Environmental Psychology Article Analysis

There are many articles to choose from and the one that this paper is on "The Lack of Disaster Preparedness by the Public and it's Affect on Communities" (Wilson, Temple, Milliron, etc., 2008). Analyzing any article can be a difficult task to do because the analyses need to be neutral in his or her writings. A description of this article is who should be blamed for a community not being prepared. Put the blame on whom the government, the local officials, or the whole community at fault for not being prepared. The community warned enough about a natural disaster. People can learn from this article on how to prepare for natural disasters. Environmental psychology can learn that people from all lifestyles whether rich or poor need to take heed of the warnings of natural disasters. Once the disaster hits that, everyone is affected no matter what the individual's lifestyle (Clayton, & Myers, 2009). Learning how to get the word out that the storm may cause causalities and teach individuals to prepare for a natural disaster. That is what environmental psychology can learn from this article.

Who is at fault?

Terri found in her reading that many individuals did not know whom they should listen to when it came to warnings about the hurricane or potential natural disaster. People received different information on whether to evacuate or not. People may perceive the information about getting prepared differently than the next person. They may have gone through a similar disaster and think that the local government is wrong about the upcoming disaster (Wilson, Temple, Milliron, Vazquez, etc. 2008).The people believe that the upcoming disaster is not as bad as the government is stating. Sometimes the local government states one thing and the state and federal government states something very different. When this occurs people are confused and do not know whom is reliable and whom to listen too. Environmental psychology can help in this area by making sure everyone is on the right page for the information. Making sure that all the government agencies goes by procedures when delegating the information to the public. The public needs to know how serious this natural disaster is coming towards them.

Getting Prepared

Who should prepare for a natural disaster? Any individual in the path of the disaster should prepare for the worst. People should already have in place a plan on what they as a family, and community will do in case of a natural disaster. Each community and family should readily have drills on what he or she is to do in case of a natural disaster. Most schools have drills to prepare the children and staff for a natural disaster but the rest of the community does not have drills in place because of cost (Wilson, Temple, Milliron, Vazquez, etc. 2008). What environmental psychology can learn and teach individuals preparing for a disaster is being prepared is the most important thing for them to do. Knowing what supplies to have on hand, where they should go in a disaster, and should they stay put in their own surroundings in a safe area this all forms of preparedness.

Time to Get Out

If an individual is properly, prepared evacuation should be an easy task. Unfortunately, many cannot heed the warnings of evacuation because of his or her income status. This can cause individuals to stay behind and risk his or her life because they do not have the funds to leave the area. This is a potential problem all over the world. That people do not have the money to evacuate (Wilson, Temple, Milliron, Vazquez, etc. 2008). Environmental psychology could study and do research on how society can rectify this issue. What could the community or government do to help individuals evacuate before the disaster?

The Disaster is over

Now is the time to get word out that this area needs help in cleaning up and finding survivors. At this, time it especially important for the media to get the word out about this area. Government agencies need to be in place to help the individuals that survived this natural disaster. Helping individuals that survived the disaster by helping them get the necessary papers in order for his or her insurance or FEMA. Normally at this time is when the government agencies realize that they could have done better on getting the word out about the upcoming disaster. When the disaster is over this