EVALUATING CLIMATE DISASTER RESILIENCE An introduction to key equity challenges facing marginalized communities amid an intensifying landscape of climate hazards.
Key Challenges & Objectives
THE STATE OF CLIMATE RISK
THE STATE OF RESILIENCE
A NETWORK OF CHALLENGES
Low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities face high climate risk due to systemic housing & mobility inequalities, geographical susceptibility, and underprepared infrastructure.
Historical oppression and disenfranchisement have left many LMI communities facing more obstacles to fully recover from a climate event.
Building resilience amid compounding socioeconomic, infrastructural, and political challenges requires a comprehensive, systems-based approach.
TARGET AUDIENCE Emergency Managers
Urban Planners
Decision-Makers
Emergency managers foster disaster resilience by assessing risk, connecting with communities, enhancing inclusivity, promoting preparedness education, and collaborating with local agencies.
Urban planners implement and manage land use policies that reduce vulnerability, design resilient infrastructure, and coordinate the development of sustainable and resilient communities.
Decision-makers are responsible for assessing disaster needs, allocating resources, raising awarness for preparedness, and codifying equitable processes into policy and rulemaking.
RISK Catastrophic climate events in the U.S. have cost over $2 trillion since 2000 and they are intensifying. In 2021, one in 10 homes were impacted by a natural disaster. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (2020) U.S. Billion-dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, 1980 - present.
of U.S. adults say the area where they live has had an extreme weather event in the past year.
CoreLogic Hazard HQ Team (2022) 2021 Climate Change Catastrophe Report. Funk C and Tyson A (2021) 67% of Americans perceive a rise in extreme weather, but partisans differ over government efforts to address it. Pew Research Center.
EQUITY CHALLENGES Severe weather and climate disasters disproportionately impact LMI households and communities of color.
1. Shivaram D (2021) Extreme Heat Is Worse For Low-Income, Nonwhite Americans, A New Study Shows. NPR, 14 July. 2. Kinzer KL, Halls JN and Weinkle J (2021) High on the Hill and Down by the River: The Relationship between Wealth and Flood Risk in the United States, Past and Present. Natural Hazards Review 22(3). American Society of Civil Engineers: 04021010.
3. U.S. Energy Information Administration. RECS: One in three U.S. households faced challenges in paying energy bills in 2015. 4. Fothergill A (2004) Poverty and Disasters in the United States: A Review of Recent Sociological Findings. Natural Hazards 32: 89–110.
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Neighborhoods with more LMI households experience significantly more surface urban heat than their wealthier neighbors. The difference can be as great as 7°F.
51% of U.S. households with substantially above average flood risk also have substantially below average wealth.
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02 25 million U.S. households forego food or medicine needs to pay winter energy bills. Federal assistance programs are only funded to help around 20% of those who qualify for low-income energy assistance.
LMI households are less likely to be able to evacuate or access safer accommodations during a severe weather event.
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RESILIENCE LMI communities and communities of color often lack the same level of access to support programs after severe weather. Severe climate events increase rates of out-migration, but LMI residents more often lack the means to leave.
Black Americans are
Flavelle C (2021) Why Does Disaster Aid Often Favor White People? The New York Times, 7 June. Benincasa R (2019) Search The Thousands Of Disaster Buyouts FEMA Didn’t Want You To See. NPR, 5 March.
more likely than other groups to currently live in places where extreme temperatures driven by climate change will result in higher mortality rates.
Boustan LP, Kahn ME, Rhode PW, et al. (2017) The Effect of Natural Disasters on Economic Activity in US Counties: A Century of Data. Working Paper Series 23410. NBER Fears D and Grandoni D (2021) EPA just detailed all the ways climate change will hit U.S. racial minorities the hardest. It’s a long list. Washington Post, 3 September.
EQUITY CHALLENGES Climate disasters disproportionately impact LMI households and communities of color, making it more difficult for them to access resources and recover.
1. Peacock WG, Van Zandt S, Zhang Y, et al. (2014) Inequities in Long-Term Housing Recovery After Disasters. Journal of the American Planning Association 80(4). Routledge: 356–371. 2. Howell J and Elliott JR (2019) Damages Done: The Longitudinal Impacts of Natural Hazards on Wealth Inequality in the United States. Social Problems 66(3): 448–467.
3. Parks RM, Benavides J, Anderson GB, et al. (2022) Association of Tropical Cyclones With County-Level Mortality in the US. JAMA 327(10): 946–955. 4. Budina N, Chen L, Laura, Nowzohour L (2023). Why Some Don’t Belong—The Distributional Effects of Natural Disasters.
