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The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a product model that is created from the existing products of a small made‐to‐order furniture company.

The methodology is based on process mapping of the manufacturing of existing and catalogued products and transforming the process maps to operation flow diagrams. Analysis of the diagrams revealed the basis of a product model by sorting large number of parts into two object classes: carcasses and accessories. The production times of these parts were measured by time study methods and populated to a database of standard times. The product model was validated by aggregating the production times for products manufactured over a period and compared against the total available resources.

After validating and adjustments for abnormal circumstances, the product model formed the basis for the development of a production scheduling and control system that assisted the company to achieve 30 per cent productivity improvement.

Made‐to‐order businesses are generally small companies with a large number of product designs that are influenced by customers. Individual customisation of every production order makes it almost impossible to employ traditional standard times data for scheduling and capacity planning.

Since every order and product is different, production planning in a made‐to‐order manufacturing environment is often managed in an ad hoc fashion with little computerised scheduling support. The methodology described in this paper is a practical approach to develop a systematic process that can enable small companies to migrate to a computer aided manufacturing environment without substantial disruption to their normal business.

Over the last few years, impacts of environmental variability on population migration have been an increasing concern over the world. Estimates have suggested that between 25 million and 1 billion people could be displaced by climate change over the next 40 years. Though it is very difficult to delineate the specific drivers behind human migration, an attempt has been made in this chapter to discuss various reported cases across the world and more specifically, India where environment has played a major role in population movement. The chapter begins by outlining important definitions of migration and environmentally induced migration. It focuses on how environmental change and environmental hazards, especially water scarcity, contribute to human migration by exploring the mechanisms through which vulnerability and migration are linked. The process of movement and migration is usually subject to a complex set of push and pull forces, where push forces relate to the source area while pull factors relate to the destination. Emphasizing water scarcity as one of the prime push factors behind migration, various instances of population movement have been discussed from various parts of India. Understanding the importance of migration in development of a sustainable society, the chapter identifies various gaps that need to be addressed, which, in turn, will help in incorporating environment-induced migration into the decision-making process.

Purpose – This chapter provides an overview to the challenges of policing both natural and man-made disasters. Questions surrounding police preparedness to respond to large-scale disasters as well as the causes of failure are likely one of the single biggest system threats faced by police today.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter starts out with a short discussion about the important impact the 9/11 attacks as well as both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had on policing in the United States. The materials presented also provide a conceptual framework for understanding the meaning of “disasters,” as well as making sense of the effectiveness of the police response. Finally, this chapter provides an overview of the role of police in disasters, and more importantly, their role in “creating order out of chaos” (Punch & Markham, 2000).

Findings – After more than 10 years of substantial attention to problems associated with responses to natural and man-made disasters, significant barriers remain in the level of communication and coordination among first responders. These barriers are best understood as cultural and not technical in nature.

Originality/value of paper – The conceptual role of police in both pre-disaster planning and post-disaster responses has been largely ignored in the literature. This chapter provides a strong framework for conceptualizing these roles. We argue that police, as core members of the first responder system, must continue to break down cultural barriers that diminish their capacities to effectively serve communities in the wake of disasters.

Purpose – The author examines how perceived risk, criminal victimization, and community integration affect the mental health of hurricane evacuees. His objectives are (1) to examine how perceived risk and victimization influence mental health in post-disaster contexts, (2) to analyze how social support and community integration mediate the effects of perceived risk and victimization, and (3) to expand the theoretical applicability of the stress process model by analyzing perceived risk and victimization as stressors under disaster conditions.

Design/methodology/approach – The author uses survey data collected from 303 evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita residing in FEMA trailer park communities in Louisiana. He estimates four nested regression models predicting depression and anxiety.

Findings – As a personal judgment of perceived risk, feeling unsafe consistently harms mental health net of residential instability and victimization. Social support and social integration buffer the stress related to personal judgments of perceived risk and residential instability.

Originality/value of paper – Findings necessitate attention to residential stability, social integration, and community involvement in mitigating perceived risk, victimization, and poor mental health in post-disaster communities.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a call to action to use a new theoretical framework for disaster researchers that focuses on using a critical approach to understanding differential disaster impacts due to systemic racism.

Using critical race theory (CRT) and Black Sociology, theoretical and disciplinary frameworks that center Black people and NBPOC as well as a focus in dismantling systemic racism and other oppressive systems, this article calls for a new approach – “disaster racism” – that builds on past discussions for a more nuanced theoretical approach to disaster studies.

Alongside CRT and Black Sociology, this study identifies two examples of the oppressive systems that create disparate impacts to disaster including slavery and the legacy of slavery and mass incarceration.

“Disaster racism” – a critically focused approach – should be used in the future rather than social vulnerability to further dismantle oppressive systems and institutions, which not only provides strong theoretical backing to research but also creates an actively anti-racist research agenda in the discipline of sociology of disaster.

The purpose of this paper is to view the human experiences of the Canterbury earthquakes through a varied set of disciplinary lenses in order to give voice to those who experienced the trauma of the earthquakes, especially groups whose voices might not otherwise be heard.

The research designs represented in this special issue and discussed in this introductory paper cover the spectrum from open-ended qualitative approaches to quantitative survey design. Data gathering methods included video and audio interviews, observations, document analysis and questionnaires. Data were analysed using thematic, linguistic and statistical tools.

The themes discussed in this introductory paper highlight that the Canterbury response and recovery sequence follows similar phases established in other settings such as Hurricane Katrina and the Australian bushfires. The bonding role of community networks was shown to be important, as was the ability to adapt formal and informal leadership to manage crisis situations. Finally, the authors reinforce the important protocols to follow when researching in sensitive contexts.

The introductory paper only discusses the articles in this special issue but it is important to acknowledge that there are other groups whose stories were not shared due to logistical limitations.

This introductory paper sets the scene for the articles that follow by outlining the importance of the human stories of the Canterbury earthquakes, through the eyes of particular groups, for example, medical staff, schools, women, children and refugees. The approach of viewing the experience through different community voices and disciplinary lenses is novel and significant. The lessons that are shared will inform future disaster preparedness, response and recovery policy and planning.

Purpose – In this chapter, we expand the definition of disaster through combining the tenets of disaster studies with the literature on risks and consequences of war and conflict-related displacement and dislocation, with a focus on the challenges that drug misuse and changing drug markets present in these contexts. We conclude with policy recommendations for successful community rebuilding with relation to drugs and drug markets following various forms of disaster, gleaned from the combination of these areas of inquiry.

Design/methodology/approach – We discuss the concepts of risk, social vulnerability, and consequences as related to traditional conceptualizations of disaster, and highlight how they can also be applied to the study of veterans returning from war. We focus the on the similarities related to drugs and drug markets.

Findings – Overall, the similar vulnerabilities, potential for trauma, and drug-related consequences experienced by both disaster survivors and veterans suggest that the experience of war and return from such an event could be considered a disaster and analyzed as such.

Originality/value of power – Few scholars have examined how to expand the definition of a disaster and what is examined in the field of disaster studies. This chapter does this by examining how war could be analyzed as a disaster. It demonstrates the parallels between war and traditional disaster.