Defining Social Vulnerability. Rebecca Johns, Ph.D. icar 2017

Transcription

1 Defining Social Vulnerability Rebecca Johns, Ph.D. icar 2017

2 Biophysical Vulnerability to Climate Change and Hazards Vulnerability assessments which are measured in terms of physical location and proximity to the threat are known as biophysical vulnerability (Linnekamp 2011).

3 Socio-economic Vulnerability Socioeconomic vulnerability is defined as a social group s susceptibility to the consequences of hazards and their ability to recover from them (Cutter and Emrich 2006)

4 Poverty/income/lack of access to financial resources; type of employment Household characteristics (i.e. age, race, gender, and mobility, disability), Building quality, and biophysical risks within a specific geographic location (Bolter 2013). Type of housing, i.e., ownership or renting (Cutter, Boruff, and Shirley 2003)

5 Access to insurance; ability to pay deductibles Social marginalization lack of access to resources, information and knowledge; the digital divide; limited access to political power and representation; weak social networks; weak infrastructure. (Cutter et al. 2000) (Blaikie et al. 1994; Adger and Kelly 1999; Cross 2001; Brooks 2003).

6 Studies have suggested that there needs to be better emergency communication and evacuation plans, particularly for low-income areas and elderly or disabled residents (Brodie et al. 2005; Burby 2006). Observing, communicating with, listening to, and analyzing vulnerable neighborhoods is a critical element in improved planning for resiliency.

7 Four main sources of vulnerability: access to information, ability to prepare, ability to respond, and ability to recover. Resilience is defined by Timmerman (1981) as the capacity of a system to absorb or recover from hazardous events. (Kaźmierczak and Cavan, 2011)

8 How prepared and resilient are all of our neighborhoods, to respond to and recover from Sea level rise Large storm events Flooding, including inland flooding as well as storm surge Rising heat Contaminated water or vector borne disease

9 Vulnerability in Pinellas County 32% of the county s population is in a dependent category: 24% over the age of 65 17% youth and children 35% living in rental housing 10% with a disability 14% without health insurance 14% living in poverty 11% unemployed (U.S. Census; Pinellas County)

10 Johns, Dixon and McHan, 2015

11 Map by Jacob Hunt

12 Johns, Dixon and McHan, 2015

13 Map by Jacob Hunt

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15 Health as an aspect of social and physical vulnerability Flooding may lead to water borne disease Some populations will be more vulnerable than others to these diseases, with fewer resources and access to healthcare to cope with health-related challenges. West Central Tribune; Dallas Tribune

16 St. Petersburg spilled 430,000 gallons of partially-treated sewage on Monday afternoon after Hurricane Irma moved north. Tampa Bay Times, September 23, 2017 Mosquito, Wikipedia Flooded streets in South St. Pete, Tampa Bay Times Sewage mess, Tampa Bay Times

17 Hurricane Floyd resulted in surface waters and large areas of land becoming contaminated with fecal and chemical wastes from compromised septic systems, and municipal sewage systems (Casteel et al. 2007). Impacts on the water and sanitation systems following Hurricane Hermine resulted in 153 million gallons of sewage dump in the Tampa Bay estuary. Becomes a social vulnerability issue when we realize that some people fish for food.

18 Map used with permission of Bruce Mitchell

19 Hurricane Irma illuminated some issues related to social vulnerability in our area: "It's a mess, a real mess. The biggest issue is power," said Bill Barnett, mayor of Naples, on Florida's Gulf Coast. "We just need power. It's 92 degrees and the sun is out and it's smoking out there.

20 At Florida Nursing Home, Many Calls for Help, but None That Made a Difference New York Times, Sept. 23, 2017 Death toll reaches 12 from Florida nursing home That same day, about 160 other nursing homes across Florida had no electricity, and most of those had no generator capable of powering air-conditioning The risk to older and debilitated adults in the aftermath of hurricanes, especially in summer weather, should have been obvious.

21 On September 13 th. About 43% of gas stations in Florida are dry. In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region, for example, about 60% of stations don't have fuel. Same for Gainesville. About half of the gas stations in Tampa, Orlando, Tallahassee and Fort Meyers were also without fuel.

22 No gas, no food

23 Learning from neighborhoods and responding to specific needs of diverse populations must be our goal Information access Financial resources infrastructure

24 REFERENCES Adger, W. Neil, and P. Mick Kelly. (1999). Social vulnerability to climate change and the architecture of entitlements. Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change (1999): Balbus, John M., and Catherine Malina. (1994). Identifying vulnerable subpopulations for climate change health effects in the United States. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 51, no. 1 (2009): Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davis, I., Wisner, B., At Risk: Natural Hazards, People s Vulnerability and Disasters. Routledge, London, UK. Bolter, K.P. (2013). Communicating Sea Level Rise Risk with a Coastal Vulnerability Index. SubTropical Cities: Design Interventions for Changing Climates. Florida Atlantic University Casteel, M. J. M. D. SOBSEY & J. P. MUELLER (2006) Fecal Contamination of Agricultural Soils Before and After Hurricane-Associated Flooding in North Carolina, Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, 41:2, , DOI: /

25 Cross, J. A. (2001) Megacities and small towns: different perspectives on hazard Vulnerability, Environmental Hazards, 3, Cutter, S.L. (1996). Vulnerability to environmental hazards. Progress in Human Geography, 20(4), Cutter, Susan L., and Christopher T. Emrich Moral hazard, social catastrophe: The changing face of vulnerability along the hurricane coasts." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science : Cutter, S. L., Boruff, B. J. and Shirley, W. L. (2003), Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards*. Social Science Quarterly, 84: doi: / Cutter, Susan L., Jerry T. Mitchell, and Michael S. Scott. "Revealing the vulnerability of people and places: a case study of Georgetown County, South Carolina." Annals of the association of American Geographers 90.4 (2000):

26 Linnekamp, F., Koedam, A. and Baud, I.S.A. (2011). Household vulnerability to climate change: Examining perceptions of households of flood risks in Georgetown and Paramaribo. Habitat International, 35, Louise C I; Ryan, Edward T. (2006). Infectious diseases of severe weather-related and flood-related natural disasters. Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases. Volume 19 - Issue 5

27 References Evaluating Food Deserts in St. Petersburg, Florida R Johns, B Dixon, C McHan - The Florida Geographer