1. Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli
“Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli ( ) – A Dedication to a Giant in the Sociology of Disasters”
Presented by Nicholas P. Petropoulos at a session of the “Disaster, Conflict and Social Crisis Research Network” during the 13th European Sociological Association Conference (August 29-September 1, 2017, Athens, Greece)
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

2. Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli
Enrico L. Quarantelli, 1998
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

3. Background – Highlights I
Prof. Quarantelli was born on November 10, 1924, in New York City.
His father was born in Reggio, Calabria, on the “toe” of the Italian peninsula and across from the city of Messina (Sicily) (See notes fοr the ancient roots Reggio).
His mother was born in Mazzo, Lombardia―a village in northern Italy.
His father immigrated to the states in early 1900s and his business was imports-exports.
Reggio (Ρήγιον in ancient Greek) was a thriving ancient Greek colony, part of Magna Graecia. Also mentioned by Herodotos, ancient Greek historian, often considered the father of the history discipline. Ancient tradition has it that Reggio owes its name to the fault (regma) created by an earthquake that separated Sicily from Italy via the Straits of Messina (See G. Babiniotis Neo-Hellenic Language Dictionary, 3rd Edition, p ). The area is earthquake prone. In 1908 (two years after the great San Francisco EQ,) an EQ , followed by a 10-metre tsounami, struck the area of Reggio. During WWII (1943) the city suffered a devastating air raid (by the British?). Finally, the city has a history of organized crime ( ).
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

4. Background – Highlights II
E.L.Q. grew up in “Hell’s Kitchen” (Clinton) neighborhood of Manhattan. “Hell’s Kitchen” was “once a bastion of poor and working class Irish Americans”. The neighborhood’s “gritty reputation” kept property values down, until the 1970s when the area underwent a process of “gentrification”. (
He finished his primary and secondary education in parochial (Catholic) schools of N.Y. and was also enrolled for a year (1942) in Fordham college, before his service in the U.S. Army.
Following a three-year service in the U.S. Army ( ), young Quarantelli enrolled at the University of Chicago. There, he obtained his B. A. (1948), his M.A. (1953) and his Ph.D. (1959), all three with Honors.
The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of the special in-memoriam page created in honor of Prof. Quarantelli by his colleagues at DRC. to the documentation of my presentation. For more information and more in-memoriam dedications by colleagues from all over the world, the reader can access the special web page:
A special thanks to Patricia Young also from DRC who provided me with supplemental information on Prof; Quarantelli’s ethnic and social background. For more information cornering “Hell’s Kitchen” neighborhood and speculations about the origin of the name, the reader may consult the following website: .
Prof. Quarantelli was interested in the sociology of knowledge. Though he was a symbolic interactionist, one wonders what, if any, is the relative contribution of his social background and his training at the University of Chicago, to Prof. Quarantelli’s thought. Perhaps a more definite answer to this sociology of knowledge question can be given after the publication of his personal documents left to DRC. For one thing, it might in part account for his love of the Greek islands. It certainly makes me want to visit the “National Archaeological Museum of Magna Graecia” located in Reggio and dedicated to Ancient Greece.
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

5. First Exposure to Disaster Research, Theory and Method
Prof. Quarantelli was mainly influenced by the “second Chicago school” (post-WW II), using the “symbolic interaction” perspective combined with field work and participant observation (The first school was the Ecological-Urban Sociology School).
The topic of his M.A. was on the “nature of panic”– observed in collective behavior and disaster situations. However, his Ph.D. was on the "professionalization” of dental students.
Between 1949 and 1953, he was a Research Assistant, at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), then at the Univ. of Chicago.
NORC conducted the first systematic large scale field study of disasters . On its record are also population reactions to massive air raid bombings (Japan and Berlin) during WW II .
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

6. Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli
“Disaster Research Center” at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
ELQ was appointed as Asst. Professor in the Sociology Dept. of OSU, in 1959, to teach social psychology and collective behavior ―The undersigned took both courses during the early 1960s.
He was co-founder along with Russell Dynes and Eugene Haas, in 1963, of DRC – the first of its kind in the world. Many of their students founded “DRCs” in the U. S. and around the world later on.
He was awarded a five-year research project by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), on “organization stress” and reactions of populations at home and abroad to disasters.
ELQ tied government interest to the ongoing “Cold War”, ushering in the “Sociology of Knowledge” perspective in disaster social research.
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

