This paper describes the evacuation of the population of Cancun, Mexico, during Hurricane Gilbert and identifies some of
the correlates of their evacuation behavior. The information was collected during a post-disaster visit conducted one
week after impact (September 13, 1988) and as part of a survey a year later of a random sample of 431 persons 18 years old
and older who resided in Cancun at the time of the disaster. The majority of the evacuees found shelter in the homes
of friends, neighbors, and relatives and were gone from their homes a week or less. Socioeconomic status (SES) and
higher numbers of family contacts did not increase the probability of evacuation. The environmental context and
physical characteristics of residences are significant variables impacting on the perceptions of risk and on subsequent
evacuation behavior. (AA)
The recently completed meetings of the International Research Committee on Disasters (IRCD) in Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia, coinciding with the activities of the committee during the meetings of the International Sociological Association (ISA), are without doubt the most successful meetings in the history of the committee. Their success can be traced to the superb organizational work of Andrew Coghlan and Joe Scanlon, the extraordinary hospitality and good will of Emergency Management Australia (EMA) and the EMA Institute, and the general intellectual cordiality and openness of the participants. The participants were from many walks of life, from private practice, national emergency management and international agencies, and from universities and research centers on various continents. Each in her or his way contributed to the luster of the proceedings. This special issue of the IJMED reflects the intent of the workshop, a sharing of Australian and other research, and occurs in conjunction with a parallel special issue of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management now under preparation. It is not meant to be all inclusive of the scholarship present during the meetings, for the papers underwent peer reviews and some of the initial presentations could not be rewritten by their authors in time for their inclusion in this special issue; others have been accepted for publication elsewhere. There is a varying degree of thematic continuity among the five articles that make up this special issue, captured by three underlying themes. The first two articles, by Gabriel and by Buckle and his associates, explore disaster management issues in Australia and the innovations that are taking place in Australian thinking about disasters, in what constitutes an enviable perspective if compared to other countries’ efforts to mitigate disaster losses. A third article, by Handmer, also uses material from Australia to examine with exceeding rigor and discernment the complexities of disaster loss estimation practices. The final two articles, by Norman and Cole and by Scanlon, explore, respectively, emergency management issues in England and Wales and in Canada in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The article offers a criticism of the point of view that disaster programs in Cuba should be emulated by other
countries. It shows the relationship that exists between disaster vulnerability and resilience, to shed light on the
promises as well as the problems of using Cuba as a model to emulate in social development. Cuba has an excellent
record when it comes to disaster preparedness and response involving warning and evacuation, in which governmental control
of the population is used very effectively to minimize the potential morbidity and mortality of hurricanes and tropical
storms. It nevertheless has a very poor record in dealing with disaster reconstruction, recovery, and mitigation as
well as with solving slow onset chronic problems and vulnerabilities of the population. (AA)
This paper identifies a set of processes which characterized the organized 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. (AA)
This paper uses the National Severe Storms Forecast Center’s information on 31,969 tornado segments occurring in the continental U.S. during the 1950-1990 period, and ecological information from the U.S. Census on all counties experiencing tornadoes during this period to model the occurrence of weak tornadoes which are most likely to go unreported. The relative complexity of the demographic pattern of counties is insignificantly related to the proportion of counties with weak storms. Metropolitan and other urban counties do not have higher odds of weak tornadoes than rural counties. Inferentially, these results fail to support the prevailing interpretation in the scientific literature of the existence of a noncausal relationship between the frequency of tornado occurrence and demographic complexity of places. An alternative interpretation is suggested. (AA)
The Guadalajara gasoline explosion of 22 April 1992 is examined to show the importance of social organization in search and rescue activities. Interviews were conducted with forty-three victims that had been buried alive by the explosion and twenty-two volunteers who had participated in the direct rescue phase. They reported on their experiences during SAR and those victims and rescuers near them. Most of the people that were rescued alive were rescued by these volunteers. Volunteers’ social identities in peer groups, extended families, the neighborhood, and the Catholic Church structured their search and rescue activities. Chances of people surviving the blast were directly proportional to the presence among searchers of a person or persons who cared for the victim and who knew the victim’s likely location. The behavior of the victims was marked by the continuation of pre-existing motivational, normative, and value orientations. Victims acted co-operatively during entrapment. Most of the living victims were rescued during the first two hours after the explosion. (AA)
This article concerns mass reaction to a violent earthquake in the eastern part of Naples Province, southern Italy. Patterns of perception and mass behavior are reconstructed from the testimonies of a group of local high school students and from the author’s personal experience of the event. This information shows that the perception, and therefore the reaction, of people differed according to age group, older people being by virtue of experience the first to realize that an earthquake was happening. Flight behavior was the prevalent first reaction to the tremors, and fear of being indoors rapidly developed. During the early stages of the emergency panic, defined as non-rational imperative behavior, was common, and people were injured as a result. Family ties, however, remained an important influence upon behavior, although they did not impede flight. The findings of this study generally confirm previous literature on mass reactions to earthquake events, except that anxiety, panic, and flight appear to have been more widespread, and preparedness less common, than in many other cases that sociologists have studied. (AA)
On 27 May 1993 a powerful bomb exploded in the center of Florence, Italy, killing five people in doing severe damage to art and architectural treasures, including the Uffizzi Galery 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 occupy the foreign papers while human interest stories dominated the Florentine ones. Indeed, the English and American newspapers treated the damaged art treasures 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 preeminence 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 what to learn about. (AA)
In developing countries vulnerable to natural disasters, disaster planning is being encouraged and facilitated by donors. This is done in order to promote self-reliance as well as to mitigate the effects of disasters and lessen the need for a high degree of external emergency response assistance. This paper examines the development of disaster plans among the Southwest Pacific Island countries and pays particular attention to Vanuatu as a case study. The example used is the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu’s Disaster Guideline, which was written without direct external input. An examination of the history of Vanuatu and the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu points to the cultural significance of symbols. It is argued that, rather than promoting self-reliance, disaster planning has fostered a dependency relationship between donors and recipients in the Pacific Islands, albeit in a different form than during the period of colonial domination. The tendency to impose First World disaster planning strategies without significant regard for indigenous cultures has led to counter-disaster products, such as disaster plans, being regarded more as symbols than as practical tools. It is argued that in order for disaster planning to become more than just symbolic, donors and their disaster managers must be prepared to adapt their programs to local conditions, involve the indigenous people in all steps of disaster planning, and commit themselves to long-term programs. (AA)
Significant progress has been made in the social science disaster research
field since its inception several decades ago. Despite the advances in
knowledge, important areas of research have been seriously understudied,
including the impact of hazards and disasters on children and youths. In this
paper, it is argued that such knowledge is needed to deepen our understanding
of the impacts of disasters on society and to provide a firmer basis for
disaster management policy and practice. It is suggested that children
should be brought into clearer focus in the disaster research field through
studies, particularly those of a comparative nature, that consider (1)
children’s vulnerability and the outcomes they experience because of
their youth, (2) actions taken by the adult society to reduce the
vulnerability of children, and (3) actions children and youths undertake for
themselves and others to reduce disaster impacts. (AA)
This study examined the relationships among perceived stakeholder characteristics, risk perceptions, respondent
characteristics, and self-reported adoption of 16 seismic hazard adjustments by residents in areas of high and medium
seismic risk. Seven stakeholder types, ranging from the federal government to the respondents themselves, were rated
on three characteristics-seismic hazard knowledge, trustworthiness, and responsibility for taking action to protect
households. Respondents rated their hazard knowledge as higher than that of peers, indicating optimistic
bias. However, they also rated their hazard knowledge as lower than that of authorities and the news media-confirming
that there are limits to optimistic bias. Partial correlation analyses indicated that perceived stakeholder
characteristics influenced hazard adjustment by both central and peripheral routes to behavioral change.
