We are pleased to share that DRRN Graduate Fellows Charlotte Milne and Taylor Legere have concluded their overview of literature on disasters and resilience in the BC context. Their article "The state of disaster and resilience literature in British Columbia, Canada. A systematic scoping review" was co-authored with DRRN members Jonathan Eaton, Sara Shneiderman, and Carlos Molina Hutt and is available open-access in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.
For this interdisciplinary review article, the authors screened thousands of academic publications and conducted a detailed analysis of 343 documents to draw conclusions on the strengths and gaps in disaster-related academic research in BC. Their findings highlight the specific hazards, academic disciplines, research methodologies, and geographic regions most in focus amongst disaster researchers. Highlights from their findings include:
Highlights
- Earthquakes are the most commonly published-upon hazard type in BC.
- STEM-associated disciplines are predominant in the literature.
- Clear definitions of disaster or resilience are infrequent in the literature.
- Literature hazard and location trends differ from historic BC disaster trends.
- BC policy suggestions are limited despite strong empirical basis to inform them.
The publication contributes valuable insights for disaster and emergency management practitioners, government agencies, policymakers, and researchers into what disaster topics, hazards, or events are well-understood, and where knowledge gaps may exist that limit appropriate risk reduction recommendations.
For a quick overview of the findings, along with interactive literature-finding tools, visit the project page:
Literature review project page
To check out the full article and read all the findings, visit:
Photo collage by DRRN. Photos by CHUTTERSNAP and Shefali Lincoln on Unsplash