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The upward tendency of global disasters and associated losses urgently calls for enhancing disaster education (DE) and professional training. Although postsecondary education institutions (PSEIs) play an essential role in this educational mission, a comprehensive understanding of DE development in PSEIs remains unclear. In response to this knowledge deficit, this article employed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach to explore the current development of DE in PSEIs through reviewing 76 publications from 2011 to 2022 through a mixed-method analysis process (univariate analysis and thematic inquiry). The quantitative analysis outcomes illustrate that the studies were unevenly distributed globally. The qualitative findings demonstrate the following fourfold characteristics of DE in PSEIs: (1) in terms of pedagogical characteristics of DE, there is a call for a radical shift in pedagogical strategies because the conventional teaching approaches are inadequate in tackling the potential risks and emerging hazards; (2) disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives have been integrated into DE, addressing diverse disasters and their differential influences; (3) through community-based partnerships, PSEIs can provide informal and nonformal education to affected individuals and communities; and (4) interconnections between DE and other educational approaches that broadly address global climate change have been recognized, contributing to resilience and sustainability. Based on these outcomes, this study recommends future DE-specific research could focus on (1) exploring potential radical pedagogical approaches to respond to emerging risks and hazards, (2) stimulating cross-disciplinary collaboration to address the full spectrum of disasters' societal impacts, and (3) increasing collaboration between PSEIs and nonacademic organizations to raise grassroots awareness through informal DE. The increasing number of disasters worldwide encourages the development of DE, especially at PSEIs. A nuanced understanding of the DE development in PSEIs will identify the strengths and areas for improvement, better preparing future researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers. Having focused on DE at PSEIs, this literature review examined 76 journal articles published from 2011 to 2022. Disasters are a global issue, and the literature review outcomes show the uneven distribution of DE on a global scale. Although interdisciplinary approaches have been applied to DE in PSEIs to examine disaster's diverse impacts, innovative pedagogies are needed to address the emerging issues associated with extreme events. DE provides community outreach activities to educate and support the individuals and communities hit by disasters. DE also joins other educational missions to contribute to the global issues of climate change, resilience, and sustainability. These findings suggest that future improvement could focus on developing novel pedagogies, enhancing cross-disciplinary collaboration, and promoting community outreach and public education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green social work (GSW) is a nascent framework within the social work field that provides insights regarding social workers' engagement in disaster settings. Although this framework has recently garnered more attention, it remains under-researched and underdeveloped within the context of social work research, education, and practice in Canada and internationally. To further develop GSW in social work education and professional training, we considered how social work students and practitioners can use a learning framework to understand the impact and build their capacities to serve vulnerable and marginalized populations in diverse disaster settings. To do this, we developed a four-step case study approach, as follows: (1) provide detailed background information on the cases, (2) describe how each case is relevant to social work, (3) discuss how each case informs social work practice from a GSW perspective, and (4) provide recommendations for social work practitioners and students using GSW in future disaster-specific efforts. This case study approach centers on natural, technological, and intentional/willful hazards that examine current GSW research–practice engagement in Canada and internationally. Applying this four-step case study approach to three extreme events in Canada and internationally (a natural hazard, a technological hazard, and an intentional/willful hazard) illustrates it as a potential method for social work students and professionals to build their GSW capacities. This will assist in building the resilience of Canadian and international communities—especially those who have been historically marginalized. This article sheds light on how current social work education and professional training should develop new approaches to incorporate the GSW framework into the social work curriculum at large in order to prepare for future extreme events while incorporating environmental and social justice into research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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• Discovery of women's leadership roles as rescuers, decision makers and breadwinners. • Empowering women's leadership will reduce vulnerability and advance resiliency. • Supporting gender equality engagement for communities affected by disasters. • Examination of women's leadership at three post-disaster stages of their lifespans. Community engagement in disaster risk reduction activities assists women to discover and build their capacity for leadership before, during, and after disaster. In the study of the entire process after an extreme event, previous research has been scarce in the examination of women of different ages' capacities of engagement, leadership, and resilience. Developed during 10 years of ongoing research after the Wenchuan earthquake, this paper employs qualitative research methodology that scrutinizes women's leadership at different stages of their lifespans during all the post-disaster stages (emergency rescue, short-term reconstruction, and long-term recovery and mitigation) that took place after the Wenchuan earthquake, in the rural areas of Sichuan Province, China. This paper discovers that (1) during the emergency rescue stage, women became rescuers augmenting and supporting the urgent response; (2) during the short-term reconstruction stage, women served as decision makers guiding the reconstruction of housing and communities; and (3) during the long-term recovery and mitigation stage, many women took on the role of breadwinner, managing the family livelihood and long-term development. From the perspective of built environment, this paper argues that women's leadership in managing existing and obtaining new resources (internal and external), in parallel effort alongside the official missions, not only strengthened the men's dominant aftermath efforts, but also promoted gender equity engagement in post-disaster reconstruction and recovery as well as powerfully advanced resilience capacity at individual, family, and community levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]