Abstract

Just as the past two decades have seen a move from a “hazard” to a “vulnerability” paradigm in the theoretical framing of disasters, so also the balance has shifted from reactive efforts in the face of natural hazards to proactive, preventive policies. Short-term warning and response, relief, and recovery activities remain vital to the protection of lives and assets. Warning, damage assessment, and settlement reconstruction are well established, but they are not without controversy. Evaluations of the experiences of Hurricane Mitch (1998), the Gujarat earthquake (2001), the Asian tsunami (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005), drought and flooding in much of sub-Saharan Africa during the first decade of the 21st century, and the wildfires in Southern Europe and Australia (2008-2009) all show failure to learn lessons from failure. The UN system with many other partners has attempted to learn these hard lessons and guide disaster reduction. Its vision is codified in the Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA), which calls for a global system of institutions working for disaster risk reduction from a local to an international scale. In this ideal schema, there is universal access to knowledge at all levels—clear lines of authority and decentralization that make funds and technology available at the optimal locations and scales. Awareness of hazards and vulnerability as well as recognition and use of capacities and skills are omnipresent at all scales. It is a beautiful vision, but like Plato's Republic, the gulf between dream and reality is large. In fact, ample knowledge and effective tools exist. Funding, coordination, devolution, and decentralization are lacking and flawed.

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Disaster preparedness4

Discussion4

Emergency Management Perspective4

Root Causes of Disaster Risk6

Emergency Hazards and Disaster research7

Types of Disaster and prediction Methods11

Prediction Technologies11

The Warning Communication Process12

Notification Types and Goals12

Interpretations of Warnings12

Social Stratification and the Receipt and Interpretation of Warnings12

Communication from the Emergency situation13

Communication with the media in crisis management14

Contemporary disaster management15

The Management of Disaster Relief16

News Cycle17

Science Communication in Relationship to Disaster18

Remote Sensing in Disaster Response19

GIS in Disaster Response20

Examples of GIS in Disaster Response Phases21

Important steps to communicate disaster21

Public Leadership in Times of Crisis: Six Critical Challenges23

Sense Making23

Decision Making23

Coordination24

Meaning Making24

Terminating and Accounting25

Learning25

Conclusion26

Introduction

American business depends on infrastructure such as highways, communication, public utilities, and regional distribution centers (Holliday, 2006). Phillips and Phillips (2008) noted access to groceries, gasoline, and basic consumer goods are essential for commerce with customers, suppliers, and vendors. Small businesses, representing a significant part of the American economy, rely heavily on infrastructure to succeed. In 2007, half of all Americans worked for small businesses that provided half of the American non-farm private sector workforce (United States Small Business Administration [SBA], 2009). Unfortunately, business infrastructure is vulnerable to disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, tsunamis, terrorism, technological meltdowns, and other events triggered by external circumstances. Although most large businesses eventually recover from prolonged disaster situations, many small businesses do not survive. During the 2005 Hurricane disasters, Dennis, Katrina, and Rita, numerous small businesses along the Gulf Coast were adversely affected by the lack of business infrastructure to support business operations through the crisis (Kodrich, ...