9 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
Item Factors Associated with Collaboration in Disaster Response(North Dakota State University, 2014) Carignan, Stanley AllanThis paper explores the factors the literature suggests help organizations collaborate during disaster response. The nature of disasters requires that people and organizations collaborate; yet, collaboration has been frequently identified as a problem by policymakers and researchers alike. It would be of value to policymakers and researchers if there was an understanding of the factors that contribute to collaboration. The paper attempted to address this issue. It identifies four categories of variables that the literature suggests lead to inter-organizational collaboration including leadership, relationships, culture, and inter-dependency. The paper also suggests how understanding of these factors might be applied in practice, policy, and future research.Item Pre-Disaster Integration of Community Emergency Response Teams within Local Emergency Management Systems(North Dakota State University, 2014) Carr, John AlexanderThis study explores how Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) were integrated within local emergency management systems pre-disaster. Semi-structured interviews were conducted following Rubin and Rubin’s (2005) Responsive Interviewing Model with 21 CERT team coordinators in FEMA Region VII (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska). It found that teams varied with regard to integration, and this variance could be explained by a number of related factors. Results suggest that if a team has a skilled leader, stability as an organization, and acceptance by the local emergency management system, they are more likely to be integrated than a team that is lacking some or all of the aforementioned factors. This study categorizes teams on a continuum according to their integration. Finally, this study concludes with a discussion of implications for practice, policy, and research, as well as recommendations for practice and research.Item Coordination in Disaster Recovery: Implications for Policy and Practice(North Dakota State University, 2013) Bundy, Sarah JoDisaster scholarship and recent disaster policy in the United States have suggested that coordination of efforts in the disaster recovery process will allow impacted jurisdictions to maximize positive recovery outcomes. Yet it remains unclear exactly who should be, or is, coordinating disaster recovery at the local level. This study explored the role of county elected officials in disaster recovery in an attempt to understand what role these elected officials currently play in the recovery process—particularly as related to the coordination of recovery efforts. During the initial data collection process, the researcher discovered that the role of county elected officials in disaster recovery appears to be consistent with their routine, day-to-day role in county government. No one person within the impacted counties was charged with a coordinator role in recovery. The researcher expanded the focus of the study to explore whether there were disaster conditions that necessitate overall coordination in order to best negotiate the recovery process and, if so, who was fulfilling that overall coordination role and what were they doing as part of it. Data was initially collected through 20 in-depth, telephone interviews with county elected officials in twelve states. Grounded theory was used to conceptualize the overall research design and analyze the data. Based on theoretical sampling, an additional 22 in-depth, telephone interviews were completed with a combination of county elected officials, emergency managers, designated recovery coordinators, and municipal mayors. The data showed that overall coordination in disaster recovery as implied by the literature and supported in federal policy did not appear to be currently happening—at least not at the county level. Coordination—to the extent that it was occurring in most jurisdictions—could best be described as in pockets and ad hoc. However, the study was unable to determine the extent to which this absence of coordination represents a problem in recovery. Based on the findings of this research, it would seem that there is a discrepancy between the literature-based idealization of coordination in recovery and the ad hoc coordination materializing in practice that needs to be addressed by both researchers and practitioners.Item A Conceptual Model of the Individual and Household Recovery Process: Examining Hurricane Sandy(North Dakota State University, 2014) Gould, Laura AnnThis study examined how comprehensively the Bolin and Trainer (1978) model of recovery reflects the recovery process of individuals and households. A review of the literature since 1978 suggested that various revisions and additions were warranted, but additional research was needed to examine these elements collectively. Rubin and Rubin’s (2012) Responsive Interviewing Model was employed to collect and analyze data related to the recovery process of individuals impacted by Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy to determine whether an updated model was appropriate. Interviews with twenty-one respondents representing non-governmental organizations involved in Sandy-related recovery efforts revealed the need for a revised model reflecting key aspects of the original model, revisions suggested by the literature, and a new addition based on the data collected through this study. A Revised Bolin and Trainer Model of