Table Of ContentAlso Published by Pergamon Press
Hazard Control Policy in Britain
J.C. CHICKEN, Authority Safety and Reliability Directorate,
UKAEA, Culcheth, England
This book examines the general nature of the policy-making
process in Britain and gives a detailed analysis of the special
area of hazard control policy. The analysis is based on five
case studies which deal with road transport, air transport,
factories, nuclear power reactors and air contamination.
The book is the first to make a unified analysis of a wide
spectrum of technological hazards from both the technical
and political aspects and draws attention to the recent
advances in the quantitative analysis of hazards.
CONTENTS: THE NATURE OF HAZARDS: Road
Transport; Air Transport; Factories; Nuclear Power
Reactors; Air Contamination. HAZARD CONTROL
POLICY: Model of the Policy Making Process; Road
Transport; Air Transport; Factories; Nuclear Power
Reactors; Air Contamination; Analysis of Policy;
Future Hazard Control Policy. ROLE OF INTEREST
GROUPS: Definition and Classification of Interest Groups;
Role and Organization of Interest Groups Surveyed; The
Role of Interest Groups in Relation to the Formation of
Hazard Control Policy. CONCLUSIONS: The Nature of
Hazards; Hazard Control Policy; The Role of Interest
Groups. REFERENCES. APPENDIX I: Road Transport
Committees. APPENDIX II: The Farmer Safety Criterion.
APPENDIX III. Membership of the Nuclear Safety
Advisory Committee. APPENDIX IV. Membership of the
Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution.
APPENDIX V. Survey of the Influence Interest Groups
appear to have had on Hazard Control Policy.
APPENDIX VI: List of the Standing Committees in the
Confederation of British Industry. APPENDIX VII: List
of the Government and Independent Bodies on which the
Confederation of British Industry is represented.
DISASTER
TECHNOLOGY
An Annotated Bibliography
by
DIANA H. MANNING M.A. (Oxon).M.Phil.
London Technical Group
Institute of Biology, 41 Queen's Gate, London SW7 5HU
PERGAMON PRESS
OXFORD NEW YORK TORONTO SYDNEY PARIS FRANKFURT
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WEST GERMANY Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Taunus,
Pferdstrasse 1, Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany
Copyright © 1976 London Technical Group
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without permission in writing from the
publishers
First edition 1973
Reprinted 1976
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Manning, Diana Helen.
Disaster technology.
Includes indexes.
1. Disasters-Bibliography. 2. Disaster relief-Bibliography. I. Title.
Z5772.M35 1976[HV553] 016.3615 75-37662
ISBN 0-08-019984-4
ISBN 0-08-019983-6 pbk.
/;/ order to make this volwne available as economically and rapidly as possible
the author's original has been reproduced in typescript form. This method
unfortunately has its typographical limitations but it is hoped that they in no
way distract the reader.
Printed in Great Britain by A. Wheaton & Co. Exeter
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to the following experts for advice and assistance with this work:
Professor N.N. Ambraseys, Imperial College, London
Dr. G. Bennet, University of Bristol
G.T.J. Fox, Imperial College, London
Mehdi Ghadery, Imperial College, London
Dr. R. Gray, Overseas Development Administration, London
Malcolm Harper, Oxfam, Oxford
Julius Holt, Queen Elizabeth College, London
Professor M. Lechat, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels
Walter Lloyd, NVCAS, Rochdale, Lanes
John Murlis, LTG and Imperial College, London
John Rivers, LTG and Nuffield Institute of Comparative Medicine, London
Dr. J. Seaman, Save the Children Fund, London
Alan Taylor, Oxfam and University of Sussex
Dr. K. Western, State Epidemiologist, Richmond, Virginia
Professor J. Yudkin, Queen Elizabeth College, London
I am also very grateful for the technical assistance of the following:
Margot Acheson
Jackie Stanger
Sylvia Stirling
The preliminary stages of the project were carried out by Mary Anne Baker.
The work was supported by a grant from the Rowntree Trust and was carried out at the
Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial College, London, under the supervision of
Professor N.N. Ambraseys.
The London Technical Group is indebted to the above for their generous support of this
experimental project.
I gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the many organisations which were
consulted in the course of this work. These are listed on page 4.
vi
DISASTER TECHNOLOGY 1
PREFACE
Throughout history man has suffered the effects of natural disaster; drought and pest
have destroyed his crops and livestock, earthquake and flood have ruined his dwellings.
Such disasters continue to occur, but a difference in response patterns has emerged reflect-
ing the division of the world into rich and poor countries. In the former, where natural
disasters can potentially cause great material damage, large resources may be laid aside
to mitigate their effects. But where disaster occurs in a context of poverty there are no
such spare resources and inevitably human suffering follows.
Attempts to alleviate poverty and to control disasters by aid from wealthy countries,
whether through international or Dilaterai or voluntary agencies, have been only moder-
ately successful, not least because so little useful information is available about what
really happens in 'development1 and in disasters in poor countries. But here again the
contrast is marked, for research into hazards of developed countries is extensive and the
information accordingly voluminous.
The London Technical Group was formed in 1971 to obtain and disseminate informa-
tion about human conditions in poor countries and about the effects of emergency aid. The
Group has undertaken for relief agencies surveys of disaster-affected areas and has made a
systematic study of human repercussions. The bibliography "Disaster Technology", first
published in 1973, was an attempt to make what information existed on this neglected sub-
ject available to those who needed it. We hoped that the compilation would be useful to
relief agencies, but also that it would have a catalytic effect on research, bringing to-
gether different disciplines and promoting a more rounded and immediately practical
approach to the problems. It is for this reason that the interpretation of the term 'tech-
nology' in the title of this book, no less than in the name of the Group, is the widest
possible. It implies always the use made by a society of inputs of materials and techniques
and avoids concentrating only upon the inputs themselves. We would stress that there does
exist a technology, albeit nascent, of disasters and it is upon the further development of
this technology in its widest sense that much of the future effectiveness of disaster aid will
depend. This holds for prevention as well as for relief.
Since 1973 several natural events with disastrous human impact have occurred, in-
cluding cyclone, earthquake and drought. Famine has been perhaps the most serious result,
notably in the Sahelian, Ethiopian, Somalian and Eastern regions of Africa and in Bangla-
desh. The timing and the course of aid responses have shown once again that there are
crucial gaps in our knowledge and understanding of this widespread phenomenon. In order
to make the Bibliography available again with information covering events from 1973, this
updated first edition has been prepared for the first time for commercial publication. The
format of the first printing is preserved, but several additions have been made to cover new
material and to improve the functioning of the book as a work of reference. Recent publi-
cations and older material unavailable at the time of the first printing are abstracted in the
Appendix and are cross-referenced to the abstracts in the main body of the text. A Post-
script is added with a discussion of recent developments. An author index is included for
the first time.
Whilst the first issue of the Bibliography drew an enthusiastic reception, such a book
can never claim to be exhaustively comprenensive; readers' comments and suggestions for
further inclusions are always gratefully received.
The London Technical Group would like to express its thanks to the Joseph Rowntree
Charitable Trust for making the original project possible and to Pergamon Press Ltd. for
their interest and encouragement and for the speed with which this publication has been
achieved.
John Murlis
June 1975
2 DISASTER TECHNOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the bibliography is to supply relief agencies with information on the
published and unpublished literature available concerning technical aspects of disaster
relief and prevention with special emphasis on developing countries. It is also intended to
provide those involved in relevant research with information on disaster topics from other
disciplines. It is hoped that this may stimulate more communication between relief
workers in the field and those involved in research applicable to disaster relief.
The project is an experiment to determine the value of this type of information. If it
is found to be useful, it is hoped that it may be continued and updated periodically. The
present version is far from comprehensive and is largely biased towards biomédical aspects.
It is also limited almost entirely to the English language literature. Much of the work is
not directly relevant to developing countries particularly in the Medical Planning and
Sociology sections. This is a reflection of the content of the published literature. An
enormous volume of work has been carried out on disasters in the U.S. A. and very little on
those which occur in developing countries despite the far higher mortality and slower
recovery from catastrophes, natural or man-made, in these countries. It is hoped that the
bibliography, by revealing this imbalance, will stimulate disaster studies in the areas where
they are most needed.
