Nonetheless, there has been some lasting effect of preparation actions taken in response to Iben Browning's 1990 pseudoscientific earthquake prediction. For all three preparedness actions for which data are available from 1990 through 1997, the 1997 data indicate a higher level of preparedness than was observed in October 1990, two months before the date on which Browning said a damaging earthquake was likely. And the level of preparedness is much higher than was observed in the larger New Madrid region in another survey taken in 1987. This study examines the effect this natural disaster had on perceptions of social relations in the village of Potsdam, a rural community in northern New York State. These two surveys provide a rare opportunity to perform a longitudinal study of the effects of the disaster on social cohesion.
Findings indicate that social cohesion increases in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.
However, one month after the disaster, perceptions of the community return to predisaster levels. This study indicates that there are few lasting effects on social cohesion resulting from a natural disaster. Robert Stallings on Charles Fritz, Disasters and Mental Health , pp.