School Seismic Safety and Risk Mitigation

Seven school-related disasters: Lessons for policymakers and school personnel

“…A comparatively unexamined facet is how cognition contributes to the experience of children during disaster. It is well established that children's cognition differs from adults' cognition and that conceptualization of events and objects vary given a child's developmental stage (Friedman et al, 2004;Piaget, 1952). Younger children do not perceive threats to safety as do adults and their innate curiosity may even attract them to unusual stimuli, such as the sound of an approaching tornado or rushing floodwaters ("Emergency," 2005).…”

“…Children and adolescents usually rely on important adults in their environment to help them interpret uncertain or frightening situations . They also model their behavioral responses on those of adults around them in a disaster (Deering, 2000;Phillips & Morrow, 2007) and thus dependent on decisions adults make in emergencies. All of these cognitive characteristics suggest a higher level of adult supervision will be needed to support children in disaster situations ("Emergency," 2005).…”

“…To theoretically frame this study and to illustrate how school contexts can contribute to the at-risk status of children in disaster, we drew from social vulnerability theory. Social vulnerability theory views exposure to natural hazards as emerging from an amalgamation of social, economic, and political factors, which create and perpetuate the disproportionate vulnerabilities certain communities, groups, or individuals experience in disasters (Hewitt, 1983;Lewis, 1999;Phillips, 2015;Wisner, Blaikie, Cannon, & Davis, 2004). As such, the social vulnerability perspective questions the "naturalness" of "natural disasters" (O'Keefe, Westgate, & Wisner, 1976), arguing that human societal structures, rather than random natural hazards, determine who is more likely to be impacted by disasters, as well as who will have more limited resources and defenses to withstand them (Hewitt, 1997;Wisner et al, 2004).…”

“…Similarly, earthquakes and hurricanes disproportionately affect people who are elderly and with disabilities as they often need assistance in evacuating from these hazards (Stough & Kelman, 2018). Researchers point out often it is not one single factor of vulnerability, such as poverty, race/ethnicity, or disability, rather the interaction of multiple factors, which lead to disproportionate disaster effects (Finch, Emrich, & Cutter, 2010;Phillips & Morrow, 2007;Peek & Stough, 2010). For example, social vulnerability of the 9th Ward was evidenced not only in differences in construction and public infrastructure, but in the social capital and financial abilities of the residents to rebuild and recover from the storm.…”

“…At least two highly credible sources, either peer-reviewed print, institutional publications, or highly-regarded journalistic sources, were reviewed for each school-related case. Following established qualitative methods in disaster studies, attention was paid to the context of each disaster, specifically, the time, place, and circumstance in which each disaster occurred (Phillips, 2014).…”