Preparing Youth for Disasters: The Need for a Contextualised Disaster Risk Reduction Curriculum in Schools

This study draws from detailed qualitative case studies of three schools that practise disaster risk reduction (DRR) education initiatives in their curriculum in Nepal. Using curriculum mapping and discourse analysis, it aims to elaborate the significance of relevant disaster risk reduction (DRR) content in school curriculum to prepare youths for disaster response and recovery. It elaborates the nature of the current DRR content covered in curricula and textbooks and provides suggestions to address the identified disaster-related issues in the school curriculum. It further elaborates that incorporation of local and contextualised DRR content in school curricula contributes to the establishment of the “culture of resilience” in disaster prone context like Nepal. It concludes that more organised and holistic approach is essential to develop disaster and management knowledge, skills and attitudes to youths.

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Education from Social Disciplinary Theoretical Perspectives

Disaster is a social phenomenon. The occurrence and impacts of disasters including the education sector can be studied through a social problem lens. This paper draws meaning and understanding of DRR education using the sociological disciplinary framework in a detailed qualitative case study of three schools as they responded to the devastating Gorakha earthquake in 2015 and other disasters in Nepal. This paper considers the three sub-disciplines of sociology: the sociology of disaster, the sociology of education and the sociology of education governance in a development context. These sub-disciplines are nested together to analyse social, political and historical factors and their relationships which are helpful to identify risks and vulnerabilities in the education sector in Nepal. These are the major areas to explore the disaster context and needs of context-specific education acts (hereafter DRR education) to minimise the potential risks of disasters. The article concludes that the social disciplinary framework is significantly useful to analyse DRR education provisions and implications of education governance to mobilise school in disaster preparedness, response and recovery.

Preparation of carbon fiber cloth supported porous CdS nanorods with excellent photocatalytic activity for Cr(Ⅵ)reduction

The use of visible-light responsive photocatalysts for removing heavy metal ions in wastewater has received great attention.However,the development of photocatalysts with high activity and recyclability remains a huge challenge.Herein,a recyclable carbon fiber cloth-supported porous CdS nanorod photocatalyst was fabricated by a two-step hydrothermal treatment using AgVO_(3) nanowires as templates.The results indicated that under visible-light illumination,the carbon cloth-supported porous CdS nanorods showed improved photocatalytic activity for the reduction of Cr(Ⅵ),with an apparent rate constant exceeding that of carbon cloth-supported CdS nanospheres by a factor of 1.65 times.Moreover,the carbon cloth-supported porous CdS nanorods can be easily separated and be reused.This brings a new perspective for developing photocatalysts with high efficiency and recyclability for wastewater treatment.

Small⁃size Au nanoparticles anchored on pyrenyl⁃graphdiyne for N_(2)electroreduction

A gold catalyst of Au/pyrenyl‑graphdiyne(Pyr‑GDY)was prepared by anchoring small size of gold nanoparticles(Au NPs)on the surface of Pyr‑GDY for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction(eNRR),in which Au NPs with a size of approximately 3.69 nm was evenly distributed on spongy‑like porous Pyr‑GDY.The catalyst exhibited a good electrocatalytic activity for N_(2)reduction in a nitrogen‑saturated electrolyte,with an ammonia yield of 32.1μg·h^(-1)·mg_(cat)^(-1)at-0.3 V(vs RHE),3.5 times higher than that of Au/C(Au NPs anchored on carbon black).In addition,Au/Pyr‑GDY showed a Faraday efficiency(FE)of 26.9%for eNRR,and a good catalysis durability for over 22 h.

