Practitioner Approaches to Measuring Community Resilience: The Analysis of the Resilience of Communities to Disasters Toolkit

A framework for urban resilience measurement and enhancement strategies: A case study in Qingdao, China

Comprehensive measurement and analysis of urban resilience is essential to ensure sustainable urban development. This paper creates a multilevel urban resilience evaluation index system based on four dimensions of economy, society, ecology, and infrastructure and the three attributes (resistance, recovery, and adaptability), then applies the framework to Qingdao, China. The results suggest that: (1) The overall level of urban resilience in Qingdao showed an upward trend, rising from a relatively high level in 2012 to a high level in 2021. Economic and social resilience maintained a high consistency, developing rapidly, while the development of ecological and infrastructure resilience fluctuated, and infrastructure resilience was slow and lagging. (2) Qingdao's overall resilience is higher than other cities in the same region, but infrastructure resilience is relatively low. Moreover, the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of the resilience of the four subsystems in Qingdao has evolved from near imbalance to good coordination. (3) Infrastructure resilience is the primary obstacle factor in the dimension layer, followed by ecological resilience. Based on the results, corresponding improvement strategies are proposed. A comprehensive multidimensional measurement of the urban resilience of Qingdao can identify the main shortcomings and provide a reference for decision-making and resource allocation in resilient cities.

Investigating the impact of a community disaster awareness training on subjective disaster preparedness: the case of Myanmar's Ayeyarwaddy region

This paper investigates the impact of a community disaster awareness training on subjective disaster preparedness, focusing on the case of a Republic of Korean aid-supported disaster risk reduction project in the Ayeyarwaddy region of Myanmar. A subsequent survey by the authors of a total of 182 households, an equal number of project participating and control households, produced encouraging results regarding the endeavour. Although both ordinal logistic regression and ordinary least squares models support overall robust effectiveness of participating in the project, the results also reveal different effects of specific activities. Disaster risk reduction (DRR) awareness meetings and trainings, and personal visits to share knowledge and/or to distribute informative flyers, are important. In contrast, the significance of drills or community activities, in mass, is lost in a combined model. Consequently, 'personalising risk' should be prioritised in any DRR undertaking, as well as, and in particular, development cooperation aimed at increasing confidence in disaster preparedness.

A systematic review of cross-cultural measures of resilience and its promotive and protective factors

As psychological resilience has been increasingly recognized as contextually constructed, mixed methods studies that map out local ecologies of resilience have become increasingly common. However, the direct adaptation of quantitative tools for cross-cultural use based on qualitative findings has been relatively lacking. The current review aims to provide an overview of existing measures of resilience used cross-culturally and to synthesize the protective and promotive factors and processes (PPFP) of resilience identified within these measures into a single resource. A January 2021 search of PubMed for studies of the development of psychological resilience measures that excluded studies of non-psychological resilience yielded 58 unique measures. These measures contain 54 unique PPFP of resilience, ranging from individual to communal-level characteristics. This review is intended to serve as a complementary tool for adapting standardized measures for stakeholders requiring an assessment tool that is attuned to their context for mental health risk assessment and intervention evaluation.

Measurement and community antecedents of positive mental health among the survivors of typhoons Vamco and Goni during the COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines

The present study examined the measurement and antecedents of positive mental health in people who concurrently experienced two disasters of different nature (i.e., typhoons and COVID-19 crisis), focusing on the survivors of typhoons Vamco and Goni that hit the Philippines in November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we investigated the psychometric properties of Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF), a well-validated measure of positive mental health dimensions (i.e., emotional, social, and psychological well-being) by: 1) comparing the structural validity of three measurement models including a single-factor, bifactor, and three-factor solutions of positive mental health; 2) looking into the criterion validity through correlating the MHC-SF subscales with relevant measures; and 3) calculating for item reliability. Second, we examined the mediating role of social responsibility in the positive influence of community resilience on the three dimensions of positive mental health. Using 447 participants, with ages ranging from 18 to 70 years old, confirmatory factor analysis showed that compared to the single-factor and the bifactor models, the intercorrelated three-factor model of MHC-SF has the best model fit and most stable factor loadings. MHC-SF subscales correlated with relevant measures indicating criterion validity and yielded excellent internal consistency for all subscales. Additionally, results showed that social responsibility mediated the positive impact of community resilience on emotional, social, and psychological well-being of Filipinos in times of great adversities. The findings were discussed within the context of extreme weather events and the COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines, highlighting implications on disaster preparedness and mental health policies at the community level.

Modelling a community resilience index for urban flood-prone areas of Kerala, India (CRIF)

Communities are ever-evolving, cities are constantly expanding, and the threat of natural hazards has escalated like never before. Cities can develop and prosper only if their society is resilient to external shocks. Measuring community resilience over time is crucial with the influence of technology and change in community lifestyles. With the frequent onset of floods in Kerala in recent years, the community must be well-prepared for future calamities. Thus, this paper develops a community resilience index for Kerala's urban flood-prone areas (CRIF) through a rigorous bottom-up approach. The criteria for the index were developed using multi-criteria decision analysis that covered a fuzzy Delphi study, an empirical study using multi-variate probit regression, and an AHP analysis. The fuzzy Delphi study selected seven criteria: 'social', 'economical', 'governance/political', 'health', 'communication/coordination, 'education', and 'infrastructure' from 65 experts. The empirical study helped apprehend the public's viewpoints under each criterion. Finally, the AHP analysis helped assign appropriate weights to the criteria which 28 experts designated. The index is also designed according to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). Further, the CRIF Index is put into action through a case study of the Kochi Municipal Corporation area, and the results are also validated using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient method. Results from validation returned a value of 0.7209 for the perceived CRIF method and 0.5798 for the external validation method, which corresponds to a 'high' and 'moderate' correlation, respectively.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11069-022-05299-7.

Using ARC-D Toolkit for Measuring Community Resilience to Disasters

Increased levels of resilience will reduce the negative consequences of any disaster and develop the capacities of communities to mitigate future disasters. The main objective of this study was to measure the level of resilience of two different communities in two different study areas and compare the resilience levels in terms of a flood. The study used the Analysis of Resilience of Communities to Disasters (ARC-D) toolkit. The study was conducted in two different areas to compare the level of community resilience. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the study. A structured questionnaire was developed by using the toolkit. Results of the study indicated that communities in study area 1 were more resilient than communities in study area 2. Communities from study area 1 were more aware of their risk(s) and problem(s) and ensured proper strategies and actions to solve problems. On the other hand, communities in study area 2 were less aware of their risk(s). The strategies and actions implemented by the communities of study area 1 focused on the short-term problem(s), which reduced their level of resilience. Measuring resilience is very important in terms of developing disaster risk reduction (DRR) plans and incorporating DRR in the development process in lower-income countries and developing countries. As data scarcity is one of the major issues in developing countries, introducing a community resilience assessment mechanism can be a great help to reduce gaps in the planning and implementation process.

Which urban communities are susceptible to COVID-19? An empirical study through the lens of community resilience

Background

After the lockdown of Wuhan on January 23, 2020, the government used community-based pandemic prevention and control as the core strategy to fight the pandemic, and explored a set of standardized community pandemic prevention measures that were uniformly implemented throughout the city. One month later, the city announced its first lists of “high-risk” communities and COVID-19-free communities. Under the standardized measures of pandemic prevention and mitigation, why some communities showed a high degree of resilience and effectively avoided escalation, while the situation spun out of control in other communities? This study investigated: 1) key factors that affect the effective response of urban communities to the pandemic, and 2) types of COVID-19 susceptible communities.

Methods

This study employs the crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis method to explore the influencing variables and possible causal condition combination paths that affect community resilience during the pandemic outbreak. Relying on extreme-case approach, 26 high-risk communities and 14 COVID-19 free communities were selected as empirical research subjects from the lists announced by Wuhan government. The community resilience assessment framework that evaluates the communities’ capacity on pandemic prevention and mitigation covers four dimensions, namely spatial resilience, capital resilience, social resilience, and governance resilience, each dimension is measured by one to three variables.

Results

The results of measuring the necessity of 7 single-condition variables found that the consistency index of “whether the physical structure of the community is favorable to virus transmission” reached 0.9, which constitutes a necessary condition for COVID-19 susceptible communities. By analyzing the seven condition configurations with high row coverage and unique coverage in the obtained complex solutions and intermediate solutions, we found that outbreaks are most likely to occur in communities populated by disadvantaged populations. However, if lacking spatial-, capital-, and governance resilience, middle-class and even wealthy communities could also become areas where COVID-19 spreads easily.

Conclusions

Three types of communities namely vulnerable communities, alienated communities, and inefficient communities have lower risk resilience. Spatial resilience, rather than social resilience, constitutes the key influencing factor of COVID-19-susceptible communities, and the dual deficiencies of social resilience and governance resilience are the common features of these communities.

The community resilience measurement throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond -an empirical study based on data from Shanghai, Wuhan and Chengdu

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is widespread agreement in the field of public health that community resilience should be maintained and strengthened. However, there are significant differences in the pandemic prevention effects between different communities in different areas. To explore the main influencing factors on community resilience and the magnitude of their impact during the pandemic, this study collected 650 valid questionnaires from Shanghai, Wuhan and Chengdu by using the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit Assessment Survey (CART). Data collection was conducted from February to March 2020 when this three cities activated a Level One public health emergency response. The data were analyzed by using multiple linear regression analysis and structural equation model. Results indicate that: (1) Domains such as Information and Communication, and Connection and Caring scored higher, while Disaster Management, Resources and Transformative Potential scored lower; (2) A community got higher resilience scores if it took more effective measures to prevent and control the pandemic(Shanghai > Chengdu > Wuhan), people within the community participated more actively in disaster risk reduction activities and activities of volunteer responder groups, and people were more closely connected with the community; (3) Variables such as the participation in affiliated volunteer responder groups, and community disaster risk reduction activities exerted the biggest impact on community resilience. Therefore, it is urgent to establish a community-based, resilience-centered framework of community resilience in the post-pandemic era. This framework will strengthen a community's capacity to cope with disasters and risks.

Assessing Community Disaster Resilience in Flood-Prone Areas of Bangladesh: From a Gender Lens

The main purpose of this study was to assess the level of community flood resilience with a special focus on gender. A gender perspective ensures the representation of diversified voices in the study. From concept development to data representation, all the steps were completed ensuring gender-based inclusion. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to conduct the study. A total of 402 responses were analyzed as the sample. A linear structured questionnaire was developed by using a five-point Likert scale to collect quantitative data. As part of the qualitative tool, in-depth observation was used in the study. The study found that female members of the community lag in terms of disaster resilience comparing to their male counterparts. The scores in different components of resilience assessment framework indicate that there are gaps in terms of level of resilience from the gender perspective. The same disaster can create a disproportionate level of impact on women and men due to an unequal level of resilience. The study indicates that assessing community disaster resilience and introducing resilience enhancement interventions should focus on a gender-based approach.

Optimizing Island Refuges against global Catastrophic and Existential Biological Threats: Priorities and Preparations

Human civilization is vulnerable to global catastrophic biological threats and existential threats. Policy to mitigate the impact of major biological threats should consider worst-case scenarios. We aimed to strengthen existing research on island refuges as a mitigating mechanism against such threats by considering five additional factors as well as recent literature on catastrophic risks and resilience. We also analyzed the performance of potential refuge islands during early phases the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a composite indicator (scored from 0-1) based on 14 global macroindices, we present analysis supporting Australia (0.71), New Zealand (0.64), and Iceland (0.58) as the leading candidate island nation refuges to safeguard the survival of humanity and a flourishing technological civilization from the threat of a catastrophic pandemic. Data from the COVID-19 pandemic supports this finding where islands have performed relatively well. We discuss the persisting weaknesses of even the best candidate refuges and the growing literature describing what preparations such a refuge should ensure to enhance resilience. Refuge preparations by Australia and New Zealand, in particular, may additionally provide some immunity against winter-inducing catastrophes such as global nuclear war. Existing disaster resilience frameworks such as the Sendai framework could be worded to mandate preventive measures against global catastrophic and existential threats. The issue of island refuges against certain global catastrophic risks should be raised at relevant international political summits.

