{"id":8701,"date":"2018-06-22T18:07:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T18:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8701"},"modified":"2018-06-22T18:08:05","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T18:08:05","slug":"team-of-utrgv-professors-researching-the-valleys-hurricane-preparedness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8701","title":{"rendered":"Team of UTRGV Professors Researching the Valley\u2019s Hurricane Preparedness"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Maria Elena Hernandez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Hurricane season is underway, and professors at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley are researching ways to help the community deal with potential storms.<\/p>\n

Dr. Dean Kyne, Dr. Arlett Lomeli, Dr. David Wladyka and Dr. Katarzynia Sepielak, of the UTRGV Department of\u00a0Sociology and Anthropology, along with Dr. Owen Temby of the UTRGV School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences and the Department of Political Science, are studying the Rio Grande Valley\u2019s hurricane resiliency \u2013 the ability to prepare for and bounce back from hurricanes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout resiliency, it may take years and years in the building, recovering and rebuilding process,\u201d Kyne said.<\/p>\n

The first step in measuring hurricane resiliency is defining it and agreeing on its indicators. Two graduate students already are collecting data from key stakeholders, like county and state officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to begin with whether they agree on the concept and if they all agree on the indicators,\u201d Kyne said. \u201cThey have to be on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

After analyzing the data collected, the professors hope to move to the next step: measuring the Rio Grande Valley\u2019s current level of hurricane resiliency.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you are able to measure the current state, then we can think about, \u201cWell, this is the current level of our resilience? What are the areas where we can improve?\u2019 We can set the goal. We can set the numbers and we can move forward. And, we can work together in order to build more resiliency, or we can retain all the resiliency that we have built in the past years,\u201d Kyne said.<\/p>\n

The study is not the first one UTRGV professors have conducted to help with hurricane preparedness in the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Dean Kyne Photo: Malena Hernandez\/UTRGV<\/p><\/div>\n

Last year, Kyne, Lomeli, Dr. William Donner of the UTRGV Department of\u00a0Sociology and Anthropology, and then-undergraduate student Erika Zuloaga published a paper about evacuations, titled \u201cWho Will Stay, Who Will Leave: Decision-Making of Residents Living in Potential Hurricane Impact Areas During a Hypothetical Hurricane Event in the Rio Grande Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat study shows evacuation decision-making is not as simple as one might think,\u201d Kyne said.<\/p>\n

Factors people consider when deciding whether or not to evacuate include what they identified as safe places, the material their home is made of, what floor of an apartment building they live on, and the amount of help they expect to get from the government or other agencies after the storm. Age and level of education also had an impact on the decision to evacuate or not.<\/p>\n

The researchers also identified the following seven reasons people would not evacuate the area because of a hurricane.<\/p>\n