De novo-design of highly exposed Co−N−C single-atom catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction

The nitrogen-coordinated metal single-atom catalysts(M−N−C SACs)with an ultra-high metal loading synthetized by direct high-temperature pyrolysis have been widely reported.However,most of metal single atoms in these catalysts were buried in the carbon matrix,resulting in a low metal utilization and inaccessibility for adsorption of reactants during the catalytic process.Herein,we reported a facile synthesis based on the hard-soft acid-base(HSAB)theory to fabricate Co single-atom catalysts with highly exposed metal atoms ligated to the external pyridinic-N sites of a nitrogen-doped carbon support.Benefiting from the highly accessible Co active sites,the prepared Co−N−C SAC exhibited a superior oxygen reduction reactivity comparable to that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst,showing a high turnover frequency(TOF)of 0.93 e^(−)·s^(-1)·site^(-1)at 0.85 V vs.RHE,far exceeding those of some representative SACs with a ultra-high metal content.This work provides a rational strategy to design and prepare M−N−C single-atom catalysts featured with high site-accessibility and site-density.

Study on Functions and Countermeasures of Disaster Prevention and Reduction of Urban Green Land

From the advanced experiences at home and abroad,according to the requirements of emergency evacuation at earthquake disaster,then strategies and methods to disaster prevention and reduction functions of urban green land construction were put forward.

An international program on Silk Road Disaster Risk Reduction--a Belt and Road initiative (2016-2020)

Belt and Road Initiative(BRI) is a Chinese national strategy which calls for cooperative economic, political and cultural exchange at the global level along the ancient Silk Road. The overwhelming natural hazards located along the belt and road bring great challenges to the success of BRI. In this framework, a 5-year international program was launched to address issues related to hazards assessment and disaster risk reduction(DRR). The first workshop of this program was held in Beijing with international experts from over 15 countries. Risk conditions on Belt and Road Countries(BRCs) have been shared and science and technology advancements on DRR have been disseminated during the workshop. Under this program, six task forces have been setup to carry out collaborative research works and three prioritized study areas have been established. This workshop announced the launching of this program which involved partners from different countries including Pakistan, Nepal, Russia, Italy, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and Tajikistan. The program adopted the objectives of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and United Nation Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and was implemented to assess disaster risk in BRCs and to propose suitable measures for disaster control which can be appropriate both for an individual country and for specific sites. This paper deals with the outcomes of the workshop and points out opportunities for the near future international cooperation on this matter.

Disaster Reduction Decision Support System Against Debris Flows and Landslides Along Highway in Mountainous Area

Highways in mountainous areas are easy to be damaged by such natural disasters as debris flows and landslides and disaster reduction decision support system (DRDSS) is one of the important means to mitigate these disasters. Guided by the theories and technologies of debris flow and landslide reduction and supported by geographical information system (GIS), remote sensing and database techniques, a DRDSS against debris flow and landslide along highways in mountainous areas has been established on the basis of such principles as pertinence, systematicness, effectiveness, easy to use, open and expandability. The system consists of database, disaster analysis models and decisions on reduction of debris flows and landslides, mainly functioning to zone disaster dangerous degree, analyze debris flow activity, simulate debris flow deposition and diffusion, analyze landslide stability, select optimal highway renovation scheme and plan disaster prevention and control engineering. This system has been applied successfully to the debris flow and landslide treatment works along Palongzangbu Section of Sichuan-Tibet Highway.

Disaster risk reduction in mountain areas: an initial overview on seeking pathways to global sustainability

As disasters cripple the world’s prospects for sustainable development, protecting the most vulnerable groups exposed to hazards is one of the main challenges facing humanity. Owing to the systemic nature of risk and the interactions and interdependencies between upland and lowland systems, healthy and productive mountain households and livelihoods are essential to global sustainability. This paper argues that, building on existing international frameworks, and integrated knowledge and praxis, the development of a global policy agenda should be established to build sustainable peace, sustainable security, and development.

Security of earthquake disaster reduction system

No matter whether a system is operated manually or automatically controlled by computer, the system’s vulnerability always exists. Earthquake Disaster Reduction System (EDRS) belongs to the category of information system. According to the features of security for EDRS, the steps and the methods on how to build the EDRS security were analyzed. The EDRS security features, security strategies and security measures were also given through a distributed EDRS skeleton that has been applied. Because there was still no appointed and authoritative agency or organization to certify and test EDRS security in China, a national information technology security certification center was introduced and suggested for the certification of the EDRS security. Finally, several discussions and tendencies for the EDRS development were presented.

