Latino Disaster Vulnerability

When a natural or manmade disaster strikes, there is usually little time for citizens to prepare and protect themselves. In September 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Defense implemented a National Response Plan dealing with many forms of disaster. However, when a disaster hits, not all citizens are equally prepared or protected. A sample of 165 Latino and 1,069 Non-Latino Florida single-family homeowners is drawn from the 1999 Florida Statewide Mitigation Survey (SMS) to investigate the problems associated with the dissemination of hurricane mitigation information among Florida’s Latino homeowners. Results from logistic regression analyses reveal that Latino homeowners prefer to utilize friends and family as sources of disaster preparation information. The significance of research findings and policy implications are discussed.