Natural hazard events cause severe disruptions even in communities with advanced protective infrastructure. Drawing on punctuated equilibrium, social vulnerability and the subsidiarity principle for theoretical context, the study aims to investigate the factors influencing natural hazard-related property damage across US states.
The study uses balanced panel data on 50 US states over 22 time periods and random effects regressions with year dummies.
The study findings show that while the immediate impacts of natural hazards diminish over time, systemic conditions such as hazard duration, income inequality and demographic vulnerability affect long-term property damage. In addition, the link between federal assistance and prolonged hazard-related damage suggests that recovery is not only slow but also uneven, especially in socially vulnerable areas.
Although the study examines multiple factors influencing hazard-related damage, it does not account for all variables that may affect recovery, such as private insurance or philanthropic aid. Future research could investigate these dimensions and extend the analysis to comparative contexts with differing institutional arrangements and hazard governance frameworks.
The study integrates multiple theoretical perspectives to examine the relationship between disaster declarations, social vulnerability, federal subsidiarity assistance and property damage. By incorporating temporal dynamics and lagging hazard-related variables, this study captures cumulative and long-term impacts, showing how repeated exposure, hazard duration and underlying socio-economic conditions contribute to prolonged property damage. The findings also demonstrate how federal assistance affects recovery and inform equity-focused policies and targeted infrastructure investments.
