Social vulnerability and community violence: an analysis of violence trends, social vulnerabilities, media perceptions and business characteristics in a population impacted by flooding

Flooding hazards impact populations all over the world. These disasters can have lasting environmental, economic, and health concerns for those who experience them. With climate change on the rise, we can expect to see more extreme weather-related events across the globe. While these disasters, themselves, create concerns, there are also everyday stressors that populations experience, such as proximity to crime and violence. Research has shown that particularly women, elderly, and children are at risk for violence after natural disasters. This study aims to understand the interaction of vulnerability to flooding and violence. Another piece of this research is to address how disasters and communities’ reactions are portrayed in the media to see if stories presented in the media are representative of the overall experiences in communities.

This study focuses on understanding how specific characteristics related to crime, businesses and media perceptions are impacted by a flooding event in two midwestern cities. To accomplish this goal, our research has three aims. (1) determine the trends over thirteen years of community violence and property crime in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, (2) analyze business characteristic changes specifically business density, employee size and business type, (3) examine newspapers for disaster myths and conduct focus groups on community perceptions of media response and coverage of the 2008 floods. Findings from this study could assist in determining communities’ vulnerability to natural disasters and vulnerability to violence and crime. Understanding this relationship can point policy efforts to protect individuals and communities vulnerable to both.