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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Health Risks Are Rising in Mountain Areas Flooded by Hurricane Helene and Cut Off From Clean Water, Power and Hospitals

EXPERT: Sarabeth Baxter Lowe
 
FEATURED IN: The Conversation — Tuesday, October 1, 2024
 
OVERVIEW: Hurricane Helene’s flooding has subsided, but health risks are growing in hard-hit regions of the North Carolina mountains, where many people lost . . . access to power and clean water. …
 
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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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Journalists interested in interviewing our experts?
Call 1-302-NEWS or email us at mediarelations@udel.edu

DRC MEDIA PLACEMENTS: 233


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Southbridge residents call for equal investment in $100M Riverfront East plan

EXPERT: Victor Perez
FEATURED IN: The News Journal — Tuesday, August 3, 2021
OVERVIEW:
 
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As workers move back into the office, dogs are left alone and anxious, but there are ways to ease the transition

EXPERT: Sarah Elizabeth DeYoung
FEATURED IN: UDaily — Wednesday, July 21, 2021
OVERVIEW: When the coronavirus pandemic upended the United States, among other nations, a silver lining emerged: America’s dogs were really, really happy. Seeking connection during an isolating time, people rescued so many homeless mutts, shelters began running out. With their guardians homebound, these pooches experienced regular snuggling, belly rubbing and behind-the-ear scratching. …
 
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EXPERT:
FEATURED IN: Opinion Guest Essay | The New York Times — Friday, July 16, 2021
OVERVIEW:
 
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Highly contagious COVID Delta variant in NJ: What you need to know

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: northjersey.com — Friday, June 25, 2021
OVERVIEW: “Delta is not much of a risk for those who are fully vaccinated,” said Jennifer Horney, director of the epidemiology program at the University of Delaware. “However, if we consider only the unvaccinated population, they will certainly see an increase in infections and hospitalizations.”
 
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How many people in PA got vaccinated and still got COVID-19? The state isn’t counting

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: The Philadelphia Inquirer — Friday, June 25, 2021
OVERVIEW: Philadelphia Inquirer, How many people in PA got vaccinated and still got COVID-19? The state isn’t counting, June 25, 2021 …
 
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EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: Philadelphia Inquirer — Thursday, June 24, 2021
OVERVIEW:
 
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Will state reach 70% vaccination benchmark?: As of Sunday, 68.9% have received at least one dose

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: The News Journal — Tuesday, June 22, 2021
OVERVIEW: “I think COVID will very much still be with us, and it will particularly be high risk for those who are unvaccinated,” said Dr. Jennifer Horney, founding director of the University of Delaware’s epidemiology program. Delawareans hospitalized with COVID-19 are overwhelmingly unvaccinated, according to Division of Public Health data. Through Friday, the agency reported 383 COVID-19 cases among the state’s more than 400,000 fully vaccinated individuals. Of those cases, 18 were hospitalized.
 
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How natural immunity plays a role

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: Healthline.com — Thursday, May 13, 2021
OVERVIEW: The inflection point will vary per state and even county depending on the level of natural immunity in the area, Gandhi said. In areas that were hit hard by COVID-19 and therefore have higher natural immunity levels, fewer people need to get vaccinated to reach an inflection point. In areas mostly spared by COVID-19, more people will need to get vaccinated to hit that infection point.

Also, there may have been many asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, says Jennifer Horney, PhD, a disaster epidemiologist and founding director of the University of Delaware’s epidemiology program. “We don’t know exactly what our total coverage is, it could be higher than we think,” she said.
 
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Suicide Rates May Rise After Natural Disasters

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: Eos — Tuesday, January 26, 2021
OVERVIEW:
 
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Suicide Rates May Rise After Natural Disasters

EXPERT: Jennifer Horney
FEATURED IN: EOS Science News by AGU — Tuesday, January 26, 2021
OVERVIEW: Natural disasters can continue to cause pain long after homes have been rebuilt and businesses reopened. According to a recent U.S.-based study, rates of suicide increase somewhat during the first 3 years postdisaster. …
 
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DRC MEDIA PLACEMENTS: 233

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Covid Hazard Pay Has Ripple Effects in Today’s Overtime Cases

EXPERT: Jennifer Trivedi
FEATURED IN: Bloomberg Law — Tuesday, July 26, 2022
OVERVIEW: Potential wage-and-hour liability exposure persists for employers that provided additional wages in response to the pandemic, even as Covid-19 hazard pay has mostly dried up. …
 
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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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