what is life
with disaster
Answers
Disaster behavioral health professionals can use this issue of the Supplemental Research Bulletin to
inform their disaster behavioral health planning for low SES populations. The issue helps to clarify the
ways in which people of low SES may be at greater risk than other groups in disasters, as well as barriers
to disaster preparedness and other adverse situations or experiences they may face during the phases of
disaster impact, response, and recovery. The issue also includes suggestions for policies to support better
outcomes for people of low SES in and after disasters.
In selecting research to review for this Bulletin, we took a broad approach to the topics of wealth and
poverty, income, and SES. SAMHSA (2014) defines SES in the United States as “related to many factors,
including occupational prestige and education, yet . . . primarily associated with income level.” Because
SES encompasses occupation and education as well as income, we use it as a general term in this issue.
However, because studies cited in this issue look at multiple factors (for example, income level, poverty,
and years of education), we also indicate the exact ways related to SES that researchers identify groups
of people affected by disasters.
In this issue, we also use the term “vulnerability” broadly, to refer to greater risk of negative experiences,
effects, and reactions before, during, and after a disaster. For example, vulnerability for people of low
SES may refer to greater likelihood of living in fragile housing, having difficulty accessing resources after
a disaster, and experiencing trauma during and after a disaster. It also may refer to lower likelihood of
receiving warnings of disasters, having the ability to evacuate in response to disaster warnings, and being
able to access post-disaster aid. We use vulnerability as a measure of risk or likelihood—not of actual
negative experiences, effects, and reactions.
While the Bulletin includes insights from comprehensive literature reviews, it is not itself a comprehensive
review of the literature. It discusses several review studies, as well as studies that have examined the role
that SES has played in several disasters—but it is not exhaustive.
In the Bulletin, we focus on low SES individuals and communities in particular—on studies that look at
SES as a dimension of disaster vulnerability and on elements of studies that relate to SES. However,
much disaster research, especially recent research, focuses on the intersection and overlapping of
more than one type of vulnerability. People who are affected by disasters and are vulnerable along one
dimension often are vulnerable along others as well (for example, age, gender, disability status, level
of disaster exposure). In general, people with less power along a variety of dimensions tend to be more
vulnerable and may fare more poorly in and after disasters. In this Bulletin, we use SES as a way to focus
on potential disaster vulnerability, but it is by no means the full picture of disaster vulnerability in the real
world, where people experience disasters in distinct ways depending on various aspects of their position
in society.