Modeling household adoption of earthquake hazard adjustments: a longitudinal panel study of Southern California and Western Washington residents

This research, aimed at advancing the theory of environmental hazard adjustment processes by contrasting households from three cities in a high seismic hazard area with households from three other cities in a moderate seismic hazard area. It identified seven types of stakeholders namely, the risk area residents and their families (primary group), the news media, employers, and friends (secondary group), and federal, state, and local governments (tertiary group), and explained why they are relevant to the adoption of seismic hazard adjustments. It also addressed three key attributesâ knowledge, trustworthiness, and responsibility for protectionâÂÂascribed to these multiple stakeholders and the relationships of these stakeholder attributes with risk perception, hazard intrusiveness, hazard experience, gender, resource adequacy, fatalism and hazard adjustment adoption. It was specifically concerned with the effects of nested interactions due to trust and power differentials among the seven stakeholders, with the self reported adoption of 16 earthquake protective measures at two points in time (1997 and 1999). Some of the key findings indicate that risk perception, gender, fatalism, city activity in earthquake management and demographic characteristics did not significantly predict hazard adjustment adoption. However, all stakeholder characteristics had significant positive correlations with risk perception and hazard adjustment, implying a peripheral route for social influence. Hazard intrusiveness, hazard experience, and stakeholder knowledge, trustworthiness, and responsibility affected the increased adoption of hazard adjustments by households. Particularly important are the peer groupsâ (employers, friends and family) knowledge, trustworthiness and responsibility. These findings suggest, hazard managers cannot count only on the federal, state, and local government advisories put out through the news media to affect community decisions and thereby householdsâ decisions to take protective actions. Instead, hazard managers need to shift focus and work through peer group networks such as service organizations, industry groups, trade unions, neighborhood organizations, community emergency response teams, faith-based organizations, and educational institutions to increase the knowledge, trustworthiness and responsibility of all in the peer group. This will assure higher household hazard adjustment adoption levels, thus facilitating a reduction in post disaster losses and recovery time

Immediate Behavioral Response to the June 17, 2013 Flash Floods in Uttarakhand, North India

The 2013 Uttarakhand flash flood was such a surprise for those at risk that the predominant source of information for their risk was environmental cues and, secondarily, peer warnings rather than official warnings. Of those who received warnings, few received information other than the identity of the flood threat. A survey of 316 survivors found that most people\u27s first response was to immediately evacuate but some stayed to receive additional information, confirm their warnings, or engage in evacuation preparations. Unfortunately, engaging in these milling behaviors necessarily delayed their final evacuations. Mediation analysis revealed that psychological reactions mediated the relationship between information sources and behavioral responses. Further analyses revealed that immediate evacuation and evacuation delay were both predicted best by information search and positive affect, but correlation analyses indicated that a number of other models were also plausible. Final evacuation was best predicted by immediate evacuation and, to a significantly lesser extent, household together. Overall, results suggest that the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) should be considered a useful framework for examining household responses to flash floods in developing countries like India. It supports the conclusion that a household\u27s first warning source is a function of two distinct detection and dis- semination systems within a community—an official system and an informal system. However, it fails to capture what pre-impact emergency preparedness entails for rapid onset events in a developing country context. Further research is needed to determine the relative importance of situational and cultural characteristics in producing these observed differences

‘Drop, Cover and Hold On’ or ‘Triangle of Life’ Attributes of Information Sources Influencing Earthquake Protective Actions

A well-known fact is that an earthquake or earth shaking does not cause injuries and deaths. Rather, buildings and infrastructure systems collapsing on people do. Hence, reputable government organizations from countries prone to high earthquake risks are heavily invested in advising their populations on immediate lifesaving protective actions (PAs). One such action is the ‘Drop, Cover and Hold on’ strategy proven to have saved countless lives. Unfortunately, in recent years another action known as the ‘Triangle of Life’ has been trolled through internet sites and hearsay. It is believed that adopting such an unsubstantiated erroneous action is likely to put people at greater risk during an earthquake. Thus, there is a need to extend studies to understand factors that influence people’s decisions to take certain PAs over another for earthquakes. This research does that through an empirical study of 647 residents from Mianyang City in the Sichuan province of China. The results indicate that if a PA is easy to understand, mentioned often by multiple sources and easy to access, then people will adopt it. But a striking finding is that people are also likely to be influenced by wrong information, depending on who is providing such information and through which medium (e.g. social media). These findings suggest that the Chinese government needs to provide gate keepers who are dedicated, trained personnel who can monitor misinformation on various Internet sites and address them. In parallel they can provide regular, up to date public advisories on immediate PA through multiple legitimate government, private and non-profit sector sources and channels

Hajj Pilgrims’ Perceptions of Trust and Internet Use for (Emergency) Information

This empirical study examines the patterns of internet use during Hajj, with the broader aim of providing suggestions on how organisations can improve risk communication at crowded religious venues using traditional and new media. The research team adopted a convenience sampling strategy to conduct in-person surveys of 348 Hajj pilgrims in the vicinity of the Grand Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia during the October 2013 season. Of these, 150 pilgrims used the internet and their responses were analysed using simple descriptive statistics and binary regression analyses. The findings of this study suggest that Hajj pilgrims prefer accessing the internet through their smartphone devices and laptops, and both first timers and repeat pilgrims trusted websites hosted by the Saudi Arabian authorities, and their group leaders. Additionally, findings suggest that the trust in information sources and patterns of social media use differed by demographic characteristics such as age, language and economic characteristics. This underscores the need for diversifying the use of both traditional and new media communication channels to increase the diffusion and penetration of risk information for varied groups. Cross-checking of government efforts with such empirical studies helps demonstrate whether the funds expended to improve risk communication and raise hazard awareness are on point to make the pilgrims safer. The paper concludes by acknowledging that although the internet and social media are revolutionising the kinds of information available to pilgrims, they may lead to a loss in the sanctity, simplicity and equanimity of partaking in a pilgrimage, or bring harm to pilgrims through the misuse of personal data collected through social media sites. Suggestions are made to authorities and event organisers to keep a balance between traditional and modern practices of conducting a pilgrimage and designing information and communication technologies. A call for inspiring pilgrims to not only be consumers of information, but rather, providers of information by being ever vigilant is made. Presently, few pilgrimage destinations are using the power of the internet and social media for garnering pilgrims’ participation in risk communication and crisis preparedness which is a missed opportunity

