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Emergency and Disaster: Pervasive Risk and Public Bureaucracy in Developing Nations

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Abstract

Developing nations experience pervasive risk of devastation, human and property loss resulting from human and natural disasters. This level of risk is attributable to socioeconomic stress, aging and inadequate physical infrastructure, weak education and preparedness for disaster and insufficient fiscal and economic resources to carefully implement the preparedness, response, mitigation and recovery components of integrated emergency management. This article examines these dynamics using a conceptual framework derived from chaos theory and emergency management theory and raises several critical methodological issues related to inquiries into disaster and emergency management dynamics in developing nations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Affairs and William Donald Schaefer Center for Public Policy, University of Baltimore, 1304 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21202

    Lenneal J. Henderson

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  1. Lenneal J. Henderson
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Henderson, L.J. Emergency and Disaster: Pervasive Risk and Public Bureaucracy in Developing Nations. Public Organization Review 4, 103–119 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:PORJ.0000031624.46153.b2

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