Decision-Making and Information Use Among Residents During an Extended Natural Disaster

Government agencies are increasingly partnering with social scientists to understand how individuals behave during natural disasters. The April 27^th, 2011 tornado outbreak and an ensuing week-long power outage in Madison County, AL presented a unique opportunity to examine resident behavior in an otherwise habitable extended disaster scenario. Ten county residents were interviewed to understand their experiences during this period. Interviews were analyzed for decision-making and information use. Residents displayed novice decision-making, relying heavily on external cues. Peers and local media were the most common sources of external information, and local radio was the most important and versatile information channel. Knowledge in the head was linked to prior knowledge of the area and beliefs about information sources. Our findings suggested that residents have complex, well-developed skills for acquiring information in novel situations, and that long-term community residency provides experience that is valuable in disaster response. Innovative systems to provide disaster information should include cues that facilitate use of this knowledge by long-term residents.