Response to Disaster: Fact Versus Fiction & Its Perpetuation - The Sociology of Disaster

by Henry W. Fischer III

This edition of Response to Disaster provides an updated and more thorough version of the well-received 1994 first edition. The author adds new research and expands on areas only briefly developed in the first edition, which disseminated the original research findings from several disaster research studies completed by the author. He provides the reader with a basic understanding of how people and organizations usually respond to a disaster in contrast to how they are usually perceived to respond, as well as a description of how and why the mass media helps provide both accurate and inaccurate information involving disasters. In addition, the author discusses organizational response to disasters and assesses future needs in research to improve the reaction to them so that mitigation, planning, and disaster response activity are more effective. Here, he greatly expands the areas of theory of approaches to disaster.

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1994

Reviews

[Charles Haywood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is only going to be interesting to academic sociologists. That is, it is only relevant to people who are keenly interested in academic details and are willing to put up with atrocious academic-speak, including constant use of jargon and passive voice. I read this as a companion to "popular" books on disaster survival, such as Laurence Gonzales's "Deep Survival" and Amanda Ripley's "The Unthinkable." But this book is very different. Fischer writes to debunk the "disaster mythology" that claims society falls apart in disasters, with widespread looting, disorder and social chaos. He does a good job debunking it. But wow, is this book boring and poorly written. If you can stand that, and are looking for statistical proof that people usually behave better, rather than worse, during disasters (other that certain cultures), you can find it here..