Emergency and Disaster Management Commons^™

Impacts Of Atmospheric Rivers On Communities In Northern California: Comparative Analysis Of Sonoma County Hazard Mitigation Plans, Cristina Vance

Master's Projects and Capstones

Climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events and affects California’s hydroclimate, thereby increasing flood vulnerability of all communities in Sonoma County. An example of extreme weather phenomena is atmospheric rivers (ARs), which are long narrow water vapor transported by winds across the Pacific Ocean. ARs have a history of causing major flood events that have swept through Sonoma County and negatively impacted cities along the lower Russian River, such as the unincorporated town of Guerneville, California. Major floods cause detrimental impacts to the economy. Social inequalities become evident when unincorporated communities located along floodplains are more vulnerable to …

Frequencies And Types Of Unmet Needs Of Families With Children And Youth With Special Health Care Needs Undergoing A Preparedness Intervention, Braden Bubarth, Jennifer Griffin, Zekarias Berhane, Renee Turchi

St. Chris Research Day

No abstract provided.

Chronic Inequities: Environmental & Structural Racism During Covid-19 And Hurricane Laura Disaster Recovery, Tomeka M. Robinson, Sabrina Singh

Critical Disaster Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the realities of systemic health inequities within the United States. While the virus has severely impacted the entire country, people of color bear the brunt of this pandemic, from surges of COVID-19 cases in their communities to spikes in unemployment rates. Simultaneously, citizens are dealing with the impacts of natural disasters such as hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. The common denominator concerning these two stressors is that they can be exacerbated by institutional racism. This can be seen in the case of a small city in Southwest Louisiana, namely, Lake Charles, which has become a …

Book Review: The Shaming State: How The U.S. Treats Citizens In Need, Steve Matthewman

Critical Disaster Studies

Salman’s book centers two different constituencies, in two different locations, in the 2010s, who have been impacted by two different disasters. The first group are Iraqi refugees who have been resettled in Wayne County, Michigan. Trying to start again over half a world away, they are trapped in the transit lounge of life, never able to move on, never able to properly belong. They found a state in recession, the automobile industry collapsing, the city of Detroit bankrupt. Their particular county had higher unemployment than the state’s average and a poor median income as well. Economically speaking, ‘Michigan fared worse …

Emotion Regulation Strategies And Perceived Emotional Intelligence: The Effect Of Age., Iwanna Sepiadou

Adultspan Journal

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We also investigated the possible effects of age on the aforementioned variables. The total sample consisted of 379 people (158 men, 220 women, 1 unreported). Across participants, 273 were young (20-39 years old) and 106 were middle-aged (40-65 years old). We found statistically significant positive correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and negative primarily correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of …

Polarimetric Radar Signatures In Significant Severe Left-Moving Supercells, Raychel Nelson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Left-moving (LM) supercells, though rarer than right-moving (RM) supercells, may produce significant severe weather. However, there are very few existing studies on LM supercells, particularly polarimetric radar analyses. The upgrade of the nationwide Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) network to polarimetric capability and subsequent studies vastly improved understanding of RM supercells, but similar efforts have largely not been made for LM supercells. This study employs an automated polarimetric radar signature detection algorithm to examine a dataset of significant severe (hail ≥ 2.00”, wind ≥ 65 kts) LM supercells to quantify their polarimetric signatures. Comparisons are made with RM supercells to …

A Dual-Polarimetric Analysis Of A Large Sample Of Left-Moving Supercells, Ben Schweigert

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Supercells have been researched extensively since they were first described over 50 years ago. They are prolific severe weather producers, responsible for the most severe hail, severe wind gusts, and tornadoes. These rotating thunderstorms require attention from forecasters to protect life and property from their threats, most effectively done with Doppler radars. While extensive amounts of radar-based investigations have been completed, they focused almost exclusively on right-moving (RM) supercells, resulting in a knowledge gap surrounding their counter-rotating (left-moving, LM) partners. This study works to fill the void by developing a dataset of LM supercells and analyzing the dual-polarimetric features observed …

