Author Description

Disasters have become a more salient part of our life. Events ranging from terrorist attacks to major hurricanes to heatwaves can significantly disrupt our communities and place the most vulnerable among us at risk. The largest of these events—within seeming increasing frequency—test our communities’ capacity to handle these threats. These broad threats call for a broad range of responses—and responding organizations. This text collects a series of perspectives on the role of charitable and nonprofit organizations in helping our communities address the threats served by natural and man-made disasters. The chapters introduce varying approaches that assess the nature of non-profit organizations responding to disasters from the personal to the systemic level. They leave the reader with an appreciation for the diverse roles that nonprofit organizations play in community disaster preparedness and response along with the challenges they face. The contributions to this volume were selected by Scott E. Robinson and Haley Murphy from recent scholarship appearing in the academic journal Risk, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy. Scott E. Robinson is Professor and Bellmon Chair of Public Service in the Department of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma. Haley Murphy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Oklahoma State University.