RAPID: Technological versus Natural Disasters: Consequences for Early Recovery Planning and Decision-Making at the Community and Household Level

这笔快速反应研究(RAPID)赠款的目的是探索美国两个小镇的社区和居民灾后恢复。这两个城镇在2013年春季都经历了灾难，但其中一个城镇经历了自然灾害，而另一个城镇则经历了技术灾难。为了了解灾难恢复如何根据灾难类型的不同而不同，我们比较了每个城镇的即时恢复时间。研究人员经常比较非常不同的社区或不同时间段的灾难影响。我们的研究利用了一个难得的机会来比较规模、位置和文化特征相似但几乎同时面临不同灾难的社区的灾难恢复情况。我们正在收集两个城镇的社区领导人和居民的数据，以讨论对灾难恢复至关重要的话题，包括灾后社区规划、基于社区的恢复活动，以及居民重建或搬迁的决策和努力。尽管之前的研究已经改善了人们对灾难的了解，社区如何从灾难中恢复，以及是什么使社区具有弹性，但仍有许多需要学习的地方。我们的研究结果将帮助其他社区为他们面临的灾难做计划。这项研究直接回应了美国联邦和州政府提高当地社区抗灾能力的努力。全国各地的社区都面临着这两种灾难的风险。人为灾难，如工业事故、爆炸或化学品泄漏，对于任何在住宅和企业附近有危险设施的社区来说都是一种风险。全国各地经常发生龙卷风、洪水、飓风和地震等自然灾害。根据从该项目中学到的经验，将就其他当地社区如何提高其复原力并在灾难发生时更好地从灾难中恢复提出建议。

The purpose of this Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant is to explore community and resident post-disaster recovery in two small US towns. Both towns experienced disasters in the spring of 2013, but one town experienced a natural disaster while the other town had a technological disaster. To understand how disaster recovery differs based on the type of disaster, we are comparing the immediate recovery periods in each town. Often researchers compare disaster effects across very different communities or across different time periods. Our research takes advantage of a rare opportunity to compare disaster recovery in communities that are similar in size, location, and cultural traits but faced different disasters at about the same time. We are gathering data from community leaders and residents in both towns to address topics important to disaster recovery, including post-disaster community planning, community-based recovery activities, and residents' rebuilding or relocating decisions and efforts.Although previous research has improved what people know about disasters, how communities recover from them, and what makes communities resilient, there is still a lot to learn. The results of our research will help other communities as they plan for the disasters they face. This research responds directly to efforts by US Federal and state governments to increase the disaster resilience of local communities. Communities across the country face the risk of both types of disaster. Man-made disasters, such as industrial accidents, explosions, or chemical leaks, are a risk for any community that has hazardous facilities located near homes and businesses. Natural disasters, such as tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes, regularly occur across the country. Based on what is learned in this project, recommendations will be made about how other local communities can increase their resilience and be better able to recover from disasters when they do occur.