By May Chan
Inhabitants of rural areas might love their large stretches of field and woodland, or the ability to recognize every face at the local post office, but the small size of their community and relative isolation can work against them when a storm hits, floodwaters rise, or a fire blazes. In our interview with Kristy Drutman, she discussed the problem of plastic pollution in rural areas and the links between incarceration and natural catastrophes. Her interest in this subject demonstrated how vulnerable rural areas are to both natural and man-made calamities. Due to a number of variables, such as inadequate access to emergency infrastructure, geographic isolation, and financial instability, rural areas are frequently more vulnerable.
To begin, rural areas have medical infrastructure disparities with urban areas. Rural residents may reside on reservations and frontiers. Rural communities often lack local public health departments and instead rely on state public health organizations, therefore they frequently have to travel great distances to obtain a healthcare provider (Bethel et al., 2013). Where there are rural local public health departments, many of them have insufficient funding and staff (Waldrop & Gee, 2022). Similar to urban hospitals, many rural hospitals experience resource and budgetary limitations. Rural hospitals and public health services may therefore be unable to appropriately respond to emergencies, leaving local residents at risk (Rural Public Health Agencies Overview – Rural Health Information Hub, n.d.)
Moreover, rural residents are more prone to experience isolation because there are fewer surrounding resources available to help families and communities recover. For instance, in a city, the municipal government may have the resources to quickly analyze the extent of infrastructure damage, link with federal recovery funds, and install water, sewage, power, and transit systems. Additionally, there are typically non-profit organizations nearby to assist locals in receiving immediate aid for funding to rebuild their homes and businesses. However, If one is trapped in knee-deep floodwaters on the outskirts of a small town in a rural town that has been devastated by a hurricane, the few plumbers, electricians, and builders who would typically “serve clients within 60 miles radius, cannot pull off major rebuilding, or even a minor repair for that matter” (Anarde, n.d.). In a place like this, the destruction of vital infrastructure and staff after a disaster can cause an economic domino effect that jeopardizes not only the survival of individual houses but also the community as a whole.
Furthermore, because of their marginalized status, some groups may be exposed to great financial risk during natural and man-made disasters. Numerous rural communities suffer from economic deprivation, poor levels of education, and high rates of poverty and unemployment (Rahman, 2013). Because of this, it may be difficult for locals to afford basic essentials after a disaster, such as food and shelter. Because of their isolation and poor communication systems, disaster training programs typically fail to reach them (“Solving Rural US Health Care Challenges with Frugal Innovation: Low-Costs, High Returns,” 2022). For example, in my grandmother’s community in Shanxi, China, Earthquakes frequently occured, Many families in the area rely primarily on jobs that depend on natural resources, like farming, for their income. Disasters can ruin their affordable dwellings and harm their crops, leaving less resources available to aid in their recovery.
However, by putting emergency plans into place that require community involvement, the government can lessen the vulnerability of rural areas. In a study by the US Department of Health and Human Services, emergency managers emphasized the value of these collaborations because they believed that the “whole community,” not only emergency management, was responsible for identifying at-risk people (Wolkin et al., 2015). Through actual participation in emergency planning, rural residents can understand natural hazards and the importance to combat them as a whole. Similar to what Kristy had in her interview, emergency information “wasn’t being showcased in a way that was digestible or accessible” to rural residents. Therefore, individuals within rural communities can collectively implement a whole community approach to emergency preparedness and delegate tasks and obligations to community members based on their knowledge, talents, and capacities.
In conclusion, rural areas are especially socially susceptible to both natural and man-made disasters because of their isolation from other areas and limited access to emergency preparation. Poverty can make it increasingly harder for rural communities to plan for and recover from disasters, increasing their vulnerability on a social level. Isolation and limited access to infrastructure make it challenging to recover. But these communities have strong, supportive networks that create a greater sense of community which can be a powerful tool to recover if government agencies and other groups support them.
Citations
Waldrop, T., & Gee, E. (2022, February 8). How States Can Expand Health Care Access in Rural Communities. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/how-states-can-expand-health-care-access-in-rural-communities/
Rural Public Health Agencies Overview – Rural Health Information Hub. (n.d.). www.rural healthinfo.org. https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/topics/public-health
Solving Rural US Health Care Challenges With Frugal Innovation: Low-Costs, High Returns. (2022). Forefront Group. https://doi.org/10.1377/forefront.20220222.972908
Anarde, S. (n.d.). The Rural Difference. Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/rural-difference/
Rahman, Md. S. (2013). Climate Change, Disaster and Gender Vulnerability: A Study on Two Divisions of Bangladesh. American Journal of Human Ecology, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.11634/216796221302315
Tripathy, S. S., Bhatia, U., Mohanty, M., Karmakar, S., & Ghosh, S. (2021). Flood evacuation during pandemic: a multi-objective framework to handle compound hazard. Environmental Research Letters, 16(3), 034034. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abda70
Bethel, J. W., Burke, S. C., & Britt, A. F. (2013). Disparity in disaster preparedness between racial/ethnic groups. Disaster Health, 1(2), 110–116. https://doi.org/10.4161/dish.27085
Wolkin, A., Patterson, J. R., Harris, S., Soler, E., Burrer, S., McGeehin, M., & Greene, S. (2015). Reducing Public Health Risk During Disasters: Identifying Social Vulnerabilities. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 12(4), 809–822. https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsem-2014-0104
Understanding Rural Vulnerability to Natural Hazards: Mitigation Plans, Planning Process and Outcomes – UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL. (n.d.). Portal.nifa.usda.gov. https://portal.nifa.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/0222809-understanding-rural-vulnerability-to-natural-hazards-mitigation-plans-planning-process-and-outcomes.html
Kristy Drutman, personal communication, December 13, 2022.
About Author
