Disaster Response and Recovery. David A. McEntire

to test student mastery of key issues and content.

      Review Questions: Short‐answer questions that remind the student of the central recommendations covered in each section of the chapter.

      Applying This Chapter Questions: Short‐answer questions that invite the student to consider new situations and how they would deal with alternative scenarios.

      You Try It!: Open‐ended questions that allow the students to go beyond the information presented in the test and examine how they would react in real‐world contexts.

      Access Your Understanding/Post‐Test: This final test for the chapter is online in the text’s website. It repeats the initial test questions in order to illustrate learning and comprehension while reading the chapter.

      Acknowledgments

      Appreciation is expressed to several organizations and individuals that have helped significantly in the development of Disaster Response and Recovery. Although I alone am responsible for the content of this book, I am indebted first and foremost to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a grant that made much of the initial research for this text possible. Gratitude is also conveyed to Wayne Blanchard, the former FEMA Higher Education Program Manager, for his ideas and insight regarding the theoretical and practical nature of post‐disaster emergency management operations.

      Special recognition is also warranted for the contributions of Siddik Ekici, Sarah Mathis and Kristina Cramb, three graduate students in the Department of Public Administration at the University of North Texas. These dedicated research assistants eagerly assembled additional information and materials for the first literature search. They also provided helpful case studies and worked on the extensive bibliography for this book.

      I am also thankful for the knowledge and expertise of several scholars and practitioners that provided useful recommendations on earlier drafts of the book. These reviewers included Danny Peterson (Arizona State University), Phil Politano (Onondaga Community College), James Richardson (San Antonio Community College), William L. Waugh Jr. (Georgia State University), Cherlyn Wilhelmsen (University of Idaho), and Stacy Lynn Willet (University of Akron), Jane Kushma (Jacksonville State University), and DeeDee Bennett (University at Albany). The constructive advice of Gregg Dawson, Steve Reddish, Leland Baker, and other professional emergency managers is likewise noted.

      I also wish to recognize my wonderful daughters ‐ Ashley Layton, Kailey Birchall and Madison McEntire ‐ for their assistance in developing the supplementary materials for the text. Their contributions have definitely made an overwhelming task more manageable.

      Finally, Wiley’s staff, including Summers Scholl, Daniela Bez, Viniprammia Premkumar, Karyn Drews, Laura Town, Jorkill Almanza and Sandeep Kumar, deserve credit for their time‐consuming preparation of this manuscript for publication.

       David A. McEntire, Ph.d., SFHEA

      About the Companion Website

      This book is accompanied by a companion website:

      www.wiley.com/go/mcentire/disasterresponse

      The book companion site is split into as follows:

       The student companion site includesPre‐Test documents: contain multiple choice questions and solution.Post‐Test documents: contain questions and answers.Manual documents: contain the solutions to questions in the book.Midterm document: test template without answers.“Cumulative Final” document: test template without answers.

       The instructor companion site includesMidterm document: test template with answers includedCumulative Final document: test template with answers included.PowerPoint Slides: contain presentation slides for lectures

1 Knowing What to Expect: Hazards, Vulnerability, and Disasters

      STARTING POINT

      Pretest to assess your knowledge on hazards, vulnerability and disasters.

      Determine where you need to concentrate your effort.

       What You’ll Learn in This Chapter

       The possibility and probability of disasters.

       General emergency management responsibilities.

       Types of natural, technological and anthropogenic hazards.

       The interaction of hazards and vulnerability.

       Anticipated changes and demands after disasters.

       The need for response and recovery operations.

       After Studying This Chapter, You’ll Be Able To

       Understand the impact and scope of various disaster levels.

       Differentiate among the diverse hazard categories.

       Comprehend the relation among hazards, vulnerability and disasters.

       Examine the relationship between response and recovery functions.

       Identify needs to be addressed during and after disaster.

       Goals and Outcomes

       Compare and contrast different disaster magnitudes.

       Define and use basic disaster and emergency management terminology.

       Evaluate distinct types of hazards as well as common disaster characteristics.

       Predict changes resulting from disasters and resulting implications.

       Advocate for the importance of response and recovery operations.

INTRODUCTION

      Welcome to the intriguing disaster discipline and the indispensable emergency management profession! As a current/future emergency manager or related specialist, it is vital that you are aware of the important concepts and principles relating to your duties and responsibilities that must be performed when disasters occur. It is especially imperative that you are able to distinguish among differing hazard types as well as the factors that lead to and exacerbate these devastating events. For instance, it is vital that you understand natural, technological, and civil/conflict triggering agents as well as how they interact with the vulnerabilities people and organizations create in society. Comprehending the causes and consequences of disasters and the changes that become visible when they unfold is likewise necessary if you are to be able to react to them effectively. Being cognizant of the goals pertaining to response and recovery operations will also help you become a successful emergency manager. These are a few of the topics addressed in this introductory chapter of Disaster Response and Recovery: Strategies and Tactics for Resilience.

1.1 The Occurrence of Disasters

Everyday people around the world are impacted by events that produce injuries, cause death, damage buildings/infrastructure, destroy personal belongings and interrupt daily activities. These disturbing experiences are categorized as accidents, crises, emergencies, disasters, calamities or catastrophes. Such incidents adversely affect individuals, groups, communities and even nations. Each of these events is similar in that they require action from government officials, businesses,