RESEARCH ON SYSTEM OF FLOOD DISASTER CONTROL AND REDUCTION SUPPORTED BY GIS IN MEDIUM AND SMALL BASINS

Southeast China coastal areas belong to subtropical monsoon climatic zone, thus easily affected by floods resulted from typhoons and rainstorms. Since the areas of river basins are small, rivers flood regulation capacities are low, and therefore flood hazard is grave. In this paper, taking the Yongjiang basin in southeast China as an example, the approaches and methods of geographic information system(GIS) applied to flood disaster control and reduction research on small basin are explored. On GIS help the rainfall runoff calculation model and the river channel flood routing model are developed. And the evaluating flood submerged area and the damage assessment models are built supported by digit elevation models. Lastly the decision support system on GIS supported for flood control in research basin has been set up. This greatly improves flood proofing decision making capacities in river basin, and provides valuable information and a mode for flood prevention and reduction in the medium and small basin. Meanwhile, the research indicates that technologies of GIS provide a powerful tool for flood disaster control.

Redevelopment of Daqing Oil Field distributed earthquake disaster reduction system skeleton

Through investigation on the international development trend of earthquake disaster reduction system(EDRS)researches,a well finished Daqing Oilfield EDRS is introduced.Based on the PC System,redevelopment of the EDRS skeleton is well discussed,including the technical skeleton,function composition,structures of software and hardware,redevelopment languages,database,and remote linking and calling of analysis modules.Meanwhile,it is pointed out that extending and utilizing the function of remote sensing information on the basis of the current distributed EDRS skeleton will become another study direction of EDRS.

BeiDou Integrated Disaster Reduction Application Platform

To better improve the emergency communication and location-based services of disaster information reporting network for serious natural response and relieL disaster emergency the national natural disaster reduction application platform based on BeiDou navigation satellite system is constructed. The administrative distributed platform is integrated with BeiDou positioning and multiple communication ways so as to achieve main disaster reduction application services, including disaster information acquisition and monitoring, emergency relief for trapped people, on-site emergency relief command service, relief supplies＇ transportation monitoring, and disaster information publishing service. By the platform, serious disaster information reporting time may be reduced to one hour and the emergency decision-making information service for serious natural disasters can be effectively improved, and it will be helpful to provide technical references for the industrial application and promotion of BeiDou inte- grated disaster reduction.

Reduction of earthquake disasters

The article summarizes the researches on mitigating earthquake disasters of the past four years in China. The study of earthquake disasters quantification shows that the losses increase remarkably when population concentrates in urban area and social wealth increase. The article also summarizes some new trends of studying earthquake disas-ters mitigation, which are from seismic hazard to seismic risk, from engineering disaster to social disaster and introduces the community-centered approach.

Disaster Data Centre—An Innovative Educational Tool for Disaster Reduction through Education in Schools

During the last decades, mankind has suffered from devastation caused by natural disasters and technological accidents of increased frequency and children are among the most vulnerable population group, especially those attending school during times of disaster. The importance of education in promoting and enabling disaster risk reduction has already been identified by researchers. In this paper “Disaster Date Center (DDC)” is presented, a new, powerful and innovative tool for the study of and education on disasters. One noteworthy application of DDC is the educational and public awareness tool in the form of e-learning.

