Browsing by Author "Wachtendorf, Tricia"
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Item Building Community Partnerships Toward A National Mitigation Effort: Interorganizational Collaboration In the Project Impact Initiative(Disaster Research Center, 2000) Wachtendorf, TriciaIn 1997, the Federal Emergency Management Agency implemented a national disaster mitigation program in seven pilot communities across the United States. This initiative, Project Impact, was soon expanded to over two hundred city, county, and regional designations. Its objectives include 1) to build community partnerships; 2) to identify hazards and community vulnerability; 3) to prioritize and complete risk reduction actions; and 4) to develop communication strategies to educate the public about Project Impact. Based on an analysis of one hundred thirty-seven in-depth telephone and face-to-face interviews, community sites visits, seven focus groups, and an extensive analysis of documentary material compiled as part of an ongoing, independent assessment of the initiative’s implementation process, this paper closely examines the first objective - community partnership building - and discusses the issues and challenges involved in establishing such relationships under this program.Item Catastrophe Characteristics and Their Impact on Critical Supply Chains: Problematizing Material Convergence and Management Following Hurricane Katrina(Disaster Research Center, 2010) Wachtendorf, Tricia; Brown, Bethany; Holguin-Veras, Jose; Ukkusuri, SatishThe influx of supplies after disaster events helps to meet emergent needs of the impacted area and fill gaps in logistical plans. This same materiel convergence, however, can pose a challenging social problem as organizations must contend with difficulties in supply acquisition, reception, transport, storage, and distribution. In this paper, we use Hurricane Katrina, which impacted the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005, as a case study to examine the ways in which catastrophic events generate unique conditions that impact how materiel convergence presents itself and must be managed. To examine this social problem, we use E.L. Quarantelli’s (2006) six characteristics of catastrophe to explain how the magnitude and scope of the event generated social conditions that had bearing on the movement of critical supplies to, from and within the impacted zone. Data analysis of the materiel convergence and management problem revealed a seventh catastrophe characteristic not previously identified in the literature: mass and extended out-migration of people. Findings are based on qualitative interviews with key organizational actors involved in response efforts.Item Considering Convergence, Coordination, and Social Capital in Disasters(Disaster Research Center, 2004) Wachtendorf, Tricia; Kendra, James M.Following the 2001 World Trade Center disaster, New York City experienced high levels of individual and organizational convergence: volunteers and groups wanting to assist in the response. Since that time, several initiatives across the U.S. have developed to encourage volunteer disaster response integration. Before 9/11, other formal and informal volunteer organizations had worked toward similar goals, and community-based disaster mitigation was touted as a valuable approach in both Canada and the U.S. Drawing upon examples from research conducted after the 2001 World Trade Center disaster response in New York City as well as research on community based mitigation and response programs, this presentation outlines important considerations when planning for volunteer and community wide participation in disaster reduction and response strategies. Findings point to the value of incorporating community-based groups in disaster related issues and decision making, as well as recognizing the social capital, resources, and expertise these groups bring to the table. This presentation also stresses the need to balance the real considerations and challenges that accompany public integration. Establishing and maintaining partnerships, incorporating groups not traditionally involved in disaster response or mitigation decision-making, setting boundaries, credentialing, familiarizing volunteers with existing response systems, and leveraging initiatives to maximize mitigation opportunities are some of the issues discussed.Item Creativity in Emergency Response After The World Trade Center Attack(Disaster Research Center, 2002) Kendra, James M.; Wachtendorf, TriciaThis paper discusses the role of creativity in mounting an emergency response, using the World Trade Center attack as an exploraiory case study. The paper observes that the exercise of creativity by emergency managers is the source of positive adaptive responses to unexpected or rapidy-changing situations. The paper notes however that creativity, because of its different manifestations, can introduce a random, unpredictable element into the response milieu, varying with the magnitude of the event, and can lead to tensions within an organization that vary with the timeframe over which decisions must be made. Volunteers and others who converge to a disaster site also exhibit creativity in the pursuit of their objectives, which can present both benefits and challenges to emergency managers. Nevertheless, creativity will remain an important component in initiating and sustaining emergent methods and organizational networks that researchers recognize as important- in emergency response. The paper suggests that plans and exercises should include a dimension that considers creativity.Item Cross-Border Issues in Disaster Response(Disaster Research Center, 1999) Wachtendorf, TriciaItem Demographics and Experiences as Factors of Earthquake Risk Perceptions(Disaster Research Center, 2002) Wachtendorf, Tricia; Sheng, ZuewenThis paper examines the extent to which social demographic characteristics and past earthquake experience influence judgments about the likelihood of a major earthquake and the risk of specific earthquake outcomes, including serious physical harm, severe economic harm, widespread damage to structures, and widespread community disruption. A mail survey was conducted on a sample of 727 residents of Alaineda County, CA and five logistical regression models were run. Variables that significantly predicted high levels of risk perception varied across the models based on outcome type. Gender, age, race, functional importance of the built environment, and past earthquake experience and damage to place of employment were significant predictors for some, but not all, earthquake outcomes. Only past experience of psychological stress in the household as a result of the Lonia Prieta earthquake was a significant predictor in all outcome models. Significant predictors of high expected likelihood of an earthquake event included gender, and loss of lifelines and past damage at home during the Lorna Prieta earthquake.Item Disaster Research In The Social Sciences: Lessons Learned, Challenges, And Future Trajectories(Disaster Research Center, 2004) Rodriguez, Havidan; Wachtendorf, Tricia; Russell, CarlaThe Disaster Research Center (DRC) at the University of Delaware, with the financial support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the College of Arts and Sciences, held a two-day conference titled “Disaster Research in the Social Sciences: Lessons Learned, Challenges, and Future Trajectories.” The conference highlighted the interdisciplinary and international nature of the disaster research field and focused on: 1) the growth and development of the field of disasters, from the perspective of the Social Sciences; 2) theoretical, methodological, and public policy contributions of the field; 3) lessons learned and best practices that have emerged from this area of research; and 4) future trajectories or opportunities for Social Science research in the study of disasters. Conference participants included leading scholars and researchers, practitioners, representatives from funding organizations, and graduate and undergraduate students. The conference allowed participants to discuss substantive, theoretical, and methodological issues and concerns relevant to the field as well as to generate new research initiatives that will contribute to our understanding and knowledge regarding the study of disasters. Substantive and critical issues discussed during this two-day conference included: the growth and development of disaster research in the Social Sciences; theoretical and methodological contributions and challenges in disaster research; impact of disaster research for practitioners; the role and importance of multi- and inter-disciplinary research in the disaster field; the development of an international research agenda; the role of research centers in training the new generation of researchers; funding disaster research and priorities for the future in a post-9/11 environment; major research areas and issues that need to be developed and explored over the next decade at both the national and international level; and efforts to establish collaborative research initiatives across disciplines and geographical boundaries. DRC was the first Social Science research center in the world devoted to the study of disasters, so it was appropriate and timely that a conference of such magnitude was held at the University of Delaware at a particularly historical moment for the DRC and the field of disaster studies. This conference not only provided a stimulating intellectual environment but it also presented an opportunity to celebrate DRC’s 40th anniversary and to examine the impact and contributions of the Center to the field of disaster research both nationally and internationally. Moreover, during the two-day event, conference participants had an opportunity to pay