Natural Hazards Center

Rebuilding lives after the headlines fade

Rachel Sauer — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 20:03:03 +0000

Rebuilding lives after the headlines fade Rachel Sauer Wed, 01/08/2025 - 13:03

Cody DeBos

CU ��«��Ƶ researcher Lori Peek emphasizes that the impact of natural disasters can be multiplicative

Six-year-old Samantha’s new ballet slippers, ready for her first dance class, sat untouched as Hurricane Katrina tore through New Orleans in 2005. Five years later, another disaster—the Deepwater Horizon oil spill—compounded her family’s challenges.

“Losing everything and having to start over, that has happened to me so many times, it just feels like I lost my childhood,” she reflected when talking with Lori Peek, ��«��Ƶ Department of Sociology professor.

CU ��«��Ƶ researcher Lori Peek (center) with participants in the Gulf Coast-based youth empowerment program called SHOREline, which she co-created and that was designed to make fundamental changes in the lives of youth and their communities, including reducing inequality before and after natural disasters.

Stories like Samantha’s illuminate a deeper truth: The harm caused by disasters doesn’t fade when the news cycle moves on. Hers is one of many stories Peek has heard while conducting research for more than a decade in the Gulf Coast region.

Peek, who also serves as director of CU ��«��Ƶ’s Natural Hazards Center, has dedicated her career to understanding how disasters shape the lives of children and families.

Out of the spotlight, families across the country are fighting against systemic challenges, emotional tolls and inadequate support to get their lives back on track. Peek’s research focuses not just on immediate devastation, but also on the long road to recovery that so many disaster survivors must travel.

The compounding effects of disaster

Most natural hazards leave visible scars when they sweep across a landscape—flooded homes, shattered schools and shuttered businesses. Peek’s ethnographic approach reveals the experiences of people and the hidden struggles they face while navigating the aftermath of major disasters.

Her long-term, collaborative research along the Gulf Coast, recently highlighted in a Journal of Child and Family Studies article titled “Adverse Effects of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Amid Cumulative Disasters: A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Children and Families,” underscores how compounded disasters can upend entire communities for decades.

“One disaster can obviously wreak havoc on a young person’s life,” Peek explains. “But now we are living in an age of extremes, where families and communities may be affected by multiple disasters in a relatively short period.

“The impact of these events isn’t additive—it’s multiplicative.”

Peek’s longitudinal study of Gulf Coast children illustrated this phenomenon. After Hurricane Katrina, countless families were just beginning to rebuild their lives when the Deepwater Horizon spill once again devastated local economies and ecosystems.

Children like Samantha, Peek notes, are particularly vulnerable in such contexts. They absorb not only the immediate chaos of a disaster but also the long-term stress of financial insecurity, familial upheaval, displacement and disrupted support systems.

Peek and her co-authors use the term “toxic stress” to describe this chronic strain. Its effects can lead to serious health and developmental challenges that persist for years—or a lifetime.

Lori Peek, a CU ��«��Ƶ professor of sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Center, conducts fieldwork with a child after Hurricane Katrina; the child was later affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill as well.

Samantha’s story isn’t isolated. Rather, it’s one of many narratives underscoring the profound sense of loss that lingers long after the immediate crisis concludes.

Peek believes these stories must be heard and addressed if communities and families are to build resilience against future disasters.

“Until relatively recently, the recovery phase of disaster was the most understudied,” she says. “That started to change after Katrina. But now we are in a new era, where disasters are becoming more severe and intense, and communities are being hit more often.”

This not only makes studying disasters more complicated, but it also can lead to recovery resources being averted just when they are needed most, she adds.

The role of support systems

Peek’s research emphasizes that recovering from a disaster cannot be an individual journey. Robust support systems are necessary.

“For children to recover from disasters, they need support from their family members, peers, teachers and broader community. Strong institutions—such as stable housing, quality health care and safe schools—are equally crucial,” she says.

Yet many children lack these foundational supports even before disaster strikes, Peek notes. When a catastrophe does occur, it magnifies pre-existing inequalities, and vulnerable families often find themselves in even more precarious situations.

On the bright side, Peek says, “disasters can be catalysts for change. But only if recovery funding is targeted toward the people and places that need it most.”

