The 2010-2012 Christchurch (Canterbury) earthquakes in New Zealand caused loss of life and psychological distress in residents throughout the region. In 2011, student dancers of the Hagley Dance Company and dance professionals choreographed the performance "Move: A Seismic Journey" for the Christchurch Body Festival that explored…

This study investigated surviving women's learning experiences from the 2004 tsunami in Aceh. Women were the majority of casualties and the most vulnerable after the tsunami. Almost a decade later, we used a conceptual framework of experiential learning, critical reflection, and transformative learning to understand the surviving women's ways of…

Problem Statement: In disaster prone countries, preparedness is an important factor in disaster mitigation. There are various disaster management approaches. However, one common point of these approaches is that they are "preventive." First and foremost of the principal components of the preventive approach is preparedness and education.…

This study examined the impact of an earthquake as well as the role of sense of community as a protective factor against depressive symptoms among older Chinese adults who survived an 8.0 magnitude earthquake in 2008. A household survey of a random sample was conducted 3 months after the earthquake and 298 older earthquake survivors participated…

We examine the political and personal effects of disaster volunteerism with participants of the New Orleans Rebirth Movement (NORM) using four waves of pre- and postsurveys and qualitative analysis of participant journals. Significant increases are found in internal political efficacy, desire to be active in politics, and value placed on social…

The following study examined the reactions of university students to Hurricane Katrina. A group of 68 New Orleans area students who were displaced from their home universities as a result of the hurricane were matched on race, gender, and age to a sample of 68 students who had been enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) prior to the…