Dueling emergencies: Flood evacuation ridesharing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Volunteered sharing of resources is often observed in response to disaster events. During evacuations the sharing of resources and vehicles is a crucial mechanism for expanding critical capacity and enabling inclusive disaster response. This paper examines the complexity of rideshare decision-making in the wake of simultaneous emergencies. Specifically, the need for physical distancing measures during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic complicates face-to-face resource sharing between strangers. The ability of on-demand ridesharing to provide emergency transportation to individuals without access to alternatives calls for an understanding of how evacuees weigh risks of contagion against benefits of spontaneous resource sharing. In this research, we examine both sociodemographic and situational factors that contribute to a willingness to share flood evacuation rides with strangers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesize that the willingness to share is significantly correlated with traditional emergency resource sharing motivations and current COVID-19 risk factors. To test these hypotheses, we distributed an online survey during the pandemic surge in July 2020 to 600 individuals in three midwestern and three southern states in the United States with high risk of flooding. We estimate a random parameter multinomial logit model to determine the willingness to share a ride as a driver or passenger. Our findings show that willingness to share evacuation rides is associated with individual sociodemographics (such as being female, under 36 years old, Black, or republican-identifying) and the social environment (such as households with children, social network proximity, and neighborly sharing attitudes). Moreover, our findings suggest higher levels of income, COVID-19 threat perception, evacuation fear, and household preparedness all correspond with a lower willingness to share rides. We discuss the broader implications of emergency on-demand mobility during concurrent disasters to formulate strategies for transportation agencies and on-demand ridehailing providers.

A multi-country comparative analysis of the impact of COVID-19 and natural hazards in India, Japan, the Philippines, and USA

“…Lanchnace [ 49 ] emphasized that social distancing to limit COVID-19 spread and government legislation had a negative impact on traditional volunteerism. Physical distancing guidelines present challenges for volunteer response [ 50 ]. Therefore, affected individuals are unable to rely on volunteer support for response and recovery when social distancing is strongly advised.…”

Individual hurricane evacuation intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights for risk communication and emergency management policies

“…Our findings of the impacts of COVID-19 risk perceptions on evacuation intentions in Florida are in line with results by Collins et al ( 2021 ) that older people were more likely to believe that the threat of COVID-19 in shelters is more dangerous than the threat of a hurricane. Moreover, Borowski et al ( 2021 ) show that individuals in the US are less willing to share rides to evacuate during a flood emergency if they have high concerns about becoming infected by COVID-19. Alam and Chakraborty ( 2021 ) examine evacuation decisions of households outside the US, namely in Bangladesh during cyclone Amphan, and also observe that individuals with high perceptions of COVID-19 risks are less likely to evacuate.…”

Superposed Natural Hazards and Pandemics: Breaking Dams, Floods, and COVID-19

“…Maybe another important question is how to evacuate the high risk flood area, especially for the car-less population, elderly people, low income, of a racial minority, or with disabilities? Borowski et al [78] discussed a series of sociodemographic (e.g., being female, under 36 years old, Black, or republican-identifying) and situational (e.g., households with children, social network proximity, and neighborly sharing attitudes) factors that contribute to a willingness to share flood evacuation rides with strangers during the pandemic. Their findings suggest that there is a correlation between higher levels of income, COVID-19 threat perception, evacuation fear, and household preparedness with a lower willingness to share rides.…”