The first study of its kind to address the issue of ethnic diversity, "Minority Citizens in Disasters" focuses on the responses of two minorities--blacks and Mexican-Americans--relative to whites in three disaster events: a propane car derailment, a nitric acid spill, and a flood. Ronald Perry and Alvin Mushkatel find that response to initial warnings is influenced by the source of the information--mass media, public authorities, or family and friends--and by the immediacy of the danger, a group's familiarity with the type of threat, and the cause of the disaster. Though social contacts...

The development and use of nuclear power in the United States has become stalemated. After the early promise of energy too cheap to meter, public concerns and legal challenges have stymied the nuclear power industry. Chief among these is the issue of safe disposal of nuclear waste. This volume, therefore, examines the dynamics of nuclear waste disposal policy. It is organized to address a wide range of issues found in the policy debate, e.g., the interrelationship between science and public choice, policy management and implementation, legal protection and liability, quality assurance and...

This book addresses two common problems encountered by emergency services personnel: the design and implementation of evacuation warning systems to ensure citizen compliance with the directives of authorities and the permanent relocation of families threatened by hazards. The authors pay particular attention to the problems of constructing warning messages; to the citizen's interpretation of message content; the techniques of delivering warning messages; and the management of citizen movements out of threatened areas. Administrative issues related to variations in compliance among ethnic...