The Real Disaster Is Above Ground

The Real Disaster Is Above Ground PDF Author: J. Stephen Kroll-Smith
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813184738
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
In the 1950s Centralia was a small town, like many others in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. But since the 1960s, it has been consumed, outwardly and inwardly by a fire that has inexorably spread in the abandoned mines beneath it. The earth smokes, subsides, and breathes poisonous gases. No less destructive has been the spread of dissension and enmity among the townspeople. The Real Disaster Above Ground tells the story of the fire and the tragic failure of all efforts to counter it. This study of the Centralia fire represents the most thorough canvass of the documentary materials and the community that has appeared. The authors report on the futile efforts of residents to reach a common understanding of an underground threat that was not readily visible and invited multiple interpretations. They trace the hazard management strategies of government agencies that, ironically, all too often created additional threats to the welfare of Centralians. They report on the birth and demise of community organizations, each with its own solution to the problem and its diehard partisans. The final solution, now being put into effect, is to abandon the town and relocate its people. Centralia's environmental disaster, the authors argue, is not a local or isolated phenomenon. It warns of the danger lurking in our own technology when safeguards fail and disaster management policy is not in place to respond to failure, as the examples of Chernobyl and Bhopal have clearly demonstrated. The lessons in this study of the fate of a small town in Pennsylvania are indeed sobering. They should be pondered by a variety of social scientists and planners, by all those dealing with the behavior of people under stress and those responsible for the welfare of the public.

The Real Disaster Is Above Ground

The Real Disaster Is Above Ground PDF Author: J. Stephen Kroll-Smith
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813184738
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the 1950s Centralia was a small town, like many others in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. But since the 1960s, it has been consumed, outwardly and inwardly by a fire that has inexorably spread in the abandoned mines beneath it. The earth smokes, subsides, and breathes poisonous gases. No less destructive has been the spread of dissension and enmity among the townspeople. The Real Disaster Above Ground tells the story of the fire and the tragic failure of all efforts to counter it. This study of the Centralia fire represents the most thorough canvass of the documentary materials and the community that has appeared. The authors report on the futile efforts of residents to reach a common understanding of an underground threat that was not readily visible and invited multiple interpretations. They trace the hazard management strategies of government agencies that, ironically, all too often created additional threats to the welfare of Centralians. They report on the birth and demise of community organizations, each with its own solution to the problem and its diehard partisans. The final solution, now being put into effect, is to abandon the town and relocate its people. Centralia's environmental disaster, the authors argue, is not a local or isolated phenomenon. It warns of the danger lurking in our own technology when safeguards fail and disaster management policy is not in place to respond to failure, as the examples of Chernobyl and Bhopal have clearly demonstrated. The lessons in this study of the fate of a small town in Pennsylvania are indeed sobering. They should be pondered by a variety of social scientists and planners, by all those dealing with the behavior of people under stress and those responsible for the welfare of the public.

Regulation of Above-ground Oil and Waste Containers

Regulation of Above-ground Oil and Waste Containers PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Energy and Commerce. Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Hazardous Materials
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Oil spills
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description


Small Town

Small Town PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Cities and towns
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description


Appalachia

Appalachia PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Appalachian Mountains
Languages : en
Pages : 664

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Book Description


The Filson Club History Quarterly

The Filson Club History Quarterly PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kentucky
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description
Includes list of members.

Sociological Abstracts

Sociological Abstracts PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Sociology
Languages : en
Pages : 994

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Book Description


Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind PDF Author: Yvonne Vissing
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813160324
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Because they're small, they're easy to overlook. Because their voices don't carry far, it's hard to hear them. We'd rather not look too closely or listen too carefully. And if we don't see them, maybe they'll just go away. But the invisible homeless cannot simply fly away to never-never land, or pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or make a wish upon a star. These homeless people are children, and they are not always in the inner cities, as Yvonne Vissing shows in this poignant study of families, housing, and poverty. As many as a third of our nation's homeless are found in rural and small-town America. They are all too commonly out of sight-and out of mind. Homelessness in small towns and rural areas is on the rise. Drawing on interviews with and case studies of three hundred children and their families, with supporting statistics from federal, state, and private agencies, Vissing illustrates the impact this social problem has upon education, health, and the economy. Families vividly describe the ways they have fallen through cracks in the social structure, from home ownership into homelessness. Looking toward the future, Vissing asks if homeless children are destined to become dysfunctional adults and provides a sixteen-year-old girl's moving testimony of the vagabond life her homeless family led. While the economy and the very nature of the family have changed over past decades, housing, education, and human service industries have failed to adapt. Vissing provides a planning model for improving support networks within communities and challenges Americans with a fundamental philosophical question: Do homeless children merit fullscale social intervention? Ultimately, Out of Sight, Out of Mind compels us not merely to voice concerns for family and community values, but also to assert this commitment consciously through improved essential services.

The Exxon Valdez Disaster

The Exxon Valdez Disaster PDF Author: J. Steven Picou
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
The development of this volume reflects the collective research interests of the editors over the last seven years on the Exxon disaster in Alaska.... [Their] primary objective in compiling this volume was to provide a general introduction to the social problem of technological disasters in terms of a case study of the largest oil spill in North American history, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.... [They] have used a number of these articles as required readings in courses such as social problems, environmental sociology, sociology of disasters, human ecology, the community, and environmental economics. Those reprinted in this text proved to be both informative and interesting to a broad cross-section of students from undergraduate to graduate.... This volume will be of interest to researchers and a broad spectrum of the general public. -Pref.

Annual Review of Anthropology

Annual Review of Anthropology PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780824319250
Category : Anthropology
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description


Communities at Risk

Communities at Risk PDF Author: Stephen Robert Couch
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Communities in ever increasing numbers are facing the ravages of a modern form of calamity, the chronic technical disaster. Unlike natural disasters that strike quickly and disappear, chronic technical disasters, such as chemical or radiation contamination, slowly unfold, trapping communities in seemingly never ending cycles of threat and disorganization. The articles comprising this volume analyze community responses to a type of aversive agent for which there is neither tradition nor formal policy to insure an adequate repertoire of responses.