Research: A disaster risk reduction framework incorporating indigenous and scientific knowledge

By Jessica Mercer
Physical/Human Geography Departments, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
jmercerels.mq.edu.au
This project is funded by an International Macquarie University Research Scholarship.

This research aims to develop a framework to identify how indigenous and scientific disaster risk reduction practices used within rural indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea (PNG) may be integrated effectively to mitigate against the intrinsic effects of environmental change and thereby reduce the vulnerability of indigenous communities to environmental hazards. The objectives designed to meet this aim are:

1. To identify the impact of environmental change (anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic) and the intrinsic effects of the components of change upon indigenous communities in PNG and how such communities have adapted to change throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, i.e. a vulnerability analysis.


2. To identify the impact of environmental hazards on indigenous communities and how, if at all, this has changed over the 19th and 20th centuries.


3. To identify indigenous disaster risk reduction strategies and how these have evolved throughout the 19th and 20th centuries to cope with the above.


4. To formulate an indigenous coping strategy index including identification of the most effective and ineffective coping mechanisms used amongst indigenous groups in PNG.


5. To identify scientific disaster risk reduction strategies.


6. To incorporate indigenous and scientific disaster risk reduction strategies in a cross-cultural manner that advances the ability of indigenous communities to cope with environmental hazards.


7. To identify the relationships between the communities, NGOs and government bodies within disaster risk reduction.


8. To develop a framework applicable to rural indigenous communities within PNG which will enable the user to identify a blend of approaches and methods from science and technology, and indigenous knowledge, which will effectively increase the capacity of the communities to cope with environmental hazard occurrence.


9. Possibly to investigate the applicability of the framework outside SIDS, i.e. with Australia's renewed interest in 'working with rather than on local communities'.

Publications:

Some Resources in English

Blong, R. 2003. "Building damage in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea, 1994". Bulletin of Volcanology, vol. 65, issue 1, pp. 43-54.

Davies, H.L., J.M. Davies, R.C.B. Perembo, and W.Y. Lus. 2003. "The Aitape 1998 tsunami: Reconstructing the event from interviews and field mapping". Pure and Applied Geophysics, vol. 160, issue 10-11, pp. 1895-1922.

Dengler, L. and J. Preuss. 2003. "Mitigation lessons from the July 17, 1998 Papua New Guinea tsunami". Pure and Applied Geophysics, vol. 160, issue 10-11, pp. 2001-2031.

Dent, A.W., G. Davies, P. Barrett, and P.J.A. deSaintours. 1995. "The 1994 eruption of the Rabaul volcano, Papua New Guinea: Injuries sustained and medical response". Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 163, issue 11-12, pp. 635-639.

Finlayson, D.M., O. Gudmundsson, I. Itikarai, Y. Nishimura, and H. Shimamura. 2003. "Rabaul volcano, Papua New Guinea: seismic tomographic imaging of an active caldera". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 124, issue 3-4, pp. 153-171.

Fountain, P.M., S.L. Kindon, and W.E. Murray. 2004. "Christianity, calamity and culture: The involvement of Christian churches in the 1998 Aitape tsunami disaster relief". Contemporary Pacific, vol. 16, issue 2, pp. 321-355.

Ingleby, I. 1966. "Mount Lamington Fifteen Years Later". Australian Territories, vol. 6, pp. 28-34.

Kaitilla, S., and A. Yambui. 1996. "Disaster Management and Government Intervention in PNG: The Case of Lae". Disasters, vol. 20, issue 1, pp. 61-67.

Kapal, D., S. Bang, D. Askin, and B. Allen. 2003. "Drought Response: On-Farm Coping Strategies". NARI Information Bulletin, no. 6. NARI and AusAid.

Nairn, I.A., C.O. McKee, B. Talai, and C.P. Wood. 1995. "Geology and eruptive history of the Rabaul Caldera area, Papua New Guinea". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, vol. 69, issue 3-4, pp. 255-284.

Roggensack, K., S.N. Williams, S.J. Schaefer, and R.A. Parnell 1996. "Volatiles from the 1994 eruptions of Rabaul: Understanding large caldera systems". Science, vol. 273, issue 5274, pp. 490-493.

Sinadinovsk, C., M. Somerville, K.F. McCue, and B. Talai. 2001. "Spectral characterisation of tsunamis and seiches caused by tectonism and volcanism in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea". Natural Hazards, vol. 24, issue 3, pp. 285-294.

Taylor, R.P., D.L. Emonson, and J.E. Schlimmer. 1998. "Operation Shaddock – the Australian Defence Force response to the tsunami disaster in Papua New Guinea". Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 169, issue 11-12, pp. 602-606.

Remote school buildings in Morobe Province.
(Copyright Jessica Mercer 2006.)