with overlapping roles and responsibilities were supposedly involved in disaster management (Cheema et al. 2016 ). Similarly, the entire disaster management system largely hinged on ‘Emergency Response Paradigm’ (ERP) (UN 2010 ).

Historically, disaster management policies in Pakistan were parochial in nature because such policies emphasised exclusively on a particular type of hazard such as flooding and hence entailed activities associated only with floods, that is, flood rescue and other relief operations (NDMA 2010 ). From 1947 to 2014, floods in Pakistan have played out as a recurrent phenomenon, which have ensued in cumulative losses of US$39 billion (from 25 major floods) (Guha-Sapir et al. 2015 ). The Pakistan Metrological Department founded in 1947 and the Flood Forecasting Division were the institutional arrangements for emergency situation in Pakistan. Subsequent flooding in East Pakistan resulted in the Climate Act 1958, which stipulated the roles and responsibilities of the state in disastrous situations. The act was mainly based on response and relief efforts to facilitate the affected communities with no mechanism for prevention and preparedness (Cheema et al. 2016 ; NDMA 2007 ). Similarly, Civil Defence established in 1953 was envisaged to deal with emergencies and to protect the general public during natural calamities. The Emergency Relief Cell (ERC) established at the federal level during 1971 embodies yet another institutional arrangement to serve as a helping hand in cyclone hit Eastern Pakistan. The ERC was responsible for post-disaster situations including coordination with provincial relief departments. The Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), a federal government organization, established primarily for undertaking research on space related issues was also responsible for providing support for disaster management in Pakistan. National Crises Management Cell constituted in 1999 under the Anti-Terrorist Act at federal and provincial levels dealing with emergency situation work under the Ministry of Interior (MoI). The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) (established in 1958), the Indus River Commission (established in 1960), the Federal Flood Commission (FFC) (established in 1977) and the Dames and Barrages Safety Council (1987), etc. epitomise the institutional arrangements purported to undertake relief activities under the Ministry of Water and Power (MoWP) (Cheema et al. 2016 ; NDMA 2010 ).

In addition, at provincial levels, different departments with varying capacities had the mandate to deal with disaster at the response stage. These departments included, for instance, Irrigation, Provincial Crises Management Cell, Police, Health, Agriculture and Livestock, Communication and Works, Food (responsible for stockpile of food items and management of ration depots for requirement of food items in affected areas) and Emergency Service-Rescue 1122 was a pilot project initiated in 2004 in Lahore, the capital city of Punjab province and later on extended to other districts. The model is also replicated by other provinces in anticipation to cope with emergency situations (Cheema et al. 2016 ).

Pakistan’s earthquake in 2005

In October 2005, a moment magnitude ( M w ) 7.6 (US Geological Survey) earthquake struck the capital, northern Pakistan and the Kashmir region. The epicentre of earthquake was located 100 km north-northeast of Islamabad. This devastating earthquake was followed by 1000 aftershocks of ( M w ) of 5.0–6.0 in India-Pakistan Kashmir region. The Pakistan-administered Kashmir known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) and the eastern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province were amongst the most severely affected regions (Asian Development Bank-World Bank [ADB-WB] 2005 ). The disaster left around 73 338 people dead, 69 412 severely injured and 3.5 million people homeless (ERRA 2006 ). The earthquake caused 70-km long surface rapture and 7-m vertical separation near Balakot, Bagh and Muzafarabad. The ravages that followed were thus unprecedented in the history of the Indian-Kohistan Seismic Zone (IKSZ) and Himalayas (Hussain & Yeats 2009 ; Kaneda et al. 2008 ; Yeats, Kausar & Nakata 2006 ). In Himalaya, an earthquake of this magnitude has long been anticipated (Bilham 2004 ). The preliminary damage assessment conducted by ADB and WB demonstrates that the earthquake had wreaked havoc on an area of 30 000 sq. km area comprising 9 districts, 35 tehsils and 400 villages was overall affected. Massive damages to government buildings and communication infrastructure were reported in earthquake hit areas. For instance, 796 health facilities, 6298 schools and colleges, 600 000 houses were destroyed and 2393 km roads were damaged (ADB-WB 2005 ). In terms of the scale of devastation, the 2005 earthquake overshadowed even the most notorious disasters in Pakistan such as the windstorm of 1965, which had claimed around 10 000 lives (World Bank 2014 ). The WB and ADB estimated $5 billion for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure in affected areas (ADB-WB 2005 ; Durrani at el. 2005 ).

Hazara Division, the epicentre of the 2005 earthquake and probably the most severely affected region, constitutes the study areas for this research. The Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) model was employed to get an in-depth understanding of how inter-agency collaboration between government departments particularly ERRA and INGOs was established in post-earthquake 2005. Respondents belonging to both ERRA and INGOs (such as World Vision, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief and United Nations Office for Coordination on Humanitarian Assistance) were selected through snowball sampling technique (non-probability). This method helped us in the identification of relevant respondents, who were in one way or the other directly involved in inter-agency collaboration established in the ex post of the 2005 earthquake. All respondents were involved in the long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction process either at district, provincial or national level.

Twenty two semi-structured interviews were conducted between January and March 2017. Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with World Vision representatives, five respondents from the International Rescue Committee (IRC), five respondents from Islamic Relief and eight officials were interviewed from ERRA. All interviews were conducted in person and each interview took one and a half hour; a prior permission was taken from respondents for recording and documentation. More than two rounds of semi-structured interviews were conducted with five respondents from ERAA, IRC and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), two rounds of semi-structured interviews were conducted with three respondents from ERRA, Islamic Relief and World Vision whilst the rest of semi-structured interviews were conducted in one round. An interview guide was used when conducting semi-structured interviews. The open question of the interview guide helped to keep interviews within the scope of the study by directing the respondents towards talking about the inter-agency collaboration. The interview allowed the respondents to speak freely within the specific themes whilst explaining the inter-agency collaboration. During the data collection, the interviewer asked probing questions to clarify ideas and explore more in-depth information. The important aspects covered in interviews included, for instance, (1) initial condition (2) process dimension (3) structure and governance (4) contingencies and constraints and (5) outcomes and accountability. Secondary data were retrieved from published reports, government briefings and feedback from UN and donor agencies. Before the earthquake in 2005, FFC, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) and many international organisations such as ActionAid, Catholic Relief Service, Concern Worldwide, Oxfam, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO), United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) and Department for International Development (DFID) were engaged in the planning, implementation and oversight of programmes and projects for disaster risk mitigation (NDMA 2007 ).

All the interviews were transcribed, and the data were analysed in specified themes under the research model. This method helped and contributed towards the understanding of establishing inter-agency collaboration in post-earthquake 2005 disaster management in affected areas of Pakistan.

Results and analyses

The 2005 earthquake stands out as one of the worst disasters Pakistan has ever witnessed. A large number of international relief agencies swiftly responded to grapple with the ravages of this catastrophic event (ERRA 2006 ). Given the large number of relief agencies, establishing collaboration amongst such agencies turned out to be a hard nut to crack for both political and civil administration alike. This study employed Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) model as a framework of analysis to disentangle the inter-agency collaboration established in the post-earthquake 2005 situation between the Government of Pakistan’s flagship organisation ERRA and INGOs. The model comprises five major categories: initial conditions, process, structures and governance, contingencies and constraints, outcomes and accountability. The analysis in this article attempts to spell out each of these categories in the ex post of the 2005 earthquake.

Initial conditions

In Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) model, the initial conditions are categorised into three components: (1) the general environment characterised by commotion in the wake of the disaster, (2) sector failure that signify single-sector inadequacies to cope with any disaster and (3) the antecedents which refer to the linking mechanism and general agreement on the problem. Given the scale of havoc and commotion it inflicted in the region, the 2005 Earthquake is generally believed to have overshadowed all the previous disasters in the country. The lack of preparedness and the tenuous institutional capacity further exacerbated the commotion. The mountainous terrain of Hazara Division turned out to be yet another factor impeding both the Government and other relief agencies to reach the scattered population. This warranted the pursual of a joint venture by the government and other relief agencies. In Mansehra the capital city of Hazara Division, a project coordinator from ERRA, whilst recalling the situation stated that:

‘[ A ]t that morning when this catastrophic event (earthquake) unfolded, everyone was taken aback. On the heels of the earthquake, provision of all sorts of public services and goods halted altogether.’ (Participant 1, approximately 46 years old, male, coordinator)

One of the representatives from INGOs in Balakot (the epicentre of the 2005 Earthquake) spoke about the initial conditions and highlighted that situation has worsened in the area. Just after the disaster the information received by local sources reported on large-scale human losses and damages to valuable assets and infrastructure. Respondents in the study area revealed that both the federal and provincial governments lacked the demonstrable capacity and vigour to properly respond to emergency situation, notwithstanding government officials, at large, were determined to identify and resolve the issues that ensued from the chaotic situation. The initial response of the government entailed the deployment of two Army Divisions for undertaking the rescue and relief operations in the disaster-stricken areas. This initial response pursued by government also brought into spotlight the incapacity and inefficiency of the relevant government departments. For instance, in Mansehra district alone, the relevant government departments grappled to respond to the situation.

The 2005 earthquake had received considerable attention and coverage from both national media and international news agencies around the world, which brought into spotlight both the government’s institutional incapacity and inefficiency and the need for undertaking measures aimed at establishing inter-agency collaboration:

‘In compulsion the government had initiated the inter-agency collaboration for initial response … because, government alone could have barely responded to the situation. Furthermore, people in the earth stricken areas were also looking forward to seek assistance from relief agencies.’ (ERRA, Official)

Discursively, a variety of factors account for engendering collaboration between government and aid providing actors such as coping with rescue and rehabilitation issues in the ex post of the disaster, efficient and effective exploitation of available resources, avoiding duplication and overlapping of activities and taking advantage of the prowess and expertise of international aid and relief agencies. Majority of the respondents, 18 of them, highlighted that major international organisations arrived with its full capacity but to step in on foreign land was a major challenge in offering relief assistance. For instance, the IRC, World Vision and Islamic Relief had both experienced and relief specialists who could facilitate people in affected areas. An interview conducted with the IRC representative in health project indicated that the IRC had organisational capacity, skilled manpower and good resources to respond to disastrous situation of 2005 earthquake. In Mansehra, the field coordinator of World Vision recalled that the organisation was capable of establishing liaison amongst key stakeholders and bringing them on one platform. Non-profit organisations were closely affiliated with other central actors such as, UN agencies, large faith-based entities, universities and public sector organisations towards collective involvement in relief efforts.

