SGER: Evacuation and Vulnerability in Mexico

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Abstract for Prof Aguirre's NSF Proposal #0129752.Aguirre. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research is being awarded to the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware for project in Veracruz and Puebla, Mexico, in collaboration with Dr. Jesus Manuel Macias of CIESAS, Mexico City. The objectives of the project are to better understand: (1) the societal reactions to the extensive flooding that occurred in the two Mexican states in 1999; (2) the systems of warnings and evacuations that took place during these floods; (3) the extent to which established empirical generalizations in the social science of disasters regarding warnings and evacuations are applicable in a developing country. The project uses multiple methodologies to investigate these issues: (1) community survey of randomly selected residents in cities impacted by the 1999 floods; (2) content analysis of newspapers, agency reports, and other textual information on the societal reaction; (3) extended field work employing observational and intensive interviews of victims and officials; (4) the use of key informants to ascertain recent, post 1945 changes in the vulnerability of the communities.