Adding Risk to the Emergency Management Equation

By: Eric Holdeman on October 19, 2010

Most Popular

Most Commented

Internship Programs Develop the Next Generation of Emergency Managers

"As an Emergency Management Intern, I can say that working hands on has not only given me experience "
The Power of One: The Cascading Effect of Social Media

"Dan- You are correct. That was a mistake on my part. I appreciate your feedback and honesty."
911 Systems Upgrade to Accept Text Messages and Video

"Message continued... The APCO/NENA groups across the country have been wrestling with the concepts a"
The Public's Curiosity About CMAS/WEA

"It will be offered through the national cellular networks, available to local public safety organiza"
Alerting Devices Showcased for People with Access and Functional Needs

"Hi we need this information in spanish for hispanic people. In Puerto Rico. TKS!"

Mount St. Helens in May 1980. Photo courtesy of the NOAA.

Nathan Wood is a research geographer co-located at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Western Geographic Science Center and the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash. His research focuses on the use of GIS tools and community-based workshops to characterize and communicate societal vulnerability to natural hazards, with an emphasis on sudden-onset and chronic hazards in the Pacific Northwest. Wood responded to questions about how risk management interfaces with hazards and emergency management.

Q: How exactly did you end up being a vulnerability researcher at the USGS?

A: The majority of USGS researchers are physical scientists. After receiving undergraduate and master’s degrees in coastal geology, I became more interested in how communities are vulnerable to coastal hazards than the physical processes themselves and ended up getting a doctorate in geography. When I was hired 10 years ago, there had been a push to develop a geographic science element within the USGS that would look at the interactions between humans and their environment. In the hazards arena (a primary area of emphasis for the USGS), this meant looking at how communities are vulnerable to natural hazards and at how human actions create or amplify this vulnerability. At first, I noticed some reticence from many physical scientists about the USGS looking at the societal aspects of disasters. However, after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters, USGS culture changed a great deal and the role of humans in disasters is better appreciated. Proof of this paradigm shift is a Hazards, Risk and Resilience theme in the bureau’s new 10-year science strategy. To help the nation understand and reduce risks from natural hazards, the USGS is committed to improving its ability to understand and monitor natural hazards, and the vulnerability of communities to these threats. So I hope vulnerability researchers at the USGS become more typical than they are currently.

It seems that Americans are not risk averse when it comes to natural hazards. Why is that?

A colleague of mine in the social sciences once told me that there is a great deal of research that shows that people naturally tend to think they are safe. They know extreme events may happen, but think they’ll be safe and others will be affected. So, to get at-risk individuals to change their behavior, you have to first get them to realize that they are, in fact, at risk.

What risk-messaging techniques work with elected officials and other decision-makers?

Effective risk education includes three things: the potential for an extreme event; how your group is specifically vulnerable if the event were to occur; and what you can do about it now to reduce your risks. Physical scientists will often focus only on the potential for the extreme event. However, discussing the potential for extreme events in isolation may create a feeling that these events and their impacts are inevitable. Effective risk messaging involves discussing uncontrollable events that have controllable consequences. You can’t stop the tsunami, but you have some control over the potential for life loss by implementing education, preparedness and warning programs. The key is to raise expectations for positive outcomes. Once officials realize they have some control in the situation, they are more likely to develop and implement risk-reduction strategies.

Emergency management and risk management are related and complementary fields. Why is it that emergency managers don’t employ risk management more in their work? Would it help them?

I don’t know if the issue is that emergency managers aren’t using risk-management techniques in their work. I think the issue is larger than that of a single individual’s or agency’s efforts. Emergency managers typically focus on the immediate impacts of an event and its aftermath, whereas risk managers focus on the long-term functioning of their community or business. While complementary, the two managers are focusing on different elements. Perhaps the key to connecting the two is an overarching emphasis on achieving community resilience through multiple agencies in a community. I know of some local governments that have disaster resilience committees that meet quarterly as a way to better connect their emergency managers, risk managers, land-use managers and public works directors.

Is there a book or article you recommend to emergency managers that would serve as a primer on understanding risk?

I really like the book At Risk by Ben Wisner, Piers Blaikie, Terry Cannon and Ian Davis. The book does a great job of putting risk in a larger societal context. The authors suggest that to manage risk, you need to understand why that risk exists in the first place. By understanding the societal forces and pressures that lead to people living and working in hazard-prone areas, managers may be better able to develop effective risk-management strategies. For example, implementing a policy that requires homeowners to structurally mitigate their homes or relocate is destined to fail if the at-risk population is low income with no other residential options in the community.

Next Page>

1 | 2

You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to
http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/Risk-USGS-Nathan-Wood.html

Comments

Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. We reserve the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.