Vulnerable Populations and Extreme Weather: Creating Resilience through Culture

A major societal and policy challenge that emerges in preparing for extreme weather events is the lack of consideration and planning for vulnerable populations. Questions of communications, mobility, housing and action become primary when an extreme weather event (heat, storms, snow, hurricanes, etc) strike a community. Every society has it's vulnerable populations who often live in environmentally sub-standard areas that are especially threatened by impending extreme weather events (e.g. lower lying areas, along river banks, structures that are not fortified, housing that does not include air conditioning, and in some cases- no housing at all simply living outside). When extreme weather occurs, community resilience is naturally threatened. Community members who possess financial resources have the ability to receive media instructions through the television or cell-phone and to be mobile. Actions that may need to occur involve purchasing supplies, moving to higher ground, moving to a shelter or hotel. A challenge emerges because vulnerable populations do not possess such resources and are forgotten when extreme weather occurs.

Extreme weather communications, policies and action are often presented in a "one-size-fits-all" approach. This approach falls short because people and places are diverse and vulnerable populations are often left-behind in a weather-related crises. When an extreme weather event occurs, socioeconomic and culturally differences are not often considered in the extreme weather communication and action realm-in part because the vulnerable populations may not be socially visible nor understood. This paper examines the challenges to creating resilience for vulnerable populations across geographies through working to identify who they are and to adopt a culturally-relevant and strengths based approach to working with such populations. On the whole all communities, regardless of sociodemographic factors, possess locally-based knowledge, skills and abilities including social and human capital strengths that can be identified and drawn upon to meet challenges that emerge in extreme weather events. Here we share a model for culturally-based communication and action across diverse populations and geographies that ultimately helps communities to achieve resilience, adapt to changing environmental conditions and to best be served to weather communication and policy.

Populations in both extreme urban and extreme rural areas have tightly knit communities that can be harnessed and used as communication and mobilization networks when extreme weather strikes. Such networks build around local activities, groups, traditions and usually emerge with a series of leaders. Pre-planning and community engagement with vulnerable populations and public participation GIS mapping with these groups and their local social resources prior to extreme weather events can enable better action when extreme weather strikes. Effective action around an extreme weather event should not begin when the event occurs but should be established through communication, trust-building and action with vulnerable population prior to emergency situations. Social networks are adaptable and often relied upon by local people, no matter if one is an urban, rural or suburban environment especially in an environmentally challenging situation. The challenge emerges in extreme weather events because vulnerable populations often live in environments that are especially threatened by the impending extreme weather(e.g. lower lying areas, along river banks etc).

In rural areas- the traditional assumptions that messaging to cell-phones is an effective approach- sometimes fails with disastrous results, (e.g. the recent deaths in Northern California due to extreme heat that fueled unprecedented fires. Folks in rural areas do not always receive cell-phone signal dependent upon the geography of the rural terrain where they live. In rural communities some of the most effective communications strategies are based around rural, community-radio, word-of mouth and in some cases an air raid siren such as in rural Mendocino County, CA). In urban areas where vulnerable populations reside- they may miss warnings, announcements around impending extreme weather depending on the mode of the communication (cell-phone, television, radio, etc). and dependent on the language in which the communication is provided. It is the hope that through taking time to better understand the diverse culture and communities and to harness local social resources, vulnerable populations can be better served and community resilience achieved in the face of extreme weather.