IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/nathaz/v121y2025i3d10.1007_s11069-024-06707-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying and classifying broader scale of disaster impacts to better inform disaster management policies and practice

Author

Listed:
  • Kishani Priyangi Tennakoon

    (The University of Waikato)

  • Silvia Serrao-Neumann

    (The University of Waikato)

  • Raven Cretney

    (The University of Waikato)

Abstract

Disasters are often assessed by factors such as their magnitude, severity and impact on affected communities. Typically, disaster management policies are largely informed by learnings from large-scale disasters. Many studies, however, have shown that cumulative smaller scale disaster impacts have similar outcomes comparable to larger scale disasters. This indirectly contributes to a lack of consistency in and paucity of data related to both smaller-scale disasters and their associated cumulative impacts. This paper argues that greater attention needs to be paid to collecting disaster impact data on a range of disaster-scale events along with their cumulative impacts to better inform disaster management policies and practice. The paper aims to test the hypothesis that a better understanding of a wide range of disaster scale types and their impacts on communities, including small-scale disasters, enables the development of more just, consistent and equitable disaster management policies and practice. Analysing economic costs, evacuation and rainfall data from past flood events that affected Aotearoa-New Zealand over the last three decades, the paper found discrepancies and lack of coherence in disaster data collection and reporting, along with a predominant reliance on rainfall intensity data for disaster risk reduction and planning. The findings also confirmed the importance of identifying economic damages for a range of disaster scales, including those from small-scale disasters. This highlights the need for developing a spectrum to better classify and identify disaster impacts based on various spatial and temporal contexts. The paper concludes by affirming that such database would provide much needed evidence for developing a methodology that enables the identification of the level of disaster impacts; thereby guiding the implementation of more just, consistent and equitable disaster management policies and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Kishani Priyangi Tennakoon & Silvia Serrao-Neumann & Raven Cretney, 2025. "Identifying and classifying broader scale of disaster impacts to better inform disaster management policies and practice," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 121(3), pages 3559-3579, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:121:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s11069-024-06707-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-024-06707-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-024-06707-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11069-024-06707-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Russell Blong, 2003. "A Review of Damage Intensity Scales," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 29(1), pages 57-76, May.
    2. Baker, Daniel & Refsgaard, Karen, 2007. "Institutional development and scale matching in disaster response management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 331-343, August.
    3. Martin Voss & Klaus Wagner, 2010. "Learning from (small) disasters," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 55(3), pages 657-669, December.
    4. Kylie Mason & Kirstin Lindberg & Carolin Haenfling & Allan Schori & Helene Marsters & Deborah Read & Barry Borman, 2021. "Social Vulnerability Indicators for Flooding in Aotearoa New Zealand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-31, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Duxbury, Jane & Dickinson, Sarah, 2007. "Principles for sustainable governance of the coastal zone: In the context of coastal disasters," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 319-330, August.
    2. Perez-Maqueo, O. & Intralawan, A. & Martinez, M.L., 2007. "Coastal disasters from the perspective of ecological economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 273-284, August.
    3. Zachary T. Goodman & Caitlin A. Stamatis & Justin Stoler & Christopher T. Emrich & Maria M. Llabre, 2021. "Methodological challenges to confirmatory latent variable models of social vulnerability," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 106(3), pages 2731-2749, April.
    4. Adam Choryński & Iwona Pińskwar & Dariusz Graczyk & Michał Krzyżaniak, 2022. "The Emergence of Different Local Resilience Arrangements Regarding Extreme Weather Events in Small Municipalities—A Case Study from the Wielkopolska Region, Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-25, February.
    5. Thuy Linh Nguyen & Chisato Asahi & Thi An Tran & Ngoc Hanh Le, 2022. "Indicator-based approach for flood vulnerability assessment in ancient heritage city of Hoi An, Central Region of Vietnam," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 114(2), pages 2357-2385, November.
    6. Russell Blong, 2003. "A New Damage Index," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 30(1), pages 1-23, September.
    7. Dhaoui, Iyad, 2014. "Analyse des enjeux et de la vulnérabilité au risque d’inondation d’oued Medjerda [Analysis of vulnerability to risk of Medjerda Oued]," MPRA Paper 87649, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Olga Petrucci & Paola Salvati & Luigi Aceto & Cinzia Bianchi & Angela Aurora Pasqua & Mauro Rossi & Fausto Guzzetti, 2017. "The Vulnerability of People to Damaging Hydrogeological Events in the Calabria Region (Southern Italy)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-28, December.
    9. Yunji Kim & Yeong Ah Jeong, 2023. "The role of local governments in South Korea's COVID‐19 response," Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(2), pages 120-128, May.
    10. Ian Vázquez-Rowe & Claudia Cucchi & Luis Moya & Eduardo Parodi & Ramzy Kahhat, 2024. "Applying the multi-dimensional damage assessment (MDDA) methodology to the Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption in La Palma (Spain)," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 120(15), pages 14593-14624, December.
    11. C. Emdad Haque & Mahed-Ul-Islam Choudhury & Md. Sowayib Sikder, 2019. "“Events and failures are our only means for making policy changes”: learning in disaster and emergency management policies in Manitoba, Canada," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 98(1), pages 137-162, August.
    12. Irem Sevindik & Mehmet Serkan Tosun & Serdar Yilmaz, 2021. "Local Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, May.
    13. Vyacheslav Zobin & J. Ventura-Ramírez & Clarita Gutiérrez-Andrade & Lidia Cruz & Sara Santibáñez-Ibáñez, 2006. "The Mw 7.4 Colima, Mexico, Earthquake of 21 January 2003: The Observed Damage Matrix in Colima City and its Comparison with the Damage Probability Matrix," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 38(3), pages 391-410, July.
    14. Hao Wu & Zhiping Cheng & Wenzhong Shi & Zelang Miao & Chenchen Xu, 2014. "An object-based image analysis for building seismic vulnerability assessment using high-resolution remote sensing imagery," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 71(1), pages 151-174, March.
    15. Martinez, M.L. & Intralawan, A. & Vazquez, G. & Perez-Maqueo, O. & Sutton, P. & Landgrave, R., 2007. "The coasts of our world: Ecological, economic and social importance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 254-272, August.
    16. Daniel Lorenz, 2013. "The diversity of resilience: contributions from a social science perspective," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 67(1), pages 7-24, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:121:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s11069-024-06707-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.