7. Evolution of the “Disaster Research Center”
DRC operated as an “informal organization”, under the aegis of the OSU Sociology Dept. It was located under the football stadium, from 1963 to 1984 and was funded exclusively by grant research.
During its 20‒year presence at OSU, it conducted large‒scale population surveys that included dispatching of trained teams, quick-response methods, and participant observation (NORC model of research).
Though organizations [under stress] were initially its principal unit of analysis, the focus was later expanded to include the study of communities during disasters.
In 1984, DRC moved to the Univ. of Delaware, Dept. of Sociology and Criminal Justice. There, DRC continued its research on organizations and communities affected by disasters, both at home and abroad.
In addition, it expanded its undergraduate and graduate programs in the area of disasters and emergency management and became a vital resource center for researchers and practitioners all over the world.
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

8. ELQ at the University of Delaware
At U of D, ELQ taught in the department as a Research Professor until 1998, when he became an active Professor Emeritus until the time of his death (April 2, 2017).
He established three funds, to support disaster research, education and scholarship:
the ELQ Resource Collection (> publications)
the ELQ Scholars in Disaster Social Science Research Endowment Fund and
the ELQ Field Research Endowment Fund
The ELQ resource collection attracts scholars from all over the world.
In 1996, Prof. Quarantelli was awarded the “Charles E. Fritz Award…” for his contributions to Disaster Research.
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

9. ELQ and Publications – Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions
Prof. Quarantelli is credited with over 400 authored, co-authored, edited or co-edited publications, among which are over 200 articles, 19 books and monographs and over 150 peer-reviewed DRC preliminary papers.
His publications cover almost all “disaster agents”(e.g. EQs, hurricanes, tornadoes, chemical accidents, terrorism etc.)., which also constitute objects of study for our Research Network.
He also had several collaborative publications with disaster social researchers from all over the world (e.g. Mexico, Japan, China, Italy etc.)
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

10. Focus of his social research : A Selection
Misconceptions about disasters and disaster behavior
Disasters and mental health and growth aspects of disasters
Conceptualizations of disasters, typology of organizational responses in disasters situations
Disaster warning, risk communication and the role of mass media in disasters
Delivery of emergency medical services (EMS), local EOCs.
Principles of effective disaster planning, disaster planning and disaster management, integrated disaster management.
Dynamics and the non-linear nature of disaster phases, prevention considerations during all phases
Social research findings and application to disaster management
Disaster planning and response in developing countries
Management of mass casualties in disasters (from “body to person”)
Specification of criteria for the assessment of disaster planning
The sociology of knowledge of disaster research
Disasters and popular culture (e.g. disasters in movies)
Disasters and disaster management in the 21 century (the role demographics, the environment and new technologies etc.)
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

11. Other Professional Activities
With other colleagues, he played a major role in the establishment of the International Research Committee on Disasters of the International Sociological Association. Our RN was founded in the context of this Committee.
ELQ also contributed to the founding of the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, now available online.
Hw was a strong believer in the application of disaster social research findings and he served as a consultant to organizations, communities, international organizations and governments with a view to minimizing the impact of disasters.
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

12. Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli
Top: The undersigned consults Prof. Quarantelli on draft legislation for the establishment of the Greek Civil Protection Agency in accordance with “integrated management” model (at the VIP room, after ELQ’s R& R tour of the Aegean Islands , 28 /10/1994). Bottom. An evening with Prof. Quarantelli, at a local tavern in Athens, following a hard-day’s work: press-interview under the aegis of the Minister of the Interior and a lecture on “Cities and Disasters” at the “Agency for Rehabilitation of EQ Victims”, organized by the Emergencies Research Center of Athens (21/10/1994).
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Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli

13. The legacy of Enrico L. Quarantelli
ELQ devoted all his adult life to the social science of disasters and has left no biological descendants. Nonetheless, he left us a legacy as a:
great scholar, a systematic and reflexive social researcher and an innovator in the methodological approach to disasters,
charismatic, exhaustive teacher and wise counselor to his students
strong advocate of wedding theory, research and practice, and
a source of vital insights for practitioners in disaster management on all levels (organizations, communities and nations).
The many disaster research centers that cropped up in the states and around the world and founded by his former students are a testament to his legacy.
Last but not least, Prof. Quarantelli was a man with a great sense of humor, modesty and humility, the latter also being traits of a true scientist. In a brief history of DRC, he often uses “We” and rarely uses “I”.
Though he himself would deny it, I would venture to say that his passing through the field of sociology has created more than a dent; it created a new paradigm (in the Kuhnian sense) in the social study of disasters.
Prof. Quarantelli, your legacy will be alive in us and all the generations of disaster social researchers to come. Your presence in the social sciences was one of the positive, emergent outcomes of disasters.
31/08/2017
Enrico (Henry) L. Quarantelli