Paradoxically, respondents' adoption of hazard adjustments was more strongly correlated with the perceived characteristics
of peers, even though these were rated lower on hazard knowledge, trustworthiness, and protection
responsibility. Although the effects were marginally significant, perceived stakeholder characteristics were related
to respondents' characteristics (location, gender, and ethnicity). This suggests risk communicators should consider
tailoring their choice of sources as well as the content of their messages to different audience segments. (AA)
This paper explores perceived effects of the mass media called the "third-person" effect. This position argues that while the mass media do not have strong and important effects on "you" or "me," they do have important, and probably direct, effects on "them," most other people. The prediction of a Richter 6.0+ earthquake for the New Madrid Fault on or about December 3, 1990, provided an opportunity to study public opinion, information sources, and perceptions of media effects about a natural disaster. Belief in the earthquake prediction, perceived importance of and thinking about the problem were negatively related to the third-person effect. Attribution of media effects on others was also negatively related to the use of newspapers and radio, but television was an important source; those who attributed third-person effects also thought there was too much news about prediction, and "most others" were thought to believe the prediction. (AA)
The "cry wolf" hypothesis argues that individuals who have experienced predictions of disasters that do not materialize will discount the validity of subsequent disaster warnings. This belief in the false alarm effect is widely mentioned in the disaster literature, and anecdotal material appears to support the validity of the hypothesis. This study of a false earthquake warning supports experimental findings indicating that cancellation of a disaster warning leads to a false alarm effect. Following cancellation of the threat by the non-appearance of the predicted earthquake, 46.7 percent of the panel respondents indicated that they would pay less attention whereas only 16.7 percent said that they would pay more attention to a future earthquake prediction. The panel data also suggest that the mass media were substantial contributors to the observed false alarm effect, while at the same time the media escaped blame for their contributions to the problem. (AA)
Bahk, C. Mo and Kurt Neuwirth, "Impact of Movie Depictions of Volcanic Disaster on Risk Perception and Judgements," Vol. 18, No. 1 (March 2000): 65-84.
This study examines how movie depictions of a volcanic disaster influence viewers’ perception and judgments
concerning disaster-related experiences. A total of 162 college students watched one of three video clips: (1) the movie Volcano—a portrayal of a volcanic disaster taking place in the city of Los Angeles; (2) the documentary National Geographic’s Volcano; and (3) an instructional video on gardening (control). Subjects then filled out a questionnaire that measures their perception of victimization risk, victimization apprehension, problem seriousness, and risk locus of control (RLOC). As for those who watched the movie, message involvement, perceived realism, and role attractiveness were measured as mediator variables. Overall, the results reveal that subjects in the volcanic movie (drama) and documentary conditions exhibited higher levels of fear and worry about falling victim to a volcanic disaster than did subjects in the control condition. For subjects in the drama condition, perceived realism of the presentation and role attractiveness of the characters increased the level of fear about volcanic disasters and induced heightened estimates of volcanic risk victimization. Further, increased role attractiveness was associated with greater levels of external risk locus of control. (AA)
Bailey, Kenneth D., "Taxonomy and Disaster: Prospects and Problems," Vol. 7, No. 3 (November 1989): 419-431.
Despite some problems, which generally plague all of social research, taxonomy promises large benefits for disaster research. It not only aids in cataloguing, comparison, and research genesis (in its theoretical mode), but also shows similarity, thus facilitating explanation and prediction (in its conjoint mode). Its empirical mode is conducive to computer-aided generation of taxonomies, what might be termed grounded taxonomy. Typological analysis is amazingly complementary to other forms of analysis. Constructing typologies generally does not preclude other analyses, and is generally not particularly expensive nor time-consuming relative to other methods. Rather than being an expensive luxury, typological analysis of disasters is instead a valuable foundation and complement for other forms of analysis, and this valuable tool should not be neglected. (Edited Author Conclusion)
Baker, Earl J., "Hurricane Evacuation Behavior," Vol. 9, No. 2, (August 1991): 287-310.
Researchers have conducted sample surveys following at least twelve hurricanes from 1961 through 1989 in almost every state from Texas through Massachusetts. The resulting database is larger than that for any other hazard and many generations are feasible concerning factors accounting for variation in response to hurricane threats. Risk area and actions by public officials are the most important variables affecting public response. When public officials are aggressive in issuing evacuation notices and disseminate the messages effectively, over 90 percent of the residents of high-risk barrier islands and open coasts evacuate. People hearing, or believing they hear, official evacuation advisories or orders are more than twice as likely to leave in most locations. A greater percentage of mobile home dwellers evacuate than occupants of other housing, especially in moderate-risk and low-risk areas. General knowledge about hurricanes and hurricane safety is weakly related or unrelated to evacuation, but belief that one’s own home is subject to flooding is strongly associated with whether the occupant leaves. Length of residence in hurricane prone areas and hurricane experience are not good predictors of response. The great majority of people who evacuate unnecessarily in one hurricane will still leave in future threats. (AA)
Baldwin, Tamara K., "Earthquake Awareness in Southeast Missouri: A Study in Pluralistic Ignorance," Vol. 11, No. 3 (November 1993): 351-363.
The events and developments leading up to December 3, 1990, created a climate conducive to the study of public opinion about Browning’s prediction of an earthquake. This topic provides an avenue through which to examine pluralistic ignorance, or the shared, erroneous cognitive believes of an aggregate about the ideas, beliefs, and actions of others. This study focuses on the degree to which members of the public accurately perceived the beliefs of others regarding the Browning prediction. This study explores to what degree pluralistic ignorance existed among residents of the Southeast Missouri area on this topic and seeks to identify certain conditions of pluralistic ignorance which other studies of this phenomenon have described. (Modified author introduction)
Bankoff, Greg, "Vulnerability as a Measure of Change in Society," Vol. 21, No. 2 (August 2003): 50–30.
Assessing risk and evaluating crises—be they financial, social, political or environmental—have come increasingly to preoccupy the interests and concerns of analysts around the globe. In developed countries or what until recently was usually referred to as the First World, such considerations involve the reconceptualization of postindustrial societies as ones in which the rise of “manufactured uncertainties” have undermined the state’s established safety systems and its conventional calculus of security. Yet to the billions of humanity who continue to live in less developed countries of the Third and Fourth Worlds and whose peoples still have faith in the benefits of development or have seen that promise come and go in a single lifetime, these finer considerations of risk seem less important. The threats posed by dumping industrial wastes, unsafe chemical production and the pollution of air and water, though real and graphically manifest on occasion, often pale in comparison to the daily risks posed by natural hazards and human-induced calamities that recent decades have only intensified. Rather than the "risk society" proposed by Ulrich Beck and others (1992), it is the need to understand the historical evolution of vulnerability and the degree to which different social classes are differently placed at risk that require more urgent consideration for most communities. (AA)
Bankoff, Greg, "Time is of the Essence: Disasters, Vulnerability and History," Vol. 22, No. 3 (November 2004): 23-42.
As an historian whose interests lie in both contemporary disaster practice as well the historical roots of vulnerability, I have become increasingly intrigued by the manner in which the proponents of these two 'fields' approach the question of time in relation to disasters. Needless to say these actors regard it very differently. Social scientists (and here I include mainly sociologists, anthropologists and human geographers) largely pay lip service to its importance, at best mentioning its relevance en passant but giving historical analysis and specific historical example little real consideration in the greater scheme of things. At the same time, though, they place inordinate emphasis on the importance of 'process' as the basis upon which their understanding of what turns a natural hazard into a disaster depends. The concept of vulnerability is proposed as the key to understanding how social systems generate unequal exposure to risk by making some people more prone to disaster than others, a condition that is largely a function of the power relations operative in each society. Vulnerability to historians, on the other hand, is not even really a conceptual term and, when used at all, usually indicates a state of being not a condition derivative of historical processes. Above all, disasters are primarily ‘events’ caused by a combination of seismological, meteorological or epidemiological agents (occasionally war is seen in this context as well) that have certain detrimental physical and socioeconomic consequences. At their most extreme, they may even cause the downfall of societies. However, they are rarely integrated into any wider theoretical perspective. Though both social scientists and historians may talk about disasters, they are not necessarily talking about the same thing: the one sees disasters as primarily a historical process (or processes set within recent temporal parameters), the other as non-sequential historical events. This is unfortunate because primarily disasters are both historical processes and sequential events. If this assertion sounds rather convoluted, I trust the following discussion will make the distinction somewhat clearer though no amount of clarification is really sufficient to adequately address this question. Instead, I intend what I say more as 'a line of thinking in progress' than 'a work in progress.' (AA)
Barlow, Hugh D., "Safety Officer Accounts of Earthquake Preparedness at Riverside Industrial Sites," Vol. 11, No. 3 (November 1993): 421-435.
The Iben Browning pseudoscientific forecast of a major earthquake in the New Madrid seismic zone around December 3, 1990, provoked considerable talk and some concern around the Midwest, especially in the St. Louis area. Much local media attention focused on the state of earthquake preparedness in the area, and a proactive approach to preparedness was advocated for residents and businesses alike. This paper describes the state of earthquake preparedness among 20 older industrial plants located along the banks of the Mississippi River as reported by plant safety officers. While most safety officers were skeptical of Browning’s forecast, most also believed that a major earthquake would hit the St. Louis area in the not too distant future. Nevertheless, earthquake preparedness was minimal or nonexistent at most of the plants, and a follow-up survey two years later showed little change in this state of affairs. Also unchanged was the striking lack of communication between these businesses and emergency management officials. These and other findings are discussed in light of proactive earthquake mitigation efforts. (AA)
Barlow, Hugh D., see Farley, John E., Hugh D. Barlow, Marvin S. Finkelstein, and Larry Riley.
Barnett, Jon, see Ellemor, Heidi and Jon Barnett.
Bartlett, Glen S., Peter S. Houts, Linda K. Byrnes, and Robert W. Miller, "The Near Disaster at Three Mile Island," Vol. 1, No. 1 (March 1983): 19-42.
On March 29, 1979, a serious reactor accident occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (USA). Pregnant women and families with pre-school age children were asked to evacuate a five mile area around the plant. Evacuation plans were developed for a twenty mile radius, although no such evacuation occurred. Telephone surveys of adults and a questionnaire survey of high school students living near Three Mile Island were carried out from May 1979 to January 1980. The data collected show that living near the plant (absolute or perceived proximity), younger age and lower grade level of the adolescent respondent, presence of pre-school age child in the home, lower parent’s or adult’s education, and evacuation of all or part of the family were all associated with a stronger negative affective response to the accident and with the likelihood of having evacuated the area. The behavior of individuals and families following the Three Mile Island accident parallel those occurring in an actual disaster, and extend the theoretical framework of Kinston and Rosser to include the circumstances of potential disasters. (AA)
Barton, Allen H., "Comment on 'Can Sustainable Development Sustain Us?'," Vol. 20,
No. 2 (August 2002): 127-130.
Bates, Frederick L. and Walter Gillis Peacock, "Long Term Recovery," Vol. 7, No. 3 (November 1989): 349-365.
