RAPID: Networks In Transition from Response to Recovery following the Haiti Earthquake, 1/12/2010

这项快速反应研究补助金(RAPID)将通过直接实地观察、报纸和官方情况报告的内容分析以及对参与救灾行动的不同组织的主要管理人员的专家访谈，记录2010年1月12日海地地震后救灾行动和可持续恢复之间的过渡过程。我们将确定组织中标志着从响应向恢复过渡的关键决策点，并将这些关键点纳入一个概念模型，该模型可用于为面临经常性风险的其他社区的决策过程提供信息。如果不及时过渡到恢复，受灾社区可能会出现通信、交通、电力、水、天然气和污水分配系统等关键功能的故障升级。这些技术职能是在卫生、住房、教育、商业活动和环境恢复方面提供基本服务的基础，这些服务对受影响社区的重建至关重要。海地地震后的反应和恢复工作提供了一个不同寻常的机会，可以实时观察一个复杂的适应性系统的演变情况。它为研究人员提供了一个实际的背景，以记录参与救灾的组织、受灾社区的地方组织以及从更广泛的全球社区提供支持的其他组织之间的互动和信息流。这些互动很少以系统的方式进行跟踪，但它们对抗灾社区的长期经济、社会和技术发展至关重要。对这些互动的分析将揭示在事件发生后的最初反应阶段各组织之间交换的信息和资源流动方面的差距和优势。在应对行动期间作出的决定和采取的行动为过渡到恢复和重建阶段奠定了基础，但很少有记录在案。组织变革战略的网络分析和计算模拟工具将使人们能够更系统地探索这些行动，并对灾难应对、恢复和重建所涉及的复杂决策过程提供新的见解。这项初步研究的结果将作为在其他风险易发区域制定更详细的减灾模式的基础。该项目的研究结果将有助于全球努力为遭受地震或其他灾害的国家制定一种可行的减少灾害风险模式。这项拟议的研究还为年轻的研究人员提供了参与极端事件后的侦察的机会。这个跨学科团队包括两名公共政策高级博士生，以及一名受过公共卫生和法律培训的研究人员。此外，我们正在与一位来自本科学院的少数族裔地球物理学家合作，他欢迎有机会与跨学科团队一起从事研究。这些发现将展示一个行动系统如何从灾难应对中的生命安全这一紧迫目标转变为一套更微妙的、往往相互冲突的恢复期间经济、社会和政治发展目标。这项快速反应研究将对面临反复发生的危险和风险的社区的恢复和可持续发展的较长期进程提供见解。

This Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) will document the transition process between disaster response operations and sustainable recovery following the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti through direct field observation, content analysis of newspaper and official situation reports, as well as expert interviews with key managers from different organizations engaged in disaster operations. We will identify the critical points of decision among organizations that mark the transition from response to recovery, and incorporate these points into a conceptual model that may be used to inform decision processes in other communities exposed to recurring risk. Without timely transition to recovery, a disaster-stricken community risks escalating failures in performance of key functions, such as communication, transportation, electrical power, water, gas, and sewage distribution systems. These technical functions underlie the provision of basic services in health, housing, education, commercial activity, and environmental restoration essential to renewal of the affected community. Response and recovery operations following the Haiti Earthquake present an unusual opportunity to observe the evolution of a complex, adaptive system in real time. It provides an actual context for researchers to document the interactions and trace the information flow among organizations participating in disaster response, local organizations from the disaster-affected community, and still other organizations providing support from the wider global community. These interactions are rarely tracked in a systematic manner, but they are central to the longer-term economic, social, and technical development of a disaster-resilient community. The analyses of these interactions will reveal gaps and strengths in the flow of information and resources that are exchanged among organizations during the initial response phase following the event. The decisions and actions made during response operations create the basis for transition to the recovery and reconstruction phases, but are rarely documented. Tools of network analysis and computational simulation of organizational strategies for change will enable a more systematic exploration of these operations and offer fresh insight into the complex decision processes involved in disaster response, recovery, and reconstruction. Results from this initial study will serve as the basis for developing a more detailed model of disaster reduction in other risk-prone regions. Findings from this project will contribute to a global effort in developing a viable model of disaster risk reduction for nations exposed to seismic or other hazards. The proposed research also creates an opportunity for younger researchers to participate in reconnaissance following extreme events. This interdisciplinary team includes two advanced doctoral students in public policy, as well as a researcher trained in public health and law. Further, we are collaborating with a minority geophysicist from an undergraduate college who welcomes the opportunity to engage in research with an interdisciplinary team. The findings will demonstrate how an action system shifts from the urgent goal of life safety in disaster response to a more nuanced set of often conflicting goals for economic, social, and political development during recovery. This rapid response study will offer insights into the longer term processes of recovery and sustainable development of communities exposed to recurring hazards and risk.