Community resilience and emergency preparedness in Oman

Supervisor Draft

TERMS AND DEFINTION

Disasters

Emergency management / disaster management

Emergency Preparedness

Resilience

Community resilience

Vulnerability

EFFECTIVE EMERGENCY MManagement

CHALLENGES IN EFFECTIVE EMERGENCY READINESS

Business CONTINUITY AND EMERGENCY Management

THE ROLE OF EMERGENCY IN OMAN

RESILIENSE AND THE EDUCATION INDUSTRY

ADD THE OTHER ELEMENTS WHICH FITS IN THE STUDY FROM THE LIST I SENT (LAST ONE)

THERE WILL BE NEED FOR PARAPHRASE LATER

TOTAL WORDS ( 5000 ) WORDS

THERE IS A NOTE FOR FRAMWORK

MAKE THE LIST OF REFERENCES

This chapter is comprisesd of the literature review regarding community resilience and emergency preparedness in the context of emergency/disaster management. Additionally It will additionally discuss the general terms and definitinons that includes all aspects related to emergency management and preparedness specifying the terms is coveredutilised within this study. Furthermore, the definitions will further include all the measures taken when approaching the onset of the devastating events, including preparatory and long-term measures, to reduce the devastating impacts. It also includes the planning and implementation of measures to reduce losses from the anticipatedexpected natural and industrial disasters. Finally it discusses the concept of emergency management in Oman, and overlook examinesinto the measures taken as a result of recent natural disasters that devestated the country and awakend policymakers to the importance of integrating emergency management into community development. In- conclusion, it will heighlight the higher education sector community and resiliensce. Comment by lsx934: Here do you mean it will highlight the resilience of the higher education sector and the community or just the Higher education sector?

2.2 TERMS AND DEFINITION

In order for the success of community resilience and their emergency prepardeness, it is important that realevant terminology is clearly understood by all and that applied all consistently in both theory and practice. According to Quarantelli (1995:224) "a:A main reason why we need clarification is becauase otherwise scholars who think they are communicating with one other are really talking of somewhat different phenonmena." Comment by lsx934: A direct quote will need " around it

2.2.1 Disasters

The Center of Research and Epidemiology of Disasters (2006 ), is defininges disaster as, it is an unforeseen event, which causes huge destruction, damage and human suffering. It overwhelms local capability and capacity, and necessitating an international and national level assistance (CRED, 2010). Disasters are divided into three categories., sSuch as manmade disasters, technological disasters and natural disasters (CERD, 2010).Across the world people face different and a wide variety of disasters, which are arising due to health issues, policy and weather related shocks (Fafchamps, 2001; Dercon,2005). Almost each year, a natural or men human made disaster affects human beings across the world. Earthquakes, Tornadostornados, heavy rains, and hHurricanes resulted in millions of population's deaths and many more people become disabled for their whole life (Glaser et.al, 2007 pp. 93). These types of disasters not only affect an individual's physiology as well as but theythese disasters have an eaffect on the psychology of an individual. Millions of people become homeless due to these disasters, tand thushey also become economically impacted due to these natural disaster. These disasters would not be so distracteddeveasting if these disastersthey were not affecting at-risk populations. International disaster Databases provide appropriate data about the aftermathevidences of these disasters, and showed show an apparent increase apparent ofin the frequency of natural disasters (Kimberely, 2000).Table 1 shows some of the notable disasters throughout history. Comment by lsx934: Need to clarify this sentence and reword it if you want to keep it in, I don't really know what it is trying to say?

Event

Year

Mediterranean earthquake (Egypt and Syria)

1,100,000

Shaanzi earthquake (China)

830,000

Calcutta typhoon (India)

300,000

Caribbean hurricane (Martinique, St. Eustatius, Barbados)

22,000

Tamboro volcano (Indonesia)

80,000

Influenza epidemic (world)

1917

20,000,000

Yangtze River flood (China)

1931

3,000,000

Famine (Russia)

1932

5,000,000

Bangladesh cyclone (Bangladesh)

1970

300,000

Tangshan earthquake (China)

1976

655,000

Tsunami (Asia)

2004

300,000

Cyclone Nargis in (Burma)

2008

146,000

Sichuan Earthquake

2008

87,150

Source: St. Louis University, 1997; NBC News, 2004.

