Liesel Ritchie
Liesel A. Ritchie is assistant director for research at the Natural Hazards Center. Ritchie has served as either principal investigator or senior researcher on more than 50 projects since 1996. Since 2001, her focus has been on the social impacts of disasters. Ritchie’s dissertation on the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill was the first study to examine the relationship between technological disasters and social capital. Her current research involves the role of community capitals in disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
Ritchie currently directs three National Science Foundation projects—one on the social impacts of the high stakes litigation resolution associated with the Exxon Valdez oil spill (ARC 0909497), a second on the 2008 TVA Kingston Fossil Plant ash release (CMMI 1000612), and another on enhancing targeted research in the Advanced Technological Education Program (DUE 0832874). She is also involved with two NSF-funded RAPID grants. The first study examines post-disaster housing and recovery in Haiti following the January 12, 2010 earthquake. The second study will explore community impacts of the 2010 BP Oil Spill, focusing on the renewable resource community of Bayou La Batre, Alabama.
Ritchie has also been recently involved in a number of other projects, including the Bay Area Disaster Preparedness Initiative-funded study to examine disaster preparedness among community-based organizations in San Francisco and an NSF study of tsunami awareness and preparedness in coastal states. She was part of a research team examining social impacts of Hurricane Katrina and, in 2005, spearheaded efforts to establish an American Evaluation Association topical interest group on disaster and emergency management evaluation. She is now program co-chair of that group. Ritchie is the co-editor of a forthcoming issue of New Directions for Evaluation entitled “Enhancing Disaster and Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Through Evaluation.”
Related Resources from Liesel Ritchie
Learning from Haiti: Rapid Response Research
National Science Foundation Special Report, 2010
The Long, Long Road from Exxon Valdez to Deep Water Horizon
With Duane Gill, Natural Hazards Observer, July 2010
Pulverized Buildings, Makeshift Tents, Long-term Commitments
Natural Hazards Center, March 2010
Related Resources by Liesel Ritchie from the Natural Hazards Library
Enough is Enough: Social Capital in Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Study of Neighborhoods Affected by the 2007 Tornadoes
With Duane A. Gill, Quick Response Report 195, Natural Hazards Center, 2007
Evaluation of Disaster and Emergency Management: Do No Harm, But do Better
With Wayne MacDonald, Enhancing Disaster and Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Through Evaluation, Volume 126, 2010
PowerPoint Presentations from the 2010 Natural Hazards Workshop
Rapid Response Research in Haiti: An Investigation of Post-Earthquake Housing Issues
Liesel Ritchie (Large file, available on request)