The development, implementation and transformation of the disaster management cycle

Abstract

During the early 1970s increase in disaster events lead to the emergence of a "new concept" within the field of disaster management. This concept was called the Disaster Management Cycle. The cycle was designed to illustrate the ongoing process by which governments, businesses, and civil society plan for and reduce the impact of disasters, react during and immediately following a disaster, and take steps to recover after a disaster has occurred. The Disaster Management Cycle concept has not remained static over the past 40 years and some changes and variations have occurred in how the cycle is illustrated, and how it is applied in different organisations. Furthermore, it is also not clear how the concept of managing disasters and their impacts in a cyclical fashion originated. Consequently it was the purpose of the research study to determine how the cycle originated, what changes occurred in the cycle concept, and how Disaster Management Cycles were applied in different contexts. To answer the research questions posed for the study two tools were used. A review of literature was undertaken in order to provide a base from which further analysis could be conducted. In this regard, a wide spectrum of literature was reviewed which included training material, policies, international organisation documentation, peer reviewed articles, research reports and case studies. Semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable individuals in the field of disaster and risk management were also used to triangulate the finding of the literature review. The data gathered from the literature review process was than analysed by the application of general systems theory concepts such as ecquifinality, open systems, feedback arrangements an isomorphism. Through the application of these general systems theory concepts the interaction between the Disaster Management Cycle and the environment in which it was created or applied was explored, which in turn provided insight into the origins and differing applications of the cycle. 2 The study found that although Disaster Management Cycles only appeared in illustrative format in the 1970s, the origins of the Disaster Management Cycle can be traced back to early disaster phase research. In this regard studies into linear disaster phases conducted by Prince (1920), Carr (1932), Powell (1954), Chapman (1962) and Stoddard (1968), established phase ideas like emergency, relief, recovery and rehabilitation. All of which could be observed in subsequent Disaster Management Cycles. Consequently it is argued that the origins of the Disaster Management Cycle can be traced back as far back as the 1920 study conducted by Prince. It was found that much of the changes that occurred in the Disaster Management Cycle concept, over several decades, could be ascribed to the specific context in which the cycle was created as well as the open system nature of Disaster Management Cycles. In this regard it was established that the context in which a Disaster Management Cycle was created and applied greatly affected the composition of the specific cycle. Furthermore, it was found that the open system nature of Disaster Management Cycles allowed many context specific changes to occur and as consequence many different variations of the Disaster Management Cycle appeared.