Two respondents from ERRA described that although establishment of inter-agency collaboration was not free from challenges but the need for collaboration with capable players particularly with INGOs was felt within the government and it was realised that without involving these actors, government on its own could not reach to affected areas with full capacity. A dire need was felt between government and INGOs to establish regional level offices for coordination of the initial relief and rehabilitation interventions. In this way, the initial processes provided foundation for the formation of collaboration and core groups based on their experiences.

At the outset, international organisations such as the IRC, Islamic Relief, World Vision, etc. carried out their rescue and relief activities independently at large and demonstrated relatively more vigour and robustness in serving the affected communities upon receiving the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Government of Pakistan. The rescue and relief teams (majority of them were national level CSOs and faith-based organisations) arrived at Balakot city just after disaster delivered the essential life support goods and services to the earthquake survivors. Moreover, relief operations such as setting up of field hospitals, rescue operations, temporary shelters and distribution of food items were made possible because of relaxed government policy. Majority of organisations had formal agreements Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with the government of Pakistan. Therefore, the IRC, World Vision and Islamic Relief continued to extend relief efforts in Abbottabad, Mansehra and Batagram in Hazara Division. The IRC team leader recalled:

‘Operational manager called me after four days of earthquake and urged that collaborative working group will be needed to respond to this disastrous event.’ (IRC, Team leader)

Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) discussed the process component as the formal and informal agreement, leadership, legitimacy, building trust, managing conflict and planning. Here the focus is mainly on formal and informal structure development, legitimacy, trust and planning for relief and rehabilitation. According to ERRA officials, within the UN system, UNDP played catalytic role in providing financial resources, technical and adequate administrative support to United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) for setting up the collaborative system in close partnership with government. For the first time the cluster approach was adopted including both UN and non-UN humanitarian organisations for responding to the emergency situation. Initially, nine core groups referred as clusters were established that aimed at strengthening the coordinative efforts. Although some administrative issues emerged from novelty of cluster system such as unclear guidelines, inter-cluster and intra-cluster coordination, leadership issues and inadequate representation of INGOs the cluster mechanism played an instrumental role in streamlining of resources, information sharing and reaching to earthquake survivors. Initially, on 10 October 2005 the government established the Federal Relief Commission (FRC) based at Prime Minister’s office, which was mainly responsible for rescue and relief collaborative efforts. The FRC had the responsibility for initial emergency response and channelising of resources. On 24 October 2005, ERRA was constituted with the mandate to supervise the coordinative efforts, residual relief operations and the reconstruction process. On 10 March 2006, the relief phase was formally pronounced to be over and the FRC was subsumed into ERRA.

Component of trustworthiness and legitimacy is the critical part of any collaboration. In the case of 2005 earthquake, the international organisations and IRC had working relationships with government in many development projects in different parts of the country. Therefore, these organisations had a good social image and track record, which put the government at ease to start collaborative initiative with partnering organisations. Managing conflict is a critical determinant of any inter-agency collaboration efforts, especially when majority of the partnering organisations belonged from diverse backgrounds. A total of 19 respondents maintained that all the collaborating partners have common agenda: protecting the earthquake affected communities with respect and dignity, minimising their suffering and bringing them back to normal life. The IRC representative revealed that in newly established collaborations, conflict among organizations usually arises due to the discrepancies associated with the organizations’ commitment, mission, interests, values and resources. However, in inter-agency collaboration, managing conflicts across organisations starts from the fact that when each partnering organisation recognises the other organisation’s commitment and values. This is particularly true in the case of post-earthquake 2005 collaborative initiatives, as many of private, public and non-profit organisations were securing their interests and mission but with passage of time these organisations realise that public needs are above their organisational interests and mission. Since ERRA had played a dominant role in the collaboration process, ERRA in tandem with its collaborative partners, thus, paid special attention to re-visiting the organizational commitment and values that were generally considered as antithetical to the common agenda.

Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) argued that inter-agency collaboration is more effective and successful when it is combined with emergent and deliberate planning. In 2005 earthquake, most of the initial planning at local level was made in a chaotic situation. In disaster response, the emergency efforts mostly rely on the existed planning and network at local level. But in Pakistan the ex ante planning ( if any existed ) failed to respond to the situation. Consequently, the proposition for establishing inter-agency collaboration was welcomed particularly by INGOs:

‘Without inter-agency collaboration responding to earthquake could be a miracle. In such a turbulent situation resources were mobilized in hurly-burly way. Because, either unnecessary supplies were received, or some got more while others were waited even for life saving drugs and food for survival.’ (World Vision representative)

Majority of the respondents revealed that the process of inter-agency collaboration is usually affected by political constrains and administrative problems. Although reaching to a formal agreement for establishing inter-agency collaboration mostly takes longer time but in 2005 earthquake government showed openness to a greater extent and high level of cooperation. One of the key aspects of the inter-agency collaboration was the establishment of knowledge-based collaboration amongst actors. Government initiative provides foundation for the vast documentation of information on risk assessment, lesson learned from various sectors by different stakeholders and contingency planning for disaster management. Respondents from ERRA and many others from INGOs thought that 2005 earthquake was one of the first natural disasters of that scale, it opened a new possibility for establishing a state level resource centre for disaster management in the country.

Structure and governance

The structure and governance component of the model referred to the informal and formal membership, structural configuration and governance structure. Nineteen of the respondents highlighted that in establishing collaborative efforts, governance and structure have substantial importance. Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority was the main officiating body responsible for all decisions including usages of funds and coordination and monitoring of resources in post-earthquake scenario. The Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority had devised a mechanism which pave the way for devolving maximum powers to the Provincial Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (PERRA), the State Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (SERRA) and District Reconstruction Units (DRUs). This forum acted as a secretariat for provincial and state steering committees. The chief headed each committee, a secretary with representation from line departments and planning wing of ERRA. The committee had the mandate to approve the work plans and authority to accept the projects of up to 250 million rupees. Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority was also responsible for ensuring required coordination and facilitations for other key actors including INGOs. The cluster forum paved the way for effective collaborative mechanism. The UN system particularly the UNOCHA was in close collaboration with government for integrated emergency response. As the UNOCHA aimed at strengthening collaborative partnerships, predictability and accountability of humanitarian assistance and defining the roles and responsibilities of humanitarian organisations, therefore, a platform was provided to international organisations for information sharing, mobilisation of resources, which minimise the overlapping and duplication of resources. UNOCHA has online centralised system for information sharing; all the implementing partners were responsible for uploading their intervention details on system. This system provided a multi-level information sharing platform to all relief assistance providing actors:

‘At the outset, despite the availability of ample resources, an organized and integrated relief assistance mechanism was yet to be established. This could cause overlapping and duplication of interventions activities undertaken by different agencies. Given the dire need to make all relief assistance efforts integrated and relatively more organized a cluster system was unveiled which served as a platform for all the implementing partners to share as well as to get access to the necessary information concerning relief assistance in the earthquake stricken areas.’ (IRC Representative)

Majority of the respondents from INGOs noticed that in the case of INGOs much of the governance mechanism relies on each organisation’s commitment and mandate in their respective areas. Moreover, the INGOs have the responsibility to regularly publicise their intervention details on website for instance, type of relief assistance provided, catchment area, number of beneficiaries covered and services in progress. However, some of the respondents from INGOs highlighted that majority of the information shared on websites on UNOCHA or organisation’s own website is no longer available either online or in physical form. The online information sharing system was an innovative method for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and provided valid data to other partner organisations. Whilst the system paved the way for making relief information transparent and widespread amongst all contributing organisations, still it was characterised by major flaws. For instance, gap in information shared by implementing partners and ground work, follow up of interventions and lack of trust amongst partner organisations.

All the respondents note that every organisation has its own governance mechanism to operate its activities. In the case of 2005 earthquake, ERRA played an instrumental role in providing guidelines for defining the roles and responsibilities of aid providing actors. For instance, organisational values and commitments are valued by collaborating partners but ERRA guidelines were monitored and partnering organisations paid attention to these guidelines whilst operating in any disaster hit area. Majority of the respondents highlighted that in the inter-agency collaboration power was concentrated at the top, that is, ERRA and responsibilities were shared across collaborating partners. Each partner is anticipated to own the collaborative effort initiated by the government and implement its approved project within the time and share the progress of the operation on regular basis.

Contingencies and constraints

Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) model suggested that for effective and successful inter-agency collaboration focus on service delivery partnerships, agreement on institutional logics and dealing with power imbalances amongst collaborative partners is required for collaboration. In extreme events such as 2005 earthquake, the contingencies and constraints affect the process, structure and governance. Majority of respondents from ERRA and INGOs observed that the post-earthquake scenario complicated the situation as the institutional logics resulted in a level of conflict and power imbalance amongst stakeholders. For instance, power imbalance was reflected between ERRA and lower established agencies such as PERRA, SERRA and DRUs. Moreover, a severe power imbalance was also observed between big non-profit players and small socially embedded organisations. In addition, because of disparity in resource endowment, small organisations have less representation of their voices therefore, in most cases power goes to those with more resources.

