Jerry T. Mitchell

Revealing the Vulnerability of People and Places: A Case Study of Georgetown County, South Carolina

Losses from environmental hazards have escalated in the past decade, prompting a reorientation of emergency management systems away from simple postevent response. There is a noticeable change in policy, with more emphasis on loss reduction through mitigation, preparedness, and recovery programs. Effective mitigation of losses from hazards requires hazard identification, an assessment of all the hazards likely to affect a given place, and risk-reduction measures that are compatible across a multitude of hazards. The degree to which populations are vulnerable to hazards, however, is not solely dependent upon proximity to the source of the threat or the physical nature of the hazard –social factors also play a significant role in determining vulnerability. This paper presents a method for assessing vulnerability in spatial terms using both biophysical and social indicators. A geographic information system was utilized to establish areas of vulnerability based upon twelve environmental threats and eight social characteristics for our study area, Georgetown County, South Carolina. Our results suggest that the most biophysically vulnerable places do not always spatially intersect with the most vulnerable populations. This is an important finding because it reflects the likely ‘social costs’ of hazards on the region. While economic losses might be large in areas of high biophysical risk, the resident population also may have greater safety nets (insurance, additional financial resources) to absorb and recover from the loss quickly. Conversely, it would take only a moderate hazard event to disrupt the well-being of the majority of county residents (who are more socially vulnerable, but perhaps do not reside in the highest areas of biophysical risks) and retard their longer-term recovery from disasters. This paper advances our theoretical and conceptual understanding of the spatial dimensions of vulnerability. It further highlights the merger of conceptualizations of human environment relationships with geographical techniques in understanding contemporary public policy issues.

The hazards of one's faith: hazard perceptions of South Carolina Christian clergy

Abstract Hazards take place in multiple contexts, contributing to the decisions we make in the face of a threat. Religious belief is considered an important contextual factor in how people understand and respond to environmental hazards. The objective of this paper is to examine one aspect of religious affiliation, biblical orientation, for its influence on the perception of hazard events. Using a survey of individual Christian clergy in South Carolina, the variation in hazard perception and anticipated mitigation responses among the clergy are explored. Geographic location and past hazard experience were found to be strong indicators of hazard concern, while an adherence to a particular theological doctrine was much less conclusive. The hazard mitigation choices voiced by the clergy were also consistent with little variation across the denominations investigated. While considerable differences were noted between the clergy regarding their view of hazard frequency, hazards and the second coming, and biblical orientation, few connections were established between these variables, hazard perception, and future mitigation behavior. Although past research has established that religious orientation influences ones view of their environment, this study demonstrates that this viewpoint is not necessarily extended to environmental extremes. Future opportunities to investigate the complexity of the religion-hazard nexus, such as whether the same results would have occurred in a different geographic region or if these results of individual clergy perceptions can shed light on larger religious attitudes toward hazards, are also discussed.

Hurricane Katrina and the Forgotten Coast of Mississippi: Powering an Unequal Recovery

The study of natural disasters is particularly challenging, as they are enormously complex and demand mastery of a number of disciplines ordinarily beyond the reach of any individual researcher working alone. The full sociological, geographical, historical, economic, cultural, political, and physical impacts of – and recovery from – a natural disaster are so vast, the contours so manifold and complicated, that only a genuinely and thoroughly interdisciplinary approach can begin to master the scope, scale, and meaning of the event. Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast of the United States in August 2005 with devastating consequences. Almost all analyses of the disaster have been dedicated to the way the hurricane affected New Orleans. This volume’s highly interdisciplinary approach examines the full impact of the disaster on southern Mississippi. While communities along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast shared the impact of the hurricane, their socioeconomic and demographic compositions varied widely, leading to different types and rates of recovery. This volume combines baseline geographic data on the social and built environment and the hazard vulnerability of the region with a historical narrative on past conditions that infl uenced the pre-Katrina settlement history. It further includes a statistical analysis of historical rates of settlement and demographic change in the region and forecasts the future trajectory of settlement and demographic change post Katrina. This volume not only furthers our understanding of the pace of recovery and its geographic extent, but also explores the role of inequalities in the recovery process and those antecedent conditions that could give rise to a “recovery divide.” It will be especially appealing to researchers and advanced students of natural disasters and policy makers dealing with disaster consequences and recovery.