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"In Disasterology, Dr. Montano, a disaster researcher, brings readers with her on an eye-opening journey through some of our worst disasters, helping readers make sense of what really happened from a emergency management perspective. She explains why we aren't doing enough to prevent or prepare for disasters, the critical role of media, and how our approach to recovery was not designed to serve marginalized communities. Now that climate change is contributing to the disruption of ecosystems and worsening disasters, Dr. Montano offers a preview of what will happen to our communities if we don't take aggressive, immediate action. In a section devoted to the COVID-19 pandemic, what is thus far our generation's most deadly disaster, she casts light on the many decisions made behind closed doors that failed to protect the public"--

Disaster researchers have long sought to classify hazard events using various characteristics. Despite varying perspectives on how hazard events differ, the most commonly used classification in disaster scholarship categorizes hazard events as either emergencies, disasters, or catastrophes, which generally are described as being distinguished based on impacts, needs, stakeholder involvement, and management approach. Although this hazard event classification is useful, disaster scholars have noted it needs further refinement and development. In an effort to address these calls from disaster scholars and create a more robust hazard event classification, the traditional classification is revisited and expanded. Specifically, this article proposes the addition of a second dimension, response duration, to the existing hazard event type classification, which to this point has largely been defined by scale of impacts, needs, stakeholder involvement, and management approach. This paper argues short and long-duration emergencies, disasters, and catastrophes are categorically different and therefore require different management approaches, and can be used to categorize and distinguish between events such as COVID-19 and Hurricane Katrina and the Levee Failure. The proposed change would have important implications for emergency management practice and policy and would encourage a re-evaluation of the kinds of hazard events considered to be part of the academic purview of emergency management.

AbstractThe Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) program has long been a cornerstone of state and local emergency management preparedness efforts. Through the EMPG program, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administers grants to state and local emergency management agencies to accomplish a wide range of tasks such as the development of response and recovery plans, the creation of emergency operation centers, and the hiring of staff, among other activities required to be effective. EMPG provides the predominant federal funding for this mission, and many agencies depend on these funds for their operations. Despite the importance of EMPG, there is a dearth of empirical research about the program. This study explores this gap by evaluating how EMPG funds were distributed across United States counties from 2014 to 2020. Using FEMA and US Census data, we conducted a county‐level analysis using robust regression statistical analysis to determine factors affecting funding awards. Findings indicate that high population, high diversity, a strong economy, and high risk (measured using both the National Risk Index score and the number of federal disaster declarations per county) increased the likelihood that a county would receive EMPG funds, with high‐risk urban counties rather than rural counties receiving more funding.