According to INGOs representatives, the IRC, World Vision and Islamic Relief all were running their projects from international donations received for earthquake. These organisations were the custodian of donations and public charity received on the basis of humanitarian assistance. Power resides with top management to decide a project according to the need identified. Each partner is anticipated to take ownership of their projects and regularly reported their progress. Whilst ERRA, as the main collaborative body, provided facilitation to the partnering organisations, other organisations with abundant funding resources dominated the situation. During emergency response and recovery phase, publicity of donor organisations was mandatory for implementing partners. In both relief assistance and reconstruction projects the acknowledgement of funding agency was displayed on monument plaque.

Outcome and accountability

Outcome and accountability is the last category of the model. Outcome is discussed in three categories: public value; first, second and third order effects, whilst accountability pertains to input, process or outcomes. Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) stated that public value in inter-agency collaboration is more likely to be created and sustained when sectorial characteristics strengths are enhanced whilst also finding ways to attenuated weaknesses of each sector. This leads to first-, second- and third-order positive effects. The first-order effects refer to new learning and innovative strategies. Second-order effects occur when partnerships are extended in the form of new collaboration and joint efforts. Third-order effects is evident in the last stage of collaboration when results are discernible on the ground. Moreover, inter-agency collaboration may be more successful when there is a system of accountability such as cross-checking of gathered information and a valid system of data management.

All the respondents explained that the disastrous event of 2005 not only attracted public, private and non-profit organisations at regional and global levels but also received wide coverage from national and international media. Therefore, a huge influx of bilateral and multilateral donors and dozens of non-governmental and private organisations were arrived. This creates an opportunity for establishment of new partnerships, extended the collaborative efforts outside the formal boundaries, learning from experiences and designing strategy for effective inter-agency collaborative efforts. The collaborative efforts initiated in post disaster scenario provided mechanism for channelising and mainstreaming of relief resources such as, charitable donations was discernible immediately after earthquake as first-order effects. Majority of relief providing agencies including INGOs covered most of the deprived and ignored segment of affected community.

Our interviewees also explained that collaborative experiences had positive effects both at organisational and personal level. In essence, partner organizations steered such collaboration opportunities towards fostering capacity building such as improving communication skills and human resource development. The local staff found the inter-agency collaboration very productive and revealed that they had the opportunity to learn beyond their expectations from such collaboration. An ERRA official mentioned in an interview that such exposure was never been experienced in particularly how to expand the inter-agency partnerships in the time of extreme events when each organisation had come with its full capacity. The local organisations such as, community-based organisations (CBOs) also took advantages from this inter-agency collaboration. For instance, INGOs involved these organisations in implementation process, arranged workshops and trainings for their capacity building, which increase their capability to run small-scale projects. Consequently, big non-profit organisations created social capital for themselves. This form of new partnership emerged as second-order effects.

Fourteen of the respondents explained that the system of accountability is prerequisite for successful collaboration. However, in time of disaster, the new partnership often creates coordination problems and the aspect of accountability may be challenging for partnering agencies. These problems range from competition and tension amongst collaborative partners. In the case of 2005 earthquake, initially, the challenge for the inter-agency collaboration lies in overall management of collaborating partners during rescue and relief phases. For example, our interviewees explained that instead of focusing on relief and rescue operations most of the organisations were interested to show-off their relief work and gain recognition for their efforts.

Nine respondents three from ERRA and six from INGOs explained that novelty of inter-agency collaboration created few problems, which overall disturbed the accountability of collaborative efforts. Initially, because of lack of capacity and efficiency at government level, resources were not properly streamlined. Therefore, achieving accountability in relief work was a challenge for FRC. After the establishment of ERRA the principle of accountability was ensured in three ways. Firstly, policy regarding the provision of relief and reconstruction services were formulated and implemented. Secondly, relief resources were channelised and a selection criterion was established for funding applications. Thirdly, indicators based monitoring system and tracking of information through multilevel platform for the projects were employed. For instance, ERRA with the assistance of Department for International Development (DFID) had developed the M&E system for unified data system and for effective tracking of fund and its usages. The INGOs particularly, the World Vision, IRC and Islamic Relief had the capacity to implement and monitor their project on its own. Our interviewees explained that each organisation has its own M&E mechanism that ensures accountability of interventions undertaken. Moreover, the cluster system further strengthens the process by integrated approach and generated unified and valid data system that is to some extent ensure the accountability aspect of INGOs. Such complex mechanism of (M&E) and development of unified data system ensure the third-order effects of inter-agency collaboration.

The current research is based on Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) ICM by examining and explaining the collaborative efforts initiated by government and INGOs particularly focused on the role of ERRA and IRC, World Vision, Islamic Relief and UNOCHA. The study indicates that the 2005 earthquake was one of the most disastrous event unfolded in Pakistan during the early 21st Century. On the heels of this catastrophic event, the relevant institutions grappled to cope with the situation because of lack of the requisite capabilities. The magnitude of loses and damages were unprecedented but there was a common understanding amongst ERRA officials and INGOs representatives concerning the effectiveness of collaborative mechanism established during disaster. There was consensus amongst respondents that inter-agency collaboration was a key for effective disaster response as just after disaster number of relief providing actors were skyrocketed. Although, this huge influx of bilateral, multilateral donors, non-profit and public organizations were a magic bullet for 2005 earthquake disaster management but encountered several administrative and operational challenges.

The current research endeavour indicated that regardless of government swift response and openness in initial stages administrative and operational issues were emerged from disaster response management. The major issues highlighted in interviews were the streamlining of resources and establishment of collaborative mechanism with relief providing actors. As the political leadership and civil administration were not prepared for such disastrous event therefore the coordination mechanism confronted with major administrative and operational problems. Although, respondents have mentioned the government willingness and involvement remained marvellous at all levels in establishing inter-agency collaboration, but it is interesting to note that UN system and INGOs played substantial role in terms of providing technical and financial support to the government. Therefore, ERRA had clear guidelines for setting up goals and mandates for the inter-agency collaboration.

A lot of resources were invested in structuring effective inter-agency collaboration. Therefore, the cluster approach did increase the collaboration amongst relief providing agencies and limiting duplication of resources and played vital role as a facilitator within and amongst government and relief providing actors. Although field level coordination is a crucial part of collaboration efforts such as, efficient use of resources by expanding the service delivery to a greater number of affected communities. Therefore, adaptation of referral mechanism was amongst the driving forces which fierce the coordination process for instance, the IRC established traumatised centres and provided psycho-social support to number of patients referred by different organisations. It is also interesting to note that the novelty of cluster system confronted some major issue such as, less ownership of the coordination process at government level, lack of involvement of donors’ agencies, unclear guidelines and under representation of INGOs/NGOs. The study also indicated that other deriving forces also hamper the coordination process such as, competition over funding between actors dwindle the coordination process as most of actors wanting to work in the area and show-off their work.

Pakistan’s disaster response strategy was mainly based on reactive approach. The West Pakistan Calamity Act (1958) was a legal remedy whilst ERC (1971) was institutional support at federal level dealt with disasters. Other network of emergency response institutions with overlapping roles and responsibilities were also being operational in the country. This lack of institutional capacity and efficiency exhibited the need for appropriate policy and institutional arrangements for disaster management at federal and provincial levels. Therefore, National Disaster Management Ordinance (2006) was the first initiative for integrated disaster response mechanism which further paved the way for the establishment of NDMA, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) in the country. The 2005 earthquake, exposed the existing institutional arrangements and deficiencies at all levels of government to deal with mega disaster. The post-earthquake 2005 inter-agency collaboration played instrumental role in mainstreaming the disaster management in development planning in the country.

The findings of the study demonstrate that inter-agency collaboration serves as an integral component of disaster management and may turn out to be a magic bullet particularly in situations when institutional capacities in host countries are tenuous. On the heels of any disastrous situation, timely provision of services always poses challenges not only to the government at all levels but also to the aid relief providing agencies as well. An effective way to cope with such challenges is to seek for collaboration between different levels of government and the national and international relief agencies. Inter-agency collaboration in disastrous situations requires participation and ownership from all actors. However, governments shall preferably play a leading role and take all the requisite steps in order to institutionalise such initiatives, which may help facilitate the responding agencies both in the short- and long-term disastrous situations. Although such inter-agency collaboration may be a platform for achieving a set of common goals, sharing of information, pooling of various resources and the lessons learnt but it could also serve as a very useful tool for spelling out both the governments’ and other collaborating actors’ roles and responsibilities.

The inter-agency coordination was established in a turbulent situation resulting from 2005 earthquake, the urgency and attention for the relief work was intensified whilst challenges remained and even increased with the passage of time. Therefore, inter-agency collaboration such as introduction of cluster system was an appropriate approach for creating connection within and amongst assistance providing actors. On initial stages some administrative and operational issues emerged from the inter-agency collaborative initiative as no framework existed in the country. Arguably, since its establishment, ERRA was the main pillar of inter-agency collaboration and was on the forefront of relief and recovery operations and it continues to play a vital role in the reconstruction and rehabilitation processes. The INGOs contributions in earthquake were paramount from rescue to reconstruction phases. As disaster management is a complex process that requires preparedness and capability at all levels, the 2005 earthquake thus not only exposed the ineffectiveness of different levels of government to deal with mega disasters but it also opened up windows of opportunities for institutionalisation of disaster risk management (DRM) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies in the country. The post-earthquake 2005 inter-agency collaboration transformed the disaster management system in Pakistan in mainstreaming the disaster management in development planning.

The findings also shed light on the relevance of Bryson et al. ( 2006 ) framework to study the establishment and the nuts and bolts inter-agency collaboration in disastrous situations. However, this study provides only limited snapshot of vast and expanded inter-agency collaboration established during 2005 earthquake therefore, it may be interesting to compare the results with other inter-agency collaboration in similar settings. In addition, an interesting area for future research could be the challenges of inter-agency collaboration for a long-term reconstruction in disaster situation particularly during an earthquake.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all those (including community members) within the disaster affected areas, public officials, representatives of non-governmental organisations for their valuable contribution as a rich source of primary information during data collection process. They would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for sparing their precious time to review the article.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Authors’ contributions

I.S., T.M., S.A.K., N.E., M.S., A.A.D., F.S. and K.B. have all substantially contributed in terms of framing the research (setting the goals and formulating the Research Questions etc.), data collection and the write up of the article in question.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

All the authors have equally contributed towards the cost of the Article Processing Charge (APC) of article.