A call to action

Peek’s findings highlight the imperative to ensure that recovery efforts reduce inequalities both before and after disasters occur. She co-created a Gulf Coast-based youth empowerment program called SHOREline that was designed to make such fundamental changes in the lives of youth and their communities.

By bringing together policymakers, educators and community leaders, Peek aims to create frameworks that protect communities before the next disaster strikes.

She also emphasizes the importance of not just studying disaster recovery but acting before communities are devastated by the next hurricane, flood or wildfire. To achieve this, Peek advocates for policies that prioritize equity and resilience, emphasizing the need for long-term planning and cross-sector collaboration.

"One disaster can obviously wreak havoc on a young person’s life. But now we are living in an age of extremes, where families and communities may be affected by multiple disasters in a relatively short period."

“Recovery frameworks are still designed as if a single disaster is affecting a place, and as if recovery is occurring in a neat, stepwise fashion. That’s simply not the reality.”

Through her work, Peek hopes to reshape how communities and policymakers approach disaster recovery. As Samantha’s story reminds us, disasters leave marks that linger far beyond the headlines. The disruption of her childhood dreams reveals a profound need for systems that protect society’s most vulnerable.

With the right support, Peek notes, children like Samantha can regain their footing and even thrive in the aftermath of disaster.

Peek’s vision for the future—one where no child’s dreams are washed away by hurricanes or tarnished by oil spills— enters on resilient communities safeguarded by robust support systems and programs that address systemic issues rooted in poverty and racial inequality.

“If we can use the small windows for change opened by disasters to make progress in reducing—rather than exacerbating—inequality and suffering, that would be a real win for current and future generations.”

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CU ��«��Ƶ researcher Lori Peek emphasizes that the impact of natural disasters can be multiplicative.

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Top image: Lori Peek with participants in the SHOREline program

Researchers aim to see which COVID-19 policies worked

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 19:51:31 +0000

Researchers aim to see which COVID-19 policies worked Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/26/2021 - 13:51

Nicolette Edwards

Researchers from around the globe are studying the challenges and successes of social distancing policies

Since COVID-19’s discovery in Wuhan, China in Jan. 2020, one of the greatest challenges of managing its spread has been the patchwork-policy approach around the world—from complete shutdown of borders like New Zealand’s to the initial attempt at “herd immunity” in Sweden.

Researchers from the ��«��Ƶ, as part of a collaboration led by Elizabeth Alvarez of McMaster University, though, hope to provide clarity about what policies actually worked.

The effort, COVID-19 Policies & Epidemiology Research Project, is a comparative analysis of the challenges and successes of mitigating COVID-19, looking at the effectiveness of social distancing policies and their epidemiological outcomes from country to country.

At the top of the page: Digital map of COVID-19 spikes around the world. Image by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash. Above: Magnified view of England and Ireland, used for the England case report. Image provided by COVID-19 Policies & Epidemiology Research Project.

“What will social distancing and masking do in a range of countries across the globe to stem the tide of COVID?” asks Donna Goldstein, a CU ��«��Ƶ anthropology professor and one of the project’s researchers.

“What I really continued to believe in about this project and what I love about it is, it really has at its core this comparative depth that can really show you what worked and what didn’t work where and what things fell apart.”

On a Zoom call in April 2020, Alvarez, an assistant professor in the department of health and research methods, evidence and impact at McMaster University, presented the project to Goldstein and other researchers on the CONVERGE (National Science Foundation initiative housed at the CU ��«��Ƶ Natural Hazards Center) collaborators Zoom call with the project’s leading question: What public physical distancing policies were implemented to combat SARS-CoV-2 and how did they influence the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2?

From there, some of the researchers, including Goldstein, decided to get involved.

The Canadian-based project brought together researchers from around the world to explore this multi-dimensional question through a series of individual country reports. Each researcher was assigned to one or more countries to gather qualitative and quantitative data that highlighted five relevant categories that would give a partial story of how a country might respond—geographic, environmental, social, economic, demographic and health—along with the relevant COVID-19 policies, dating from when the WHO announced a Public Health Emergency to Aug. 30, 2020.

