Publications & Research

We provide a platform between researchers, disaster practitioners, healthcare professionals and students for expertise exchange, collaboration and policy discussion.

Publications & Research

The HKJCDPRI Publications Section contains collaborative researches and publications with our partners and renowned academic institutions, and other research and development projects related to disaster preparedness and response.

The Guidelines section contains our selected collection of technical information, operational guidelines and useful tools for disaster management.

The Blog sub-section provides a platform where our team and peers share news and updates, as well as opinions and experiences in building disaster preparedness for the communities.

The blog posts are written by the author in his own personal capacity / affiliation stated. The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in the post belong solely to the author and does not necessarily represent those of Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute.

All resources listed here are freely and publicly available, unless specified otherwise. We ask users to use them with respect and credit the authors as appropriate.

2019

11/09/2019

Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) 2019 Published

The Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is a biennial global assessment of disaster risk reduction highlighting latest updates, emerging trends, disaster patterns and progress in reducing risk. It aims to focus international attention on the issue of disaster risk and encourage political and economic support for disaster risk reduction. The GAR is produced by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in collaboration and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, with thinkers, practitioners, experts and innovators to investigate the state of risk across the globe.

The GAR19 (the GAR 2019) moves beyond disaster risk to consider the pluralistic nature of risk: in multiple dimensions, at multiple scales and with multiple impacts. It provides an update on how we – as governments, as communities and individuals – understand our relationship with risk and its reduction.

The Full Report and a guided tour are available at the GAR19 Website: https://gar.unisdr.org/report-2019

Want some quick take-home messages from the detailed full report? The GAR19 Distilled collates 10 take-home observations from GAR19. Each observation is linked to the relevant section in the GAR19 main report. The link to GAR19 Distilled: https://gar.unisdr.org/sites/default/files/gar19distilled.pdf

The GAR19 Distilled offers 10 take-home messages from the full report.

An illustration showing evolution of the global policy agenda for disaster risk reduction: A journey through time and space.

An illustration showing how systemic risks are assessed and analysed: Mapping the topology of risk through time.

by HKJCDPRI

14/06/2019

A Summary: Is Hong Kong a Disaster Resilient City?

A megacity facing high risks from natural hazards Megacities can be seriously susceptible to various natural hazards potentially posing negative impacts on human health, economy and sustainability. With the global population living in urban cities projected to increase to 66% by 2050, building disaster resilient in big cities has become a global focus in the last decade.

A megacity facing high risks from natural hazards

Megacities can be seriously susceptible to various natural hazards potentially posing negative impacts on human health, economy and sustainability. With the global population living in urban cities projected to increase to 66% by 2050, building disaster resilient in big cities has become a global focus in the last decade.

Hong Kong is considered a megacity and faces high risks from natural hazards such as heavy rainfall, storm surges, and tropical cyclones. These events often trigger floods and landslides and could cause critical damage to the city. As these consequences are still rare, the researchers believed that disaster preparedness and risk recognition might be underestimated in Hong Kong. Nevertheless in the wake of climate change, Hong Kong may face unpredictable future climate.

The team of researchers used Hong Kong as a case study to demonstrate how to analyse a megacity’s disaster resilience and to show how the findings could be interpreted into practice.

What did the research involve?

This study used the Sendai Framework Local Urban Indicators (LUI) Tools developed by the United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction for the evaluation. LUI helps local stakeholders to evaluate a city’s disaster resilience performance and to help them implement appropriate policies. 31 LUI indicators were selected and categorised into 10 essential components from the ‘Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient’ framework. Answers to the indicator questions highlighted levels of disaster resilience and gaps.

Findings and interpretations

Hong Kong’s integrated disaster resilience scored 4.2 out of 5, indicating a satisfactory performance of the integrated performance of disaster resilience.

These findings indicated that Hong Kong was largely disaster resilient in the following context:

However, this study also identified some areas for improvement. Hong Kong may need to improve institutional organisation for disaster governance between the government and society especially in regard to disaster risk identification and information sharing systems. Furthermore, Hong Kong’s disaster management system tends to focus on immediate emergency response and building physical resilience, however the city needs to develop a more comprehensive and long-term DRR strategy and vision to improve disaster resilience.

Conclusion

Building disaster resilient cities involves large amount of effort in understanding, assessing, and managing disaster risks. This type of investigation can help expand our knowledge of disaster resilience through providing in-depth analysis, by directing further studies and prompting city planners and policy makers to consider more appropriate sustainable development for cities. Finally, there is a pressing need in raising the disaster risk preparedness of Hong Kong’s general public, and a knitted society to facilitate roles in the recovery process.

This article is summarised from: Timothy Sim & Dongming Wang & Ziqiang Han, 2018. "Assessing the Disaster Resilience of Megacities: The Case of Hong Kong," Sustainability, MDPI, Open Access Journal, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/4/1137/pdf

22/05/2019

The HKJCDPRI Participated in World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) Congress 2019

Two representatives of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute (HKJCDPRI) participated in the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine (WADEM) Congress held on 7 – 10 May 2019. The WADEM Congress is a biennial international event which provides an interactive and stimulating environment for participants to share research and findings, exchange ideas and best practices and network with peers.