Data availability

The views, findings and inferences expressed in the article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any particular agency or organization (either governmental or non-governmental).

How to cite this article: Shah, I., Mahmood, T., Khan, S.A., Elahi, N., Shahnawaz, M., Dogar, A.A., et al., 2022, ‘Inter-agency collaboration and disaster management: A case study of the 2005 earthquake disaster in Pakistan’, Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies 14(1), a1088. https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v14i1.1088

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Published: 28 March 2024

Influence of magma intrusion on coal geochemical characteristics: a case study of Tiefa Daxing coal mine

Xiang Fu 1 ,
Xuan Liu 1 ,
Qixuan Wu 1 ,
Bin Xiao 1 &
Chaojun Fan 1

Scientific Reports volume 14 , Article number: 7396 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Biogeochemistry
Environmental sciences
Natural hazards

Magma intrusion has an important influence on the physical and mechanical properties of coal and rock. In the area of magma intrusion, disasters such as gas outburst are prone to occur. Revealing its invasion law will be conducive to disaster management and energy development. For this purpose, changes in industrial analysis components of coal, mineral composition, major oxides, trace elements, and rare earth elements of coal under the thermal metamorphism of magma intrusion were analyzed. It is found that the moisture and volatile matter contents of the thermally affected coals in the mining face are generally lower than that of normal coals, while moisture and volatile matter contents are reduced towards to the magma intrusion contact. For example, the moisture and volatile matter of coal sample M01 decreased by 64.6% and 38.6% respectively compared with coal sample M05. During magma intrusion, some minerals remain on the surface of the coal body, resulting in changes in the mineral composition of the coal body. The decrease in carbon atom net spacing, the increase in crystallite aggregation and ductility, and aromaticity in thermally affected coals have a positive impact on the improvement of coal metamorphism. Due to the influences of magmatic intrusion, the variation rules of major oxides in coal are different, and the closer to the magmatic intrusion zone, the easier the major oxides are to be depleted. However, magma intrusion will not lead to the loss of all major oxides in thermally affected coals, such as content of CaO is 54.8%, which is higher than that of coal not affected by magmatic hydrothermal fluid. Most of the trace elements in the thermally affected coals of the No. 9 coal seam are depleted. The contents of rare earth elements are low on the whole coalbasis, with an average of 29.48 μg/g, and the distribution pattern towards to magmatic intrusion shows a wide and gentle “V” curve with left high and right low, showing the characteristics of enrichment of light rare earth elements.

Research on chemical resistance characteristics of water-immersed coal with different metamorphic degrees

Xun Zhang, Mengfan Zhao, … Fengwei Dai

Hydrocarbon generation potential evaluation via petrographic and geochemical analyses of El-Maghara coal in Sinai, Egypt

S. A. Salman, E. A. Abou El-Anwar, … Z. L. Belal

The geological factors affecting gas content and permeability of coal seam and reservoir characteristics in Wenjiaba block, Guizhou province

Cong Feng, Xijian Li, … Ziyi Wang

Introduction

In 2023, Chinese raw coal production and coking raw coal production will be 4.66 billion tons and 1.319 billion tons, respectively, an increase of 2.9% and 5.2% compared with the same period in 2022. China’s metallurgical coal production is relatively stable in each year. From 2011 to 2023, the average metallurgical coal consumption is 275 million tons, and the metallurgical coal production in 2023 is 298 million tons, an increase of 2.82% over the same period in 2022 1 , 2 , 3 . Coal, as the leading energy in China, accounts for more than 60% of the primary energy consumption and will still be the Chinese dominant energy for a long time in the future 4 , 5 , 6 . Chinese coals have the characteristics of wide distribution and large resources, and magma intrusion into the coal seam is also commonly reported from Chinese coalfields 7 . The coal seam invaded by magma has its continuity damaged to a certain extent and its complexity increased, which leads to greater difficulty in mining. In turn, high ash content and poor coal quality greatly reduce its industrial value. The development of microstructure such as pores in coal seams is not conducive to gas closure and increases the risk of coal and gas outbursts 8 , 9 , 10 . The intrusion of magma can not only change the coal grade, adsorption capacity, and pore structure of coal seams but also affect the elemental compositions of coals. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study the influence of basic magma intrusion on the elements and mineral composition of coals.

Zhang et al. 11 indicated that contact thermal metamorphism leads to the devolatilization of organic matter in coal and the deposition of pyrolytic carbon, resulting in the increase of Be and Ge content in thermally affected coals near the intrusion. Chen 12 investigated the magma intruded coal seam and discovered that the SiO 2 content of the intrusion gradually increased from the bottom to the top. Tang 13 found that in coal bodies invaded by magma, their porosity increased, their ability to absorb oxygen increased, and they were more susceptible to oxidation. Xu et al. 14 tested the geochemical composition of coals intruded by magma, and due to the mixed alteration of the magma and coal body, there was little difference in trace elements of coals near the magma intrusion range. Bi 15 found that the contact metamorphism and thermal evolution of igneous rock on the coal body reduced the volatile matter and moisture contents of the coal body but increased the content of fixed carbon and ash by comparing the industrial analysis and element analysis of normal coals and thermally affected coals. In this paper, we use elemental geochemistry analysis to investigate the impact of magmatic intrusion on the geochemical features of the No. 9 coal seam in the Daxing coal mine.

Geological setting

The Tiefa Basin is located in Diaobingshan City in the north of Liaoning Province (Fig. 1 ). It is 29.5 km long from north to south, 17.4 km wide from east to west, and covers an area of 513.5 km 2 . Daxing coal mine is located in the southwest of Tiefa Basin, which is controlled by a unilateral oblique fault 16 . The north–south strike of this oblique fault is 6.4 km long, the east–west width is 3.2 km, and the area is 20.48 km 2 . There are many internal faults and some undulating shortaxis anticlines with wavy distribution. The internal stratum of the basin is incomplete, and there is sedimentary discontinuity. The main stratum is the lower Cretaceous Fuxin Formation. This formation is divided into four sections: 1. The bottom sandy gravel section, which is deeply stored, and the lower part are mainly composed of gray, green, and dark brown sandy gravel. The gravels are mainly granite gneiss and quartzite gravels. The upper part is mainly composed of gray and dark gray sandstone, mixed with conglomerate. 2. The lower coal-bearing section is composed of gray black, gray white, gray sandstone, mudstone, coal seam, and carbon mudstone. 3. The middle sandstone and mudstone section is composed of gray, white, and gray fine sandstone mixed with coarse sandstone and mudstone. 4. The upper coal bearing section, which is composed of gray, gray white, and gray black sandstone, mudstone, pebbly sandstone, conglomerate, and coal seam with siderite. The coal bearing stratum is composed of Fuxin Formation of Early Cretaceous age and the only coal-bearing stratum in the coalfield. There are 12 minable coalbeds: the Nos. 2–1, 2–2, 2–3, 3–3, 4–2, 7–2, 8, 9, 9–2, 9–3, 10–1, and 10–2 coals (Fig. 2 ) 17 , 18 . The magmatic activity in Daxing coal mine is relatively intense, and its activity form is consistent with the regional situation, with two types: eruption and invasion. The eruption rock is mainly basalt, which appears in the ochre layer of the Cretaceous Sunjiawan Formation and is interbedded with sedimentary rock. The intrusive rocks are mainly diabase. The above two magmatic rocks are distributed in the coal measures, which have a great influence on the coal measures, especially the main coal seams. In addition, the magmatic activity of the coalfield can be divided into three periods. The first stage is the early Jurassic, dominated by volcanic eruptions; the late Cretaceous is the second stage, which is dominated by post-eruption reperfusion. The third activity period is the tertiary period, and diabase intrusion occupies the dominant position of igneous rock intrusion. There is a fair amount of complexity within the igneous rock composition of the N 2 908 mining face. Most of the intrusion horizon can be seen at the top of coal seams 4 and 7 19 . Igneous rock has a thickness of between 28.12 and 50.78 meters 15 .

Study area and sampling locations for coal samples. ( a ) Tieling map of Liaoning Province, China; ( b ) Sketch geological map of the Tiefa Basin; ( c ) Magma intrusion zone and sampling point location; ( d ) Site photos of magma intrusion and coal contact.

Stratigraphic column of Daxing coal mine.

Samples collection and experimental methods

The research samples were taken from the N 2 908 mining face of the Daxing coal mine. The N 2 908 mining face is located in the southwest of the North Second Mining Area, with a mining strike length of 977 m and an inclination width of 106 m and 125 m, respectively. The method of sampling of coal seams is in accordance with the national standard GB/T 482-2008. According to the different distance of magma intrusion into the mining face, five coal samples were selected at different positions of N 2 908 mining face, among which coal samples M01-M04 were heat-affected coal and M05 were normal coal. In addition, the coals of mining face S 5 709 and S 2 905 were also collected. Four coal samples were selected in the position that was completely unaffected by magma and the magma intrusion area, which were recorded as S 5 709 normal coal (# 1), S 5 709 metamorphic coal (# 2), S 2 905 normal coal (# 3), and S 2 905 metamorphic coal (# 4). The weight of each coal sample is 2 kg 15 , 20 . After the coal sample is mined, it is sealed in a sealed bag and transported to the laboratory. The coal sample is sieved into the particle size required for the experiment by mechanical crushing. After screening, the experimental coal samples with the required particle size are obtained. In order to eliminate the influence of external moisture on the coal spontaneous combustion experiment, the appropriate quality of coal samples were put into the vacuum drying box, the temperature of the drying box was adjusted to 40 °C, and the coal samples were dried for 24 h in the same vacuum environment. After the drying, the coal samples were put into the self-sealing bag to prevent the water vapor and oxygen in the air from contacting the coal samples, thus affecting the experimental results.

The standard proximate analysis (moisture, ash yield, volatile matter content, and fixed carbon) of coal samples was completed at Liaoning Technical University. After the coal samples were mechanized and crushed, the coal samples with a particle size of 80–200 µm were selected as the research object, and the 5E-MAG6600B automatic industrial analyzer was used for testing.

The analysis of major oxides, trace elements, and rare earth elements of coal samples was completed by Wuhan Shangpu Analytical Technology Co., Ltd. in China. The ZSX Primus II wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) produced by Rigaku was used for determining major oxide contents, including SiO 2 , TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , MnO, MgO, CaO, K 2 O, Na 2 O, P 2 O 5 21 . The analysis procedure complies with the national standard GB/T14506.28-2010. Trace elements and rare earth elements in raw coals are analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). First, 0.500 mL (1 + 1) of HNO 3 and 1.00 ml of HF were used to digest 25.0 mg of rock powder (200 mesh) in a firmly closed Teflon screw-cap beaker. The dried sample was digested once again using 0.500 mL (1 + 1) of HNO 3 and 1.50 ml of HF after evaporation, and it was then dried once more (1 + 1) HNO 3 was then added to the sample at a volume of 2.00 mL. After drying the mixture once again, the process was repeated while adding HNO 3 . For trace element analysis, the solution was finally diluted with 1.00% HNO 3 to 50.0 mL. The analysis procedure conformed to the Chinese national standard GB/T14506.30-2010. The XRD testing was conducted using a German Brooke D8 ADBANCE X-ray diffractometer for phase analysis. The collected coal samples were mechanically crushed and ground, and the samples to be tested were obtained after 300 mesh sieve. The test conditions are as follows: X-ray tube, Cu target, Ka radiation sampling, test voltage and current are 40 kV and 30 mA respectively; the scanning speed is set to 0.1 s/step, and the sampling interval is 0.019450.

Results and discussions

Effect of magma intrusion on standard coal quality features.

The moisture (%), ash yield (%), volatile matter (%), and fixed carbon (%) contents of each coal sample are shown in Table 1 . By comparing and analyzing five coal samples from the N 2 908 mining face, it was determined that the closer the coal is to the range of igneous intrusion, the lower its moisture content. This could be due to the high temperature that accompanied the igneous intrusion, which caused the gasification of moisture in the coal body. However, the ash content increases with the decrease of the magma intrusion range, and it can be concluded that the decrease of the distance from the magma intrusion body will lead to the enhancement of contact thermal metamorphism. The volatile matter content diminishes with the decrease of the magma intrusion range, which indicates that the metamorphic degree of the coal body invaded by magma increases. Hence, the content of fixed carbon tends to be higher than that of normal coal in thermally affected coal, and the intrusion of magma is also obtained from this perspective, which will promote the metamorphism of coal.

Effects of magma intrusion on mineralogical composition

The mineral composition of coal seams intruded by magma depends on the chemical composition and crystallization conditions of magma, which is of great significance for understanding the influence of magma intrusion on coal geochemical characteristics. The minerals in the Daxing coal mine are mainly quartz and clay minerals and contain amounts of other minerals such as calcite and pyrite (Figs. 3 and 4 ). It also can be seen that the normal coals in S 5 709 and S 2 905 mining faces contains more quartz and only some kaolinite and calcite, while the calcite contents of thermally affected coals in S 5 709 and S 2 905 mining faces affected by magma intrusion significantly increases. Chen et al. 22 and Dai et al. 23 found that magmatic hydrothermal solution contains exogenic minerals such as calcite and pyrite, which is basically consistent with the results of this paper. It should be noted that the contents of calcite in thermally affected coals have increased significantly.

XRD spectra of normal and thermally affected coals.

Microscopic images of minerals in normal and thermally affected coals. ( a ) N 2 908 mining face normal coals; ( b ) N 2 908 mining face thermally affected coals; ( c ) S 5 709 mining face thermally affected coals; ( d ) S 2 905 mining face thermally affected coals.

As magma intrusion is accompanied by extremely high temperatures, the mineralogical compositions of coal could be changed. There are obvious differences in the diffraction peak spectra of minerals in normal coal and thermally affected coal. When magma infiltrates into the coal seam, some minerals will remain on the surface of the coal body, thus changing the composition of the coal body. The diffraction peak intensities of normal coal, quartz, and kaolinite in S 5 709 and S 2 905 mining faces in the study area are the highest, while other components are relatively low, indicating that these two minerals are the main components of normal coal, with a small amount of calcite. However, in thermally affected coal, the diffraction peak intensity of calcite has been greatly improved, especially in the thermally affected coal S 2 905 mining face (# 4), with a significant increase, while the diffraction peak intensity of quartz and kaolinite has been significantly reduced.

To investigate the influences of magma intrusion on the mineral composition of coals, we analyzed the XRD spectra based on prior researches and presented the relative mineral contents of unaffected and thermally affected coals in Table 2 . Table 2 shows that the normal coal sample (# 1) from the S 5 709 mining face contained 41.5% quartz, 55.6% kaolinite, and only 2.9% calcite. The thermally affected coal sample (# 2) from the S 5 709 mining face showed a significant decrease in quartz and kaolinite contents after exposure to magma intrusion, while the calcite contents increased significantly to 52.5%. The normal coal sample (# 3) from the S 2 905 mining face contained similar levels of quartz and kaolinite at 46.8% and 38.1%, respectively, and a calcite contents of 15.1%. Conversely, the thermally affected coal sample (# 4) demonstrated a significant increase in calcite contents to 61.4% and a significant reduction in quartz contents to 10.8%.

In order to further explore the influences of magma intrusion on coal structure, the 16–50° spectral region corresponding to 2θ was fitted, and the results were shown in Fig. 5 . It can be seen that the diagrams of the four coal samples correspond to the (002) peak and (100) peak at ~ 25° and ~ 40° respectively, and are much more obvious than the peaks in other positions, indicating they are related with coaly material or organic matter. The peak of (002) is the superposition of (002) band and γ band, which is related to the stacking of aromatic ring layers in coal. The (100) peak is attributed to the degree of condensation of the aromatic ring, that is, the size of the aromatic carbon network in the coal.

Curve fitting of the peaks of coal samples from 16° to 50°.

The structural parameter analysis of XRD for normal coals and thermally affected coals were shown in Table 3 . Compared with normal coals and thermally affected coals, it was found that the carbon source net spacing ( d 002 ) of metamorphized coal decreases, while the stacking degree ( L c ) and ductility ( L a ) of microcrystalline increases and the aromatic f a ( XRD ) also increase, indicating that the degree of metamorphism of the coal body increases due to the intrusion of magma.

Geochemical compositions

Major oxides.

We used the ZSX Primus II wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) produced by Rigaku was used for determining major oxide contents in coal samples. The results are shown in Table 4 . Sample M01, which was affected by magma intrusion, exhibited high proportions of CaO, SiO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 , and Al 2 O 3 , at 54.8%, 27.85%, 8.57%, and 5.60%, respectively. Together, these oxides account for 96.82% of the total major oxides contents. SiO 2 is the dominant major oxide in normal coals, while the content of SiO 2 in coals affected by heat were different, indicating that the intrusion of magma has little effect on the content of SiO 2 . This is mainly because the SiO 2 in coals mainly came from the contribution of quartz and kaolinite, which mainly existed in the form of Mosaic in coals, and it was difficult to move in the form of fluid during the later magma intrusion and heating process. The significant increase in CaO contents implies that magma intrusion into the coal seam results in CaO enrichment. Coal sample M02, which was less influenced by magma intrusion than coal sample M01, exhibits the highest contents of SiO 2 among its major oxides, at 57.35%. Additionally, the contents of Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , CaO, and K 2 O are higher, and the combined contents of these five major oxides account for 96.87% of the total contents. Coal sample M03 has a main element contents of SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and Fe 2 O 3 , which together account for 91.01% of the total. This may be related to migmatic minerals mixed with coaly material. However, compared to other thermally affected coals and normal coals, the Fe 2 O 3 contents were significantly higher. This implies that magma intrusion was not the direct cause of the increase in Fe 2 O 3 contents in coal sample M03. Coal sample M04 has major oxides consisting mainly of SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , and CaO, which together account for 95.36% of the total. Normal coal sample M05 has SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , MgO, and K 2 O contents of 57.29%, 22.08%, 9.32%, 3.18%, and 3.18%, respectively, which together account for 95.05% of the total. As the contents of SiO 2 are higher than those of Al 2 O 3 , it implies that quartz provided excess silicon compared to the silicon contents of kaolinite.

In addition, it can be analyzed in Table 4 that the contents of major oxides in normal coals and thermally affected coals are quite normal. For coal sample M05, the contents of SiO 2 , TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , MgO, Na 2 O and K 2 O are higher than in coal samples M01-M04, which indicates that the intrusion of magma may lead to the loss of these major oxides in thermally affected coal samples. The contents of Fe 2 O 3 , MnO, CaO and P 2 O 5 in thermally affected coals are higher than those in normal coals, which may be the result of thermal contact metamorphism during magmatic intrusion. Fe 2 O 3 , MnO, and P 2 O 5 show the same change mode, indicating that they have the same source and occurrence state. The contents of SiO 2 , TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , MgO, Na 2 O, K 2 O, and P 2 O 5 in thermally affected coal sample M01, which is the most obviously intruded by magma, are lower than that in other thermally affected coals, indicating that the closer the coal is to the magmatic intrusion zone, the easier it is to lose its major oxides, while the variation pattern of the major oxides contents in coal far from the magma intrusion zone are not obvious.

