Empowering Children to Lead Change: Incorporating Preparedness Curricula in the K-12 Educational System
Abstract : A combination of both man-made and natural disasters in recent years has revitalized the concept of civil preparedness and defense in the United States. During the State of the Union Address in 2002, President George W. Bush announced the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Citizen Corps, a component of the USA Freedom Corps initiative developed shortly after 9/11. Additionally, FEMA launched the "Are You Ready?" campaign to provide individuals, families, and communities with in-depth preparedness information and training, and the American Red Cross developed its own educational disaster preparedness program designed to coincide with the daily threat level. While the various programs include several common themes, including a special emphasis on disaster preparedness for children, they lack promotion, visibility, standardization, and coordination. Empowering children to lead change by teaching families and other citizens is one possible methodology to enhance visibility and inspire participation in such programs. This thesis examines the pros and cons of historical and current citizen preparedness campaigns and K-12 preparedness curricula, other countries' approaches to citizen preparedness, elements of successful preparedness programs, Homeland Security stakeholder benefits of preparedness programs for children, and potential arguments against the implementation of such programs. The author concludes the thesis with criteria for a successful K-12 civil preparedness curriculum.
Coping with storm surges on the Icelandic south coast: A case study of the Stokkseyri village
Abstract The low-lying village Stokkseyri is open to the North Atlantic Ocean and subjected to storm surges. The last surge experienced by the residents was in January 1990. Stokkseyri, as many villages in Iceland, has experienced extensive socio-economic changes during the past decades. Adopting a qualitative approach based on a focus group and in-depth interviews, the study investigates residents' perception of the communities' vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to the recurring natural hazards of the area and the impact of socio-economic changes in Stokkseyri thereon. The inhabitants were more resilient in the past during an era of strong community cohesion when the economy was thriving and network ties between the villagers were strong. They were able to use their own mitigation measures to adapt to the hazards. Despite the physical mitigation measures in the form of a breakwater and along with the residents trust in pre-warnings from the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) and the Icelandic Civil Protection and Emergency Management (ICP), the changed socio-economic condition of Stokkseyri has undermined community coherence and thus increased vulnerability and reduced community resilience. The recent sign of diversified occupation, improved economy and individual residents' initiatives to facilitate sense of community will work towards reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience. Nonetheless, specific evacuation and emergency plans for the community is needed and appropriate hazard education must be applied. In order to develop successful mitigation strategies it must be placed in context of the specific society it aims to protect and incorporate both social and physical aspects of the hazard.
Same Same But Different - also in Europe! A New Methodological Approach in Cross-Country Analysis of Communication Structuresapplied to five EU member states
The EU still lacks a truly European public sphere. On this level, there is still a clear lack of integration between individual member states. This means that national public spheres and cultures are still of great importance for European communication and media professionals. Comparative research into the similarities and differences between different nations is therefore valuable for cross-border PR communication activities. This paper lays out the methodological foundation for such research, discussing possible approaches and difficulties associated with comparative research. The author then introduces a potential heuristic framework for comparative analysis: the International Corporate Communication Compass. This framework is applied to five case-study EU countries (Denmark, Germany, France, Poland and the UK), showing the differences and similarities in a range of different contexts that affect public communication in all its forms. The conclusion examines how the results of such studies could be used in order to compare communication identities of different countries. This can potentially help in the development of a European public identity on the long run and in a first step can led towards a better, more adapted communication structure about European citizenship. Ultimately, communication structures within the EU might become more Europeanized than they