Effects of income inequality on evacuation, reentry and segregation after disasters

Large-scale disasters often trigger mass evacuation due to significant damages to urban systems. Understanding the evacuation and reentry (return) process of affected individuals is crucial for disaster management. Moreover, measuring the heterogeneity in the individuals' post-disaster behavior with respect to their socio-economic characteristics is essential for policy making. Recent studies have used large-scale location datasets collected from mobile devices to analyze post-disaster mobility patterns. Despite the availability of such data and the societal importance of the problem, no studies have focused on how income inequality affects the equity in post-disaster mobility. To overcome these research gaps, the authors overlay mobility data with income information from census to quantify the effects of income inequality on evacuation and reentry behavior after disasters, and the resulting spatial income segregation. Spatio-temporal analysis using location data of more than 1.7 million mobile phone users from Florida affected by Hurricane Irma reveal significant effects of income inequality on evacuation behavior. Evacuees with higher income were more likely to evacuate from affected areas and reach safer locations with less damage on housing and infrastructure. These differences were common among evacuees from both inside and outside mandatory evacuation zones. As a result of such effects of inequality, significant spatial income segregation was observed in the affected areas. Insights on the effects of income inequality on post-disaster mobility and spatial segregation could contribute to policies that better address social equity in pre-disaster preparation and post-disaster relief.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2020.102260
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920919311101
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13619209
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Yabe, Takahiro
  • Ukkusuri, Satish V
• Publication Date: 2020-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 102260
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
  • Volume: 82
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1361-9209
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13619209

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Disaster resilience; Disasters and emergency operations; Equity; Evacuation; Income; Mobile telephones; Mobility; Spatial analysis
• Identifier Terms: Hurricane Irma
• Subject Areas: Finance; Operations and Traffic Management; Security and Emergencies; Society; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01736032
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 10 2020 9:44AM