bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Childcare Centers and Disaster Preparedness: Lessons from New Zealand
Authors: Fothergill Alice
Published: January 2023

This exploratory study examines disaster preparedness in childcare centers. It was conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand—a small nation at risk to many types of hazards—to understand, ultimately, how best to keep very young children safe in disasters. To add to the discussion of disaster preparedness for childcare centers and children's vulnerability in disasters, the study utilized interviews with childcare center directors and teachers, government employees, and researchers, and carried out observations at childcare centers and at government-sponsored trainings. The themes that were identified in the data are five elements that are key in the process of implementing preparedness measures, namely regulation clarity, communication, leadership, training, and community networks. Factors that hinder or assist childcare center preparedness are discussed.
Promoting Emergency Service Workers’ Resilience: Resources and Coping Strategies
Authors: Gerhold Lars , Kröling Sophie , Sterl Sebastian
Published: January 2023

Emergency service workers are exposed to many stressors during their work that can lead to pressure, strain and other negative consequences. If they recover after traumatic events and do not show long-term negative consequences, this is referred to as resilience. Certain individual, institutional, and social resources and strategies are key factors that influence people's ability to cope successfully. However, those specific resources and coping strategies that can enhance resilience have not yet been studied in detail among emergency service workers, even though they are exposed to various impacts on a daily basis. The present study investigated a total of 774 emergency service workers operating in Germany. It used well-established questionnaires designed to investigate resources, coping styles, and resilience, and multiple linear regression analysis was performed on the responses. The results indicate that emergency service workers are exposed to stressors, especially on the institutional level. However, they possess personal, social, and institutional resources and coping strategies that enhance resilience. Personal resources like self-efficacy and ambiguity tolerance prove to be the strongest predictors of emergency service workers’ resilience. Problem-focused coping is found to increase resilience, whereas emotion-oriented coping seems to be related negatively. Measures that increase resilience should be included in education and training, as is discussed in the practical implications. Training materials such as learning games support the development of ambiguity tolerance and self-efficacy of emergency service personnel while stress tests for organizations enhance the operating capabilities of emergency organizations even.
Traditional Families in Turkey
Authors: Kagitcibasi Cigdem
Published: January 2023

Though disasters, especially earthquakes, floods and landslides, are common in Turkey, policy making, planning and even research have ignored their social-psychological aspects. In this paper an attempt is made to build a hypothetical model for conceptualizing disaster-related coping behavior in traditional society. It is based on individual, familial and social behavior and values, derived from research conducted in Turkey. In this model it is proposed that belief in external control, in fitting with the objective conditions, results in resignation and in the conception of disaster as inevitable. Close-knit family and community ties provide further relief and security in the face of disaster. This primary group solidarity also provides the mechanisms necessary for coping with disaster in the context of underdevelopment where formal social welfare organizations are inadequate.
The Critic's Corner
Authors: Dynes Russell R.
Published: January 2023

The critic's corner is (or brief, unrefereed statements about one or more aspects of disasters, and which have research implications. While some statements are solicited, we would prefer to have them volunteered. Preference will be given to provocative points of view and those which seem to challenge established ways of viewing, thinking and researching disaster phenomena. The point of view expressed is that of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent that of the editors, the journal or the research committee.
Tv Network News Coverage of Three Mile Island: Reporting Disasters as Technological Fables
Authors: Nimmo Dan
Published: January 2023

Nightly network news coverage of the accident at Three Mile Island raised questions about the nature of TV news as well as the capacity of the three major networks to inform viewers during disasters. A key emphasis in TV news is story-telling, especially the weaving of fables. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the content of netework news coverage of TMI reveals differences between networks in techniques of newsgathering and reporting, but even more so in stories told: CBS narrated a tale of responsible political and technological elites, ABC a nightmare of common folk victimized by elites, and NBC a story of resignation and demystification. Coverage of TMI, when compared to network coverage of other crises, suggests that in reporting disasters CBS, ABC, and NBC respectively and consistently construct rhetorical visions of reassurance, threat, and primal assurance.
The Political Matrix of Natural Disasters: Africa and Latin America
Authors: Seitz Steven Thomas , Davis Morris
Published: January 2023