A discussion of recovery following a disaster cannot be isolated from a general conceptual overview of disasters as a specific type of phenomenon. In particular, how the term disaster is defined is of crucial importance because recovery itself must be viewed against a set of definitional assumptions. The questions, "Recovery from what?" and "Recovery of what?" must be answered before we can even start a sensible discussion of the process of adaptive reordering which follows a disaster. Furthermore, the definition of the term disaster employed in discussing recovery must be such that answers to these questions flow directly and unambiguously from it. This paper must, therefore, begin by taking a position with respect to the definition of the term disaster, one which is compatible with the study of recovery. The search for a definition will assume, for obvious reasons, that any event which does not require a recovery process is by definition not a disaster. (Edited Author Introduction)
Bates, Frederick L., Walter Gillis Peacock, and others, "Measuring Disaster Impact on Household Living Conditions: The Domestic Assets Approach," Vol. 10, No. 1 (March 1992): 133-160.
Disaster researchers need to develop a standardized battery of measurement instruments of key variables determined to be important in assessing disaster impact and recovery. Such a toolkit is critical for ensuring a quick and rapid response of researchers and will facilitate research comparability. This paper introduced one such measure, the domestic assets index, which is designed to assess levels and changes in household living conditions. Also discussed are the theory behind the measure, its utility for disaster research, and the measure’s reliability and validity using data collected in six sample communities located in the United States, Italy, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Turkey, and Peru. (AA)
Bates, Frederick L., see Hoover, Greg A., and Frederick L. Bates.
Bates, Frederick L., see Peacock, Walter Gillis, Charles D. Killian, and Frederick L. Bates.
Beatley, Timothy, "Towards a Moral Philosophy of Natural Disaster Mitigation," Vol. 7, No. 1 (March 1989): 5-32.
While there is often considerable discussion about the effectiveness, political feasibility, legality, and other aspects of natural disaster mitigation, moral and ethical dimensions are usually overlooked. This paper argues that the disaster planning community should begin to explicitly consider the moral foundations of public natural disaster mitigation policy. At the most basic level the key question arises: what is the extent of government’s moral obligation to protect people and property from natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes? While no definitive theory or position is put forth here, the author identifies several possible bases or elements of such a moral theory of mitigation. Among the moral criteria considered are: utilitarian and market failure rationales; the concept of basic rights; culpability and prevention of harm standards; and paternalism. Other non-disaster moral obligations, some conflicting and some complementary, are also identified and discussed. (AA)
Beggs, John J., Valerie Haines, and Jeanne S. Hurlbert, "The Effects of Personal Network and Local Community Contexts on the Receipt of Formal Aid During Disaster Recovery," Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1996): 57-78.
Studies of the response of individuals to disasters have relied primarily on individual factors for explanation. Using data collected in telephone interviews with 594 residents of southwestern Louisiana, we examine the effects of local community and personal network contexts, as well as individual factors on individuals’ use of aid from formal organizations. We find our measures of personal network context affect five of our seven measures of the utilization of formal aid, and that network form effects these outcomes more consistently than network composition does. These effects are generally consistent with our predictions. We also find significant effects of our measure of community context, the level of owner-occupancy in an area. Living in areas with higher rates of owner-occupancy has a positive effect on three of our measures of formal aid. Based upon these findings we conclude that contextual factors exert important effects on individuals’ use of formal aid. We suggest that studies of the provision of aid to individuals by organizations should be supplemented with more detailed studies of the effects of personal network and local community contexts on individuals’ receipt of specific sources of aid from formal organizations. (AA)
Beggs, John J., see Haines, Valerie A., Jeanne S. Hurlbert, and John J. Beggs.
Bell, Doug, see Friesen, Kenton, and Doug Bell.
Bell, Heather M., see Tobin, Graham A., Heather M. Bell, Linda M. Whiteford, and Burrell E. Montz.
Bennett, Simon A., "Paradigmatic Disaster?: The Crash of Trans World Airways (TWA) Flight 800," Vol. 17,
No. 3 (November 1999): 295-311.
This paper uses two discourses—Kuhn’s (1962) formulation of the paradigm and cognitive theory (specifically that of social schemas)— to deconstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB’s) investigation into the 1996 TWA Flight 800 disaster. Following the disaster, concerns were expressed in the media that the FBI and NTSB might not be approaching the investigation with an entirely open mind. Certainly a number of statements were made by FBI and NTSB managers that seemed to indicate a preferred conclusion as to the cause(s) of the disaster. This paper uses social schema theory and Kuhn’s discourse on the paradigm to ascertain, on the basis of widely reported statements, the degree to which FBI and NTSB investigators stated a preference—expressed either overtly in statements, or covertly through investigative method—in the matter of causation. (AA)
Bennett, Simon A.,"Not Context-Contexts: An ‘Outside-in’ Approach to Understanding the Vincennes Shoot-down," Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 2001): 27-57.
On July 3, 1988, the U.S. warship Vincennes, on patrol in the
Persian Gulf, fired two missiles at an Iranian airliner en route to
Dubai. The airliner was destroyed. All on board were killed. Despite being
exonerated, the incident effectively terminated the career of the
Vincennes's commanding officer, Captain William Rogers III. While
the immediate cause of the shoot-down was the decision by the captain to
fire, this paper argues-following the work of Reason, Blockley, and
others-that only a systemic and holistic analysis, in which all salient
historic factors are described, can provide a full and objective
explanation of the shoot-down. The paper concludes that the incident
originated in a multiplicity of factors-geopolitical, technical,
cognitive, and others-that, in some cases, originated decades before the
shoot-down. (AA)
Bennett, Simon A., "Lock and Load? Explaining Different Policies for Delivering Safety and Security in the Air," Vol. 20, No. 2 (August 2002): 141-169.
The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon generated significant social, economic, and political perturbations. The airline industry has been affected directly, with passenger numbers down and some airlines such as Midway in the United States and Sabena in Europe ceasing to exist. In an effort to restore confidence, the airlines, regulatory agencies, and governments on both sides of the Atlantic introduced "emergency" measures to increase public confidence in security. While cockpit incursion poses a risk to air safety (although it is not a novel phenomenon) other factors may also compromise safety (such as crew fatigue, flawed design, careless maintenance, and poor intra-crew communication and coordination. Both the United States (U.S.) and the United Kingdom (U.K.) have done much work on improving this latter safety-related aspect of commercial air operations. Out of this work has emerged the discipline of cockpit or crew resource management (CRM). (Different nomenclatures may be used.) One of the preconditions for effective CRM is ease of access between the flight deck and cabin. In the U.K., the British Air Line Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has voiced concern over the impact that locked and barred cockpit doors and new communication protocols will have on CRM. This has not been a major public concern of America's Air Line Pilots’ Association (ALPA). This paper uses Kasperson’s theory of risk amplification and Sprent's observations on risk attenuation to understand (a) how two organizations working in the same industry and representing the same grade of worker could generate different risk perceptions and (b) how the major pilots’ union of the country that did much of the early work on CRM (the United States) could de-emphasize it in post-September 11 debates on crew and passenger safety. (AA)
Bennett, Simon A., "Context is All: A Holistic Reformulation of the Tonkin Gulf Incident," Vol. 21, No. 1 (March 2003): 57-90.
