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1 Introduction
Pages 11-40

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From page 11...
... An historical overview of social science research within the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)
From page 12...
... -- Opportunities for bridging the gap between social scientists that study natural disasters and those that investigate technological risks. -- Likely impact of key societal changes -- such as the emergence of new tech nologies, emphasis on new hazards, and a changing emergency manage ment profession -- on how disaster research is done by social scientists in the future, as well as what is studied.
From page 13...
... THE DISASTER CONSTRUCT Disasters are non-routine events in societies or their larger subsystems (e.g., regions and communities) that involve conjunctions of physical conditions with social definitions of human harm and social disruption.
From page 14...
... As further clarified in the above encyclopedia entry: The phrase "nonroutine events" distinguishes disasters as unusual and dramatic happenings from everyday issues and concerns. The dual refer ence to "physical conditions" and social definitions means that each is individually necessary and both are collectively sufficient for disasters to occur in social time and space.
From page 15...
... As discussed in this report, classification schemes have frequently been based on defining characteristics of disasters such as their length of forewarning; detectability; speed of onset; and magnitude, scope, and duration of impact. Such dimensions allow for comparisons of multiple disasters, thus bridging the gap among social scientists studying hazards that are natural, technological, or willful in origin.
From page 16...
... . However, this definition does provide a heuristic tool for examining a broad range of environmental, technological, and willful events on their own terms and for comparing systemic adjustments to actual or potential events with societal responses to other social problems and public policy issues (Barton, 1989)
From page 17...
... Hazard vulnerability and mitigation, disaster preparedness, emergency response, and disaster recovery take on different meanings depending on which systemic level is being considered. The focus of the above encyclopedia entry is on the societal level and its major subsystems.
From page 18...
... . However, all disasters have information effects, and these effects can lead positively to increased vulnerability assessment, hazard mitigation, and emergency preparedness as well as more efficient and effective emergency response and disaster recovery.
From page 19...
... . MAINSTREAM TOPICS OF HAZARDS AND DISASTER RESEARCH Note that Figure 1.1 includes five topics of mainstream research within this field: hazard vulnerability, mitigation, disaster preparedness, emergency response, and disaster recovery.
From page 20...
... As highlighted throughout the report, social science knowledge about natural and technological hazards and disasters can and should be applied rigorously and systematically to willful events, which have been studied by social scientists funded through NEHRP, but less frequently so. While findings from social science research on natural and technological disasters are clearly relevant to willful events, it is clear that much more needs to be learned through comparisons across these different risks.
From page 21...
... Insurance programs can further disaster mitigation as well as preparedness, and under certain circumstances, disaster recovery influences insurance policy and actuarial rates. Disaster preparedness affects emergency response and recovery, and the experience of disasters has important (short- and longer-term)
From page 22...
... Represented to the left, the events circle is the causal importance of antecedent conditions of hazard vulnerability (hazard exposure, physical vulnerability, social vulnerability)
From page 23...
... The interactions among the five core topics of hazards and disaster research -- introduced in Figure 1.1 and depicted more pointedly in Figure 1.2's process model -- are important on both theoretical and practical grounds. Both theoretically and empirically, hazard vulnerability, hazard mitigation, disaster preparedness, emergency response, and disaster recovery are mutually related.
From page 24...
... Chronological time and social time have become coterminous, as have collective actions related to hazard vulnerability, hazard mitigation, emergency preparedness, emergency response, and disaster recovery. Simultaneous activities are directed to meeting demands that are defined objectively and subjectively as acute in all of these areas.
From page 25...
... Decisions about development, hazard mitigation, and emergency preparedness give rise to one of the most important economic issues in this field: Do increased levels of hazard mitigation and disaster preparedness increase risk taking by individuals and social systems? Thus, from an economic perspective, there is an implicit component of hazard exposure in Figure 1.2 that reflects decisions by individuals and social systems to locate in harms way.
From page 26...
... . With respect to earthquake research, social scientists became a part of a multidisciplinary effort to understand major events that occurred during the 1960s and early 1970s.
From page 27...
... Its recommendations were considered very germane to the future NEHRP. One of its key arguments was that such a program would facilitate the development of earthquake prediction science and engineering, and that social scientists could play an important role by conducting complementary research and analyses related to the timely and effective issuance of earthquake predictions to the public.
