Staying put: a comparative study of non-evacuation during environmental disasters

Abstract

Effective evacuations mitigate the harm of environmental disasters. Yet, many people who are able to evacuate remain in place during environmental disasters. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events that require evacuation, such as flooding and wildfires, warrant closer study of why some communities do not evacuate. This study seeks to explore the social phenomenon of non-evacuation through two central questions: Why do some communities ‘stay put’ during environmental disasters? And, how do governments view the non-evacuation of these communities? Investigating these two questions together allows for the consideration of differences in how local communities and governments understand evacuation. Better understanding this contrast benefits the development of effective environmental disaster policy which relies on coordination between local communities and governments. We answer these research questions by comparing cases in Indonesia, the United States, and Japan. These cases provide examples of non-evacuation during three types of environmental disasters in distinct geographic, cultural, political contexts. This study analyzes multiple forms of qualitative data including academic publications, popular media, policy documents, interviews, and fieldnotes taken during participant observation. This study presents two key findings. First, local communities and governments often differently perceive how environmental disasters unfold over time. Second, social processes influence these contrasting orientations toward time, by focusing attention—or not—on particular events and attributing meaning to these events according to one’s social role. Differing orientations toward time help to explain contrasting expectations about evacuation. This paper contributes to environmental social science scholarship on disasters, vulnerability, local knowledge systems, and temporality.