News — With Hurricane Helene bearing down on the Gulf region, millions of people are deciding whether or not to evacuate from their homes or ride the storm out. How to best protect their families, concerns over feeding their infants and what to do with beloved pets will all factor into their decisions. Understanding the reasons why individuals choose one course of action over the other is a complex issue that researchers in the University of Delaware's have been studying for years.
in the DRC, the oldest such center in the United States, can comment on the following topics:
: Evacuation decision-making, disaster response and coordination, disaster relief (donations) and logistics, volunteer and emergent efforts, social vulnerability.
: Disaster response, nursing homes and hospitals, volunteers, response coordination.
: Expert on sea level rise and managed retreat – the concept of planned community movement away from coastlines and flood-prone areas. Specifically, Siders can talk about how building more homes and infrastructure in flood-prone areas in Florida makes the consequences of hurricanes like Helene more severe. (How the 'expanding bullseye' is contributing to the rising disaster costs in the U.S.). She authored two papers slated for release on floodplain development (noting the more than 400,000 homes that were built in regulated floodplains 2001-2019).
: Environmental impacts of disasters and potential public health impacts for chronic and infectious diseases.
: Pets in emergencies, infant feeding in disasters and decision-making in evacuation. Specifically, DeYoung can speak to reports that mothers in Florida social media groups are concerned about storage of breastmilk if/when the power goes out.
: Can talk about preparedness steps and recovery, including recovery planning, particularly in non-coastal areas; as well as challenges for people with disabilities during disaster, cultural issues and long-term recovery.
: Focuses on environmental racism and health disparities in historically marginalized communities.
: Research looks at smart and resilient urban systems; infrastructure systems, critical infrastructure protection, effective disaster preparedness and response, and equitable resilience planning and climate change adaptation.
: Post-storm housing decisions and insurance.
Interested reporters can reach the experts directly through the links above or contact [email protected].
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