Centering peripheries : warning systems and disaster risk reduction planning on the island city
Name
1237276328-MIT.pdf
Size
40.54 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9a17069ca904d101d7f7ab9ef3ff6e6a
Author(s)
Bui, Lily,1987-
Advisor(s)
James Wescoat.
Alternative Title
Warning systems and disaster risk reduction planning on the island city
Date Issued
2020
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Warning systems play a crucial role in disaster events on islands. They enable timely communication of risk, bolstering capacity and counterbalancing the negative force exerted by hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities that threaten island communities. Disasters frequently result in the breakdown of communication due to both structural (i.e., power outages, failed telecommunications equipment, aging infrastructure) and nonstructural issues (i.e., governance, socioeconomic inequity, language barriers). Through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, document review and spatial data visualization, this dissertation compares the hurricane warning systems of two U.S. island cities: San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Honolulu, O'ahu, Hawaii, during Hurricane Maria (2017) and Hurricane Lane (2018), respectively. The research questions are as follows: -- Under what conditions are warning systems successful or unsuccessful in island cities? --
What gaps in capacity can be observed in island city warning systems? --
How do these gaps affect disaster planning in the island context? This dissertation proposes a conceptual framework for evaluating warning systems that takes into consideration the temporal aspects of warning. The framework illustrates the ways in which warning and planning are interrelated, as well as how planning and warning processes take place over time. The dissertation argues that good planning is good warning, and good warning is shaped by good planning. It finds that short-term warning (i.e. forecasting) is usually able to achieve its goals successfully whereas long-term warning (i.e. planning around preparedness, generational knowledge and culture, myths and history, and recovery) is prone to various capacity gaps across the two cases. The most significant finding is that O'ahu and Puerto Rico's planning and warning capacity grew after Hurricanes Lane and Maria, but the gap in capacity between both islands still remains noteworthy.
Ultimately, the planning gaps between both islands point toward other possible differential capacities for planning and warning on other U.S. islands.
Description
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, September, 2020
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-226).
Subjects
Urban Studies and Planning.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
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