For older adults, disaster risk starts long before disaster strikes

AI Summary

The article describes how overlapping disasters can compound risks for older adults, particularly when chronic illness, limited mobility, social isolation, or strained care systems are involved. More severe and frequent hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and heat waves can make preparedness and recovery increasingly difficult.

For older adults, no disaster is simple. Repeated hurricanes, floods, wildfires and heat waves can combine with chronic illness, limited mobility, weak social support and strained care systems to create risks greater than any one factor alone. As disasters grow more severe and frequent—and increasingly overlap or strike before communities have fully recovered—preparing for and recovering from them becomes even more challenging.