Studying how quickly large cities recover from natural disasters

What is it about?

Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters can affect our regular life. Keeping this in mind, as cities continue to grow, their response to natural disasters has become a popular topic of research. In a recent study, researchers have tried to understand how quickly cities can return to their normal day-to-day activities after a natural disaster. They studied three large cities in the United States of America, Houston, Miami, and Jacksonville. These places have suffered from severe hurricanes in the past. The city of Dallas (which suffered from the North American Winter Storm in 2021) was also included. The authors used a unique method to study the cities. They tracked the movement of people in the city (in normal conditions) via mobile phone signals. Next, they compared this to their movement during a storm and just after the storm. The cities jumped back to their normal functional patterns after just one day. This is a testament to their resilience; their disaster response should be further studied to improve other cities around the world. The authors also went beyond, by developing a mathematical model to predict the time a city would take to recover after a natural disaster. They compared the results of this model with their data. The model, it was found, could accurately predict recovery times for cities.

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Photo by Jonathan Ford on Unsplash

Photo by Jonathan Ford on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Knowing cities' response to natural disasters can help develop methods to improve their resilience. And as more and more people start to live in cities, the ability of a city to quickly recover after such natural disasters becomes even more important. The data and the model developed here can prove very useful. KEY TAKEAWAY: This study provides key insights into how cities can improve their resilience to natural disasters. The authors' model can help predict how fast different cities respond to hazards. This, in turn, is expected to make other cities around the world ready to face natural disasters. This research relates to the following Sustainable Development Goals: • SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities • SDG 13: Climate Action • SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure • SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being • SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals