Evacuating a First Nation Due to Wildfire Smoke:The Case of Dene Tha' First Nation

• 作者: Kyla D.Mottershead Tara K.McGee Amy Christianson
• 来源期刊: 国际灾害风险科学学报（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（3）
• 所属期刊栏目: ARTICLES
• 页码范围: 274-286
• 页数: 13页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Almost every year,First Nations are evacuated in Canada because of wildfire proximity and smoke.Dynamics of wildfires,and remote locations,unique sociocultural characteristics,and limited emergency man-agement resources present challenges for evacuation organizers and residents.This study explores how Dene Tha'First Nation evacuated their Taché community in July 2012 due to wildfire smoke and how the evacuation process affected evacuees.Interviews were completed with 31 evacuation organizers and residents to examine the factors that helped and hindered the evacuation process.Lack of information about the nearby wildfire,smoke,and evacu-ation of the nearby small community of Zama City,com-bined with a generic evacuation plan,delayed and posed challenges during the evacuation of this Dene Tha'com-munity.Strong leadership and its role in community organizing,keeping families together,providing the social support they needed,and using familiar host communities,demonstrated and contributed to the community's resi-lience during the evacuation.Measures to improve evacu-ations and emergency management in the community and other First Nations in Canada are identified and discussed.