Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design

Abstract As hurricanes become more frequent and destructive, understanding evacuation decision-making is crucial to refining disaster response strategies. Several studies have explored how socioeconomic characteristics such as income and race impact evacuation behavior. Most of these studies focus o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Harsh Anand, Samarth Swarup, Majid Shafiee-Jood, Negin Alemazkoor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-11-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79754-9
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850129015253237760
author Harsh Anand
Samarth Swarup
Majid Shafiee-Jood
Negin Alemazkoor
author_facet Harsh Anand
Samarth Swarup
Majid Shafiee-Jood
Negin Alemazkoor
author_sort Harsh Anand
collection DOAJ
description Abstract As hurricanes become more frequent and destructive, understanding evacuation decision-making is crucial to refining disaster response strategies. Several studies have explored how socioeconomic characteristics such as income and race impact evacuation behavior. Most of these studies focus on a single hurricane event with the geographic extent limited to one or two states, each using a distinct study design, making them difficult to compare. This raises the question of whether findings from isolated cases can be generalized across different hurricane scenarios and geographical settings under a similar study design and consistent parameter definitions. To address this gap, in this study, we conduct a comparative analysis to understand income and racial disparity across multiple hurricane events. The results indicate that, even with a consistent study design, disparities in evacuation among different socioeconomic groups vary on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, we show that the study design significantly impacts the observed trends within a single case. This highlights the importance of avoiding generalized conclusions based on limited case studies. It further emphasizes how flawed study designs may fail to capture the complexities of real-world behaviors, thereby leading to suboptimal or ineffective policy recommendations or designs.
format Article
id doaj-art-6789904e6ced4ba4a9f84a64ae365be5
institution OA Journals
issn 2045-2322
language English
publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
record_format Article
series Scientific Reports
spelling doaj-art-6789904e6ced4ba4a9f84a64ae365be52025-08-20T02:33:07ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-11-0114111410.1038/s41598-024-79754-9Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and designHarsh Anand0Samarth Swarup1Majid Shafiee-Jood2Negin Alemazkoor3Department of Systems and Information Engineering, University of VirginiaBiocomplexity Institute, University of VirginiaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of VirginiaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of VirginiaAbstract As hurricanes become more frequent and destructive, understanding evacuation decision-making is crucial to refining disaster response strategies. Several studies have explored how socioeconomic characteristics such as income and race impact evacuation behavior. Most of these studies focus on a single hurricane event with the geographic extent limited to one or two states, each using a distinct study design, making them difficult to compare. This raises the question of whether findings from isolated cases can be generalized across different hurricane scenarios and geographical settings under a similar study design and consistent parameter definitions. To address this gap, in this study, we conduct a comparative analysis to understand income and racial disparity across multiple hurricane events. The results indicate that, even with a consistent study design, disparities in evacuation among different socioeconomic groups vary on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, we show that the study design significantly impacts the observed trends within a single case. This highlights the importance of avoiding generalized conclusions based on limited case studies. It further emphasizes how flawed study designs may fail to capture the complexities of real-world behaviors, thereby leading to suboptimal or ineffective policy recommendations or designs.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79754-9Hurricane evacuationMobility dataSocioeconomic disparityEvacuation orderIncome and race disparity
spellingShingle Harsh Anand
Samarth Swarup
Majid Shafiee-Jood
Negin Alemazkoor
Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design
Scientific Reports
Hurricane evacuation
Mobility data
Socioeconomic disparity
Evacuation order
Income and race disparity
title Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design
title_full Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design
title_fullStr Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design
title_full_unstemmed Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design
title_short Understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design
title_sort understanding of income and race disparities in hurricane evacuation is contingent upon study case and design
topic Hurricane evacuation
Mobility data
Socioeconomic disparity
Evacuation order
Income and race disparity
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79754-9
work_keys_str_mv AT harshanand understandingofincomeandracedisparitiesinhurricaneevacuationiscontingentuponstudycaseanddesign
AT samarthswarup understandingofincomeandracedisparitiesinhurricaneevacuationiscontingentuponstudycaseanddesign
AT majidshafieejood understandingofincomeandracedisparitiesinhurricaneevacuationiscontingentuponstudycaseanddesign
AT neginalemazkoor understandingofincomeandracedisparitiesinhurricaneevacuationiscontingentuponstudycaseanddesign