DRC in the Media

The University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center is home to renowned experts who share insights from their research to better understand breaking news, developing events, and the complex conditions that lead to disaster. Offering a broad range of disciplinary perspectives and expertise, they have been cited in such outlets as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Discover what our experts have to say:

DRC in the Media

FEATURED DRC MEDIA PLACEMENTS

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Planning Now for the Disasters of Tomorrow

EXPERT: Jennifer M Trivedi
 
FEATURED IN: UDaily — Saturday, August 10, 2024
 
OVERVIEW: “Disasters know no boundary lines. Floods, earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, conflict — they happen anywhere and everywhere on . . . our planet. It’s why the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center (DRC) has a global reach, and it’s why that reach has global impact. You could see both DRC’s reach and impact during a daylong workshop for graduate students, held during its 60th anniversary celebration earlier this year. The study and work those students were doing will help policy makers and leaders around the world prepare for disasters of the future.”…
 
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How heat and a hurricane combined for misery in Houston

EXPERT: Jennifer M Trivedi
 
FEATURED IN: E&E News by Politico — Friday, July 19, 2024
 
OVERVIEW: “Compound disasters such as hurricanes and heat waves are increasingly testing Texas and other states along the Gulf of Mexico, said Jennifer Trivedi, . . . an expert on disaster vulnerability at the University of Delaware. […]”

“‘There’s a phrase people use: “There’s’ no such thing as a natural disaster,”‘ Trivedi said. ‘Really what we mean by that is there is always some sort of human intervention, human decision-making, human structures that are shaping the systems that really ramp a hazard into a disaster.’ […]”

“At the same time, experts say equitable citywide access to cooling centers and other emergency resources is crucial for protecting vulnerable populations when the lights do go out. And, in the long term, building up climate resilience in socially vulnerable communities is key to better outcomes when disasters strike. ‘It really is an equity question,’ Trivedi said. ‘That’s something that has to be part of these conversations.’ […]”
 
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Evacuating is expensive. Recovery is long and hard.

EXPERT: Jennifer Trivedi
 
FEATURED IN: Perci — Monday, September 18, 2023
 
OVERVIEW: “Jennifer Trivedi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology is Core Faculty at University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center. She studies “the people . . . part of disasters. How people make decisions before, during and after a disaster and what influences those decisions – their personal histories and circumstances as well as larger social and cultural contexts they find themselves in.” She spoke with us recently. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.” …
 
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Journalists interested in interviewing our experts?
Call 1-302-NEWS or email us at mediarelations@udel.edu

DRC MEDIA PLACEMENTS: 232


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Pushed by lawmakers and the formula shortage, FEMA boosts efforts to support breastfeeding families during disasters

EXPERT: Sarah E. DeYoung
FEATURED IN: The 19th — Monday, June 6, 2022
OVERVIEW: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) updated its website last week to make clear that breastfeeding resources are eligible for financial assistance for families affected by disasters – a message that’s all the more crucial as parents contend with a nationwide formula shortage. …
 
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As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

EXPERT: Sarah E. DeYoung
FEATURED IN: The 19th — Thursday, May 5, 2022
OVERVIEW: When Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana in August 2020, over 10,500 residents from the southwestern part of the state fled their homes for New Orleans. A central evacuation resource hub where evacuees could go to find basic necessities like food, water and clothing was set up downtown. …
 
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Prediction of population behavior in hurricanes

EXPERT: Prosper Kosi Anyidoho
FEATURED IN: No longer available — Friday, April 1, 2022
OVERVIEW: My new publication on the “Prediction of population behavior in hurricanes”
 
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Regional county-level housing inventory predictions and the effects on hurricane risk

EXPERT: Caroline Williams
FEATURED IN: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences — Wednesday, March 30, 2022
OVERVIEW: Regional hurricane risk is often assessed assuming a static housing inventory, yet a region’s housing inventory changes continually. Failing to include changes in the built environment in hurricane risk modeling can substantially underestimate expected losses. This study uses publicly available data and a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model to forecast the annual number of housing units for each of 1000 individual counties in the southeastern United States over the next 20 years. …
 
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Here’s how disaster declarations work—and why aid takes so long

EXPERT: Jennifer Trivedi
FEATURED IN: Southerly — Friday, February 18, 2022
OVERVIEW: Last year, 58 major natural disasters hit the United States. Twenty-one of those disasters caused $1 billion or more in damage, making 2021 the third costliest year for natural disasters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last year’s were also the deadliest since 2011. …
 
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How Bitcoin Adoption Could Bring Major Prosperity to Puerto Rico

EXPERT: Christopher Tharp
FEATURED IN: Bitcoin Magazine — Sunday, January 30, 2022
OVERVIEW: By 2017, I was peripherally aware of the existence of Bitcoin as an idea, though it remained unknown to me as a global phenomenon. I had yet to learn about Bitcoin as the antifragile and sovereign monetary system able to compete globally at scale with the U.S. dollar — as the political economic worldview grounded in anarcho-capitalist, “cypherpunk” philosophies of power, value, individual autonomy and mutualist community sovereignty. …
 
