Disasters

No group was more physically vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic than older adults. However, differing life histories and structural realities make for widely varying pandemic experiences. Using a life course approach, this study situates the COVID-19 pandemic and use of communication tools into context of older adults’ life experience with disasters and technology. Merging the scholarly fields of disaster sociology and aging studies, the purpose of this research is to find how life course experience and technology use impacted older adults’ perception of, and response to, COVID-19. Accordingly, I ask how does previous disaster experience and technology usage influence older adults’ coping regarding aging and crisis? Using 29 semi-structured interviews and two focus groups with older adults, I find that the political economic context in which a person experiences disaster has reverberations decades later. This can trigger a process of cumulative advantage, and that men and women have different access points to that process dependent on that context. Moreover, older adults make crisis-based decisions anchored in their current circumstances, not consciously in response to prior experience. In addition, early experience with technology, especially through work, helps to establish a solid foundation for resilience both in terms of resources and adaptation. I found the participants in this study to be remarkably resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of either earlier disaster experience, opportunities through work and relationships, and their ability to technologically adapt.

In this dissertation, I examined the lived experiences of people experiencing homelessness (PEH) and their perceptions of protective actions when making evacuation decisions during disasters or extreme weather events. Compared to other members of society, individuals experiencing homelessness during disasters face unique challenges, including a lack of shelter, transportation, access to news, and the need to carry all their belongings. This vulnerability is further heightened when natural disasters occur, as they lack physical protection, leading to increased exposure to hazards and adverse weather effects.
The literature on homeless evacuation decision-making is limited (Donley & Wright, 2012), and the direct experiences of PEH and their decision-making processes during natural disasters remain underexplored (Brookfield & Fitzgerald, 2018; Brown et al., 2013; Every & Thompson, 2014; Gaillard et al., 2019; Settembrino, 2017). Additionally, the unsafe living conditions of PEH, coupled with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 virus, posed unique challenges for homeless communities, increasing the risk of virus transmission and exacerbating social disparities.
In this study, I explored PEH’s lived experiences and perspectives when making evacuation decisions during disasters. I utilized Lindell and Perry's (2012) Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) as the theoretical framework. The PADM enabled me to analyze various factors influencing the evacuation decisions of PEH, including their physical aspects (shelter use and mobility) and social context (relationships with other PEH and employment). The findings presented in this study are the result of 41 in-depth semi-structured field interviews with PEH living unsheltered in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County.

Global population is increasing at an alarming rate with rapid urbanization of the earth’s land surface. Currently, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this number is projected to increase to 66% by 2050. Urban expansion in coastal zones is more complex due to the rapid urbanization and higher population growth. In the United States (US), more than 39% of the total population now lives in coastal counties. Although urbanization offers some advantages such as economic development, unplanned urbanization can adversely affect our environment. Additionally, coastal communities in the US are frequently impacted by disasters. Climate change such as sea level rise could intensify these coastal disasters and impact more lives and properties. Therefore, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing, this study examines these pressing environmental challenges with the coastal US as the Study area. We first quantified the historical spatiotemporal patterns and major explanatory factors of urban expansion in the Miami Metropolitan Area during 1992 - 2016 at different spatial scales. Additionally, different urban expansion dynamics such as expansion rate, pattern, types, intensity, and landscape metrics were analyzed. Multi-level spatiotemporal analyses suggest that urban growth varied both spatially and temporally across the study area. We then measured the community resilience to coastal disasters by constructing a composite index. Additionally, spatial relationships between resilience components and disaster impacts were investigated. Results suggest that northeastern coastal communities in the US are more resilient to disasters compared to the southeastern communities. Furthermore, community resilience varies across the space and resilience components used in this study can explain disaster damages. Finally, this research also simulates and predicts three future urban growth scenarios including business as usual, planned growth, and sustainable growth in the study area. Then current and future exposures to flooding were estimated by considering different sea level rise scenarios. Results suggest that future urban areas will be developed significantly in the flood risk areas if development is not restricted in the high-risk flooding zone. Findings from this study could be useful for area-specific disaster management policy guidelines and formation of land use policy and planning.