Scarce resources often force governments to make difficult choices in the authoritative allocation of values. Such value decisions are particularly acute in developing countries, where need and demand far exceed government wherewithal. Major structural and political factors, which help explain the response adequacy of developed and developing nations, shed little light on the comparative performance of developing regimes alone. To aid in understanding these latter differences, this article identifies three patterns of authoritative allocation found among the developing countries of Africa and Latin America: ethnic pluralism, corporatism, and egalitarianism. These patterns, in turn, help account for observed variation within developing countries of average number killed, average amount of damage, and average number of victims within the disaster categories of earthquake, flood, epidemic, drought, and storm.
What's the Matter with those People: Rethinking Tmi
Authors: Goldsteen Raymond L. , Schorr John , Goldsteen Karen S.
Published: January 2023

This paper examines the long-term psychological effects of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) on a community situated almost entirely within five miles of the reactor. Data, were collected in October-November, 1979 (Time I) from 391 residents 25 years of age and older and in October-November, 1980 (Time II) from a subsample of these subjects. The findings of the study indicate that: 1) the community can be characterized as distressed at Time I and at Time II; and 2) in general, perceived threat to physical health is more highly associated with distress than personal or demographic characteristics. The relationship of these findings to previous research findings regarding long-term psychosocial effects following other types of disasters is discussed.
Simulation of Post-earthquake Restoration for Lifeline Systems
Authors: Isumi Masanori , Nomura Noriaki , Shibuya Takao
Published: January 2023

To have a national methodology for pre-earthquake planning, a model for predicting the post-earthquake behavior of city lifeline systems was developed. We discussed three factors in the model: structural damage, functional damage, and the restoration process after the earthquake. The restoration process is basically described by a differential equation applicable to a service area represented by a census mesh, and is applied to the lifelines (i.e., supply systems of gas, electric power, and water) of Sendai city in Japan. The model, in addition, indicates the lifeline network properties, and serviceability indices are defined in order to assess the functional damage of each system. In the case of the 1978 Off-myagi earthquake, a computer simulation of the restoration process was carried out by using step by step calculations and the Monte Carlo method. The simulated results, using indices as a function of time, were well in agreement with actual results, which indicates that the model is capable of predicting the restoration process. Through further simulations which varied the restoration strategies of the Emergency Headquarters, we show that the recovery of the gas system is sensitively affected by the strategy used. However, the electric power and the water systems were more influenced by the network properties rather than the strategies used. Our approach can provide useful information in undertaking pre-earthquake countermeasures for city lifeline systems.
Human Response to Disasters
Authors: Mikami Shunji , Ikeda Ken'ichi
Published: January 2023

We first discuss psychological response and coping behavior in disaster situations. We confirm earlier findings that people have a tendency to interpret the signs of danger within their daily context and to underestimate the possibility of a disaster. It is suggested that the repetitive and consistent information would help to induce adaptive responses. The typical coping patterns found were: (1) information gathering behavior, (2) activities closely related to one's family, (3) preventive or protective behaviors, and (4) self protection by moving. We found the following six psychological determinants of coping behavior: (1) recognizing the seriousness of the situation, (2) knowing appropriate behavior for the situation faced, (3) expecting the projected coping response to be feasible, (4) perceiving the cost and reward of acting, (5) feeling of imminence of danger and, (6) the state of emotion of those involved.

In the last part of the article we examine evacuation behavior in particular, based on our surveys in four communities in Japan. The central factors which determine evacuation decisions were: (1) direct perception of threat, (2) exposure to the evacuation advice, (3) factors relating to family, (4) community preparedness, and (5) ’ demographic charactersties. We distinguish three basic phases in the evacuation process, that is, the timing of evacuation, the choice of transportation, and the sheltering activity. Threat conditions, exposure to evacuation advice, and one's location were found to relate to the timing of evacuation. Most people evacuated by car. No consistent pattern was found in the choice of shelters.
Mental Health Implications of Disaster Relocation in the United States: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Garrison Jean L.
Published: January 2023

Relocation following disaster has been assumed by many to be a highly stressful event. This article examines this assumption by reviewing the literature relating to relocation in both disaster and non-disaster settings, focussing on the way in which relocation may be perceived in terms of its impact on the physical environment, economic status, social setting, and psychological domain. In addition, special risk based on age, socioeconomic level and ethnicity is discussed. Finally, implications for research are presented. In general, the literature suggests that perceptions related to housing quality, the sense of home and of belonging, increased indebtedness, availability of social support, other aversive events affecting the individual, and the degree of perceived control are critical variables in determining the mental health outcomes of relocation. Vulnerability to stress reactions following relocation is probably more related to class and ethnicity than to age. Additional research is needed to clarify the ways in which these variables interact.
The Impact of a Natural Disaster on the Division of Labor in Twelve Guatemalan Communities: A Study of Social Change in a Developing Country
Authors: Hoover Greg A. , Bates Frederick L.
Published: January 2023