Individual and Household Recovery was suggested and implications for the discipline and practice of emergency management discussed.Item Social Capital and Preparedness: Key Concepts and Recommendations for Emergency Managers(North Dakota State University, 2018) Burkhardt, Vincent PaolinoThis paper reviews and synthesizes the research surrounding social capital and its implications and applications for disaster preparedness and response. The purpose of this effort is to focus and synthesize the many ways social capital can be leveraged by emergency management practitioners to increase preparedness and response performance. The literature review provides contextual underpinnings for recommendations within five strategic domain areas. These recommendations are intended to deliver actionable steps that emergency management practitioners can use as they prepare for and respond to disasters.Item Local Nonprofit and Government Organization Conceptualizations of Disaster Response Effectiveness(North Dakota State University, 2013) Borkosheva, NazgulThis study attempted to explore how nonprofit and government organizations conceptualize disaster response effectiveness using an internet survey. Unfortunately, the data collected through this method was insufficient for meaningful data analysis, and, therefore this study was unable to generate significant findings with respect to its research question. Thus, rather than focusing on a presentation of results from data collection and interpreting the significance of those results, this thesis focuses on justification of the need for research on this topic, review of the literature that suggests it is likely that nonprofits and government perceive disaster response effectiveness differently, recounting of the initial data collection efforts undertaken and the problems encountered, offering of hypotheses for future testing based on analysis of the flawed data, and recommendation of an alternate data collection method that should be used in the future.Item Avoiding the Windshield Wiper Effect: A Survey of Operational Meteorologists on the Uncertainty in Hurricane Track Forecasts and Communication(North Dakota State University, 2017) Hyde, James TupperThe first line of defense for the threat of an oncoming hurricane are meteorologists. From their guidance, warnings are drafted and evacuation plans are made ready. This study explores uncertainty that operational meteorologists encounter with hurricane prediction, and more importantly, how meteorologists translate the uncertainty for the public. The study is based on a web survey of individual meteorologists, in cooperation with the National Weather Association (NWA). The survey received 254 responses with an estimated 18% response rate. Specifically, the study focuses on three key areas: displaying uncertainty in hurricane track forecasts, perceived relationships between the public and the media and message characteristics on various platforms (e.g., television, web, and social media), and reliance on numerical weather prediction in the forecasting process. Results show that tracking graphics are varied between their use and usefulness and meteorologists think that they have a bigger role in information dissemination than previously thought.Item Jurisdictional Leaders' Perception of Factors that Contribute to Hazard Mitigation Planning(North Dakota State University, 2014) Abe, Daiko NephiRecent disasters have demonstrated the importance of mitigating their potential impact to not only protect human lives, but to also reduce the seemingly unending cycle of repeated damages. The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires state, local, and tribal governments to have FEMA-approved Hazard Mitigation Plans in order to qualify for certain types of Federal funding. However, even with these mandates in place, there are a number of local governments that have yet to adopt a FEMA-approved multi-hazard mitigation plan. Although multi-hazard mitigation plans seem rational for reducing the impact of hazards, efforts to prepare plans and implement mitigation-related activities are oftentimes met with resistance at the local jurisdictional level. The purpose of this qualitative study is to inductively examine the social, financial, and political conditions and forces that contribute to the decision to adopt or not adopt a hazard mitigation plan in the Red River Valley.Item Sustainability and the Emergency Manager: Do They Mesh?(North Dakota State University, 2013) Chauvet, Regine LaurenceThere exists a lack of consensus around the definition of “sustainability” and numerous of applications of the concept in the disaster literature. Reviewing the disaster literature on sustainability, its intended audience, and the disciplines that inform it, a disconnect between the strategies proposed and the current role of county emergency managers in the U.S is evident. This study qualitatively explored how sustainability is conceptualized and perceived to be applicable at the local level by interviewing county emergency managers in the states of Florida and North Dakota. The study demonstrated that the lack of definitional clarity evidenced in the disaster literature is also reflected in emergency manager conceptualizations of sustainability. However, themes related to meaning were identified in the interviewed managers’ conceptualizations of sustainability, contextual factors influencing these conceptualizations offered, and implications of these findings for the development of the profession and discipline of emergency management discussed.