DIEM

DIEM RESEARCHER TO CAPTURE CRITICAL DISASTER DATA FOLLOWING EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI

February 2, 2010

DIEM Researcher, Dr. Tricia Wachtendorf has traveled to Miami, Florida as a first stop on her mission to gather data about how organizations operate in the post-disaster environment. Dr. Wachtendorf, is Associate Director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, and is currently Co-PI on a research project entitled "Multi-Organizational Collaborative Leadership" funded by DIEM. For more information about Dr. Wachtendorf's current efforts in Haiti, you can listen to a recent interview with National Public Radio. To read more about Dr. Wachtendorf's DIEM project, please click here.

On January 12, 2010, a massive earthquake struck the nation of Haiti, causing catastrophic damage inside and around the capital city of Port-au-Prince. President Obama has promised the people of Haiti that "you will not be forsaken; you will not beforgotten." The United States Government has mobilized resources and manpower to aid in the relief effort. Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/haitiearthquake to find out ways you can contribute to the humanitarian efforts in Haiti.

The Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence—Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management

The Department of Homeland Security, Center of Excellence – Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management (DIEM) is funded through a Department of Homeland Security grant. This six year grant, which is renewed annually based on meeting established standards, funds the research, education and administration of center activities.

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

“Risk Perception, Preferences, and Preparedness”

Amy K. Donahue, Principal Investigator

University of Connecticut

Amy K. Donahue, right, principal investigator, and Candace Fitzpatrick, project manager, are conducting research to evaluate how people perceive disaster risk and how their perceptions affect preparedness decisions.

Photo by Peter Morenus, University of Connecticut

Policy makers seek to be responsive to citizen demands and to understand their likely concerns and reactions as emergency preparedness and response solutions are deployed. Yet, we have broad gaps in our understanding of the individual, household, and community dynamics that enable or impede citizen preparedness. Further, we hypothesize that what information people seek, believe, and heed has fundamentally to do with how they perceive the risks they face. Our understanding of how various populations perceive risks and act upon them is therefore an important aspect to individual and community preparedness and resiliency. This project will examine perceptions of risk from the perspective of both residents and decision makers, and examine how they act upon these perceptions, through cross-sectional studies designed to achieve the following objectives: 1) Identify and characterize perceptions of disaster risk held by residents and public decision makers in coastal and non-coastal locations; 2) Determine how the degree and nature of risks perceived affects preparedness decisions and practices; 3) Compare perceptions of risk and concomitant behavior across different segments of society (demographics and geographic locations) to provide tailored approaches to improve preparedness and response; and 4) Understand how risk information is used by residents and decision-makers.

COASTAL HAZARDS COLLOQUIUM DOCUMENT NOW AVAILABLE

The final report of the Coastal Hazards Colloquium convened by the Center of Excellence for Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management is now available for download. The 30-page document summarizes the findings of 29 experts in the fields of tropical meteorology, coastal engineering, hydrology, marine science, emergency management and public policy who met to discuss the state of the knowledge in coastal hazards phenomenology in December of 2008 in Chapel Hill, NC. The colloquium proceedings are presented as a compendium of prioritized research topics that merit further study in the quest to advance the understanding of coastal hazards related to tropical cyclones and other types of severe weather.

HAZARDS RESEARCH COLLOQUIA SERIES

With funding from the US Department of Homeland Security, DIEM hosted a series of natural hazards colloquia, the purpose of which was to gather expert scientists and practioners to identify gaps in our understanding of the physical characteristics of select natural hazards, and to determine a future research agenda in each field. The four colloquia held thus far have covered Coastal Hazards (including high winds, storm surge, and flooding); Wildland-Urban Interface Fire; Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering; and Tsunami.

Contact us:

For more information about the Center of Excellence - Natural Disasters, Coastal Infrastructure and Emergency Management (DIEM), please contact Program Manager Anna Schwab at akschwab@email.unc.edu / 919-962-0344; or Business Manager Barb Call at bcall@email.unc.edu / 919-962-0319.

Mailing Address:

Center for the Study of Natural Hazards and Disasters

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

100 Europa Drive, Suite 540

Campus Box 7581

Chapel Hill, NC 27517-7581

NEW! DIEM MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES

DIEM researchers and staff hold a teleconference and on-line meeting once a month. Minutes and PowerPoint presentations are available on our Resources: Meetings/Presentations page.

Upcoming
Events:

Stephens Disaster Institute to Host National Evacuation Conference Feb. 3-5, 2010

Go to Conference Website

DR. MARY ELLEN HYNES: "EXTREME LOADING OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE"

1:30 PM February 25, 2010

216 Mann Hall, North Carolina State University campus, Raleigh, NC

DR. MARY ELLEN HYNES, Director of Research, Infrastructure & Geophysical Division, Science & Technology Directorate, US Dept. of Homeland Security will present "Extreme Loading of Critical Infrastructure" at the 39th Henry M. Shaw Lecture at North Carolina State University.