The results of their studies were published this week by the Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center based at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"Beyond September 11th: An Account of Post-Disaster Research" contains 600 pages of work by researchers and graduate students from more than 20 universities, including CU-Boulder. Every study is intended to help the nation better cope with future catastrophic events and all were funded by the center's Quick Response Research Program and the National Science Foundation.
The book's introduction states, "The information they gathered forms a unique set of data that could only have been captured in the short time frame that followed the impact of the disaster." The CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center is the nation's leading repository of knowledge on human behavior in disasters of all types, including natural and technological disasters and those caused by terrorist acts.
Topics of the 22 individual studies included creativity in emergency response to the World Trade Center disaster, corporate responses and interactions with the public sector, volunteer behavior, implications of the 9-11 events for federal emergency management, impacts on Muslim college students and risk communication and public warning.
"This volume discusses both what was unique about the terrible events of Sept. 11 and what 9-11 has in common with other types of community crises, such as natural disasters," said sociology Professor Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center. "The 9-11 disaster highlighted our society's vulnerability to extreme events, and at the same time illustrated ways in which groups, organizations and communities are resilient in the face of
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Contact: Kathleen Tierney
tierneyk@colorado.edu
303-492-6818
University of Colorado at Boulder
25-Sep-2003