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Media Relations
Kansas State University
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6415
media@k-state.edu

Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.

Source: Joye Gordon, 785-532-3954, gordon@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/gordonbio.html
Photo available. Contact media@k-state.edu or 785-532-6415.
News release prepared by: Nellie Ryan, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008

K-STATE MASS COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSOR EXAMINES HURRICANE WARNING INFORMATION AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS ON CITIZENS' EVACUATION BEHAVIORS

MANHATTAN -- Research on risk communication by a Kansas State University professor could help with evacuation compliance during hurricanes.

K-State's Joye Gordon, associate professor of journalism and mass communications, is studying the variables that can help people take evasive action to avoid harm during hurricanes. Her studies involve risk communication and its effects on evacuation compliance during hurricanes in southeast Louisiana.

Gordon and her research team of Young-Ok Yum, K-State associate professor of communication studies, and Aaron Bell, a K-State graduate student in speech and communications, Van, Texas, traveled to southeast Louisiana Sept. 4-10 to gather data following Hurricane Gustav. Their study is a follow-up to Gordon's 2005 research on evacuation orders during Hurricane Katrina. The work has been supported by grants from K-State's Center for Engagement and Community Development; the department of communication studies, theater and dance; College of Arts and Sciences' dean's office; and the department of journalism and mass communications.

The new study involved 300 residents of seven different parishes in southeast Louisiana. All of the parishes had mandatory evacuation orders during Hurricane Gustav.

"A mandatory evacuation order is just a label," Gordon said. "There isn't a legal right to throw people out of their homes. A mandatory evacuation order is highly, highly suggested, but if people don't get that message, don't trust the message or their cost-benefit analysis tells them to reject that message, there are a lot of reasons why people don't move out of harm's way."

The study's aim is to find connections between evacuation behavior and social vulnerability issues. Factors that influence peoples' evacuation behavior, according to Gordon, include financial well-being, education level, trust in government, mobility issues, race, age and gender.

Gordon said the results from her study could help inform the public, first responders and other professionals in emergency management how to best use risk communication.

"Natural disasters do not affect all people the same," Gordon said. "In fact, the poor, disenfranchised and otherwise marginalized portions of society are the ones who are most impacted by natural disasters. The more affluent you are, the easier it is to evacuate and prepare for a disaster.

"Also in post-disaster situations, the affluent are more prepared and have the know-how, political negotiation skills and political access that allow them to recover more quickly from natural disasters."

Another factor that influences evacuation behavior is a person's past travel behavior, Gordon said. Low levels of past travel behavior are highly correlated with the decision to ignore evacuation orders.

Gordon said that research about natural disasters is being done all over the United States and that many parallels can be drawn from the devastating effects of hurricanes in Louisiana to tornadoes in Kansas. Each year, Gordon asks her students if they know the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning -- and often they do not.

"Even though this is information that has been taught to them repeatedly over their lifetime and they live in a place where it is very geographically relevant, they still do not know the difference," she said. "Communication is not easy."

Gordon is originally from Louisiana. In addition to researching hurricane risk communication, she also is active in research on communicating food-related hazards.

"There are a lot of ways that society underestimates or doesn't acknowledge common hazards," Gordon said. "They don't fear the things that are most likely to kill them. Familiarity is one of the characteristics of a hazard that makes people think it's acceptable. I think it is fascinating to look at the challenge of chronically underestimated hazards."