Malibu Is One of 20 Most-Dangerous Places For Seniors
Written by 991KBU on July 31, 2019
Malibu makes the list as one of California’s 20 most-dangerous places for the elderly … the disabled or poor people … as wildfires rip through the area.
Yes … Malibu … which has a surprisingly-high number of elderly people … and people who live below the federal poverty line.
Three people were killed in the Woolsey Fire.
Two of them were elderly people … the third was a man trying to rescue his elderly mother.
And 85 people were killed that same day in Paradise … where many of the victims left behind were elderly or disabled and unable to quickly evacuate.
A nonprofit group called Direct Relief has mapped out which small towns in California could be the hardest hit by a fast-moving wildfire.
They did this based on the numbers of low-income, immobile, aging or disabled people in those communities.
Paradise … Magalia … Dunsmuir .. Bodfish … 19 little mountain towns in central or northern California make the list,
And then .., Malibu is number 20 … with a “high” social-vulnerability score.
The study points out that 13 percent of the people in Malibu are living in poverty.
30 percent are elderly … above 65.
And 11 percent are disabled.
One of the researchers told the Sacramento Bee that wildfire factors like weather and topography are being studied extensively … but there is less attention paid beforehand to the kind of people that are most at risk … and how we can mitigate that risk.
The story is posted in the Sacramento Bee … we have a link to it posted ta the KBUU Newswire.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article233183421.html