Showing papers in "International journal of mass emergencies and disasters in 1984"

Protective Action Decision Model Applied to Evacuation During the Three Mile Island Crisis

Abstract: Interviews with 1,505 persons living within 55 miles of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant three months after the crisis were analyzed to test whether the protective action decision model could predict evacuation behavior during the crisis period. Results indicate that severity, susceptibility, barrier and cost variables were, as suggested by the model, related to evacuation behavior. In addition, several modifications to the model were suggested by the findings including a need to account for why conflicting information may increase evacuation in nuclear disasters while decreasing evacuation in non-nuclear disasters. Language: en

Are the News Media Responsible for the Disaster Myths?: A Content Analysis of Emergency Response Imagery

Abstract: Disaster research scholars and emergency planners have often contended that the news media play a major role in creating and perpetuating various myths of natural disaster response. These myths include widespread panic flight, psychological dependency and vicious competition for necessities on the part of victims, and physical convergence for the purpose of looting by non-victims. The evidence which ties the news media to these myths of community breakdown is largely indirect. Survey data reveal a generalized belief among members of the public that the above enumerated behaviors are typical reactions of people faced with a sudden crisis. These data also indicate that the news media are the principal source of information about disasters for most people. Lacking are detailed analyses which document the extent to which the myths of community breakdown actually appear in news coverage of natural disaster events. The present study, which focuses on the reporting of four earthquake events by two southern California newspapers, attempts to address this issue. The results, though preliminary, suggest that some caution is warranted in making the generalization that natural disaster coverage disproportionately conveys a breakdown imagery of communities facing a major natural catastrophe.

Evacuation Behavior at Three Mile Island

Abstract: Evacuation behavior associated with the accident at Three Mile Island is described based upon data from field surveys. The question addressed is whether this evacuation was unique or whether it conformed to the pattern normally found in natural disasters. Demographic and social aspects of the evacuation are compared with those in the disaster literature. The conclusion is that the voluntary evacuation at Three Mile Island did not differ significantly from those taking place in natural disasters. Therefore, no special plans, policies, or procedures seem needed over and above those in place for other kinds of disaster evacuations. But in emergencies that are unusual and infrequent, where public officials must rely exclusively on experts who themselves disagree, and where the incident is part of an existing public controversy, forced evacuation may be a difficult action to take. This should not prevent officials from taking steps to make voluntary evacuation available to all citizens who choose to take such protective actions.

Blame Assignment in a Diffuse Disaster Situation: A Case Example of the Role of an Emergent Citizen Group

Abstract: Blame occurs frequently after disaster, yet the process of blame is a neglected topic of disaster research. Our study looks at how a grassroots citizen's group blamed a local company for air pollution and health problems. The blaming process directed toward the company aided in the mobilization of the citizen's group but also prevented any immediate issue-oriented actions. As blame directed toward the company decreased within the group, solidarity within the group decreased. Yet, as blame decreased within the group, issue-oriented actions by the group increased. The placement of blame by the group had both positive and negative consequences for its goals. Comparing this case with other studies of blame in disaster, we found that: (1) placing blame does not lead to structural changes in the social system, (2) organizations can be the focus of blame, and (3) only one target of blame can exist. In addition, we suggest that the type of disaster (diffuse or focalized, and technological or natural) may have an impact upon who or what becomes the target of blame.

Natural Hazard Mitigation: Professionalization of the Policy-Making Process

Abstract: Liability and increased federal involvement in issues of public safety has resulted in the development of a bewildering array of agencies and entities at all levels of government. In spite of this increased involvement, losses from catastrophic natural hazardous events are continuing to increase at an alarming rate. Although there is an increased federal involvement, primary responsibility and authority for dealing with the problems associated with natural hazard exposure rests with the states and local governments. However, the capacity of state and local governments to deal with these problems is significantly constrained by geophysical, ecological, and sociopolitical factors. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the context in which natural hazard problems are defined and policies adopted in the United States. Further we will examine the barriers to the adaptation and implementation of natural hazard mitigation policies. Professionalization of the policy adaptation and implementation process is presented as a basis for increased success in reducing societal risks to natural hazards. Language: en

TV Network News Coverage of Three Mile Island: Reporting Disasters as Technological Fables

Abstract: Nightly network news coverage of the accident at Three Mile Island raised questions about the nature of TV news as well as the capacity of the three major networks to inform viewers during disasters. A key emphasis in TV news is story-telling, especially the weaving of fables. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the content of network news coverage of TMI reveals differences between networks in techniques of news-gathering and reporting, but even more so in stories told: CBS narrated a tale of responsible political and technological elites, ABC a nightmare of common folk victimized by elites, and NBC a story of resignation and demystification. Coverage of TMI, when compared to network coverage of other crises, suggests that in reporting disasters CBS, ABC, and NBC respectively and consistently construct rhetorical visions of reassurance, threat, and primal assurance.

The Political Matrix of Natural Disasters: Africa and the United States

Abstract: Scarce resources often force governments to make difficult choices in the authoritative allocation of values. Such value decisions are particularly acute in developing countries, where need and demand far exceed government wherewithal. Major structural and political factors, which help explain the response adequacy of developed and developing nations, shed little light on the comparative performance of developing regimes alone. To aid in understanding these latter differences, this article identified three patterns of authoritative allocation found among the developing countries of Africa and Latin America: ethnic pluralism, corporatism, and egalitarianism. These patterns, in turn, help account for observed variation within developing countries of average number killed, average amount of damage, and average number of victims within the disaster categories of earthquake, flood, epidemic, drought, and storm.