It has been hypothesized that disasters are a type of “intervention” which affect rates of social change and provide unique opportunities to observe this process by “compressing” it into a shorter time span. This paper utilizes an interrupted time series analysis to determine the effects of an earthquake on the rate and direction of change in the division of labor in twelve Guatemalan communities. The general trend for these communities (both control and experimental) is increasing complexity before the earthquake followed by accelerated growth in complexity after the earthquake. Differences between the experimental and control communities are discussed. It is suggested that the level of complexity may be important as an underlying influence on the response of a population to a disaster. In addition, changes in complexity (which were shown to occur) also warrant further study as possible influences upon these responses.
Comparing Social Movement Participation in Western Europe and the United States: Problems, Uses, and A Proposal for Synthesis
Authors: Tarrow Sidney
Published: January 2023

This paper considers some reasons why there have been few comparisons between European and American social movements. It then considers some of the advantages from a comparative approach, offers examples in which comparative research can help to improve analysis and interpretation, and outlines some problems faced by students of comparative social movements, It then proposes a synthesis of the American “resource mobilization” and European “new social movements” traditions.
Responses to Disaster: A Comparative Study of Indigenous Coping Mechanisms in two Marginal Third World Communities
Authors: Holland Connie J. , VanArsdale Peter W.
Published: January 2023

The social and cultural environments and traditions of two villages–Karang Ploso, Indonesia, and Mayush, Peru-are used to interpret pre- and post-flood responses. Although marginalization may render many Third World populations more vulnerable to potential disasters, case study materials based on these two responses suggest that some victims in these types of villages may better be able to recover from such disasters than many within more developed countries.
Evaluating Chemical Hazards in the Aftermath of the Bhopal Tragedy
Authors: Bogard William
Published: January 2023

This article addresses a number of policy concerns that have arisen in the aftermath of the chemical accident that occurred in Bhopal, India on December 2, 1984. In view of magnitude of that tragedy and its implications for the export of hazardous technologies to the Third World, evaluations of the chemical industry based upon simple extrapolations from past industry performance are inadequate. Future policies undertaken to regulate the industry must explicitly account for the long-term global uncertainties, irreversibilities, catastrophic potentials, and dependencies created by the development of chemical technologies.
Winners and Losers: Some Thoughts about the Political Economy of Disaster
Authors: Scanlon Joseph
Published: January 2023

While it is obvious disasters are negative events causing injury and death, damage and destruction, macro-economic studies show little long-term economic effects from disaster. That is because disasters create both losers and winners and these balance out. Who loses and who wins is not random but a result of public policy decisions. The losers include individuals who are injured, lose their jobs, lose their home and families who lose a wage earner or a place of residence. The winners include individuals who earn extra money because they are involved in emergency response or restoration. They include wage earners and their families. They include some businesses, not others. They include communities which, because of substantial assistance, end up better off because of the disaster. Winners and losers are created by decisions about where to build a dam, who should receive what sort of assistance. This article is not based on new research but on an analysis of existing material. More research needs to be done on the economic effects on individuals and businesses and on communities and of the economic impact of policy decisions.
Longitudinal Changes in Hurricane Hazard Perception
Authors: Cross John A.
Published: January 2023

Hurricane hazard perception data, periodically collected over a twelve year period from the same sample of Lower Florida Keys residents, were analyzed to determine what changes in hazard perception and mitigation behavior had occurred. Contrary to hypotheses that hazard concerns decline with length of residence in hazard zones, overall perceptions that both hurricane winds and flooding are problems facing local residents have increased. Awareness of the hurricane threat remains high, with two-thirds of the residents stating that it is likely that the area will experience a damaging hurricane within the next ten years, even though a major hurricane has not occurred within the area for nearly three decades.
Disaster and the Moral Appraisal of Corporate Actions
Authors: Jackson Michael W. , Janssen Peter
Published: January 2023

