Emergency and Disaster Management Commons^™

Why Trivialising People’S Culture Can Be Catastrophic For The Effective Communication Of Extreme Weather Warnings: Lessons From The Delta State Of Nigeria, Eromose E. Ebhuoma

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

Early weather warnings can save lives and minimise the loss of assets. The most accurate forecast, however, is useless if it fails to reach those anticipated to be affected by a predicted adverse weather condition, as this will impede their ability to act pro-actively. The 2012 flood disaster in Nigeria which had devastating consequences for 30 states in the country, for example, was forecasted a few months ahead by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency. However, data obtained from some rural communities in the Delta state that suffered severe implications courtesy of the flood revealed that the warning did not get to …

Education In Emergencies: Practitioner Level, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Education Analytics Service

This Practitioner level module is designed to ensure staff members are informed about issues to consider when engaging with international and domestic partners on education in emergencies. It is recommended that staff complete the Education in Emergencies: Foundation level module as background information to this Practitioner level module. Topics covered in this module include: education in emergencies in context; refugees; conflict; responding; gender; actors and coordination issues; and planning and financing.

Education In Emergencies: Foundation Level, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Education Analytics Service

The purpose of this module is to provide introductory information on what an emergency is, how emergencies affect education, and what a response looks like. On successful completion you will be able to be an informed participant in forums related to education in emergencies.

Grassroots Relief: Informal And Community-Based Response To Extreme Weather Events From Occupy Sandy To The Cajun Navy, Gordon Douglas, Eric Klinenberg, Liz Koslov

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

This study examines the role that local grassroots efforts play in disaster response and recovery. Drawing on findings from an ongoing research project on the experience of Hurricane Sandy in New York City since 2012 as well as new data from more recent hurricanes and other events, we show how volunteers, community-based organizations, and activist groups often play an important role in both immediate response and longer-term recovery efforts. Many communities hit hard by Sandy and other disasters were significantly aided by locally organized and 'informal' responses, often from groups that initially had nothing to do with emergency preparedness (community …

Protecting Human Subjects In The Digital Age: Issues And Best Practices Of Data Protection, Thomas Jamieson, Güez Salinas

Emergency Services Faculty Publications

Public opinion and survey researchers must protect the privacy and confidentiality of human subjects. However, scholars are often not trained in the best practices of data storage, and there is a serious risk that survey data might be compromised by pernicious actors. In an era when it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit participants, breaches could further challenge our ability to conduct surveys if we cannot guarantee that participants’ data will remain confidential and private. While any computer-based data has some vulnerability, we introduce simple measures that will better protect the confidentiality and privacy of human subjects. We hope these …

Human Reliability Considerations From The Hawaii Ballistic Missile Alert Event, Heather Medema, Harold Blackman, Kateryna Savchenko, Ronald Boring

CAES Energy Policy Institute Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rarely do two clicks of a computer mouse incite widespread panic and create international news. The incorrect assumption of a Hawaiian Emergency Management Agency warning officer on January 13, 2018, led that officer to select an actual ballistic missile alert rather than a test alert option from the agency’s computer interface dropdown menu. Further, presented with the option to confirm his selection, said officer validated his choice. His actions would set in motion a chain of events impacted drastically by heightened tension regarding U.S. relations with North Korea. This paper applies the Standardized Plant Analysis Risk-Human Reliability Analysis (SPAR-H) method …

Ua12/8 Annual Campus Safety & Security Report, Wku Police

WKU Administration Documents

This report is designed to provide students, potential students, parents, facility and staff with crime statistics and information on university services and crime prevention programs.

