Outline of a Model for Studying Community Preparedness for Acute Chemical Disasters

This short working paper is divided into four parts. In the first part, we provide a brief general background of our study. In part two, some specific information about the research design used and data obtained in the first year of the work is given. In the third part, we present in schematic form the overall model being used to analyze our data on community preparedness for acute disasters resulting from chemical agents. The fourth and last part of the paper focuses on the basic unit of analysis in our model; that is, on the “local community” and indicates some of the kings of questions which are being addressed in the study. However, this paper uses the systematic data we have obtained only for illustrative purposes since a detailed presentation of research findings will be published at a later date. Our major intent here is to present the mode we are using and to show some of the issues involved. Thus, this paper represents one way of looking at the problem of community preparedness for acute chemical disasters and what we consider important in any description and analysis of the problem.Applied Science and Research Applications (ASRA) Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF)