Natural disasters

The trauma of natural disasters doesn’t end when the storm or wildfire is gone, or even when communities are being put back together and homes have been rebuilt. For many people, being displaced by a disaster has long-term consequences that often aren’t obvious or considered in disaster aid decisions. We study public policy and disaster response. To get a better understanding of the ongoing challenges disaster victims face – and how officials can respond more effectively – we analyzed U.S. Census Bureau surveys that ask people nationwide about their disaster displacement experiences, as well as their stress and anxiety. The results show how recovery from disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and flooding involves more than rebuilding, and how already vulnerable groups are at the greatest risk of harm. Millions are displaced every year The Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey has been continually collecting data on people’s so...

Long before colonialism brought slavery to the Caribbean, the native islanders saw hurricanes and storms as part of the normal cycle of life. The Taino of the Greater Antilles and the Kalinago, or Caribs, of the Lesser Antilles developed systems that enabled them to live with storms and limit their exposure to damage. On the larger islands, such as Jamaica and Cuba, the Taino practiced crop selection with storms in mind, preferring to plant root crops such as cassava or yucca with high resistance to damage from hurricane and storm winds, as Stuart Schwartz describes in his 2016 book “Sea of Storms.” The Kalinago avoided building their settlements along the coast to limit storm surges and wind damage. The Calusa of southwest Florida used trees as windbreaks against storm winds. In fact, it was the Kalinago and Taino who first taught the Europeans – primarily the British, Dutch, French and Spanish – about hurricanes and storms. Even the word ‘hurri...

In a pattern all too familiar to people affected by disasters, hurricanes Helene and Milton have disappeared from the headlines, just a few weeks after these disasters ravaged the Southeast. Although reporters have moved on, recovery is just beginning for people who were displaced. According to government and private analysts, damages may exceed US$50 billion apiece for these two storms. The Red Cross estimates that over 7,200 homes were destroyed or severely damaged and that more than 1,200 people were living in shelters across the affected states as of late October 2024. Staffers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been on the ground since before Helene and Milton hit, positioned to help as soon as the storms passed, along with state and local responders. But many people aren’t clear about how FEMA helps or what its responsibilities are. This may be one reason why the agency has had to dispel rumors about its response to Helene in North Carolina, such as...

As Florida and the Southeast begin recovering from 2024’s destructive hurricanes, many people are asking: How can we rebuild sustainably and in a way that avoids the same damage, costs and trauma in future storms? There are proven ways to strengthen homes that pay off in the long run, such as installing hurricane straps to tie down roofs in coastal areas. But while homeowners have a clear desire to build safer and more resilient homes, they often run into roadblocks. As a civil engineer and a regulatory expert, we have been working with communities as culturally and politically different as Hawaii, Colorado, Alaska and Puerto Rico as they recover from disasters to understand what stands in the way of a sustainable, resilient recovery. Up-front costs have played a big role in how these communities recover, but so have homeowners’ and builders’ perceptions – and misperceptions – about costs and regulations. Up-front rebuilding costs After a disaste...

The United States has almost 2 million people behind bars in prisons, jails and detention centers – the largest such population in any country. Although incarcerated people are locked away from the outside world, they are even more vulnerable to the impacts of disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires, than the rest of society. People who are incarcerated can’t take protective actions, such as evacuating or securing their belongings. They have no say in decisions that the system makes for them. Instead, they must depend on staff and administrators to protect their health and safety. In September 2024, for example, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida, triggering mandatory evacuations in 20 counties and emergency declarations in 61 counties along its path. Despite a mandatory evacuation in Wakulla County, the populations of two state prisons and a county jail were not evacuated. As Helene traveled northward, 2,000 incarcerated people were evacuated from pris...