After the disaster; re-creating community and well-being at Buffalo Creek since the notorious coal-mining disaster in 1972.

9781604975505

After the disaster; re-creating community and well-being at Buffalo Creek since the notorious coal-mining disaster in 1972.

Schwartz-Barcott, T. P.

Cambria Press

2008

517 pages

$134.95

Hardcover

HN79

In 1972, a burst dam devastated the coal mining town of Buffalo Creek, West Virginia; the flood claimed at least 125 people and left many more injured and homeless. Based on interviews with survivors and people in adjoining communities, and archival material, sociologist Schwartz-Barcott (U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) presents a study of the resilient community before, during, and since the flood that has become a classic in disaster research and a rallying point for stricter environmental laws. The book includes a map, poem by a survivor, demographic statistics, methodological notes, and a glossary of terms, e.g., communality, as defined by several sources and the author.

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