With a theme of “The Future”, the Congress 2019 held in Brisbane, Australia included over 30 tracks with high profile speakers, as well as a wide range of interactive sessions for participants to share experience and knowledge gained from their work. During the congress, the HKJCDPRI representatives shared two projects with congress participants at the poster presentation and oral presentation sessions.

During the poster presentation session, Ms Angel Ng, Senior Manager of the HKJCDPRI, presented a study entitled “Mental Health Impacts on People Living in Subdivided Flats in Hong Kong”. In collaboration with the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (HKSKH) Lady MacLehose Centre, the study was a mixed quantitative and qualitative study to investigate the impact of poor living conditions such as fire risks, environmental health risks and other chronic health issues in subdivided flats on the residents.

During the oral presentation session, Ms Tiffany Yeung, Manager (Professional Development) of the HKJCDPRI, shared with the audience a survey conducted by the HKJCDPRI entitled “Typhoon Preparedness Measures of the Hong Kong Public for Typhoon Mangkhut” and its associated survey findings. The aim of the study was to understand the general Hong Kong public’s awareness and views on the super typhoon that slammed Hong Kong in September 2018 and precautionary measures carried out. The public’s information seeking behaviours and self-reported confidence in their knowledge on typhoon preparedness was also investigated. More details of the study and the analysis can be seen in another report (click this link).

Since 2015, the HKJCDPRI has actively participated in the WADEM Congress by sharing of experience and exchange of ideas with the congress participants. The knowledge and insights gained for the HKJCDPRI’s learning for continuous improvement of work is invaluable.

The HKJCDPRI staff, Ms Angel Ng (Senior Manager), presented on “Mental Health Impacts on People Living in Subdivided Flats in Hong Kong”.

The HKJCDPRI staff, Ms Tiffany Yeung (Manager (Professional Development)), presented on “Typhoon Preparedness Measures of the Hong Kong Public for Typhoon Mangkhut”

30/04/2019

Gaps between Knowledge and Actions in Disaster Risk Reduction

Recently, I attended the 4th Global Summit of Research Institutes for Disaster Risk Reduction (4th GSRIDRR) in the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, at Kyoto University. And I managed to take away with me a few major learnings from the Summit, which I wish sharing here! My first learning was about the new scientific challenges to disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management, and there is continuing need to foster uptake of science in government and industries to support implementation – suggestions on what works! I found the organization by Gluckman on the “Five categories of science advice” very comprehensive:

My first learning was about the new scientific challenges to disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management, and there is continuing need to foster uptake of science in government and industries to support implementation – suggestions on what works! I found the organization by Gluckman on the “Five categories of science advice” very comprehensive:

“Five Categories of Science Advice” (Gluckman 2016)

In fact, one of the new scientific challenges is how to close the gaps identified between scientist and decision makers.

The second learning was about the need for holistic scientific advice during crises. According to Professor Virginia Murray, Sendai Framework highlighted the need for holistic scientific advice during crises and emergencies; and the key role of individual science advisor is to be that of “knowledge brokerage” during crises. I was stunned by the comprehensive list of knowledge connections presented, and the continuing establishment of institutes, conferences in disaster risk reduction, as well as the passion in learning by students coming from countries where natural hazards are part of life.

The next learning was about the need in synthesis of knowledge. I could not agree anymore with Professor Murray’s concluding thoughts that there is a need in synthesis of knowledge to inform decision makers at local, national, regional and global levels; we have to learn how to face a new era of risks and to jointly enhance our resilience. Knowledge transfer, co-development of solutions, and continuous uptake of innovative solutions are the ingredients of a more resilient society. However, risk awareness, communication, training and education are imminent for stakeholders at all levels, particularly for urban cities which have been in the comfort zone (fortunately!), such as Hong Kong.

In parallel, I learnt about the interests and demand in structured training and certification in emergency planning, management and disaster preparedness. It resonated with the public’s interests in Hong Kong where there have been varieties of non-accredited training programmes in the discipline offered by various community partners. However, these courses could not be inter-linked to create a synthesis of knowledge due to lack of coordination in their curriculum design and implementation. There was a huge challenge for learners to put the fragmented learning outcomes of these courses into practice and actions.

I recalled reading an article on Risk Governance: Application to Urban Challenges (2018). People living in urban environments face multiple risks which range from financial risks, physical risks (natural hazards), technological risks (building structures, infrastructure, hazardous facilities), and social risks (violence, social dissatisfaction).These risks are often inter-linked with each other, hence, need for an integrated governance approach for systemic risks. To put into practice, we need to focus on the steps between knowledge and action by:

Steps Between Knowledge and Action

The last but not the least learning was about the direction of investment in future, that investments should be made in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and there should be a paradigm shift in international funds from post event aids to real prevention, and mitigation action, and national capacity. Investments from local government and philanthropy should increase their weighting in education and training in disaster risk reduction, and to provide guidance for learners to put their knowledge into practice and actions following the concept of risk governance.