Disaster Research in the Social Sciences: Future Challenges and Opportunities

美国很容易受到各种自然、技术和人为危害的影响。虽然地方决策者对应对灾害威胁负有最终责任，但联邦机构已经开展了以科学为基础的活动，如国家减少地震危险计划(NEHRP)，旨在帮助全国处于危险之中的社区进一步有效地减少灾害。国家科学基金会(NSF)一直是社会科学灾难研究的主要支持者，包括作为NEHRP努力的一部分进行的此类研究。这项研究的目的是向国家科学基金会详细评估社会科学灾害研究界面临的短期和长期挑战，以及促进该领域知识及其应用以造福社会的新的和正在出现的机会。这项研究旨在为规划未来的社会科学和与自然、技术和人为灾害有关的多学科研究提供基础，以应对不断变化的国家和世界带来的挑战和机遇。将成立一个由该领域杰出专家组成的委员会来开展这项研究。

The U.S. is vulnerable to a wide variety of natural, technological andhuman-induced hazards. While local decision-makers have the finalresponsibility for coping with the threat of disaster, federal agencies havedeveloped science-based activities, such as the National Earthquake HazardsReduction Program (NEHRP), that are intended to help further effectivedisaster reduction efforts in at-risk communities throughout the nation. TheNational Science Foundation (NSF) has been a major supporter of socialscience disaster research, including such research carried out as part of theNEHRP effort. The objective of this study is to provide NSF with a detailedappraisal of the short and long-term challenges facing the social sciencedisaster research community and new and emerging opportunities for advancingknowledge in the field and its application for the benefit of society. Thestudy is intended to provide a basis for planning future social science andmultidisciplinary research related to natural, technological and willfuldisasters in response to challenges and opportunities presented by a changingnation and world. A committee of distinguished experts in the field will beestablished to carry out the study.