How does social vulnerability evolve after a tropical cyclone?
After tropical cyclones, communities are often left in upheaval. Those that had few resources to begin with tend to be especially vulnerable to external stresses, and people often experience homelessness, health problems and other forms of insecurity as a result. But once the disaster response gets underway, communities recover and tend to become less socially vulnerable than they were before the…
After a tropical cyclone, communities often face a rise in social vulnerability, characterized by factors such as language proficiency, ethnic diversity, and crowded living conditions. However, a new study suggests that this initial increase in vulnerability levels off after approximately 9 years, and by 15 years post-disaster, affected communities actually exhibit a slight decrease in social vulnerability compared to those unaffected by cyclones.
The research, published in GeoHealth, analyzed data from 2,118 U.S. counties hit by at least one tropical cyclone between 2005 and 2018, juxtaposing these findings with similar communities that avoided cyclone impacts. The study's lead author, Lingke Jiang, and colleagues observed that while social vulnerability indices (SVIs) spiked by around 2% immediately following a cyclone, this trend did not persist indefinitely.
Instead, after a decade, the average SVI in affected counties was roughly 2% lower than in unaffected counterparts.
This observed decline may be attributed to redevelopment efforts and displacement, particularly through a phenomenon known as crisis-driven urbanization. Such redevelopment projects often present opportunities for developers to capitalize on the situation, potentially leading to gentrification. In many cases, this trend forces original residents to relocate elsewhere, resulting in a shift in the community's demographic composition.
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