Ethics is an aspect of disasters that has yet to receive sustained attention. We concentrate farther on one particular kind of disaster, namely technological disasters. These are disasters that arise from human artifice. Because most technological development rests in the commercial sector, we examine the ethical responsibility of corporations. Following Charles Lindblom, we argue that corporate authorities can be understood as exercising delegated authority. If so, then at least part of their role is to act as if they were public officials. We conceive of delegated authority as a social contract in which society accepts the operation of business on the assumption that business acts in a way that respects rights and maximizes benefits for all concerned. Here we look to John Rawls. One way in which the role of the executive can be ventilated is by adopting a stakeholder frame of reference that recognizes the array of legitimate interest affected by a processing industry. In Lindblom's terms this means accounting for hidden costs. We close with some specific examples of where the ethical obligations of corporations can be discharged with respect to disaster prevention and mitigation.
The Effects of Newspaper Reports on the Public's Response to a Natural Hazard Event
Authors: Seydlitz Ruth , Spencer J. William , Laska Shirley , Triche Elizabeth
Published: January 2023

The literature on environmental hazards suggests that media reports constitute a major source of information upon which people base their responses. However, the effect of media reports on responses is neither direct nor simple. Variables such as prior experience, the responses of others, selectivity in attention, and various characteristics of the content of media reports interact to influence responses. On the basis of the extant literature on media and hazards, we construct a model of the effect of media reports on the public's response to a natural hazard event. We test various hypotheses derived from this model by examining a salt water intrusion in the Mississippi River that affected drinking water in the New Orleans metropolitan area in the summer of 1088. Using time series analysis, we examine the effect of various characteristics of local newspaper stories on bottled water sales throughout the intrusion period. The results suggest that in the absence of personal experience, people are more likely to respond to media reports regardless of personal relevance or seriousness of the consequences of the hazard events reported by the media. When people possess personal experience, they are more selective in their attention and response to media reports. The results also suggest that people use media reports of others’ behaviors as cues to appropriate responses. We discuss the conceptual and methodological implications of these results for future research.
Anticipating Organizational Evacuations: Disaster Planning by Managers of Tourist-Oriented Private Firms
Authors: Drabek Thomas E.
Published: January 2023

Every year thousands of people temporarily relocate prior to the threat of major disasters. Social science research has been applied to enhance the effectiveness of multiorganizational warning systems. Much remains unknown, however. This paper presents findings from the first major study of disaster evacuation planning and decision making behavior by business executives responsible far tourist oriented firms. Two questions are explored: (1) What is the extent of disaster evacuation planning? and (2) What factors account for the variation in these planning initiatives? Data were collected in three communities with large tourist industries through interviews with 65 owners or managers of tourist oriented firms. While a limited degree of planning has occurred, the overall portrait indicated serious shortfalls. Although individual and community characteristics were relevant, organizational qualities accounted for most of the variation in disaster evacuation planning.
Issues in Nursing Home Evacuations
Authors: Muller Vogt Barbara
Published: January 2023

The issue of planning for evacuations of nursing homes and related health care facilities concerns both emergency planners and disaster researchers who cite the lack of empirical data on the problems of special populations during emergency evacuations. Although most evacuations of such facilities are carried out successfully, the effectiveness of an evacuation (as measured by time to evacuate) is limited by certain constraints. This study examines selected organizational characteristics of nursing homes and related health care facilities which experienced either a partial or complete evacuation of their facilities. Among the factors affecting facility evacuations are resources, the type and number of clientele, and community characteristics such as population density. Although the issues are related to general evacuation concerns, the findings suggest that individuals within specialized populations are unlike other victims of disaster with particular needs that require different management strategies to expedite an evacuation efficiently.
Adopting Integrated Emergency Management in the United States: Political and Organizational Challenges
Authors: Sylves Richard T.
Published: January 2023

U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials have promoted the Integrated Emergency Management System (IEMS) since 1981. IEMS has many components intended to serve all levels of government in developing, maintaining, and managing an efficient and cost-effective emergency management capability. This study analyzes the implementation of IEMS, and based upon interviews, and primary and secondary source information, reports what U.S. local emergency managers think of FEMA's IEMS initiative and how far local governments have gone in adopting IEMS. The author concludes that a variety of factors, which are separate from the IEMS concept itself have impeded FEMA's ability to successfully promote local government implementation of the IEMS approach to emergency management, but that IEMS remains an important move away from narrow purpose, single hazard program orientations of the past, to a broader, functional, and multi-hazard method of emergency management.
Toward an Explanation of Mass Care Shelter Use in Evacuations
Authors: Mileti Dennis S. , Soreusen John H. , O'Brien Paul W.
Published: January 2023

