Global assessment of flood impact on emergency service provision to vulnerable populations under climate change 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Johnson ◽  
Robert Wilby ◽  
Dapeng Yu ◽  
Tom Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Emergency Service ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Flood Hazards ◽  
Emergency Responder ◽  
Vulnerable Population Groups

<p>Flooding is a major global hazard that accounts for one-third of all reported natural disasters and over 500,000 fatalities since 1980. Globally, vulnerable populations (very young, elderly, medical special needs individuals, etc.) are disproportionately affected by flooding and predominantly encompass the majority of flood associated injuries and fatalities. This is caused by their low self-reliance, weak political voice and insufficient inclusion into climate adaptation and emergency response plans.</p><p>Vulnerable individuals are largely reliant on Ambulance and Fire & Rescue Services due to flood induced injuries, exacerbated medical conditions, and requiring evacuative assistance. These services are primary emergency responders to flooding that provide rescue and relief efforts. However, during flood events, the demand for Ambulance and Fire & Rescue Service often exceeds the potential capacity and limits service provision, whilst flooded road networks and short emergency responder-timeframes decrease accessibility, service area and population coverage.</p><p>Therefore, an important step towards resolving these social inequalities and emergency responder strains from flooding is to understand the geographic, spatial, temporal, and demographic distributions of vulnerability. This will be undertaken by identifying vulnerability ‘hotspots’ of global populations in terms of emergency service provision during times of flooding of various magnitude under climate change.</p><p>The research will use Big Geographical and Climate Data and a ‘hotspot’ approach to investigate how the global extent and distribution of flood hazards and vulnerable population hotspots vary spatially and temporally, based on differing global fluvial and coastal flooding (at 10-year and 100-year return periods), and present and future flood conditions (present-day and 2050, under RCP 4.5 and RCP8.5 climate scenarios). Network Analysis modelling will be used to investigate the impact of this on Ambulance and Fire & Rescue accessibility from service stations to vulnerable populations based on restrictions of road network inundation and emergency response-times (8-, 15-, and 60- minutes). Finally, comparisons will be made to highlight how vulnerability and emergency service accessibility compares demographically between different vulnerable population groups.</p><p>It is expected that there will be significant geographical and temporal differences in social vulnerability and emergency service provision between countries and regions globally. Although to what extent is currently unknown. Ultimately, the framework of this research may provide real-world applications for informing strategic planning of emergency response operations and resolving social inequalities to flood hazards. These applications could include the production of more detailed flood hazard and evacuation maps that highlight vulnerability hotspots, the prioritisation of vulnerable population groups in emergency response plans to minimise geographic and population disparities of flood injuries and fatalities, and the allocation of emergency service hubs in regions of high-vulnerability but low-emergency response provision.</p>

scholarly journals A Multi-Decadal Spatial Analysis of Demographic Vulnerability to Urban Flood: A Case Study of Birmingham City, USA

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 9139
Author(s):  
Mohammad Khalid Hossain ◽  
Qingmin Meng
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Census Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Scan Statistics ◽  
Flood Hazards ◽  
Urban Flood ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Vulnerable Population Groups

Flooding, including hurricanes and tornadoes, accounts for approximately 40 percent of natural disasters worldwide and kills 100 people on average in the United States each year, which is more than any other single weather hazard. Since flooding is a common hazard in the U.S. and flood-related casualties have been increasing in recent years, it is important to understand the spatial patterns of different vulnerable population groups in the flooding regions. To achieve this objective, spatial scan statistics were used to identify the spatial clusters of different demographic groups (children and elderly, poor, White, African American, and Hispanic) in the 100-year floodplain areas of Birmingham. Using the decennial census data from 1990 to 2015, this research examined whether these vulnerable population groups had aggregated more in the flooding areas or moved away from the flooding areas in the past thirty years. The findings of this research indicate that most of the minorities are increasingly aggregating in the floodplain areas of Village Creek in Birmingham. The findings also suggest that the non-minorities are moving away from the flooding regions in Birmingham, AL. As part of the minorities and non-minorities group, approximately 50 percent of African Americans and 4 percent of White populations aggregated in the Village Creek flooding areas in 2015. Although the percentage of White populations is very low, the findings suggest that they are still exposed to floods. The multi-decadal analysis of flood risk will help the local governments to understand which population groups could be more affected by floods historically and need more attention in future flood hazards. This understanding will help them prepare for future flood hazards by allocating resources efficiently among the different racial and ethnic groups.