Incidents and accidents are frequently ascribed to "operator" or "human error." Until recently accident investigators have focused more on the immediate or proximate causes of incidents and accidents than on such underlying or contextual factors as production imperatives, conditioning, expectation, peer pressure, ergonomics, or the quality and currency of rules, procedures, and training. Some theorists, however, have attempted to sensitize accident investigators to the potential impact on human perception and behavior of contextual factors. As a consequence of the work of Job (1996), Reason (1995, 1997), Snook (2000), and others, accident investigators now have the opportunity to apply a systems approach to accident investigation. The primary purpose of this paper is to illustrate and then test the systems or "context" approach with reference to a major incident with significant outcomes. To this end the work of Job, Reason, Snook, and others is used to frame, analyze, and draw conclusions from a major incident—the clash between U.S. and North Vietnamese naval forces in the Gulf of Tonkin during the early stages of the Vietnam War. The paper’s secondary purpose is to deconstruct, illuminate, and explain the incident with a view to adding to (if not correcting a part of) the historical record of the Vietnam War. The year 2004 marks the 40th anniversary of the Tonkin Gulf incident, described by Wise (1968) as "The Pearl Harbor of the Vietnam War." Following the alleged second attack on U.S. naval forces by North Vietnamese warships, President Johnson ordered a major escalation of the war against the Viet Cong. Today most analysts agree that the second attack never took place. Given the significance and outcomes of the "phantom attack" (for example, the loss of 58,000 American and over three million Vietnamese lives), it is important that we understand how and why the attack came to be imagined—for at least two reasons. First, some blamed the escalation of the Vietnam War on the "incompetence" of the sailors of the USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy. This misunderstanding has persisted for four decades. Secondly, consequential military errors still occur—as with the accidental shoot-down of an Iranian Airbus by an American warship in 1988 that some believe led to the Lockerbie bombing.
Having applied the "context" approach to the Tonkin Gulf incident, it is suggested that such factors as the sailors’ knowledge of the political and diplomatic background to their situation, their duty to protect their ship, and the very recent encounter with the North Vietnamese led them to "construct" (perceive) a second incident. It is concluded that, as in the 1988 Vincennes incident, knowledges, experiences, and expectations bore down upon the sailors to create a threat that existed only in their collective consciousness. In short, the macro impacted the micro experience to the point where judgment was degraded. (AA)
Berke, Philip, Timothy Beatley, and Suzanne Wilhite, "Influences on Local Adoption of Planning Measures for Earthquake Hazard Mitigation," Vol. 7, No. 1 (March 1989): 33-56.
This article assesses the extent to which various planning measures are used by communities for mitigating earthquake hazards. A secondary aim is to examine how planning process activities and community context characteristics influence local adoption of planning measures for mitigation. A number of conclusions based on data from a national survey of communities at risk to earthquakes were derived. Communities use a wide variety of planning measures for earthquake mitigation, but the frequency of adoption of such measures was greater in California than in other states. Planning process activities had a more important influence on local adoption than context characteristics. This conclusion implies that local efforts to advance local earthquake mitigation programs have a substantial potential for success. (AA)
Birkland, Thomas A., "Natural Disasters as Focusing Events: Policy Communities and Political Response," Vol. 14, No. 2 (August 1996): 221-243.
This article explains how large hurricanes and earthquakes influence Congressional agenda activity. By understanding these events as focusing events, we can better appreciate how they induce the news media and Congress to be more attentive to these disasters. While the theory of focusing events outlined here is broadly supported, considerable differences are found between the hurricane and earthquake fields. These differences turn on the political environment in which federal policy to address these disasters is made, and include the nature of the committees charged with policy-making, the nature of testimony offered before the committees, and the nature of the professional communities that are most active in this policy-making. These differences help to explain why there is greater federal involvement in earthquake policy-making than in hurricane policy. The policy implications of these differences are considered. (AA)
Blackburn, Jason K., see Curtis, Andrew, Jacqueline W. Mills, Jason K. Blackburn, John C. Pine, and Barrett Kennedy.
Blanchard-Boehm, R. Denise, "Understanding Public Response to Increased Risk from Natural Hazards: Application of the Hazards Risk Communication Framework," Vol. 16, No. 3 (November 1998): 247-278.
For the past four decades, researchers in the field of natural hazards have studied extensively how people "hear" warning messages of potential natural disasters and then, eventually, how they "respond" by way of adopting preparation and mitigation measures. Until the 1980s, a single framework did not exist for understanding risk communication as an integrated process. Much of the early research on risk communication was piecemeal and descriptive, and consisted of exploring the details of communicating risk within the events of a particular disaster. The proliferation of research on risk communication over several decades, though, has resulted in the evolution of a general model of hazards risk communication. This model presupposes that the process of risk communication is one whereby individuals: (1) hear a warning message; (2) understand its content; (3) internalize or believe the salience of its message; (4) confirm one’s interpretation with others; and (5) act or respond to its message to save one’s life and property. This paper applies the risk communication framework and its principles to a case study where probabilities were increased in 1990 of future earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay Area. Following the scientific community’s announcement, a low-key warning was issued to approximately two million residents through a large-scale information campaign. This study demonstrates that the risk communication model is an invaluable tool for helping us to understand the behavior of individuals who must learn of and act upon warning information that could say their lives and property. Further, researchers are urged to find ways to adapt this risk communication model to other types of natural and human-made hazards. (AA)
Blinn-Pike, Lynn, Brenda Phillips, and Patsilu Reeves, "Shelter Life After Hurricane Katrina: A Visual Analysis of Evacuee Perspectives," Vol. 24, No.3 (November 2006): 303-330
Nine survivors of Hurricane Katrina, who were residents in two Red Cross shelters, provided the researchers with a total of 90 Polaroid photographs of their lives in their respective disaster shelters. After they completed the photographic activity, they participated in semi-structured interviews about their individual photos. The following research questions were addressed to discover the emic (insider) perspectives of the shelter residents: a) what features of shelter life did the residents photograph and discuss; and b) what needs were evident in their photos and interviews? The results showed that the residents had particular needs related to (a) privacy, (b) interpersonal relationships, (c) security, and (d) outreach. The discussion covers recommendations for using visual research methodologies to understand the needs of shelter residents and suggests practical implications for shelter managers and other professionals serving those displaced by disaster. (AA)
Blocker, T. Jean, E. Burke Rochford, Jr., and Darren F. Sherkat, "Political Responses to Natural Hazards: Social Movement Participation Following a Flood Disaster," Vol. 9, No. 3 (November 1991): 367-382.
