Disaster Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Policies, Institutions and Processes

Roland Azibo Balgah, Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi, Roland Azibo Balgah, Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781802628180
• eBook ISBN: 9781802628197
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Environment & Energy Policy
• Index: Social Sciences

The global escalation of natural and human-induced disasters, and their future predicted occurrence is extremely worrying, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In addition to summarizing global disaster management frameworks, this book discusses the African Union's strategy for disaster risk reduction (AU-DRR), including country-specific cases, and explores the extent to which national policies resonate with AU-DRR.

By combining reviews with empirical evidence, the chapters provide an in-depth analysis of disaster policy processes, institutions and arrangements in SSA, situating the sub-continent within overarching global and African instruments such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the African Union's Disaster Risk Reduction strategy. The book further provides novel insights which can enhance understanding of disaster risk reduction in Africa from a policy perspective.

A combined analysis of all the chapters provides an interesting summary and information for creating disaster management policies for improved results in SSA. With an extensive glossary of terms and index, the book lends itself to specialized academics and students, but also to disaster management policy makers and practitioners and the occasional user.

Part I

A Review of Disaster Management Concepts and Policy Processes

Chapter 1

Disaster Risk Reduction and Management: A Conceptual Overview

Harrison Esam Awuh, Bishawjit Mallick and Harry Wirngo Mairomi

Abstract

Though some disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) abstractions and core concepts may appear transparently obvious to some readers, others might not easily grasp the complexities embedded in them. This chapter focusses on the main arguments connected to DRRM. It unravels some of the complexities that abound in the framing of key disaster risk reduction concepts in literature. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part focusses on understanding the dynamics of disasters. This part revisits definitions of disasters in literature, how they have been conceptualised in academia and what makes them different from other related concepts such as hazards, crisis, vulnerabilities and emergencies. Furthermore, considering that some impacts of disasters are more obvious than others, it examines some of the less conspicuous relationships between disasters and other phenomena. The second part examines the concept of DRRM in existing literature, highlighting the importance of resilience in DRRM and revisiting key methodological approaches in building resilience among communities. The third part places the concept of DRRM within the African context. It demonstrates the delicate aspects embedded in successful DRRM in Africa amid institutional development and policy issues. This part concludes with the identification of key knowledge gaps in DRRM in Africa. These knowledge gaps identified in the wider literature are used to justify why the chapters in this book and the context covered (sub-Saharan Africa) are of utmost importance in DRRM.

Keywords: Disaster risk reduction; disaster management; concepts; methodological approaches; sub-Saharan Africa; resilience

Introduction

The contemporary relevance of disaster and related concepts cannot be overemphasised. The term disaster is a contested term with no universal definition, as it varies depending on the professional requirements and perceptions of various disciplines (Shaluf, Ahmadun, & Said, 2003). A disaster is best defined as a sudden unforeseen event with natural, technological or social causes that lead to destruction, loss and damage (UNISDR, 2009). Further definitions of a disaster refer to an event, observable in time and space, in which societies or their larger subunits (e.g., communities, regions) incur physical damages and losses and/or disruption of their routine functioning (Peek, Abramson, Cox, Fothergill, & Tobin, 2018). A disaster is also defined as an event that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life or deterioration of health and health services that warrant a response from outside the affected community (Lurie & Carr, 2018), due to their ability to overwhelm local capacities (Morganstein & Ursano, 2020; Ocal, 2019). An analysis of definitions of disasters by Al-Dahash, Thayaparan, and Kulatunga (2016) reveals that the key features of any disaster are sudden nature, being unforeseen, causing loss and damage, coping capacity, system recovery, external assistance and needing the involvement of multi-stakeholders. These are points of convergence for a unified definition of disasters. Nevertheless, the diversity in the aforementioned definitions suggests that until now, a unified definition of disaster does not exist. However, most definitions agree that disasters can be man-made or of natural occurrences, affect communities, environments and or social and economic states, cause damage or loss and require interventions.

Relationship Between Disaster and Other Related Concepts

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR, 2009) confirms that disasters occur as a result of a combination of hazards and vulnerabilities which go neglected. The definition of disaster by Biswas and Choudhuri (2012) highlights this chain of events; they define a disaster as a dynamic mechanism that begins with the activation of a hazard and flows through the system as a series of events, in a logical sequence to produce a loss to life, property and livelihood by negatively influencing the emergency systems. This definition indicates an overlap between disaster and other closely interconnected and interdependent terms such as crises, hazards and emergencies. With the exception of emergencies, the other concepts (hazards and crises) are linked to a common characteristic – suddenness of the occurrence of an event which leads to damages in life and property.