How Do Perceptions of Risk Communicator Attributes Affect Emergency Response? An Examination of a Water Contamination Emergency in Boston, USA

A water main break that contaminated the Boston area\u27s water distribution system prompted a four-day “boil water” order. To understand risk communication during this incident, 600 randomly sampled residents were mailed questionnaires, yielding 110 valid responses. This article describes how perceptions of different social stakeholders influenced whether respondents complied with the Protective Action Recommendation—PAR (i.e., drank boiled water), took alternative protective actions (i.e., drank bottled water or/and self-chlorinated water), or ignored the threat (i.e., continued to drink untreated tap water). Respondents perceived technical authorities (i.e., water utility, public health, and emergency management) to be higher on three social influence attributes (hazard expertize, trustworthiness, and protection responsibility) than public (i.e., news media, elected officials) and private (i.e., self/family, peers, and personal physicians) intermediate sources. Furthermore, respondents were most likely to comply with the PAR if they perceived authorities and public intermediates to be high on all three attributes and if they had larger households and lower income. Contrarily, they were more likely to take alternative actions if they were younger and had higher levels of income, risk perception, and emergency preparedness. These results underscore the need for technical authorities to develop credibility with their potential audiences before a crisis occurs

Influence of the Built Environment on Physical Activity Choices among Emirati Male and Female Adolescents: An Examination of Parents’ and Students’ Perceptions

The UN Human Development Report 2020 ranked the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as having achieved ‘very high human development’ and as being at the 31st position among all countries. Despite this, the ever increasing obesity rates among Emirati youth, higher than international standards, is alarming. This research aims at identifying how different perceptions of the built environment by parents and adolescents are likely to affect physical activity (PA) choices among male and female Emirati youth. This can help inform better health and education policies to achieve three of the interconnected UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely good quality health and well-being, quality education, and gender equality, that the UAE strives to achieve. Responses from 335 students (aged 14–20) from six schools and 250 parent responses in the Al Ain region of Abu Dhabi Emirate were used to understand the mean variation in perception of five built environment constructs. Further, multinomial logit regression was used to assess the health condition using the perception, behavior, and built environment measures. Results indicate that Emirati males perceive the built environment factors as barriers more than female adolescents. Parents perceive street crossing (p < 0.016) and sidewalk characteristics (p < 0.020) to be more of a hindrance. Traffic exposure, self-reported physical activity, and walkability near homes and schools significantly affect Emirati adolescents’ health conditions. Recommendations are made for various stakeholders including parents, school authorities, Abu Dhabi Municipality and Transportation, and the Urban Planning department on ways to enhance the built environment and encourage PA and well-being of Emirati adolescents

A qualitative analysis of rural fishermen: Potential for blockchain-enabled framework for livelihood sustainability

Rural fishing communities face numerous challenges related to livelihood security, as they are engaged in a risky and labour-intensive occupation. They often receive only a small portion of the profits, due to the influence of self-serving local intermediaries, lack of transparency in the business processes, trust issues, and power differentials among stakeholders. Although still in its infancy, blockchain technology has been adopted in various urban settings to mitigate similar challenges and to build trust through its security attributes, data ledger transparency, and smart contract automation. Yet, few have explored the efficacy of blockchain technology in addressing the unique challenges faced by rural fishermen in marketing their catch and connecting them to a broader range of customers for improved livelihood resilience. This study aims to examine how the livelihood resilience of fishermen can be increased through the potential of a blockchain, in a fishing community in the coastal village of Alappad in Kerala, India. Thematic analysis of data acquired from 43 semi-structured qualitative interviews and participatory rural appraisal tools revealed five categories of challenges: business cost and profitability, government regulations, low education and digital illiteracy, socio-cultural limitations, and over-dependence on middlemen as inhibitors to fishermen's livelihoods. The study proposes a blockchain-based e-commerce framework to mitigate selected challenges that emerged due to a lack of trust and transparency in the local fish market. It contributes to rural development by exploring an innovative, solution aligned with five UN Sustainable Development Goals, in contrast to the Business-as-usual approach in offering technological solutions

University Scholars Day

Presentation for the 2012 University Scholars Day at the University of North Texas discussing research on juvenile delinquents being especially disadvantaged in times of disaster

Traveling the Pedagogical Airline: A Passport to New Horizons in Nonprofit Education

This article builds on Felder and Silverman’s (1988) foundational theory on student learning styles. It shows how various teaching styles can be used for purposes of helping nonprofit university students achieve better learning outcomes. Likewise, several of the educational goals that are included in the curricular guidelines established by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC) can be promoted through careful attention to pedagogical style. Thus, the implementation of various pedagogies is not only important for invigorating and stimulating nonprofit students, but is also a crucial step necessary for ensuring the preparation of the next generation of successful nonprofit leaders