Disasters, community vulnerability, and poverty: The intersection between economics and emergency management

Erik Wood, MS; Tim Frazier, PhD

doi:10.5055/jem.0563

Authors

Erik Wood, MS https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0531-6314
Tim Frazier, PhD https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1270-5078

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.0563

Keywords:

poverty, social justice, economic risk, whole community, vulnerability

Abstract

Climate change will create more intense and frequent disasters, resulting in the increased exposure of the most vulnerable populations. It is debatable whether the vulnerability research that follows major disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, has resulted in increased resiliency of those who were the most vulnerable during that disaster. It may even be plausible to suggest that research that exposes countless vulnerabilities within a population is guilty of helping none. Through support from a focused review of the related literature, research findings include the following: (1) post-disaster research analysis tends not to present an actionable hierarchy for public agencies and community organizations to prioritize efforts, (2) the most common thread that runs through societal vulnerability in daily life, and opposite the force multiplying effects of climate change, is poverty; and (3) climate change is likely to facilitate more post-disaster windows of opportunity characterized by increased public consonance that can galvanize transformative change at a local level.

Author Biographies

Erik Wood, MS

Adjunct Faculty, Research, GIS, Ethics, Emergency and Disaster Management Master’s Program in the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC

Tim Frazier, PhD

Professor, Faculty Director, Emergency and Disaster Management Master’s Program in the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC

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