Disaster Research Center to celebrate 40 years

3:25 p.m., March 11, 2004--UD’s Disaster Research Center (DRC) is celebrating four decades of research into the sociological effects of disasters by hosting a two-day conference, “Disaster Research and the Social Sciences: Lessons Learned and Future Trajectories,” on Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, in the Rodney Room of the Perkins Student Center.

The conference also will pay tribute to the founders of DRC who pioneered the study of the social science of disasters—Enrico Quarantelli and Russell Dynes, founding co-directors and research professors emeriti at UD. It also will introduce Havidan Rodriguez, professor of sociology and criminal justice, as the center’s new director.

DRC, established 40 years ago by Quarantelli and Dynes at Ohio State University, was the first social science research center in the world devoted to the study of disasters. It moved to the University of Delaware in 1985.

DRC conducts field and survey research on group, organizational and community preparation for, response to, and recovery from natural and technological disasters and other community-wide crises. DRC researchers have conducted nearly 600 field studies since the center’s inception, including cutting-edge research on the multi-organizational response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.

The staff routinely travels to communities throughout the United States and to a number of foreign countries to carry out systematic studies on a broad range of disasters, including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous chemical incidents, plane crashes, civil disturbances and riots, including the 1992 Los Angeles unrest.

Under Rodriguez, the center’s focus will expand to include investigating emergency weather warnings, urban search and rescue teams and evacuation behavior during emergencies.

Rodríguez came to UD last year from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, where he held joint appointments as professor and researcher in the Department of Social Sciences. He was a former director of the Center for Applied Social Research there. Besides having extensive experience researching hazards and disasters, Rodríguez specializes in demography and social research methods.

Rodriguez received his doctorate in sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He has held associate and interim dean positions at the University of Puerto Rico and served as the director of the Minority Affairs Program of the American Sociological Association from 1995-98.

Article by Barbara Garrison

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