tribute to Enrico L. Quarantelli and Russell R. Dynes, two of the founding fathers of DRC and disaster research from a social science perspective.Item Disaster Resistant Communities Initiative: Assessment Of Ten Non-Pilot Communities(2002) Wachtendorf, Tricia; Connell, Rory; Monahan, Brian; Tierney, Kathleen J.Item Disaster Resistant Communities Initiative: Assessment Of The Pilot Phase - Year 3(2002) Wachtendorf, Tricia; Connell, Rory; Tierney, Kathleen J.; Kompanik, KristyItem Disaster Resistant Communities Initiative: Evaluation Of The Pilot Phase. Year 2(2000) Nigg, Joanne M.; Riad, Jasmin K.; Wachtendorf, Tricia; Tierney, Kathleen J.Item Disaster Resistant Communities Initiative: Focus Group Analysis(2000) Wachtendorf, Tricia; Riad, Jasmin K.; Tierney, Kathleen J.Item Disaster Resistant Communities Initiative: Local Community Representatives Share Their Views: Year 3 Focus(2001) Wachtendorf, Tricia; Tierney, Kathleen J.Item Elements of Community Resilence in The World Trade Center Attack(Disaster Research Center, 2001) Kendra, James M.; Wachtendorf, TriciaIn this paper, we examine the elements of resilience exhibited by New York City departments as they responded to the World Trade Center attack in September, 2001 while at the same time losing their primary emergency operations center (EOC) facility at 7 World Trade Center. Our focus lies primarily on the reestablishment of the EOC in the days that followed its destruction. Data were gathered during exploratory fieldwork commencing within two days of the attack and continuing for two months thereafter. We base the results on over 750 collective hours of systematically observing key planning meetings and highly secured facilities, including the EOC, incident command posts, supply and food staging areas, and the disaster site also known as 'ground zero'. The data and findings we present in this paper are preliminary; however, they offer initial insight into understanding organizational and community resilience in disaster situations and therefore warrant our consideration. The paper begins by presenting conceptions of resilience as understood from several disciplinary perspectives, noting that work in these disciplines has sought to understand how a natural or social system that experiences disturbance either sustains its functional processes or fails to do so. Although researchers differ in the terms they use to describe different features of organizational resilience, they nevertheless orient their analyses around such features as redundancy, resourcefulness, communication and the capacity for self-organization in the face of extreme demands.Item Executive Summary. Disaster Resistant Communities Initiative: Evaluation Of The Pilot Phase. Year 1(1998) Nigg, Joanne M.; Riad, Jasmin K.; Wachtendorf, Tricia; Tweedy, Angela; Reshaur, LisaItem Exploring The Popular Culture Of Disaster(Disaster Research Center, 1999) Wachtendorf, TriciaItem Improvisation, Creativity, and the Art of Emergency Management(Disaster Research Center, 2006) Kendra, James; Wachtendorf, TriciaImprovisation is a significant feature of every disaster, and Tierney (2002) has argued that, if an event doesn’t require improvisation, it is probably not a disaster. Improvisation has had something of a checkered history in the emergency management field since its appearance in a disaster response seems to suggest a failure to plan for a particular contingency. Even scholars who have recognized the value of this capacity have tended to subordinate it to planning. Thus improvisation occupies a somewhat conflicted space in the realm of emergency and crisis management capacities: we plan in detail so that we don’t have to improvise, knowing that we will have to improvise. This paper discusses emerging understandings of improvisation in emergency management and their relationship to planning as well as to other such noted disaster phenomena as emergence, or the appearance of new groups of people organized to meet disaster-related needs. We reconsider the suggestion that improvisation must be positioned with respect to planning in such a way that it somehow seems to be the weak link, or an indication of some failure or dysfunction. We argue that improvisation is a distinct capacity that individuals and groups employ, and that while planning encompasses the normative “what ought to be done,” improvisation encompasses the emergent and actual “what needs to be done.”Item The Indian Ocean Tsunami: A Preliminary Assessment of Societal Impacts and Consequences(Disaster Research Center, 2005) Rodriguez, Havidan; Wachtendorf, Tricia; Kendra, James M.; Trainor, JosephItem Interaction Between Canadian and American Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations During the Red River Flood of 1997(Disaster Research Center, 2000) Wachtendorf, TriciaItem Lessons Learned From The Popular Culture Of Disaster(Disaster Research Center, 1999) Wachtendorf, Tricia