Session No. 4

Course Title: Theory, Principles and Fundamentals of Hazards, Disasters,
and U.S.

Emergency Management

Session Title: Hazard as Actuality \-- Terms and Typologies

Time: 1 Hour

**Objectives:**

4.1 Introduce and discuss the range of hazard/disaster related
terminology, such as crises,

emergencies, catastrophes and accidents.

4.2 Discuss the ordering of disaster-related terms within linear
typologies.

4.3 Briefly explore the question of whether terminology matters.

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**Scope:** The purpose of this session is to set the stage for the
subsequent sessions on disasters by discussing the range of
disaster-related terminology, how such terms might be linearly
represented in a typology, and the importance of such exercises. The
professor introduces the session by asking the students to think of
terms that present a typology of hazards as events from minor to
extreme. The students then define and rank the terms. Selected
definitions are provided herein for discussion and contrast/comparison.
The professor may choose to distribute a handout to engage the students
in a complementary or alternative exercise in which they are asked to
classify a given list of events. Then, the focus turns to the attempts
that have been made to put disaster-related terms into linear
typologies. The difficulties with this approach are illustrated, and
student opinions are encouraged as to how such determinations can be
made. The professor then introduces the Disaster Research Institute's
typology, which distinguishes between the terms based on the type and
level of community response. Students may be asked to recall a homework
assignment wherein they studied Enrico Quarantelli's differences between
disasters and minor emergencies. Student suggestions of additional
differences are elicited. Finally, the question of whether terminology
matters is explored, with discussion centering around how the context
and meanings of terms have greatly influenced the response to disasters.
The professor concludes the session by pointing out that the students
have just been introduced to the importance of distinctions and that the
following two sessions will continue the discussion.

**Note:** *Please note the typology found on pages 9-10 pulled from
Florida Statute. It is suggested that the Professor contact the State
Office of Emergency Management and seek to determine if there is a
typology unique to your particular state. Students could be assigned to
determine if similar typologies have been codified in their State of
birth or via some other schema that causes a broad net to be cast.*

**Suggested Student Homework Reading Assignment:**

Quarantelli. 1984. *Organizational Behavior in Disasters and
Implications for Disaster*

*Planning*. Emmitsburg, MD: FEMA, National Emergency Training Center,
pp. 4--9.

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#### General Requirements:

PowerPoint slides have been prepared to support this session. The
session is not dependent upon the utilization of these visual aids. They
are provided as a tool that the instructor is free to use as PowerPoints
or overhead transparencies. Students should be referred to the Appendix,
*Selected Emergency Management-Related Terms and Definitions*.

A handout has been prepared for an optional exercise during which the
students are asked classify a listing of events as accidents, attacks,
catastrophes, etc. This exercise may be completed during the session or
provided to the students as a homework assignment, with discussion to
follow, at the professor's discretion.

####  

#### Objective 4.1: Introduce and discuss the range of hazard/disaster related terminology, such as crises, emergencies, catastrophes, and accidents.

**Note:** *You may wish to draw upon the Appendix,* Select Emergency
Management-Related Terms and Definitions*, provided to the students
earlier, for this session.*

*Ask the students if they can think of terms that present a typology of
hazards as events from minor to extreme. You might want to put these on
chart paper or a board. You should get something like this:*

**(Visual Aid 1)**

+---------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| -   Accidents                   | -   Emergencies                    |
|                                 |                                    |
| ```{=html}                      | ```{=html}                         |
| <!-- -->                        | <!-- -->                           |
| ```                             | ```                                |
| -   Mishaps                     | -   Crises                         |
|                                 |                                    |
| ```{=html}                      | ```{=html}                         |
| <!-- -->                        | <!-- -->                           |
| ```                             | ```                                |
| -   Events                      | -   Acts of God                    |
|                                 |                                    |
| ```{=html}                      | ```{=html}                         |
| <!-- -->                        | <!-- -->                           |
| ```                             | ```                                |
| -   Hazards                     | -   Attacks                        |
|                                 |                                    |
| ```{=html}                      | ```{=html}                         |
| <!-- -->                        | <!-- -->                           |
| ```                             | ```                                |
| -   Incidents                   | -   Disasters                      |
|                                 |                                    |
| ```{=html}                      | -   Tragedy                        |
| <!-- -->                        |                                    |
| ```                             | ```{=html}                         |
| -   Socio-Technical             | <!-- -->                           |
|     Failures[^1]                | ```                                |
|                                 | -   Catastrophes and Calamities    |
| ```{=html}                      |                                    |
| <!-- -->                        |                                    |
| ```                             |                                    |
| -   Disturbances                |                                    |
+---------------------------------+------------------------------------+