Hazard

A hazard is defined as a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation (UNISDR, 2017). Relatedly, another definition of disasters highlights the link between hazards and disasters. This is the case with the definition of disasters by UNISDR (2018) as a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts. This definition highlights that hazards can turn into disasters because of human acts of omission and commission rather than an act of nature, and disasters are caused more by socio-economic than natural factors. The link to hazards also highlights a contemporary argument that there is nothing like a natural disaster. In other words, while hazards can be natural (there are both natural and human-induced hazards), disasters may not. Hazards transform into disasters if they eventually end up harming humans or cause distractions. All disasters are hazards, but all hazards are not disasters (Babu, 2020). Fig. 1.1 shows an example of a hazard which can turn into a disaster if unattended to. This figure shows a choked stream with sewage in Yaounde (Cameroon) which can lead to flooding disaster if poor waste disposal goes on unchecked.

According to Shi (2019), examining hazards from their causes puts them into two distinct types: (1) hazards caused by natural factors and (2) hazards caused by human factors. In this sense, disasters are a fulfilment of hazards. For a disaster to occur, there must be a disruption in the natural functioning of environment and/or unexpected changes in community operations and lifestyle (Heginbotham, 2018). Disasters are known to have significant effects. Affected communities with limited resources often require outside assistance to manage disaster effects. Such communities can experience major demographic, economic or environmental losses.

Fig. 1.1. A Choked Stream in Yaounde (Cameroon) as an Example of an Urban Hazard.
Photo taken by first author in the Efoulan neighbourhood in Yaounde (August 2014).

Crisis

A crisis is defined as a time of intense difficulty, trouble or danger. It can be personal or confined to a small population, like a family or a company dealing with a very serious problem (Lighthouse Readiness Group, 2015). Crises often have past origins, and diagnosing their original sources can help to understand and manage them or lead to an alternative state or condition (Farazmand, 2001). Additionally, crises are generally associated with a system, organisation and group of people or individual. The key features of a crisis are uniqueness, danger, being troublesome or causing damage, being unexpected and usually emotional (Al-Dahash et al., 2016; Farazmand, 2001). Several common features have been identified between disaster and crisis, which makes the two concepts interchangeably usable to a certain extent. Some of these include aspects such as being unique, uncontrollable, triggering rapid public policy changes, presenting something extraordinary, being a high risk to business and disrupting a system as a whole (Al-Dahash et al., 2016).

Emergency

An emergency is defined as any ‘natural or man-made situation that may result in substantial harm to a population or damage to property’ (Shen & Shaw, 2004, p. 110). The word ‘may’ in the aforementioned definition highlights the point that emergencies do not always lead to disasters. They can be both imminent and actual threats to people, property or the environment, which require a coordinated and rapid response. Emergency differs from crisis and disaster because it can possibly be managed with local capacities if not left unchecked. According to Eshghi and Larson (2008, p. 63), an emergency is, ‘an event that may be managed locally without the need for added response measures or changes to procedure’. These definitional nuances are best clarified empirically, by differentiating emergency events that can be handled locally from those that cannot. One thing which the definitions acknowledge is that local capabilities for handing emergencies can vary depending on the contexts. For this discussion, it is clear that an emergency could lead to a disaster if left unchecked, but not all disasters are preceded by an emergency. There is also a difference in timelines of disasters and emergencies which differentiates the two terms. A disaster has certainly already happened, while an emergency can still be pending.

Vulnerability

The UNISDR defines vulnerability as the conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards (Kelman, 2018). Different regions categorise different events as potential disasters based on their level of vulnerability and the priority, often dictated by the available resources (Roth, 2011). Vulnerability can arise from different physical, environmental, social and economic factors. Examples include poorly constructed infrastructure and lack of public information and awareness on a given subject (UNISDR, 2009). Definitions of vulnerability range from one scholar to the other as well as within different disciplines. McEntire, Gilmore Crocker, and Peters (2010) define vulnerability as a socially constructed phenom...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Part I. A Review of Disaster Management Concepts and Policy Processes
• Part II. Disaster Management Institutions, Policy and Processes: Empirical Evidence
• Conclusion
• Glossary of Disaster Risk Management – Related Terms
• Index