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SOCIAL VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL DISASTERS: A STUDY OF SKOPJE, MACEDONIA

SICKMILLER, ADAM BYRON
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1179513447

Abstract Details

2007, MCP, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning : Community Planning.
Citizens in developing countries face extreme vulnerability to natural disasters. Modern human settlement patterns and development priorities exacerbate disaster vulnerability. In the West, disaster mitigation techniques rely on science and engineering. In developing countries, resources do not permit this. Therefore, an alternative approach is required. In 1963, an earthquake devastated Skopje, Macedonia. An international response saw the city rebuilt, but today's dramatically different sociopolitical landscape has heightened this city's vulnerability to natural disasters. Based on a 2006 survey of 324 citizens in Skopje, this study profiled earthquake vulnerability in the nation's capital and found that vulnerability varied depending on neighborhood, ethnicity, and income. Feelings of trust in government, a fear of natural disasters, and a sense of fatalism towards the occurrence of disasters varied depending on ethnicity, neighborhood, and income, but not education. The Western approach to natural disasters assumes a stable government, economic power, and cultural appropriateness. Because developing countries do not meet these conditions, disaster preparedness techniques should be community-based and rely on social capital. In Skopje, earthquake preparedness measures must focus on social, not physical vulnerability. Only by building an approach that focuses on communities and education—not regulation and enforcement—will this Balkan city become resilient to the effects of natural disaster.
Dr. Johanna Looye (Advisor)
210 p.
Earthquakes; International Development; Disaster Planning; Disaster Preparedness; Community Preparedness; Albanians in Macedonia; 1963 Skopje Earthquake

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Citations

  • SICKMILLER, A. B. (2007). SOCIAL VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL DISASTERS: A STUDY OF SKOPJE, MACEDONIA [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1179513447

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • SICKMILLER, ADAM. SOCIAL VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL DISASTERS: A STUDY OF SKOPJE, MACEDONIA. 2007. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1179513447.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • SICKMILLER, ADAM. "SOCIAL VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL DISASTERS: A STUDY OF SKOPJE, MACEDONIA." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1179513447

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1179513447
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© 2007, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.