Disasters
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This paper examines the impact of the presence of international humanitarian organisations on local urban transformation processes in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rather than evaluating the direct effects of humanitarian interventions and strategies, it focuses on the indirect but profound effects of the presence of this 'humanitarian sector'. ⋯ The paper evaluates the direct and indirect impact of the international humanitarian presence on the local urban economy and the larger political economy of war in eastern DRC. It analyses how this presence has reinforced processes of spatial reconfiguration, how it has influenced urban planning, and how it has affected dynamics of gentrification and marginalisation on the urban spatial level.
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This paper examines practices of looting in the Somali war. Rather than being inspired primarily by economic objectives, lootings are complex and ambiguous social activities, which are embedded in daily practices and the political rhetoric of the war. ⋯ Based on an empirical analysis of different waves and phases of looting in the context of war and state decay in Somalia, the paper identifies five types of looting. Beyond a state-centred conceptualisation of order, the study reveals that looting is not an expression of political chaos, but rather is patterned by and rooted in local moral universes, which have been fundamentally transformed during the course of the violent conflicts in the country since the end of the 1970s.
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This paper employs a three-element model to examine how the disaster rescue system of the government of Nantou County in Middle Taiwan functioned following the earthquake of 21 September 1999. The three elements are information gathering, local government mobilisation, and inter-organisational cooperation. The paper finds that the Nantou County government needs to address many problems associated with these three elements. ⋯ Insufficient information caused ineffectiveness in the realms of mobilisation and inter-organisational cooperation. As for mobilisation, while the Nantou County magistrate successfully used specific information to encourage flows of huge resources in the county, he did not successfully mobilise human resources there. With regard to inter-organisational cooperation, myriad voluntary actors and international rescue teams travelled to Nantou County, but the fire and police services experienced cooperation and coordination problems.
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The modern cast of disaster relief actors includes host nations, non-governmental organisations, private volunteer organisations, military organisations and others. Each group, civilian or military, has valuable skills and experiences critical to disaster relief work. The goal of this paper is to supplement the study of civil-military relief efforts with contemporary anecdotal experience. ⋯ The author uses direct observations made while working in Pakistan to contrast the relationships and activities from that effort with other accounts in prevailing scholarly disaster literature and military doctrine. Finally, this paper suggests that the Kashmir model of integration, coordination and transparency of intent creates a framework in which future humanitarian assistance operations could be successfully executed. Recommendations to improve civil-military interaction in future relief efforts will also be addressed.
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In recent times Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, has witnessed numerous terrorist attacks. The city does not have an emergency response system and only one of the three public sector hospitals has a trauma centre. We describe the pattern of injuries and management of two terror-related mass casualty incidents involving suicide bombers in a developing nation with limited resources. ⋯ The second incident was targeted against the local population in May 2004. The blast resulted in 104 casualties, of which 14 (13.46%) died at the site. All patients had their initial assessment and treatment based on Advanced Trauma and Life Support principles and documented on a trauma form.