*Ask for definitions and/or rankings for these terms.*

-   Selected definitions of several of the terms noted above are
    provided herein for discussion and contrast/comparison:

    **(Visual Aid 2)**

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-   **Accident:** An accident is an unexpected or undesirable event,
    especially one causing injury to a small number of individuals
    and/or modest damage to physical structures, e.g., automobile wreck,
    lightning strike at an individual house.

-   **Accident:** "Unintended damaging event, industrial mishap."
    (Nimpuno, 1998)

**(Visual Aid 3)**

-   **Accident:** "The word 'accidental' carries with it the
    connotations of both something that occurs by chance and something
    non-essential or incidental." (Allinson 1993, 15)

**(Visual Aid 4)**

-   **Act of God:** Unavoidable eruption of nature into our lives.

-   **Act of God:** A fatalistic "syndrome whereby individuals feel no
    personal responsibility for hazard response and wish to avoid
    expenditure on risk reduction." (Smith, 1996)

**(Visual Aid 5)**

-   **Crisis:** "...a hard and complicated situation...or a turning
    point---a decisive crucial time/event, or a time of great danger or
    trouble with the possibilities of both good and bad outcomes"
    (Porfiriev 1995, 291-292)

**(Visual Aid 6)**

-   **Emergency:** An unexpected event that places life and/or property
    in danger and requires an immediate response through the use of
    routine community resources and procedures. Each community may have
    several levels of emergency that they use to classify events
    depending on the extent of community resources involved.

**(Visual Aid 7)**

-   **Hazard:** "Hazard refers to an extreme natural event that poses
    risks to human settlements." (Deyle et al. 1998, 121)

**(Visual Aid 8)**

-   **Incident:** An event, accidentally or deliberately caused, which
    requires a response from one or more of the statutory emergency
    response agencies. (Australian *Glossary*, 1996)

**(Visual Aid 9)**

-   **Disaster:** "A serious disruption of the functioning of society,
    causing widespread human, material, or environmental losses which
    exceed the ability of affected society to cope using only its own
    resources." (UN *Glossary*, 1992)

    **Note:** *Other definitions of "disaster" will be noted under the
    more extensive treatment of disaster in Session 6.*

**(Visual Aid 10)**

-   **Tragedy:** "An intensely sad, calamitous, or fatal event or course
    of events: disaster." (Funk and Wagnalls 1996)

**(Visual Aid 11)**

-   **Calamity:** A massive or extreme catastrophic disaster that
    extends over time and space, e.g., the Black Death. (Source unknown)

**(Visual Aid 12)**

-   **Catastrophe:** "...a catastrophe not only disrupts society, but
    may cause a total breakdown in day-to-day functioning. One aspect of
    catastrophes is that most community functions disappear; there is no
    immediate leadership, hospitals may be damaged or destroyed, and the
    damage may be so great and so extensive that survivors have nowhere
    to turn for help (Quarantelli, 1994)."[^2] (Cited in Tobin and
    Montz, 1997, 31)

**(Visual Aid 13)**

-   **Catastrophe:** **"In disaster situations, it is not unusual for
    survivors to seek help from friends and neighbors, but this cannot
    happen in catastrophes**. In a disaster, society continues to
    operate and it is common to see scheduled events continue." (Tobin
    and Montz, 1997, 31.)

    **(Visual Aid 14)**

-   **Catastrophe:** An event in which a society incurs, or is
    threatened to incur, such losses to persons and/or property that the
    entire society is affected and extraordinary resources and skills
    are required.

    **\--** The National Academy of Public Administration in its 1993
    report *Coping With* *Catastrophe*, referred to Hurricane Andrew's
    impact on South Florida as a catastrophe (p. 2).

