Papers by Hsiang-Chieh LEE
This study introduces a method to identify nursing homes and disabled's institutions with flo... more This study introduces a method to identify nursing homes and disabled's institutions with flood or landslide risks, as an alternative to the conventionally use of risk potential maps. The method proposed in this study combines the results of risk potential maps and survey that asks for disaster experiences and environmental risk elements. This study argues that using risk potential maps alone is insufficient because there are usually gaps between assumptions of risk potential models and real situations, e.g., inundation potential models assume that embankments would not break, which are usually not the case. In this study, an institution with highest flood risk is defined as possibly being flooded when 24-hour accumulated rainfall reaches 300 or 350 mm according to the risk potential map, or when an institution experienced flood in the recent ten years. An institution having a second highest level of flood risk is defined as not in the group with the highest level risk and possi...
One aspect of any process for managing natural hazards relates to how disaster risk reduction pol... more One aspect of any process for managing natural hazards relates to how disaster risk reduction policies are designed and implemented in different countries. The objective of the ‘Multi-scale policy implementation for natural hazard risk reduction’ project is to improve understanding of policies at multiple government levels for natural hazard risk reduction in four countries and how they are implemented, as a key dimension of risk interpretation and action at the political level. We have undertaken an international comparison between New Zealand, Mexico, Norway, and Taiwan. While these countries represent a collaboration formed at the 2013 World Social Science Fellows seminar in New Zealand, they are also susceptible to similar natural hazards, in particular floods, landslides, earthquakes, and climate change. The methodology applied is a comparative design based on content analysis of published emergency plans and land use plans at the national, regional, and local levels, comparing...
Engineering Geology
Abstract Ex-ante and ex-post assessments are both essential in risk management, although ex-post ... more Abstract Ex-ante and ex-post assessments are both essential in risk management, although ex-post assessments of engineering measures have not been widely reported. In this study, an ex-post benefit-cost assessment method was developed to enable the direct impact of remediation engineering measures for debris flows to be quantified. We propose three categories of parameters for calculating benefit and cost: (1) predicted benefits (comprising predicted benefits of saving lives, at the household level, and of infrastructure protection); (2) actual loss (of losing lives, at the household level, and of infrastructure); (3) actual cost of the engineering. Actual benefit was defined as predicted benefit minus loss after completion of the engineering measure. The engineering measures were regarded as effective when benefits outweighed costs. Government data, survey results based on past disasters, and interview results with specialists were used. This methodology was applied and tested in ten villages located in the Gaoping River Basin in southern Taiwan. The result showed that the range of the benefit and cost ratio was between 1.26 and 7.99. We recommend this ex-post assessment method for rapid screening of districts with low benefit-cost ratios.
Natural Hazards Review
AbstractThis study investigated the effects of social determinants and resource distribution on t... more AbstractThis study investigated the effects of social determinants and resource distribution on trust in government after a disaster. This involved an analysis of four waves of the Social Impact an...
Natural Hazards
The article was published with categories ''80,000-10,999'' and ''C 11,000'' of the variable fami... more The article was published with categories ''80,000-10,999'' and ''C 11,000'' of the variable family monthly income in Tables 2 and 7. The author would like readers to know that this should be ''80,000-109,999'' and ''C 110,000''. This correction stands to correct the original article.
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Abstract This study examined how to effectively implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk ... more Abstract This study examined how to effectively implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 by inspecting disaster governance strategies for persons with disabilities in Taiwan. We identified priorities of the Sendai Framework that especially mention persons with disabilities or related stakeholders, including Priorities 24(a), 24(g), 24(h), 27(g), 27(h), 30(j), 30(k), 33(b), and 33(i). A set of questions was designed according to these priorities and distributed to all central ministries, agencies, and local governments related to disaster governance in Taiwan. The results showed that strategies currently cover the issues of evacuation, shelter operation, facility operation for persons with disabilities, electricity backup during emergency, strategies for schools, and disaster recovery and reconstruction. We found that the present disaster governance strategies for persons with disabilities in Taiwan are focused on the preparedness and emergency response phases, and most strategies utilize a top-down approach. Based on these findings, we suggest the development of more strategies for the recovery and reconstruction phases and the incorporation of bottom-up mechanisms such as stakeholder participation, dialogue and cooperation, coordination forums, empowerment, and consultation with stakeholders, as discussed in Priorities 24(h), 27(g), 30(j), and 33(i) of the Sendai Framework.
