SLIDE 1 Social Disruption from Marine Oil Spills: What Disaster Science Can Tell Us
Liesel Ashley Ritchie, PhD Center for the Study of Disasters & Extreme Events Department of Sociology Oklahoma State University
Presentation at Mid-Atlantic Oil Spill: Are We Ready? March 29, 2019 Virginia Beach, VA
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SLIDE 5 Societal Dimensions of Hazards and Disasters
- What we know about the social
impacts of marine oil spills is situated in a longstanding body
dimensions of hazards and disasters
SLIDE 6 Disaster Events: Continuum of Deliberateness
Natural Disasters Terrorism, Mass Shootings Acts of God Events Caused by Human Error or Recreancy Technological Disasters Purposeful, Premeditated Acts Litigation
Ritchie (2004) based on Green (1982, 1996).
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Overlapping qualities and characteristics…
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Love Canal, New York (1978)
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Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania (1979)
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TVA Coal Ash Spill, Tennessee (2008)
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Elk River, West Virginia (2014)
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Kanawha County, West Virginia (2015)
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Flint, Michigan (2015…)
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Psychosocial stress: The interrelation between social factors and individual thought and behavior.
SLIDE 15 Key Issues Associated with Technological Disasters
- Overall, pervasive uncertainty
- Contested interpretations of the event
- “Loss of control”
- Primary responsible parties
- Response processes are different (e.g.,
clean-up activities)
SLIDE 16 Key Issues Associated with Technological Disasters
- Social vulnerability to environmental hazards
- Disruption of interpersonal/group
relationships—corrosive community
- Boom and bust cycles—money spill
- Community ties to the environment
- Invisible trauma to the natural and social
environments
SLIDE 17 Key Issues Associated with Technological Disasters
- Secondary trauma from bureaucratic
impersonality including claims, settlement, and litigation processes
- Long-term adverse health outcomes
- Lack of closure—chronic community impacts
- “Recovery” becomes elusive
SLIDE 18 Social Impacts of Marine Oil Spills
- Empirical research on marine oil spills has
documented similar patterns and increased understanding of the effects of toxic environmental contamination on communities
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Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Alaska (1989)
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BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Gulf of Mexico (2010)
SLIDE 21 Key Findings
- Comparative studies of the Exxon Valdez and
Deepwater Horizon spills revealed similar psychosocial impacts among a sample of residents from Cordova, Alaska and a sample of residents from coastal Alabama
- Among the strongest predictors of stress:
- Concerns about family health and economic future
- Economic loss
- Connections to renewable resources
- Exposure to the oil
- Involvement with compensation processes
SLIDE 22 Compensation Processes
- Recent research findings regarding involvement
with compensation
- Being a claimant is associated with elevated
levels of stress and avoidance coping behaviors
- Community members, whether they are
involved in compensation processes or not, also have elevated levels of stress and engage in avoidance behaviors
- Highlights the chronic nature of technological
disasters
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Where we are…
SLIDE 24 A Way Forward
- Focus on preparedness and awareness—
understanding and communicating risk in local and regional contexts
- Emphasize inclusion of local knowledge
- Actively seek civic engagement and develop
effective, inclusive community processes in prevention, response, and mitigation activities
- Increase understanding about how specific
mitigation, preparedness, response, and compensation processes affect community resilience and long-term recovery prospects
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Thank you!
liesel.ritchie@okstate.edu
