Disasters have adversely affected humans since the dawn of their existence. If we look on the past as a model for what we might expect to see in the future, we find that severe events that wreaked havoc on human communities and inflicted high levels of mortality were surprisingly frequent and widespread. Disasters can be caused either by nature, e.g. earthquakes and tsunamis, or can be man-made, e.g. terror attacks and severe industrial accidents. The number of disasters increased threefold within the 1980’s in comparison with the 1960’s, the economic loss increased by a factor of almost nine during the same period, while the number of affected people rose from 147 million a year in the 1980’s to 211 million a year in the 1990’s. This rise in numbers and suffering may have been a contributing factor, why the United Nations designated the 1990’s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. Toft and Reynolds reflect on the damages of re-occurring disasters by stating “We owe it [learning] to those who have lost their lives, been injured, or suffered loss to draw out the maximum amount of information from those lessons and to apply it to reduce future suffering.”
Introduction
Man has three ways of learning: Firstly, by meditation; this is the noblest. Secondly, by imitation; this is the easiest. Thirdly, by experience this is the bitterest. (Confucius)
Disasters have adversely affected humans since the dawn of their existence (Coppola, 2011: 1). If we look on the past as a model for what we might expect to see in the future, we find that severe events that wreaked havoc on human communities and inflicted high levels of mortality were surprisingly frequent and widespread (Torrence and Grattan, 2002: 1). Disasters can be caused either by nature, e.g. earthquakes and tsunamis, or can be man-made, e.g. terror attacks and severe industrial accidents. The number of disasters increased threefold within the 1980’s in comparison with the 1960’s (United Nations Environment Programme, 2002: 271), the economic loss increased by a factor of almost nine during the same period (Munich Re, 1999: 40), while the number of affected people rose from 147 million a year in the 1980’s to 211 million a year in the 1990’s (United Nations Environment Programme, 2002: xxv). This rise in numbers and suffering may have been a contributing factor, why the United Nations designated the 1990’s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. Toft and Reynolds (1994: xii) reflect on the damages of re-occurring disasters by stating “We owe it [learning] to those who have lost their lives, been injured, or suffered loss to draw out the maximum amount of information from those lessons and to apply it to reduce future suffering.”
Recognizing the general nature of the question and complexity of disasters, the essay answers the question by focusing on a specific disaster type, i.e. tsunamis in Japan, which repeatedly caused widespread death and destruction.
Therefore, the paper is divided into four parts. Following introduction, the second part introduces key terminology, i.e. disaster, active learning and disaster management cycle. The third part reflects on two tsunami events in Japan and adjacent active learning opportunities. The paper concludes by summarizing the findings and answering the question.
Theoretical Perspectives
Definition of a Disaster
There is no commonly agreed definition of the term disaster. Historically, the term disaster derives from the Latin roots dis- and astro, meaning “away from the stars” or, in other words, an event to be blamed on an unfortunate astrological configuration (Coppola, 2011: 29). A general definition of disaster is provided by Barrow (1999: 113), who states that a disaster is the realization of a hazard. Definitions of disaster of different organizations depend on their focus. The definition promoted by the World Health Organization mostly focuses on the impact on health (WHO, 1995), whereas the definition of the International Criminal Police Organization focuses on the number of casualties (INTERPOL, 2009). A more general definition, focusing on society, is provided in the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR, 2009: 9) and defines disasters as: “A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources.” Considering the major role the United Nations play in disaster risk reduction and response, this essay adopts their definition.
Definition of Active Learning
Learning is generally defined as the transfer of knowledge (O’Neil et al., 2009: 28). Active learning complements the learning process by actively engaging learners with the subject (Bonwell and Eison, 1991: 2). In terms of disaster management Toft and Reynolds (1994: 89) consider active learning as a process during which remedial actions are taken to rectify deficiencies and as a consequence, active foresight is generated. Toft and Reynold's definition is adopted in the course of the essay due to its focus on disaster management and active learning. Additionally, in order to consider active learning during the disaster management process, the disaster management cycle is examined.
Definition of Disaster Management Cycle
Disaster management can be summarized as actions taken pre and post disasters to safeguard lives and properties (Niekerk, 2007: 233). The process of disaster management is often described as a cycle and generally includes four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery (O’Brien et al., 2010; Copolla, 2011: 9-10). Mitigation and preparedness are phases usually timely located prior to the occurrence of disasters and ideally prepare the ground before disaster strikes. Response and recovery phases are in turn normally placed during and after a disaster event. However, there are no clear-cut time boundaries. Disaster management may begin at any phase in the cycle and tends to exist in a continuum during which each phase leads into the next (Coppola, 2011: 10). There are various different interpretations of the disaster management cycle, which were tailored to different organizational contexts and needs (Carter, 2008: 59). The conventional disaster management cycle is utilized in this paper as it broadly encompasses all forms of disasters.
illustration not visible in this excerpt
The disaster management cycle. (Source: Coppola, 2011: 10)
The importance of the disaster management cycle concept is in its ability to promote the holistic approach to disaster management (Amaratunga and Haigh, 2011: 211). It visually demonstrates that an ad hoc relief approach is insufficient and must be complemented by activities prior, during and in the aftermath of disasters, these being mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. All four phases of the disaster management cycle are briefly introduced below. Those are followed by analysis of opportunities for active learning in each phase.
Mitigation
Disaster mitigation is defined by Coppola (2011: 209) as: “any sustained effort undertaken to reduce a hazard risk through the reduction of the likelihood and/or the consequence component of that hazard’s risk”.
Generally applicable measures for disaster mitigation include (Coppola, 2011: 212-240): (1) national and local regulations, (2) adjustment of infrastructure to anticipated events, and (3) training of the general population, local and national institutions.
Opportunities for active learning during the mitigation phase
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the leading agency for disaster response in the US, promotes disaster mitigation measures as the cornerstone of disaster management by justifying that each dollar spent on mitigation measures returns on average four dollars back to society (FEMA, 2005: i). Several authors agree with the technical side of mitigation measures. However, they recommend that efforts need to be combined with sociocultural aspects to be effective (Coppola, 2011: 212; Shaw et al., 2009: 552). Two examples of technical mitigation efforts that considered sociocultural aspects are:
(1) Projects that are held in male dominated societies and promote HIV prevention in education programs through teaching gender equality. It was found that this can significantly contribute to reduce the vulnerability of pupils, especially girls, to HIV infection (The World Bank, 2002: 7).
[...]
- Arbeit zitieren
- Anonym,, 2013, Oportunities for active learning by disasters, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/271675
-
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen.