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

以获得营养和负担得起的食物为形式的粮食安全是一个长期问题，在正常时期，这一比例在自然灾害后可能会急剧增加，因为当地零售商和食品银行难以满足其客户和客户的需求。飓风哈维于2017年8月25日晚沿着德克萨斯州海岸中部登陆后，情况就是如此。在接下来的五天里，德克萨斯州海岸东北部地区降下了前所未有的降雨量，引发了大范围的洪水，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，关于灾害事件对食品零售商和食品银行的影响的系统研究很少。这项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和通报地方、州和国家解决长期和严重粮食安全问题的政策，从而减少脆弱性，提高我国粮食分配网络的弹性。该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缓解的课程。该项目将收集有关企业物理结构和库存直接损坏、员工和雇员临时和永久损失以及关键基础设施系统中断的后果的数据（交通、能源、水和通信）从包括当地食品分销网络的企业和组织获得。该项目将评估这些影响对业务/机构的连续性和生存以及对当地粮食分配网络的变化的相对影响。为了实现这些目标，本项目将对受哈维飓风洪水严重影响的三个县--加尔维斯顿、哈里斯和杰斐逊--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访谈。该研究区共有3,500多家食品零售商和三家食品银行，为270多个食品储藏室提供服务。将对在受影响和未受影响地区经营的大型和小型食品零售商和非营利食品储藏室进行代表性随机抽样调查，这些食品储藏室为不同粮食安全水平的人口提供服务。定量模型评估：1）直接损害和基础设施中断对业务失败和中断的相对后果，以及2）当地粮食分配基础设施网络的变化和对社区粮食安全的潜在后果将利用这些数据进行开发。

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.