Due to the increased magnitude and frequency of extreme climate events, increased population dens... more Due to the increased magnitude and frequency of extreme climate events, increased population density and land-use intensity, disaster impact that humans need to face in the future can be foreseen as more severe and complicated. Disaster risk is typically conceptualized as a composite function influenced by numerous natural and socio-economic factors. Coping capability is a key factor that influences not only the society’s acceptance to disaster risk but also its potential to take related measures. It is important for a society (especially those vulnerable communities at local levels) to prepare itself so it is capable of responding these natural, technological, and emergent threats more effectively. While there have been numerous studies and practices on assessing social vulnerability, few studies are emphasized on assessing a system’s ability to manage disastrous incidents. Hence, one worthwhile inquiry is to explore the characterization and measurement of disaster management capab...
In the recent years, resilience has become a fashion term in studies of disaster. Yet this growin... more In the recent years, resilience has become a fashion term in studies of disaster. Yet this growing literature rarely addresses some important issues e.g. differences between resilience and other concepts (such as capability, vulnerability etc.), important factors of resilience, methods to measure or enhance resilience etc. 2,17 Among the studies, Boin, Comfort and Demchak 4 clearly define resilience as society's capacity to respond to unusual emergencies, especially those low-chance and high-impact episodes. Since preplanned social systems are usually designed for high-chance events, they tend to fail during extreme events. Resilience, rather than preplanned social system, keeps society from disintegration after an extreme event. Scholars often distinguish resilience into three kinds: engineering resilience, ecological resilience and social-ecological resilience 10. Engineering resilience focuses on how to maintain stability and time need for recovery 13,24. Hence it is not flex...
This report presents the second-year accomplishment of a project that aims to provide a prototype... more This report presents the second-year accomplishment of a project that aims to provide a prototype to conduct benefit assessments of the Flood Reduction Plan in Taiwan. The first-year achievement of the project is presented in the report number NCDR96-T06 of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction. The NCDR96-T06 report conducted economic, social, and environmental impact assessments for the Flood Reduction Plan in the Xinwen area in Jiayi. An economic loss model, established in a previous study of NCDR, was used for the economic assessment. This researchers then reviewed literature and held in-depth interviews as well as focus groups in Xinwen, for the purpose to propose phases of qualitative social impact assessment. Moreover, this report obtained assistances from experts to decide what factors should be included in the environmental impact assessment. The current report is an extended attempt of the NCDR96-T06 report. In the current report, a manual of so...
This report presents the second-year accomplishment of a project that aims to provide a prototype... more This report presents the second-year accomplishment of a project that aims to provide a prototype to conduct benefit assessments of the Flood Reduction Plan in Taiwan. The first-year achievement of the project is presented in the report number NCDR96-T06 of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction. The NCDR96-T06 report conducted economic, social, and environmental impact assessments for the Flood Reduction Plan in the Xinwen area in Jiayi. An economic loss model, established in a previous study of NCDR, was used for the economic assessment. This researchers then reviewed literature and held in-depth interviews as well as focus groups in Xinwen, for the purpose to propose phases of qualitative social impact assessment. Moreover, this report obtained assistances from experts to decide what factors should be included in the environmental impact assessment. The current report is an extended attempt of the NCDR96-T06 report. In the current report, a manual of so...
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Papers by Hsiang-Chieh LEE