What I really continued to believe in about this project and what I love about it is, it really has at its core this comparative depth that can really show you what worked and what didn’t work where and what things fell apart."

“This project felt very important, not only for the topics we were addressing but also in how we were addressing them,” Anna Wynfield, a doctoral student in anthropology, said. “Bringing together researchers from fields including anthropology, public health, medicine, and other disciplines has allowed us to approach questions of policy guidance, implementation, and epidemiological outcomes in unique and collaborative ways.”

Goldstein has carried out long-term anthropological research in Brazil, so she conducted interviews with policymakers and public health officials there to gain a better sense of what happened in the country relative to the COVID-19 response during the timeframe. Wynfield, on the other hand, explored Ireland’s pandemic response.

“For Ireland, and in many jurisdictions around the world, having a cohesive and coordinated plan has been critical to mitigation,” Wynfield said. “Island countries like New Zealand have had certain geographic advantages in dealing with the pandemic. In Ireland, however, this was complicated by the fact that Ireland shares a border with Northern Ireland and policies differed between them.”

The researchers hope that the thorough analysis of each country’s characteristics will help answer the main research question while also looking critically at political leadership, public adherence and the overall effectiveness of COVID-19 policies.

Donna Goldstein is a professor of Anthropology at CU and is reviewing Brazil in the research project.

“We really try to understand what worked and what didn’t work globally—and why—in different places,” Goldstein said. “We can now—having all this data about the difference in policies—weigh and compare the policy rollout and effectiveness across all these different domains.”

To date, there are five published case reports: Ireland, Ontario, Sri Lanka, England and Singapore. More reports will follow in the coming months, including Goldstein’s report on Brazil. Throughout each country's analysis, however, the researchers found that successful COVID-19 mitigation starts with clear, cohesive messaging, public trust in leadership and financial aid to populations experiencing income loss.

“It has been important to assess not only how decisions were made and communicated, but also how the public has adopted, or challenged, these measures,” Wynfield said. “To understand these dynamics, we looked holistically at how policy implementation has been supported in different places through economic support, trust in government, historical frameworks, health care infrastructure, centralized decision-making, and cohesive messaging.”

Which is something that Brazil did not do well, Goldstein said.

“A lot of public health people really pointed at Jair Bolsonaro, current president of Brazil just like many people here would point at Trump as being the most critical, problematic aspect, politicizing a virus and confusing the messaging on what to do in the pandemic,” Goldstein said.

While the initial data collection period has ended, the research continues as COVID-19 mutates and changes, and vaccines are distributed.

“There’s so much complexity to what happened and what’s still happening. … The project’s a huge feat, but I think the bigger takeaway is that doing these global-scale projects while keeping an eye on all the local nuances that have occurred is difficult but worthwhile,” Goldstein said, adding:

“It’s a form of scientific research as well as an art form to have all of these conversations globally and locally with a range of people simultaneously, and then to write about what we have learned and how to move forward.”

Researchers from around the globe are studying the challenges and successes of social distancing policies.

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Prof seeks avalanche of ideas to help prevent disaster

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 21:21:39 +0000

Prof seeks avalanche of ideas to help prevent disaster Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/14/2020 - 14:21

Clay Bonnyman Evans

CU ��«��Ƶ Natural Hazards Center calls for 1,000 letters to inform Biden transition team on how to respond to hazards, disasters

The transition team for the incoming presidential administration of Joseph R. Biden recently sent an email to institutions around the nation, seeking input and names of experts in four key priority areas—the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery, racial equity and climate change.

“So many names came to my mind in all four areas,” said Lori Peek, professor of sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Center in the Institute of Behavioral Science at the ��«��Ƶ. The priorities “really cross-cut the work that people in the hazards and disaster field do.”

At the top of the page: Fires in Pine Gulch and Eldorado Canyon have filled the air in ��«��Ƶ, lending sunsets and sunrises with an eerie color. Taken August 27, 2020. Photo by Jeff Mitton.
Above: Lori Peek

The Natural Hazards Center is a National Science Foundation-designated information clearinghouse for the societal dimensions of hazards and disasters. Founded in 1976 by the late Professor of Geography Gilbert F. White, the center is dedicated to reducing disaster harm through sharing information, connecting researchers, producing novel research and training, and mentoring the next generation of professionals.

