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Browsing by Author "Chikoto, Grace L."
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Item Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness: Comparisons of Nonprofit, Public, and Private Organizations(2013-04) Chikoto, Grace L.; Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; Fordyce, ErinFew studies have compared the mitigation and preparedness activities adopted by nonprofit, private, and public organizations. This study contributes to this important literature by comparing the adoption of mitigation and preparedness activities by nonprofit, private, and public organizations in Memphis, Tennessee. The findings show that although nonprofit organizations may be more resource-constrained compared with private corporations, they adopt more mitigation and preparedness activities than private corporations. In addition, public organizations adopt more mitigation and preparedness activities than private organizations. The results are inconclusive on the comparison between nonprofits and public agencies.Item Haiti’s Emergency Management: A Case of Regional Support, Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations for the Future(FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security: http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/CompEmMgmtBookProject.asp, 2012) Fordyce, Erin; Sadiq, Abdul-Akeem; Chikoto, Grace L.As one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere (with over 70 percent of the population living on less than $2 a day) (Grunewald et al. 2010), one wonders about the state of the Haitian Emergency Management System prior to the 2010 earthquake. Clearly, Haiti has been an economically-challenged nation for decades and its protracted poverty level further increases its vulnerability to disasters (PAHO 1994) and impacts its ability to respond and recover effectively when disasters occur. In addition, political instabilities have led to poor economic development opportunities and increased risks. In spite of Haiti’s economic and political challenges, it is possible to gain insight into what the country’s emergency management system looked like before the 2010 earthquake. Haiti had a fledgling national emergency management system in place - one that was heavily supported by both regional and international bodies. The earthquake of January 12, 2010, however, underscores the need for a better disaster reduction and response program, one that would address the underlying and protracted vulnerabilities of Haiti, while ushering in new winds of change that would pump fresh blood into the veins of the emergency management system. This chapter reviews the history of Haiti, including its demography and geography, and examines the hazards and factors contributing to the nation’s vulnerability to disasters. Furthermore, this chapter discusses some past disasters, Haiti’s emergency management system as well as the opportunities and the challenges confronting the system. We conclude by offering some recommendations for improving Haiti’s abilities to deal with disasters.Item Zimbabwe’s Emergency Management System: A Promising Development(FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/edu/CompEmMgmtBookProject.asp, 2012) Chikoto, Grace L.; Sadiq, Abdul-AkeemZimbabwe’s encounter with droughts, in particular, combined with economic and political challenges, has denigrated the country’s former status as the “breadbasket of Southern Africa” (Hunter-Gault 2006; Maphosa 1994; Swarns 2002). Zimbabwe is particularly prone to a number of natural and man-made hazards such as droughts, floods, veld fires, storms (PreventionWeb 2012), and HIV/AIDS (United Nations Development Programme 2010) among other epidemics. Between 1980 and 2010, PreventionWeb (2012) documented 35 natural disaster events, which resulted in 6,448 deaths, averaging 208 deaths from disasters annually. Of the 35 natural disasters, 6 were drought occurrences, 7 were floods, 2 were storms, and 20 were epidemic occurrences. Chikoto (2004) 1 also counted the number of public transportation disasters that plagued Zimbabwe between 1982 and 2003, which claimed over 700 lives and injured over 400 people. To mitigate and prepare for these and other hazards facing Zimbabwe, the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) created the Department of Civil Protection and charged it with the onus of coordinating and managing disasters and reducing hazards. This chapter traces the history of Zimbabwe’s emergency management system, with a focus on the factors contributing to the nation’s vulnerability to disasters and hazards. In addition to tracing the impact of past disasters, the chapter also discusses some of the opportunities and challenges confronting the country’s emergency management system. The chapter concludes with recommendations for improving this system.