Resilience and inequality growth monitoring after disaster using indicators based on energy production

Julien Gargani

Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2201.00213

Resilience and inequality growth monitoring after disaster using indicators based on energy production

Julien Gargani

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The estimation of resilience and the determination of inequality growth after a disaster is often difficult. In this study, specific indicators were developed to analyze resilience, and the trajectories of resilience were compared. Energy production is relevant for describing variations in social and economic activities. This indicator was applied to a case study of a natural disaster, that is Hurricane Irma in 2017. The hurricane caused fatalities and destruction in the Caribbean islands of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy, which are two French overseas territories. Energy production after Hurricane Irma exhibited a significant decrease due to the destruction of the electricity network as well as perturbations in economic and social activities. The energy production restoration rate was higher in Saint Barthelemy than in Saint Martin. The electricity restoration rate after a disaster was almost constant. However, the energy production 18 months after Hurricane Irma was identical to that before Hurricane Irma in Saint Barthelemy; this was not the case in Saint Martin. During resilience, an increase in the gap between energy production in Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin was observed. This study indicated that this gap represents an inequality growth between Saint Barthelemy (gross domestic product (GDP) of 40 000 euros/inhabitant) and Saint Martin (GDP of 16 600 euros/inhabitant). The indicators emphasized that inequality growth after natural disasters favors less vulnerable and more resilient territories. The number of inhabitants must be considered during indicator construction to avoid any bias.

Explore related subjects

physics.soc-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Julien Gargani. 2022-01-01. Resilience and inequality growth monitoring after disaster using indicators based on energy production. https://arxiv.org/abs/2201.00213

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Assessment of Latent Pedestrian-Vehicle Interaction Risk Profiles at Midblock Crossing in VR

Pedestrian safety at midblock crossings is a critical concern in mixed traffic environments where autonomous vehicles (AVs) and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) share the road. Pedestrians often infer intent from vehicle motion in AV encounters, making them vulnerable to small shifts in conflict margins. This study investigates whether virtual reality (VR) crossing sessions separate into distinct interaction risk profiles and whether AV-only sessions shift profile prevalence compared to HDV-only sessions. Using large-scale immersive VR experiments from Toronto, Canada, and Newcastle, England, we compute surrogate safety measures (SSMs) and apply latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify distinct pedestrian crossing stances, ranging from risk-accepting to highly cautious. Key findings show that Newcastle exhibits a higher prevalence of high-urgency risk profiles in AV-only sessions, indicating that AVs contribute to higher-risk encounters. In contrast, Toronto shows no significant difference between AV-only and HDV-only sessions, suggesting that contextual factors influence the impact of AVs on pedestrian safety.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2026

Unused power surge compromises U.S. road vehicles sustainability

Material and energy flows underpin sociotechnical metabolism. However, despite growing sustainability concerns over expanding material stocks and declining stock productivity, the link between material use and energy consumption remains poorly understood. This gap reflects a limited distinction between structures and the activity they enable, and the lack of quantification of the installed power of energy consuming structures. Here we reconstruct the long-term growth dynamics of U.S. road vehicles, distinguishing professional and consumer assets. We show that installed power, mass, and fuel energy use follow divergent patterns within and across vehicle categories. By introducing the usage factor as a metric linking structure to activity, we quantify decoupling mechanisms such as engine oversizing and fleet redundancy, which drive up material immobilization. As electrification requires large-scale fleet replacement, our findings highlight that avoiding power oversized vehicles could reduce material demand, emphasizing the need to account for structure-activity decoupling in energy transition policies.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2026

Environmental sustainability in basic research: a perspective from HECAP+

The climate crisis and the degradation of the world's ecosystems require humanity to take immediate action. The international scientific community has a responsibility to limit the negative environmental impacts of basic research. The HECAP+ communities (High Energy Physics, Cosmology, Astroparticle Physics, and Hadron and Nuclear Physics) make use of common and similar experimental infrastructure, such as accelerators and observatories, and rely similarly on the processing of big data. Our communities therefore face similar challenges to improving the sustainability of our research. This document aims to reflect on the environmental impacts of our work practices and research infrastructure, to highlight best practice, to make recommendations for positive changes, and to identify the opportunities and challenges that such changes present for wider aspects of social responsibility.

physics.soc-ph↗