Hazards Equity Working Group
A Working Group of the American Geophysical Union's Natural Hazards Section
Our Mission
The Hazards Equity Working Group (HEWG) is focused on improving the diversity, equity, and inclusivity of natural hazards research and promoting greater equity and justice in our societal response to natural hazards, guided by the following core principles: education of scientists, open sharing of science outside the scientific community, and targeted efforts to increase impact through partnerships.
- Read the full charter here
Recent Updates
March 8, 2023
As you may know, we held our annual elections over the last two weeks, to populate the steering committee of HEWG. We didn't have much in the way of a response, and we are taking that as a signal from membership that it's time to move into a more passive version of HEWG. What this means is that we will no longer have a central leadership or regular town halls. We will still keep the listserv open, however, so folks can share relevant information, arrange meetups, or look for participation on new initiatives/tasks. The HEWG website will also stay up, and members will be able to request access if they want to create a new page on the site or update an existing one.
As we discussed at our Town Hall meeting today, the White Paper and AGU Session tasks are still moving forward. If you're interested in joining, you can reach out to Felix Donkor or Elizabeth Vanacore.
Overall, I want to express my gratitude for all of the members who have been involved over the last 3 years. Through your efforts, we've been able to:
Create a library of hazard equity resources
Publish in EOS
Host sessions at AGU and SSA
Host meet ups
Hold numerous virtual coffee hours
Discuss pressing issues related to hazard equity and outreach
Voice our concerns to Natural Hazard Section leadership
Liaise with groups sharing a similar set of interests
In addition, I greatly value the opportunities to hear from folks with a different perspective and to learn more about topics like inclusivity, social science, education, and disaster response. These experiences provide us the opportunity to continue representing issues of hazard equity in our work, in many venues, even if we will no longer meet up over town halls. Again, I thank every one of you for your effort, and look forward to meeting again in the future.
Oct 7, 2022
We had a productive meeting yesterday, hearing updates and talking about some upcoming events. Most importantly, HEWG will be at this year's AGU Meeting! Liz Vanacore and Felix Donkor are leading several HEWG sessions, including oral and poster presentations on the Wednesday of AGU. We are also looking to arrange some in-person meet ups. For those who are interested, please fill out this 1-question poll to help us figure out what events to plan. If you are interested in helping to plan, please contact Elizabeth Sherill.
Also, we had talked at a previous meeting about creating 'teachable moments' for disaster equity following major events. We are wondering if there is anyone interested in helping to write a a brief summary of the event and the disaster equity considerations for the recent Hurricane Ian. If so, please contact Tiegan Hobbs.
Finally, we are trying to rethink our monthly 'coffee hour' events. We want to hear from folks about whether there would be more interest in turning this into more of a discussion or reading group. You can vote in this poll, which should be open for about the next week, or contact Tiegan.
See you all at our next meeting on Thursday, Dec 1, 2022 (Register Here). For those who wish to watch the recording or read the meeting minutes, please check out our 'Meetings' page.
Feb 13, 2022
During our recent townhall, we had a great discussion about strategic plans for HEWG over the next 5 years. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to finish. We welcome you to join us for a follow-up planning meeting on Thursday Feb 17 at 1pm Pacific (23:00 GMT). We hope to see you there!
We're still looking for an AGU Equity Liaison as part of the the HEWG Steering Committee. To nominate yourself for this role, use this link.
Jan 31, 2022
Please join us for a townhall meeting on Tuesday Feb 1 at 8:30am Pacific (16:30 GMT). Registration is here.
We'd also appreciate it if you could complete this survey to help us determine the future tasks and directions of HEWG (it should take <15 minutes): https://forms.gle/PNEX4wKna7uieP9o8
Dec 13, 2021
Check out our poster at the AGU Fall Meeting this week!
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- Past newsletters are archived in the Google group.
Our History
HEWG was founded in June 2020 after a call to action from the executive board of the AGU Natural Hazards section. Over 100 people attended HEWG's first meeting, representing the strong desire of the community to more fully consider the impact of inequity in hazard impacts and research. Specifically, it was recognized that disasters disproportionately affect and cause harm to equity-seeking groups such as those with low income, those who are socially marginalized or stigmatized, women, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, Black people, Indigenous people, People of Color, and those who are newly immigrated or don't speak the official language[s], among others. While there has been a push for evidence-based decision making that is bringing physical science into the hands of policy makers and practitioners, results must also be considered in terms of the equity of proposed solutions. To enable this more holistic view of disaster risk reduction, the scientific results must be communicated in terms of or alongside social vulnerability data. For example, understanding not just how vulnerable a building is to flooding, earthquakes, or wildfire, but also knowing who is in that building and what their capacity is to absorb and recover from the impact. This was the initial call that brought HEWG into existence. From there, it has evolved into a smaller but still passionate group. We're also interested in increasing the diversity of the research community, advocating for open access to scientific information, and coordinating with other groups working towards a similar goal.