RAPID: Hurricane Sandy: Short-Term Emergent Citizen-Based Groups and Aid Mobilization

这项快速反应研究拨款(RAPID)将调查2012年10月飓风桑迪登陆纽约市和新泽西沿海地区后发展起来的紧急公民群体。桑迪被许多媒体称为超级风暴，可能是美国仅次于2005年卡特里娜飓风的第二大与天气有关的灾害。在当地应急管理人员、联邦应急管理局和美国红十字会等现有组织援助受灾社区之前，公民和幸存者成为灾难的最初响应者是非常常见的。按照灾害研究中心的灾害相关组织描述任务和结构的模式，这些非正式组织的紧急公民团体在传统的现有组织到达并帮助幸存者之前提供援助和灾难援助。在过去，这些紧急小组中的许多人是通过更传统的通信手段动员起来的，例如面对面或通过固定电话。然而，如今许多人通过手机、智能手机、短信和Facebook或Twitter等社交网站进行交流。这项研究将考察这些新出现的组织的互助和救灾，以及他们与扩大和建立的组织，如基于信仰的组织和美国红十字会的合作。这项研究将(1)确定这些紧急群体；(2)研究他们的沟通方法和与其他机构的合作；(3)描述分发的援助类型，以及这些群体在灾害应对中的作用。将采用两种主要方法，第一种是实地研究，访谈小组协调员和其他志愿人员。其次，将对Facebook、Twitter、博客和其他在线论坛等通信内容进行回溯性分析。这项研究的预期结果可以帮助确定新的紧急群体如何在新的通信技术的帮助下加强社区的响应和恢复，从而导致对未来事件的更大的复原力。这项研究的结果可以被现有的组织和社区用于未来的灾难中，以及时地向幸存者提供援助。重要的是，社区成员既要参与准备，也要参与应对，以帮助公民更快地恢复。这可能涉及让各种组织参与灾害规划。此外，该项目还可以通过研究传统的应对手段和新的通信技术来增加灾害研究的理论和应用领域。

This Rapid Response Research Grant (RAPID) will investigate emergent citizen groups that evolved after the landfall of Hurricane Sandy in October, 2012 in the coastal areas of New York City and New Jersey. Sandy has been called a superstorm by many in the media and may be the second most expensive weather related hazard in the United States following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It is very common for citizens and survivors to be the initial responders to a disaster before the established organizations such as local emergency management personnel, FEMA, and the American Red Cross can aid affected communities. Following the model of disaster-related organizations describing task and structure from the Disaster Research Center, these informally organized emergent citizen groups provide aid and disaster assistance before the traditional established organizations could arrive and help survivors. In the past, many of these emergent groups were mobilized by more traditional means of communication such as in-person or by land-line telephones. However, nowadays many communicate by cellular telephones, smartphones, texting, and social networking websites such as Facebook or Twitter. This study will examine the mutual aid and disaster relief by these new emergent groups along with their collaboration with extending and established groups such as faith-based organizations and the American Red Cross. The research will (1) identify these emergent groups (2) study their communication methods and collaboration with other agencies, and (3) describe the type of aid distributed, and the roles of these groups in disaster response. Two primary methods will be utilized with the first being field research with interviews of group coordinators and other volunteers. Second, communications such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other online forums will be retrospectively analyzed for content. The expected results of this study could help establish how new emergent groups aided with new communication technology can enhance community response and recovery which could lead to more resilience for future events.Results of this research could be used by established organizations and communities for future disasters to get aid to survivors in a timely manner. It is important that community members be involved in both preparedness and response to help make a quicker recovery for the citizens. This can involve having the various organizations participating in disaster planning. In addition, this project can add to the field of disaster research for both theory and applications by investigating traditional means of response supplemented with new communication technologies.