Resilience on the periphery: understanding the impacts of population displacement on infrastructure systems beyond the disaster zone

This research examines how disaster-induced displacements in the United States impact communities on the periphery of disaster zones when demand pressures push infrastructure systems beyond their design capacity. As displacement events become more complex, disruptive, and prolonged, they threaten both 'hard' infrastructure systems (transportation, energy, water, and communications) as well as 'soft' infrastructure (healthcare systems, emergency response, public safety, and education). This research applies a comparative case study analysis, examining displacement during three disaster events: Hurricanes Katrina and Maria and the Camp Fire in Paradise, California. Several factors influence how community-level infrastructure systems respond to the demands of supporting evacuees: the nature of the triggering event, the dynamics of the displacement, levels of social vulnerability among the affected population, and the pre-disaster capacity of infrastructure systems.