Benjamin Szeghy L&S Social Sciences
Loss of Secondary Community from 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire
This project explores the similarities and differences between the human trauma caused by wildfire destruction of the secondary community that was the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood of L.A. in January of 2025 compared with destruction of powerless towns such as Buffalo Creek in 1972, destroyed by a coal mining flood in Appalachia.
Broadly, this project is geographic in nature. It identifies place by exploring the loss of place. It explores the relationship between self identity in a community of residence and geography. The situation in Palisades is unfolding rapidly, and it is essential that this fieldwork be collected thoroughly at this time. Already, the Pacific Palisades neighborhood is being bulldozed by the Army Corps of Engineers to prepare it for the first steps of rebuilding this summer.
Message To Sponsor
Climate change is rapidly increasing the risk of destructive wildfires across California and the world at large. It is critical that we understand not only the environmental harms, but the human ramifications as well. This project provides a key opportunity to understand the trauma caused by these natural disasters and determine how to best help affected communities heal. I truly appreciate the donor’s vote of confidence in me to contribute to this critical and time-sensitive field of research.