Concerns and perceptions immediately following Superstorm Sandy: ratings for property damage were higher than for health issues

Abstract

Governmental officials, health and safety professionals, early responders, and the public are interested in the perceptions and concerns of people faced with a crisis, especially during and immediately after a disaster strikes. Reliable information can lead to increased individual and community preparedness for upcoming crises. The objective of this research was to evaluate concerns of coastal and central New Jersey residents within the first 100 days of Superstorm Sandy’s landfall. Respondents living in central New Jersey and Jersey shore communities were differentially impacted by the storm, with shore residents having higher evacuation rates (47% vs. 13%), more flood waters in their homes, longer power outages (average 23 vs. 6 days), and longer periods without Internet (29 vs. 6 days). Ratings of concerns varied both among and within categories as a function of location (central vs. coastal New Jersey), stressor level (ranging from 1 to 3 for combinations of power outages, high winds, and flooding), and demographics. Respondents were most concerned about property damage, health, inconveniences, ecological services, and nuclear power plants in that order. Respondents from the shore gave higher ratings to the concerns within each major category, compared to those from central Jersey. Four findings have implications for understanding future risk, recovery, and resiliency: (1) respondents with the highest stressor level (level 3) were more concerned about water damage than others, (2) respondents with flood damage were more concerned about water drainage and mold than others, (3) respondents with the highest stressor levels rated all ecological services higher than others, and (4) shore respondents rated all ecological services higher than central Jersey residents. These data provide information to design future preparedness plans, improve resiliency for future severe weather events, and reduce public health risk.

Perceptions of severe storms, climate change, ecological structures and resiliency three years post-hurricane Sandy in New Jersey

“…For Hispanic/Latinos, 83% of the interviews were conducted in Spanish. The interview questions were developed based on prior studies (Burger and Gochfeld 2014a, 2014b, 2015), were tested prior to implementation, and modifications were made to the format as a result of the pilot study. The questionnaire was translated into Spanish, and contained the following sections: 1) demographics, 2) concerns during Sandy , 3) normal center use and transportation to the center, 4) overall Sandy impact on the respondent, 5) existing medical conditions, health care and access to care, 6) ecological statements (only asked on half the sample), and 7) whether they knew what fracking was.…”

“…Storms threaten the health and safety of local residents, destroy property and infrastructure, stress emergency services and food supply lines, and pollute water supplies (Genovesa and Przyluski 2013). Weather-related disasters result in several days to weeks of electricity outages, displacement of people, breakdown of information sources, and lack of resources to survive (food, water, shelter, medicines, transportation, Burger and Gochfeld 2014a, 2015). Severe disasters result in emotional distress, posttraumatic stress, and other serious health effects (McLaughlin et al 2010; Shear et al 2011; Lurie et al 2015; Ryan et al 2015).…”

“…The storm caused over 150 deaths, destroyed over 345,000 housing units, and resulted in $3 billion in damages to NJ transit roads and bridges. Many people who refused orders to evacuate before the storm, faced emergency evacuation because of storm surges, flooding, and loss of power (BBB 2012; Freedman 2013; Hsu 2013; Burger and Gochfeld 2015). Some people are still displaced, and others left their homes permanently.…”

“…In a study within the first 100 days of Hurricane Sandy , over 700 people residing in coastal and inland New Jersey were interviewed about their perceptions and concerns (Burger and Gochfeld 2014a, 2015). Findings were that 1) stress level was a better predictor of ratings of ecological structures and services than geographical location, 2) Whites rated ecological services higher than others, and 3) only 20% of respondents listed ecological services as one of their three most important concerns about Sandy .…”

“…Understanding whether people made the connection between stable, high dunes and salt marshes, and damage from severe storms is important because people make personal decisions filtered through perceptions, values, culture, and their ability to act or influence other decisions (Casagrande 1996; Gallup 2015), and their values in turn impact public policy. Following Sandy , most studies focused on damages and injuries, infrastructure and power outages, health effects (Freedman 2013; Brackbill et al 2014; Abramson et al 2015; Burger and Gochfeld 2014a, 2015), and geophysical processes (Hsu 2013; Forbes et al 2014; Gruebner et al 2016), and much less on ecological protection of human communities (Barone et al 2014; Burger 2015). Yet, ecological structures (e.g.…”