RAPID: Critical Infrastructure Disruption and the Food Distribution Network: The Implications for Food Security Following a Natural Disaster

在正常情况下，对一定比例的美国家庭来说，获得营养和负担得起的食物是一个长期问题，而在自然灾害发生后，随着当地零售商和食品银行努力满足顾客和客户的需求，这一比例可能会急剧上升。2017年8月25日晚，飓风哈维在德克萨斯州中部海岸登陆后，情况就是如此。在接下来的五天里，它给德克萨斯州东北部沿海地区带来了前所未有的降雨，造成了大面积的洪水，大规模的电力和供水系统故障，数十万家庭流离失所，并扰乱了当地的食品零售商和食品银行。不幸的是，很少有关于灾难事件对食品零售商和食品银行的影响的系统研究。本研究将通过调查飓风哈维对当地食品零售商和食品援助机构的影响来解决这一不足。收集到的数据将为社区复原力的跨学科模型提供信息。此外，该项目的成果将鼓励并为地方、州和国家政策提供信息，以解决慢性和急性粮食安全问题；从而减少脆弱性，增强我国食品配送网络的弹性。这项研究的结果也将直接纳入研究生和本科生关于社区复原力、规划方法和措施以及灾难恢复和减灾的课程。该项目将收集以下方面的数据：对企业实体结构和库存的直接破坏、员工的暂时和永久损失，以及构成当地粮食分配网络的企业和组织的关键基础设施系统（交通、能源、水和通信）的中断。该项目将评估这些影响对企业/机构的连续性和生存以及对当地粮食分配网络变化的相对影响。为了实现这些目标，本项目将对加尔维斯顿、哈里斯和杰斐逊三个县的食品零售商和食品援助机构进行深入的结构化和半结构化采访，这三个县受到哈维飓风洪水的严重影响。研究区域共有3500多家食品零售商和三家食品银行，为270多家食品分发处提供服务。将对在受影响地区和非受影响地区经营的大型和小型食品零售商以及为不同粮食安全水平的人口提供服务的非营利性食品储藏室进行有代表性的随机抽样调查。定量模型评估：1)直接损害和基础设施中断对商业失败和中断的相对后果；2)当地粮食分配基础设施网络的变化以及对社区粮食安全的潜在后果将利用这些数据开发。

Food security in the form of access to nutritional and affordable food is a chronic problem for a percentage of American households in normal times and this percentage can dramatically increase after a natural disaster as local retailers and food banks struggle to meet the needs of their customers and clients. Such was the case after Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the evening of August 25, 2017 along the middle of the Texas coast. During the next five days it dropped unprecedented amounts of rainfall throughout northeastern sections of the Texas coast generating extensive flooding, massive power and water system failures, displacing hundreds of thousands of households, and disrupting local food retailers and food banks. Unfortunately, very little systematic research exists on the consequences of disaster events for food retailers and food banks. This research will address this deficiency by investigating the consequences of Hurricane Harvey's impacts on local food retailers and food aid agencies. The data captured will inform interdisciplinary models of community resilience. Furthermore, results from this project will encourage and inform local, state, and national policies that address chronic and acute food-security issues; thereby reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing the resiliency of our nation's food distribution network. Findings from this research will also be incorporated directly into graduate and undergraduate courses on community resilience, planning methods and measures, and disaster recovery and mitigation.This project will gather data on the consequences of direct damage to an establishment's physical structure and inventory, temporary and permanent loss of staff and employees, and the disruption of critical infrastructure systems (transportation, energy, water, and communications) from businesses and organizations comprising local food distribution networks. The project will assess the relative influence of these impacts for business/agency continuity and survival and for changes in local food distribution networks. To accomplish these goals, this project will conduct in-depth structured and semi-structured interviews with food retailers and food aid agencies in three counties -- Galveston, Harris, and Jefferson -- heavily impacted by Hurricane Harvey's flooding. Together the study area has more than 3,500 food retailers and three food banks that serve over 270 food pantries. A representative random sample of both large and small food retailers and non-profit food pantries operating in both impacted and non-impacted areas and serving populations of varying levels of food security will be surveyed. Quantitative models assessing: 1) the relative consequences of direct damage and infrastructure disruption for business failure and disruption and 2) changes to local food distribution infrastructure networks and the potential consequences for community food security will be developed utilizing these data.