RAPID: Public Support for Disaster Risk Reduction Policies in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian

这个快速反应研究（RAPID）项目创造了新的知识，这对发展更具复原力的社区至关重要。 它使人们更好地了解灾害如何影响人们对灾害风险和减少灾害风险政策，特别是建筑标准和建筑条例的态度和支持。 项目研究人员收集和分析了巴哈马的民意数据，其中部分地区在2019年9月初被5级飓风多利安摧毁。 该项目将促进对灾后公众舆论动态的科学理解，并帮助支持加强政策和方案的战略努力，以减少灾害造成的人员和经济损失。 它还将符合美国的人道主义和安全利益，因为加勒比地区灾害事件造成的损失影响到美国的对外援助、移民流动和模式，并最终影响到国家安全。 最后，该项目将增加公众对科学技术的参与和欣赏，因为研究人员将传播面向公众的报告，内容涉及灾害事件经历、公众对减少风险的支持以及实现增强建筑物生存能力和安全的“机会之窗”的关键调查结果。该项目的数据将在12个月的时间里在巴哈马群岛进行多波电话调查，然后由佛罗里达国际大学极端事件研究所的研究人员进行分析。 调查结果将揭示是否以及如何“聚焦事件”，如灾难导致事件驱动的转变，在公众意识和意见，现有的研究提供了混合或最好的不确定性的结果的问题。 具体而言，该项目试图了解a）灾害是否以及如何增加对风险的认识和公众对减少风险政策的需求，以及B）公众舆论（例如，这些态度的变化是长期的还是短期的，态度是趋向于恢复到事件发生前的基线水平还是稳定在一个新的平衡点）。 该项目不仅将为灾害研究领域的知识积累做出贡献，还将为公共政策和管理、风险心理学以及政治文化等领域的知识积累做出贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project creates new knowledge that is crucial for developing more resilient communities. It improves understanding of how experiencing a disaster affects people’s attitudes towards, and support for, disaster risk and disaster risk reduction (DRR) policies, particularly building standards and construction regulations. Project researchers collect and analyze waves of public opinion data from the Bahamas, parts of which were devastated by the Category 5 Hurricane Dorian in early September 2019. The project will advance scientific understanding of post-disaster public opinion dynamics and help support strategic efforts to strengthen policies and programs to reduce human and economic losses from disasters. It will also serve U.S. humanitarian and security interests, since losses from hazard events in the Caribbean region affect U.S. foreign assistance, immigration flows and patterns, and, ultimately, national security. Finally, this project will increase public engagement with and appreciation of science and technology, as researchers will disseminate public-facing reports on key findings about hazard event experiences, public support for risk reduction, and “windows of opportunity” for achieving enhanced building survivability and safety. The data for this project will be collected over a 12 month period in multiple waves of telephone surveys in the Bahamas, and then analyzed by researchers at Florida International University’s Extreme Events Institute. Findings will reveal whether and how “focusing events” like disasters cause event-driven shifts in public awareness and opinion—a question for which existing research has offered mixed or at best inconclusive results. Concretely, the project seeks to understand a) whether—and how—disasters increase perceptions of risk and public demand for risk reduction policies, and b) the extent and duration of any such changes in public opinion (e.g., whether these changes in attitudes are long-term or short-term, whether attitudes tend to return to baseline pre-event levels or settle at a new equilibrium). The project will contribute to the accumulation of knowledge not only in disaster research but also in public policy and administration, the psychology of risk, and political culture.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.