The use of overnight shelters during evacuations is a topic of increased societal concern. Existing investigations do not provide an integrated nor consistent explanation. An assessment of existing published data lead us to conclude that many factors suggested by others are not adequate explanations for shelter use, and these include type of hazard, urban versus rural, day versus night and shelter availability publicity. However, socioeconomic status and age of evacuees are consistent explanatory concepts. Further research on this topic is needed.
Initial Behavioral Response to a Rapid Onset Disaster: A Case Study of the October 1, 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake
Authors: Goltz James D. , Russell Lisa A. , Bourque Linda B.
Published: January 2023

This paper examines the immediate response behavior of Los Angeles County residents to the October 1, 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. Drawing on both social science disaster research literature and occupant behavior studies, the authors consider various situational, demographic and socioeconomic variables as potential correlates of actions taken by individuals and families in response to the earthquake which measured 5.9 in magnitude. Survey data were obtained from 690 residents of the county, 191 in a pre-designated high impact area which included the City of Whittier and the immediate area and 499 persons selected at random from the remainder of the county. It was discovered that taking cover in a doorway, hall or under furniture was the modal response for people who were at home or work as was pulling to the side of the road and stopping for those driving on a road or highway. Among those who were at home at 7:42 a.m. when the earthquake struck, fear, the presence and identity of other people and gender were found to be associated with response actions. At work, response behavior was related to fear, ethnicity and the presence of others. The impact of fear on the propensity to take cover both at work and at home appeared to be amplified by several vuriables some of which had no significant bivariate relationship with taking cover. The authors conclude that the findings of this study are consistent with the generalization from the literature that behavior in a rapid onset disaster is controlled, rational and adaptive.
Citizen Participation in Emergency Response Following the Loma Prieta Earthquake
Authors: O'Brien Paul , Mileti Dennis S.
Published: January 2023

Citizen response to the Loma Prieta earthquake emergency was assessed on representative samples from San Francisco and Santa Cruz Counties. Almost everyone in both counties personalized the disaster regardless of the amount of personal damage experienced, and about two-thirds of the public in both counties got involved in some sort of emergency response activity. The amount of mainshock damage experienced had the strongest predictive value for emergency response involvement. Our finding suggest that collective identification may be a necessary but not sufficient cause for collective action in response in disaster.
Disaster Programs as Technology Transfers: The Case of Puerto Rico in the Aftermath of Hurricane Hugo
Authors: Aguirre B. E. , Bush David
Published: January 2023

This paper identifies a set of processes which characterized the organized disaster response to Hurricane Hugo in Puerto Rico. It uses insights generated from the technology transfer literature to compare the relative effectiveness of three disaster mitigation programs in Puerto Rico, and to generalize to the likely difficulties inherent in international disaster mitigation programs emanating from core societies. In Puerto Rico the services of the Weather Service Forecasting Office and the computer model used to evacuate and shelter populations worked well. However, the coastal management program has had mixed success at best. This paper attempts to identify the causes of the differential effectiveness of these three programs by showing the similarities between the WSFO program and the SLOSH computer model and their differences from the coastal management program. It also considers other elements in the disaster response system that did not work as well: sheltering, long term emergency housing, and lifeline protection.
The Experience, Lesson and Reform of China's Disaster Management
Authors: Jingshen Lu , Gangjian Du , Gang Song
Published: January 2023

In the context employed here, disaster management refers to the administrative measures, principles, and policies enforced by governments, armed forces, enterprises, and social groups in the course of disaster prevention, relief and reconstruction. Between 1949–1990, many serious natural disaster occasions have been chronicled in China. The average annual periodicity for selected significant disaster agents is indicative: 5.6 floods; 6 earthquakes greater than Richter magnitude R6; 6.9 tropical windstorms; and 7.5 droughts have been recorded in this 40–year period. Moreover, between 1949–1984 16 000 large forest fires have occurred. Direct annual economic tosses from natural disaster total approximately 50 billion yuan (US $1 billion); arguably indirect losses are much greater. Losses from technological hazards, especially those caused by factory explosions and mining, are also alarming. Earthquake is regarded as the most serious natural hazard, with almost one-third (32.5%) of the territory and 45% of mainland cities located in seismic zones which could result in an R7 earthquake. Twenty-four of the 31 provinces and autonomous regions have experienced earthquakes of R6 or greater. Because China is a country which is frequently impacted by natural hazards, disaster managers have accumulated a wealth of useful experiences and many valuable lessons have been learned, much of which could be useful to other nations. This paper attempts to put those experiences and lessons together, and also assesses the reforms which are taking place in Chinese disaster management.
Aspects of Risk Communication in Two Cultures
Authors: Rogers George O.
Published: January 2023

