Facing hazards and disasters : understanding human dimensions

SUMMARY 1 1 INTRODUCTION 11 The Disaster Construct, 13 Thresholds of Disasters, 16 Mainstream Topics of Hazards and Disaster Research, 19 A Conceptual Model of Societal Response to Disaster, 21 Social Science and the Emergence of NEHRP, 26 Key Issues That Are Related to and Inform the Committee’s Charge and Tasks, 28 A Vision of Social Science Contributions to Knowledge and a Safer World, 38 Structure of the Report, 38 2 SOCIETAL CHANGES INFLUENCING THE CONTEXT OF RESEARCH 41 Demographic Shifts, 43 U.S. Economic Conditions and Prosperity in the Post-War Era, 46 Geopolitics at Home and Abroad, 49 The Reactive Nature of Hazards and Disaster Policy, 52 Settlement Patterns and Land Use, 57 Well-Being and Quality of Life, 62 Social Justice and Equity, 64 Technological Change, 67 xii CONTENTS Environmental Change, 69 Conclusions, 70 3 SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH ON HAZARD MITIGATION, EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, AND RECOVERY PREPAREDNESS 71 Further Comments on the Conceptual Model of Societal Response to Disaster, 71 Hazard Vulnerability, 72 Disaster Event Characteristics, 75 Disaster Impacts, 76 Pre-Impact Emergency Management Intervention, 86 Community-Level Emergency Response Preparedness Practices, 95 Community Disaster Recovery Preparedness Practices, 102 Adoption of Hazard Adjustments Within Communities, 104 Recommendations for Research on Pre-Impact Hazard Management, 115 4 RESEARCH ON DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY 124 Research on Disaster Response, 125 Public Response, 131 New Ways of Framing Disaster Management Challenges: Dealing with Complexity and Accommodating Emergence, 142 Economic and Business Impacts and Recovery: The Challenge of Assessing Disaster Losses, 160 Other Disaster Recovery-Related Issues, 168 Research Recommendations, 171 5 INTERDISCIPLINARY HAZARDS AND DISASTER RESEARCH 180 Definitions, 180 Challenges, 183 Factors in Success, 186 Interdisciplinary Trends in Social Science Hazards and Disaster Research, 191 Exemplars and Lessons, 200 Recommendations, 212 6 INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH: CONFRONTING THE CHALLENGES OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 216 Global Patterns in Disaster Risk and Vulnerability, 217 Sustainable Development and Disasters, 220 CONTENTS xiii Coping with Obstacles to Linking Sustainable Development to Disasters, 223 Models of Development and Humanitarian Aid Delivery Systems, 228 Collaborative International Research, 239 Recommendations, 243 7 THE ROLE OF STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODS FOR ENHANCING STUDIES OF HAZARDS AND DISASTERS 248 Doing Hazards and Disaster Research, 250 The Challenges of Post-Disaster Investigations and Increasing Their Value, 254 The Hazards and Disasters Informatics Problem, 259 Relationship of State-of-the-Art Technologies and Methods to Hazards and Disasters Informatics Issues, 269 Recommendations, 282 8 KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION AND APPLICATION 286 Social Science Research on the Utilization of Hazards and Disaster Information, 287 General Insights on Knowledge Dissemination and Application, 290 Vignettes from the Knowledge Delivery System, 293 Interpersonal Contact, 295 Planning and Conceptual Foresight, 298 Outside Consultation on the Change Process, 301 User-Oriented Transformation of Information, 303 Individual and Organizational Championship, 306 User Involvement, 308 Nonadoption of Social Science Knowledge, 309 Disaster Research and Application and Hurricane Katrina, 313 Recommendations, 313 9 THE PRESENT AND FUTURE HAZARDS AND DISASTER RESEARCH WORKFORCE 317 Workforce Structure, 319 Workforce Profile, 322 Work Settings, 328 Designing a Workforce to Meet Future Challenges, 329 Recommendations, 331 Conclusion, 339 xiv CONTENTS REFERENCES 340 APPENDIXES A Acronyms 379 B Recommendations 383 C Committee Biographies 388