There is Ananother significant type of disaster also existsing across the world and this disaster is known as manmade human made disaster. Although it is somay seem surprising that, how a human being can create a disaster for other human beings, this is indeed a reality and researches can shows evidences this of these disasters (Graham et.al, 2007 pp. 821). A manmade disaster could arise due to transportations collisions and accidents, chemicals spills and due to some other conditions. Both tThese manmade disasters or and other natural disasters, both type of disasters are so extremely hazardous not only for human life, but as well as for all biological systems (Hoda et.al, 2012 pp. 609). The Oother examples of manmade disasters are financial criseis, civil conflicts, wars, credit crunch which have been reported continuously. History also gives evidence of manmade disasters, such as world war one and world war twoTwo. Related to disasters involving economic crisis disasters, the frequency of this type of disaster showed an increase, and it peakspeaking in the period betweenaround 1980-2000 (Yasuyuki, 2011). Comment by lsx934: Manmade, hmm I prefer human made but granted it is a little clumsy. However it is the feminist in me! Equality, even in the cause of disasters

2. 2. 2 Emergency management / disaster management

The private sector has been instrumental in developing emergency management plans to mitigate potential risks from many sources. Enterprise Risk management is a process vital to enterprise governance, which has gained tremendous momentum in modern business due to the dynamic nature of threats, vulnerability and stringent regulatory requirements; as a consequence organisations have realised that, risk creates opportunity, which in turn creates value in addition to the mitigation of risk (Shivashankarappa, Ramalingam, Smalov, and Anbazhanga,2011) . Identifying and mitigating risk proactively across the enterprise is the purview of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). However, this field is still developing and key errors in the ERM process such as is the interpretation of statistical data, overlooking? change management, inadequate attention to supply chain interdependencies, excessive trust of insiders and business partners, ambiguous grouping of risks and poor documentation has contributed significantly to the failure of ERM (Shivashankarappa, Ramalingam, Smalov, and Anbazhanga,2011). Comment by lsx934: Why begin this with ERM? If it entitled EM/DM you should start there Comment by lsx934: If this is taken directly from a source it needs to have a page number and " around it

Oman has the need to incorporate ERM planning at many levels. Individual organizations have the need for to address various risk management practices to ensure their organizations are sustainable. Beyond systemic risks, risks to individual organizations include items elements such as business risks, technical risks and regulatory risks. Organizations can use ERM approaches to perform due diligence, probabilistic risk analysis, scenario-based analysis and system analysis which offer a wide range decision support tools to the management to mitigate and even profit from external threats that possible. Despite the ERM approach being directed at specific organizations, many of the technics principles apply to communities and disaster preparedness in general.

There are three main types of disasters (Quaranteli, 2012). The first is man-made and can be considered an act of aggression. This has a multitude of different manifestations through crime, acts of war, or even terrorism. Although the Government is ultimately responsible for such defenses the responses can include many sectors in society. For example, the military is tasked with defending the country; however terrorism acts could know out?

critical infrastructure in the oil and gas industry for example and would require a comprehensive response. Comment by lsx934: Yes so this is more general and thus needs to start the whole section, to give a context

Other risks can manifest as social vulnerabilities in which communities can no longer support the needs of their members. The occurrence of such a risk can be illustrated by the incidence of natural disasters. These disasters can disrupt the flow of goods, or damage needed infrastructure to support the needs of the local population. This also requires a coordinated effort to meet the needs of the people after a critical incident. There are many institutions that must coordinate their activities to return critical services to the population.

