The Impact Of Disaster On The Public And Their Expections
Date
1995
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Disaster Research Center
Abstract
Description
Although the title is overarching, I need to delimit. While it is conventional to talk about
several disaster phases--preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation, the focus here is primarily
on response. Too, I will focus on community disaster--where there is a sudden and major disruption
of an urban area as a result of some natural or technological agents that threatens and/or impacts life,
property and social routines. Community disasters are in contrast to accidents as well as, in contrast,
to those rare catastrophic occasions which extend far beyond the normal routines of a single
community. The "publics" here will be based on studies of individual and organizational behavior
which provide some grounds for generalization.The paper will make several inter-related points. For most Americans, concerns for risk and
hazard have a very low salience. Disasters are not everyday worries for either citizens or public
officials. This is true even for those who live in areas characterized by "objectively" high risk. In
addition, citizens see themselves as having little responsibility for the consequences of disaster but
give governmental units, especially local ones, greater responsibility. Among citizens, actual disaster experience is relatively rare, even cumulated over a lifetime.
However, they have opinions about what disaster is like, drawn primarily from various media. Those
repetitive pictures suggest that individual "victims" do not cope well with disasters. Victims are"stunned" and traumatized and that local organizations are disrupted and paralyzed. So, individual
and social disorganization are combined to create image of widespread helplessness in context of
other overwhelming problems.
The paper will argue that these disaster myths are not supported by extensive research on
behavior in communities experiencing disaster impact. These myths, however false, still have social
consequences. The paper concludes in detailing how the myths affect both disaster planning and emergency response.
Keywords
Community Disaster, Public