Families and Disasters: Vulnerability, Shock, and Resilience

Around the globe, natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, droughts, and floods often strike with little warning and result in widespread devastation. Aside from the environmental and material damage, disasters also impact families in a multitude of manners, affecting family relationships, support networks, and dynamics. Before, during, and after such disasters, families quickly respond to dangers and attempt to support one another. In many instances, families provide the various forms of necessary support which local and national governments cannot. Afterwards, the recovery both involves families and affects families in many manners. Through their resilience and endurance, families provide for the recovery of individual lives and beyond.

This session seeks topics from all theoretical and empirical perspectives, which explore families' experiences and resilience in the face of disasters. Topics may include, but are not limited to: the impact of disasters on family structures and roles over the life course; childcare during disasters; determinants of vulnerability in post-disaster recovery, including the intersectionality of race, class and ethnicity in different types of families; the impact of disasters on mental health; coping strategies used by families to deal with stress, loss, displacement, and trauma; intergenerational resilience and knowledge transfer within families on disaster preparedness, mitigation and coping mechanisms; family preparedness and risk reduction strategies; post-disaster family displacement and reintegration challenges; extended family social support systems; long-term recovery and reconstruction; lasting effects on family identity, relationships, and livelihoods; and the role of technology in disaster preparedness and response by families.