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Aging in Flood-Prone Coastal Areas: Discerning the Health and Well-Being Risk for Older Residents
- Source :
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 15, Iss 12, p 2900 (2018), International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 15, Issue 12
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Coastal communities are increasingly exposed to more intense and frequent hurricanes, accelerated sea-level rise, and prolonged tidal inundation, yet they are often a preferred retirement destination for older adults vulnerable to flooding and extreme weather events. The unique physical and psychosocial challenges of older population age 65 and over may affect their level of preparedness, capacity to cope with, and ability to respond and recover from a hazard event. Despite the clear vulnerabilities of older residents living in high-risk areas when compared to younger coastal populations, there is a lack of empirical research on the integrated flood risks to this population group in the coastal context. This paper provides a holistic assessment of this emerging problem along the U.S. East Coast by measuring the exposure of older population to sea level rise and storm surge in coastal counties. It further evaluates how age-related vulnerabilities differ between rural and urban settings using the case study approach and geospatial and statistical analysis the paper also conducts a review of scientific literature to identify gaps in the current understanding of health and well-being risks to aging populations in coastal communities. The results show that older populations are unevenly distributed along the U.S. East Coast with some states and counties having significantly higher percent of residents age 65 and older living along the shoreline. Many places with larger older populations have other attributes that further shape the vulnerability of this age group such as older housing stock, disabilities, and lower income and that often differ between rural and urban settings. Lastly, our study found that vast majority of research on aging in high-risk coastal locations has been conducted in relation to major disasters and almost none on the recurrent nuisance flooding that is already affecting many coastal communities.
- Subjects :
- Risk
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Health Status
Oceans and Seas
Population
Population Dynamics
vulnerability
Vulnerability
Climate change
Storm surge
lcsh:Medicine
coastal
adaptation
01 natural sciences
Vulnerable Populations
Article
Disasters
03 medical and health sciences
Extreme weather
0302 clinical medicine
parasitic diseases
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
education
Socioeconomics
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
education.field_of_study
Retirement
Flood myth
Cyclonic Storms
aging
lcsh:R
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Floods
United States
Geography
climate change
Preparedness
Psychosocial
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 16604601
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 12
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3a1699d78238a9b6fe8df87f5d19c0d7