Dynamic analysis of emergency inter-organizational communication network under public health emergency: a case study of COVID-19 in Hubei Province of China

Public health emergencies, especially major infectious diseases, may cause global crises. Timely and effective communication is essential for response to such incidents. However, the emergency response to such incidents usually lasts longer and break out repeatedly, and the existing static emergency communication network (ECN) analysis cannot fully reflect the dynamic information interaction between organizations during the emergency process. Therefore, this article takes the recent COVID-19 epidemic in Hubei, China as a case, and uses social network analysis to reveal the dynamic evolution of communication networks, positions, roles, and tasks of organizations from the time dimension. The results show that: (1) the ECN has changed from concentrated to decentralized over time; (2) the positions and roles of participating organizations in the ECN has changed, but there are still a few key organizations that at the central position in all phases of emergency communication; (3) the core tasks have changed due to emergency needs at each stage; (4) under the concentrated management system, the core organization of the ECN mainly comes from government organizations. The research results reveal the dynamic evolution of communication networks between different types of emergency organizations, which is beneficial to guide emergency management of public health emergencies. In actual emergency, the emergency communication mode should be dynamically adjusted based on the characteristics of the emergency situation at different stages, comprehensively using the advantages of the concentrated and decentralized emergency network. In addition, communication between different types of organizations such as governments, research institutions, and enterprises should be strengthened, and channels for diversified organizations to participate in emergency communication should be set up. The research helps to improve communication between emergency response organizations and is of great significance to controlling and reducing the harm caused by public health emergencies.

Concepts and Terms for Addressing Disparities in Public Health Emergencies: Accounting for the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Social Determinants of Health in the United States

Public health emergencies, including the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, highlight disproportionate impacts faced by populations with existing disparities. Concepts and terms used to describe populations disproportionately impacted in emergencies vary over time and across disciplines, but United States (US) federal guidance and law require equal access to our nation's emergency resources. At all levels of emergency planning, public health and their partners must be accountable to populations with existing inequities, which requires a conceptual shift toward using the data-driven social determinants of health (SDOH). SDOH are conditions in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes and risks. This article reviews the historic use of concepts and terms to describe populations disproportionately impacted by emergencies. It also recommends a shift in emergency activities toward interventions that target the SDOH to adequately address long-standing systemic health disparities and socioeconomic inequities in the United States.

Delivering the Promise of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Contexts (FCAC): A Case Study of the NGO GOAL's Response to the Syria Conflict

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) has helped to reduce global disaster risk, but there has been a lack of progress in disaster risk reduction (DRR) for people living in fragile and conflict affected contexts (FCAC). Given the mounting evidence that DRR cannot be implemented through conventional approaches in FCAC, serious efforts must be made to understand how to meet SFDRR's goals. This paper offers a case study of international non-governmental organization GOAL's programming that responds to the protracted crisis in Syria, with critical discussion on SFDRR and how to adapt humanitarian relief and disaster resilience.

Modelling, Measuring, and Visualising Community Resilience: A Systematic Review

The concept of community resilience receives much attention in studies and applications due to its ability to provide preparedness against hazards, to protect our life against risks, and to recover to stable living conditions. Nevertheless, community resilience is complex, contextual, multifaceted, and therefore hard to define, recognise, and operationalise. An essential advantage of having a complete process for community resilience is the capacity to be aware of and respond appropriately in times of adversity. A three-step process constituting of modelling, measurement, and visualisation is crucial to determine components, to assess value, and to represent information of community resilience, respectively. The goal of this review is to offer a general overview of multiple perspectives for modelling, measuring, and visualising community resilience derived from related and emerging studies, projects, and tools. By engaging throughout the entire process, which involves three sequential steps as we mentioned above, communities can discover important components of resilience, optimise available local and natural resources, and mitigate the impact of impairments effectively and efficiently. To this end, we conduct a systematic review of 77 different literature records published from 2000 to 2020, concentrating on five research questions. We believe that researchers, practitioners, and policymakers can utilise this paper as a potential reference and a starting point to surpass current hindrances as well as to sharpen their future research directions.