Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Exploratory Study On The Association Between Community Resilience And Disaster Preparedness In The Rio Grande Valley, Dean Kyne

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

(1) Background: Severe weather events have impacted over 100 million Americans in the past two years, highlighting the importance of individual disaster preparedness in building community resilience. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing individuals’ perceived disaster resiliency and preparedness in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

(2) Methods: Data were collected from 846 respondents using the Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART) Assessment Survey instrument. The study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the association between disaster preparedness and community resilience.

(3) Results: The findings of the study revealed a significant association between disaster preparedness and perceived community resilience. …

Measuring Social Vulnerability And Exposure To Potential Risks Induced By Spaceport Operations In South Texas: An Empirical Study Utilizing Gis Methods And Social Vulnerability Indicators, Evan D. Garcia

Theses and Dissertations

The commercialization of space has increased spaceport development and activity across the United States. The magnitude of growth can be witnessed through the spaceport expansion and spacecraft testing at the SpaceX “Starbase” Launch Facility, located along the Texas-Mexico border. Matching the pace of SpaceX’s growth while evaluating levels of risk, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) diligently conducted a comprehensive Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA). While this assessment provides significant environmental impact data and risk analysis, much is left to understand regarding hazards and risk exposure to local communities. More specifically, research is needed to understand hazards associated with operational- and anomaly- …

Disaster Risk Perception, Climate Change Awareness, And Disaster Preparedness Among University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley Students, Anandita Roy

Theses and Dissertations

University students are usually young and have low-income resources, live in dormitories or low-rent housing near the university, and have little to no disaster experience. Therefore, they are vulnerable to disasters due to a lack of resources for preparation. To better understand the vulnerability of students to disasters, the study aims to assess the perceptions of disaster risk, climate change awareness, and the level of disaster preparedness of students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). In this study, we collected data from 320 students who participated in an online survey. The study’s findings provide an understanding of …

Evaluating Disaster Evacuation Plans Of Families With Special Medical Needs (Smn) In The Rio Grande Valley: A Proposal For Providing A Special Needs Disaster Shelter, Jeannette Zallar

Theses and Dissertations

During a disaster, people have the choice of whether to evacuate or shelter in place. The problem with that is that the impact of disasters is never the same; one disaster can cause one to shelter in place, and within the same day, evacuation might be required. For those who are able-bodied, and have financial means, this is not a problem. It is a problem, however, for those who are disabled, struggling with chronic illnesses, or caring for those who have a disability or chronic illness.

This thesis studies these populations, and proposes a potential solution for disaster evacuation: a …

Global Famine After Nuclear War, Lilia Xia, Alan Robock, Kim J. N. Scherrer, Cheryl S. Harrison, Jonas Jaegermeyr, Charles G. Bardeen, Owen B. Toon, Ryan F. Heneghan

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Predicting Collaboration: Risk, Power, And Dependence In The Gulf Of Maine, Derek A. Katznelson

Theses and Dissertations

Collaboration among natural resource organizations and users is touted by researchers as an effective approach to managing common pool resources. To understand how collaboration works, previous studies in organizational theory have identified three variables: power, dependence, and risk. Relationships between actors can be represented by these qualifications of resources or threats and may predict if those relationships are in conflict or asymmetric in power. In this study, the Gulf of Maine transboundary fishery management network relied upon a dyadic influenced survey to quantitatively capture the perception of communication ties between organizations. Four kinds of dependence and three types of risk …

Do Individuals Have Stressful Experience Of A Future Possible Disaster In The Rio Grande Valley?, Nancy Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

The risk of exposure to natural and man-made disasters in the United States has been an increasing concern among key stakeholders. During a disaster event, individuals living in the impacted area experience destruction through personal experience. Whereas, individuals living in other parts of the country experience the disaster second-hand through media outlets such as print, news broadcast, social media, and the Internet.

This study focuses on individuals living in the Rio Grande Valley, a location that is geographically vulnerable to natural disasters including hurricanes, flooding, flash flooding, and storm surge. The study investigates whether individuals indirectly experience stress of two …

Climate Resiliency: Application Of Gis Methods To Assess Flood Risk, Vulnerability, Potential Impacts, And Resiliency In Hidalgo County, Texas, Joe F. Chavez

Theses and Dissertations

A contemporary concern towards the increased force of storms and massive rainfall occurrences caused by climate change are issues that can cause socio-economic disturbances, destruction of property, and loss of life. The implementation of techniques towards enhancing preparedness, planning, and mitigation, such as assessing risk and vulnerabilities through a Geographic Information System (GIS), can promote climate resiliency. This study measures the risk and vulnerabilities of assets within Hidalgo County through GIS spatial analysis. STATA and GIS results were used to summarize the number of vulnerable assets and assets at risk as well as assets exposed to flooding at the County …

Decision-Support System For Lid Footprint Planning And Urban Runoff Mitigation In The Lower Rio Grande Valley Of South Texas, Javier Guerrero, Taufiqul Alam, Ahmed Mahmoud, Kim D. Jones, Andrew Ernest

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

To address regional flooding in the United States, federal and state agencies are adopting strict drainage policies in any large-scale commercial development within the watershed boundary. The conventional approach of implementing a wet detention pond (WP) reduces the land cover and causes operation and maintenance challenges eventually. The present study developed a decision-support system (DSS) in the Lower Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas for optimal selection of Best Management Practices (BMPs) by substituting a portion of the WP footprint with three regionally promising low-impact development practices, namely, porous concrete pavement (PCP), bioretention (BR), and bioswale (BS). Source Load …

