Kelly Mahoney WAS-IS – 8/14/08
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Transcript of Kelly Mahoney WAS-IS – 8/14/08
Vulnerability and resilience in two populations:
1. Human impact in Eastern NC following Hurricane Floyd2. The Homeless
Kelly Mahoney
WAS-IS – 8/14/08
Hurricane Floyd• Personal experience:
– September 1999– Storm itself relatively minor in Raleigh; during landfall, helped
take calls at emergency management’s makeshift headquarters downtown
– Following storm, helped coordinate student relief effort on campus; also worked with abandoned pets at NCSU vet school
– May 2000: week-long “Learning Laboratory” to observe storm’s effect on people, families, homes, universities, agriculture
Hurricane Floyd Quick details
– September 14 – 18, 1999– 57 deaths directly attributed to Floyd
• 48 in inland (freshwater) drowning• 55% of deaths vehicle-related; 80% male
– Damage estimates ~ $6 billion. – Specifically in North Carolina:
• 35 deaths• 7,000 homes destroyed; 17,000 homes
uninhabitable; 56,000 homes damaged• Most roads east of I-95 flooded; 1500+ people
rescued from flooded areas; 500,000+ without electricity; 10,000+ in temporary shelters;
• severe agricultural damage (hogs, crops); environmental hazards (hog waste, sewage).
– "Nothing since the Civil War has been as destructive to families here…The recovery process will be much longer than the water-going-down process." - H. David Bruton, Secretary of Health and Human Services
Hurricane Floyd• Extent of flooding:
“Normal” (pre-Floyd) Two weeks after Floyd
Hurricane Floyd: Vulnerability• Physical vulnerability due to location (flood plain), topography; social
vulnerability• Rural, low-income communities in low-lying, flood-plain areas hit hardest
– Less than 5% of homes damaged/destroyed had flood insurance• Eastern NC:
– Most politically-marginalized region in state (Leubke 1998; Edwards and Ladd 2001)
– Home to 30% of NC population but 42% of state’s poor; poverty rates exceed 20%
– Socioeconomic inequalities persist: • 53% of NC’s African Americans live in poverty here • Median household incomes among whites more than double that of black
households
Hurricane Floyd: Vulnerability• 10,000+ mobile- and low-income-household homes
abandoned and never repaired; 30% of people reported receiving “no assistance with necessary repairs” (Van Willigen et al. 2005)
• Differential impacts: – Higher-income households less severely affected, yet were provided
more financial assistance/aid recovery than lower-income households
– African American households typically two times more likely than whites to have evacuated, suffered damages to their homes, and experienced loss of personal property
Hurricane Floyd: Vulnerability and resilience• Additional impacts on specific populations/communities:
– Physically disabled additionally vulnerable (Van Willigen et al. 2002)• Households with disabled member more likely to have home damages • Damage costs a greater proportion of incomes of households with a disabled
member. • Households with physically disabled members less likely to evacuate:
– Directly attributable to a lack of (or perceived lack of) access to services, assistance. – Students (at East Carolina University) found to be more resilient; university found to
provide a “buffer” against storms lasting effects, economically and psychologically. • Floyd introduced many of the same social inequality/vulnerability issues that
would become obvious to rest of nation following Katrina in 2005• My personal lucky/privileged viewpoint: Response in Raleigh/surrounding
suburbs would have likely been far different…hog waste issues alone would be an “emergency”…
Vulnerability of another specialized population: The Homeless
Vulnerability of another specialized population: The Homeless
• Experience/viewpoint: Heavily involved in homelessness aid, organizing, and activism 1999 – 2003
• Obvious vulnerabilities of homeless population: – Temperature extremes: both
heat and cold a problem• Shelter• Appropriate clothing
– Severe weather• Forecasts/communication/
preparedness• Shelter
Vulnerability of a special population: The Homeless
• Specific concerns and vulnerabilities: – Shelter availability policies
• Temperature cut-offs vs. subjective measures of “cold”• Individual screening (for drugs, alcohol))
– Shelter shortages• Even with overflow shelters, often not enough• Adequate warning time necessary to mobilize/open/staff overflow
shelters– Information distribution
• How to best communicate risk and warnings, options for assistance?• Issues of trust of information/aid-providers
– Potential for individual’s refusal of shelter system• Shelters replete with problems• How then to avoid dangers (e.g., hypothermia, death)?• Drugs and alcohol: users not admitted to shelters; weather extremes
may increase alcohol-related risks– Mental illness: may be an obstacle to adequate
communication/individual action• Resiliency: Possibility that homeless may actually be more
resilient in certain types of natural disasters?
Vulnerability of a special population: The Homeless
• No easy answers! • The homeless are so marginalized that
the effects of weather and weather disasters on this population is not at all well understood
• Transience and trust can be problems in certain types social science studies requiring individual tracking and feedback
• Much room for future research!