When disasters strike, evacuation decisions can be complicated by factors that emergency planners may not always anticipate — including the needs of pets, infants and other vulnerable members of a household.
University of Delaware disaster researcher Sarah DeYoung studies how people make decisions during disasters and how emergency planning can better account for the needs of families and their companion animals. Her expertise includes evacuation decision-making, companion animals in disasters, infant feeding in emergencies and maternal and child well-being during disasters.
DeYoung's research is particularly relevant as communities around the world respond to natural disasters, including the devastating flooding currently affecting Nepal. DeYoung has conducted field research following 13 disasters, including the 2015 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal, where she studied maternal and infant health and feeding in the aftermath of the disaster.
She says that pets can significantly influence evacuation decisions. People may delay or avoid evacuation if they cannot bring their animals with them, while others may return to dangerous areas to retrieve pets. Her work examines how emergency managers can better incorporate animals into evacuation and sheltering plans.
She also studies the particular challenges facing mothers and infants during disasters, including access to food, infant feeding, shelter and other basic necessities.
Topics she can discuss include: How pets influence evacuation decisions
Challenges of evacuating and sheltering with companion animals
How emergency planners can better account for pets and families
Emergency warnings and evacuation decision making
The needs of mothers and infants during disasters
Infant feeding and access to basic necessities during disaster recovery
How disasters affect vulnerable populations and family well-being
To reach DeYoung directly and arrange an interview, visit her profile and click on the "contact" button. Interested reporters can also send an email to MediaRelations@udel.edu.
·
1 min
Wildfires burning across the world, now in parts of France and Spain, are forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate. University of Delaware experts are available to discuss wildfire evacuations, vulnerable communities, animal rescue and the health effects of wildfire smoke exposure.
Those experts, from UD’s Disaster Research Center, include:
Sarah DeYoung Professor of sociology and criminal justice: How people are forced to make split-second decisions involving horses, livestock and companion animals during fast-moving wildfires.
Why some owners must turn animals loose when evacuation time is limited.
Lessons from past disasters and animal rescue research.
Jennifer Trivedi Assistant professor of anthropology: The unique challenges faced by vulnerable populations during wildfires.
Complications surrounding evacuation decision-making and evacuation needs.
Long-term recovery following catastrophic disasters.
Jennifer Horney Chair of UD’s Department of Epidemiology: Health risks associated with wildfire smoke exposure, including respiratory infections.
How wildfire smoke and airborne pollutants affect population health.
The strain major wildfires can place on public health and health care systems.
To arrange an interview with these experts, visit their profile page and click on the "contact" button. Interested journalists can also send an email to MediaRelations@udel.edu.
·
1 min
Faculty from the University of Delaware’s renowned Disaster Research Center are available to comment on the back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela. These experts can discuss critical infrastructure failures, public health threats, emergency logistics and community-led response efforts in the region.
Available experts include:
From what I’ve seen, it looks like the earthquake occurred on the boundary of the Caribbean and South American plate. A strike-slip fault similar to the San Andreas. There have been a lot of nonductile reinforced concrete frame building collapses. There may be an effect of soil given that a lot of the damage has been near the coast.
Jennifer Horney (Professor of Epidemiology) Focus: Public health impacts, post-disaster waterborne/vector-borne disease outbreaks and the breakdown of healthcare delivery due to damaged roads and disrupted communication networks.
Tricia Wachtendorf (Co-director, Disaster Research Center) Focus: Disaster response logistics, community improvisation, neighbors as first responders and how to donate effectively to maximize impact.
Sarah DeYoung (Associate Professor, Sociology and Criminal Justice) Focus: Maternal and infant health/feeding in emergencies, pet and companion animal evacuations and community-level crisis decision-making.
To contact these experts directly and arrange an interview, visit their ExpertFile page and click on the contact button. Interested reporters can also email MediaRelations@udel.edu.
Media
Social
Biography
Sarah DeYoung is an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware and core faculty in UD's Disaster Research Center. Before coming to UD, she was an assistant professor in the University of Georgia's Institute for Disaster Management and Health Policy & Management. Her main areas of research are Infant and young child feeding in emergencies, community-based disaster mitigation (especially seismic mitigation), disaster policy, wildfire evacuations, pets in evacuations and general behavioral aspects of hurricane evacuations. She is an advocate for safe infant feeding in disaster and conflict settings and works as a volunteer for safelyfed.org.