An Examination Of Midwestern Us Cities’ Preparedness For Climate Change And Extreme Hazards, Qiao Hu, Zhenghong Tang, Martha Shulski, Natalie Umphlett, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Frank E. Uhlarik

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

The increasing occurrence of extreme weather and climate events raised concerns in regard to hazard mitigation and climate adaptation. Local municipal planning mechanisms play a fundamental role in increasing a community’s capacity toward long-term resiliency. This study employs the content analysis method to evaluate the 95 selected cities located in the US Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VII and examine how these local plans, including local comprehensive plans (CPs), hazard mitigation plans (HMPs), and local emergency operations plans (EOPs), prepare communities for climate change and possible extreme events. Results indicate that local plans delineated multiple resources and diverse strategies to …

Toward Better Management Of Flood Losses: Flood Insurance In A Wetter World, Michael K. Mcshane, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf

Finance Faculty Publications

Flood is the most frequent and costly of U.S. natural disasters with losses expected to increase due to climate change. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) mandates flood insurance purchase for properties with federally backed mortgages in the 100-year floodplain. We propose that mandatory flood insurance purchase be extended to all property in the 500-year floodplain. Following flood events, payments would be directly provided for more properties that suffer flood loss, reducing federal disaster aid spending. The mandate could put more pressure on local governments to increase their Community Rating System score, such as through infrastructure investments and management practices …

Estimated Time Of Restoration (Etr) Guidance For Electric Distribution Networks, David Wanik, Emmanouil Anagnostou, Brian Hartman, Thomas Layton

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Electric distribution utilities have an obligation to inform the public and government regulators about when they expect to complete service restoration after a major storm. In this study, we explore methods for calculating the estimated time of restoration (ETR) from weather impacts, defined as the time it will take for 99.5% of customers to be restored. Actual data from Storm Irene (2011), the October Nor’easter (2011) and Hurricane Sandy (2012) within the Eversource Energy-Connecticut service territory were used to calibrate and test the methods; data used included predicted outages, the peak number of customers affected, a ratio of how many …

Local Residents’ Risk Perceptions In Response To Shale Gas Exploitation: Evidence From China, Chin-Hsien Yu, Shih-Kai Huang, Ping Qin, Xiaolan Chen

Research, Publications & Creative Work

In 2014, China became the world’s third country to accomplish shale gas commercial development, following the United States and Canada. China still however lacks a comprehensive analysis of its public’s concerns about potential environmental risks of shale gas exploration, particularly those of local residents near extraction sites. This paper specifically aims to explore risks perceived as associated with shale gas development in the Changning-Weiyuan area of Sichuan Basin, by conducting a face-to-face household survey with 730 participants interviewed. Some 86% of respondents reported their belief that shale gas exploitation causes more than three types of negative impacts, the most commonly …

Perceptions And Reactions To Tornado Warning Polygons: Would A Gradient Polygon Be Useful?, Ihnji Jon, Shih-Kai Huang, Michael K. Lindell

Research, Publications & Creative Work

To better understand interpretations of National Weather tornado warning polygons, 145 participants were shown 22 hypothetical scenarios in one of four displays deterministic polygon, deterministic polygon + radar image, gradient polygon, and gradient polygon + radar image. Participants judged each numerical strike probability (ps ) and reported the likelihood of taking seven different response actions. The deterministic polygon display produced ps that were highest at the centroid and declined in all directions from there. The deterministic polygon + radar display, the gradient polygon display, and the gradient polygon + radar display produced ps that were high at the centroid and …

Preparing For The Future: 2017–2018 Annual Report

University of Nebraska's National Strategic Research Institute: Publications

3 Letter from the Executive Director Robert Hinson

4 About NSRI-- Combatting WMD. Focusing on Deterrence.

6 Key Accomplishments/ Highlights of Business Operations Research Focus Areas

8 Nuclear Detection and Forensics

10 Active and Passive Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction

12 Detection of Chemical and Biological Weapons

14 Consequence Management

16 Mission-Related Research

18 Education & Training

20 Student & Faculty Engagement

22 NSRI/NU Key Journal Articles, 2017–2018

23 NSRI Board of Directors

Creation Of Micro/Nano Surface Structures On Silver Using Collinear Double Femtosecond Laser Pulses With Different Pulse Separation, Nicholas Roth, Craig Zuhlke, Edwin Peng, Scott Hansen, Jeffrey E. Shield, Dennis Alexander

