UD team heads to Gulf for research

The university's Disaster Research Center will send several teams of researchers to the Gulf region to study the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina in the coming weeks.

Tricia Wachtendorf, a sociology professor and member of the DRC, said the two-to-three-person teams will study issues ranging from vulnerability to the involvement of victims in decision making.

The DRC, which is part of the department of sociology and criminal justice, has applied to the National Science Foundation for several quick response grants, Wachtendorf said. The grants are available specifically for researchers who must quickly analyze a rapidly changing situation.

"This isn't really research that we're doing," she said. "We are going to the site, staying out of the way of rescue workers and law enforcement officials, and collecting information that won't be there a week from now, a month from now or a year from now."

The DRC responded in similar fashion to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the Indian Ocean tsunami, she said.

"We are observing efforts that are under way," she said.

While only a few DRC teams have secured a quick response grant, the others hope to do so within the week in order to get on-site as quickly as possible.

Lauren Barsky, a graduate student who works the DRC, said she acquired a quick response grant Aug. 8. She said Hurricane Katrina has led her to expand on her current research, which addresses the ways the media reported on looting during Hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Gene in 2004.

Barsky said she will continue to explore the distinction between looting and appropriating goods for survival by interviewing law enforcement officials, National Guardsmen, rescue workers and journalists.

Both researchers said they are excited to get on-site, but Wachtendorf said she is saddened by the evidence indicating that much of the devastation could have been prevented.

"In recent years, there has been less attention to taking steps before a disaster happens, and more focus on response," Wachtendorf said. "We need to take a close look at how communities, states and the federal government respond to and prepare for natural disasters."

Richard Sylves, a political science professor who studies emergency management, said much of the blame may rest on the federal government.

"About half of the upper tier of FEMA is very experienced in emergency management," he said. "Many others, including the director, have little or no experience, and appear to have gained their position solely on political merits."

Sylves said he understands that mobilizing a national response plan is no easy task, but remains uncertain about the effectiveness of the government's response.

"There may well be plenty of evidence in the investigation that they [the federal government] could have done significantly better," he said.

Wachtendorf said she hopes to avoid finger pointing and focus on her research, which she hopes will prevent such catastrophic devastation in the aftermath of future natural disasters.

"In the end," she said, "I think there will be enough blame to go around."