OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE


All Ages and Abilities Can Help Disaster Preparedness Teams


By Sara Wildberger D


isaster citizen science has spiked in participation in the past several years, yet many still don’t know


what it is. It puts together two needs and activities to advance knowledge and better preparedness: citizen science is data collec- tion and addressing problems through par- ticipation by residents of an area or com- munity, and disaster citizen science applies the power of community to preparedness. Dr. Ramya Chari has studied and pre-


sented on disaster citizen science as well as helping to author the free e-book, “Citizen Science for Disasters,” from the RAND Cor- poration. She became interested in disaster citizen science with the Deep Horizon Gulf oil spill—when the community was involved in testing soil and water for pollution, they felt more in control and confident in terms of knowing information, as well as developing interesting and innovative tools and methods. Here, she presents a look at the concept


and how people at senior living communi- ties can get involved and put their knowl- edge and skills to work to help in disaster preparedness.


Q. Can you give a basic overview of disaster citizen science? A. Citizen scientists are people without formal training in science using scientific methods or processes to ask and answer of questions that they might have about the world. There’s the type of citizen science that is led and done entirely by community members, but there are also ways for people


to volunteer as data collectors or to analyze data for a research project that are run by academic or professional scientists. It’s a pretty old tradition. Back in the days


before science became heavily professional, there really weren’t very many formally trained scientists—these were just people who had curiosity, time, and resources. Astronomy and ecology and environmen-


tal sciences are where a lot of citizen science has been practiced in the recent past. There a strong tradition with birdwatching, for example—hobby birdwatchers collect ob- servations and report them, and research projects rely on those observations. Or if you like the star game, you can help


NASA by looking at telescope images to try to discover new planets or stars. With the rise of smart phones and other


technologies, it opens up new opportunities for people who are interested in citizen science and the range of projects that are out there. For disaster preparedness, for example,


citizen science can be used to perform what we might call asset or vulnerability mapping. People can survey where community assets are, such as healthcare facilities or social service organizations, or identify individuals who are willing to volunteer and help. They can also collect information on


buildings or places that are vulnerable to damage, or floods. They can find informa- tion about people who might be vulnerable to power outages, or where people live alone.


Thought Leader Profile


Ramya Chari, PhD, MPH Policy researcher RAND Corporation


This kind of information is really helpful during and after the disaster to help the community get the right help and recover faster.


Q. Are there specialized skills or knowledge needed, in general? A. Disaster citizen science involves under- standing the needs people have in order to recover. You can use methods like interviews or surveys—all accessible to non-profes- sional scientists, and valid ways to gather important information. A lot of people think science is very tech


heavy. But there are tried-and-true methods of just talking to people, doing qualitative re- search, and seeing what the patterns may be.


Q. What are the benefits of getting involved in disaster citizen science? A. There’s been a fair amount of research on that—a lot of potential benefits and some studied benefits as well. Potential benefits include a sense of purpose, social- ization, and community engagement. There has been demonstrated benefits in forming


For disaster preparedness, citizen science can be used to perform what we might call asset or vulnerability mapping…to help the community get the right help and recover faster.


34 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE MAY/JUNE 2022


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