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dc.contributor.authorSavitt, Amanda
dc.description.abstractScholarship on disasters in the United States would suggest that emergency managers should play a role in hazard mitigation. Yet, little empirical research has investigated precisely what role or roles emergency managers actually do play during this phase. This study explored the role of county-level emergency managers in hazard mitigation and the factors that might influence those roles. Data for this study was collected through 42 in-depth, telephone interviews with county- level emergency managers in FEMA Regions III, V, and X, which includes the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. Grounded theory was utilized in order to organize and analyze the data. The data suggests that emergency managers play several roles within mitigation: a generic role, a support role, an administrative role, a promoter role, a public educator role, and a planning role. These roles are explained by a number of factors, including conceptual confusion, response and preparedness orientation, financial resource factors, planning factors, additional resource factors, competition between mitigation and development, resistance to mitigation, and engagement in mitigation. It is also important to note that emergency managers spend only a small amount of their time in mitigation. The results of this study suggest that there is a gap between the theorized role and the actual role that emergency managers play within mitigation. Closing this gap will likely require additional resources for mitigation and county-level emergency management, as well as greater consistency in defining mitigation through policy and education.en_US
dc.publisherNorth Dakota State Universityen_US
dc.rightsNDSU policy 190.6.2en_US
dc.titleThe Role of the County Emergency Manager in Disaster Mitigationen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-19T15:57:34Z
dc.date.available2024-01-19T15:57:34Z
dc.date.issued2020
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10365/33611
dc.subjectcounty-levelen_US
dc.subjectdisastersen_US
dc.subjectemergency managementen_US
dc.subjecthazardsen_US
dc.subjectmitigationen_US
dc.rights.urihttps://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdfen_US
ndsu.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)en_US
ndsu.collegeArts, Humanities, and Social Sciencesen_US
ndsu.departmentEmergency Management and Disaster Scienceen_US
ndsu.programEmergency Managementen_US
ndsu.advisorKirkpatrick, Sarah


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