During a natural disaster, not everyone can evacuate. A CU researcher wants to understand why

In The NoCo

During a natural disaster, not everyone can evacuate. A CU researcher wants to understand why

By In The NoCo,

Published October 31, 2024 at 3:35 AM MDT

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Carson MacPherson-Krutsky, a woman wearing a multicolored striped turtleneck shirt and glasses, smiles for a photo. She is a researcher with the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. — "I think people always resonate with information when they can put it in perspective of their own values, their own situations," says CU Boulder researcher Carson MacPherson-Krutsky. She studies how communication during natural disasters helps save lives 鈥� or, in some cases, fails to help. "I think if we're able to personalize the information more, that can be really helpful."

Evacuating thousands of people during a natural disaster is a lot more complicated than simply telling everyone to move to safety.

A wildfire or tornado in Colorado, or the hurricanes that recently struck the southeast U.S., often hit vulnerable populations especially hard. Elderly folks, people with disabilities, or people who can鈥檛 afford to quickly pick up and leave have a more difficult time getting out of harm鈥檚 way.

Carson MacPherson-Krutsky is a researcher with the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. In a new study, about how communication during natural disasters helps save lives 鈥� or, in some cases, fails to help. She conducted the study in part because officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wondered why more people didn鈥檛 take advantage of shelters it set up during hurricanes.

Carson spoke with ITN鈥檚 Erin O鈥橳oole about how she thinks emergency managers should rethink how they warn the public about natural disasters.

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In The NoCo University of Colorado (CU)Natural Disasters Wildfires Safety Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

In The NoCo

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.

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Brad Turner

Brad Turner is an executive producer in KUNC's newsroom. He manages the podcast team that makes In The NoCo, which also airs weekdays in Morning Edition and All Things Considered. His work as a podcaster and journalist has appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition, NPR Music, the PBS 暗黑爆料hour, Colorado Public Radio, MTV Online, the Denver Post, Boulder's Daily Camera, and the Longmont Times-Call.

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Erin O'Toole

As the host of KUNC鈥檚 new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.

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Ariel Lavery

Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University鈥檚 NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family鈥檚 financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.

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