Concurrent disasters: Perceived administrative burdens and household coping capacities

Weather-related disasters during the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the vulnerabilities of individuals and households, and concurrent disasters are becoming more of the norm as we face more extreme weather patterns. This study seeks to extend administrative burden scholarship to better understand the administrative burdens (real and perceived) that a citizen experiences when applying for disaster assistance while facing concurrent disasters. Using logistic regression analysis and Generalized Structural Equation Modeling, we analyze primary survey data from households in five Texas counties that were impacted by the 2021 Winter Storm Uri. Our findings indicate that learning, compliance, and psychological costs, disaster-related damages, and infrastructure losses, coping with concurrent disasters during the pandemic, and social vulnerability factors, such as age and the lack of insurance increase administrative burdens and difficulties for disaster aid applicants. Practical implications include recommendations to more effectively address concurrent disasters and reduce associated administrative burdens and inequities in disaster assistance programs. © 2023 American Society for Public Administration.

COVID-19 Implications for Research and Education on Engineered Structures and Services

While there may be a tendency to characterize COVID-19 as exclu-sively a public health issue, engineered structures and services have both mitigated and exacerbated the pandemic’s march around the globe, raising questions about the role of engineering in controlling pandemics. Any attempts to answer these questions implicate not only the tools, techniques and problems which we define as within the province of engineering, but also the means by which we ar¬rive at this definition. As described here—in settings ranging from nursing homes to prisons to Brazilian favelas—the COVID-19 crisis has upended a number of foundational notions associated with the practice of hazard mitigation through the design and operation of engineered structures and services. It has revealed the need to ex¬amine the conditions and assumptions that characterize the models we construct and the data we collect. We do so through a number of case studies collected during the COVID-19 crisis, leading to im¬plications for the conduct of research and education to support not only further advances in our field but to improved prospects for im¬proved mitigation of pandemics and other hazards. © 2020, Policy Studies Organization. All rights reserved.