Development, vulnerability, and disasters in the west coast of Puerto Rico

Given Puerto Rico's geographic location and its climatological characteristics, extreme weather events such as tropical storms, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, and landslides, among others, are high probability events. To compound matters, research focusing on the economic development of the Island has shown that the development program (e.g., Operation Bootstrap) and related policies implemented in Puerto Rico since the 1950's were unable to solve the prevailing economic difficulties and are generally regarded as unsuccessful. The industrialization of Puerto Rico, particularly of its coastal municipalities, facilitated and encouraged migration to the coastal regions thus increasing the population living in areas exposed to coastal hazards.;Consequently, the West coast, has become the region with not only the largest proportion of the population residing in areas exposed to tsunamis and storm surge but also a region that has experienced serious economic difficulties resulting from the changes and termination of the benefits offered by the aforementioned development program and associated policies. Given that disasters result from the intersection of hazard events and existing conditions of vulnerability, it is imperative that we enhance our understanding of the economic, social, and demographic processes and their impact on the population's vulnerability to disasters; this thesis is an important step in this direction. This thesis explores issues related to development, vulnerability and hazards in the West Coast of Puerto Rico. Using geo-coded socio-demographic data, at the block group level, from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing, and data on storm surge flooding, an additive index was created to examine changes in the social vulnerability in coastal communities, from 1990 to 2000. This research diverges from existing research on vulnerability in that it uses a critical demography approach and borrows from Pierre Bourdieu's conceptualization of capital to elucidate and advance our understanding regarding the complexities of social vulnerability. Moreover, this is done in the context of the West Coast of Puerto Rico, where research on disaster vulnerability is limited.;Our findings show a slight reduction in social vulnerability from 1990 to 2000. With the exception of the municipality of Anasco, we observed a reduction in most vulnerability indicators including poverty, low education, lack of access to a vehicle, and in the proportion of children. However, we also observed an increase in the proportion of the population that is 65 years and over, those with disabilities, female-headed households with children under 18 years of age, and in the population living in renter occupied housing units. In addition, contrary to a decline in unemployment rates for Puerto Rico, the Western region experienced a very modest increase in the proportion of unemployed individuals at the block group level. These findings present important challenges in terms of vulnerability to disasters. While it is imperative to continue seeking solutions to Puerto Rico's persistent economic problems, this research suggests the need to develop emergency preparedness and response plans that go beyond the capitalist market economy and attend to the needs of a changing population with relatively high levels of vulnerability. This thesis was supported by the University of Puerto Rico Sea Grant College Program and the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for the Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA).