Disaster Research Center
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The Disaster Research Center (DRC) is the first social science research center in the world devoted to the study of disasters. Founded in 1963 at the Ohio State University, the Center is now part of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Delaware and faculty members from the School of Public Policy and Administration, the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice and the Department of Civil Engineering direct Disaster Research Center projects.
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Item The 1965 Montreal Canada Apartment House Explosion: Some Notes and Comparisons With The Indianapolis, Indiana Coliseum Explosion(Disaster Research Center, 1965-07) Adams, David S.Item The 1973 St. John River Flood Response(Disaster Research Center, 1973-07) Kueneman, Rodney M.Item The 1974 Grand River Flood(Disaster Research Center, 1974-06) Kueneman, Rodney M.; Hannigan, John A.Item The 1974 Southern Manitoba Spring Flood Response(Disaster Research Center, 1974-05) Hannigan, John A.; Kueneman, Rodney M.Item 1999 Floods in Veracruz and the Paradigm of Vulnerability(Disaster Research Center, 2004) Aguirre, Benigno E.; Macias, Jesus M.This study examines the distribution of warnings and of services to victims of the 1999 floods in Veracruz, Mexico and offers a criticism of vulnerability as the dominant paradigm guiding national and international disaster-related programs. It has sections on the vulnerability paradigm, the 1999 flood, and the methods used in the analysis. The information comes from a survey of 385 head of households flood victims residing in three cities in the north of Veracruz, Poza Rica, Gutierrez Zamora, and Tecolutla. The results indicate that government services to the population threatened by the floods were almost nonexistent. Radio programming and personal relations with friends, neighbors, and kin, were the most important sources of warnings about the hazard. The respondents’ integration in their communities and the social organizations of these communities were key determinants of their receipt of warnings and assistance such as vertical evacuation sheltering. Authorities should place much greater emphasis than they do now on facilitating the use of vertical evacuation and the service of radio stations providing information to communities at risk of extreme weather events, improving their weather and disaster-preparedness programming and making radios available to people in areas at risk of severe weather and other hazards. Disaster preparedness and mitigation need to be made part of their efforts in community development, encouraging the growth of social capital that can be used for disaster response and recovery. The implications of these findings for the continued use of the paradigm of vulnerability that provides guidelines to present-day international assistance at times of disasters are considered.Item Access and Functional Needs(FEMA Higher Education Project, 2014) Brittingham, Rochelle; Goepfert, MaryThis chapter from the book, "Critical Issues in Disaster Science and Management: A Dialogue Between Researchers and Practitioners," edited by Joseph E. Trainor and Tony Subbio, discusses the unique needs of people with disabilities as they pertain to emergency management and disaster planning. It is a unique dialogue between an academic expert in the field and a practitioner expert and works to identify and overcome the differences in the two approaches to the subject.Item Adaptation to compound climate risks: A systematic global stocktake(iScience, 2023-02-17) Simpson, Nicholas P.; Williams, Portia Adade; Mach, Katharine J.; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Biesbroek, Robbert; Haasnoot, Marjolijn; Segnon, Alcade C.; Campbell, Donovan; Musah-Surugu, Justice Issah; Joe, Elphin Tom; Nunbogu, Abraham Marshall; Sabour, Salma; Meyer, Andreas L.S.; Andrews, Talbot M.; Singh, Chandni; Siders, A.R.; Lawrence, Judy; van Aalst, Maarten; Trisos, Christopher H.; The Global Adaptation Mapping Initiative TeamHighlights: • Compound climate impacts are particularly hard to adapt to • Compound vulnerabilities and exposures constrain adaptation capabilities • Inappropriate responses to climate change can lead to maladaptation • Compound impacts can have cascading effects on response options Summary: This article provides a stocktake of the adaptation literature between 2013 and 2019 to better understand how adaptation responses affect risk under the particularly challenging conditions of compound climate events. Across 39 countries, 45 response types to compound hazards display anticipatory (9%), reactive (33%), and maladaptive (41%) characteristics, as well as hard (18%) and soft (68%) limits to adaptation. Low income, food insecurity, and access to institutional resources and finance are the most prominent of 23 vulnerabilities observed to negatively affect responses. Risk for food security, health, livelihoods, and economic outputs are commonly associated risks driving responses. Narrow geographical and sectoral foci of the literature highlight important conceptual, sectoral, and geographic areas for future research to better understand the way responses shape risk. When responses are integrated within climate risk assessment and management, there is greater potential to advance the urgency of response and safeguards for the most vulnerable. Graphical abstract at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.105926Item An Agent Specific Or An All Disaster Spectrum Approach To Socio-Behavioral Apsects of Earthquakes?(Disaster Research Center, 1981) Quarantelli, E. L.Item Allocation of Radar Resources and Policy Implications: The End-User Community in Oklahoma(Disaster Research Center, 2005) Rodriguez, Havidan; Diaz, Walter; Donner, William R.; Santos, Jenniffer; Marks, DanielSocial scientists at the Disaster Research Center (DRC) at the University of Delaware, the Center for Applied Social Research (CISA) at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, and at the University of Massachusetts are conducting a research project focusing on the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of end-users (primarily emergency managers and representatives from the National Weather Service – NWS) in the State of Oklahoma regarding severe weather events, warnings, and the development of new radar technology. Particular attention has also been paid to the advantages, problems, and limitations of current weather technology from the emergency manager’s perspective. This research brief focuses on the end-users’ recommendations regarding the allocation of the new radar resources that are being developed by the Engineering Research Center (ERC) on the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In-depth interviews were conducted with members (n=38) of the emergency management community and NWS meteorologists with diverse experiences in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Based on the results from the in-depth interviews, we generated seven (7) broad categories that include the recommendations or factors that emergency managers reported should be taken into account in the allocation of radar resources, including a) nature of the hazard event, b) potential impact and outcomes of the hazard event, c) lead time, d) false alarm rates, e) population issues, f) infrastructure, and g) availability of other resources.Item An Annotated Bibliography And Listing Of The Social Science Literature On Planning For And Responding To Hazardous Materials Disasters(Disaster Research Center, 1992) Hughes, Mary AnnItem An Annotated Bibliography on Disaster Mental Health and Crisis Intervention in Smaller Communities(Disaster Research Center, 1978) Tierney, Kathleen J.; Baisden, BarbaraItem Annotated Bibliography on Fire Science(Disaster Research Center, 2007) Torres, Manuel; Barsky, Lauren; Aguirre, Benigno E.; Poteyeva, RitaThis annotated bibliography is a product of the Disaster Research Center’s ongoing study of search and rescue (S&R) activity in fires which uses the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) data collected by the United States Fire Administration (USFA) to model fire injury and death. It was compiled as part of our examination of civilian death and injury due to structural fires. It focuses on such areas as structural collapse, civilian injury and mortality, firefighter injury and death, causes of fires, behaviors related to injury and death, and the process of search and rescue in fires. It presents a synthesis of several key areas of interest within the emerging discipline. While it is not an exhaustive bibliography representative of all areas of study, it provides an initial overview of several key areas and could serve as a starting point to research. Available findings from various studies could be compared to replicate and augment existing knowledge, as well to develop theories on the effects of the presence of S&R on morbidity and on the causes of civilian injury and mortality.Item Annual Report 1985(Disaster Research Center, 1985)Item Annual Report 1986(Disaster Research Center, 1986)Item Annual Report 1987(Disaster Research Center, 1987)Item Annual Report 1988(Disaster Research Center, 1988)Item Annual Report 1989(Disaster Research Center, 1989)Item Annual Report 1990(Disaster Research Center, 1990)Item Annual Report 1991(Disaster Research Center, 1991)Item Annual Report 1993(Disaster Research Center, 1993)