Decision-Making In Times Of Disaster
The Acceptance Of Wet-Rice Cultivation Among The Aeta Of Zambales, Philippines

The gradual transformation of the environment through human activities generally enables the populations affected by it to adapt to their changing surroundings step-by-step, mainly through a selective modification of common techniques of resource utilisation. Sudden environmental changes resulting from natural disasters, on the other hand, invariably necessitate a rapid adaptation to the new conditions. Short-term decision-making processes during stress situations like these caused by natural disasters are largely determined by the reaction of the whole group. This is so despite the urgency of quick reaction, which must be taken by some group members who, mostly keeping socioeconomic traditions, by the action of some of the group, however, developing individual initiatives and, especially in the case of minorities, by the response of dominant population groups showing willingness to help the affected group is a key factor.