Industry Expertise
Environmental Services
Areas of Expertise
Evacuation Decision-making
Companion Animals in Disasters
Maternal & Infant Health in Disasters
Refugee & Immigrant Well-being
Psychological Sense of Community
Weather Warnings and Risk Communication
Media Appearances
Meteorologists Get Death Threats as Hurricane Milton Conspiracy Theories Thrive
Rolling Stone online
2024-10-09
“The 2024 misinformation is being fueled to a certain extent by political polarization,” says Sarah DeYoung, a professor at the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware. “I think that’s corresponding with there being a presidential election this year.”
Lingering questions as Maui wildfire response faces criticism
ABC News online
2023-08-21
Sarah DeYoung, a core faculty member in the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center, told ABC News wildfires are especially dangerous because they can be so fast-moving.
"I've deployed for many different kinds of disasters -- hurricanes, lava flows, wildfires, tornadoes, earthquakes -- and wildfires, in my opinion from everything I've seen when I deploy, are so dangerous because they are so fast-moving and they can be so catastrophic," she said.
Could sirens have made a difference against the Maui fires? Experts say it's unclear
NPR/WHYY online
2023-08-14
"That's the limitation of these sirens, they don't tell you exactly what to do," said Sarah DeYoung, a professor at the University of Delaware who studies disaster preparedness.
University of Delaware Disaster Research Center gets $16.5 million to study equity in disaster recovery
NPR/WHYY online
2022-09-25
“Equity is a major focus of this grant,” said Sarah DeYoung, a core DRC faculty member and associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware.
Pushed by lawmakers and the formula shortage, FEMA boosts efforts to support breastfeeding families during disasters
19thnews
2022-06-06
Without proper support in place for nursing parents, disasters have been shown to change how people feed their infants. Sarah DeYoung, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware and disaster researcher, studied the effects of mass evacuations on infant feeding during the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in Canada and found that there was a decline in breastfeeding and increase in formula feeding after the disaster.
As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies
19th News online
2022-05-05
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a series of guidelines it follows to prepare and respond to disasters including one detailing “mass care,” or the deployment of shelter and food in times of emergency or disaster. Sarah DeYoung, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware and disaster researcher, notes there are hardly any references to infant feeding needs. There is more information in emergency planning documents on preparing for companion animals rather than infants or babies, she said.
Anti-Asian violence is a catastrophic threat to society | Opinion
The News Journal online
2021-04-02
The violent killing of eight people, including six Asian women, in Atlanta on March 17 fomented nation-wide mourning and despair amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There has been a spike of racist attacks against Asian Americans since last spring. According to the national coalition Stop Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Hate, hate crimes reduced by 7% in America’s 16 largest cities during the past year, but such crimes targeting Asian Americans rose by nearly 150%. Former President Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric toward Asians, calling the coronavirus the “China virus” and “Kung Flu,” has fueled the most recent wave of attacks on Asian Americans.
US awards huge shelter contracts amid child migrant increase
Associated Press online
2021-05-05
Sarah DeYoung, a University of Delaware professor who studies evacuation shelters, worries many of the sites have a “very institutional setting feel” that is not optimal for children.
“Just because those were selected in the past doesn’t mean they are doing it well in terms of children’s well-being,” DeYoung said. “It is critical that there would still be an outside assessment ... including public health experts and people who have pediatric expertise.”
Natural Disasters Won’t Stop Just Because There’s a Pandemic: How We Can Be Prepared
Healthline
2020-06-14
“Conventional hurricane evacuation shelters — such as a convention center — are high-risk locations for spreading COVID-19 because these shelters typically have hundreds and sometimes thousands of people,” said Sarah E. DeYoung, PhD, an assistant professor in sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware.
What Do We Make of Anti-Vaxxers In the Time of Coronavirus?
Fatherly online
2020-05-07
Furthermore, something as widespread as COVID-19 is hard to wrap the mind around. “In pandemics, if you don’t know someone directly impacted, it might be hard to visualize the impacts, and therefore the threat seems less real,” says Sarah E. DeYoung, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware who has studied vaccine resistance. “The problem with COVID-19, measles and other outbreaks is that they are like a ‘blue skies warning’ during hurricane season: It’s more difficult to convince beachgoers to evacuate three days before the landfall of a major hurricane because everything seems fine.”
Hurricane Katrina inspired a national pet evacuation policy. The plan could save human lives, too.
