In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

Study Says Minorities, Disabled More Impacted By Terror Warnings

January 27th, 2009 · No Comments

Thanks to the U.S. News & World Report website, I just read about a new study that found terrorism threats have more of an impact on ethnic minorities, the disabled and the mentally ill than on the general population. 

According to the article, those groups are:

more likely to make behavior changes based on terrorism fears, such as avoiding certain activities. These groups also tend to overestimate terrorism threats, believing the risk is high even when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s color-coded advisories show the threat as low.

Dr. David Eisenman, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles was the lead author on the study whose findings are published in the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Eisenman and his colleagues analyzed data from a random telephone survey of more than 2,300 Los Angeles County residents, conducted from late 2004 through early 2005 and known as the Public Health Response to Emergent Threats Survey. The participants were asked what the color was at the time for the country’s terrorism alert system, how often they worried about terrorist attacks and how often they avoided activities because of fears of terrorism.

Those who were mentally ill, disabled, black, Latino, Chinese-American, Korean-American or not U.S. citizens were more likely to think that the alert level was higher than it was and apt to worry more and change their behavior because of those fears. For instance, about 14 percent of whites surveyed said they worry very often or often about terrorist attacks, but more than 26 percent of Latinos said they did. And whereas just over 1 percent of whites changed their behavior very often or often because of their fears, more than 13 percent of Korean-Americans did.

Clearly, there is a need for the new Administration — working with states and localities — to create a more effective overall public alert system. This study underscores the fact that there is not just one ‘public’ to be addressed.

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Technorati

Tags: Risk Communications · Special Needs Preparedness

0 responses so far ↓

  • There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.

Leave a Comment