When people from two distinct cultures attempt to communicate, they often fail to share the fundamental foundation upon which to establish meaningful two-way communication (e.g., language and belief). Risk communication under such circumstances demands special attention; extra effort on the part of people from both cultures to understand and appreciate the risks from a comprehensive perspective that accommodates both sets of interests. This paper examines the communication about risk between the U.S. Army and the native Polynesian cultures in the Pacific Ocean. Specifically, the article analyzes the written record of the proceedings to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 that led up to the shipment of the European Stockpile of unitary chemical weapons to Johnston Atoll that was completed November 1990. The analysis indicates that while both the native cultures and the Army spoke the same language, the U.S. Army and the native cultures failed to communicate about the risks associated with the movement and destruction of weapons. They failed to establish risk communication dialogue, and never established a common framework for effective risk communication. The people involved from all groups did not establish a shared meaning and no dialogue was established to clarify meaning as misunderstandings occurred. This condition contributed to increased distrust, and undermined the credibility of both perspectives.
Communication in Crisis, Communication in Recovery: A Postmodern Commentary on the Exxon Valdez Disaster
Authors: Browning Larry D. , Shetler Judy C.
Published: January 2023

This article is an application of the postmodern characteristics of simultaneity, chaos, unintended consequences, and multiple realities to the Exxon Valdez disaster. After postmodernity is applied to the Exxon Valdez case-study, the changes in contingency planning, prevention, and response that have occurred since 1989, and their implications for the Pacific Rim, are reviewed. The theme of the paper is the use of differences for problem solving in emergencies.
Cultural Diversity in Disasters: Sheltering, Housing, and Long Term Recovery
Authors: Phillips Brenda D.
Published: January 2023

Demographic shifts have put minority groups and the poor at greater risk to disaster during the last decade. Problems of sheltering and housing for these groups occurred following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in Watsonville, California. To mitigate future problems, disaster planners must identify various ethnic groups and other groups in a community. Diversity must be built into the disaster response during the planning stage. Researchers should continue and expand work related to diversity and disaster.
A Test of Situational Communication Theory: Public Response to the 1990 Browning Earthquake Prediction
Authors: Major Ann M.
Published: January 2023

Iben Browning's December 3, 1990, earthquake prediction for the New Madrid fault region provided the setting for examining public response and communication about a disaster warning. Grunig's (1983) situational theory of publics was used to examine respondents’ orientations toward the earthquake problem, that is whether they recognized the problem and whether they felt they could do anything about the problem. Two public opinion surveys, the first conducted during the first week of November 1990, and the follow-up conducted during the last week of February 1991, were analyzed. High problem recognition publics were more likely to have reported involvement with the earthquake issue, to have talked with others about earthquakes, and to have done something to prepare for the earthquake. This study extends situational theory by including a measure of the perceived influence of communication on involvement. In the November 1990 survey, problem-facers and constrained reported that both television and newspaper news and interpersonal discussion influenced their perception of the importance of the earthquake problem, whereas in the February survey, only discussion with others impacted issue involvement. Mass media use and interpersonal discussion do influence how important people perceive a potential disaster to be particularly if those people recognize the disaster as a problem and believe that they can prepare for the disaster.
Are Local Emergency Planning Committees Effective in Developing Community Disaster Preparedness?
Authors: Lindell Michael K.
Published: January 2023

Five years after SARA Title HI set a deadline for communities to establish community emergency plans for releases of toxic chemicals, it appears that many— if not most—jurisdictions have failed to filly comply with the requirements of this legislation. However, there are a number of LEPCs that have made significant progress and, in this regard, SARA Title III compliance is quite comparable to that of other federal hazard mitigation and emergency preparedness programs. Moreover, the planning process mandated by this legislation does provide some significant improvements over previous methods of emergency preparedness. Some of the impediments to the effective performance of Local Emergency Planning Committees are identified and policy and implementation changes to overcome these obstacles are recommended.
Newspaper Reporting of the May 1993 Florence Bomb
Authors: Alexander David
Published: January 2023

