John H. Sorensen

Communication of Emergency Public Warnings: A Social Science Perspective and State-of-the-Art Assessment

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Community Processes: Warning and Evacuation

Almost every day people evacuate from their homes, businesses or other sites, and even ships in response to actual or predicted threats or hazards. Evacuation is the primary protective action utilized in large-scale disasters such as hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, releases of hazardous or nuclear materials, and high-rise building fires and explosions. Although often precautionary, protecting human lives by withdrawing populations during times of threat remains a major emergency management strategy. There have been some instances in which removal of property and livestock to safer places has been a major evacuation activity for some businesses such as automobile or boat dealers or specialty farm managers, but these evacuation activities lack systematic validation. Although there is some excellent research on evacuation behavior in other countries, such as the Holland floods in the early 1950s, the focus of this chapter is on evacuation behavior in the United States.

Diffusion of emergency warning: Comparing empirical and simulation results

As officials consider emergency warning systems to alert the public to potential danger in areas surrounding hazardous facilities, the issue of warning system effectiveness is of critical importance. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an analysis on the timing of warning system information dissemination including the alert of the public and delivery of a warning message. A general model of the diffusion of emergency warning is specified as a logistic function. Alternative warning systems are characterized in terms of the parameters of the model, which generally constrain the diffusion process to account for judged maximum penetration of each system for various locations and likelihood of the public’s being in those places by time of day. The results indicate that either telephone ring-down warning systems or tone-alert radio systems combined with sirens provide the most effective warning system under conditions of either very rapid onset, close proximity or both. These results indicate that single technology system provide adequate warning effectiveness when available warning time (after detection and the decision to warn) extends to as much as an hour. Moreover, telephone ring-down systems provide similar coverage at approximately 30 minutes of available public warning time.

Warning and response in two hazardous materials transportation accidents in the U.S.

Abstract Warning system effectiveness is critically important in selecting an appropriate emergency warning system to alert to public to potential danger. This

Knowing how to behave under the threat of disaster: can it be explained

The widely held premise that providing people with information and education on emergencies, such as natural disasters, will reduce losses is examined in this article. The results of an empirical study to ascertain the relationship between information, education, and knowledge about adaptive responses in a threatening situation are presented. These results indicate a poor statistical relationship between knowledge and a number of explanatory factors suggested by previous research. The study indicates that the process of acquiring information on hazards is variable among individuals and poorly understood. Overall, the ways in which people learn about hazards appear to be as fragmented as existing policies to disseminate hazard information.

An approach for deriving emergency planning zones for chemical munitions emergencies

Abstract The selection of an emergency planning zone (EPZ) for hazardous materials is often a difficult technical as well as a political task. This paper descri

Sweet for the sour. Incentives in environmental mediation

The siting of facilities with undesirable environmental characteristics often leads to public conflict. Efforts to resolve the conflict and make siting decisions frequently exacerbate the problem. Environmental mediation, the process of negotiating an agreeable settlement, is an accepted approach to resolving conflict. This paper explores the use of incentive systems as a means of achieving equity in environmental mediation. Obnoxious and noxious characteristics of facilities are discussed as the basis of conflicts. Four types of incentives—mitigation, compensation, reward, and participation—are discussed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the utility and application of incentives for solving environmental conflicts.

Local Preparedness for Chemical Accidents: A Survey of U.S. Communities

The preliminary results of a survey designed to assess the state of emergency preparedness in communities across the United States aid in the development of a conceptual approach to emergency management. The approach identifies the relationships among existing emergency-management systems and prac tices and assesses their effectiveness in alerting and notifying the public. A comparison of data gleaned from a survey of emergency-preparedness officials permits comparison of existing public-alert and notification systems with state- of-the-art technology, procedures, and management systems. The study also addresses the potential problems and constraints likely to thwart timely effec tive warning in the advent of an emergency. Finally, the authors make recom mendations for improving public-alert and notification systems in chemical emergencies.

Risk communication in emergencies

As the diversity of themes in this volume suggests, risk communication covers a broad range of activities. Some of these activities have been developed under the rubric of risk communication programs. Others have existed prior to the development of the risk communication concept. One such activity is providing information and education to the public about natural and technological hazards, including the nature of the hazard, ways of mitigating losses, and protective actions to take in an emergency. A second activity is providing emergency warnings to the public when an event is about to occur or is taking place. Both activities involve communication of risk to the public. Another way of describing these two functions is pre-emergency risk communication and emergency risk communication (see the similar set of distinctions in chapter 2).

Systems Approach to Environmental Security

Currently, a systems approach is not being applied in the allocation of efforts to fight terrorism. In fiscal year 2003, nearly