erc - Natural, Technological Disasters & Social Conflicts

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Newsflash

Greco-Turkish Relations

An exploratory study, first presented at the 5^th European Sociological Association Conference in Helsinki (2001) and assessing the impact of the 1999 "twin" earthquakes in Greece and Turkey on Greco-Turkish relations, is now available on this webpage. Press here.

The December 2008 Demonstrations

The essay "Τhe December 2008 Demonstrations and Varieties of Violence: Some Causes and Impacts upon Greek Society"
by Nicholas Petropoulos is published in our website. Click here

"17th of November"

The paper, “A Preliminary Sociological Profile of the Greeks Arrested for Participation in the “17^th of November Revolutionary Organization”, which includes a bibliographic review, a comparative study of terrorist organizations, questions regarding effectiveness of violence in democratic societies and proposals for more in depth research, was first presented at the 6^thConference of the European Sociological Association in Murcia Spain (2003) and is now published in our website after slight revisions. Press here.

From the River to the Sea

Ziyaad Lunat’s paper, “ ‘From the River to the Sea: Humanity will be Free’ – The Dynamics of the New Civil Society in Israel”, first presented at the 9^th Conference of the European Sociological Association in Lisbon ( 2-5.9.2009), during a session organized by the Research Stream on “Chronic Regional Conflicts”, is now published in our webpage. Press here

Beyond "Green Capitalism"

The paper, "Beyond ‘Green Capitalism", that was written by Prof. Victor Wallis and presented at the 6th International Marx & Engels Colloquium, Centro de Estudos Marxistas, University of Campinas (São Paulo), Brazil, November 3-6, 2009, is now published, with the permission of the author, in our website. Click here

The Distomo Slaughter

“An in depth sociological study, “The Distomo Slaughter: Memory, Politics and the Struggle for Closure”, by Nicholas Petropoulos, has been published on our website. Click here for more

The Odyssey of Fyrom's official name

The essay "THE ODYSSEY OF FYROM'S OFFICIAL NAME" by Dr N. Petropoulos, on the “Macedonian Question” is published in our website. Please read more by clicking here

The 1999 Athens Earthquake

For the key findings, with accompanying graphs and tables, of the Greek social survey, “The 1999 Athens Earthquake: Self-Evaluation and Proposals of Agencies for the Organization of Civil Protection”, subsidized by the Earthquake Planning and Protection Organization and implemented by the “Emergencies Research Center” click here.

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The website focuses on disasters and social conflicts, events which are very common in human communities. Disasters are classified into three categories, based on the role of the "human factor", while conflicts are classified into a number of categories in accordance with their phenomenological bases.

In either case, the boundaries among the various categories are not always clearcut. The rationale for the wedding of "disasters" and "social conflicts", aside from both constituting long-term professional interests of the website owner, is that in the final analysis all disasters, whether "natural" or "technological," constitute "social crises" confronted by a social system whose resources for response are not commensurabe to the demands of the "disaster agent".

Post-Disaster Trials

The working paper, “Survivors’ and Relatives’ Perceptions of Justice in Post-Disaster Trials”, by sociologist Nicos Petropoulos, is now available on the website. Based on (a) a selective review of the literature (b) a sample of interviews with survivors and relatives of the victims and (c) court proceedings in three Greek post-disaster trials (“Ricomex”, “Express Samina” and “17N”), the paper analyzes the perceptions of survivors and relatives of victims regarding the trial process (e.g. procedures, verdicts) and concludes with a consideration of alternative resolution mechanisms to reduce potential “secondary disaster” impacts on the survivors and relatives of victims. To download pdf text, press here.

May - December 2009 / 2nd - 3rd issue

The double issue of the “Emergencies Bulletin” for May-December 2009 is now available on the internet. It features:

(1) brief articles and book reviews on the H1N1pandemic in Greece, lessons learned from H1N1 pandemic, the 2007-2009 Greek forest fires, the activities of a Greek seismologist in the European Parliament, the Copenhagen summit and the environment;

(2) an overview of disaster and mass-violence events in Greece during the period under discussion;

(3) a brief presentation of resources (manuals, books, research programs, curricula for peace, international mechanisms for crisis-resolution) for promoting disaster management and conflict transformation; and (4) announcements of relevant upcoming conferences and awards. Press here

The Greek-language version of the Emergencies Bulletin, “O Kindynografos”, for the period May-December 2009, is now available on the internet. The Greek bulletin contains

(a) summaries of the materials dealing with disasters and social conflicts (e.g.τηε pandemic H1N1, forest fires, climate change, drought, nuclear reactor disasters, serial killing, mass suicides due to economic crises, terrorism etc) first published in the Emergencies Bulletin

(b) brief articles on the pandemic H1N1 in Greece, the activities of a Greek Seismologist in EU parliament regarding civil protection and the relevant professional activities of the website publisher and

(c) announcements of forthcoming international conferences, calls for proposals, and nominations for awards pertaining to disasters. To view it press here.

THE "FIRST WAVE" OF H1N1 PANDEMIC IN GREECE

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT ASPECTS

A sociological analysis of the epidemiological and the crisis-management aspects of the “first wave” of the H1N1 pandemic influenza in Greece by Nicholas Petropoulos is now available on the internet. Specifically, the analysis deals with the statistics of infection and deaths up to the end of 2009 as well as with crisis-management issues relating to national plans, diagnosis, hospitalization, vaccination and alternative practices. It concludes with some crucial policy questions and proposals for social research.

Press the pdf icon to download the full analysis

Seismic vulnerability of Greek buildings

The paper focuses on the assessment of seismic vulnerability of buildings addressing all typologies common in Greece, with emphasis on collapse probability, which is directly related to the level of losses (casualties and economic losses). Two different approaches are presented and utilised for estimating collapse probability for the common values of macroseismic intensity (VI to IX), one based entirely on processing of statistical data from past earthquakes in Greece, and one that also makes use of hybrid (analytical+empirical) vulnerability curves; the percentage of population that lives or works in each building type is also estimated. Finally, some first comparisons with similar results from various other countries are presented.

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