The Association between Socioeconomic Status and Race/Ethnicity with Home Evacuation of Lower Manhattan Residents following the 9/11/2001 World Trade Center Disaster

TL;DR

This study found that race, ethnicity, and lower socioeconomic status were linked to a higher risk of not evacuating Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks.

Contribution

The study reveals socioeconomic and racial disparities in evacuation behavior following a major disaster.

Findings

Non-Hispanic Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic residents had higher risks of not evacuating compared to non-Hispanic White residents.

Residents with lower educational attainment and household income were more likely to not evacuate.

These findings highlight inequities in disaster response that need to be addressed in future emergency planning.

Abstract

On 11 September 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) killed nearly three thousand people and exposed hundreds of thousands of rescue and recovery workers, passersby, area workers, and residents to varying amounts of dust and smoke. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ordered the emergency evacuation of Lower Manhattan below Canal Street, but not all residents evacuated. Previous studies showed that those who did not evacuate had a higher incidence of newly diagnosed asthma. Among the 71,424 who enrolled in the WTC Health Registry in 2003–2004, we evaluated the bivariate association of educational attainment, household income, and race or ethnicity with reported evacuation on or after 9/11/01. We used log binomial regression to assess the relative risks of not evacuating from their home following the 9/11 attacks, adjusting for age, gender, and marital status. Out of a total of 11,871 enrollee residents of Lower Manhattan, 7345 or 61.79% reported evacuating their home on or after 9/11. In a fully adjusted model, the estimated relative risk for not evacuating was elevated for those who identified as non-Hispanic Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic residents compared to non-Hispanic White residents. Residents with a high school diploma/GED had an elevated estimated risk compared to those with at least a bachelor’s degree. Those with lower household incomes had an elevated estimated risk compared to those with the highest income category. These significant inequities will need to be prevented in future disasters.

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