Vox
2019-11-15
In the massive Katrina evacuation, both out of New Orleans to avoid the floodwaters and then out of the state entirely, “a lot of people had top-down directives to not allow people to take dogs and cats with them, and bringing cats and dogs to sheltering spaces was not thought of. That caused a lot of distress and there was a huge outcry,” Sarah DeYoung, a professor at the University of Delaware who studies evacuation decision-making, said.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, Encyclopedia of Crisis Analysis
2021
During crisis events such as humanitarian conflicts, population displacement, natural disasters, and others, some people are more vulnerable to long-term physical, psychological, and overall adverse outcomes. Aspects of context that affect vulnerability include: (a) the nature of the hazard or conflict event; (b) the geographic location and structural surroundings; and (c) involvement of key groups during crisis. The nature of the event includes barriers for access to well-being in high-income and low-income contexts, the speed of onset of the hazard, the scope and type of hazard (localized or catastrophic, natural or technological, and other factors). Geographic location and structural surroundings include factors such as isolation caused by an island context, structural mitigation (such as earthquake-resistant construction), pollution and environmental exposure, and implementation of land use planning or sustainable farming. Finally, with regard to involvement of key groups in crisis, it is important to consider ways in which group coordination, logistics, cultural competency, public policy, social movements, and other mechanisms can exacerbate or improve conditions for vulnerable groups.
The role of homelessness community based organizations during COVID‐19
Journal of Community Psychology
2022
People experiencing homelessness are vulnerable to disasters and hazards and are at risk for contracting COVID‐19. In this study, we gathered data from 10 community‐based organizations (CBO's) in the United States that work to provide services for people experiencing homelessness. The combined CBO's span across rural, urban, and a mixture of both settings. We identified three needs that the CBO's indicated to be urgent: (1) the increased need for basic services among guests/clients, (2) new organizational challenges for the CBO's, and (3) issues related to emergency management and disasters. Among these urgent needs, respondents also indicated the need for emotional support for staff and volunteers experiencing burnout during the COVID‐19 response. They also expressed some unique aspects of new care delivery systems, such as clients' willingness to engage in rehabilitation programs because of noncongregate sheltering options corresponding with those support services.
Exploratory study: the COVID-19 pandemic and community-based animal organisations and households in the USA
Australian Journal of Emergency Management
2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of human systems. Gaps in community services for people with companion animals can prevent people from seeking care during a pandemic or create other issues. This paper describes exploratory research to identify some key challenges and successes for animal services providers and for households with companion animals. Using data from 19 USA states were gathered using an online survey and respondents were from 13 animal services organisations and 90 households. Themes were identified based on organisational-level challenges or successes, as well as themes at the household level. These findings may be useful for emergency managers and planners who design outreach and support services for people with companion animals, for example, planning for low-cost animal boarding services for people hospitalised or unable to care for their animal.
Maternal stress and social support during Hurricane Florence
Health Care for Women International
2022
In theoretical research on disaster vulnerability, access to resources is critical for optimal outcomes. Studying the impact of a hurricane on maternal stress can expand theories of disaster vulnerability. This is a cross-sectional mixed-methods prospective study of maternal stress during Hurricane Florence in the United States. Results from chi-squares compared the proportion of respondents who reported having support for a financial emergency were significant, specifically that higher income respondents indicated the ability to rely on someone in case of an emergency. A regression analysis indicated that social support was significant and negatively related to stress as a dependent variable, while evacuation status and pregnancy status were not significant predictors of stress. Five themes emerged from the overall qualitative data: concerns about infant feeding, evacuation logistics, general stress, family roles, and 'other' issues.
Maternal and infant health in disasters: Texas’s high-risk landscape
Women's Health
2022
Disasters are events in which “widespread disruption and damage to a community exceeds its ability to cope and overwhelms its resources.” The people of Texas have experienced more than disruptions—they know that disasters can impact their families and communities. Disasters can also cause physical trauma for pregnant people and infants and are associated with other complications in pregnancy and birth.
Solidarity and Storytelling: Debris and Visual Expressions of Collective Community After the 2019 10 *denotes products at Assistant Professor rank Lee County (Alabama) Tornado
University of Colorado, Boulder Natural Hazard Center
2019
NSF HDBE CUEBIQ: Collaborative Research: Leveraging massive smartphone location data to improve understanding and prediction of behavior in hurricanes
National Science Foundation
2020 - 2023
Infant feeding in emergencies: measuring changes during natural hazards in the United States
University of Delaware: GUR
2020 - 2021
Infant feeding in emergencies: measuring changes during natural hazards in the United States
Distinguished Book Award from the Animals and Society Section of the American Sociological Association, for All Creatures Safe & Sound (DeYoung & Farmer, 2021)
2022
Distinguished Book Award, Animals and Society Section of the American Sociological Association