The third paradigm involves a "catch-all" concept that deals with the general uncertainty about the future. This factor deals with the unknown and developing response systems that are comprehensive enough to account for all possible disasters that could be conceived. All three theoretical approaches relate to disasters in different ways, however they also have a considerable amount of overlap. For example, during a natural disaster, the social vulnerabilities of a community can be exposed by lacking the lack of resources needed for sustenance which can result in conflict. Comment by lsx934: The lack of?

Uncertainty is important as a factor because it can also be a source of community conflict. Generally different members of the community or different groups will have different ideas about how to handle periods of uncertainty. Leadership in the area of disaster preparedness can be one avenue to overcome such conflicts. In regards to social vulnerabilities, many communities are inherently unprepared to for most of the potential threats that loom. As a result, without a plan in place, it can lead to a state of desperation in the event of a crisis. However, when the community is prepared then it can mount a unified response that can effectively and efficiently mitigate the effects of the disaster.

2.2.3 Emergency Preparedness

Emergency Management consists of a number of stages; mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. These phases are cyclical in nature because the practice of emergency management is cyclical as well. An emergency management professional is perpetually engaged in one of the four phases. Even if there is a crisis and it is successfully mitigated, then there could be another incident just around the corner. There are risks everywhere -- both natural and manmade. Therefore the process of emergency management is perpetual preparedness- is a process that is never completed. Comment by lsx934: So- preparedness or management?

Figure 1 - Emergency Management Phases (Upper Valley, N.d.)

Consequence management focuses on the consequence that will occur given any significant emergency. Considering the consequences of various risks is another method of disaster preparedness. Thus identifying the consequences of outcomes first, this can assist an emergency management professional to be better prepared for emergency preparedness in all four phases of the cycle -- preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Only after the consequence of a risk is successfully outlined can it effectively be prepared for. Consequence management is closely related to risk management, however both perspectives need to be integrated to create a more holistic and comprehensive disaster preparedness plan that can create resilient organizations and communities.

Many Mmoodern risks have a many consequences associated with them that require many institutions to respond. These threats include such items as cyber-crime, identity theft, changing immigration laws, new forms of drugs and drug abuse, corruption, environmental degradation as well as a plethora of other modern issues. However, among the most salient of the issues is definitely the threat of terrorist activities. Many salient terrorist activities occur in the regional area and could significantly impact the Omani people either directly or indirectly. Fig 2 below shows some terrorist activities that have occurred in other countries including some that are in the proximal region..

Figure 2 - Terrorist Incidents (RAND, 2011)

2.2.4 Resilience

A disaster management plan begins with the goal of mitigating the emergency as much as possible despite the type of disaster present (Warfield, 2002). Risk identification is determined by the possibility that the emergency will occur and the probability of the occurrence, as well as the potential impacts that such a scenario may create (USBR, N.d.). The ability of a community to mitigate the manifestation occurrence or consequences of risk situations can be defined as their ability for resilience. A resilient community will overcome challenges from risk manifestations in a collective and holistic manner that inherently depends on preparedness.

The various emergency scenarios may be classified under three different categories; natural, technological, and social. They may further be classified by utilizing a PESTEL framework; this includes the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal, and natural. These frameworks can serve as a foundation in which to map out potential risks that can are salient to any community. This allows for various communities to become resilient through effective planning.

Mapping the various factors that are involved with any potential risk can provide a clear overview of the mitigation strategies needed (Michigan University, N.d.). In the event of an emergency, this tool can also serve as a quick dashboard or a plan of action that can great expedite the response when an emergency occurs. Loss estimation is also such a critical component of emergency preparedness that researchers are currently researching the topic and trying to create models that can access damages in real time (Eguchi, et al., 1997). Jim Truscott of the Truscott Crisis Leaders organization poses the problems and potential solutions in this frameframework? (Truscott, 2013)

"What is the best combination of management disciplines to achieve resilience in Oman? How do you make your organization in Oman, anti-fragile?"

Truscott explains that building resilience is more than just having a documented plan. To truly build resilience in a community there must be a dimension of resilience embedded in the culture and in the attitudes of the individuals. Resilience serves as the cornerstone of a strategy that allows organizations of differing sizes to collaborate in their responses and cooperate with external parties. Organizations can consist of a group as small as a family to those much larger such as government or larger businesses.

