Area of Expertise

I’m interested in analyzing disasters, how we can increase community preparedness and resilience to disasters, how sociopolitical factors have created disparities in disaster preparedness, and how to improve community health overall pre and post-disasters.

From a quick UCSB Library search, it looks like the most recent (past five years) scientific articles surrounding disasters and community health focus on psychological health post-disasters and on resilience/disaster preparedness for pre-disaster.

One of the barriers to progress in this field is the incompetence of the federal agency in charge of addressing disasters in the United States: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA is underfunded and understaffed, leading to delays in emergency response (for example, Puerto Rico didn’t receive a recovery center after Hurricane Maria until six months after the hurricane). Addressing issues like disaster preparedness and mental health is impossible when the basic physical needs aren’t even being met by the agency intended to fund and provide these services.

Within the next 10-20 years, I anticipate this topic having a stronger tie to climate change science, especially as more developed models for the future emerge, as a way of improving the disaster preparedness planning process. I think that after the disaster of COVID-19, we can hope to see stronger connections to the socioeconomic and political factors that exasperate a disaster and how improving those systems can increase community resilience and mental health.

The top three researchers / developers within my area of expertise are:

• Naomi Klein: developed the term “disaster capitalism” based on the response to Hurricane Katrina. From her publications page, it doesn’t seem like she consistently collaborates with anyone in particular.

• Susan Cutter: highly cited researcher and a Carolina Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina where she directs the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute. Cutter’s area of expertise is disaster resilience.

• Jayajit Chakraborty: is a highly cited researcher who focuses on environmental health outcomes, including those due to disasters