This very timely article published about two weeks ago provides a nice summary of some of the background linking social and demographic factors (age, ethnicity, SES, homelessness, gender, as well as access to education, networks of reciprocity, and power and autonomy) to vulnerability to natural hazards. It is pretty much exactly the scene playing out currently in New Orleans and other areas affected by Hurricane Katrina (compare it to this article in today's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02discrim.html?th&emc=th).
Though the particular case study focuses on specific applications of a social vulnerability paradigm to natural hazards mitigation planning (the natural hazards world's equivalent of health promotion and disease prevention), the conceptual cross-over to public health and disaster response planning seems obvious, especially given clear documentation of disproportionate disease incidence burdens among populations with similarly disadvantaged social and demographic characteristics. The introduction, conclusion and recommendations are directly relevant to current efforts in public health preparedness planning as well as to broader work involving social determinants of health.
[In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I learned of this article because the author is my wife...]
Juntunen L. 2005. Addressing social vulnerability to hazards. Disaster Safety Review. 4 (2): 3-10.
Link to the article at:
Ryan Deibert.