Access to Disaster Services

This study uses geographic and network analysis, and regression techniques, to examine access to services for vulnerable populations in disaster, and offer potential interventions to improve access. The population for this study is 67 organizations providing disaster social services in a U.S. metropolitan area, and an additional 25 organizations which are willing to provide these services but do not have a formal disaster relief function. The findings from this study indicate a lack of relief services for vulnerable populations, including African-Americans, people over 75 years old, and female-headed households with young children. During a disaster, a type of social injustice results from (a) the vulnerability of these populations to disaster, (b) the higher vulnerability to disaster of the areas in which these populations reside, (c) the smaller number of organizations serving these areas, (d) the lower capacities and network interaction of these local organizations, and (e) the formidable geographic barriers slowing redistribution of resources in a disaster. If connectedness of smaller, informal organizations to the disaster network were improved, otherwise isolated organizations could be a source of substantial resources for the metropolitan area. Suggestions are offered for interventions, based on services coordination (Provan & Milward, 1995) and community organization models (Soliman, 1996), for correcting the lack of access to services documented by this study.