Earticle

The purpose of this study is to develop a model for evaluating urban safety using the concept of sustainable urban metabolism. In this study, the framework of sustainable metabolism to assess urban safety consists of five principles and urban safety assessment processes that should be sought in its development; 1) Development of safety assessment framework based on urban metabolism applying the components of sustainable development; 2) Development of urban safety assessment framework based on urban metabolism capable of grasping the relationships between economic, social, and environmental elements; 3) Development of the framework capable of understanding all the network relationships between the components; 4) Development of the framework considering the outside elements influencing sustainable development; and 5) Development of the framework using urban safety assessment as the final result. Based on these principles, the structures of sustainable urban metabolism and urban safety framework were established, and then three processes were set to assess urban safety. In addition, based on the DPSR structure, we developed a basic model of urban safety evaluation for structural equations and System Dynamics.

This study assessed urban flood risk using a Bayesian probability statistical method and GIS incorporating a climate change scenario. Risk is assessed based on a combination of hazard probability and its consequences, the degree of impact. Flood probability was calculated on the basis of a Bayesian model and future flood occurrence likelihoods were estimated using climate change scenario data. The flood impacts include human and property damage. Focusing on Seocho-gu, Seoul, the findings are as follows. Current flood probability is high in areas near rivers, as well as low lying and impervious areas, such as Seocho-dong and Banpo-dong. Flood risk areas are predicted to increase by a multiple of 1.3 from 2030 to 2050. Risk assessment results generally show that human risk is relatively high in high-rise residential zones, whereas property risk is high in commercial zones. The magnitude of property damage risk for 2050 increased by 6.6% compared to 2030. The proposed flood risk assessment method provides detailed spatial results that will contribute to decision making for disaster mitigation.

This research analyzes that bond investors of the company recognize tax avoidance correctly according to profit forecast accuracy by financial analysts to solve information asymmetry by providing useful information between companies and investors. In particular, regarding tax avoidance by profit forecast accuracy by financial analysts who solve information asymmetry by providing useful information between companies and investors due to the differentiation between this study and precedent study, whether creditors recognize it correctly and it is reflected well in load decision making was analyzed. As profit forecast accuracy by financial analysts gets higher and reliability for the accounting information of relevant companies gets increased, rate of return for investors gets lower and lower to cause low cost of borrowing capital. As profit forecast accuracy by financial analysts gets lower, reliability gets lower on accounting information of relevant companies to increase rate of return for investors and cause high cost of capital. Correct accounting information for financial analysts is being applied and used as a critical factor for investment decision making, which is resulted.

A huge country with more than a one billion population, India is vulnerable to weather and climate-related disasters. Disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclones, landslides etc are frequent occurrences. Nearly 10% of the area is prone to floods and nearly 70% is susceptible to droughts. Most of these events occur during the summer monsoon period June through September. India receives nearly 75% of its annual rainfall during this period. With a huge population exceeding one billion, millions of people are affected by these calamities. India accounts for nearly 25% of deaths which occur over Asia due to this climate related disasters. This presentation at the 11th ICCEM International Conference on Crises and Emergency Management to be held during 15-17 December 2017 will cover in brief the initiatives taken in India to manage these disasters at various levels: local, district, regional and country level.

Saga Plain faces the Ariake Sea whose tidal range is largest in Japan. It is significantly difficult to manage storm surge and flood damage in this area because of the unique terrain condition. Under the increase of natural hazard intensity due to climate change, etc., a traditional flood management system applied to this area is useful for the future increasing natural hazard and risk mitigation. In this study, the characteristics of water-related disasters in Saga Plain are reviewed and the usefulness of the traditional flood management technology is clarified by focusing on the historic remains of the watershed's flood management.

Natural and technical disasters are abrupt and have a huge impact on relatively broad regions, yet little research has examined how local organizations overcome institutional collective action dilemmas in collaborative emergency management. Since simply participating in collective agreements and adopting coordination plans are inadequate for achieving effective collaboration in emergency situations, this research aims to test whether organizations’ decisions to engage in joint emergency programs are sufficient for building resilient emergency response networks. By utilizing a Heckman selection model with data derived from the 2012 and 2013 emergency management surveys in South Korea, factors that facilitate affiliation networks among the public organizations and enhance community resilience are identified. The results demonstrate how strong engagements though participation in joint exercises significantly influences disaster than formal planning and network affiliations. Thus network interactions forged by such full-scale exercises reduce transaction costs of collaboration and improve community resilience.

Disasters bring damage to physical, socio-economical and environmental sectors. Timely recovery from such disasters requires proper crisis management strategies and implementation; otherwise recovery from disasters can be painfully long. Nepal faced major earthquakes on April 25th and May 12th, 2015. About 9,000 people died, more than 20,000 people got injured, and about 800,000 houses were damaged. Thus, this paper's aim is to describe the recovery and reconstruction status in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake with a focus on challenges towards crisis management. Data from the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) and Central Bureau of Statics (CBS) were analyzed. In Nepal, out of the approximate 800,000 (private and government) damaged houses, NRA reports completion of only 55,623 houses and 137,925 houses are still under construction. Similarly, many other losses are still unrecovered. Challenges in crisis management are mainly due to lack of good governance, effective communication, speed of response, adequate human resources and funding, effective plans with fully functional acts, policies and framework. Additionally, Nepal faces the following challenges in crisis management: distribution of grants, utilization of grants, grant recipient to be head of household (since majority of male migrants are head of household and who are away for job), lack of human resources, expenses of house construction materials, lack of local materials and geographical structure. For an effective crisis management, Nepal has to develop and implement strong plan at all stages of disasters - rescue, rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery. The plan has to especially train people from local to national level as a regular program in the development sector. This paper has included NRA's new policy initiative, and the partners are local government, like minded ministries and banks.