Assessing the effectiveness of disaster risk reduction strategies on the regional recovery of critical infrastructure systems

Communities depend on critical infrastructure systems to support their regular operations and future develop-ment.Destructive events,such as natural disasters,threaten to disrupt service to these systems and the commu-nities they support.Strategies designed to reduce the impacts from disasters and other events are therefore an important consideration for community planning.At a regional level,coordination between communities sup-ports the efficient use of resources for implementing disaster risk reduction(DRR)measures and completing post-disaster repairs to meet the needs of all residents.Coordination is challenging,however,due to the complex-ity of regional systems and competing stakeholder interests.This work presents a case study model of regional water,wastewater,and power systems,and demonstrates the effect of seismic hardening and increased resource availability on post-earthquake repair requirements and critical infrastructure recovery.Model results indicate that implementing DRR strategies can reduce required repair costs by over 40 percent and outage severity by approximately 50 percent for the studied sectors.Not all strategies are effective for all sectors and locations,how-ever,so this work discusses the importance of comprehensive,coordinated,and accessible emergency planning activities to ensure that the needs of all residents are considered.

Disaster risk reduction in mountain areas: a research overview

This paper gives an account of the diverse dimensions of research on disaster risk reduction in mountain regions derived from an open call of the Journal of Mountain Science that brought 21 contributions.This special issue includes topics as diverse as landslide dynamics and mechanisms,landslide inventories and landslide susceptibility models,insights to landslide hazards and disasters and mitigation measures,disaster response and disaster risk reduction.The overall structure of the paper takes the form of three sections.The first part begins by laying out the significance of disaster risk reduction in mountain areas,whereas the second one looks at the research insights on disaster risk reduction in mountains provided by the contributions comprised in the special volume.The final section identifies areas for further research.

Information system for emergence decision on the protection against earthquake and disaster reduction in Shanghai City──Application of GIS

For meeting the need of rapid development of economy in Shanghai and the protection against earthquake and disaster reduction in the mega city, it is necessary to build a information system for emergence decision on the protection against earthquake and disaster reduction in the city. In this paper, GIS is applied to 'the information system for emergence decision on the protection against earthquake and disaster reduction in Shanghai City (Baoshan experiment region)'. We introduce to the structure and effect of each functional module in this information system. This information system consists of 7 functional modules:background information of seismology and geology, subsystem for rapid evaluation of damage loss from earthquake, subsystem for the decisive information on earthquake emergence, information query, maintenance and management of system, help, quit. The key parts of this information system are the subsystem for rapid evaluation of damage loss from earthquake and the subsystem for the decisive information on earthquake emergence. Also, this paper introduces to the application of technology of color infra-red aerial photograph remote sensing to this information system.

Study on Farmers' Satisfaction with the Supply of Public Goods for Disaster Reduction in Agriculture——Based on the Survey Data of Farmers in Two Counties and One District of Hubei Province

According to actual features of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture,an evaluation indicator system of farmers' satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture composed of five first-grade indicators containing 18 second-grade indicators was established firstly,and then a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model of farmers' satisfaction was set up. Finally,farmers' satisfaction with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture in two counties and one district of Hubei Province was evaluated by the model. The results show that farmers are satisfied with the supply of public goods for disaster reduction in agriculture on the whole,but farmers' satisfaction with openness about funds for disaster reduction,supply structure of public goods,work attitude and work efficiency is at a general level. Some suggestions about the four aspects were proposed,such as improving supervisory mechanisms to increase funding transparency,making information channels unblocked to improve the supply efficiency of public goods for disaster reduction,and improving the quality of government workers to increase their work efficiency.

Study on the Influence of Farmer Social Capital on Cooperative Supply Willingness of Agricultural Disaster Reduction Public Goods——Based on the Investigation on 515 Farmers

Based on social capital theory,related factors of three dimensions( structure dimension,cognition dimension and relation dimension) of farmer social capital are taken as independent variables,and famer's willingness to cooperatively supply agricultural disaster reduction public goods is taken as dependent variable. Taking 515 farmers in 27 villages of Hubei Province as investigation objects,the influence of farmer social capital on cooperative supply willingness of agricultural disaster reduction public goods is explored by Logistic regression model. Research results show that social solidarity,common value concept,social trust and reciprocal content have positive impact on farmer's willingness of cooperative supply,while annual household income,number of agricultural disaster reduction public goods and social network have negative impact on farmer's willingness of cooperative supply.