Impact of Culture towards Disaster Risk Reduction

• Authors: Udayangani Kulatunga

Title variants

LT

Kultūros poveikis mažinant nelaimių keliamą riziką

Abstracts

EN

Number of natural disasters has risen sharply worldwide making the risk of disasters a global concern. These disasters have created significant losses and damages to humans, economy and society. Despite the losses and damages created by disasters, some individuals and communities do not attach much significance to natural disasters. Risk perception towards a disaster not only depends on the danger it could create but also the behaviour of the communities and individuals that is governed by their culture. Within this context, this study examines the relationship between culture and disaster risk reduction (DRR). A comprehensive literature review is used for the study to evaluate culture, its components and to analyse a series of case studies related to disaster risk.It was evident from the study that in some situations, culture has become a factor for the survival of the communities from disasters where as in some situations culture has acted as a barrier for effective DRR activities. The study suggests community based DRR activities as a mechanism to integrate with culture to effectively manage disaster risk.

LT

Pasaulyje gerokai padaugėjo stichinių nelaimių, taigi jų keliama rizika jaudina visą pasaulį. Dėl tokių nelaimių daug nuostolių ir žalos patiria žmonės, ekonomika ir visuomenė. Nepaisant nuostolių ir žalos, kurią atneša nelaimės, kai kurie individai ir bendruomenės stichinėms nelaimėms neteikė daug reikšmės. Iš nelaimės kylančios rizikos suvokimas priklauso ne tik nuo pavojaus, kurį tokia nelaimė gali sukelti, bet ir nuo bendruomenių bei individų elgsenos, kurią lemia jų kultūra. Atsižvelgiant į šį kontekstą, darbe nagrinėjamas ryšys tarp kultūros ir nelaimių keliamos rizikos mažinimo. Siekiant įvertinti kultūrą ir jos komponentus, išanalizuoti keli su nelaimių rizika susiję atvejai, tyrime plačiai apžvelgiama literatūra. Iš tyrimo paaiškėjo, kad kai kuriais atvejais kultūra per nelaimes lėmė bendruomenių išlikimą, o kitais atvejais trukdė efektyviam nelaimių keliamos rizikos mažinimui. Tyrime bendruomenių vykdoma nelaimių keliamos rizikos mažinimo veikla siūloma kaip mechanizmas, leidžiantis integruojant kultūrą efektyviai valdyti nelaimių keliamą riziką.

Keywords

EN

Anthropologist; Culture; Components of culture; Disaster risk reduction; Livelihood patterns

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: International Journal of Strategic Property Management
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 304-313

Contributors

author

Udayangani Kulatunga

• School of the Built Environment, The University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK

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Identifiers

DOI

10.3846/ijspm.2010.23