Getting Started
Welcome!! This page offers your resources useful for your SOCI 1251: Sociology of Disaster research projects. If you have questions or need help with your assignment, feel free to contact me anytime!
When starting your research you should gather some background information about your topic. Doing that will help you to:
- Get a general understanding about the main topic topic (nature and/or man-made disasters) and the main issues about it
- Gather some basic keywords that will guide your searches
- Identify a potential topic for deeper research
Academic books and journals and newspapers and magazines' articles are essential to this process. In this page I showcase some useful resources to get you started in this process.
When searching books, academic articles or newspapers' articles, you can do broad searches about disasters such as "big AND disaster", "mega AND Disaster"; "major AND catastrophe"; "terrorist attacks" or you can narrow down your searches by using specific keywords for particular type of disasters, e.g. earthquakes; hurricanes; tsunamis; "land slides"; "nuclear meltdown", etc... Below are some suggestions of books and major databases to get you started for your research project.
Photo info: Shimizu, Kenji (2011). This March 12, 2011 file photo shows smokes rising from burning homes in Yamadamachi in Iwate Prefecture, northern Japan a day after a strong earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami in the area. Yamadamachi, Japan: Associated Press.
Finding Sources
Finding academic's articles: This databases are a good starting point to find academic/scholarly/peer-reviewed articles.
Please login with your UConn Net ID and password to access licensed resources
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SocIndex with Full TextScholarly journal articles about sociology and other social and behavioral sciences. Includes culture & social structure; economic development; evaluation research; family & social welfare; management and complex organizations; policy planning. 1963-present.
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PsycINFOScholarly articles in psychology, plus medicine, psychiatry, education, social work, criminology, social science, business, & organizational behavior. 1872-present.
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PAIS InternationalIndexes journal articles, books, statistical yearbooks, conference proceedings, research reports and government documents world-wide on public affairs, political science, public administration, and international relations. Replaced PAIS 1/26/2017. 1915-current.
Finding newspapers' articles: Check this databases for the most current reporting of disasters and eye witnesses accounts.
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Newspapers through ProQuestFull text of: Hartford Courant, 1992 -; Los Angeles Times, 1985 -; New York Times, 1997 -; Wall Street Journal, 1982 -; and the Washington Post, 1987 -.
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Historical Newspapers from ProQuest (search all titles at once)Older issues of historical newspapers from the following collections or newspapers:
American Periodicals Collection, British Periodicals Collection, Atlanta Daily World, Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Chinese Newspapers Collection, Cleveland Call and Post, Hartford Courant, Los Angeles Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, New York Amsterdam News, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Philadelphia Tribune, Pittsburgh Courier, The Baltimore Afro-American, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Times of India. The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post., New York Tribune / Herald Tribune.
Finding Books
You can find books, journals' articles and videos by searching the Library's General Search. It is one stop shop for search all our library resources.
Below are some books that make help you in your research!
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The Next Catastrophe by Call Number: HV551.3 .P45 2007 (Level 2)ISBN: 9780691150161Publication Date: 2011-02-27A book focusing on "big disasters" and how to predict and reduce the damage cost by them. -
Catastrophe in the Making by Call Number: HV636 2005.N4 C38 2009 (Level 2)ISBN: 9781610911634Publication Date: 2011-08-08This book focuses on the Katrina Hurricane disaster (why it happens, lessons learned). -
Megadisasters by ISBN: 9780691133508Publication Date: 2009-11-08"Megadisasters is a book that asks why catastrophes such as these [tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes] catch us by surprise, and reveals the history and groundbreaking science behind efforts to forecast major disasters and minimize their destruction."
US and World Disasters' Data, Reports & Resources
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LANDSAT (Satellite data and images)"Landsat represents the world's longest continuously acquired collection of space-based moderate-resolution land remote sensing data. Four decades of imagery provides a unique resource for those who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, and global change research. Landsat images are also invaluable for emergency response and disaster relief."
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National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) siteThe National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2014.
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ArcGISArcReader (freeware, viewer) is a basic data viewer for maps and GIS data published in the proprietary Esri format using ArcGIS Publisher. UConn offers this software to its students. The link above explains how to download ArcGIS.
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HAZUS (FEMA)Another software program that you can download to do research on disaster. From the FEMA site: "Hazus is a nationally applicable standardized methodology that estimates potential losses from earthquakes, hurricane winds and floods...Hazus uses state-of-the-art Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to map and display hazard data and the results of damage and economic loss estimates for buildings and infrastructure. It also allows users to estimate the impacts of earthquakes, hurricane winds, and floods on populations."
SHELDUS (Spatial Hazard Events & Losses Database for the United States) is an excellent resource to learn more about specific hazard events or disasters in the United States. It is free to use but you need to register to use it. This database includes the following information:
- The location of where the loss occurred: State, County, and FIPS code
- The date when the loss occurred: begin and end date (day, month, year)
- The type of loss experienced: property and crop damage, fatalities, and injuries
- The type of hazard that triggered the loss: SHELDUS™ hazard category and remarks (description according to the original source)
- Miscellaneous (where available): named major disaster, Presidential Disaster Declaration number (PDD), Global Disaster Identifier number (GLIDE)
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Natural Hazards Center (University of Colorado at Boulder)The "Resources" page list links to recommended sites.
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Disaster Research Center (University of Delaware)The first research center of its type. Good place to see what types of research regarding disaster are being developed right now.
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National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute (Columbia University)"The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute works to understand and improve the nation’s capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. NCDP focuses on the readiness of governmental and non-governmental systems; the complexities of population recovery; the power of community engagement; and the risks of human vulnerability, with a particular focus on children." The site offers resources regarding research, policies and practices related to disaster preparedness.
Government (both local and nationwide) prepare disaster plans to be used in case of a catastrophe. See below for some resources on this topic:
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Ready.govSite developed by the Department of Homeland Security, it offers resources on how to create disasters' plans for a variety of events. Check the Navigation link to see a list of resources.
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Plan and Prepare for DisastersAnother site by the Department of Homeland Security with more resources regarding disaster planning.
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Houston's Emergency PlanThis is an example of a disaster plan by a city, Houston, TX.
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World Disasters ReportsPublished by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Organized by year.
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Global Disaster WatchBrief reports of major natural disasters as they occur globally published by Earth Report. Non-natural disasters such as airplane and rail accidents may also be mentioned.
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World Risk Index"The 2014 World Risk Report (WRR 2014) published by UNU-EHS and the Alliance Development Works/Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft (BEH) systematically considers a country’s vulnerability, and its exposure to natural hazards to determine a ranking of countries around the world based on their disaster risk."- http://ehs.unu.edu/news/news/world-risk-report-2014.html#info
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Disaster Risk ManagementSearch for DRM reports published by the World Bank
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EM-DAT (The International Emergency Events Database)You can search this database by country or browse by disaster type.
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Relief Web - Disasters by CountryBrowse by country for overviews, news, analysis and maps on crises and disasters. A red dot beside the country name denotes an ongoing crisis or disaster.
