Compounded disasters: Puerto Rico confronts COVID‐19 under US colonialism

Garriga-López, Adriana

doi:10.1111/1469-8676.12821

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…In Puerto Rico, GDP per capita is about 50% less than in the U.S. to which it is a territory [ 117 ] and 4 out of 10 people live in poverty [ 118 ]. The Puerto Rican healthcare system receives less funding from the U.S. government than the mainland, and the lack of federal funding support accelerates the decline in the quality and availability of healthcare facilities in Puerto Rico [ 119 , 120 ]. Zika remains with eight new cases of symptomatic Zika virus in 2020 [ 121 ], requiring continual monitoring and attention.…”

Section: Background: Social Vulnerability Health Inequity and Envirmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the wake of COVID-19, Puerto Rico implemented strict lockdown orders and social distancing even while some people who were forced out of their home during the earthquake were still living in tents [ 125 ]. Puerto Rico continues to rebuild and recover as it faces COVID-19 and just as with Hurricane Maria relief, government support still lags behind the rest of U.S., and so Puerto Rico has the lowest COVID-19 testing rates per capita in the U.S [ 119 ].…”

Section: Background: Social Vulnerability Health Inequity and Envirmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The CHASMS conceptual model of cascading disasters and social vulnerability: The COVID-19 case example

Thomas

Jang

Scandlyn

2020

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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Complex environmental, economic, and social conditions in the places we live provide strong cues to our longevity, livelihood, and well-being. Although often distinct and evolving relatively independently, health disparity, social vulnerability and environmental justice research and practice intertwine and inform one another. Together, they increasingly provide evidence of how social processes intensify disasters almost predictably giving rise to inequitable disruptions and consequences. The domino and cumulative effects of cascading disasters invariably reveal inequities through differential impacts and recovery opportunities across communities and subgroups of people. Not only do cascading disasters reveal and produce inequitable effects, the cascade itself can emerge out of compounded nested social structures. Drawing on, and integrating, theory and practice from social vulnerability, health inequity, and environmental justice, this paper presents a comprehensive conceptual model of cascading disasters that offers a people-centric lens. The CHASMS conceptual model ( C ascading H azards to dis A sters that are S ocially constructed e M erging out of S ocial Vulnerability) interrogates the tension between local communities and the larger structural forces that produce social inequities at multiple levels, capturing how those inequities lead to cascading disasters. We apply the model to COVID-19 as an illustration of how underlying inequities give rise to foreseeable inequitable outcomes, emphasizing the U.S. experience. We offer Kenya and Puerto Rico as examples of cumulative effects and possible cascades when responding to other events in the shadow of COVID-19. COVID-19 has vividly exposed the dynamic, complex, and intense relevance of placing social conditions and structures at the forefront of cascading disaster inquiry and practice. The intensity of social disruption and the continuation of the pandemic will, no doubt, perpetuate and magnify chasms of injustice.

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Section: Background: Social Vulnerability Health Inequity and Envirmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Background: Social Vulnerability Health Inequity and Envirmentioning

confidence: 99%

The CHASMS conceptual model of cascading disasters and social vulnerability: The COVID-19 case example

Thomas

Jang

Scandlyn

2020

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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“…It is also important to note that not all EWEs are comparable in terms of their potential impact on the individual, society, and the region as a whole. Puerto Rico, for example, has experienced compounding disasters including successive hurricanes in 2017, ongoing seismic activity, and, presently, COVID‐19, making it difficult for its citizens to recover fully 70 . In a review of the related literature, Cianconi et al make a key distinction between the psychological consequences of acute, isolated weather events (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Puerto Rico, for example, has experienced compounding disasters including successive hurricanes in 2017, ongoing seismic activity, and, presently, COVID-19, making it difficult for its citizens to recover fully. 70 In a review of the related literature, Cianconi et al make a key distinction between the psychological consequences of acute, isolated weather events (i.e. a single tornado) versus a prolonged event or series of events impacting one geographic location.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of extreme weather events on child mood and behavior

Barkin

Buoli

Curry

et al. 2021

Develop Med Child Neuro

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Extreme weather events (EWEs) are increasing in frequency and severity as the planet continues to become warmer. Resulting disasters have the potential to wreak havoc on the economy, infrastructure, family unit, and human health. Global estimates project that children will be disproportionately impacted by the changing climate – shouldering 88% of the related burdens. Exposure to EWEs in childhood is traumatic, with ramifications for mental health specifically. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety have all been associated with childhood EWE exposure and have the potential to persist under certain circumstances. Conversely, many childhood survivors of EWE also demonstrate resilience and experience only transient symptoms. While the majority of studies are focused on the effects resulting from one specific type of disaster (hurricanes), we have synthesized the literature across the various types of EWEs. We describe psychological symptoms and behavior, the potential for long‐term effects, and potential protective factors and risk factors. Climate change‐related phenomena such as extreme weather events (EWEs) have the potential to impact mood and behavior in children. Posttraumatic stress (PTS) is the most common mental health consequence in child survivors of EWEs. PTS is often comorbid with depression and/or anxiety in this group.

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“…Against the preponderance of such representations, Puerto Ricans have 'bet on their own survival,' using mutual aid strategies to contend with the reality that 'only the people save the people' (Rodríguez Soto, 2020). The imperialist narrative of Puerto Rican incompetence and corruption obscures these efforts to care for one another and to recover from the compounding disasters experienced since Maria (Garriga-López, 2020a). In this recovery process, Puerto Ricans across the islands and in the diaspora have strategized extensively, engaged in autonomous community organizing, and conducted what amounts to a grassroots disaster recovery (Garriga-López, 2019).…”

Section: Background and Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forging compromiso after the storm: activism as ethics of care among health care workers in Puerto Rico

Mulligan

Garriga-López

2020

Critical Public Health

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Puerto Rico was hit by a category 4 hurricane that severely damaged power, water, and communications systems on the 20 th of September 2017. Based on 56 qualitative interviews, this article documents how health care workers created a new ethics of care after Hurricane Maria and engaged in novel forms of health activism to both repair past damage and imagine a different future. Many doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals went to work after the storm treating patients, fixing their workplaces, and resolving logistical problems. Health care workers responded emotionally to the event by finding meaning and purpose in their work, forging a sense of solidarity, and valuing their ability to help others. Our respondents used the term compromiso to describe their determination and sense of purpose, and we borrow this term to label the specific ethics of care generated from their experiences after Maria.

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Compounded disasters: Puerto Rico confronts COVID‐19 under US colonialism

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

The CHASMS conceptual model of cascading disasters and social vulnerability: The COVID-19 case example

The CHASMS conceptual model of cascading disasters and social vulnerability: The COVID-19 case example

Effects of extreme weather events on child mood and behavior

Forging compromiso after the storm: activism as ethics of care among health care workers in Puerto Rico

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