Dr. Ann-Margaret Esnard, a professor and director of the Visual Planning Technology Lab in Florida Atlantic University’s School of Urban & Regional Planning, and Dr. Alka Sapat, an associate professor in FAU’s School of Public Administration, both within the College of Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs, have received a $40,000 RAPID research grant from the National Science Foundation for their study titled, “Haitian-Americans as Critical ‘Bridges’ and ‘Lifelines’ for Recovery and Rebuilding in Haiti.”
The research focuses on understanding the role of the Haitian-American community in relief, recovery and rebuilding efforts because of the Haiti earthquake; documenting the trends and profiles of displacee influx to South Florida; and collecting and analyzing policies and plans that have been created in the U.S. at the federal, state and local level in response to this potential (or perceived) displacee influx.
“We initially began focusing on the place of impact, but realized that researchers need to simultaneously track the various roles played by formal governance and informal social networks in South Florida and in the U.S.,” said Esnard. “The interplay between long-term recovery efforts at individual, organization, community, regional, national and international levels is clearly just as important in this particular case.”
This is the second NSF grant that Esnard and Sapat have received since 2007 to study catastrophic disasters and displacement dilemmas. The first is an ongoing three-year, $300,000 grant, which focuses on displacement in the U.S. due to catastrophic hurricanes.
Both research projects have applicability to multiple disciplines involved with school planning, emergency management, social networks, homeland security, disaster planning, evacuation, sheltering, healthcare, infrastructure planning and housing reconstruction. The newly-funded project also can inform collaborative management and policy in receiving areas where governmental institutions will need to evolve to meet the needs of displacees, including international disaster migrants.
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