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Flood disasters and health among the urban poor
Author(s) -
Escobar Carías Michelle S.,
Johnston David W.,
Knott Rachel,
Sweeney Rohan
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.4566
Subject(s) - flood myth , poverty , mental health , harm , environmental health , natural disaster , geography , socioeconomics , suicide prevention , vulnerability (computing) , poison control , medicine , economic growth , psychology , psychiatry , sociology , economics , social psychology , computer security , archaeology , meteorology , computer science
Billions of people live in urban poverty, with many forced to reside in disaster‐prone areas. Research suggests that such disasters harm child nutrition and increase adult morbidity. However, little is known about impacts on mental health, particularly of people living in slums. In this paper we estimate the effects of flood disasters on the mental and physical health of poor adults and children in urban Indonesia. Our data come from the Indonesia Family Life Survey and new surveys of informal settlement residents. We find that urban poor populations experience increases in acute morbidities and depressive symptoms following floods, that the negative mental health effects last longer, and that the urban wealthy show no health effects from flood exposure. Further analysis suggests that worse economic outcomes may be partly responsible. Overall, the results provide a more nuanced understanding of the morbidities experienced by populations most vulnerable to increased disaster occurrence.