Unequal Lived Experiences Among Disadvantaged Populations Facing Natural Disasters

• In Event: 50620 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3: Disasters, Health, and Inequalities

Abstract

This paper highlights. the challenges and the underlying structural circumstances that befall certain groups during and after natural disasters. With its focus on the United States and coastal communities, we document risk and limited resources unequally distributed because of social inequality and underlying structural discrimination in both urban and rural settings. Using detailed research during Hurricane Harvey and the rebuilding of communities along the Texas Gulf Coast, we examine several mental health outcomes and the unequal responses to recovery based on social position, geography, and limited access to capital during weather-related crises. Several theoretical frameworks our introduced as possible lenses to view the impact of natural disasters and how and why they impact disadvantaged populations living in and around ecologically vulnerable communities.

Authors

• Kevin M. Fitzpatrick, University of Arkansas

• David Wayne Woodring, University of Arkansas Fayetteville