Trace elements

We used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to analyze trace elements in coals. Table 5 shows the average contents of trace elements in the coal of the Daxing coal mine and in the crust of Chinese coals and world coals. The enrichment coefficient is usually used to evaluate the enrichment degree of trace elements. Dai et al. 24 proposed an evaluation index method for the enrichment of trace elements in coal. By calculating the enrichment coefficient of trace elements in coal samples (CC is the ratio of trace elements in the studied samples to the world or Chinese coals average), they can be divided into the following six categories: abnormal enrichment (CC > 100), high enrichment (10 < CC < 100), enrichment (5 < CC < 10), slight enrichment (2 < CC < 5), normal (0.5 < CC < 2), and deficit (CC < 0.5) 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 .

In order to conveniently describe the enrichment degree of trace elements in coals, the contents of trace elements in thermally affected coals and normal coals, Chinese coals, and world coals in the Daxing coal mine coal samples are compared and analyzed based on the enrichment coefficient 1. The results are shown in Figs. 6 and 7 . In Fig. 6 , the turquoise indicator indicates that the element enrichment coefficient in coal is depleted (CC < 0.5), and the red indicator indicates that it is close to the world and Chinese coals averages (0.5 < CC < 2). In Fig. 6 a, by comparing the contents of trace elements in thermally affected coals and Chinese coals, it is found that, except for those elements of Cr, Co, Rb, Sr, Cs, and Ba, which are normal, other elements are depleted. By comparing the contents of trace elements in thermally affected coals and world coals in Fig. 6 b, it is determined that, except for Co, Zn, Rb, Sr, Cs, and Ba elements, which are normal, other elements are deficient, which is close to the analysis result in Fig. 6 a. Through the above analysis, it is found that magmatic intrusion makes most of the elements in the coal loss, which is mainly because during the coalification process, the contents of trace elements in the coals will be greatly affected by the intrusion of magmatic hydrothermal solution. According to general acceptance, after the intrusion of heavy metal rich hydrothermal solution into the coal seam, it moves and diffuses along the fractures to the surrounding rock, and the carried trace elements are precipitated under appropriate conditions, or absorbed by clay minerals or organic matter in the coals. Therefore, the element loss in coals could develop 29 . In Fig. 7 , purple indicates slight enrichment (2 < CC < 5), orange indicates enrichment (5 < CC < 10), and blue indicates high enrichment (10 < CC < 100). In Fig. 7 a, by comparing the contents of trace elements in normal coals and Chinese coals, it is found that Be, Co, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta, Tl, and Pb are normal, while Cr is enriched, Rb is highly enriched, and other elements are slightly enriched. In Fig. 7 b, by comparing the contents of trace elements in normal coals and world coals, it is found that Be, Hf, and Tl are close to average values, while the elements of V, Cr, Zn, and Rb are enriched, with Cs being highly enriched, and other elements are slightly enriched. Based on the above analysis, it has been determined that most trace elements in the coals not affected by magmatic intrusion are slightly enriched, and some elements are highly enriched.

Comparison of trace elements in thermally affected coals from Daxing coal mine and Chinese coals, world coals. ( a ) Thermally affected coals/Chinese coals; ( b ) Thermally affected coals/world coals.

Comparison of trace elements in normal coals from Daxing coal mine and Chinese coals, world coals. ( a ) Normal coals/Chinese coals; ( b ) Normal coals/world coals.

In general, magmatic intrusion will have a certain impact on the occurrence of trace elements in coals and make them migrate or enrich. Most of the trace elements in the thermally affected coals intruded by magma in the Daxing coal mine are depleted. Only a few trace elements are normal, while most of the trace elements in the normal coals are slightly enriched.

Different trace elements in coals will have different effects on the environment. Wu et al. 30 have classified trace elements in coal according to the degree of their potential environmental impact. Although there are some differences in definitions, most of them include ten typical environmentally sensitive trace elements in coals, such as Be, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, As, Tl, Cd, U, Hg, and Pb 31 .

In order to study the influences of magmatic intrusion on the contents change of potentially hazardous trace elements in coal, trace elements in six kinds of coal, as shown in Fig. 8 below, were selected for analysis. Among them, the Be element content of thermally affected coals are between 0.42 and 1.02 µg/g, with an average of 0.36 µg/g. The thermally affected coal sample M01, which is greatly affected by mag-matic intrusion, has the lowest Be element content, while the normal coal sample M05, which is farthest from the magmatic intrusion zone, has the highest Be element content. However, it can be seen from Fig. 8 a that the Be element content of five coal samples is lower than that of Chinese coals and world coals average. The content of Cr element in thermally affected coals is between 4.52 and 10.5 µg/g, with an average of 7.71 µg/g. In coal samples M01–M04, the content of Cr element is similar. Due to the affected of magmatic intrusion, the content of Cr element is lower than that of Chinese coals and world coals averages. In coal sample M05, the content of Cr element is higher than that of other coal samples and Chinese coals and world coals, indicating that magmatic intrusion leads to the reduction of Cr element content in thermally affected coals. The content of Ni in thermally affected coals ranges from 5.12 to 6.24 µg/g, with an average of 5.85 µg/g, and its distribution characteristics are similar to that of Cr. The content of Tl element in thermally affected coals ranges from 0.12 to 0.26 µg/g, with an average of 0.2 µg/g. It can be seen from Fig. 8 d that the content of Tl element in coal sample M05 is obviously higher than that in thermally affected coals and Chinese coals, which is close to that in world coals. Pb in metamorphic coal ranges from 2.14 to 4.93 µg/g, with an average of 2.99 µg/g. The content of U element in thermally affected coals ranges from 0.21 to 0.54 µg/g, with an average of 0.36 µg/g, and the distribution characteristics are similar to those of Cr and Ni elements. Among them, the contents of medium volatile and nonvolatile elements (Cr, Ni, etc.) are relatively high. Due to the affected of magma intrusion, the average contents of medium volatile volatile elements (Pb, Tl, etc.) in unaffected coal are generally less than 10 µg/g, which are generally low. The content of Tl element in coal sample M01 is only 0.12 µg/g.

Comparison of potentially hazardous trace elements with Chinese and world coals averages. ( a ) Be; ( b ) Cr; ( c ) Ni; ( d ) Tl; ( e ) Pb; ( f ) U.

In general, compared with Chinese coals and world coals affected by magmatic intrusion, the contents of potentially hazardous trace elements in thermally affected coals of the Daxing coal mine are lower than that of Chinese coals and world coals averages, and the contents of Cr, Ni, Tl, Pb, and U in normal coal are much higher than that of thermally affected coals. Among them, the contents of Be, Tl, and Pb all increase with the decrease in distance from the magmatic intrusion zone. Except for coal sample M05, the contents difference in other coal samples are relatively small, indicating that the magmatic intrusion has a tendency to dilute and reduce the contents of potentially hazardous trace elements in unaffected coal samples but the impact on different coal samples are slightly different.

Rare earth elements

According to the similarities and differences in the geochemical properties of rare earth elements (REE), they can be divided into the following three categories: light rare earth elements (LREE), including La, Ce, Pr, and Nd; medium rare earth elements (MREE), including Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, and Y; and heavy rare earth elements (HREE), including Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 .

The test results of thermally affected coals REE values ICP-MS in the Daxing coal mine are shown in Table 6 , and the corresponding geochemical parameters are shown in Table 7 . (La/Yb) N , (La/Sm) N , (Gd/Yb) N are the ratios of the standardized values of elemental chondrites. There are three types of enrichment of REE in coal, which are L type (light REE; (La/Lu) N > 1), type M (medium REE; (La/Sm) N < 1, (Gd/Lu) N > 1) and H-type (heavy REE; (La/Lu) N < 1). In coal sample M01, (La/Lu) N is 9.64, (La/Sm) N is 4.24, and (Gd/Lu) N is 1.85, which indicates L-type REE enrichment. Similarly, (La/Yb) N > 1, (La/Sm) N > 1, (Gd/Yb) N > 1 in coal samples M02-M04, it is also enriched for L-type REE.

The total amount of REE in thermally affected coals of the Daxing coal mine is relatively low. It can be seen from Table 7 that ΣREE is 22.69–37.8 μg/g, with an average of 29.48 μg/g. The contents of rare earth elements are variable in the samples of different mines, different coal seams and single coal seam of Daxing coal mine, and the coal seams in this study area are greatly affected by magmatic intrusion. Compared with the unaffected coals in other coalfields, the contents of REE in the study area appears to be depleted. Among them, the contents of LREE ranges from 14.48 to 27.82 μg/g, with an average of 19.69 μg/g. The contents of MREE ranges from 7.27 to 10.99 μg/g, on average 8.63 μg/g. HREE contents are 0.94–1.37 μg/g, with an average of 1.16 μg/g. Among them, LREE/HREE is 11.01–22.8, with an average of 17.11, which is characterized by LREE enrichment and HREE deficit. It can be seen in Fig. 9 that the contents of REE in coal samples affected by magma intrusion are obviously different from that in coal samples not affected by magma intrusion.

The contents of REE in coal samples.

In thermally affected coals Eu are distributed between 0.53 and 0.74, with an average of 0.65. The negative Eu is obviously abnormal, as shown in Fig. 10 . Ce is distributed in 0.94–1.02, with an average of 0.97, less than 1, which means that Ce is negative anomaly. Generally, the negative anomaly of Ce is mainly caused by the following factors: seawater erosion, sedimentary source area and volcanic hydrothermal solution. Under alkaline conditions, because the water in the sediment is rich in oxygen, Ce 3+ is oxidized to Ce 4+ , showing a negative abnormality of Ce 36 . Since there was no seawater influence in the palaeomires of the Daxing coal mine, the negative abnormality of Ce may be due to the intrusion of magma and some material exchange in contact with natural coke that leads to the negative abnormality of Ce 37 .

The variation curve of δCe in coal samples from the Daxing coal mine.

The ratio of Y N to Ho N reflects the Y anomaly in the REE pattern. There are many causes of Y anomalies in coals, mainly geochemical processes in sediment source rocks, sedimentary environments (such as seawater injection) and hydrothermal fluids 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 . As shown in Fig. 11 , the Y N /Ho N in the thermally affected coals in the study area is between 1.24 and 1.44, with an average of 1.34, which shows a positive anomaly of Y. The peneration of hydrothermal solution is one of the factors leading to the positive Y anomaly in the coals. The study of Ge-rich coal in the Ulantuga deposit of Shengli Coal found that after experiencing magma intrusion, the Y content of high Ge-bearing coal is significantly higher than that of low Ge bearing coal in the same coal field 42 . The coal samples M01–M04 in the study area show Y-positive anomalies after being intruded by igneous rocks.

The variation curve of Y N /Ho N ratio in coal samples from the Daxing coal mine.

The standardized distribution pattern of rare earth element chondrites in the coal seams of Daxing coal mine are shown in Fig. 12 . It can be seen that the distribution pattern of REE in the coal seams of Daxing coal mine is similar, which is a “V ” curve of negative Eu anomaly. The degree of fractionation between LREE and HREE can be reflected by the slope of the distribution model curve between La-Y. It can also be seen intuitively from Fig. 12 that the fractionation degree between HREE is low, while that between LREE is high 43 , 44 , 45 . According to the distribution pattern of REE in the five coal samples collected, the sources of REE in the coal seams of Daxing coal mine are consistent in the peat forming stage, and the supply of terrigenous materials is relatively stable 46 .

Distribution pattern of REE in coal samples from the Daxing coal mine.

Conclusions

In this paper, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry were combined to study the changes of industrial analysis components and the geochemical characteristics of the major oxides, trace elements and REE of coals in the Daxing coal mine after magma intrusion, and the main conclusions are as follows:

Compared with the same coal seams and samples on the same mining face, it was found that the moisture and volatile matter contents of thermally affected coals were lower than that of normal coals, and the moisture and volatile matter content were lower the closer the distance from the magma intrusion.

During the magma intrusion process, some minerals remain on the surface of the coal body, resulting in changes in the mineral composition of the coal body. With the distance between the original carbon subnets decreasing, the degree of microcrystalline aggregation and ductility increased, and the aromatity increased, indicating that the intrusion of magma played a positive role in the improvement of the degree of coals metamorphism.

The thermally affected coals with different degrees of influenced from magma intrusion have different distribution laws of the major oxides. The closer to the magma intrusion zone, the easier the major oxides are to lose. However, magma intrusion does not make all major oxides disappear, and there are also a small number of enrichments, such as CaO and MnO.

The contents of thermally affected coals REE in the Daxing coal mine are low with a similar distribution pattern, showing a wide “V ” curve with high left and low right, which showed the characteristics of LREE enrichment.

Data availability

The data and materials presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the financial support of the Discipline Innovation Team of Liaoning Technical University (Grant No. LNTU20TD-30) and the Project of the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (Grant No. 2022-BS-328).

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X.F.: designed the research, discussed the results. X.L.: Writing-Original draft preparation, discussed the results, response to reviewers. Q.W.: performed numerical simulations and analyzed the results. B.X.: supervised the findings of this work. C.F.: designed the research, discussed the results.

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Fu, X., Liu, X., Wu, Q. et al. Influence of magma intrusion on coal geochemical characteristics: a case study of Tiefa Daxing coal mine. Sci Rep 14 , 7396 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-58186-5

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The effects of human-caused global warming are happening now, are irreversible for people alive today, and will worsen as long as humans add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

We already see effects scientists predicted, such as the loss of sea ice, melting glaciers and ice sheets, sea level rise, and more intense heat waves.
Scientists predict global temperature increases from human-made greenhouse gases will continue. Severe weather damage will also increase and intensify.

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Effects that scientists had long predicted would result from global climate change are now occurring, such as sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves.

The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming.

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Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for many decades, mainly due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities.

The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment report, published in 2021, found that human emissions of heat-trapping gases have already warmed the climate by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since 1850-1900. 1 The global average temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5 degrees C (about 3 degrees F) within the next few decades. These changes will affect all regions of Earth.

The severity of effects caused by climate change will depend on the path of future human activities. More greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more climate extremes and widespread damaging effects across our planet. However, those future effects depend on the total amount of carbon dioxide we emit. So, if we can reduce emissions, we may avoid some of the worst effects.

The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.

Here are some of the expected effects of global climate change on the United States, according to the Third and Fourth National Climate Assessment Reports:

Future effects of global climate change in the United States:

U.S. Sea Level Likely to Rise 1 to 6.6 Feet by 2100

Global sea level has risen about 8 inches (0.2 meters) since reliable record-keeping began in 1880. By 2100, scientists project that it will rise at least another foot (0.3 meters), but possibly as high as 6.6 feet (2 meters) in a high-emissions scenario. Sea level is rising because of added water from melting land ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms. Image credit: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

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Global climate is projected to continue warming over this century and beyond. Image credit: Khagani Hasanov, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Hurricanes Will Become Stronger and More Intense

Scientists project that hurricane-associated storm intensity and rainfall rates will increase as the climate continues to warm. Image credit: NASA

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Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves (periods of abnormally hot weather lasting days to weeks) are projected to become more intense, and cold waves less intense and less frequent. Image credit: NOAA

Longer Wildfire Season

Warming temperatures have extended and intensified wildfire season in the West, where long-term drought in the region has heightened the risk of fires. Scientists estimate that human-caused climate change has already doubled the area of forest burned in recent decades. By around 2050, the amount of land consumed by wildfires in Western states is projected to further increase by two to six times. Even in traditionally rainy regions like the Southeast, wildfires are projected to increase by about 30%.

Changes in Precipitation Patterns

Climate change is having an uneven effect on precipitation (rain and snow) in the United States, with some locations experiencing increased precipitation and flooding, while others suffer from drought. On average, more winter and spring precipitation is projected for the northern United States, and less for the Southwest, over this century. Image credit: Marvin Nauman/FEMA

Frost-Free Season (and Growing Season) will Lengthen

The length of the frost-free season, and the corresponding growing season, has been increasing since the 1980s, with the largest increases occurring in the western United States. Across the United States, the growing season is projected to continue to lengthen, which will affect ecosystems and agriculture.

Heatmap showing scorching temperatures in U.S. West

Global Temperatures Will Continue to Rise

Summer of 2023 was Earth's hottest summer on record, 0.41 degrees Fahrenheit (F) (0.23 degrees Celsius (C)) warmer than any other summer in NASA’s record and 2.1 degrees F (1.2 C) warmer than the average summer between 1951 and 1980. Image credit: NASA

Arctic Is Very Likely to Become Ice-Free

Sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is expected to continue decreasing, and the Arctic Ocean will very likely become essentially ice-free in late summer if current projections hold. This change is expected to occur before mid-century.

U.S. Regional Effects

Climate change is bringing different types of challenges to each region of the country. Some of the current and future impacts are summarized below. These findings are from the Third 3 and Fourth 4 National Climate Assessment Reports, released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program .

Northeast. Heat waves, heavy downpours, and sea level rise pose increasing challenges to many aspects of life in the Northeast. Infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries, and ecosystems will be increasingly compromised. Farmers can explore new crop options, but these adaptations are not cost- or risk-free. Moreover, adaptive capacity , which varies throughout the region, could be overwhelmed by a changing climate. Many states and cities are beginning to incorporate climate change into their planning.
Northwest. Changes in the timing of peak flows in rivers and streams are reducing water supplies and worsening competing demands for water. Sea level rise, erosion, flooding, risks to infrastructure, and increasing ocean acidity pose major threats. Increasing wildfire incidence and severity, heat waves, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases are causing widespread forest die-off.
Southeast. Sea level rise poses widespread and continuing threats to the region’s economy and environment. Extreme heat will affect health, energy, agriculture, and more. Decreased water availability will have economic and environmental impacts.
Midwest. Extreme heat, heavy downpours, and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also worsen a range of risks to the Great Lakes.
Southwest. Climate change has caused increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks. In turn, these changes have made wildfires more numerous and severe. The warming climate has also caused a decline in water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, and triggered heat-related health impacts in cities. In coastal areas, flooding and erosion are additional concerns.

1. IPCC 2021, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis , the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

2. IPCC, 2013: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

3. USGCRP 2014, Third Climate Assessment .

4. USGCRP 2017, Fourth Climate Assessment .

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A Degree of Difference

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What’s the difference between climate change and global warming?

“Global warming” refers to the long-term warming of the planet. “Climate change” encompasses global warming, but refers to the broader range of changes that are happening to our planet, including rising sea levels; shrinking mountain glaciers; accelerating ice melt in Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic; and shifts in flower/plant blooming times.

Is it too late to prevent climate change?

Humans have caused major climate changes to happen already, and we have set in motion more changes still. However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years. Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries.

