Natural Hazards

Losses resulting from natural hazards—including floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires—cost billions of dollars each year. RAND research has shown how long-term loss-reduction strategies and disaster preparedness could improve the resilience of communities and infrastructure in the face of natural disasters, resulting in less property damage and reduced rebuilding costs.

Research conducted by: Environment, Energy, and Economic Development Program; RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment

Journal Articles (26)

Ensuring Robust Flood Risk Management in Ho Chi Minh City — May 1, 2013

This study demonstrates how robust decision making can help Ho Chi Minh City develop integrated flood risk management strategies.

Exploiting the Chaos: Terrorist Target Choice Following Natural Disasters — Feb 8, 2013

This article explores the differences between transnational and domestic terrorism, further differentiating by private versus government targets, to estimate the effect of exogenous catastrophic shocks on a country's level of domestic and transnational terrorism.

Nation's Health Security Research Is Not Balanced Enough to Meet Broad Safety Goals — Dec 3, 2012

Federal support for health security research is heavily weighted toward preparing for bioterrorism and other biological threats, providing significantly less funding for challenges such as monster storms or attacks with conventional bombs.

Detecting Ionospheric TEC Perturbations Caused by Natural Hazards Using a Global Network of GPS Receivers: The Tohoku Case Study — Dec 1, 2012

Recent advances in GPS data processing have demonstrated that ground-based GPS receivers are capable of detecting ionospheric TEC perturbations caused by surface-generated Rayleigh, acoustic and gravity waves.

The Public Health Disaster Trust Scale: Validation of a Brief Measure — Jul 1, 2012

Trust contributes to community resilience by the critical influence it has on the community's responses to public health recommendations before, during, and after disasters.

Citizen Preparedness for Disasters: Are Current Assumptions Valid? — Jun 1, 2012

Despite extensive messaging about the importance of citizen preparedness and countless household surveys purporting to track the preparedness activities of individuals and households, the role individual Americans are being asked to play is largely based on conventional wisdom.

The Impact of Natural Disasters on Child Health and Investments in Rural India — Jan 1, 2012

There is growing concern that climate change will lead to more frequent natural disasters that may adversely affect short- and long-term health outcomes in developing countries.

Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and Terrorism: Do Natural Disasters Incite Terror? — Dec 1, 2011

A novel and important issue in contemporary security policy is the impact of natural disasters on terrorism. Natural disasters can strain a society and its government, creating vulnerabilities which terrorist groups might exploit.

Reflections on the Initial Multinational Response to the Earthquake in Haiti — Jun 1, 2010

Expert panel discussion of the emergency response in Haiti concluded that rigorous, objective after-action reports are needed both to improve ongoing operations in Haiti and to enhance future responses to large-scale population emergencies.

Children's Mental Health Care Following Hurricane Katrina: A Field Trial of Trauma-Focused Psychotherapies — Jan 1, 2010

New Orleans school children participated in an assessment and field trial of two interventions 15 months after Hurricane Katrina.

Employment and Self-Employment in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina — Jan 1, 2010

This study uses data from the monthly Current Population Survey to examine the short- and longer-term effects of Hurricane Katrina on the labor market outcomes of prime-age individuals in the most affected states--Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi--and for evacuees in any state.

Freight Transportation Resilience: How System-Wide Perspective Can Help Metropolitan Planning Organizations and Departments of Transportation — Jun 1, 2009

A resilient transportation system is one that minimizes both the initial effect of the disruption and the time required to return the system to normal operations.

Treating Traumatized Children After Hurricane Katrina: Project Fleur-de Lis — Jan 1, 2009

Project Fleur-de-lis[TM] (PFDL) was established to provide a tiered approach to triage and treat children experiencing trauma symptoms after Hurricane Katrina.

A Community-Based Participatory Assessment of Health Care Needs in Post-Katrina New Orleans: An Update for Community Members and Advocates — May 1, 2007

The Rapid Evaluation and Action for Community Health in Louisiana (REACH-LA) Phase I project used community-based participatory methods to engage community members in the design, conduct, and interpretation of the results. This brief report describes the findings from the Community Discussion Groups, which affords the most direct insight into grassroots community perspectives on healthcare needs in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Psychiatric Disorders Among Adults Seeking Emergency Disaster Assistance After a Wildland-Urban Interface Fire — Jan 1, 2007

This study estimated the prevalence of psychopathology at a three-month follow-up among persons seeking emergency relief services after a wildfire.

Disaster Planning and Risk Communication with Vulnerable Communities: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina — Jan 1, 2007

The authors studied the experience of Hurricane Katrina evacuees to better understand factors influencing evacuation decisions in impoverished, mainly minority communities that were most severely affected by the disaster.

"they Blew the Levee": Distrust of Authorities Among Hurricane Katrina Evacuees — Jan 1, 2007

Distrust of authorities, among numerous other factors, seems likely to have played a role in New Orleans residents' reactions to evacuation warnings and public health authorities' advice.

Down in New Orleans — Jan 1, 2007

Illustrates universal vulnerability through the stories of a native New Orleans physician helping his community after Katrina and a writer turned advocate for her mentally retarded brother.

The Roles of Group Membership, Beliefs, and Norms in Ecological Risk Perception — Jan 1, 2007

Investigates the variability in ecological risk perceptions by surveying members of four stakeholder groups commonly involved in environmental policy debates.

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