Racialized Aging in the Context of Climate Extremes: Post-Flood Healthy Aging and Recovery Among Older Adults in Quilombola Communities of Southern Brazil

Background: Quilombola communities, Afro-descendant Brazilian rural settlements with collectivistic culture, have suffered historical invasions and non-legalization of their territories, exposure to environmental degradation/hazards, and educational and health care deprivation by the government. Global climate changes have increased sea levels and the occurrence of floods. This study presents original empirical findings from ongoing qualitative fieldwork in Quilombola communities in Southern Brazil that were severely affected by the 2024 floods, focusing on post-disaster quality of life, health impacts, and community coping strategies. These dimensions remain underexamined in public health and environmental justice research. Methods: Guided by interdisciplinary frameworks of environmental racism, intersectionality, and critical disaster studies, flooding is analyzed not as a natural hazard, but as a socially produced risk shaped by racialized territorial exclusion, historical marginalization, and chronic governance failures. Data were generated by household testimonies, community observations, and assessments of governmental disaster responses. Results: Fragmented disaster management, unequal access to infrastructure, and limited participatory governance mechanisms intensified vulnerability, constrained adaptive capacity, and exacerbated health inequities among Quilombola populations. Despite these constraints, communities demonstrated strong resilience grounded in traditional knowledge, local solidarity networks, and collective agency. Conclusions: The study underscores the urgent need for equity-centered environmental governance and inclusive disaster risk reduction strategies to address healthy aging inequities.