The general view is that resilience is as much an attitudinal or cultural approach as it is hands on management. That is, resilience is as much a state of mind as it is documentation. There is agreement that organizations become resilient when they put people first, when they have diversity available as part of the organizational model, and when they coordinate effectively with external parties. This attitudinal approach to shock proofing leads to sector wide responses in communities and business cooperation of a kind in the market place as a normal strategy. It is the drawbridge, moat, castle and network of castles approach to prevention, planning, response and recovery. This is the domain of the risk register, the business impact analysis and the security threat assessment, all basic tools for crisis management, at any level from household to nation state. Such thinking and action also enables effective approaches to horrific scale disasters such as from pandemics which have impacts across all sectors. The tipping point expression is now part of resilience jargon. It comes from epidemiology and it describes the multiple points of failure, all independent, that a pandemic has across sectors. Some governments now embrace cross sector planning as normal."

Truscott's, and many others working in this fieldin the literature, now espouse a holistic and integrated approach to risk planning, risk management, and resilience.

2.2.5 Community resilience

Community Resilience is a concept that builds on the independent organizational perspective and looks at resilience from an integrated and broader level. This perspective generally integrates a more comprehensive loss accounting method that accounts for all aspects of the risk. Yet this task can be extremely difficult because it will be based off on subjective interpretations of potential losses. However, if a loss estimation plan can also be valuable because it can highlight some of the more vulnerable areas of a community. Here I am a little confused as my understanding of community resilience is not really linked to loss accounting?

There are three primary categories of different types of losses; loss of life or injured people, the loss of physical capital and buildings, and economic losses or losses to the communities businesses revenue streams (Lopez, 2009). A central monitoring crew should be initiated immediately to monitor the progress of the response. This allows for a team to have knowledge of the entire response effort so that they can coordinate different efforts effectively. Without centralization then the response can be fragmented and inefficient (Tudor, 2012). Thus to create resilient community centralisation of responses is considered a necessary step. Oh OK Comment by lsx934: I don't like this word, a bit too naval

2.2.6 Vulnerability

Vulnerability drives the ultimate impact of disasters and illustrates that society can indeed be affected on all levels by disasters from natural hazards through a combination of physical, economic, social, and political effects. FEMA (2001) planning guidance defines vulnerability as 'the exposure and susceptibility of a given asset to damage based upon construction, contents, and economic value'. Vulnerability is the likelihood of a population to be negatively affected by disasters caused by social, cultural, political, and economic factors (Buckle, 1995). Economic impact is the losses from the disaster as well as the financial cost to rebuild. Social vulnerability includes the impacts to the social structure such as injury and death, demographics, and the psychological effects on the populous. Political influence can be either positive or negative. If response and recovery are handled proficiently, politicians will be commended; however, if these operations are handled poorly, the politicians will be the first blamed. Physical vulnerability is the susceptibility of buildings, the infrastructure, and homes as well as geographic location in relation to the hazard. This includes the environmental impact from debris and pollutants such as with sewage leaks.sources?

2.3 EFFECTIVE EMERGENCY MManagement

To guarantee the effectiveness of emergency management relies on the complete integration of contingency plans at every level of government and civil society bodies. Activities at each level (individual, group, community) affect the other levels. It is common that the responsibility of managing an emergency in government institutions are located in civil defense or between the conventional structure of the emergency services. However, emergency management really starts at the lowest level and other levels only up after finishingand builds on the availability of organizational resources at these levels. In the private sector, it also referred to as a business continuity plan. Emergency Management is one of many terms which, since the end of the Cold War have replaced the term civil defence, which had an original focus on protecting civilians from military attack (Butler et al., 2012). Fig 3 below show Measures Adopted in Effective Emergency Management.

