Federal disaster declarations are authorized by the president under the provisions of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988. Prior studies have found varying levels of political influence associated with the declaration process. Factors including electoral votes, reelection years, congressional committee appointments, geographic location, and party favoritism have been implicated in claims of inequity associated with the distribution of federal disaster assistance. Compounding these concerns is evidence of recurring problems associated with disparities in the long-term recovery from disasters based on social and economic factors. This dissertation is a response to the call for further research into the political dynamics of disaster declarations. Multivariate hierarchical analytical techniques and key stakeholder interviews were utilized to systematically investigate perceived inequities in the implementation of federal disaster policy and the consequences of those inequities with respect to health-related recovery in communities that had differential access to federal resources. The research findings counter broad claims of political motive in the distribution of federal resources after disasters. However, the observation of a disproportionate post disaster stress-related disease burden in portions of the study area is indicative of a procedural inequity that must be addressed. The recently enacted Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013 calls for a review of eligibility criteria for disaster declarations. The findings of this research are intended to contribute to the review process and assist in the reformulation of public policy in order to address the unique needs of previously unconsidered at-risk populations.

Societal risks to disasters are continually increasing and the scope of policy issues surrounding emergency management in the United States remains inundated with a number of challenges. Examining the connection between social capital and political trust is paramount as prior studies have documented that if communal networks are disrupted, there will be a lasting negative impact upon the community. As such, there are specific events that cause added strain which make certain time periods for examining levels of resiliency relevant. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that occurred on April 20, 2010, represents a large-scale, technological disaster. Not only was there a loss of human life, but a number of social and political impacts also exist with the oil having spewed out into the water. For instance, residents living along the Northern Gulf Coast do represent a heterogeneous population, which span across several geographical boundaries and represent a diverse range of cultures. Further, the economic interests of impacted residents were also likely torn between the oil and gas industry and the fishing and seafood industry, given that many individuals may have been concurrently employed full-time as oil rig workers and supplemented their financial income and/or quality of life as commercial fishermen. The goal of this research is to investigate how social capital and political trust significantly affect communal resiliency among those impacted by the oil spill. Results from this study will extend the limited understanding on the role of disaster responsibility in emergency management. Findings reveal that group belonging as related to race, education, and income significantly impact quality of life and trust in government which, in turn, influences the perception of disaster responsibility. Specifically, when trust goes down, a higher percentage of respondents indicate that the victims themselves should assume the majority of responsibility for taking care of themselves and their families following a disaster. Perhaps, individuals who are the least trusting or most cynical of the federal government feel that victims are better off taking care of themselves and their families in the aftermath of disaster given the storied history of disaster response.

Assessing the short-term socio-economic impacts of climate-led disasters on food trade networks requires new bottom-up models and vulnerability metrics rooted in complexity theory. Indeed, such shocks could generate cascading socio-economic losses across the networks layers where emerging agents¿ responses could trigger tipping points. We contribute to address this research gap by developing a multi-layer behavioral network methodology composed of multiple spatially-explicit layers populated by heterogeneous interacting agents. Then, by introducing a new multi-layer risk measure called vulnerability rank, or VRank, we quantify the stress in the aftermath of a shock. Our approach allows us to analyze both the supply- and the demand-side dimensions of the shock by quantifying short-term behavioral responses, the transmission channels across the layers, the conditions for reaching tipping points, and the feedback on macroeconomic indicators. By simulating a stylized two-layer supply-side production and demand-side household network model we find that, (i) socio-economic vulnerability to climate-led disasters is cyclical, (ii) the distribution of shocks depends critically on the network structure, and on the speed of supply-side and demand-side responses. Our results suggest that such a multi-layer framework could provide a comprehensive picture of how climate-led shocks cascade and how indirect losses can be measured. This is crucial to inform effective post-disaster policies aimed to build food trade network resilience to climate-led shocks, in particular in more agriculture-dependent bread-basket regions. / Series: Ecological Economic Papers

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This study examines ten major storms that have affected Louisiana in the last fifty years, beginning with Hurricane Betsy in 1965. The goal is to determine if the nine coastal parishes are prepared adequately for another major hurricane impact. It examines storms that have affected the state physically, in terms of property and ecological damages. It also considers storms that provided non-physical influences, by way of mitigation policy changes and social, economical, ecological, and political policy alterations. The main focus is on the transformations, if any, of social vulnerability in light of emergency preparedness in the areas impacted, particularly along the Louisiana coast. I argue that, while the State has come a long way, Louisiana is not currently prepared adequately to handle another major storm by 2015. Furthermore, I offer recommendations for improvement in preparedness measures for the future.