    **Note:** *A complementary or alternative exercise would be to ask
    the students to classify a listing of events such as found in the
    following list -- are these accidents, attacks, catastrophes,
    crises, disasters, disturbances, emergencies, events, failures,
    incidents, mishaps, etc. A handout is provided for this purpose. You
    may choose either to conduct the exercise during the session or
    assign it as homework, to be discussed later at your discretion.*

-   **Anthrax letters of 2001**

-   **Avalanche in Colorado kills 4 skiers**

-   **Bhopal**

-   **Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant Shutdown, 1975**

    "An electrician was checking for drafts by holding a candle near
    suspect sites, when a draft caught the flame and ignited some
    flammable insulation. The fire spread rapidly through the cable
    systems, requiring that both reactors be scrammed \[shut down\]. It
    destroyed all five ECCS \[Emergency Core Cooling Systems\] of one of
    the units, knocked out 15 percent of capacity of the TVA grid..."
    (Clarfield and Weicek 1984, 377)

-   **Centennial Park bomb explosion,** Olympic Games, Atlanta, 1996, 1
    dead

-   **Collapse of West Virginia's Silver Bridge** in 1967, killing 46

-   **Droughts of 2002**

-   **Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire,** San Juan, PR, 1986, 96 dead

-   **Exxon Valdez,** 1989

-   **Florida freeze** of December 1983\--\$2 billion losses for citrus
    industry

-   **Heat wave,** July 1995, 475 heat-related deaths in Chicago

-   **Hurricane Andrew** and South Florida

-   **Los Angeles/Rodney King Verdict Riots,** 1992

-   **Love Canal**

-   **Mobile Bay, Alabama Fog,** 1995, 100-car wreck, 1 dead

-   **Mount Kilauea in Hawaii** begins spewing gasses and lava in 1983,
    releasing average of 343 million cubic feet of lava per month but no
    deaths

-   **New York City Blackout** of 1977, 25 hours, \$345 million in
    losses

-   **NYC Snowstorm** of 1947, 26 inches in 18 hours, no deaths, \$1-7
    million

-   **9/11 (World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania)**

-   **Northridge Earthquake,** 1994

-   **O'Hare Airport crash of DC-10,** May 1975, 272 deaths

-   **Propane gas explosion,** Humberto Vidal building, San Juan, PR,
    1996, 18 dead

-   **San Francisco Landslide** of January 1982, killing 26

-   **Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion,** 1986

-   **Taft Louisiana evacuation of 17,000 people,** 1982, hazardous
    materials release

-   **Three Mile Island**

-   **Tropical Storm Claudette,** 1979, Texas, no deaths, \$600 million
    losses

-   **Washington, DC-area sniper shootings** of 2002

# 

# Objective 4.2 Discuss the ordering of disaster-related terms within linear typologies.

-   There is a **lack of consensus** within the academic disaster
    research and emergency management communities concerning the words
    to use in describing the actuality of a hazard and how the various
    words used might be linearly expressed.

**(Visual Aid 15)**

-   According to the *Oxford Canadian Dictionary* (1998)

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-   an **"incident"** is considered to be a minor situation;

-   an **"emergency"** a more serious situation;

-   a **"disaster"** a yet more serious situation; and

-   a **"catastrophe"** the most serious situation of all.[^3]

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```
-   This definition seeks to linearly express hazard actuality in terms
    of **subjective** and undefined "**seriousness**," with incidents on
    the lower end of the scale (less serious) and catastrophes on the
    upper end (very serious).

-   However, in the **nuclear power industry** a Three Mile Island type
    of event may be referred to as an **"incident."** While lives were
    not lost due to TMI, most would agree that the matter was not minor.

**(Visual Aid 16)**

-   Nelkin (1981, 153) illustrates "diverse perceptions" in regard to
    Three Mile Island:

    **". . . Was it an accident or an incident? A catastrophe or a
    mishap? A disaster or an event? A technical failure or a simple
    mechanical breakdown?"**

**Note:** *You may want, at this point wish to pick up from the
discussion engendered by the exercise above centered on designating
various historical events by a disaster-related term by asking the
students for their thoughts on how to determine whether an event is an
accident, emergency or a disaster.* *If time permits, you may want to
ask this question again at the end of the session to see if thoughts
have changed.*

# On the "DRC Typology:"

-   Many years ago the Disaster Research Institute when it was still at
    Ohio State University, came up with what has been referred to as the
    "DRC Typology,"[^4] which distinguishes between the terms based on
    the type and level of community response.

**(Visual Aids 17, 18)**

A modified version of this typology is as follows:

-   An **accident** would be a routine event calling forth a response
    from existing emergency organizations and handled in a routine way.

-   An **emergency** would be an event necessitating expansion or
    extension of the operations of existing emergency organizations \--
    such as calling in off-duty personnel or extending into other shifts
    -- i.e. no longer routine. (Quarantelli adds that if an organization
    with latent capabilities, such as the local chapter of the American
    Red Cross, stands-up and responds, one has moved from an accident to
    an emergency (1987, 25).)

-   A **disaster** would be a non-routine event necessitating the
    expansion/extension of operations beyond regular emergency
    organizations.

-   If new groups instead of old organizations become involved, there is
    a **catastrophe.**[^5]

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-   Quarantelli, in the homework reading assignment (1984, 4),
    elaborates on these distinctions by arguing that:

"Disasters have been found to be **qualitatively different** from
smaller emergencies. **A disaster is not simply a large-scale accident
or emergency**." (Emphasis added.)

Quarantelli goes on to argue that:

"...to plan on the basis that there in only a difference of degree
involved, is to

> increase the possibility that a minor emergency will be turned into a
> major disaster."

-   Quarantelli points out four differences between disasters and minor
    emergencies.

**Note:** *In that this was a homework reading assignment, you could ask
the students to recount these differences.*

**(1)** **During disasters, organizations are forced into more and
different kinds of interactions with other groups.**

**(2) During disasters, organizations will lose some of their autonomy
(e.g. direct control over their own functioning).**

**(3) Performance standards may change drastically during disasters.**

**(4) An emergency is often managed by an organization (public or
private) having responsibility or authority to effectuate an emergency
response to deal with the situation, or is managed by local
organizations such as the police and/or fire departments....a disaster
requires mobilization of public community resources and often requires
the preempting of some private rights by public rights.**

**Note:** *You could ask the students if they can think of yet other
differences. In addition, you could ask if the students see any problems
with these distinctions.*

-   One can note that **accidents** can be such things as the
    **Challenger** explosion and the **Exxon Valdez**. Neither of these
    was a routine event. Most would agree that these accidents were
    disasters -- though in different senses of the word.

> Sometimes a term such as "accident" will be used to describe
> causation, whereas the term "disaster" will be applied to the same
> "event" to describe its effects.

-   The **final example of a typology** to be offered here is one found
    in **Florida** legislation -- **Statute 252**, which uses the
    following categories and definitions:

**(Visual Aid 19)**

-   **Emergency:** Any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural,
    technological, or manmade, in war or in peace, which results or may
    result in substantial injury or harm to the population or
    substantial damage to or loss of property.

-   **Minor Disaster:** One that is likely to be within the response
    capabilities of local government and to result in only a minimal
    need for state or federal assistance.

**(Visual Aid 20)**

-   **Major Disaster:** One that will likely exceed local capabilities
    and require a broad range of state and federal assistance.

-   **Catastrophic Disaster:** One that requires massive state and
    federal assistance, including immediate military involvement.
    (Hillsborough County 2001, 14-15)

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-   The Florida typology is a modification of the two discussed earlier.

-   Other variants can be found as well.

```{=html}
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```
-   The point here is that for the foreseeable future when discussing
    such terms it will continue to be important to provide a definition
    or elaboration -- to minimize confusion and enhance understanding.

# Objective 4.3: Briefly explore the question of whether terminology matters.

**Note:** *Point out to the students that historically, the context and
meanings of terms have **greatly influenced the response** to
disasters.*

-   Sometimes, as the next session will note, the meanings we associate
    with terms will have a great impact on what we do to prepare for or
    to mitigate against a potential disaster.

    **Acts of God vs. Man-Made Disasters**

    **(Visual Aid 21)**

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-   Birkland (1997, 2) has written that:

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-   In the event of an **"Act of God,"** (a natural disaster or freak
    accident), we turn our attention toward what we can do to **help the
    victims**.

-   But when the disaster is seen as a result of **human failings**
    (poor design, operator error, "corporate greed," or "government
    neglect"), we focus on either the voluntary **acceptance of
    responsibility or on fixing blame**.

    **Accidents and Tragedies or Disasters?**

```{=html}
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-   Allinson takes issue with the "unavoidable accident thesis"[^6] of
    Charles Perrow by asserting that this belief "becomes a
    **self-fulfilling prophecy**," and leads those who would try to find
    causes of (and thus prevent) disasters to doing nothing, since
    nothing can be done to prevent them, in the end. (Allinson 1993,
    231--232.)

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-   When looking at **corporate disasters,** Allinson found that the use
    of words such as ***"accident"* or *"tragedy"*** had implications
    that go to the heart of the matter of ***responsibility*.**

    **". . . there was a prevalent belief that disasters---or accidents
    or tragedies, as they were more often labeled---could not be
    prevented. This belief was strongly entrenched. . . this belief in
    the inevitability of accidents. . . was based on the complexity of
    technology, the complexity of organizational systems, the
    illimitable domain of human error or various combinations of all
    three."** (Allinson 1993, 1.)

    **(Visual Aid 22)**

    Similarly---

    "The word 'tragedy' summons up in one's mind the **inevitability**
    not only of this event but of other similar events in the past and
    more to follow. **Responsibility can be successfully abrogated with
    the application of the label 'tragedy'**.

    **"One needs to look no further into the cause or causes of this
    event . . . As a tragedy, it was fated to be and the only possible
    response is to accept it (and others of its kind)**.

    ". . . one is **freed** (by thinking of it as a tragedy) **from the
    need to examine the conceptual apparatus that led** to this
    outcome." (Allinson 1993, 14.)

    **(Visual Aid 23)**

    "Whenever an explanation of human error or human actors or, for
    example, pilot error is given to account for a disaster, the
    implication is that one human being or a small group of human beings
    were responsible for the disaster. **Since human error is
    ineliminable, the disaster was unpreventable and manifestly not
    management's responsibility since management can never eliminate the
    occurrence of operator error.**" (Allinson 1993, 7.)

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-   Allinson relates the **abrogation of responsibility** to
    **"scapegoating."**

    **(Visual Aid 24)**

    "Whenever there is a **strong effort to fix blame on a certain
    individual or group. . . we have an instance of what we can call
    'scapegoating.'"** (Allinson 1993, 7.)

    **"Scapegoating is not a means of finding and assigning
    responsibility. It is a means of avoiding finding and assigning true
    responsibility. Wherever one finds the scapegoat mentality at work,
    responsibility has been abrogated, not shouldered."** (Allinson
    1993, 11.)

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-   Allinson maintains that when a single cause is sought, it is natural
    to look for **who is responsible**. If the event is a disaster, the
    effort focuses on **whose fault it is.**

    **(Visual Aid 25)**

> **"Once blame can be assigned, the existence of the disaster will have
> been explained. Finding the guilty party or parties solves the
> disaster 'problem.' Of course it does not. What it does do, however,
> is to create the appearance of a solution, and this appearance of a
> solution cannot assist one in the prevention of further disasters**."
> (Allinson 1993, 10.)

**Note**: *You should note that the foregoing has just been an
introduction to the importance of distinctions to be made among terms
and definitions, and that this discussion will be picked up and
continued in the next two sessions.*

**References**

Allinson, Robert E. 1993. *Global Disasters: Inquiries Into Management
Ethics*. NY: Prentice Hall.

Australian Fire Authorities Council. 1996. *Glossary of Rural Fire
Terminology*. Australia.

Birkland, Thomas A. 1997. *After Disaster: Agenda Setting, Public
Policy, and Focusing Events*. Washington DC: Georgetown University
Press.

