Emergent Behavior At The Emergency Time Periods of Disaster

Date
1983-09
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Abstract
Description
When the work reported on in this summary report was initiated, it was visualized as the initiation of a five-year study of the behavior of organizations in the emergency time periods of community disasters. The initial focus in the first year was to be on emergent groups. Through case studies drawn from 6-8 new field studies (the maximum possible under the limited funding available), and a reexamination of data already in the Disaster Research Center (DRC)files, we intended to write at the conclusion of the first year a report: (1) summarizing what we had found about the nature and functioning of emergent groups; (2) suggesting the circumstances which generated the appearance of such groups; and (3) indicating what our findings and observations implied about disaster preparedness and response. As such, and as stated in the proposal to FEMA, the report mentioned was visualized as a progress report about early work on a projected longer run study. More specifically, we said "a progress report will be written providing study methodology, initial impressions, and pointing out what they might suggest for disaster planning and responses."
Keywords
emergent behavior, emergency time periods, Salt Lake City, Utah Flood, Houston, Texas, tornado, flood
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