Recognizing how many ideas are out there, Peek conceived the One Thousand Letters Project, inviting the people in the CU ��«��Ƶ community and far beyond to compose 500-word letters to the transition team, to “share your vision for how we can work together to ultimately reduce the enormous harm and suffering caused by disasters, while identifying practical steps that will help move the vision forward.”

“I just want to share the expertise that I know exists here at CU ��«��Ƶ, but also across the nation,” Peek said. “During this time of transition, it just seemed like our scientific and civic duty.”

Anyone interested in submitting a letter, including students, should send it to 1000Letters@colorado.edu by no later than Tuesday, Dec. 15. The team at the center will read and compile letters and submit to the Biden transition team. Anonymous letters will be accepted, and authors will not be identified without permission, Peek said in her call for contributions.

She’s heard through the grapevine of larger institutions that the transition team is serious about soliciting information from a wide range of sources, even if they won’t necessarily read each and every letter.

“They are just processing so much information, getting ready to take over the administration of a massive federal infrastructure. I know the likelihood of them sitting down over the next 60 days and reading them all isn’t high,” Peek said with a laugh.

“But I am synthesizing all that we are receiving into a high-level memo for the transition team, and the letters are important symbolically. A thousand voices don’t even begin to capture the size of the natural hazards and disaster research and management community.”

The Natural Hazards Center has been extremely busy over the past year, not just with its response to COVID-19, but also several destructive hurricanes and a ferocious wildfire season.

It is going to take all of our science and best practices to turn the tide of rising hazards losses."

The center’s CONVERGE facility put out a special call for grant proposals for COVID-19-related research in the spring, providing $1,000 grants to 90 working groups encompassing some 1,200 people in social and behavioral sciences around the world. Peek says the center expects to announce the names of grantees from a second round of associated COVID-19 funding before the end of the year.

Peek experienced disaster up close and personally herself when she and her husband had to evacuate their home when the Cal-Wood Fire raged out of control Oct. 17, eventually destroying some 26 homes and more than 10,000 acres in the foothills and mountains northwest of ��«��Ƶ. She wrote about her experience in a recent article, imploring others to prepare for the worst.

“I’m looking out my window right now at the burn scar from the fire,” Peek says during a phone interview.

The recent brush with disaster has only deepened her sense of urgency to act in the face of widespread disaster losses.

“It is going to take all of our science and best practices to turn the tide of rising hazards losses,” she wrote in her call for letters. “May we listen to and learn from one another and act together as we imagine new possibilities for a just and sustainable future.”

CU ��«��Ƶ Natural Hazards Center calls for 1,000 letters to inform Biden transition team on how to respond to hazards, disasters.

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CU ��«��Ƶ experts discuss disaster preparedness

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 22:23:25 +0000

CU ��«��Ƶ experts discuss disaster preparedness Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/13/2017 - 16:23

Disaster preparedness is the focus of the next Social Sciences Today Forum at the ��«��Ƶ.

The event, titled “Disasters: Can We Be Prepared?” features three experts and is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 26, at noon in Old Main Chapel on the CU ��«��Ƶ campus. Each faculty member will speak for about 15 minutes and then answer questions. The panelists are:

Nicholas Flores, Department of Economics
Emmanuel David, Department of Women and Gender Studies
Lori Peek, Natural Hazards Center and Department of Sociology

Peek will discuss the complexity of preparing at different levels—ranging from the individual to the societal. She will also emphasize the importance of preparedness for the most vulnerable members of our communities. Flores will discuss the principles and challenges of using insurance to manage catastrophic risk. David will address gender inequalities at various stages of disaster.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Center to Advance the Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences (CARTSS) and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The Social Sciences Today Forum, a series during the school year, is designed to help the public gain broader perspectives and deeper understanding of human society and how individuals relate to the community and one another. This forum brings the knowledge and expertise of social-sciences faculty to the greater community and allows the community to ask questions of leading scholars.

Disaster preparedness is the focus of the next Social Sciences Today Forum at CU��«��Ƶ. The event, titled “Disasters: Can We Be Prepared?” features three experts and is scheduled for Sept. 26, at noon in Old Main Chapel.

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