Disaster Shelter Planning

Following Hilhorst (2004), this study posits that, as communities become more populous they also become more complex. As they become more complex, communities develop institutions and social structures to help coordinate social activities. Among these institutions are forms of government which ensure management of resources and public safety. As part of public safety, citizens in vulnerable areas expect their government to provide disaster shelters during hurricanes. In response to this expectation, government forms policies and creates plans for disaster/evacuation shelters. These shelters become an arena for both disaster shelter policy implementation and organizational behavior. This study examines the relationships between disaster shelter policy implementation and the organizational behavior of the government staff and nonprofit volunteers who implement disaster/evacuation shelter policy as well as the citizens who receive services and who may themselves be volunteers. This study reviews the social complexity and structure of these relationships within Hilhorst’s (2004) proposed social domains of science and disaster management, disaster governance, and local response, as demonstrated in Florida’s Division of Emergency Management Region 5 (henceforward referred to as Region 5) during the 2004 hurricane season. This hurricane season was selected because nearly every county in Florida was affected by a hurricane (Charley, Frances, Ivan, or Jeanne) within a span of 44 days. Orange County was chosen because it was directly affected by three of the four storms (Charley, Frances, and Jeanne) and served as a regional disaster shelter during the fourth (Ivan). Region 5 was chosen for comparison because it was directly affected by three of the four storms and because Orange County served as a regional disaster shelter during the fourth (Ivan).