• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

UTA study calls on feds to invest in local volunteer disaster response, recovery groups

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
February 13, 2019
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Coordination needed

IMAGE

Credit: UT Arlington


Data from 2017 Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and California natural disasters highlights key collaboration gaps and better ways to save money, time and lives in future disasters

After 2017’s record year of billion-dollar disaster events and additional hurricanes and wildfires during 2018, a new University of Texas at Arlington study found that inconsistent non-profit resources across different jurisdictions impacted disaster recovery efforts, especially in areas that needed it the most.

The UTA study was funded by the National Science Foundation and is featured in the American Journal of Public Health. Based on field research in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and northern and southern California, the study found that despite inconsistent resources and coordination problems, non-profits, religious groups, and businesses provided much-needed support and funding.

Daniel Sledge, the study’s co-author and a UTA associate professor of political science, said: “For me, the most important aspect of our findings was the massive variation across counties in terms of the ability of non-profits to respond to disasters. This was particularly striking in Puerto Rico, where many areas simply did not possess the non-profit and volunteer resources necessary to fill in gaps in what government was doing.”

FEMA’s National Response Framework assumes a crucial role for non-profits, religious groups, and businesses that are expected to fill in gaps in government’s ability to respond. About 76 percent of non-profits surveyed for the study reported that had they not actively provided community services during and after the disaster, their services may not have been provided by someone else. Of those, only 16.9 percent believed the government might have stepped in and provided their services had the organizations not been active.

After surveying 115 non-profits engaged in disaster response and engaging in 44 hours of interviews, the study concluded that voluntary organizations active in disaster, or VOADs, are critical to successful post-disaster coordination and recovery. VOADs bring together voluntary groups and representatives from local and state government agencies to coordinate actions, share information and target their efforts during and after disasters.

The study found that these collaborative groups were most successful when they were already active before a disaster struck.

In Sonoma County, Calif., local groups began building a VOAD after the 2017 wildfires but because it wasn’t active before the disaster, non-profits and other groups faced serious challenges in coordinating their responses to the fires.

However, in neighboring Napa County, voluntary groups reported strong coordination with each other and local government. As one non-profit representative said, “the key difference here is that we had the [VOAD] in place and they [Sonoma] didn’t.” The county’s VOAD group was launched prior to the wildfires and was funded by a donation from the local vintners’ trade association following a 2014 earthquake.

Herschel Thomas, the study’s co-author and UTA assistant professor of political science, said: “The big takeaway from our research is that these organizations need help. They are expected to do extraordinary things. By funding local Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, the federal government can help to improve community capability to respond to disaster.”

Scott Robinson, political science department chair at the University of Oklahoma, researches and is an expert in disaster politics, public and nonprofit management, and policy process theory.

“Successful disaster and emergency response requires the participation of diverse organizations from public to private to nonprofit organizations – including some that don’t think of themselves as an emergency response organizations. This research from Thomas and Sledge illustrates the often unrecognized contribution of nonprofit and religious organizations.”

Elisabeth Cawthon, dean of UTA’s College of Liberal Arts, said, “Dr. Thomas and Dr. Sledge demonstrate a keen understanding of the reactions of community organizations and policy-makers to environmental disasters. Through their timely research via the NSF Rapid Response Grant, Dr. Sledge and Dr. Thomas showcase CoLA researchers’ skill in identifying problems and suggesting practical solutions. Dr. Sledge and Dr. Thomas are to be commended for their work as individual investigators, as well as their mentorship of several undergraduate and graduate students in this important project.”

###

Media Contact
Herb Booth
[email protected]
817-272-7075

Original Source

https://www.uta.edu/news/releases/2019/02/Disaster-relief-study.php

Tags: CollaborationEcology/EnvironmentGroup OrganizationHistoryManagement Science/Operations ResearchSocial/Behavioral ScienceTemperature-Dependent PhenomenaWeather/Storms
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Mapping Safflower HD-ZIP Genes Under Drought Stress

Mapping Safflower HD-ZIP Genes Under Drought Stress

September 30, 2025

Promising Advances: Radiation Therapy Offers Hope for Patients with Severe Heart Rhythm Disorders

September 29, 2025

Researchers Chart Navigation Strategies of Wild Cats and Dogs

September 29, 2025

Breakthrough Achievement: In Vitro Simultaneous Synthesis of All 21 tRNA Types

September 29, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    87 shares
    Share 35 Tweet 22
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    73 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • How Donor Human Milk Storage Impacts Gut Health in Preemies

    59 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Scientists Discover and Synthesize Active Compound in Magic Mushrooms Again

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Efficient Neural Spike Compression for Brain Implants

circMAN1A2-CENPB Interaction Drives Cancer Cell Growth

Emerging Review Highlights Rising Heavy Metal Risks in Reservoirs, Advocates for Advanced Monitoring and Eco-Friendly Remediation Strategies

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 60 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.