Can Volunteer Fire Companies Improve Recruiting?, David T. Button

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

The accelerating inability of volunteer fire departments to attract new recruits presents the public sector with both above and below-the-line costs. Finding replacements for members aging out is the single greatest challenge that volunteer departments face. If this problem persists, the cost of replacing volunteers with paid staff would have a significant and negative impact on the tax base. Pay and benefits for professional staff (as well as capital costs associated with this conversion) would cause property taxes to escalate significantly in communities where volunteers have historically managed emergencies. Much research has been conducted in an attempt to determine how …

Social Media Risk Messaging During The March 2023 Arkansas Tornadoes: A Qualitative Approach, Will Sappington, Andrew Rafferty

ATU Research Symposium

This study examines the social media risk communication activities of public organizations during the March 2023 Arkansas Tornadoes. The research question for this study is “what information was communicated to the public during the March 2023 Arkansas Tornadoes?” The data for the study was collected by reviewing the Facebook posts of 22 public organizations for a seven-day period (March 30 -April 5, 2023). The data thus collected was analyzed by using qualitative content analysis approach. The findings suggest that most of the organizations only communicated to the public after the tornadoes. The message content disseminated before and during the tornado …

2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Examining The Preparedness And Risk Communication Strategies Of Em Stakeholders, Andrew N. Rafferty, Will M. Sappington

ATU Research Symposium

On April 8th, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America. The City of Russellville is listed as one of the top locations for viewing the eclipse. Due to the eclipse, Russellville is expected to experience a heavy influx of visitors and other potential issues such as delayed emergency response, traffic congestion, and communication disruption. This research examines the eclipse-related preparedness and communication strategies of emergency management (EM) stakeholders in Arkansas, and specifically in the City of Russellville. The research question for this study is “What strategies are EM stakeholders implementing related to the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse preparedness …

Family Medicine’S Role In Addressing The Intersections Of Redlining And Climate Change, Daryl O. Traylor, Eboni E. Anderson, Brianna Clark, Alex M. Smith, Cooper K. Allenbrand

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

Redlining, the practice of discriminating against specific neighborhoods based on race and socioeconomic status, leads to persistent environmental hazards and socioeconomic inequalities that have lasting adverse health effects on their populations. Health disparities are further exacerbated through the concentration of environmental hazards, as well as the escalating impact of climate change, which poses an increased risk of respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, heat-related illness, infectious diseases, food insecurity, and socioeconomic difficulties in redline neighborhoods.

This paper examines the interplay of redlining, climate change, and health disparities, with an emphasis on the enduring consequences for these marginalized communities. Through …

The Impact Of Household Preparedness And Work-Family Conflict On Medic-Firefighter Ability And Willingness To Respond For Duty In A Disaster, Joshua S. Simmons

Dissertations

There is a general assumption in disaster planning that emergency responders will respond for duty in any emergency or disaster. Role abandonment by medic-firefighters could impede an organization’s ability to effectively manage the impact of a disaster. This study investigated household preparedness and work-family conflict levels, identified as primary variables affecting ability and willingness to respond in the literature. The aim was to determine if these factors impacted the ability and willingness of medic-firefighters in a coastal Virginia fire department to respond during disaster scenarios. The results showed that emergency preparedness levels were low, and that there were moderate levels …

Climate Adaptation Plans In Ontario: Small And Medium Municipalities Preparedness For Extreme Weather, Zakary Blomme

Major Papers

Combatting climate change has largely been understood as a matter of federal and provincial jurisdiction and as a result has mostly been executed in a preventative lens. However, the effects of climate change are most significantly felt at the municipal level. As a result, I argue the onus for combatting climate change should switch to the municipalities in order to focus on climate mitigation and adaptation. In fact, many of the larger cities in Ontario such as the City of Windsor have acted on this and created Climate Adaptation Plans to aid in mitigation and adaptation efforts. The larger cities …

Assessing Compliance To Water Resources And Reconstruction Framework During Post-Conflict Reconstruction Borno State, Muritala Olaniyi Oke Dr