Empirical Evaluation Of Disaster Preparedness For Hurricanes In The Rio Grande Valley, Dean Kyne, Leslie Cisneros, Josue Delacruz, Bianca Lopez, Cristina Madrid, Rebecca Moran, Alma Provencio, Felix Ramos, Maria Fernanda Silva

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Individual emergency preparedness is critical to mitigate and minimize the negative impacts from disasters. Preparing for future disasters could enhance capacity to better cope with the external shocks and achieve a faster return to normalcy after the disaster event. This study investigates how individuals living in the Rio Grande Valley prepare themselves for the future hurricane disasters. The study investigates the state of objective and subjective preparedness and any discrepancy between the two types of disaster preparedness. Using collected data from590 respondents via an online survey instrument, the study examines the relationships between the states of individual preparedness and selected …

Measuring Disaster Resiliency In The Rio Grande Valley, Alma R. Provencio

Theses and Dissertations

People are now becoming more conscious of the effects of climate change. They are seeking to understand how to manage their resources and prepare for when a disaster strikes. The growing studies of disaster resilience lend that opportunity. In this spatial and temporal study, disaster resilience was measured for each census tract within the four counties of the Rio Grande Valley. Utilizing GIS tools and methods, the study examines resilience patterns between 2010 and 2017.

Results showed that even though various census tracts from each of the four counties increased in resilience from 2010 to 2017, the overall total resilience …

Local Disaster Planning And Preparedness Coordination In The Rio Grande Valley, Cristina L. Madrid

Theses and Dissertations

Hurricanes and flooding events yield complex social and environmental consequences to coastal communities. Disaster preparedness and recovery is a multidisciplinary and multi-jurisdictional effort that requires coordination and planning across many actors.

Existing research recognizes the link between social capital and a community’s ability to respond to and ‘bounce back’ to normalcy after such hazardous events. However, few studies have examined the institutional dimension of social capital among communities noted for high levels of poverty situated in disaster-prone areas along the U.S. Mexico border. We aim to fill this gap by using survey data collected from emergency management practitioners in the …

Who Will Stay, Who Will Leave: Decision-Making Of Residents Living In Potential Hurricane Impact Areas During A Hypothetical Hurricane Event In The Rio Grande Valley, Dean Kyne, Arlett Sophia Lomeli, William Donner, Erika Zuloaga

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) has been impacted by various hurricanes throughout history. While Hurricane evacuation has been studied extensively in other contexts, there is limited systematic research on the warning and response to a large-scale severe weather event in South Texas. This study attempts to understand the evacuation decision-making behavior of Southern residents in the event of a Hurricane making landfall over the Rio Grande Valley. The study uses an online survey questionnaire with 1060 participants: 275 students attending the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley and the remaining 785 are members of the community. Throughout the course of the …

An Expert System For Local Flood Response Coordination And Training, Xiaoyin Zhang, Gary Moynihan, Andrew Ernest, Joseph Gutenson

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Flood response is an essential component of flood management to rescue people, reduce property loss, and limit the impact to the environment. Effective flood response depends on a sound coordination structure with unified responsibilities, smooth communications, and scalable response plans. An efficient coordination system, including command and management structures, is built on a thorough understanding of the responsibilities and actions of each role for delivering the response core capabilities. Collecting, sharing, using, and handling the knowledge require great efforts in knowledge management. To further enhance such efforts, an expert system for local flood response coordination and training (LFRS) was developed …

Emerging Environmental Justice Issues In Nuclear Power And Radioactive Contamination, Dean Kyne, Bob Bolin

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nuclear hazards, linked to both U.S. weapons programs and civilian nuclear power, pose substantial environment justice issues. Nuclear power plant (NPP) reactors produce low-level ionizing radiation, high level nuclear waste, and are subject to catastrophic contamination events. Justice concerns include plant locations and the large potentially exposed populations, as well as issues in siting, nuclear safety, and barriers to public participation. Other justice issues relate to extensive contamination in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, and the mining and processing industries that have supported it. To approach the topic, first we discuss distributional justice issues of NPP sites in the U.S. …

A Longitudinal Study Of Human Exposure To Potential Nuclear Power Plant Risk, Dean Kyne, Jason T. Harris

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study constructs a potential risk index (PRI) for the 65 U.S.-based commercial nuclear power plant (NPP) sites in relation to their surrounding populations. Four risk levels are defined: low risk, moderate risk, high risk, and very high risk. Discrepancies that exist in the sociodemographic characteristics of the host communities’ populations are examined as sorted by risk-level category. It is found that a greater percentage of minority groups are exposed to the highest levels of risk. In addition, percent “Hispanic” and percent “Other,” a grouping that includes multiracial, mixed, interracial, as well as Hispanic and Latino groups (for example, Mexican, …

Fluvial Geomorphologic And Hydrodynamic Assessment In The Tidal Portion Of The Lower Rio Grande River, Us-Mexico Borderland, Andrew Ernest, B. Bokhim, N. B. Chang, I. J. Huang

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

With fast population growth and economic development in the US-Mexico Borderland, water diversion and usages has reduced the flow substantially in the Low Rio Grande River (LRGR). Tidal portion of the LRGR has posed an environmental drought issue since 1993 and the channel clogged with the invasion of non-native plants also causes environmental problems. As a result of the intensity of these natural and manmade factors, the Rio Grande stopped flowing to the sea in February 2001. The flows were reduced to a point that they were unable to push out the sand deposited at the mouth. Geomorphologic evolution in …