It can take up to three times as long for LMI households to financially recover from a natural disaster in the U.S.
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Wealth inequality tends to increase after large-scale natural disasters, especially for people of color, renters, and people with lower educational attainment..
03 Climate events adversely impact employment for less educated employees more, particularly for female and Hispanic workers.
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The poorest 33% of Americans experience nearly 60% of indirect fatalities from severe storms and hurricanes (e.g. due to heart & lung problems, injury & infections, and mental health issues.
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METRICS OF RESILIENCE:
ECONOMIC
Cyclical expenditures
Geographic exposure
Generational wealth
Building quality
Credit
FINANCES
Savings
LMI households stand to lose a higher percentage of overall wealth from unexpected expenses and less flexibility in budgeting.
Insurance
Energy costs Mitigation costs
Housing
Finances
Temporary housing
Asset diversification
LABOR Employment is more likely to be precarious and centered in vulnerable sectors in LMI communities.
Economic
HOUSING LMI communities face heightened challenges amid climate events including accessing safe housing, building quality, and affording energy costs.
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE There are documented equity gaps in access and calculation of disaster and hazard assistance. This tends to strain alternative avenues for support such as Medicaid.
Political influence
Susceptible industries Economic diversity Benefits
Labor
Precarious work Informal economies Independent contractors
Public Assistance
Restrictions Trust Language barriers
Access to information
Exposure & unsanitary conditions
Transit & transportation Physical Infrastructure
Mental health & stress
SOCIAL
Displacement
Healthcare
Mobility
Food security Injury & illness
METRICS OF RESILIENCE:
Connectivity
Health
Medical equipment & supplies
Remoteness Telecommunications
HEALTH Health outcome disparities for LMI communities are often exacerbated by severe weather due to limited healthcare access and increased exposure.
EDUCATION LMI communities may face greater educational disruptions from disasters due to infrastructure challenges. They may also have limited access to preparedness training to mitigate the effects of severe weather.
Social Humanitarian services
Nonattendance Skills training Language Access
Shelter network
Education
Preparedness Environmental quality
Community
Crime & conflict
CONNECTIVITY Limited mobility and transportation can inhibit relocation, accessing essential services, and securing recovery funding for climate disasters.
Community organizing
COMMUNITY
Arts, recreation, & faith
LMI communities often have fewer social safety nets, prolonging and complicating their recovery from natural disasters due to limited resources and support.
SELECTED REFERENCES: 1. Bullard RD and Wright B (2009). Race, Place, and Environmental Justice After Hurricane Katrina. 2. Coulson NE, McCoy SJ and McDonough IK (2020) Economic diversification and the resiliency hypothesis: Evidence from the impact of natural disasters on regional housing values. Regional Science and Urban Economics 85: 103581. 3. Deschênes O and Greenstone M (2011) Climate Change, Mortality, and Adaptation: Evidence from Annual Fluctuations in Weather in the US. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3(4): 152–185. 4. Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, Boden JM, et al. (2014) Impact of a major disaster on the mental health of a well-studied cohort. JAMA psychiatry 71(9): 1025–1031. 5. Hallegatte S, Vogt-Schilb A, Rozenberg J, et al. (2020) From Poverty to Disaster and Back: a Review of the Literature. Economics of Disasters and Climate Change 4(1): 223–247. 6. Hallegatte S, Bangalore M, Bonzanigo L, et al (2008) Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty. World Bank. 7. Krause E and Reeves RV (2017) Hurricanes hit the poor the hardest. Brookings. 8. Masozera M, Bailey M and Kerchner C (2007) Distribution of impacts of natural disasters across income groups: A case study of New Orleans. Ecological Economics 63(2). Ecological Economics of Coastal Disasters: 299–306. 9. Nel P and Righarts M (2008) Natural Disaster and the Risk of Violent Civil Conflict. International Studies Quarterly. 10. Shonkoff SB, Morello-Frosch R, Pastor M, et al. (2011) The climate gap: environmental health and equity implications of climate change and mitigation policies in California—a review of the literature. Climatic Change 109(1): 485–503. 11. Underwood D & Perls H (2021) Equitable Disaster Relief: An Analysis of FEMA’s Legal Authority to Integrate Equity under the Stafford Act - Harvard Law School. 12. U.S. Global Change Research Program (2015) Climate Change, Global Food Security, and the U.S. Food System. USDA.