Vulnerability to Floods: Who’s Exposed and Who Recovers?
Eric Tate is a champion of environmental justice, studying risks posed by natural hazards and how they affect populations differently. Anyone interested in environmental justice or natural hazards predictions should not miss this talk.
—Anna Boser, PhD Student, Bren School
Watch a recording of this talk here
ABSTRACT
Water and destruction garner primary focus in flood disasters, and drive research and policy emphasis on physical processes and built environment impacts. But the main reason we care about floods are their effects on people. Social processes are central to explaining and driving differential disaster impacts, such as who lives in the floodplain and who faces barriers in recovery. Scientific understanding of these processes has been used to develop social vulnerability indicators. This presentation describes current understanding of social vulnerability to floods, its measurement challenges using spatial indicators, and policy relevance in a national environment increasingly focused on social equity.
BIO
Dr. Eric Tate is as an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa, in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences. He teaches and conducts research in the areas of flood hazards, water resources, environmental justice, and social vulnerability, using geospatial indicators to explore interactions among environment and society. Dr. Tate earned a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Rice University, an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Texas, and a PhD in Geography from the University of South Carolina.