Sparks Everywhere: Trauma and Mental Health During and After the Palisades Fire

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

Abstract

Research exploring emotional and mental health experiences following environmental disasters remains a relatively new area of inquiry within environmental sociology. While existing research has examined the unequal distribution of risk and the disparities in recovery processes—demonstrating the disproportionate difficulties faced by communities of color in recovering emotionally and financially from natural disasters—there is limited research investigating these socio-emotional experiences from the perspective of affected community members. This project focuses on the 2025 Palisades Fire as its primary site of investigation. Given the high Latino population in Los Angeles County, this site allows for the exploration of emotional and mental responses among community members through both English and Spanish language. This study aims to analyze these responses through digital web scraping of social media data, primarily from the platform X (formerly known as Twitter). I will be using a common keyword bank of English and Spanish phrases to pull text from. I only sample non-politicians and non-celebrities to capture the experiences of everyday individuals. This is to obtain a more holistic understanding of common mental health experiences for individuals who were affected by this devastating wildfire.

Author

• Alma Karen Rosas Rodriguez, Rice University