Researcher(s):
N/A
ENVS course(s): 499 Initiated: October 2015 Completed: December 2016 Go to project site
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In the wake of potentially catastrophic acute environmental hazards, it is important for citizens of the affected area to be well-informed and prepared for disaster to strike so as to maintain the general overall health of their bodies and communities. At Mt. Tungurahua, an active volcano in the Ecuadorian Andes, hazards ranging from ash to lahars threaten the surrounding sparsely populated villages as well a leading tourist destination, Baños. These areas are often required to evacuate due to the dangers that Tungurahua may produce, but these hazards are never a guarantee. Residents must then leave their source of economic viability, for example agriculture or tourist attractions, to protect themselves on an indefinite prediction. When these predictions of disaster are anticlimactic, citizens start to lose trust in scientists and are willing to stop following suggestions from this sector of disaster management.
I am interested in what happens when people stop trusting scientists and what their solutions are in this regard. I hope to answer these broad questions: how do the methods by which acute environmental hazards are communicated to the local population affect risk perception and ultimately the community response to these hazards? In what ways does the divide between the scientific and local communities contribute to the overall health (or un-health) of a community? While more specifically addressing: to what extent do the communication and outreach initiatives in the communities surrounding Mt. Tunguraha alert and advise residents of the area’s risks? How have citizen-science programs helped to reduce the lack of trust toward the scientific community?
I plan to conduct interviews with members of the Vigías (a citizen-science organization at Tungurahua), the Observatorio del Volcán Tungurahua, and members of the tourism industry to gain a more comprehensive idea of the relationship between Mt. Tungurahua and its surrounding communities.