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Kedarnath disaster 2013: causes and consequences using remote sensing inputs

Original Paper
Published: 14 November 2015
Volume 81 , pages 227–243, ( 2016 )

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P. K. Champati Ray 1 ,
Shovan Lal Chattoraj 1 ,
M. P. S. Bisht 2 ,
Suresh Kannaujiya 1 ,
Kamal Pandey 1 &
Ajanta Goswami 3

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Kedarnath was devastated on 16th evening–17th morning (June 2013) due to landslides and flash floods that killed more than 5000 people in Uttarakhand. What really happened on 16th evening through next 12 h till final deluge on 17th morning has been a subject of speculation due to lack of sufficient eye witness and monitoring system. Earth observation techniques have provided information on precipitation, landslides, snow cover and other ancillary data such as digital elevation models at varying resolution. Using such spatial information along with limited eye witness and media reports, an attempt is made to reconstruct events that led to destruction in upper Mandakini valley with prime aim to improve response and minimise damage in the event of similar disaster in future. The study has revealed that there were two distinct events separated by a time gap of 10–12 h: the first event was triggered by series of landslides, river blockades, breaching, flooding and river bank failures, whereas the second event was mainly associated with Chorabari Tal Lake outburst flooding along with associated landslides and bank erosion. Comprehensive assessment of landslide hazard requires process-based modelling using numerical simulation methods. The present study aims to focus on analysis of landslides/debris flow movements and simulate landslides that occurred in Kedarnath event leading to derivation of important flow parameters to get closer to the root cause of the devastation. The unique geomorphological setting, which has changed significantly in the recent event, provides valuable inputs for critical assessment of damage and remedial measures in future. Comparison with Gohna Tal (in Birahi Ganga, a tributary of Alaknanda) landslide lake outburst flooding has provided closer insight on the event and it revealed how preparedness can reduce the impact of such natural disasters.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to Mr. V. K. Singh, M. Tech student, for data collection during field visit to Gohna Tal Lake in 2004, IIRS team (Dr. Praveen Thakur, Mr. Shishant Gupta, M. Tech student, Mr. Amit Anand, M. Sc. (NHDRM) student) for sharing field information and Dr. D. P. Dobhal, Scientist, WIHG for useful discussion on Chorabari Tal Lake breach and devastation in Kedarnath town. Overall support and encouragement received from Dr. A. Senthil Kumar, Director, IIRS is duly acknowledged. Encouragement received from former Director and Dean (Acad) of IIRS is also placed on record. The authors are thankful to the anonymous reviewers for constructive criticisms and careful editing of the earlier versions of the manuscript.

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P. K. Champati Ray, Shovan Lal Chattoraj, Suresh Kannaujiya & Kamal Pandey

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M. P. S. Bisht

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Champati Ray, P.K., Chattoraj, S.L., Bisht, M.P.S. et al. Kedarnath disaster 2013: causes and consequences using remote sensing inputs. Nat Hazards 81 , 227–243 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2076-0

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-015-2076-0

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MICE related tourism (Meetings, Incentive Groups, Conferences and Events) generates over $700 billion, and is a major industry to be impacted adversely when disaster strikes. This case study demonstrates how Crisis Management Planning promotion creates increased initiative and resilience.
Extreme Events, Resilience and Disaster Management: Lessons from Case
4 Conclusion. The three case studies bring out the importance of building up resilience for disaster management. While the first one showed us the missing elements in terms of Warning system and Awareness building, the second showed how preparedness can go a long way in minimising damages from disasters.
Application of project management to disaster resilience
In this paper, we apply project management concepts and frameworks to the context of disaster resilience and examine how groups can increase the disaster resilience of a community. Based on our literature review and case study methodology, we develop a model that draws upon the relevant literatures in project management, operations management, disaster management, and organizational behaviour ...
Hazard Evacuation Management and Resilience: Case Study ...
Abstract. Hazard evacuation management is a critical piece of the disaster management cycle of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Community resilience is another important aspect of hazard evacuation management. However, current hazards and disaster literature often focuses on warning and risk communication, evacuation intentions ...
International Case Studies in the Management of Disasters
Synopsis. Showcasing internationally sourced case studies on disaster management, International Case Studies in the Management of Disasters presents a diverse range of case studies on how disasters, both natural and manmade, are being managed globally.
The 2015 Chennai Flood: A Case for Developing City Resilience
The lessons from this case study and others like it can help urban centers elsewhere in Asia to plan for similar eventualities. ... -funded project, the Social and Physical Sensing Enabled Decision Support for Disaster Management and Response. ... awareness generation and capacity building programs should promote inclusive flood disaster ...
Case Studies in Disaster Mitigation and Prevention
Description. Case Studies in Disaster Mitigation and Prevention: Disaster and Emergency Management: Case Studies in Adaptation and Innovation series presents cases illustrating efforts to reduce human and material losses associated with disasters. This volume demonstrates that mitigation is an ongoing phase in which communities continually ...
Landslide Mitigation and Disaster Risk Management
This Collection contains Landslide Mitigation and Disaster Risk Management Case Studies and Good Practice to support humanitarian workers in their operations and interventions for the mitigation or response of a landslide disaster. Current guidance comes from leading local and global organizations and institutions: Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), ECHO, IFRC, REACH, Shelter Projects ...
NIDM Research & Case Studies
NIDM. Health Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change and Related Disasters: A Compendium of Case Studies. 2021. NIDM. Water Related Disasters (Floods and Drought): Implications for Health Adaptation and Resilience. (A Thematic paper prepared under the HERCAP project supported by WHO India) 2021. NIDM.
PDF Disaster and Emergency Management: Case Studies in Adaptation and
This case study book series is designed to support learning about innovation and adaptation in the disaster and emergency management (DEM) field. Emergency management professionals' experience is place based, and this often limits the ability to learn from experience due to the infrequency of disasters. Case studies provide a means of
GIS and Remote Sensing for Disaster Management: a Case Study of
Summary In northeast India, the Shillong Plateau is an actively deforming tectonic "pop-up" horst, south of the Himalayas and west of the Indo-Burmese mountains. The Shillong Plateau-Eastern Himalayan flank offers a unique system for measuring interconnections between climate, tectonics, and erosion, that aid Earth movement. The identification and monitoring of mass movement of vulnerable ...
(PDF) Disaster Prevention and Management: A Critical ...
The results of the study showed that science teaching materials integrated with natural disasters and disaster mitigation had a large effect on student learning outcomes.
PDF CASE STUDY
capacity building and coordination and to strengthen disaster management and response (4,5,10). Due to the number of actors involved in disaster management, coordination among actors during an emergency is crucial for an effective, efficient response (6,8). Studies have shown that the existence of pre-disaster relationships
Disaster Management in Flash Floods in Leh (Ladakh): A Case Study
Results: 234 persons died and over 800 were reported missing. Almost half of the people who died were local residents (49.6%) and foreigners (10.2%). Age-wise analysis of the deaths shows that the majority of deaths were reported in the age group of 25-50 years, accounting for 44.4% of deaths, followed by the 11-25-year age group with 22.2% ...
Inter-agency collaboration and disaster management: A case study of the
As disaster management is a complex process that requires preparedness and capability at all levels, the 2005 earthquake thus not only exposed the ineffectiveness of different levels of government to deal with mega disasters but it also opened up windows of opportunities for institutionalisation of disaster risk management (DRM) and disaster ...
Disaster risk management, climate change adaptation and the role of
The paper reviews the literature and planning instruments applied in the selected case studies, as well as interviews with key stakeholders and decision makers. The results confirm the hypothesis that traditional disaster management is evolving towards Disaster Risk Management, clearly recognizing that Climate Change modifies and increases threats.
Covid-19 Disaster relief projects management: an exploratory study of
2.1 Crisis and humanitarian aid Project management. Relief projects carry an "acute sense of urgency", and their results are critical to people's livelihood in the affected communities (Steinfort and Walker 2011).The challenge is to minimise human suffering and death (Noham and Tzur 2014) and do so in an often hostile and uncertain environment, where violence, socio-political instability ...
Influence of magma intrusion on coal geochemical ...
Revealing its invasion law will be conducive to disaster management and energy development. ... A case study from the Pansan coal mine of ... and the Project of the Natural Science Foundation of ...
The Effects of Climate Change
Extreme heat, heavy downpours, and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also worsen a range of risks to the Great Lakes. Southwest. Climate change has caused increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks.
Kedarnath disaster 2013: causes and consequences using ...
Kedarnath was devastated on 16th evening-17th morning (June 2013) due to landslides and flash floods that killed more than 5000 people in Uttarakhand. What really happened on 16th evening through next 12 h till final deluge on 17th morning has been a subject of speculation due to lack of sufficient eye witness and monitoring system. Earth observation techniques have provided information on ...
Examples of Resource Allocation in Project Management
Case study: Resource Allocation in Project Management Dramatically Improves Productivity. Intentionally planning your resource allocation can transform an outdated approach to project management into an efficient, streamlined process that fuels company growth. Such was the case with ProPoint Graphics. The design agency attempted to use a ...

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Management of Slope Stability in Communities (MoSSaiC) in Saint Lucia

Safer Cities 12 Demonstration Housing Construction for Landslide and Flood Prone Areas A case study from Ratnapura, Sri Lanka

Words into Action Guidelines 3. Landslide Hazard and Risk Assessment

Interaction of Dams and Landslides—Case Studies and Mitigation

Peru – 2012 – Flooding and Land Slides

Nepal: Flood and Landslide

Landslides Mitigation in Shelter and Settlements - Technical Guidelines

Post Disaster Engineering - Reports and Case Studies

Natural Disaster Management in Mozambique

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Inter-agency collaboration and disaster management: A case study of the 2005 earthquake disaster in Pakistan

Tahir Mahmood

Sajjad A. Khan

Muhammad Shahnawaz

Adnan A. Dogar

Khoula Begum

Associated Data

Introduction

Inter-agency collaboration in disaster management

Disaster management in Pakistan

Pakistan’s earthquake in 2005

Results and analyses

Initial conditions

Structure and governance

Contingencies and constraints

Outcome and accountability

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

Authors’ contributions

Ethical considerations

Funding information

Data availability

Influence of magma intrusion on coal geochemical characteristics: a case study of Tiefa Daxing coal mine

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Research on chemical resistance characteristics of water-immersed coal with different metamorphic degrees

Hydrocarbon generation potential evaluation via petrographic and geochemical analyses of El-Maghara coal in Sinai, Egypt

The geological factors affecting gas content and permeability of coal seam and reservoir characteristics in Wenjiaba block, Guizhou province

Introduction

Geological setting

Samples collection and experimental methods

Results and discussions

Effects of magma intrusion on mineralogical composition

Geochemical compositions

Trace elements

Rare earth elements

Conclusions