While much research attention has been focused recently upon understanding and interpreting social movements which emerge in response to technological hazards, comparatively little work has been directed toward the systematic examination of factors related to protest activity in the aftermath of natural hazards. The authors study community activism after a major flood mitigation project failed to provide the promised protection from storm water damage. They conclude that citizen response to natural events is becoming far less distinct from that witnessed in the aftermath of man-made events, because the technology to mitigate impacts of natural disasters is becoming more available. The results of the study show that solidarity is a necessary ingredient for social movement facilitation, particularly when the movement is loosely structured and urgently organized, and that the presence of solidarity aids in the communication of grievances, recruitment of members, and the coordination of activities. (AA)
Bloomer, Julian, "Divided We Fall: Towards An Understanding Of Community Risk Assessment: A Case Study From The Lao PDR," Vol. 22, No. 3 (November 2004): 87-108.
Much of the theory that embodies the framework for community risk assessments has been drawn from varying peripheral disciplines. Many potentially important factors such as the suitability of existing disaster management philosophies in differing contexts, the need for methodologies accessible to those with limited training and the development of appropriate indicators for monitoring the success of participation have been largely neglected. Further to these issues that relate directly to the risk assessment, issues surrounding the role of governments in risk reduction and the recognition of the importance of risk perception amongst communities were also encountered during the research process discussed below and have been examined in the context of developing appropriate methodologies. The importance of small-scale threats to the surveyed community was identified during the field study as well as the need for the de-professionalization of risk assessment procedures, particularly for areas that would not ordinarily receive attention from disaster management practitioners but that would benefit from the principles used in the discipline. The study concluded that the development of a more flexible methodology that had the ability to adapt to the multifarious contexts that the process is employed in is a key factor in ensuring the positive future development of the process. (AA)
Boer, Henk, see Wiegman, Oene, Egil Komilis, Bernard Cadet, Henk Boer, and Jan M. Gutteling.
Bogard, William, "Evaluating Chemical Hazards in the Aftermath of the Bhopal Tragedy," Vol. 5, No. 3 (November 1987): 233-241.
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. (AA)
Boin, Arjen, “Disaster Research and Future Crises: Broadening the Research Agenda,” Vol. 23, No. 3
(November 2005): 199–214.
Today’s crises and disasters pose formidable challenges to
politicians, public administrators, first responders, and ordinary citizens.
The 9/11 events, SARS, the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and her sisters,
the giant earthquake in the Indian-Pakistan region, and the looming threat of
a new flu pandemic are but a handful of recent crises that seem to outstrip
human capacity for dealing with large-scale adversity. Globalization and
modernization tightly connect life-sustaining systems, which renders these
systems increasingly vulnerable to breakdowns. In addition to causing untold
misery within a bounded geographic area, the modern disaster hurts faraway
and seemingly unrelated populations. The traditional challenges of crisis and
disaster management prevention, preparation, response, and recovery are
taking on new dimensions. Recent crises and disasters have exposed the
inadequacy of traditional processes and structures, which were designed to
deal with more traditional forms of adversity. The aftermath of today’s
crises and disasters is marked by instant politicization, which all too often
creates an entirely new crisis for both crisis leaders and disaster victims.
The prospect of a flu pandemic has authorities across the world now
scrambling for plans, tools, conceptual anchors, road maps some idea, in
short, of what to do when such a mega-disaster strikes. The question, then,
is what crisis and disaster researchers can bring to the table and in which
areas they remain wanting. This article focuses on the latter: which topics
do modern crises and disasters suggest for the research agenda? (Modified author introduction)
Bolin, Robert C., "Disaster Impact and Recovery: A Comparison of Black and White Victims," Vol. 4, No. 1 (March 1986): 35-50.
This paper presents an analysis of recovery from natural disaster of black and white disaster victims. The data were gathered in Paris, Texas, following a tornado in that town in April 1982 which destroyed or damaged over 1,500 houses and apartments. A sample of 219 black victims and 212 white victims were interviewed seven months after the disaster, with information being gathered on some 178 items pertaining to their losses, aid received, psychosocial impacts and recovery. Discriminant function analysis is used to select sets of independent variables that predict recovery levels for black and white victims along two dimensions of recovery, emotional and economic recovery. Differences in determinants of recovery between the two groups of victims involved variations in losses, psychological impacts, aid utilization and social support, but not demographic or socioeconomic factors. (AA)
Bolin, Robert C. and Patricia A. Bolton, "Recovery in Nicaragua and the U.S.A." Vol. 1, No. 1 (March 1983): 125-144.
Family recovery from natural disasters is examined in a cross-cultural framework. A longitudinal design was used, gathering survey data from respondents in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA (N=125), and Managua, Nicaragua (N=275), where extensive disasters occurred in 1972. A model of family recovery is developed and its fit with the data is tested using path analysis. In Rapid City, perception of recovery is best explained by losses, aid received, and recovery of pre-disaster income levels. In Managua aid—at least that type reported by Nicaraguan respondents—had little effect; employment continuity took precedence over other variables. The data suggest that in order to recover pre-disaster levels of satisfaction with life style families reach beyond their immediate boundaries for help, but the institutionalized manner in which this is done differs across cultures. (AA)
Bollens, Scott A., see Kaiser, Edward J., Raymond J. Burby, Scott A. Bollens and James M. Holway.
Bolton, Patricia A., see Bolin, Robert C. and Patricia A. Bolton.
Boss, Pauline Grossenbacher, "Family Separation and Boundary Ambiguity," Vol. 1, No. 1 (March 1983): 63-72.
The quality of a father’s absence or presence in the family is the long-time focus of the researcher and presents a new view in the father absent literature. The variable of Psychological Father Presence (PFP) is described, operationalized and empirically verified as dysfunctional for families with physically missing fathers. Based on these findings which are reviewed, the author demonstrated how disaster research can be used to build stress theory for more normative family situations of father absence such as divorce. To illustrate, examples from the Boss boundary ambiguity project and the McCubbin coping project are presented. This author’s major premise is that high family boundary ambiguity (as indicated by high PFP with physical father absence) will be predictive of high family dysfunction and that such family boundary ambiguity can be found in situations of divorce as well as in situations where families face the disaster of having a father missing from war. The overall thesis is that ambiguity in the family boundary is the critical predictor regarding the outcome of various kinds of father absence. (AA)
Bourque, Linda B., Kimberley I. Shoaf, and Loc H. Nguyen, "Survey Research," Vol. 15, No. 1 (March 1997): 71-101.
