Recovery efforts after natural disasters typically focus on physical infrastructure. In general less attention is paid to the social infrastructure that might impact the capacity of the community to rebuild. We examine perceptions of preparedness and recovery (markers of resilience at the community level) in the wake of Superstorm Sandy with a novel data set that includes a multi-mode survey of...

Heat is the leading weather-related killer in the United States. Although previous research suggests that social influences affect human responses to natural disaster warnings, no studies have examined the social impacts of heat or heat warnings on a population. Here, 201 surveys were distributed in Metropolitan Phoenix to determine the social impacts of the heat warning system, or more specifi...

The main purpose of this study is to examine how risk perception is influenced by the type of disaster (flood or landslide) and victim characteristics. The data reported here are based on the National Risk Perception Survey (NRPS) that was administered for the victims and the general public in Taiwan in 2004. In that year, many towns in Taiwan were seriously affected by floods and landslides, r...

People perform greater within-group cooperation when their groups face external threats, such as hostile outgroups or natural disasters. Researchers and social commentators suggest that high-ranking group members manipulate this "threat-dependent" cooperation by exaggerating threats in order to promote cooperation and suppress competition for their position. However, little systematic research ...

The Sumatra-Andanaman tsunami was one of the greatest natural disasters in recorded human history. Here, we show that on the northwest coast of Aceh, Indonesia, where the tsunami was most ferocious, the damage to corals, although occasionally spectacular, was surprisingly limited. We detected no change in shallow coral assemblages between March 2003 and March 2005, with the exception of one sit...

Developing countries are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of disaster management systems, and increasing efforts are being made to streamline preparedness, response and recovery mechanisms at all levels. It is well known that many developing countries, including India, are not always well-prepared to deal with disasters. A lack of well-developed disaster management plans results in...

In The Particularistic President we challenge the dominant paradigm asserting presidential universalism. Instead, we argue that presidents possess strong electoral and partisan incentives to pursue policies that prioritize the needs of some Americans over those of others. In this article, we review our larger argument and expand upon our analyses of two policy areas where presidents have unilat...

Health and education levels have improved remarkably, and poverty has been declining. Reducing population growth and attaining gender parity in school enrollment rates are notable achievements of recent years. In the past decade, Bangladesh has reduced infant mortality by halfóat a rate faster than any other countryóand has increased adult literacy rates by 8 percent for women and 6 percent for...

Humanitarian actors have sought increasingly not only to assist people affected by natural disasters but also to protect them. This paper examines the efforts of international humanitarian actors to protect Haitians affected by the devastating earthquake of 12 January 2010. It begins with an analysis of the particular difficulties of conceptualising and operationalising protection in an urban e...