Planning and Risk Assessment

Procedures and Policies

Testing and Training

Communication Plan

Fig 3: MEASURES ADOPTED IN EFFECTIVE EMERGENCY Management

2.3.1 Planning and Risk Assessment

In order to develop an effective emergency management system, the risks and vulnerabilities of that area need to be identified first. It is important for the community members and the healthcare providers to use an "all-hazards" approach that would focus on the capabilities that are required to be sufficient to respond to the entire spectrum of emergencies. It is important to note here that Tthis kind of approach is location-specific since the kind of hazards that are more likely to occur in a specific area shall will be considered (Drabek 1991).

2.3.2 Procedures and Policies

The stakeholders pertaining to disaster management and emergency readiness, including the healthcare providers and the citizens, need to develop procedures and policies in accordance with the State. These policies should be based in the risk assessment that needs to be planned prior to the implementation of procedures and policies (Drabek 1991).

2.3.3 Communication Plan

Communication is the most important factor in the phase of emergency preparedness (Sundnes and Birnbaum 2003). Communication is considered to be the best solution to limit damage control and the impacts of emergency events. Communication is an important aspect as it creates awareness when harmful or destruction destructive factors are prevailing within the businesses corporate. It controls damage in a sense that it helps in to stopping prevent people in orderfrom to usinge certain equipments, which are harmful and effected to the user (Hunter et al. 2012). Moreover, the communication factor comes in place when there is a requirement for emergency response. Communication strategies must be implemented within the business corporateprivate sector to control the harmful cause, such as introducing strong inter-department collaboration and information sharing between management and employees of the organization in order to create strong awareness and responsibility (Engelman et.al, 2013 pp. 84). Comment by lsx934: Is that all? OK that is an example but you need to ensure we understand that it is not the only reason

2.3.4 Testing and Training

Testing of the emergency equipment and training of the individuals are also two important aspects that need to be considered. As it has been mentioned above, that community has a huge role to play when it comes to responding to an emergency situation, therefore it is important for the state and public health departments to train the public for basic life support skills. Apart from that, special training programs should be launched for the professionals that are already working in the department of emergency management. Initial as well as annual emergency management training programs need to be held for improved emergency preparedness (Al-Shuely et al. 2009).

2.4 CHALLENGES IN EFFECTIVE EMERGENCY READINESS

Before states and communities can go on to improve their response in case of an emergency situation, and work on their emergency preparedness capabilities by making use of training programs and new technology (Wyte-Lake et al. 2014), it is important for them to identify the problems related to the practices and processes involved in emergency management. After the identification of these problems, the next step would be to address these issues. Some of the challenges in emergency management and preparedness that are being faced by the communities the world over include cross-border issues, which includes the cases when more than one country is affected by a specific emergency or disaster, or the importance to normalize information so that critical data can be efficiently communicated, comprehended and acted upon. Therefore, there is a need for the development of effective preparedness approaches and communication between the community and other organizations involved in emergency management (Drabek 1991).

2.5 Business CONTINUITY AND EMERGENCY Management

Interest continues to grow in the fields of emergency management and business continuity (together referred to as contingency planning). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) encourages organisations to be prepared for anything that may happen. Though much of DHS's focus since 2001 has been on terrorism, the multiple hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and other disasters in 2005 re-focused the country's attention on natural disaster preparedness. A contingency planner needs to know how personnel, facilities, assets and resources will be impacted by disaster and what will be needed in order to prepare for, respond to and recover from the disaster more quickly. Once the factors are identified and documented, planners can prepare for and mitigate in advance, or at least know more readily what may need fixing after the fact. In order to do all this, contingency planners need to understand the organization's current structure and what has been projected for the future. Contingency planners must look at the organisation in terms of a system, with many interrelated parts. "In efficiencies in planning translate very easily into loss of life, injuries or damage that could have been avoided" (Alexander, 2002, p. 5). Strategic planners may not be aware of, or have access to, the additional threat and risk analysis information that contingency planners consider when developing continuity plans. The most important contribution that contingency planning can make to an organization is the development of a process for identifying and responding to unanticipated or less-likely events (Goodstein, et al., 1993, p. 310). Comment by lsx934: U.S. specific -- need to note that

