Safety During a Disaster: A Comparison of Disaster Events

Disasters such as hurricanes disrupt the lives of everyone in their path. The preparation for and response during and after such an event can make all the difference for those involved. Past hurricanes need to be learned from, hurricanes such as Katrina and Hugo; lessons learned from events like these can be applied in future ones such as they were in Sandy and Gustav. This thesis reviews past research done concerning problems and themes of unsafe situations during hurricanes in urban centers, finding these themes and making suggestions to be used in the future to attempt to prevent future re-occurrences. By reviewing historical hurricanes in urban centers, responses to these events that have been seen as unsuccessful or misguided can be studied for lessons to learn can further be utilized.