Disaster-Driven Climate Migration: Findings from Large Mobile Phone Datasets in India

• In Event: 41016 - Disaster and Questions of Place

Abstract

Post-disaster mobility is critical in understanding community responses and adaptations to the immediate and long-term impacts of natural disasters. The current study integrates mobile data with disaster data from the EM-DAT database and socioeconomic data from the Global Gridded Relative Deprivation Index, analyzing how natural disasters influence population mobility at a 4.9km-by-4.9km level in India in 2019. It classifies neighborhoods based on response patterns and determines the clusters by similarity in the residents’ change with a group-based trajectory modeling. The current study identifies 3 distinct mobility patterns, including 1) increased movement in shelter-in-place areas, 2) fluctuation in temporary evacuation areas, and 3) decreased mobility in prolonged displacement. This analysis will be extended to the rest of disasters to compare mobility patterns across different disaster types and contexts. Findings will inform disaster management and policy decisions, contributing to climate resilience and sustainable development discussions in India and other Global South countries.

Authors

• Xiuqi Sukie Yang, University of Pennsylvania

• Guangyuan Weng, Northeastern University

• Shiyue Cui, University at Buffalo

• Catherine Chen, Louisiana State University

• Zhicong Chen, Nanjing University

• Ying Zhu, The University of Hong Kong