Veracruz and Puebla. In collaboration with investigators from 

Mexico City’s Centro de Investigacion y Estudios de 

Anthropologia Social (CIESAS), the Disaster Research 

Center is conducting research in communities affected by the 

flooding in order to: (1) obtain data on the services at-risk 

populations received from public agencies charged with 

disaster mitigation and reduction responsibilities; (2) 

document the ethno-knowledge and customs used by these 

populations to minimize flood risks and impacts; and (3) 

explore the extent to which existing social science 

knowledge on disaster-related evacuation behavior - most of 

which is based on studies conducted in the United States - 

can be replicated in a Third-World context. Funding for this 

project has been provided by the National Science 

Foundation and the Federal Government of Mexico.