We examine the kinds of information that can be obtained from well-designed, standardized, population-based surveys and demonstrate that some things which, in the past, have been considered barriers to the use of surveys following disasters provide insights into post-disaster behavior and may be advantageous. In specific, we examine: the use of standardized surveys to compare community behavior across time, events, and locations; the extent to which surveys represent the population of interest in the aftermath of a disaster; the receptivity of respondents to being interviewed after a disaster; the ability to utilize telephones for interviews after a disaster; the extent to which the data collected in a survey are perishable and subject to memory decay; the use of surveys as quasi-experimental designs for obtaining information on "control groups"; the use of surveys as a source of baseline or denominator data for ascertaining what other, more specialized datasets represent; the maintenance of verbal data collected within the context of a survey for later post-coding and analysis; and the storage of surveys in archives for use in secondary analyses by other researchers. Overall, we conclude that well-designed, standardized, population-based surveys can provide an accurate picture of a community’s behaviors and attitudes with regard to disasters as well as describe the impact of a disaster on a population.
Bourque, Linda B., see Goltz, James D., Lisa A. Russell, and Linda B. Bourque.
Bourque, Linda B., see Ramirez, Marizen, Megumi Kano, Linda B. Bourque, and Kimberley I. Shoaf.
Bourque, Linda B., see Siegel, Judith M., Linda B. Bourque, and Kimberley I. Shoaf.
Brickman, Ellen, see Thiel de Bocanegra, Heike, Ellen Brickman, and Chris O’Sullivan.
Britton, Neil R., "Organized Behavior in Disaster: A Review Essay," Vol. 6, No. 3 (November 1988): 363-395.
This essay will review, using references which cite Dynes’s Organized Behavior in Disaster: (1) the contribution this book has made by illustrating the text’s coverage of many important substantive areas of sociological research in the field of disaster studies; (2) how it has been subsequently employed by disaster researchers in a wide range of disaster-relevant quests; and (3) the particular influence it has had on organizational studies within the disaster setting. (Edited Author Introduction)
Britton, Neil R., "Introduction to Special Issue," Vol. 8, No. 3 (November 1990): 199-205.
This special issue pursues the two aims set up by the Research Committee on Disasters (RC 39) of the International Sociological Association (ISA) for this journal. First, the promotion of a multi-disciplinary orientation to the social study of disasters has been achieved by inviting a group comprised of geographers (Philip Buckle, John Campbell), political scientists (Michael Jackson, Peter Janssen, John Robbins, Roger Wettenhall), psychologists (Michael Innes, Carmen Moran, Jennifer Slack), and sociologists (Neil Britton, Gary Kreps, Michael Smithson) to contribute papers. Of the nine papers contained in this issue, seven are authored by Australians, another by a New Zealander, and one by an American. Thus, a second aim of the research committee, to encourage the geographical scope of articles and to feature multi-national studies, has also been accomplished. Seven of these papers deal with aspects of emergency and disaster management in Australia, while of the remaining two, one focuses on the South Pacific, and the other the United States. (Edited Author Introduction)
Britton, Neil R., "Emergency Management in the Pacific: Editor’s Introduction," Vol. 10, No. 2 (August 1992): 261-267.
This special issue directs attention to some current emergency management issues within selected nations in the Pacific Basin. The Pacific Basin is the largest region in the world. The term "Pacific Basin" comprises the numerous island states within the Pacific Ocean and the thirty-one large countries on the continental mainlands which border it. Diversity is the essence—and the spirit—of the Pacific Basin. Economic, political and cultural variability flourishes. If physical, socioeconomic and cultural diversity is varied, so are the challenges facing hazard and disaster managers. Countries in the region are at various stages of development, and their needs have clearly become heterogeneous. The nine papers comprising this special issue illustrate well the range of issues and scholars currently preoccupied with emergency management in the Pacific. (Edited Author Introduction)
Britton, Neil R., "Uncommon Hazards and Orthodox Emergency Management: Toward a Reconciliation," Vol. 10, No. 2 (August 1992): 329-348.
Effective emergency management requires a close fit between the state of risk and the state of hazard management. If these components get out of phase, a marked increase in societal vulnerability is likely to prevail. Recognizing that the major burden for developed societies has shifted from risks associated with natural processes to those arising from technological development and application, disaster-relevant organizational networks have adopted a Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM) "all-hazards" approach. However, in Australia, as elsewhere, technological hazards present major problems for emergency managers because they pose different and often more difficult predicaments than do the more familiar natural hazards. While CEM is a good "in principle" strategy, the practices needed to protect society from a diversity of disaster-producing agents are more difficult to achieve. Two explanations are given for this: misperceptions about common features of hazard types; and differential progress among social components. The concept of cultural lag provides an explanatory framework as to why predicaments like this occur, and the concept of disaster subculture may provide a solution. (AA)
Britton, Neil R., "Editor’s Introduction," Vol. 10, No. 3 (November 1992): 435-436.
This special issue is a companion to the previous special issue on Emergency Management in the Pacific (Vol. 10, No. 2). The focus here is somewhat broader, on the matter of cross-national responses to disasters. The papers deal with several types of man-made environmental threats. Taken collectively, these papers extend the developing body of knowledge on the effects of cultural or national group membership on the interpretation of risk communication. As the study of disasters becomes more global, these pieces will no doubt serve to define the direction of future research. (Edited Editor Introduction)
Britton, Neil R., "Whither the Emergency Manager?" Vol. 17, No. 2 (August 1999): 223-235.
The invitation to comment on Thomas E. Drabek’s (1986) Human System Responses to Disaster provides an opportunity to reflect on the practice of emergency management and the evolving role of the emergency manager. This essay uses Drabek’s publication as a vehicle to reflect on major developments influencing emergency management practice. It begins by locating Human System Responses to Disaster within the disaster sociology literature, and argues that the book makes two major contributions to disaster study. From here, the focus of the essay shifts from Drabek’s work to identifying elements that characterized emergency management practice at the time when Drabek wrote his text. The essay moves on to look at some current issues pertaining to emergency management and leads into a discussion of where practice might be heading in the coming decade. A brief return to Human System Responses to Disaster completes the discussion. (Edited from the author’s comments)
Britton, Neil R. and Roger L. Wettenhall, "Evolution of a Disaster ‘Focal Point’: Australia’s Natural Disasters Organization," Vol. 8, No. 3 (November 1990): 237-274.
