Tricia Wachtendorf

Director / Professor, Disaster Research Center / Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Prof. Wachtendorf expertise lies in the social, organizational, and decision-making aspects of disasters.

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Spotlight

1 min

Fast-striking and unpredictable, tornadoes pose major challenges for emergency planners

At least 20 U.S. states have been hit with tornadoes – some of them deadly – over the past week. Experts from the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center can speak to the difficulty of drawing up plans in advance of tornadoes, which can develop quickly and unexpectedly, as well as a variety of topics related to storm preparedness, evacuations and recovery. Those experts include: Jennifer Horney: Environmental impacts of disasters and potential public health impacts for chronic and infectious diseases. Horney, who co-authored a paper on the increase in tornado outbreaks, can talk about how impacts on the morbidity and mortality that result from tornadoes. Tricia Wachtendorf: Evacuation decision-making, disaster response and coordination, disaster relief (donations) and logistics, volunteer and emergent efforts, social vulnerability. James Kendra: Disaster response, nursing homes and hospitals, volunteers, response coordination. Jennifer Trivedi: Challenges for people with disabilities during disaster, cultural issues and long-term recovery. Sarah DeYoung: Pets in emergencies, infant feeding in disasters and decision-making in evacuation. A.R. Siders: Expert on sea level rise and managed retreat – the concept of planned community movement away from flood-prone areas. To reach these experts directly, visit their profile and click on the contact button.

Tricia WachtendorfJames KendraJennifer HorneySarah DeYoungJennifer TrivediA.R. Siders

1 min

Los Angeles wildfires: Experts address health concerns and evacuation strategies

Major wildfires are once again raging in California, this time in Los Angeles County. According to news reports, they have so far been responsible for two deaths, 1,000 damaged structures and the evacuation of more than 30,000 residents. Experts from the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center can comment on health impacts, evacuation strategies and how to manage pets and animals during disasters. Below are three of the Disaster Research Center core faculty and the topics they can discuss related to the current wildfires: Jennifer Horney, founding director of UD’s epidemiology program: Health impacts of disasters (mental and physical) as well as evacuation. Additionally, exposure to wildfire smoke which increases risk of respiratory infections; the scale of these fires during a very high period for these infectious diseases (flu, RSV, COVID) may also put pressure on public health and health care systems. Tricia Wachtendorf, co-director of the Disaster Research Center and professor of sociology and criminal justice: Disaster donations, social vulnerability and evacuation. Sarah DeYoung, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice: Pets and animals during evacuations.

Tricia WachtendorfJennifer HorneySarah DeYoung

2 min

Hurricane Milton: Second major storm in two weeks could multiply danger on Florida's Gulf Coast

Now a Category 5 hurricane, Milton is making a beeline toward Tampa Bay and other parts of Florida's western coast. But it will also hit some of the same areas that Hurricane Helene decimated less than two weeks ago, amplifying the danger and need for an on-point disaster response. Experts in the University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center can talk about several facets of this developing situation: Jennifer Horney: The mental and physical impacts of multiple disasters; environmental impacts of disasters and potential public health impacts for chronic and infectious diseases. She can talk about both Milton and Helene – Horney is a native of North Carolina and has done fieldwork in the state. Victor Perez: Can talk about known environmental justice issues in the Gulf Coast region that interact with climate change impacts, like hurricanes. Sarah DeYoung: Conspiracy theories and misinformation during disasters; pets in emergencies, infant feeding in disasters, decision-making in evacuation and community cohesion. DeYoung is from western North Carolina and can draw parallels from Milton to Helene. Jennifer Trivedi: Can talk about long-term recovery after large scale events – including compounding events – as well as challenges during disasters for people with disabilities, vulnerable communities and decision making. Tricia Wachtendorf: Evacuation decision-making, disaster response and coordination, disaster relief (donations) and logistics, volunteer and emergent efforts, social vulnerability. James Kendra: Disaster response activities, volunteers, and emergency coordination. A.R. Siders: Expert on sea level rise and managed retreat – the concept of planned community movement away from coastlines and flood-prone areas and the "expanding bullseye" that is contributing to the rising disaster costs in the U.S. Shanjia Dong: Research looks at smart and resilient urban systems; infrastructure systems, critical infrastructure protection, effective disaster preparedness and response, and equitable resilience planning and climate change adaptation. Joe Trainor: Post-storm housing decisions and insurance.