On 27 May 1993 a powerful bomb exploded in the center of Florence, Italy, killing five people and doing severe damage to art and architectural treasures, including the Uffizi Gallery and Accademia dei Georgofili. It was the first disaster since the floods of 1966 simultaneously to cause victims and damage the city's cultural heritage. In this study local and international newspaper coverage of the bomb outrage is analyzed and compared with reporting on the 1966 floods. Once again, questions of artistic damage and the safety of tourists occupied the foreign papers while human interest stories dominated the Florentine ones indeed, the English and American newspapers treated the damaged art treasures were almost as if they were human casualties. But since 1966 (and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc) Western news reporting has become depoliticized and dominated by new contexts, such as the pre-eminence of commercialism and, in the case of Italy, the struggle against the mafia. It is concluded that the nature and extent of newspaper coverage of the bomb outrage was determined, not by objective or moral assessments of newsworthiness, but by a mixture of ad hoc considerations and snap assessments of what the readership wanted to learn about.
Guns, Drugs, and Disaster: Cauca/Huila, Colombia, 1994
Authors: Olson Richard Stuart , Prieto Juan Pablo Sarmiento
Published: January 2023

A Richter magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurred near the Nevado del Huila volcano in southwestern Colombia on June 6, 1994, affecting an area both deforested and coincidentally saturated by heavy rains over preceding weeks. The earthquake and resultant landslides and mud flows killed an estimated 656 people and left thousands homeless, most of them non-Spanish speaking Paez and Guambiano. Context is all important, and the disaster response and especially reconstruction planning became rapidly political because the event affected primarily indigenous populations and occurred in a heroin poppy growing area long contested between Colombian national security forces and several guerrilla organizations.
Editor's Introduction
Authors: Quarantelli E. L.
Published: January 2023

We discuss earlier observations and meetings which led us to propose that a special issue of the journal be published on theoretical aspects of disasters, especially on how the term “disaster” ought to be conceptualized. Our basic position is the field cannot develop well as a research enterprise unless there is greater clarity and more consensus about the central concept in the field. We particularly note that there are both old and new classification problems that need to be addressed in asking: What is a disaster?
Disaster and Disaster Areas: Methodological Issues of Definition and Delineation
Authors: Porfiriev Boris N.
Published: January 2023

We present an extensive discussion of the linguistic, conceptual and practical issues in discussing the category of disaster. It is argued that there are two principle orientations or approaches to research, namely, an applied/pragmatic one and a theoretical/conceptual one. These are based on ontological and epistemological grounds, respectively, which serve as the main factors determining the existing differences and variations in the studying and understanding of disasters. The other reason for the variation is the logical and terminological inaccuracy of individual researchers in reasoning on disaster matters. The categories of “ecological disaster” and of “ecological disaster zones” have been selected as critical cases illustrating that issue in the theoretical approach. Also presented is the concept of disaster area as a management objective, and the classification of territories based on the depth of the destructive impact on socioecological systems, and on the types and groups in such territories. Also, briefly discussed within the framework of the pragmatic approach are the principle measures and elements of an organizational system model for mitigating disaster aftermaths.
Modern Disasters as Outrage and Betrayal
Authors: Horlick-Jones Tom
Published: January 2023

The concept of disaster in the modern world has been socially constructed from traditional notions relating to catastrophic events. Disasters in modern societies contain strong elements of a release of repressed existential anxiety, triggered by a perceived betrayal of trust by contemporary institutions. It is speculated that the well-known “disaster myths “ that figure in media and other accounts of disastrous events are elements of a related characterization of disasters as a loss of control of social order.
Gender, Risk, and Disaster
Authors: Fothergill Alice
Published: January 2023

Focusing on gender differences, this article synthesizes the literature on gender, risk, and disasters, and presents a comprehensive view of what is known in this area. Data are limited, yet, by using a nine-stage typology to delineate disaster preparedness, impact, and recovery, noteworthy findings are documented and discussed. The literature reveals a pattern of gender differentiation throughout the disaster process. The differences are largely attributed to childcare responsibilities, poverty, social networks, traditional roles, discrimination, and other issues of gender stratification. The emergent patterns have important implications and recommendations for future directions are offered.
Women and Floods in Bangladesh
Authors: Khondker Habibul Haque
Published: January 2023

This paper examines the consequences of a flood disaster on rural women in northern Bangladesh. Based on fieldwork. it is argued that floods affect rural women more adversely than rural men. Floods destroy the household resources undermining the economic well-being of rural women. Researchers and authorities in charge of rehabilitation have not paid enough attention to the uneven impact of flood disasters on gender groups. Women are rarely involved in the decision-making process regarding disaster response. The lack of participation of women in particular and the local community in general in the planning and execution of counterdisaster plans insure that such issues are not noticed. Bureaucratic disaster respondents to he short term in its scope and fails to link disaster response and rehabilitation with development activities. Various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the rural Bangladesh seem to have closer ties with the local community and a better understanding of the linkage between rehabilitation and development. However, because of the limited scope of their operations and constraints of resources, the influence of these NGOs are not sustainable. The rural women cope on their own. The status quo ante is achieved, a continuation of impoverished existence which makes them vulnerable to the next flooding or other such disasters. Successful counterdisaster strategies need to take gender dimension into account and link crisis response and rehabilitation strategies to development initiatives. This would entail participation of women in counterdisaster plans and assuring the economic well-being of rural women.
How the Exxon Valdez Disaster Changed America's Oil Spill Emergency Management
Authors: Sylves Richard T.
Published: January 2023

