Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The August 14th, 2003 Blackout: Implications For Future Disaster Preparedness In Toronto, Ontario, Kelly Marie Macgrandles

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Hazards, both natural and technological occur on a fairly regular basis. Timely and accurate communication of information before, during and after a disaster is essential for saving lives and property. This theme is the focus of this Master's thesis, in which the August 14th, 2003 blackout is used as a case study to assess how information is provided to the public during disaster events. More specifically, the thesis evaluates how agencies within the City of Toronto communicated risk information to the public. A news release analysis and interview analysis were then conducted to determine how closely the information in news …