It should be noted that much relevant literature on this subject is not freely available
and is not included here, especially some governmental and agency reports.
Format
The references are arranged in the following sections:
1. Relief organisation. This is mainly concerned with general aspects of relief work
especially international disaster aid and includes logistic, administrative, political and
economic factors. The literature refers both to specific and generalised disasters- The
dissertation by WESTERN, K. is placed at the beginning as it is considered to be a parti-
cularly important piece of work on the subject.
2. Medical aspects: Planning, This section is concerned mainly with hospital disaster
planning and surgical triage. Most of the literature is related to the U. S. A. or other indus-
trial communities where sophisticated technology is available.
3. Medical aspects: General. The work included here outlines specific medical prob-
lems arising from disasters. The abstracts are relatively brief, since medical personnel
involved in relief work will be familiar with most of the techniques and should refer to the
original papers for more detailed discussion.
4. Medical aspects: Nutrition. This is the section most relevant to the medical prob-
lems of developing countries following disaster since nutrition cannot be discussed in isola-
tion from other aspects of health in tropical countries. The literature includes many papers
by medical relief workers describing their experiences in disaster situations, and also some
work on general nutritional problems of relevance to development as well as to disasters.
Since this is considered to be a particularly important section, the abstracts are rather more
detailed than in the rest of the bibliography.
5. Sociological aspects. Most sociological studies of disasters have been carried out
in the U. S. A., so this section is strongly biased to industrialised societies in general and
America in particular. Cross-cultural studies are scarce, and it is advised that the general
principles proposed by the literature here should be regarded with caution. They are prob-
ably not applicable to all societies. The section includes some work on psychological and
psychiatric factors.
6. Physical aspects: General. This brief section provides scanty information on a
DISASTER TECHNOLOGY
wide range of topics. It includes literature on public health engineering, design for
disaster (including emergency shelter), and prevention and warning techniques. Earth-
quakes are considered separately in the final section. The work covered is far from com-
prehensive and the section is included as a general indication for the layman of the
approaches which have been used to these problems. The specialised literature is too
great for inclusion here
c
7, Physical aspects: Earthquakes. A great deal of work is proceeding on engineering
seismology, much of it inapplicable to developing countries. As in section six the
material covered here provides only an indication of the types of studies which are carried
out in the field of earthquake hazard minimisation. In addition to these technical aspects,
a number of accounts of specific earthquakes are included which probably have greater
relevance to the problems of relief following these disasters in developing countries.
The abstracts are arranged in sections for convenience only and there is a high degree
of overlap between them. It is therefore not advisable to consider individual sections in
isolation. It is hoped that the index, review and cross-referencing may assist the reader in
extracting information at required degrees of specificity.
Review
Some critical comments have been included in the abstracts, Most of these arise from
the rest of the literature presented, but a few are based on material beyond the scope of
this bibliography.
The review is a brief discussion of general points arising from the literature. It indi-
cates some of the controversial issues and the areas which, in the abstractor's opinion,
require further study. It is not fully comprehensive, but it is hoped that it may stimulate
critical thought ana enquiry on these issues.
Classification
The abstracts are arranged alphabetically by author's name in each section. The
numbering system used can oe expanded to include more material as the bibliography is
updated by addition of another digit. An extra nine abstracts can be included between any
two consecutive numbers, e.g. 5. 01, 5. 011-5. 019, 5. 02. Late additions to the biblio-
graphy have been numbered in this way.
Reference numbers to be found in the text of the abstracts and listed underneath
relate each entry to other relevant material and an index of key words is provided.
If the bibliography is expanded it is recommended that a thesaurus word classification
system be used. The list should include key words of varying degrees of specificity. Each
word can then be represented by a punched card, the numbers which are punched corres-
ponding to the relevant abstracts. It is thus possible to select the references applicable to
any combination of words by placing the relevant cards together. The holes which coincide
refer to those abstracts which contain information on all the selected words. This is a parti-
cularly flexible system for information retrieval.
N.B. Those abstract numbers which are underlined are to be found in the Appendix
of recent papers.