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Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Initial Assessment Report

EXPERT: Eileen Young
FEATURED IN: FEMA — Thursday, December 23, 2021
OVERVIEW: FEMA’s IAR reviews the first several months of the COVID-19 response. I helped in this as a contractor on the survey team, reviewing early surveys done in the regions, working with my supervisor to develop and conduct the FEMA-wide survey, and taking point on all the survey analytics. I also wrote the data callout on PDF page 70 of the IAR, but mostly I did the survey stuff. …
 
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Hurricane Ida destroyed affordable rental units, hundreds of families still can’t find new ones

EXPERT: Jennifer Trivedi
FEATURED IN: The Philadelphia Inquirer — Thursday, December 9, 2021
OVERVIEW: “If you’re already in a precarious situation financially … that narrow slice of availability can get erased,” said Jennifer Trivedi, a faculty member at the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center. …
 
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A Disastrous Book Collection: How a Tornado Inspired a Student’s Journey

EXPERT: Logan Gerber-Chavez
FEATURED IN: — Tuesday, November 16, 2021
OVERVIEW: First in a series of articles highlighting the winners of the third annual Seth Trotter Book Collecting Contest, sponsored by the Friends of the University of Delaware Library. Fourth-year doctoral student in the Disaster Science and Management Program at the University of Delaware, Logan Gerber-Chavez collection recounting stories of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, mining spills, climate change, toxic chemical exposure, pandemics and more. …
 
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Newark rally calls for action on climate change

EXPERT: Sarah DeYoung
FEATURED IN: Newark Post Online — Monday, November 8, 2021
OVERVIEW: More than 100 demonstrators gathered in Newark’s Kells Park on Sunday during a rally calling for action on climate change. The rally was planned to coincide with the COP26 Climate Summit in Scotland, where world leaders have gathered to discuss ways to combat climate change. …
 
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DRC MEDIA PLACEMENTS: 232

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If someone in school tests psitive for COVID-19, who gets notified?

EXPERT:
FEATURED IN: DelawareOnline.com — Monday, August 17, 2020
OVERVIEW:
 
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EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: Delaware Online — Monday, August 17, 2020
OVERVIEW:
 
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Title: Parents want to know: If someone in school tests positive for COVID-19, who gets notified?

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: DelawareOnline.com — Monday, August 17, 2020
OVERVIEW:
 
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The ‘Second Wave’ Is Still to Come and the U.S. Has No Specific Plan to Deal With It

EXPERT: Tricia Wachtendorf
FEATURED IN: Newsweek — Tuesday, August 11, 2020
OVERVIEW: Tricia Wachtendorf, director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, told Newsweek that having a decentralized approach to COVID-19 is important, so people within localities are able to provide the resources required. “That said, a protracted response, like we are experiencing with COVID, allows for greater coordinated decision-making. That should be taken advantage of…. We are not even getting consistent information coming from a national level. It’s difficult to operate effectively in a decentralized way if people don’t have the information they need and are not operating on a shared vision.”
 
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The ‘Second Wave’ Is Still to Come and the U.S. Has No Specific Plan to Deal With It

EXPERT: Tricia Wachtendorf
FEATURED IN: Newsweek — Tuesday, August 11, 2020
OVERVIEW: The U.S. is the world’s worst-affected country in terms of COVID-19 cases, having recently surpassed the five million milestone. However, the number of new cases across the country appears to be plateauing—albeit at around 50,000 per day—after rising exponentially since the first was confirmed in the country in January. …
 
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Rural America Could Be the Region Hardest Hit by the COVID-19 Outbreak

EXPERT: Tricia Wachtendorf
FEATURED IN: Healthline — Monday, August 3, 2020
OVERVIEW:
 
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EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: The News Journal — Tuesday, July 28, 2020
OVERVIEW: Article features Jennifer Horney, core faculty with the UD Disaster Research Center.
 
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EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: WellandGood.com — Tuesday, July 28, 2020
OVERVIEW:
 
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EXPERT: Sarah DeYoung
FEATURED IN: Healthline.com — Saturday, July 25, 2020
OVERVIEW:
 
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Multiple Placements

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: — Thursday, July 23, 2020
OVERVIEW: These are some older ones just to catch up for April, May, June – just submitted in case someone is keeping count:

Kennebec Journal, Quadrupling of state lab’s COVID-19 testing capacity puts Main in good position, public health officials say, June 14, 2020, https://www.centralmaine.com/2020/06/14/quadrupling-of-state-labs-covid-19-testing-capacity-puts-maine-in-good-position-public-health-experts-say/.

Mashable.com, Your favorite band knows how long the pandemic will last, June 13, 2020, https://mashable.com/article/coronavirus-live-music-festivals/.

Insider.com, Why tracing coronavirus cases from the Black Lives Matter protests could be nearly impossible, June 9, 2020, https://www.insider.com/contact-tracing-coronavirus-cases-after-protests-will-be-difficult-2020-6.