University of Nebraska's National Strategic Research Institute: Publications

Self-organized mound-like micro/nanoscale structures are reported for the first time on silver using a dual-pulse femtosecond laser surface processing technique. The dual-pulse laser processing technique reported in this paper uses femtosecond laser pulse pairs with a controlled temporal delay between the leading and trailing pulses. Using dual pulses at higher fluence values, mound-like micro/nanostructures have been created on silver samples for the first time. Formation of the self-organized microstructures is shown to be dependent on the time delay between the leading and trailing pulses. Mound-like microstructures do not develop on silver for overlapped pulses or using single-pulse femtosecond laser surface …

Designing Effective Tsunami Messages: Examining The Role Of Short Messages And Fear In Warning Response, Jeannette Sutton, Sarah C. Vos, Michele M. Wood, Monique Turner

Communication Faculty Publications

Although tsunamis have the potential to be extremely destructive, relatively little research on tsunami messaging has taken place. Discovering whether tsunami warning messages can be written in a way that leads to increased protective response is crucial, particularly given the increased use of mobile message services and the role they play in notifying the public of imminent threats such as tsunami and other hazards. The purpose of this study was to examine the possibility of designing warning messages for tsunamis that improve upon message style and content used by public alerting agencies to date and to gain insight that can …

Victim-Group Legitimacy: An Argument For Extending Our Understanding Of Legitimacy After Crisis, Cody Blake Wilson

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

Organizational legitimacy has been useful approach to studying relationship management in crisis. This presentation suggests an expansion of organizational legitimacy theory: victim-group legitimacy. Multiple recent cases of crisis involving historically marginalized groups (HMGs) suggest that organizations may not be fully prepared to respond to crises involving HMGs. Recent cases also suggest that publics now routinely see modern crises as chapters within larger marginalization narratives. Victim-group legitimacy acts as a framework for evaluating, interpreting, and responding to not only the crisis at hand, but the historical crisis between an organization and HMGs.

Social Media Use During Natural Disasters: An Analysis Of Social Media Usage During Hurricanes Harvey And Irma, Larry J. King

International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference

This paper examines the use of social media in two recent national disasters and provides conclusions about the use of social media in these types of events.

A Case Study Of Veteran And Civilian Student Academic Performance At The University Of Central Florida, Floyd C. Diehl Jr

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This study seeks to provide a brief overview of academic standards and performance of veterans of the United States military and civilians who attend the University of Central Florida. Whether a student is a veteran or a civilian, he or she must learn how to adapt to the requirements of an academic community in order to be successful in that environment. It may be difficult for some. In able for society to discern the importance of the academic performance of both veterans and civilians alike, research is vital. There are various assumptions about veterans. For example, it can be assumed …

Agenda Setting, Localization And The Third-Person Effect: An Experimental Study Of When News Content Will Directly Influence Public Policy Demands, Thomas Jamieson, Douglas A. Van Belle

Emergency Services Faculty Publications

Building from the third-person effect model of DRR policy adoption and mediated policy learning, this study provides an experimental examination of how specific elements of news media’s localisation of distant events directly influence public opinion. Controlling for salience effects, the construction of affinities between the distant, stricken community and the newspaper’s audience is argued to create a sense of shared vulnerability to the reported disasters. This is correlated within an increase in the respondent’s intention to act directly and an increase in their willingness to punish elected officials who do not act accordingly. The construction of difference between the communities, …

“When One Shingle Sends Up Smoke”: The Summit Beacon Advises Akron About The Epidemic Cholera, 1849, Elizabeth Hall

Nineteenth-Century Ohio Literature

Elizabeth Hall explains the American cholera epidemic of 1849, with special attention to how cholera afflicted Akron, a booming canal town in Northeast Ohio. The article presents the full text of 1849 Akron newspaper articles on cholera and explains how their mix of good and bad information was published right before scientific breakthroughs in cholera research.