HERE I am wondering whether there needs to be some inclusion of frameworks/livelihoods with vulnerability/resilience included- such as the DFID framework,

2.6 THE ROLE OF EMERGENCY WHAT? IN OMAN ( NEEDS PARAPHRASE AND SELECTIVE DATA THIS TOO LONG)

2.6.1 Overview Of Oman

The Sultanate of Oman is located in the south eastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Its coastal line extends 3,165 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz in the North to the borders of the Republic of Yemen in the South. It overlooks three major bodies of water: the Arabian Gulf (Persian Gulf), the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea (Economy 2008). Oman borders Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates in the West, the Republic of Yemen in the South, the Strait of Hormuz in the North and the Arabian Sea in the East (Ministry of Tourism, 2014). The total area of the Sultanate of Oman is approximately 309.5 thousand square kilometers. The Sultanate is composed of varying topographic areas consisting of plains, dry river beds and mountains. The most important area is the plain overlooking the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea with an area of about 3% of the total area. This area is the most densly populated area in the country with rapid growth and industralization that creates a challenge for emergency management. The mMountain ranges occupy almost 15% of the total land of Oman. The remaining area is mainly dry river beds and desert (about 82% of the total area) (Economy 2008).

Figure 4: Sultanate of Oman (source: United States, Central Intelligence Agency)

2.6.2 Hazards in the Sultanate of Oman

Oman has developed rapidly in recent years and as a result many human-related hazards have surfaced due to changing in societal structure. Furthermore, other hazards facing the country are a result of the change in international and regional diplomatic dynamics. These factors have to be taken into consideration in planning and implementation of emergency management stratergies in the Sultanate of Oman (Ministry of Tourism, 2014).

2.6.3 Human-made hazards in Oman

Since 1970, rapid modernization has swept the country. In 1970, only 11% of the country was considered urban. By 2005, it was 79% and is projected to be 86% by the year 2030 (Peterson 2004). A rapidly growing number of Omanis are leaving rural areas to live in the coastal areas around the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea (as the coastal cities are more modern and job opportunities are more available than inner cities). This movement of people from rural to urban areas increases the demand from fast growing cities such as the capital city of Muscat where 30% of people are concentrated in a land that is only 1.2% of the total country's area (Economy 2008). This rapid modernization and dramatic city development means that more people are being exposed to hazards of newly growing cities. One evident example of such a phenomenon in Oman is the case of Sohar Industrial City. This industrial city is built in a costal residential town (i.e., Sohar) that was turned into a major industrial hub for international corporates within few years. This rapid industrilization of Sohar is not matched by development in infrastructures such as health care system in the city. This mismatch between the industrial modernization and the infrastructure development exposes the people living in the Sohar to a group of safety and health issues (Al-Kindi, Marikar et al. 2009). Comment by lsx934: Too much reliance on this sources for this section, also is it academic enough-Also watch for plagiarism, if word for word you must use quotation marks

It is incomplete to discuss human hazards in Oman without mentioning that national top endemic hazard - road traffic crashes. Annually there are aproximitely 10,000 crashes in Oman, causing an average of 700 direct deaths and 8,000 direct physical injuries (Al-Lamki 2010). This is a serious hazard that is another manifestation of rapid modernization and complex behavioural changes of people in Oman that follows urbanization processess (Peterson 2004). This hazard is multifaceted. It has elements of industrial and structural factors such as the safety features and physical composition of cars coupled with behavioural risks of drivers such as the widespread use of mobile phones while driving. The magnitude of the problem in Oman is beyond comprehension and has been relfected in the Sultan's annual speech when he pleaded for the people of Oman to act together to reduce such "national epidemic and crisis"(Al-Lamki 2010). The have been many large road traffic crashes with mass casualties that fit the crateria to be regared as "national disaster." In one incident in 2006, 23 people died and 9 were injured in a bus crash that required a national-level emergency response.