NATURAL HAZARDS

Natural disaster losses grow yearly and the potential for a catastrophic disaster which could lead to the total collapse of the insurance industry and financial markets looms on the horizon. We have investigated generic social processes related to the adoption of mitigation for natural hazard, human responses to natural hazard warnings, organizational processes in disaster, and the effectiveness of training and public education. Our work experience includes the hazards of hurricane, flood, tornado, dam failure, earthquake, volcano, and tsunami.

Selected Publications

• Sorensen, J., and White, G., "Natural Hazards: A Cross-Cultural Perspective", in Human Behavior and the Environment: Environment and Culture, I. Altman et al., (eds.), New York, Plenum Press, pp. 279-318. 1980.
  
  
• Sorensen, J., and Mileti, D., "Programs to Encourage Precautionary Behavior in Natural Disasters: Review and Evaluation", in Taking Care: Why People Take Precautions, N. Weinstein (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Mass.pp. 208-30. 1987.
  
  
• Sorensen, J., and Gersmehl, P., "Volcanic Hazard Warning System: Persistence and Transferability", Environmental Management, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1980, 125-36. 1980.
  
  
• Sorensen, J., "Warning Systems in the Cheyenne Flash Flood", in E. Gruntfest (ed.), What We Have Learned Since the Big Thompson Flood, Boulder: Institute for Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado, pp. 174-183. 1987.
  
  
• Mileti, D., and Sorensen, J., "Determinants of Organizational Effectiveness in Crisis", Columbia University Journal of World Business ,12(1), 1987.
  
  
• Mileti, Dennis, Janice Hutton, and John Sorensen, "Earthquake Prediction Response and Options for Public Policy," Boulder: University of Colorado, Institute of Behavioral Science, Program on Technology, Environment and Man, Monograph No. 31, 1981.
  
  
• Vogt, B.  "Issues in Nursing Home Evacuation," International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters Vol. 9 No. 2:247-265. 1991.
  
  
• Sorensen, J. "Adoption and Maintenance of Warning Systems," in Facing the Challenge  The U.S. National Report to the IDNR World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, Yokohama, Japan, May 23-27, 1994.  Washington DC: National Academy Press, pp. 56-57. 1994.


• Sorensen,  J. “Hazard Warning Systems: A Review of 20 Years of Progress," Natural Hazards Review, Vol I, No. 2. pp. 119-125. 2000.


• Sorensen, J. and Vogt, B. “Community Process: Warning and Evacuation.” In  Rodriguez, H., E. Quarantelli, and R. Dynes (eds.) Handbook of Disaster Research, pp. 183-199. New York, NY: Springer, 2006.


• Sorensen,  J. "Society and Emergency Preparedness: Looking From the Past Into the Future," in A. Kirby (ed.) Hazard and Society.  Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1991.