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Historical Disaster Exposure and Household Preparedness Across the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2020

Natasha P. Malmin
Natasha P. Malmin*
Affiliation:
Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, Ivan Allan College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Natasha P. Malmin, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA (e-mail: nprudent1@gsu.edu; nmalmin3@gatech.edu).
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Abstract

Objectives:

The study determined whether households in disaster-exposed communities were more likely to be prepared.

Methods:

Three measures of preparedness were created using the 2013 American Housing Survey: cumulative, adequate, and minimal preparedness. Cumulative and adequate preparedness were created based on the existing literature. Minimal preparedness measured whether households had at present food, water, access to a vehicle, and funds with which to evacuate. Disaster exposure was measured using historical FEMA disaster declarations. The various preparedness measures were regressed onto historical disaster exposure, controlling for sociodemographic factors.

Results:

Across all measures of preparedness, historical disaster exposure was a statistically significant predictor of preparedness. Vulnerable households included those where children or the disabled were present. African-American headed households emerged as vulnerable only when minimal preparedness was assessed.

Conclusions:

Prior disaster exposure increased household preparedness regardless of how preparedness was defined. However, assessing minimal preparedness may better reflect the changing disaster landscape where more and more households are asked to evacuate or shelter-in-place by policy-makers.

Keywords

disaster exposurepreparednessvulnerability
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 58 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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