Climate change impacts in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region and their implications for vulnerable population groups

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1623-1638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina Waha ◽  
Linda Krummenauer ◽  
Sophie Adams ◽  
Valentin Aich ◽  
Florent Baarsch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Northern Africa ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
Vulnerable Population Groups

The Effects of Transit Corridor Developments on the Healthcare Access of Medically Fragile Vulnerable Populations

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Diaz ◽  
Joshua Behr ◽  
ManWo Ng ◽  
Anna Jeng ◽  
Bridget Giles
Keyword(s):  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Healthcare Access ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Transit Systems ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
In Transit ◽  
Underserved Groups ◽  
Vulnerable Population Groups

Transportation has been identified as a major barrier to healthcare access, particularly, within vulnerable population groups. The level of healthcare access that most population segments have in traditional transit systems may be increased with new initiatives that involve complex and large investments in transit oriented developments (TOD) projects. However, the increasing attractiveness of neighborhoods affected by TOD initiatives may result in the gentrification of vulnerable population segments. These vulnerable segments are likely to be relocated into less attractive neighborhoods characterized by inadequate transit systems. This relocation increases the probabilities of reducing healthcare access for these underserved groups leading to an increase in health disparities. The present discussion calls for research to explore relevant factors that affects these dynamics. A framework that enables the identification of individual factors that affect gentrification processes under TOD initiatives as well as quantifying the effects from these processes is suggested in this paper. A system dynamics framework that allows the understanding of the dynamics associated with this system is suggested in this paper. Critical areas for empirical research are highlighted. These are prerequisites for the effective deployment of initiatives that ensure the mitigation of possible negative impacts on vulnerable populations.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and the calls of humanistic social work: Exploring the developmental-clinical social work concerns of the pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110079
Author(s):  
Robert K Chigangaidze
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Clinical Social Work ◽  
Health Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face

Any health outbreak is beyond the biomedical approach. The COVID-19 pandemic exposes a calamitous need to address social inequalities prevalent in the global health community. Au fait with this, the impetus of this article is to explore the calls of humanistic social work in the face of the pandemic. It calls for the pursuit of social justice during the pandemic and after. It also calls for a holistic service provision, technological innovation and stewardship. Wrapping up, it challenges the global community to rethink their priorities – egotism or altruism. It emphasizes the ultimate way forward of addressing the social inequalities.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and Alternative Care in South Africa: Children’s Responses to the Pandemic. A Case Study from a Child and Youth Care Centre in Mogale City

2020 ◽  
pp. 234930032097592
Author(s):  
Rika Swanzen ◽  
Gert Jonker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Youth Care ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Care Centre ◽  
Child And Youth Care ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Caregiver Burnout

The experiences from a case study are evaluated against the aspects such as emergency response to vulnerable populations and other sources from the literature to serve as guidelines for the management of an epidemic in a child and youth care centre (CYCC). To help understand the effects of the epidemic on the centre, this article describes experiences in terms of the meeting of needs. A discussion of the following are part of the article: • A reflection will be provided on the observed stages the children and child and youth care workers (CYCWs) went through during 177 days of a national lockdown; • Indications of caregiver burnout; • Experiences around the meeting of children’s needs through the lens of child and youth care (CYC) theory; and • Proposed areas needing attention in mitigating risks. Some lessons learnt from the daily routine established to manage the lockdown regulations, sometimes experienced as nonsensical, are shared. From these reflections, questions for research are provided from a practice-based evidence approach, mainly aimed at determining the readiness of a CYCC to manage a state of disaster, while needing to focus on meeting children’s needs.

