Answers all the questions and write one essay for every question that asked to
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Week112.pptxConvergence
Internal Convergence
Persons from various parts of the zone or from other areas converge on particular points or centers within the zone
Disaster Zone
The foot movement by the survivors searching for missing, information and assistance, points of egress
Remote Zone
Primarily information and material
Personal Convergence
The actual physical movement of persons one foot, by auto or other vehicle
Initial personal convergence focuses primarily on disaster area and specific points within that area
Remains focal point until recovery is well underway
There are areas of focus created outside the disaster area as the response evolves
Evacuation of injured, dead, homeless
Establishing centers of information and communication
Establishing relief centers
Personal Convergence
Immediate Challenges:
While agencies and organizations are trying to gain control, there is a mass influx of convergers
Types of Convergers
1. The returnees
2. The anxious
3. The helpers
4. The curious
5. The exploiters
The Returnees
“Evacuation and convergence are essentially reciprocal processes in disaster”
Disaster survivors who have left or who have been evacuated from the disaster area
Also includes…
Residents who were temporarily absent when the disaster struck
Non-resident property owners assessing damage to their property
“Substitute” returnees who are relatives and/or friends of disaster victims to assess damage/loss (retrieve, guard, salvage property)
The Returnees
Most evacuees will be returnees at some point
Timing dependent on…
Accessibility of the area
Primary/Secondary threats to the area
Means of transportation available for return
Degree of injury or incapacitation of the area
Returnees can begin to come back within hours of the event
The Returnees
Motivations to return:
1. Immediate goals of location and helping other persons and assessing damage to and protective private property
2. Longer range goals of returning to familiar surroundings, and re-establishing pre-existent social relationships
Evidence suggests
Those who have experienced high personal losses may not return in person for days or weeks (may send substitutes)
Those with minimal loss may stay in the area or return within a short time
The Returnees
Searching for familiar surrounding, familiar cultural patterns in order to find greater security
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Cities in Japan were the first and second to experience a nuclear detonation
August 6 & 9, 1945
Approx. 129,000 people died
While the cities were initially evacuated, returnees converged within 24 hours
Settled and took permanent residence in the rubble of their homes
The Returnees
Lack of research into this group
Evidence prior to 1957
Lower-class evacuees may return faster and in greater numbers
They may also refuse to evacuate all together
The Anxious
Convergers who may be separated family members, extended family members, friends
This type of convergence begins with reporting of the event, starts a “chain reaction” of information seeking behavior
Strains and overloads the existing communication and transportation facilities
Persons in contiguous or proximate zones may try to call or drive into the area to find loved ones
Persons in disaster areas use phones to get further information, attempt to communicate directly with loved ones
The Anxious
Anxiety is a determinant of convergence behavior
Anxious convergers can be within the disaster area, searching for missing family, friends, neighbors
Has negative affects on the congestions and “confusion” in disaster area
Long-term affects as people converge from further away as time goes on
Not widely studied, however is a large part of external convergence
The Helpers
Includes formal relief, there is generally some record of how many people and what type of assistance was rendered
Informal, volunteer assistance is not always recorded, may be unnoticed or under evaluated
Result: formal agencies may overestimate their own impact if they do not account for informal assistance
Volunteer hours can be reported towards reimbursements by FEMA’s Public Assistance Programs
The Helpers
“The need is to be not just cared for but cared about.”
Public shelters are used by only about 25% of the population, generally less
People tend to prefer to shelter with family and friends
These individuals tend to be unrecognized helpers
The Helpers
Internal person-oriented convergence – survivors of the affected area
Try to locate and assist members of own family
Turn attention to relatives, neighbors, friends
Then will address community concerns
This movement, survivors trying to help others may be characterized a “confusion”
The Helpers
Speed of external convergence
May be influenced by personal connections
Distance traveled
Earlier volunteers will be from the contiguous zone
May be trying to find people they know
May have been alerted to the need for help from evacuees
Constitutes first wave of helpers
The Helpers
Proximate Zone
Still within an hour or two travel time
More concern for people in the area – drive into the area to help
Less concern for people in the area – assist in hospitals, relief centers, communication centers (located in proximate zone)
Remote Zone
Learn about event through the media
Initially offers of assistance through channels
Primarily informal communication convergence
Send money and material goods into the area (24 hours to several weeks after the event)
Volunteers
What issues were introduced in the article with regards to…
Protective Health Measures
Risk Behaviors
Community Interactions
How might these issues impact the response effort?