Portland Press Herald, Maine CDC begin providing almost daily numbers for negative COVID-19 tests, June 8, 2020, https://www.pressherald.com/2020/06/08/maine-cdc-begins-providing-almost-daily-negative-covid-19-test-numbers/.

EverydayHealth.com, Will the protests roiling America fuel new coronavirus outbreaks? June 6, 2020, https://www.everydayhealth.com/coronavirus/will-the-protests-roiling-america-fuel-new-coronavirus-outbreaks/.

Delaware State News, Epidemiologists and contact tracers are disease detectives, June 2, 2020, https://delawarestatenews.net/opinion/commentary/commentary-epidemiologists-and-contact-tracers-are-disease-detectives/.

Delaware State News, Social v. Science: Finding the middle group as pandemic restrictions loosen, May 29, 2020, https://delawarestatenews.net/coronavirus/social-vs-science-finding-the-middle-ground-as-pandemic-restrictions-loosen/.

DW.com, The Day: U.S. death toll reaches 100,000, May 27, 2020.

Georgia Public Broadcasting, What you need to know? Time to jump back in the pool, May 26, 2020, https://www.gpbnews.org/post/what-you-need-know-public-pools-and-coronavirus.

Costa Rica News, Does rain wash away coronavirus? May 26, 2020, https://qcostarica.com/does-rain-wash-away-the-coronavirus/.

Well+Good.com, 5 healthy hygiene habits you should definitely keep practicing post-pandemic, May 19, 2020, https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/healthy-hygiene-after-covid-19/.

Portland Press Herald, Maine reopening despite missed benchmarks, inadequate testing regime, May 17, 2020, https://www.pressherald.com/2020/05/17/maine-reopening-despite-missed-benchmarks-inadequate-testing-regime/.

Interact (American Planning Association), Connecting Epidemiology and Planning, May 13, 2020, https://www.planning.org/interact/2020/may13.htm.

Inverse.com, COVID-19 may change one common American behavior forever: Using Cash, May 9, 2020, https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/will-the-coronavirus-kill-cash.

Mashable.com, The first quarantine concert foretells music’s dystopian future, May 8, 2020, https://mashable.com/article/live-music-coronavirus-shutdown/.

Delaware Business Times, LabWare rolling out test kit to address nationwide data-collection gaps, May 4, 2020, https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/news/coronavirus/labware-covid-19-test-kit/

DW.com, The Day: World still seeking for COVID-19 drug, vaccine, April 30, 2020

Forbes.com, Does rain wash away COVID-19 coronavirus? April 30, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2020/04/29/does-rain-wash-away-covid-19-coronavirus/#7462ac910eec.

Delaware Business Times, Statewide COVID-19 testing plan could become a reality, April 29, 2020, https://delawarebusinesstimes.com/news/scan-delaware-health-covid-testing/.

Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Contact tracing and COVID-19, April 27, 2020, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareDHSS/videos/537637940475709/

DelawareStateNews.com, Second virus wave? Experts unsure about possibilities. April 25, 2020, https://delawarestatenews.net/coronavirus/second-virus-wave-experts-unsure-about-possibilities/.

AZCentral.com, Despite calls for more COVID-19 testing in Arizona, the number of tests done each week has fallen, April 24, 2020, https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-health/2020/04/24/despite-need-more-coronavirus-tests-arizona-testing-has-trended-downward/3006419001/.

BusinessInsider.com, Air conditioning spread the coronavirus to 10 people sitting near an infected person in a restaurant. It has huge implications for the service industry, April 21, 2020, https://www.businessinsider.com/air-conditioning-spread-coronavirus-restaurant-can-service-industry-open-again-2020-4.

WDEL.com, We want our freedom back: Delawareans grow frustrated over shutdown, plan to protest, April 21, 2020, https://www.wdel.com/news/we-want-our-freedom-back-delawareans-grow-frustrated-over-shutdown-plan-to-protest/article_374aaa36-8347-11ea-a03c-3bf92107b8d1.html.

The News Journal, What would an economic reopening in Delaware entail and when can we expect it? April 18, 2020, https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/coronavirus-in-delaware/2020/04/17/what-would-economic-reopening-delaware-entail-and-when-can-we-expect-it/5139821002/.

Delaware Public Media, Answering Key Coronavirus Questions, April 17, 2020, https://www.delawarepublic.org/post/answering-key-coronavirus-questions.

Delaware Public Media, The Green, April 17, 2020, https://www.delawarepublic.org/post/green-april-17-2020.

Governing.com, Maine unable to report on daily coronavirus tests, April 16, 2020, https://www.governing.com/now/Maine-Unable-to-Report-on-Daily-Coronavirus-Tests.html.

Delaware State News, Almost 62,000 have sought unemployment in Delaware over the past four weeks, April 16, 2020, https://delawarestatenews.net/coronavirus/almost-62000-have-sought-unemployment-in-delaware-over-past-four-weeks/.
 
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