From page 28...
... The working group reported to the prominent seismologist Frank Press, then director of OSTP and science advisor to President Jimmy Carter. The working group included two social scientists from federal agencies and representatives from the engineering and earth science communities.
From page 29...
... The emergency management profession, seen by social scientists as a major user of the knowledge the field generates, has new responsibilities (including those brought on by the increased threat of terrorism) and new institutional arrangements to meet these responsibilities.
From page 30...
... Additionally, over the years social scientists have participated on multidisciplinary post-earthquake reconnaissance teams organized by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) as part of its Learning from Earthquakes program (also funded by NSF)
From page 31...
... A key task for this committee, then, is to document succinctly the key contributions that social scientists have made under NEHRP in developing knowledge of earthquakes and other hazards and disasters, and also advancing appropriate collaborative research activities subsumed by the research topics represented in Figure 1.2. Recent discussions have been suggestive, including a workshop (National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program at Twenty-Five Years: Accomplishments and Challenges)
From page 32...
... Historically some social science researchers have shown a preference for studying one type over another, perhaps interacting primarily with likeminded researchers, thereby reducing opportunities for sharing research results and theoretical insights. As previously noted, however, many social scientists investigate a variety of hazards and disasters, including terrorist incidents.
From page 33...
... One of the key justifications for the creation of earthquake engineering research centers was that they would provide a platform for significant interdisciplinary research involving engineers, earth scientists, and social scientists. As noted, NSF currently supports three such centers, and all are expected to promote an integrated research program that includes the social sciences.
From page 34...
... in EERI post-earthquake reconnaissance teams. EERI has also recently formed a social science committee to better integrate social scientists into its activities, especially those involving the collection of perishable data following earthquakes.
From page 35...
... Postimpact studies also provide a window for documenting what did or did not take place pre-disaster with respect to hazard vulnerability assessment, hazard mitigation, and disaster preparedness actions. The use of state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies is no less important for pre-impact investigations of hazards and the risks association with them.
From page 36...
... There are at least some social science research groups that share their knowledge with practitioners through close and sustained relationships. Another sign of progress, sometimes involving collaboration between social scientists and other stakeholders such as FEMA, is the development of college courses and degree programs on hazards and disaster management.
From page 37...
... The hopeful result is an expanding pool of newly committed scholars, in this case hazards and disaster researchers. Some senior social scientists in the field now argue that this traditional approach is no longer adequate to meet workforce needs.
From page 38...
... The committee envisions a future in which: · the origins, dynamics, and impacts of hazards and disasters become much more prominent in mainstream as well as specialty research interests throughout the social sciences; · traditional social science investigations of post-disaster responses become more integrated with no less essential studies of hazard vulnerability, hazard mitigation, disaster preparedness, and post-disaster recovery; · disciplinary studies of the five core topics of hazards and disaster research within the social sciences increasingly become complemented by interdisciplinary collaborations among social scientists themselves and between social scientists and their colleagues in the natural sciences and engineering; · there is continuing attention throughout the hazards and disaster research community on resolving interdisciplinary issues of data standardization, data management and archiving, and data sharing; · there is continuing attention throughout hazards and disaster research on the dissemination of research findings and assessments by social scientists of their impacts on hazards and disaster management practices at local, regional, and national levels; · each generation of hazards and disaster researchers makes every effort to recruit and train the next generation; and · the funding of hazards and disaster research by social scientists, natural scientists, and engineers is a cooperative effort involving the NSF, its partner agencies within NEHRP, the Department of Homeland Security, and other government stakeholders. The committee feels that such recent disasters as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita significantly reinforces the relevance of its vision.
From page 39...
... Chapter 3 focuses primarily on hazard vulnerability, disaster event characteristics, pre-impact interventions, and how they interact in determining disaster impacts from a cross-hazards perspective. Chapter 4 focuses primarily on post-impact responses and their interactions with pre-impact interventions, as both relate to the determination of disaster impacts from a cross-hazards perspective.
From page 40...
... 40 FACING HAZARDS AND DISASTERS mendations have been set forth by the committee, primarily because traditional topics within, respectively, hazards and disaster research necessarily are interrelated. The committee also wishes to ensure that stakeholders have the flexibility to consider the broad range of research and application issues specified in its statement of task.


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