The March 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill into Prince William Sound, Alaska, profoundly changed America's oil spill emergency preparedness by compelling enactment of the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 and inducing the oil industry to create the Marine Spill Response Organization. This study discerns both improvements and remaining flaws in the U.S. oil spill emergency preparedness since the Exxon Valdez disaster. Many organizations engaged in oil spill prevention and accident response have improved emergency planning, inspections, accident training and drills, clean-up equipment availability and deployment, and safety programs. Key federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, oil companies, and cooperative spill response groups have made many of these changes. Problems regarding spill liability, availability of rapid-response oil spill clean-up contractors, disputed environmental clean-up methods, slow conversion to double-hulling oil tankers, disputes over when officials should seek oil spill presidential disaster declarations, single vessel ownership dummy companies, and variable state oil shipping rules will continue to cause complications and vulnerabilities.
Night and Day: Mitigation Policymaking in Oakland, California before and after the Loma Prieta Disaster
Authors: Olson Richard Stuart , Olson Robert A. , Gawronski Vincent T.
Published: January 2023

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was a watershed event for all of the communities it affected but perhaps more so for Oakland, California, where it had a fundamental and enduring impact on the decision agenda of city government. This paper explains (1) local government inaction on earthquake safety in Oakland before the disaster and then (2) how and why a political coalition was formed to develop a series of city ordinances to abate the hazard posed by earthquake-damaged buildings as well as by a class of structures (unreinforced masonry) known to be particularly earthquake-vulnerable.
Emergency Medical Workers’ Mass Shooting Incident Stress and Psychological Recovery
Authors: Jenkins Sharon Rae
Published: January 2023

This study was designed to identify 36 emergency medical workers’ most common stress reactions and recovery processes after a heavy-fatality mass shooting incident, and to relate stressors, reactions, and recovery resources to workers’ major symptoms and satisfaction with their role in the incident. Anxiety/worry (28 percent), anger/hostility (22 petcent), sleep disturbances (22 percent), and obsessive-compulsive preoccupations (19 percent) were common in the first week post-event. Coworkers provided the most commonly sought (by 94 percent) and consistently effective social support; counselors were as effective but used by only 50 percent. Victim contact, low helplessness, high social support availability for “anything,” and joking about the incident were related to workers’ satisfaction with the role they played in the incident. Interventions for emergency medical personnel after mass casualty events should target anxiety and hostility symptoms, sleep disturbances, obsessive-compulsive preoccupations, and helpless feelings; encourage global social support, especially among coworkers; provide voluntary counseling; and include family members.
A Half Century of Hazards Dissertation Research in Geography*
Authors: Cross John A.
Published: January 2023

Geographic study of hazards has gained considerable prominence in the fifty years since Gilbert White's Human Adjustment to Floods dissertation was published. Over 130 hazards dissertations have been written in the US. and Canada, and hazards articles have gained greater acceptance in major journals. Although White and several of his students served as advisors for nearly a fifth of these dissertations, most hazards dissertations represent efforts by students whose advisors have neither written nor advised a previous hazards dissertation. The majority of hazards dissertation writers obtain employment in positions where they are unable to advise future hazards dissertation writers, thus the production of the next generation of hazards geographers may be in peril.
Elderly Female-Headed Households in the Disaster Loan Process
Authors: Childers Cheryl D.
Published: January 2023

The purpose of this exploratory research was to compare the income and approval rates of elderly single-female households and other types of households applying for disaster aid. Households from two parishes involved in the flooding in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, in May 1995 who applied for federal loans via the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Teleregistration Center were compared on demographics and outcomes. Data analysis showed that elderly single-female households were over-represented in the population applying to FEMA; two and one half times as likely as other elderly households or non-elderly households to have incomes of $11,000 or lower; and three times less likely than other elderly households to receive a low-interest loan. This study indicates that the current federal low-interest loan program does not adequately address the needs of poor elderly women. Special initiatives are needed that target this population.