Dataset Information

Quantifying human mobility perturbation and resilience in Hurricane Sandy.

ABSTRACT: Human mobility is influenced by environmental change and natural disasters. Researchers have used trip distance distribution, radius of gyration of movements, and individuals' visited locations to understand and capture human mobility patterns and trajectories. However, our knowledge of human movements during natural disasters is limited owing to both a lack of empirical data and the low precision of available data. Here, we studied human mobility using high-resolution movement data from individuals in New York City during and for several days after Hurricane Sandy in 2012. We found the human movements followed truncated power-law distributions during and after Hurricane Sandy, although the ? value was noticeably larger during the first 24 hours after the storm struck. Also, we examined two parameters: the center of mass and the radius of gyration of each individual's movements. We found that their values during perturbation states and steady states are highly correlated, suggesting human mobility data obtained in steady states can possibly predict the perturbation state. Our results demonstrate that human movement trajectories experienced significant perturbations during hurricanes, but also exhibited high resilience. We expect the study will stimulate future research on the perturbation and inherent resilience of human mobility under the influence of hurricanes. For example, mobility patterns in coastal urban areas could be examined as hurricanes approach, gain or dissipate in strength, and as the path of the storm changes. Understanding nuances of human mobility under the influence of such disasters will enable more effective evacuation, emergency response planning and development of strategies and policies to reduce fatality, injury, and economic loss.

SUBMITTER: Wang Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4237337 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Quantifying human mobility perturbation and resilience in Hurricane Sandy.

Wang Qi Q Taylor John E JE

PloS one 20141119 11

Human mobility is influenced by environmental change and natural disasters. Researchers have used trip distance distribution, radius of gyration of movements, and individuals' visited locations to understand and capture human mobility patterns and trajectories. However, our knowledge of human movements during natural disasters is limited owing to both a lack of empirical data and the low precision of available data. Here, we studied human mobility using high-resolution movement data from individ ...[more]

PMID: 25409009

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Project description:Background and objectivesPatients with ESRD on dialysis live in a complex sociomedical situation and are dependent on technology and infrastructure, such as transportation, electricity, and water, to sustain their lives. Interruptions of this infrastructure by natural disasters can result in devastating outcomes.Design, setting, participants, & measurementsBetween November of 2013 and April of 2014, a cross-sectional survey was conducted of patients who received maintenance hemodialysis before and after the landfall of Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012 in lower Manhattan, New York. The primary outcome was the number of missed dialysis sessions after the storm. Dialysis-specific and general disaster preparedness were assessed using checklists prepared by the National Kidney Foundation and US Homeland Security, respectively.ResultsIn total, 598 patients were approached, and 357 (59.7%) patients completed the survey. Participants were 60.2% men and 30.0% black, with a median age of 60 years old; 94 (26.3%) participants missed dialysis (median of two sessions [quartile 1 to quartile 3 =1-3]), and 236 (66.1%) participants received dialysis at nonregular dialysis unit(s): 209 (58.5%) at affiliated dialysis unit(s) and 27 (7.6%) at emergency rooms. The percentages of participants who carried their insurance information and detailed medication list were 75.9% and 44.3%, respectively. Enhancement of the dialysis emergency packet after the hurricane was associated with a significantly higher cache of medical records at home at follow-up survey (P<0.001, Fisher's exact test). Multivariate Poisson regression analysis showed that dialysis-specific preparedness (incidence rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.87 to 0.98), other racial ethnicity (incidence rate ratio, 0.34; 95% confidence interval, 0.20 to 0.57), dialysis treatment in affiliated units (incidence rate ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval, 0.51 to 0.94), and older age (incidence rate ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.97 to 0.99) were associated with a significantly lower incidence rate ratio of missed dialysis.ConclusionsThere is still room to improve the preparedness for natural disasters of patients with ESRD. Provider- or facility-oriented enhancement of awareness of the disease and preparedness should be a priority.

Dataset Information

Quantifying human mobility perturbation and resilience in Hurricane Sandy.

Publications

Quantifying human mobility perturbation and resilience in Hurricane Sandy.

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