Unequal vulnerability and resilience to compounding climate hazards: centering the lived experiences of marginalized populations in Portland, Oregon

Keywords: Cascading Disasters, Climate adaptation, Covid, uneven resilience, environmental injustice.
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

The Portland Metropolitan Region has long been considered a potential haven for climate migrants, but in recent years has experienced a series of climate-related hazards. After a traumatic wildfire event with hazardous air quality in September 2020, and an ice-storm that resulted in thousands of power outages and damaged trees in February 2021, an unprecedented heat wave struck in June 2021 with temperatures reaching 46.7°C. The heat killed 93 people, most of whom were elderly and lived alone. These events happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, which served as an added stressor for populations in the region. To better understand the vulnerability and resilience of different socio-demographics to consecutive and cascading hazards, we compared social vulnerability index and baseline resilience index using the 2010 and 2020 census data and American Community Survey and correlated these indices with climate hazard data. We also mapped hot and cold spots of highest and lowest risk of compounding impacts. To ground-truth our findings, we conducted resident interviews (n = 30) and selected populations of different race, age, gender, class, and other intersectional identities. We also examined how responses to these hazards reinforce, moderate, or ameliorate historical patterns of injustices and marginalization. Our analysis demonstrates how linkages between Earth System Sciences and the lived realities of cascading disasters can center marginalized and underrepresented groups in hazard mitigation and climate adaptation planning. These findings suggest convergence science is a critically important framework for co-producing actionable response and knowledge on equitable disaster response and future resilience planning.