In the study of government structures and processes, the idea of focal points has emerged particularly in relation to public trading or business enterprises. This paper looks briefly at this usage and then seeks to translate it to the very different context of central government structures for disaster planning and coordination. The particular illustration used is the Australian Natural Disasters Organization (IVDO), which emerged in the 1970s in the heat of Darwin’s Cyclone Tracy experience and has been the nearest thing Australia has had to a disaster focal point over the ensuing decade and a half. (AA)
Britton, Neil R. and John Lindsay, "Integrating City Planning and Emergency Preparedness: Some of the Reasons Why," Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 1995): 93-106.
When proposing urban redevelopment and renewal schemes, what responsibility does the city planner have to ensure citizens are not placed at risk? How can the practical integration of emergency planning and city planning principles be achieved? While their importance is not contested, questions such as these are not part of the contemporary planner’s creed, even though the industrial hazardscape of cities and towns, in particular, is increasing. There is a compelling need for a closer integration between disaster and city planning. Planners need to consider aspects of emergency management, risk assessment, and hazard vulnerability in their planning and development deliberations. An emergency management focus is particularly necessary when urban renewal and redevelopment are being considered. Of special importance is the need for planners to understand that large-scale urban and industrial projects can exacerbate the plight of existing "at-risk" groups, and may even create a more hazardous social environment for both existing and future populations. These issues are examined in two articles. This first paper examines the issues in the context of emergency management and other relevant literature. In the second paper two case studies are presented to demonstrate how these issues translate into practice. (AA)
Britton, Neil R. and John Lindsay, "Demonstrating the Need to Integrate City Planning and Emergency Preparedness: Two Case Studies," Vol. 13, No. 2 (August 1995): 161-178.
City planners need to consider aspects of emergency management, risk assessment, and hazard vulnerability in their planning and development deliberations. Planners need to recognize that urban hazards, especially from technological sources, are more prevalent than may at first be apparent. An emergency management focus is particularly necessary when urban renewal and redevelopment is being considered. Of special importance is the need for planners to understand that projects like this can exacerbate the plight of existing "at-risk" groups, and may even create a more hazardous social environment. Planners also need to be made aware that their professional actions have a direct impact on both the task-set and performance capabilities of disaster managers and emergency service operatives. In this paper two case studies are presented to demonstrate how these issues translate into practice. The first explores the consequences of a "classic" medium-scale technology emergency in Australia. The second study, from Canada, illustrates the ubiquity of small-scale industrial hazards in the modern city, and epitomizes the extent to which city dwellers are vulnerable. (AA)
Broadbent, Jeffrey, "The Ties That Bind: Social Fabric and the Mobilization of Environmental Movements in Japan," Vol. 4, No 2 (August 1986): 227-253.
This paper compares twelve social movements, all supporting or opposing environmental and industrialization issues, which occurred in the Sixties and Seventies in one prefecture in southern Japan. The independent variable is the type of local social fabric they arose within; the dependent variables, their mobilization process and goals. The data were collected through qualitative field work, including interviewing, observation and documents, and later coded into questionnaire form. The local social fabric, associational, mixed, or communal, affected several aspects of their mobilization process: goals, leader and follower motives, rate of success, and relation to dominant elites. In communal movements, the leader had more autonomy in setting goals, and followers were more loyal to him. Such movements were more idealistic. In associational movements, leaders and followers emphasized individualistic and material goals and motives. Elites attempted to co-opt communal leaders more, because of the leaders’ more arbitrary power. Communal leaders resisted that if they had strong internalized values. Values penetrate movements through leaders. Communal social fabrics support new social movements in Japan, contrary to the Western experience, where such movements arise in more associational, middle-class fabrics. (AA)
Broska, Arlene, see Gibbs, Margaret, Juliana R. Lachenmeyer, Arlene Broska, and Richard Deicher.
Browning, Larry D. and Jody C. Shetler, "Communication in Crisis, Communication in Recovery: A Postmodern Commentary on the Exxon Valdez Disaster," Vol. 10, No. 3 (November 1992): 477-498.
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. (AA)
Buckle, Philip, "Prospects for Public Sector Disaster Management in the 1990s: An Indication of Current Issues with Particular Reference to Victoria, Australia," Vol. 8, No. 3 (November 1990): 301-324.
Public-sector disaster managers have not conducted a systematic evaluation of the operational and policy issues that they will confront in this decade. This is despite increasing community expectations for disaster management, political requirements for increased performance and accountability, and reduced resources that will put significant pressures on disaster managers to critically evaluate this area. Key issues disaster managers will have to consider include: developing a clearer understanding of "disaster"; understanding that disasters are social events; appreciating the increasing range of hazards to which people are exposed; applying a range of technologies to disaster management; and critically evaluating assumptions about disaster management and operations. Such considerations are not likely to occur spontaneously. Reviews and incremental changes may be generated by political, community, and resource depletion pressures. However, substantial change to disaster management policy and practice is only likely to be achieved if researchers act as a catalyst by making their findings more widely available and by stimulating the public sector to undertake critical analyses of disaster management. (AA)
Buckle, Philip, Graham L. Marsh, and Sydney Smale, "Reframing Risk, Hazards, Disasters, and Daily Life: A Report
of Research into Local Appreciation of Risks and Threats," Vol. 20, No. 3 (November 2002): 309-324.
This paper introduces a series of research projects in which we have been engaged examining a number of issues related to contemporary disaster management since 1999. These research projects, supported by our own agencies and Emergency Management Australia, have at their core an examination of the concepts of community, localness, risk, hazard, vulnerability and resilience and everyday life.
Burby, Raymond J., see Kaiser, Edward J., Raymond J. Burby, Scott A. Bollens and James M. Holway.
Burnham, Gilbert, see Doocy, Shannon, Courtland Robinson, and Gilbert Burnham.
Bush, David, see Aguirre, Benigno, and David Bush.
Butler, David L., "Selected Internet Sites on Natural Hazards and Disasters," Vol. 15, No. 1 (March 1997): 197-215.
[A listing of Internet sites prepared for a special issue on methods of disaster research.]
Byrnes, Linda K., see Bartlett, Glen S., Peter S. Houts, Linda K. Byrnes, and Robert W. Miller.