4 DISASTER TECHNOLOGY
Relief and research organisations involved in disaster-related work:
The following organisations are mentioned in the literature and have provided much
of the information for this bibliography.
They are listed here under their usual abbreviations:
AA Architectural Association, London
Brothers to All Men, London
BRC British Red Cross, London
BRE Building Research Establishment, Garston, Herts.
CARITAS Caritas Internationalis, Rome
CDC Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia
Christian Aid, London
DAWP Disaster Aid Working Party of the London Technical Group, London
DRC Disaster Research Center, Columbus, Ohio
Disaster Research Unit, University of Bradford, Yorks.
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome
ICDO International Civil Defence Organisation, Geneva
ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva
ICSID International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, Innsbruck, Austria
ICVA International Council of Voluntary Agencies, Geneva
INTERTECT c/o F. Cuny, Dallas, Texas
IRC International Rescue Committee, New York
ITDG Intermediate Technology Development Group, London and University
of Reading
ITU International Telecommunications Union, Geneva
KASTUR c/oR. Le jeune, London
LRCS League of Red Cross Societies, Geneva
LTG London Technical Group
NAS/NRC National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Washington
Natural Hazards Research, c/o Professor G. White, University of Colorado, Boulder,
Colorado
NVCAS National Voluntary Civil Aid Services, c/o W. Lloyd, Rochdale, Lanes.
ODA Overseas Development Administration, Ministry ot Overseas Development.
Now called the ODM
Operation Omega, London
Oxfam, Oxford
Project Planning Centre, University of Bradford
PAHO Pan American Health Organisation, Washington
RAMC Royal Army Medical Corps, Aldershot, Hants.
SA Salvation Army, London
SCF Save the Children Fund, London
Special Sahelian Office of the U. N. Secretariat
UNDRO United Nations Disaster Relief Office, Geneva
UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Paris
UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund, New York
USAID United States Agency for International Development, Washington
WFP World Food Programme, Rome
WHO World Health Organisation, Geneva
WMO World Meteorological Office, Geneva
WOW War on Want, London
N.B. The abbreviation PEM is used for protein-calorie (energy) malnutrition
throughout this bibliography in accordance with the recommendations of
the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (1973).
DISASTER TECHNOLOGY 5
RELIEF ORGANISATION
1.01 WESTERN, K. A, (Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Now:
State Epidemiologist, Virginia State Department of Health,
Richmond, Virginia, U. S. A. )
The Epidemiology of natural and man-made disasters: The present state of the art.
Unpublished dissertation, submitted for the Academic Diploma in Tropical Public
Health of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, (1 June 1972),
123 pages.
The author thoroughly and critically assesses the current state of disaster research and
relief work and discusses how the application of epidemiological method to these problems
might lead to improvement in knowledge, prevention and relief of disaster in all parts of
the world, (with special emphasis on under-developed countries in the tropics). Two
hundred and twenty-two references are cited.
Information Sources
Information shortage on disasters is largely due to:
1. Lack of organisation and feelings of urgency of relief workers which restricts data
collection.
2. Lack of inter-disciplinary scientific assessment teams (those scientists involved in
disaster research tend to restrict their attentions to one aspect of disasters in one country).
3. The belief that all disasters are different and one cannot therefore extrapolate
from the experiences of one to another.
Available information sources are:
1. Historical accounts. 1-59 These are of limited usefulness as post war developments
have greatly altered impact of and response to disasters. Some historical material is
discussed.
2. Press reports. These tend to be sensational and inaccurate. For example, the
media (A.N.: and also reports by some relief workers) claimed that the population of
Biafra during the Nigerian civil war was about nine million, but a demographic survey
carried out by the author, using smallpox vaccination scars as a population marker,
indicated a population of just over three million. 1-582 The p often starts unconfirmed
ress
rumours about epidemics, etc. after disasters.
3. National reports. 1· 582 Government reports are likely to be inaccurate or non-
existent if the disaster occurs in a remote region and they may even deliberately suppress
the facts. National agencies, e.g. Red Cross Society, may have more information, but
they also are limited by poor communications,
4. International agency reports. The U. N. bodies have functioned largely independ-
ently of each other until the new Office of Disaster Relief Co-ordinator was created. The
LRCS produce disaster relief circulars for internal use. *·24 The ICVA publishes details of
member activities, but all agency reports tend mainly to be limited to statements of cash
and goods sent to the area. 1· 08, 1.17 information on the effectiveness of these supplies
is often not available and most agencies exaggerate their own contribution to the effort.
