CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center Funds 25 Post-Hurricane Studies
Oct. 11, 2005

Twenty-five post-hurricane studies have been funded by the University of Colorado's Natural Hazards Center in the immediate aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The number of "Quick Response" studies set a record for the center. An edited volume of the final reports is planned, said program manager Greg Guibert.

"We have some really remarkable projects out there," Guibert said. "Hurricane Katrina had a major impact on our society."

The studies, conducted by researchers at universities across the United States, address issues including the housing of evacuees, coordination of emergency management during the disaster, media coverage, whether evacuees plan to rebuild or relocate, family functioning during major coastal storms and an examination of search-and-rescue efforts.

Seven of the projects involve CU-Boulder faculty and graduate students doing studies on such topics as communication among displaced populations; race, class and gender differences in governmental responses; the context of residents' involvement in criminal activity; how pets are handled in disasters; and photographs and interviews with children displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Quick Response studies are aimed at collecting data that can only be gathered shortly after a disaster. Proposals are solicited in advance and activated after a qualifying natural, technological or human-induced disaster occurs. The center funded 17 studies following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The small grants average about $2,000 and cover transportation, food and lodging. The studies are funded by the CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center in cooperation with the National Science Foundation.

The CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center is the nation's leading repository of knowledge on human behavior in disasters. It is part of CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science and is funded by grants from NSF, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, other federal agencies and private-sector funders.

More information on the CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center and the Quick Response program, including a complete list of post-hurricane projects and reports from earlier studies, is posted on the center's Web site at http://www.colorado.edu/hazards.

Contact: Greg Guibert, (303) 492-2149 or
(303) 319-6665 (cell)
greg.guibert@colorado.edu
Peter Caughey, (303) 492-4007

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