A Systematic Review of Forensic Approaches to Disasters: Gaps and Challenges

Disaster forensic approaches aim to identify the causes of disasters to support disaster risk management.However,few studies have conducted a systematic literature review of scientific articles that labeled themselves as a forensic approach to disasters.This article provides a qualitative analysis of these forensic studies,focusing on five main issues:(1)the methodologies applied;(2)the forensic approaches used in the disaster risk management phases;(3)the hazards addressed;(4)if the methodologies involve social participation,and using what types of participation;and(5)if there are references to urban planning in the scientific studies analyzed.Our results showed a predominance of the Forensic Investigations of Disasters(FORIN)and Post-Event Review Capability(PERC)methodologies used in isolation or combination.There is a need for methodologies that engage people in participatory FORIN,fostering the co-production of knowledge and action research approaches.