RAPID: The Impact of Infrastructural Stress on Civil Society Participation in Post-Disaster Contexts

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Events like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and floods are known to have important effects on both natural and social landscapes, but less discussed is the impact that natural disasters have on civil society. The proposed research seeks to examine how the 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria might impact civil social behavior in Puerto Rico. These historic storms are certain to mark a turning point, not only for the massive damage they have caused to the island's infrastructure, but also for the extended state of emergency that was produced when millions of Puerto Ricans remained without electricity, water, and basic services for numerous weeks. Hurricane Maria has already created the largest black out in US history, it has caused greater infrastructural damage than Katrina, and is poised to completely transform the island of Puerto Rico and its political future. This project takes advantage of this unique state of infrastructural stress to ask how the storm, and its recovery process, will shape civil society behavior in years to come. In addition, the project would strengthen collaboration among scientists in the mainland U.S. and Puerto Rico, broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in the sciences, and train undergraduate and graduate students in methods of scientifically-grounded and empirical data collection.This RAPID award supports the collection of critical but ephemeral data in Puerto Rico concerning the role that stresses on infrastructure play on civil society participation in post-disaster contexts. Dr. Yarimar Bonilla of Rutgers University explores how Puerto Rico's state of emergency, and the accompanying paralysis of basic physical infrastructure following Hurricanes Irma and Maria, have shaped sociopolitical behaviors. The study will use baseline data gathered in 2016 with over one thousand participants across five different regional sites in Puerto Rico. For this project researchers from the University of Puerto Rico, under the supervision of the PI, will contact participants from the previously conducted study to interview them about how they have experienced the storm and the recovery process. Investigators will assess how the state of emergency might have jostled pre-existing political beliefs, particularly how it might impact the desire (or not) for statehood. The results of this study will help offer a complex portrait of how the effects of climatic events are conditioned by pre-existing forms of governance and will help illuminate how natural disasters can transform political and social terrains.