The Curious
Curiosity is a normal human tendency, instigates a need to investigate
Represented by persons or groups somewhat detached from immediate personal danger, rarely people who were victimized by the event
May override concerns for own safety and welfare of other people
Have minimal personal concerns or identification with disaster victims
Later, survivors and formerly anxious may become part of the curious
The Curious
White County, Arkansas – Tornado
1/3 of impacted population stood around and watched during the first 6 hours after the event
They were later joined by curious from contiguous and proximate zones
All convergers are not “sightseers”, “curiosity seekers”, “spectators”
It is difficult to understand who are the curious - each of the categories may exhibit curiosity at some point
Generally, does not expand past the proximate zone – remote zone tends to fulfill their curiosity through media reports
The Curious
Not necessarily due to “ghoulish glee” – need to understand what happened because they are outside the general frame of reference, experience, may affect future safety
If this is true… how can we channel the activities of the curious instead of constraining them?
Disaster Tourism
Traveling to the site of a disaster due to curiosity
Popular sites of disaster tourism:
9/11 memorial
Disaster Tourism
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
New Orleans
Oklahoma City National Memorial
Disaster Tourism
Boston Marathon Bombing Memorial
Hiroshima Memorial
Chernobyl/Pripyat
Pompeii
Gray Line Hurricane Katrina Tour
Questions…
Is disaster tourism bad? What are the positive aspects that can happen with disaster tourism? What are the negative aspects? Does it serve a function in the affected community?
Can the anxious and helpers engage in disaster tourism? How?
The Exploiters
Those seeking to gain from public misfortune
Extent of this type of convergence is hugely over-exaggerated
Fits within “Disaster myths”
The logic behind this idea:
“Disasters destroy and scatter private property leaving it exposed and easier to steal; hence, the rate of theft with increase.”
“Disasters produce a scarcity of consumer goods; hence, they increase the motivation to steal or gain profit from hoarded supplies.”
The Exploiters
Disasters increase opportunities for exploitation but reduce the motivation for the behavior
Class lines tend to be blurred if the disaster has hit across those boundaries
Fritz & Mathewson state that one needs a “de-personalized” perspective in viewing actual or potential victims
Minimal identification with disaster struck community
Can be for political gain, status/prestige, financial reward
The Exploiters
1. Looters
2. Souvenir Hunters
3. Relief Stealers
4. Profiteers
Looters
Rare occurrence
More likely to occur when there is civil unrest
Largely expected by survivors
Can impact whether individuals evacuate the disaster
Souvenir Hunters
“Attempt to find some physical object which will encapsulate or symbolize the experience of viewing the disaster and which will offer ’proof’ that the person ’was there’
General evidence supports fact that this is more common than looting
Tends to be small items
Is this exploitation?
Souvenir Hunters
Examples:
Stories that pieces of the World Trade Center were taken by first responders
Relief Stealers
Individuals who claim disaster victim status in an effort to receive relief supplies
Ranges from occasionally trying to get free meals to touring relief centers and taking goods for re-sale purposes
Encouraged by information of “mountains” of clothing and supplies
Profiteers
Those who exploit disaster victims’ losses and psychological anxieties for financial gain
Difficult to define, can be a very broad category
Is it profiteering or is it a normal economic adjustment to a scarcity market?
Would include salesmen, merchants, craftsmen, professional men who play upon the fears and anxieties of the victims to achieve sales of their products/services
May increase price of goods to take advantage or shortages
Profiteers
During peacetime disasters this behavior is not common
Especially in immediate post disaster time frame
Generally, there is a free distribution of items/supplies needed
Informational Convergence
Convergence on communication centers, in the form of inquiries, offers of assistance
“Jamming”, “Swamping”, “Overloading” of existing communication facilities
If communication systems are down then the problem becomes more acute
Competition emerges between public and relief agencies for access to the channels which are still functioning
Can be detrimental to organizations and agencies, informal inquiries may overwhelm the channels
Informational Convergence
Is the answer to deny the general public access to these channels?
Informational Convergence
Is the answer to deny the general public access to these channels?
Evidence shows that this forces public to improvise informal, unofficial channels of communication
Resulting in officials having little understanding of the significant needs of the population
Informational Convergence
Challenges in measuring impact (1957):
1. Difficult to establish a “normal” capacity for systems which have been partially destroyed or which have lost some of their operating personnel
2. Personnel located at telephone switchboards, radio stations, etc. normally keep some form of tally or record of incoming messages – under stress of disaster those records might be neglected
Informational Convergence
Challenges in measuring impact (1957):
3. While there might be a record of total number of messages or calls, there is no way of knowing the number of attempted communications that were rejected due to disruptions in channels
4. When tallies are kept of incoming and outgoing messages, they might not describe if those messages were disaster related or not
5. Large volume exists outside official or formally established channels (word of mouth communications)
Informational Convergence
Can we control it?
Not limited to the persons located in the zones near the disaster zone
External informational convergence originates simultaneously in many parts of the nation and world
In comparison – Initial external personal convergence originates from contiguous and proximate zones
When the event is reported, persons in remote zones attempt communication with persons or agencies in disaster area – compounding the problem with limited channels
Questions…
How does informational convergence differ today from how it did in 1957? Specifically, is it possible to overload channels?
Do you think it is easier to cause confusion in informational convergence today than it used to be? Why or why not?