Clarfield, Gerald H., and William M. Weicek. 1984. *Nuclear America:
Military and Civilian Nuclear Power in the United States, 1940-1980.*
New York: St. Martin's Press.

Deyle, Robert, Steven French, Robert Olshansky, and Robert Paterson.
1998. "Hazard Assessment: The Factual Basis for Planning and
Mitigation." Chapter Five in *Cooperating with Nature*, Raymond Burby
(ed.). Washington DC: Joseph Henry Press.

Dynes, Russel R. 1989. "Conceptualizing Disaster In Ways Productive For
Social Science Research" (Working Paper #80). Newark, DE: Disaster
Research Center, University of Delaware.

Hillsborough County. 2001. *Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan*.
Downloaded from:
<http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/emer_mgt/CEMP)Final.pdf>

National Academy of Public Administration. 1993. *Coping With
Catastrophe -- Building an Emergency Management System to Meet People's
Needs in Natural and Manmade Disasters*. Washington, DC: NAPA, February.

Nimpuno, Krisno (ed.). 1998. *Disaster Management Glossary*. Delft, The
Netherlands: Disaster and Emergency Reference Center, February.

Pearce, Laurence Dominique Renee. 2000. *An Integrated Approach For
Community Hazard, Impact, Risk and Vulnerability Analysis: HIRV*.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of British Columbia.

Porfiriev, Boris N. 1995. "Disaster and Disaster Areas: Methodological
Issues of Definition and Delineation." *International Journal of Mass
Emergencies and Disasters* (November), Vol. 13, No. 3, 285-304.

Quarantelli, E.L. 1987. "What Should We Study? Questions and Suggestions
for Researchers About the Concept of Disasters." *International Journal
of Mass Emergencies and Disasters* (March), Vol. 5, No. 1, 7-32.

Tierney, Kathleen J, Michael K. Lindell and Ronald W. Perry. 2001.
*Facing the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United
States.* Washington DC: Joseph Henry Press.

Tobin, Graham A. and Burrell E. Montz. 1997. *Natural Hazards:
Explanation and Integration*. New York and London: The Guilford Press.

Toft, B. 1992. "The Failure of Hindsight." *Disaster Prevention and
Management*, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 48-60.

U.N. (United Nations), Department of Humanitarian Affairs. 1992.
*Internationally Agreed Glossary of Basic Terms Related to Disaster
Management* (DNA/93/36), Geneva Switzerland: UN.

[^1]: Term used by B. Toft (1992, 55) to describe industrial accidents
    -- making the point that rarely are such purely technological but
    the interface of social systems (management failures) and machinery.

[^2]: E.L. Quarantelli. *Disaster Stress*. Paper presented at the After
    Everyone Leaves: Preparing for, Managing and Monitoring Mid- and
    Long-Term Effects of Large-Scale Disasters Conference, Minneapolis,
    Minnesota, 1994.

[^3]: Laurence Dominique Renee Pearce. *An Integrated Approach For
    Community Hazard, Impact, Risk and Vulnerability Analysis: HIRV*.
    Excerpt, Doctoral Dissertation, University of British Columbia.
    December 2000.

[^4]: See, for example pp. 9-10 in Russell R. Dynes. 1989.
    "Conceptualizing Disaster In Ways Productive For Social Science
    Research" (Working Paper #80). Newark, DE: Disaster Research Center,
    University of Delaware, and p. 25 in E.L. Quarantelli. 1987. "What
    Should We Study? Questions and Suggestions for Researchers About The
    Concept of Disasters." *International Journal of Mass Emergencies
    and Disasters*, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 7-32, March.

[^5]: Tierney, Lindell and Perry (2001, 9) refer to this as the
    "functionalist" or "systems perspective" of disaster: "That
    formulation, applied initially to organizations experiencing the
    impact of disaster rather than to entire communities or societies,
    characterized a disaster as a situation producing great
    organizational stress. The model argues that this stress occurs
    because sharp and unanticipated demands exceed the capacity of
    organizations to respond. Further, those demands, which may be quite
    unusual for a given organization, threaten central values and thus
    require immediate action."

[^6]: Charles Perrow. *Normal Accidents, Living With High-Risk
    Technologies*. NY: Basic Books, 1984.