Applying the C Model

Kreps (2001) argues ‘disasters are non-routine events in societies that involve conjunctions of physical conditions with social definitions of human harm and social disruption’ (p.3718). Not only the disaster, but also the post-disaster period featured a series of non-routine events in Myanmar in which efficient disaster risk management mechanism was lacking at the time of Cyclone Nargis. To see the events around Cyclone Nargis in 2008 as numerous, non-routine events, a qualitative research method called the ‘C’ model is useful as a guideline. The ‘C’ Model (Quarantelli 1987) was developed by E. L. Quarantelli, the co-founder of the Disaster Research Center

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based at Ohio State University, which is one of the oldest schools in the disaster research field which has encouraged qualitative field study for disaster research. Table 1 shows how the four Cs are defined by the disaster research center (Phillips 2014, p.80):

Table 1 Elements of the C Model

Characteristics What are the features of the individual, organization or community?

Conditions What pre-existing contexts produced physical and social vulnerability? What kinds of social, economic, environment, or political factors influenced how the event unfolded? How did such factors impact the outcomes?

Consequences What are the obvious and less obvious outcomes of the event, interactions, process, or decisions?

Chronology How did the event or process unfold over time?

Source: Phillips (2014, p.80)

The letter ‘C’ represents the four stages of the data processing of the disaster research: Conditions (C1), Characteristics (C2), Consequences (C3) and Chronology/Career (C4). The C Model is useful for unpacking and reorganizing data coming from field research (Phillips 2014). Not only for the data analysis here but also for the writing-up of each chapter of the dissertation, the C Model is applied. As Quarantelli (1987) explains, the four Cs work in sequence: ‘conditions or circumstances which lead to certain characteristics which will have consequences as a result of the career of the phenomenon’ (p.7).

Preparing the discussion points or interview questions by applying C-Model The C Model also gives a guideline for the questionnaire used in the semi-structured interviews with experts, in focus group discussions and in open-ended questions with village leaders. Inquiries to the village leaders started by asking the village historical background that intended to investigate the events in the lifetime of a village including: (1) the emergence of the village in the Delta historical context, (2) relationship between

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the village environment and the people across the time, (3) disaster experiences before and after Nargis Cyclone, (4) socio-economic background of the village and (4) the present day progress and challenges against sustainable livelihood and disaster risk reduction. The following Table 2 is the backbone for both village leader interview and focus group discussion. It shows how the questions can be categorized into the different elements of ‘C’ to delve into information in every phase of the disaster cycle. Table 2 Issues explored with the 4C Model

Conditions (C1) Condition specific to a setting that may influence disaster-related matters

Questions based on the conditions of the pre- Nargis hours

• Situation of the disaster risk management systems at both community level and national level for Cyclone Nargis • The state of the risk communication system

• Political dynamics of the country and their influence on disaster policy-making

• Operation of national disaster management system linking with regional and global-level systems

• Communication and transportation infrastructure in the community as part of the resilience system

• Level of disaster knowledge among community members • Socio-economic conditions in pre-Nargis days

Characteristics (C2) Characteristics that can clearly be ‘informed by empirical observation’.

Questions about the emergency response and the state of survivors

• International humanitarian system and debates on humanitarian intervention

• Search and rescue

• Chances and methods of surviving among the affected communities

• Efficiency of disaster response • The role of social capital in emergency • The effectiveness of relief aid

• Who are the most vulnerable?

• What are the localized assets to reduce vulnerability? Consequences (C3) Intended and unintended outcomes, positive and negative outcomes Questions about the

continuation of life • Loss and damage

• Outcome of humanitarian intervention • Recovery experiences and social capital • The state of the ecosystem

• Restoration of sustainable livelihoods

• The impact of humanitarian aid on the community disaster resilience system

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Chronology (C4) The process of recovery unfolding overtime Questions about disaster

preparedness • Disaster preparedness in terms of knowledge and skill • The efficiency of community-based disaster management

systems

• Risk perceptions across time

• Existing threats to the wellbeing of the community • Capacity to bounce back if hit by disaster

The relationships between different dimensions (people, place, and governance) in the pre-Nargis setting, the emergency, and the post-Nargis setting are examined as shown in different ‘C’ columns of Table 2. Details of questions that is used in focus group discussion is attached in Appendix 2 while the question to village leaders are as shown in the next section of this chapter. These questions were developed within the scope of preset themes organized based on ‘the four Cs’ (Phillips 2014, p.80). It is plausible to say that the C-Model has influenced every step of this research from the beginning to the end of writing the manuscript.