LB 28-286 - Exploring perceptions of community well-being and resilience in a flood-prone community in San Juan, Puerto Rico

Thursday, August 18, 2022

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM EDT

Located in: ESA Exhibit Hall

Presenting Author(s)

DG

Daniela Garcia Moreno

Cornell University
Ithaca, NY, United States

Coauthor(s)

AK

Amanda Kuhn

Arizona State University, United States
AU

Ananth Udupa

Arizona State University, United States
SR

Sanjana Roy

Middlebury College, United States
TO

Theresa O'Niel

California State University Long Beach, United States
NG

Nancy B. Grimm

Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona, United States
TM

Tischa Munoz-Erickson

International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USDA Forest Service, United States
MC

Michele Clark

Arizona State University, United States
EC

Elizabeth Cook

Barnard College
New York City, New York, United States
EM

Elvia J. Meléndez-Ackerman

Full Professor
University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras
San Juan, Puerto Rico
MB

Marta Berbes-Blazquez

University of Waterloo, Canada
RS

Rebecca Schneider, Ph.D

Cornell University
Ithaca, New York, United States

Background/Question/Methods:

Building community resilience to natural hazards is becoming imperative in the Anthropocene, as these events become more frequent and severe. Adaptation to climate related impacts is of particular importance in cities because high population densities and highly constructed landscapes introduce additional vulnerabilities to extreme events. Recurring flooding along the Rio Piedras River, in San Juan, Puerto Rico has been impacting adjacent urban communities for more than half a century. A river channelization project by the US Army Corps of Engineers, planned initially in 1978 to reduce flooding, has recently been financed using emergency hurricane disaster funding. However, there has been little official engagement with local citizens to determine strategies they have adopted to build resilience against flooding and how these strategies will interact with the proposed infrastructural interventions. We conducted 19 door-to-door semi-structured interviews with residents of a downstream, working-class community in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in a neighborhood impacted by periodic flooding and the proposed channelization. Interviews were transcribed, translated, and manually coded using both deductive and inductive frameworks in NVivo software. Analysis was guided by previously developed models of resilience and well-being in the face of change, which sees community resources as critical dimensions of resilience and well-being.

Results/Conclusions:

Results show a highly vulnerable community with limited well-being and resilience strategies. Highlighted features were limited community interactions, increasing numbers of abandoned homes, lack of administrative assistance prior to, during or after flooding resulting in extended impacts such as extended periods without electricity. A striking lack of green areas further exacerbates these issues, as there is limited mitigative potential in the existing infrastructure. These results show that the proposed channelization is an outdated, band aid solution to a problem that is decimating a vulnerable community. Without additional resilience and well-being building strategies, the channel is likely to have limited benefits, while further pillaging the community of green areas and the opportunity to improve their natural environment. These results underline the importance of community engagement in the development of infrastructural interventions as adaptations to extremes. Community input is imperative in creating effective solutions that are accurate to the neighborhood’s conditions, and make the best use of limited funding available for these projects.