Abstract
This article examines disaster preparedness in a highly vulnerable population, mobile home park residents in hurricane-prone areas. The vulnerabilities of this population mandate evacuation as the only viable disaster response strategy, but this does not always happen. In order to explore evacuation decision making, interviews were conducted with 75 mobile home park residents in Ruskin, Florida. Descriptive results build on a conceptualization of physical, structural, socio-economic, and “residual” disaster vulnerability; the latter is defined as a combination of experiences, perceptions, and preparations that inhibit the willingness and abilities of respondents to protect themselves. While residents generally prepared for disasters, evacuation plans were troubling. Barriers to evacuation based on measured vulnerabilities remained unclear, and analysis of responses failed to explain respondents’ varying evacuation preparations. Future research needs to address differential evacuation behaviors among mobile home park residents. We further conclude that disaster preparation and education need to address the special risks of this and other vulnerable populations better.
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Notes
In accordance with the United States Census Bureau and to reflect residents’ preferences, we use the term “mobile home” to refer to the variety of housing that is not built on site, ranging from “manufactured homes” (the preferred term by the manufactured housing industry) to “trailers.”
The research site markers on the map are placed at the center of the parks. Many parks fall into two or even three flood zones which creates additional disparate vulnerability within parks.
According to the 2007/2008 APPA National Pet Owners Survey, 63% of U.S. households own a pet, which equates to 71.1 million homes. Thirty-four percent of US households have at least one cat, while 39% have at least one dog (APPA 2008).
Schmidlin et al. (2009) discuss the “dubious” quality of evacuation destinations of mobile home residents following a tornado warning.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Carylanna Taylor, Daniel Carpenter, Amanda F. Houlis, Arteisha M. Hughes, Alexis M. McLaughlin, Ryan K. Morris, and Wanda Sloan for their research assistance. Data collection was, in part, supported by National Science Foundation grant SES-0649060 and the 2007 “Graduate Field Studies in Sustainable Communities Research” program at the University of South Florida. Also, thanks to two anonymous reviewers who provided valuable insights and suggestions.
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Kusenbach, M., Simms, J.L. & Tobin, G.A. Disaster vulnerability and evacuation readiness: coastal mobile home residents in Florida. Nat Hazards 52, 79–95 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-009-9358-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-009-9358-3