What Matters? Exploring Drivers of Basic and Complex Adjustments to Tornadoes Among College Students

Scholars have produced several theories and models to explain why individuals adjust to hazards. While findings from these studies are informative, studies have not considered how threat and coping appraisals may have differential effects on varying types of hazard adjustments, or how these findings may generalize to vulnerable populations. This study expands on the Protection Motivation Theory to explore the factors that shape hazard adjustment intentions among college students, a population traditionally defined as vulnerable, in response to tornado risk. An online survey was administered to college students (n=377) at Oklahoma State University, situated in a region that experiences considerable tornado risk. While the correlations between threat appraisal and tornado hazard adjustment intentions are smaller than the correlations between coping appraisal and tornado hazard adjustment intentions, findings suggest that threat appraisals become more important for influencing college students’ adjustment intentions when adjustment activities are complex (e.g., tornado shelter, home insurance), rather than basic (e.g., flashlight, first aid kid). This suggests that while both threat appraisals and coping appraisals are important for complex hazard adjustment intentions, basic hazard adjustment intentions are almost exclusively determined by coping appraisals. These findings have several practical implications for emergency management and provide new avenues for future hazard adjustment studies.

Nonstructural Seismic Preparedness of Southern California Hospitals

This study was conducted to assess the level of adoption of nonstructural seismic hazard adjustments by hospitals in Southern California, and to identify the factors that lead to adoption of these adjustments. Results provide evidence that hospitals in Southern California have partially implemented a variety of earthquake preparedness and mitigation activities. However, many adjustments specific only to earthquake hazard were not commonly implemented, and this is cause for concern. Successful implementation of nonstructural measures is most likely to occur in large hospitals having government or not-for-profit ownership, high levels of perceived support for seismic risk reduction from upper administrators, and frequent interaction of the hospital disaster coordinator with those in similar roles at other organizations.

Earthquake Impacts and Hazard Adjustment by Acutely Hazardous Materials Facilities following the Northridge Earthquake

Hazardous materials pose a problem of great significance for earthquake hazard reduction because severe earthquakes can simultaneously fail independent systems for on-site release mitigation and off-site emergency response. Unfortunately, the potential for major earthquake-initiated hazmat releases (EIHRs) has received little attention from earthquake researchers and planners. This study assessed the extent of on-site and off-site damage to fixed-site hazmat facilities and the hazard adjustments (i.e., hazard assessment, hazard mitigation, and emergency preparedness actions) that these facilities implemented before and after the Northridge earthquake. Data on the occurrence of chemical containment and infrastructure systems impacts confirms that hazmat facility infrastructure is vulnerable to seismic impacts. Hazard adjustments were undertaken after the earthquake, but were unrelated to the level of earthquake impact. These results suggest that comprehensive EIHR loss estimation studies should be conducted for seismic zones throughout the country, especially for clusters of hazmat facilities subject to the threat of damaging earthquakes.