Two "Quick Response" studies dealing with the impacts of Hurricane Katrina will be funded by the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder and more are expected in the coming days.
The studies will examine emergency management coordination and the response to the disaster in the close-knit community of Grand Bayou, La.
The Quick Response studies were funded by the CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center in cooperation with the National Science Foundation.
Proposals for Quick Response studies are solicited each September by the center and are approved on a "stand-by" basis. If a qualifying event occurs during the following year -- including technological or human-induced events, such as Sept. 11 -- researchers have the option of activating their grants. The small grants average about $2,000 and cover transportation, food and lodging.
After contacting other research centers and leading researchers, the center also may fund additional proposals related to Hurricane Katrina, said center Director Kathleen Tierney, a CU-Boulder sociology professor.
Tierney is a nationally recognized expert on the human and social dimensions of hazards, disaster and risk. She was the senior author on "Facing the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness and Response in the United States," a volume published in 2001 analyzing current theory and research on preparation for and response to disasters.
The CU-Boulder Natural Hazards Center has funded dozens of "Quick Response" studies in order to collect data that can be gathered only shortly after a disaster occurs. The results of 22 such studies conducted in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11 were published by the center in a 600-page book titled "Beyond September 11th: An Account of Post-Disaster Research."
In the two new studies linked to Hurricane Katrina, the emergency management study will be conducted by David Neal of Oklahoma State University and the Grand Bayou study will be led by Brenda Phillips of Jacksonville State University.
After Hurricane Charley struck Florida in 2004, CU-Boulder sociology Professor Leslie Irvine used a "Quick Response" grant to visit one of the hardest-hit counties to study the effectiveness of emergency operations at animal shelters. Pets are a major problem during hurricanes and other disasters because people aren't allowed to take cats and dogs into emergency shelters and most animal shelters already are filled to capacity under normal conditions.
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 reports from earlier studies, is posted on the center's Web site at .