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Environment and Behavior, Vol. 35, No. 5, 637-654 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0013916503254754
© 2003 SAGE Publications

Surviving Two Disasters

Does Reaction to the First Predict Response to the Second?

Judith M. Siegel

UCLA School of Public Health

Kimberley I. Shoaf

Center for Public Health and Disasters in the UCLA School of Public Health

Abdelmonem A. Afifi

UCLA School of Public Health

Linda B. Bourque

UCLA School of Public Health

Respondents (N = 414) studied after a California earthquake were recontacted 4 years later to determine if their prior experience with a disaster impaired or enhanced their ability to deal with a second natural disaster—a slow-onset El Niño weather pattern. Analyses addressed whether being emotionally injured in one disaster influences the extent to which one prepares for a future disaster, whether emotional injuries experienced in one disaster predispose individuals to emotional injury in a subsequent disaster, and whether other disaster-related parameters (physical injury and property damage) are similarly associated across two disasters. Emotional injury both facilitated preparedness, in terms of number of hazard-mitigation activities performed, and predisposed to a subsequent emotional injury. An unexpected finding emerged showing that emotional injury increased the chance of reporting damage in a second disaster—a relationship that was maintained after controlling for emotional injury in the second disaster. The impact of self-reported emotional injury in two sequential disasters on what might be considered a more objective outcome—property damage in the second disaster—underscores the need for a comprehensive assessment of disaster reactions in postdisaster research and across disasters, when possible.

Key Words: natural disaster • emotional reaction • preparedness • property damage


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