Poverty and Disasters in the United States: A Review of Recent Sociological Findings

Fothergill, Alice; Peek, Lori

doi:10.1023/b:nhaz.0000026792.76181.d9

Cited by 895 publications

(594 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Globally, social structure – race, ethnicity, caste and class – has been found to play a role in the ability to cope with and recover from disasters (Bolin, 2007), including receiving aid. For example, race was critical in the distribution of aid after Hurricane Katrina (Finch, Emrich, & Cutter, 2010; Fothergill, Maestas, & Darlington, 1999; Fothergill & Peek, 2004). We found that many families belonging to a lower caste and class could not move to a safer place because of the unwillingness of the higher caste people to share the shelter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children in the 2015 South Indian floods: community members’ views

Krishna

Ronan

Alisic

2018

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Little is known about children’s experiences and involvement in disaster preparation and recovery, in particular in low- and middle-income countries. Eliciting community members’ perspectives on the 2015 floods in Tamil Nadu, India, may generate useful insights for improving services in low-resource settings. This qualitative study aimed to understand how children in Chennai experienced the floods, as reported by the adults in their community, and to explore children’s involvement in disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts as reported from the adults’ perspective. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews (N = 48) with family members (n = 36), and with staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) (n = 12) who actively participated in relief and recovery efforts. We also conducted two focus group discussions (n = 14) with NGO staff about a year after the 2015 South Indian floods in Chennai, India. Six broad themes regarding children’s experiences and behaviours during and after the floods emerged: (1) unexpectedness of the floods; (2) children’s safety – barriers and facilitators; (3) parents’ reactions – helplessness, fear and pride; (4) children’s reactions – helping hands, fun and fear; (5) barriers to a return to ‘normal’; and (6) a determination to be prepared for next time. Children and families were deeply impacted by the floods, in part owing to a lack of preparation, as perceived by the study participants. It was also clear from the data analysis that caste and socioeconomic status played an important role in the families’ ability to evacuate safely. Helplessness on the part of the parents was apparent, as was children’s concern over recurrence of the flood. Similarly, gender appeared to affect child safety, recovery and other outcomes such as continued education. Priorities for future efforts involve the development and evaluation of child-centred education about flood awareness, child participation and safety.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children in the 2015 South Indian floods: community members’ views

Krishna

Ronan

Alisic

2018

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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“…Research by Rossi et al (1983) on loss from natural hazards in the US between 1970 and 1980 showed that lower income households experience higher rates of injuries during natural hazards than more affluent households. According to the study of Fothergill and Peek (2004), the poor are more likely to die, suffer from injuries, and have proportionately higher material losses. Similar results were found in Ethiopia and Honduras, where the poorest households struggle most with hazardous shocks as preparedness measures are costly to adopt (Carter et al 2007).…”

Section: Discussion and Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the US, economically poor people have been found to be more vulnerable to natural hazard events due to less preparedness and lower ability to recover from livelihood losses (Fothergill and Peek 2004). Poor households often have limited access to income, water, and sanitation.…”

Section: Sustainable Deltas: Livelihoods Ecosystem Services and Polmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous research suggests that riverbank erosion associated with sea-level rise poses a serious threat to the existence of the islands of the ISD (Raha et al 2012;. Although earlier studies investigated the impacts of natural hazards on livelihoods in nearby coastal islands of Bangladesh Sundarban Delta and low-elevation deltas in other geographical setup (Hossain et al 2012;Shamsuddoha and Chowdhury 2007;Fothergill and Peek 2004;Lal et al 2009), there is limited research examining the connections between vulnerability to natural hazards and poverty in the ISD. Our study aims to fill this gap by examining on how economic poverty affects losses from natural hazards at a household level in the ISD and offer a number of concrete policy recommendations to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards.…”

Section: Sustainable Deltas: Livelihoods Ecosystem Services and Polmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unravelling the association between the impact of natural hazards and household poverty: evidence from the Indian Sundarban delta

et al. 2017

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more vulnerable to future risk. The results further suggest that salinization, tidal surge, erosion, and household location are also significant predictors of economic and human losses. Given the current and projected impact of climate change and importance of delta regions as the world's food baskets, poverty reduction and increase societal resilience should be a primary pathway to strengthen the resilience of the poorest populations inhabiting deltas.

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“…They note that, because members of ethnic minorities, particularly Hispanics and blacks, are more likely to belong to such families, these ethnic groups are more vulnerable to natural disasters. This conclusion is echoed in the sociological review conducted by Fothergill and Peek (2004) who found that, within the United States, the poor are more vulnerable to losses from natural catastrophes because of their location decisions, poorer quality housing, less frequent purchase of insurance, and lesser ability to travel the bureaucratic pathways necessary to claim disaster assistance.…”

Section: Distributional Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%