Hong Kong Scoping Study

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About

In 2016, to assist the Hong Kong Jockey Club Disaster Preparedness and Response Institute (HKJC DPRI) and other disaster management players in Hong Kong in identifying priority areas for research, training, and partnerships, HKJC DPRI launched a study titled “Disaster Preparedness in Hong Kong – A Scoping Study” to assess the current disaster preparedness situation in Hong Kong.

The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health took the lead in coordination with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the Emergency Medicine Unit at the University of Hong Kong, and the Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC), in undertaking an extensive survey of a whole array of stakeholders in Hong Kong.

Designed as a cross-sectional needs assessment, the Scoping Study included four complementary components:

• Key Stakeholder Interviews
• The Agency-Personnel Survey
• The Healthcare Personnel Survey
• and The Community Survey

The Study included interviews with over 1000 residents of Hong Kong, over 200 first responders and 25 key policymakers. It resulted in recommendations for the disaster response community at large, and the HKJC DPRI in particular. Study findings were shared through a series of policy briefs, conferences, a white paper and an interactive, dynamic data visualization tool aimed at allowing policymakers to query the research findings more easily.

Study Contributors

• Jennifer Leaning, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
• Satchit Balsari, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
• Emily Chan, Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response
• Kai Hsiao, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
• Shraddha Kashyap, University of Western Australia
• Derek Lam, The University of Hong Kong
• Rex Lam, The University of Hong Kong
• Elizabeth Newnham, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights; University of Western Australia
• Kaylie Patrick, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
• Phuong Pham, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
• May Yeung, Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response

Subsequent Case Studies Series

As part of the larger partnership between the Harvard FXB Center, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and DPRI, Doctors Balsari and Leaning developed a series of case-studies that are available to instructors globally upon request.