Human Service Organizations in the Disaster Context / Kate van Heugten.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Van Heugten, Kate, 1959- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social service.

Human services.

Disasters--Social aspects.

Disasters.

Emergency management.

Physical Description:

209 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Summary:

Human Service Organizations in the Disaster Context explores the efforts of human service practitioners to support communities facing the impacts of large-scale hazardous events. Using the stories of frontline workers and managers who lived through the devastating earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2010 and 2011, and drawing on international research and sociological theory, van Heugten astutely analyzes the challenges and opportunities that arise. In the immediate aftermath of disasters, there is often a surge in altruism, giving rise to hope for improved social cohesion. This hope wanes when negative impacts fall unequally on people living in poverty and on vulnerable populations. Political, financial, and professional interest groups vie for power and local citizens' voices are frequently drowned out. Human service workers act as boundary spanners, networking between organizations to draw attention to the concerns of vulnerable people, and to advocate for human rights and social justice. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: human service organizations and disasters

Roles and activities of human services in the aftermath of disasters

Theories for praxis

The Canterbury earthquakes

The Canterbury earthquakes and the politics of disasters

Making sense of human services in the context of community disasters

Values, meaning making, and community building

Supporting the human services to strengthen communities.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781137389602

1137389605

OCLC:

881318290