This is true also of the bilateral agencies, e. g. US AID.
5. Technical and scientific reports. These are normally confined to geophysics,
sociology and medicine and few are inter-disciplinary. Detailed sociological studies of
disaster in the U. S. A. have been carried out with a view to predicting response to nuclear
attack. Famine epidemiology was first extensively investigated during and after World
War II in Europe. American literature to disaster medicine is mainly concerned with the
6 DISASTER TECHNOLOGY
application of military medical techniques to the management of civilian casualties. The
use of epidemiological method to disasters in the developing world was first attempted in
the Nigerian civil war and has been used in Bangladesh. The Center for Disease Control
now routinely send epidemiologists to make assessments following disasters. Besides this
work, the scientific literature on disasters has been chiefly limited to accounts by indivi-
dual medical relief workers of their experiences.
General epidemiological patterns in disasters
The author present a summary of the space and time models of disasters of
WALLACE, A. F. O (1956). 5. 54 Typical human reactions to the various stages are out-
lined.
Disruptive effects of disasters
1. Administrative effects. Disruption is a result of damage to, or loss of, communi-
cations, transport and personnel. These effects are tabulated.
Assessment of damage is extremely difficult, e. g. the magnitude of the Peruvian
earthquake disaster (1970) was not appreciated for at least ten days. Government, press
and eye witness sources of information tend to be unreliable. It is important that assess-
ment should be objective, standardised and subject to independent verification.
Evaluation of relief efforts is also essential. 1· 55 Relief agency structure is such that
they tend not to get feedback on the usefulness of their efforts so the same mistakes get
repeated. The author quotes from LRCS: 'Red Cross Disaster Relief Handbook', a section
on the relief supplies which are required in certain disaster situations, and strongly
challenges them since no evidence is presented to support the recommendations. *·23 Ex-
amples of unsuitable goods which have been repeatedly sent to disaster areas are given.
The author refers to his evaluation of relief operations in Biafra carried out in 12 days
(November 1969) using 36 separate rural sites randomly selected. He found extreme lacK
of co-ordination between agencies and haphazard distribution methods such that some areas
were receiving aid regularly from several agencies and others were not receiving any. A
summary of the epidemiological assessment and evaluation surveys carried out by SOMMER
and MOSLEY (1971, 1972) is presented. 3- 69» 3· 691 A similar approach was introduced
into relief operations in the Nigerian civil war: Medical epidemiologists prepared a weekly
surveillance report from all relief teams on their activities and a 'Quac' stick nutritional
surveillance was carried out over a large population to determine priority groups and areas
for relief food.
2. Environmental effects
a. Damage to buildings.
b. Disruption of water supplies.
c. Damage to crops and food stores.
d. Population migrations.
e. Unburied bodies and carcasses.
f. Destruction of economic resources.
These factors are discussed in relation to specific types of disaster. The chief problems
which arise from these effects are: (1) Exposure, (2) Water supply, (3) Sanitation,
(4) Food supply.
(1) Exposure. This can be relieved by evacuation, temporary or permanent shelter
provision, or personal supplies, e. g. blankets, clothing, etc.
Temporary shelters should be designed with consideration for the following:
(a) Cultural acceptability.
(b) Size for appropriate family unit of the society.
(c) Cost, i. e. should be constructed with local materials and labour where
possible.
(d) Simplicity of design.
(e) Finite length of usefulness to avoid their conversion into slums after the
emergency period.
(f) They should be evaluated for suitability according to these criteria by field
tests. J-· 09, Ό.25
Donated clothing is very often unsuitable and unsorted and the author recommends that
clothing be bought locally. J-- 55
(2) Water supply. Water may have to be imported, boiled or purified chemically to
ensure a safe supply.
(3) Sanitation. The recommendations of ASSAR (1971) 6· °15 critically discussed.
are
