Individual relocation decisions after tornadoes: a multi-level analysis

Disaster exposure and patterns of disaster preparedness: A multilevel social vulnerability and engagement perspective

This study examined how community vulnerabilities contextualized the impact of exposure to five major disasters in 2017 on individuals' disaster preparedness. We pooled two panels of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)'s National Household Survey in 2017 (pre-disaster) and 2018 (post-disaster) and further merged the data with 15 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index factors to examine the moderating impact of county-level vulnerabilities. Latent class analysis was used to identify patterns of disaster preparedness based on six preparedness items defined by FEMA with a total of 10,045 individuals. Three groups were identified and named basic preparedness (BP) group, high preparedness: socially engaged (HP-SE) group, and high preparedness: advanced socially engaged (HP-ASE) group. A working sample with a smaller sample size was constructed to include 2,179 individuals from 92 counties with disaster declarations of Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, Hurricane Nate, and California Wildfires in 2017. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that post-disaster respondents were more likely to be in the HP-SE relative to the BP group. Two-level multinomial logistic regression showed that post-disaster respondents in communities with higher percentages of single-parent households and those of no vehicles were less likely to be in the HP-SE vs. the BP group. Post-disaster respondents in communities with higher percentages of unemployment, no high school diploma, and occupied housing units with more people than rooms were less likely to be in the HP-ASE vs. the BP group. Post-disaster respondents in communities with higher percentages of older adults and mobile homes were more likely to be in the HP-SE vs. the BP group. The findings also highlighted the importance of social engagement in disaster preparedness disparities and the need for community-level intervention to promote individuals' disaster preparedness.

Financial Preparedness for Emergencies: Age Patterns and Multilevel Vulnerabilities

Guided mainly by the social vulnerability perspective and life course perspective, this study examined age patterns of financial preparedness for emergencies and how they were contextualized by vulnerabilities at the individual and community levels. We matched data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency 2018 National Household Survey and 15 indicators of the Social Vulnerability Index at the county level. Two-level logistic regressions were conducted with the working sample, which included 4,623 respondents from 958 counties. The results showed that adults aged 18 to 44 were more likely than those aged 65 to 74 to set aside money for emergencies among Hispanics, those with minor children in the household, and in communities with higher levels of poverty, higher percentages of minorities, and higher percentages of no vehicles, but less likely to do so among the White and those with insurance. The findings were discussed within a multilevel layered vulnerability framework.