Where Extreme Weather Hits Hardest: The Vulnerability of Low-Income Communities

As extreme weather phenomenon continue to affect our nation, focusing on developing the resiliency of lower-income families and communities has become increasingly necessary and important. This is the argument of a new report released by The Center for American Progress [CAP] entitled "A Disaster in the Making: Addressing the Vulnerability of Low-Income Communities to Extreme Weather". Click here to read the full report.

Authored by Tracey Ross, the report points out that "While it is impossible to predict all the ways an extreme weather event can disrupt a community, many of our disaster-resilience and recovery policies do not even account for the ongoing vulnerabilities that low-income households experience." In general, these households and communities have "fewer resources to prepare for and recover from such disasters." In the summary, Ross uses 2012's Superstorm Sandy as an example: although the federal and local response to Superstorm Sandy was far more organized and efficient than that of Hurricane Katrina, the current framework was still unable to shorten the suffering for the impoverished elderly, disabled, and others.

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