Designing farmer-acceptable rotations that assure ecosystem service provision in the face of climate change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Bohan ◽  
Reto Schmucki ◽  
Abrha T. Abay ◽  
Mette Termansen ◽  
Miranda Bane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
The Face

scholarly journals Klimaforandringer: Perspektiv og skala i studiet af det høje nord

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Hastrup
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
The One ◽  
Strategic Perspective

Klima og klimaforandringer er blevet nye store temaer i antropologien, og det er påtrængende at stille kritiske spørgsmål til brugen af disse begreber, der synes at indeholde både konkret (lokalt) vejr og abstrakt (globalt) klima. Spørgsmålet er, hvordan man kan bruge „klimaet“ strategisk og produktivt i antropologiske analyser uden at gøre det til endnu en udefrakommende ulykke, der rammer klodens svage befolkninger. I artiklen argumenteres der for en nytænkning af skalabegrebet, som kan rumme både det „lokale“ og det „globale“, i og med at der er tale om et analytisk perspektiv snarere end et empirisk forhold. Herigennem åbnes der for en komparativ analyse af „klimaets“ infiltrering i det sociale og dets varierende forklaringsværdi. Artiklen trækker på forfatterens arbejde i Island og Grønland. Søgeord: klimaforandringer, skala, worlding, Island, Grønland English: Climate Explanations: Perspective and Scale in the Study of the High North“Climate” has entered into everyday parlance across the globe. In anthropology, “climate change” has opened up a new field of concern for vulnerable populations on the one hand and for the distinctiveness of the discipline on the other. In this article it is argued that while climate as such is a meteorological abstraction, it may also function as a strategic perspective, which allows for a comparison between ascribed values and dynamisms in social worlds. It is further shown how the implications of worldwide climate change open up for a new understanding of scale as an analytical rather than an empirical category. The substance draws from the author’s work in Northwest Greenland and in Iceland. Keywords: Climate change, scale, worlding, Iceland, Greenland 

scholarly journals Modeling Urban Futures: Data-Driven Scenarios of Climate Change and Vulnerability in Cities

2021 ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
L. Ortiz ◽  
A. Mustafa ◽  
B. Rosenzweig ◽  
Timon McPhearson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Cellular Automata ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Flood Hazards ◽  
Ancillary Data ◽  
Road Systems ◽  
Urban Futures ◽  
Land Use Development

AbstractCities are complex systems where social, ecological, and technological processes are deeply coupled. This coupling complicates urban planning and land use development, as changing one facet of the urban fabric will likely impact the others. As cities grapple with climate change, there is a growing need to envision urban futures that not only address more frequent and intense severe weather events but also improve day-to-day livability. Here we examine climate risks as functions of the local land use with numerical models. These models leverage a wide array of data sources, from satellite imagery to tax assessments and land cover. We then present a machine-learning cellular automata approach to combine historical land use change with local coproduced urban future scenarios. The cellular automata model uses historical and ancillary data like existing road systems and natural features to develop a set of probabilistic land use change rules, which are then modified according to stakeholder priorities. The resulting land use scenarios are evaluated against historical flood hazards, showcasing how they perform against stakeholder expectations. Our work shows that coproduced scenarios, when grounded with historical and emerging data, can provide paths that increase resilience to weather hazards as well as enhancing ecosystem services provided to citizens.

Environmental Justice: Making Policy, One Skirmish at a Time

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Baehler
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Environmental Hazards ◽  
Vulnerable Population ◽  
Environmental Discourse ◽  
The Core ◽  
Established Fact ◽  
Core Idea ◽  
Vulnerable Population Groups

Environmental justice refers to both a concept and a social movement that originally spun off from the American civil rights establishment in the 1980s. The core idea focuses on the now well-established fact that members of vulnerable population groups tend to experience disproportionately higher levels of exposure to environmental hazards, less access to green amenities, and fewer opportunities to have their environmental concerns heard and remedied compared to their wealthier and whiter counterparts. Environmental justice terminology is deeply embedded in contemporary environmental discourse and governance in multiple countries, but its ability to alleviate real instances of environmental mal-distribution has been strongest at the local level thanks to the concept’s power to mobilize diverse networks of activists around local causes.

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