Empirical Analysis of Factors Associated with Financial Loss due to Hurricane Harvey
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2022
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research is to find associations between the financial loss per capita caused by the Hurricane Harvey and multiple variables to examine which factors impact the financial loss generated by hurricanes. It is crucial to understand how the characteristics of our living environment are associated with the disaster loss to mitigate the potential damage. This research performs Kendall’s rank correlation analysis using empirical data to identify which variables impacted the financial loss caused by the Hurricane Harvey. To measure the financial loss, this research uses insurance claim payments generated by the Hurricane Harvey in 62 Texas counties. Explanatory variables are selected from multiple fields including hurricane, geological, social, economic, and housing variables to explain the complex nature of disaster financial loss generation. The analysis results suggest that the areas with following features would experience relatively higher financial loss due to hurricanes: being located at where severe storms pass through, experiencing higher rainfall amount, having higher percentage of old housings, having higher median income, being located at lower elevation, and having lower employment rates. This research identifies significant variables that affect the financial loss generated by hurricanes and the magnitudes of the significant variables’ effects. The major contributions of this research to the body of knowledge are finding factors that are associated with financial loss due to hurricanes and identifying places that are more vulnerable to hurricanes than the others.
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Construction Research Congress 2022
Pages: 472 - 479
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Published online: Mar 7, 2022
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