Earthquakes and Public Policy: Implementation in California

Abstract: Successful public policy implementation is almost always problematic. Seismic safety policies are prone to implementation problems, and it is at least arguable that seismic safety policies may be more susceptible to implementation problems than some other policies. This paper focuses on efforts to implement seismic safety policies in thirteen local California communities. The most important aspects of seismic safety policy implementation in California are: (1) the role of key governmental personnel, (2) the political environment surrounding the issue of seismic safety, and (3) the tractability of the issue itself. Given the way these three aspects interact and because seismic safety is not an issue that generates consistent expressions of organized public support, policy implementation will always falter unless a highly committed and motivated core of public officials diligently pursue implementation. Absent these personnel, the perceived intractability of the problem and lack of visible political rewards for supporting seismic safety make seismic safety a policy area prone to unsuccessful or incomplete implementation.

The Three Mile Island Incident: A Study of Behavioral Indicators of Human Stress

Abstract: This work sought to specify stress levels induced in the local population around Three Mile Island from the accident in 1979. Unobtrusive behavioral indicators of stress for the population as a whole were compared before, during, and after the accident. The conclusions reached were that: (1) the Three Mile Island incident did produce stress in people; (2) the stresses detected through the indicators used in this study were short-lived, not severe enough to manifest themselves in dramatic indicators like psychiatric admissions or suicide; (3) stress was obviously reflected in indicators of mild stress like alcohol consumption; and (4) stress detected was well within the limits of stress that occurs annually in that local population from stress inducing events like the occurrence of a major holiday. The conclusions of this study are best interpreted in concert with findings from studies using obtrusive indicators of stress and with studies on special local sub-populations.

Human Response to Vertical Shelters: An Experimental Note

Abstract: As both coastal population and coastal evacuation times increase, there is a need to consider the vertical evacuation option. This research examines the changes a "vertical shelter" option might introduce in decisions to evacuate. It focuses on two possible human behavior problems associated with the use of "vertical shelters." Problem one is whether the existence of a "vertical shelter" option will inhibit large numbers of people from evacuating horizontally. Problem two is whether the existence of a "vertical shelter" option will encourage people to delay their decisions to evacuate outside the threatened area. In order to address these problems two experiments were conducted in Galveston, Texas USA. In each experiment the sample was divided into a control and experimental group. All participants were shown videotapes of Hurricane Alicia. They were then requested to select response options based on written hurricane advisories. Only the experimental group had vertical evacuation as one of the response options. The second experiment also examined the effect of the Galveston Seawall on the responses. The results of these experiments provide no statistically significant evidence that for the participants the presence of a "vertical shelter" would delay or inhibit them from evacuating horizontally. However, because of the small sample, only large differences could have been detected.

What's the Matter with Those People? Rethinking Three Mile Island

Abstract: This paper examines the long-term psychological effects of the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) on a community situated almost entirely within five miles of the reactor. Data were collected in October-November 1979 (Time I) from 391 residents 25 years of age and older and in October-November 1980 (Time II) from a subsample of these subjects. The findings of the study indicate that: (1) the community can be characterized as distressed at Time I and at Time II; and (2) in general, perceived threat to physical health is more highly associated with distress than personal or demographic characteristics. The relationship of these findings to previous research findings regarding long-term psychosocial effects following other types of disasters is discussed.

Nuclear Power Emergency Planning: Politics of the Task

Abstract: Great uncertainty currently prevails in the matter of off-site emergency response planning around U.S. civilian nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency share in review and approval of off-site emergency plans prepared by state and local governments in the emergency planning zone of nuclear power plants. This study examines why off-site nuclear accident planning has been a low federal priority, why the problem is intergovernmentally complex, and why this sub-policy issue remains controversial. Language: en

The Legacy of Three Mile Island: Research and Policy Implications

Abstract: The Report of the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island was entitled, The Need for Change: The Legacy of TMI. As a staff member of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Task Force of the Commission, I was quite pleased with that title, because it seemed to grasp the essence of the Commission's findings concerning the incident. Deficiencies were found by the Commission in all facets of the problem. Plant operation, operator training, plant design, federal and state regulatory activity, media coverage, and emergency planning and response were all examined carefully and found to be wanting. The incident has become one of the most intensively studied emergency and crisis events in the history of the United States. Illustrative of these efforts, a partially annotated bibliography has been compiled by Terri Pope and myself and is included at the end of this volume. It is primarily focused upon social and behavioral aspects of the accident. Even within this limited scope, it is not all inclusive. It is offered only as a basic bibliography that indicates the types of investigations that have been undertaken. This issue of the journal continues to add to our knowledge of this event. The nine articles discuss topics ranging from evacuation behavior to the rationality of the control room operators. Public policy issues, media coverage, and the social impact of the accident are also addressed. In each case, the authors have considered the legacy of the accident. In effect, they address the implications of their findings and observations for other crisis, disaster, and emergency situations.