Dan Vock

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Month: September 2011

A record year for disasters—and promises of federal help

September 26, 2011 / / 0 Comments

The numbers from 2011 are striking. From Stateline:

Through the third week of September, Obama had issued 84 federal disaster declarations at the request of governors. That is more declarations than in any year since the score was first kept six decades ago. And there are still three months left in 2011.

Emergency managers blame the weather, but there has been a noticeable increase ever since Hurricane Katrina. Whatever the cause, many states and the federal government are struggling to keep up with all the requests for help.

Christopher Emrich, a University of South Carolina professor who studies weather-related damage, says the country is experiencing more damage both from major events — like Hurricanes Katrina or Irene — and from “recurrent, chronic events that really don’t make the newspaper headlines.”

“Even if climate change does not influence future hazards,” says Emrich, “we clearly have droughts (now) that we can’t contend with, flooding we can’t contend with, and hurricanes and tropical systems that we have not adopted to.”

The trend is easy to see when plotted over time, as in our infographic here.

Latinos in the Illinois suburbs

September 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments

This Illinois Issues piece examines the migration of immigrants, particularly Latinos, to suburbs that are often ill-prepared for their arrival.

The Round Lake area, where Mano a Mano is located, has seen a dramatic rise in the Latino population since the agency opened its doors in 2000. The Hispanic population in Round Lake Beach, for example, jumped by nearly 70 percent. Latinos now make up nearly half of the village’s residents.

But Duque, Mano a Mano’s executive director, says Latino concerns are still not a top priority for many local leaders. Many wonder why they should “cater” to their new neighbors. When she asks what they are doing to address the needs of immigrants in the area, many simply highlight the work of her own group, a relatively small nonprofit with a budget of roughly $500,000. Forums at chamber of commerce events rarely address immigration, Duque says, and few Latino leaders get involved with local civic activities. “You know, institutions don’t adapt easily to demographic change,” she says. “Of course, there’s a lot of pressure on every institution in the community.”

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