Social vulnerability, disaster assistance, and recovery: A population-based study of Hurricane Harvey in Greater Houston, Texas

Research has shown that post-disaster assistance may be inequitably distributed and that socially vulnerable residents may experience constraints in recovering from disasters. We examined social inequities in receipt of assistance and near-term recovery for a population-based sample of 312 Greater Houston households surveyed following Hurricane Harvey. We used generalized linear models to examine relationships between social vulnerability indicators and the receipt of assistance from all sources, and separately from government or non government organization (NGO) sources; and we assessed how social vulnerability indicators and the receipt of assistance influenced recovery. We found that householders identifying as US-born Hispanic (vs. non-Hispanic White) (OR = 4.50; 95% CI = 1.69,12.01), householders exhibiting more post-traumatic stress (PTS) (OR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.00,1.04), and households with more property damage (OR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.67,2.98) had greater odds of receiving assistance from any source. Having dependent children (OR = 2.38; 95% CI = 1.24,4.57), lower income (OR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.77,0.996), and more property damage (OR = 2.23; 95% CI = 1.66,2.99) increased households' odds of receiving government assistance. More PTS (OR = 1.03; 95% CI = 1.01,1.05) and property damage (OR = 1.77; 95% CI = 1.29,2.42) increased-while having disabled members decreased (OR = 0.37; 95% CI = 0.15,0.93)-households' odds of receiving NGO assistance. Receiving assistance did not predict greater household recovery (b =-0.05; 95% CI =-0.72,0.62), but higher income (b = 0.22; 95% CI = 0.09,0.36), absence of disability (b =-1.01; 95% CI: 1.98,-0.03), less PTS (b =-0.03; 95% CI =0.06, 0.01),and less property damage (b =-1.13; 95% CI =-1.45,-0.82) did. Findings suggest that post-disaster assistance organizations should better address the needs of disabled survivors, and that risk reduction efforts should emphasize pre-event hazard mitigation and disaster preparedness to facilitate post-event recovery.