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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Judith M. Siegel, PhD, MSHyg, Kimberley I. Shoaf, DrPH, and Linda B. Bourque, PhD. School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, 310-206-6442, jmsiegel@ucla.edu
A unique opportunity to address the extent to which being emotionally injured in one natural disaster influences preparedness for and emotional reaction to a subsequent disaster occurred when extreme weather conditions, due to an El Ni�o pattern, were predicted in California for the Winter of 1997/1998. The anticipated disaster was well publicized, and concrete recommendations were made regarding preparedness activities that residents could (and should) do. Respondents from a population survey following the 1994 Northridge, CA earthquake were reinterviewed in 1998. Those who were emotionally injured by the earthquake did more to prepare for El Ni�o than those who were not emotionally injured by the quake, controlling for respondent demographics such as dwelling type, home ownership, and age. The rates of emotional injury in El Ni�o are twice as high for respondents who had an emotional injury from the Northridge event (16%) compared to those who did not (7%), even when controlling on the number of preparedness activities they performed. Path analyses on the consequences of disaster-related emotional injuries shows that a direct relationship exists between emotional injury in Northridge and reporting damage in El Ni�o. These findings suggest that emotional responses to natural disasters play a pivotal role not only in mental health, but in disaster preparedness and "objective" assessments such as disaster-related damage. Implications for emotional response to human perpetrated disasters will be discussed.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Disasters, Psychological Indicators
Related Web page: www.ph.ucla.edu/cphdr
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.