Tricia WachtendorfJennifer HorneyVictor PerezJennifer TrivediSarah DeYoungJames Kendra
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Biography

Tricia Wachtendorf is a leader in disaster research and education. A Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware with a joint appointment in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, she directs the world-renowned Disaster Research Center – the oldest center in the world focused on the social science and management aspects of disasters. For nearly three decades, her research has focused on multi-organizational coordination before, during, and after disasters, transnational crises, and social vulnerability to disaster events. Dr. Wachtendorf has engaged in quick response fieldwork after such events as the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, the tsunamis affecting India, Sri Lanka (2004) and Japan (2011), Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012), the earthquakes in China (2008) and Haiti (2010), as well as the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. With numerous research grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation, she has published widely on improvisation in disasters as well as disaster convergence. Her most recently funded research projects examine the temporal nature of household and emergency management decision-making during hurricane events, investigate humanitarian logistics during disaster response, and explore stigma and role triage in the aftermath of public health emergencies. She is co-author of American Dunkirk: The Waterborne Evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11.

Industry Expertise

Environmental Services

Areas of Expertise

evacuations
Multi-organizational coordination and responses in disasters
Transnational crises
Improvisation and adaptation
Community-based approaches to preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation
Disaster Decision-making
Disaster Donations
Social Vulnerability

Media Appearances

Best ways we can aid disaster relief efforts

Wisconsin Public Radio  online

2023-09-06

Wachtendorf talks with Wisconsin's NPR affiliate about what we can do as individuals to contribute to relief efforts in the aftermath of a catastrophic event, and how we can be prepared for the next one.

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Hurricane Idalia survivors can request disaster relief, but it’s not always easy to get

CNN  online

2023-09-01

Wachtendorf agrees with other experts who say the applications and required documentation necessary to access help can be onerous. “That’s really the challenge – trying to navigate what can be very complex systems during a time period where information is not readily accessible to you,” she said.

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On Maui, returning home means confronting toxic risks

Grist  online

2023-08-22

Ideally, residents would not return until they are certain that their homes are safe, but that’s often not what happens. Insurance companies don’t always pay for temporary lodging, and locals are usually eager to check out the damage to their homes and start cleaning up, said Tricia Wachtendorf, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware who studies disaster relief.

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Articles

Avoiding the “Second Disaster” of Unwanted Donations

International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters

2022

The outpouring of charitable acts following a disaster can reveal humanity at its best. But this can also take the form of spontaneous acts of generosity that flood supply chains with unwanted or low-priority goods that slow down the distribution of supplies most needed by disaster survivors. The challenges of sorting and distributing donations as well as disposing of inappropriate donations can be so bad that it is sometimes referred to as the disaster that follows the disaster. To understand how to prevent this, we interviewed donors, donation collectors, and disaster relief distributors following Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and two tornadoes that struck near Oklahoma City in 2013.

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Evaluation of Hurricane Evacuation Order Plans: Hurricane Florence Case Study

Natural Hazards Review

2022

This paper introduces an approach to evaluate the performance of a previously implemented or proposed hurricane evacuation plan that describes where and when official evacuation orders are issued. The approach involves use of the new integrated scenario-based evacuation (ISE) decision support tool to define a best track evacuation plan as a reference point and measure the performance of other plans in relation to that according to their ability to meet multiple stated objectives: minimizing risk to the population, travel time, and time people are away from their homes. Using North Carolina in Hurricane Florence (2018) as a case study, we demonstrate the process by evaluating performance of both the actual set of orders as executed and the orders that would have been recommended if the new ISE decision support tool had been used during the event.

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The Point of No Return: Adaptation Strategies in Disaster Donation Supply Chains

Natural Hazards Review

2022

In the aftermath of disasters, material convergence (the influx of material donations) can cause extreme negative impacts and has been described as a second disaster. Donations that are nonpriority or low-priority goods, or in excess of need, can have negative impacts on transportation into and storage within the affected area. For routine supply chains, successful supply access partially lies in the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. This paper draws on data collected after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and two tornadoes outside of Oklahoma City in May 2013. Interviews were conducted with individual actors in emergent donation supply chains to understand how they made and understood the effectiveness of their efforts and later coded for how central adaptability is viewed for achieving this success.

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Accomplishments

Certificate of Merit, The Mountbattan Maritime Book Prize

2017

Education

University of Delaware

PhD

Sociology

2004

University of Delaware

MA

Sociology

2000

University of Manitoba

BA

Psychology

1996

Affiliations

  • Society for the Study of Social Problems
  • International Sociological Association Research Committee on Disasters
  • North American Alliance of Hazards and Disaster Research Institutes
  • International Association of Emergency Managers

Languages

  • English

Event Appearances

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

(2021) Invited Testimony Civil Rights Implications of Disaster Relief: Hurricane Harvey in Texas  Virtual

Session on Governance and Transparency in Disaster Risk Reduction

(2020) Economic and Environmental Dimension Implementation Meeting  Virtual

Approaches for Culturally Competent Community Engagement

(2020) Natural Hazards Research and Applications Workshop  Virtual

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