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

Northeast and northwest of Nigeria have, as a result of activities of Boko Haram, bandit and kidnappers, had their public and private properties destroyed. Governments and other stakeholders, upon some successes of the military, have started post-conflict reconstruction to rebuild the war-torn urban and rural communities with the provision of water taking the center stage. This paper looks at the utilisation of Water Resources and a Reconstruction framework for integrating water projects into reconstruction processes. This paper rests on the argument that water projects during reconstruction should not be handled as “normal” water projects and that a more culturally and …

Delayed Coastal Inundations Caused By Ocean Dynamics Post-Hurricane Matthew, Kyungmin Park, Emanuele Di Lorenzo, Yinglong J. Zhang, Tal Ezer, Fei Yi

CCPO Publications

Post Hurricane Abnormal Water Level (PHAWL) poses a persistent inundation threat to coastal communities, yet unresolved knowledge gaps exist regarding its spatiotemporal impacts and causal mechanisms. Using a high-resolution coastal model with a set of observations, we find that the PHAWLs are up to 50 cm higher than the normal water levels for several weeks and cause delayed inundations around residential areas of the U.S. Southeast Coast (USSC). Numerical experiments reveal that while atmospheric forcing modulates the coastal PHAWLs, ocean dynamics primarily driven by the Gulf Stream control the mean component and duration of the shelf-scale PHAWLs. Because of the …

Community Cultural Wealth And Its Impact On Pandemic Relief Funding For Small Businesses, Brett Smith

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This dissertation investigates the impact of social, navigational, familial, aspirational, and resistant capital on the ability of small business owners in Pennsylvania to access relief funding during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily the period from March 2020 to December 2020. Utilizing Dr. Tara Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth framework, the study explores systemic barriers within relief initiatives and how they affect marginalized communities.

To meet business owners where they were, and to utilize technologies born as a result of the pandemic, this study utilized Asynchronous Video Interviews (AVI) and online surveys, to capture the lived experiences of these small business owners. Not …

Navigating New Normals: Student Perceptions, Experiences, And Mental Health Service Utilization In Post-Pandemic Academia, Hadiza Galadima, Anne Dumadag, Cara Tonn

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

This study explores the profound impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education, focusing on shifts in learning experiences and students’ intentions to utilize mental health services post-pandemic. Utilizing Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use, this study assesses perceptions from a stratified random sample of college students on post-pandemic learning experiences and mental health service utilization intentions. Findings reveal a positive reception to university initiatives and a preference for ongoing virtual classes. There is an evident increase in, and varying intentions for, using mental health services, shaped by demographics, employment, and prior service utilization. Younger and female students showed …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Synthetical Solution Of Disaster Risk Reduction And Green Development: A Novel Mode Promoting High-Quality Development In Mountain Areas Of China, Ming Li, Qin Liu, Yukuan Wang, Peng Cui, Xing Gao, Baofeng Di, Jinfeng Liu, Shengwen Qi, Rong Chen, Chunping Tan, Mengzhen Xu, Hao Sun, Jianqiang Zhang, Jiangang Chen, Qiang Zou

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

China is a mountainous country, with hills, mountains, and plateaus cover about two-thirds of its total land area. The vast area, huge population, rich natural resources, and great potential of development in mountain areas make them the most important “rear garden” supporting the sustainable development of the whole country. Nevertheless, China’s mountain areas are also prone to various kinds of natural disasters, and thus formed a scenario of high overlap between the high-risk zone of natural disasters and the lagging zone of social and economic development. And such scenario has caused significant waste of various related inputs, and becoming a …

Disaster Preparedness Levels Among Firefighters, Shelby G. Coonts

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

There are numerous studies that focus on household preparedness however, there are few studies that focus on the preparedness levels of first responders. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to (a) establish, analyze, and compare the current level of disaster preparedness among Hinesville City Fire Department and Liberty County Fire Services located within the same region of Southeastern, Georgia and (b) analyze any correlation between demographics of the Firefighters and their level of disaster preparedness. This research sought to benchmark the organizational level of disaster preparedness of two critical departments (city and county fire services) by measuring three …