Enrico L. (Henry) Quarantelli (November 10, 1924 – April 3, 2017) was an American sociologist, and proponent of the sociology of disaster.
From 1963 to 1984 he worked as professor of sociology at the Ohio State University, where he founded the Disaster Research Center (DRC).
Disasters differ from everyday emergencies in that they affect unfamiliar and more groups that lose part of their relative independence, whether autonomy or freedom of action.
Majority of the everyday community functions are interrupted due to extensive damage of the infrastructure and shortages of supplies.
Lastly, this article presents possible implications to better prepare and handle disasters and catastrophes now that there is a known distinction between the phenomena.
Published in 1993, these papers focus on answering the following question: for planning and managing purposes to what extent can destructive and damaging situations as are occasioned by natural disasters, civil strife and riots, technological disasters, and ecological problems be viewed as essentially similar phenomena?
The answer has been determined from results of the empirical research undertaken by social and behavioral scientists over a 40-year period.
Since there are no significant behavioral differences between natural and technological disaster, there will be no distinction in the discussion of preparedness for them.