As wildfires rage in Southern California and Hurricane Jimena barrages Los Cabos in Mexico, flooding tourist avenues and shanty-towns, residents and tourists are taking shelter or evacuating the areas.

Natural disasters can lead people to seek greener pastures

Both Southern California – home to Los Angeles, Malibu and San Diego – and Cabo in Mexico are considered idyllic places to live and travel. Canadian Colleen Johnson, 55, who just immigrated to Los Cabos, has received a less-than-warm welcome from Hurricane Jimena.

“We’re a little leery,” said Johnson as she stocked up on emergency supplies at a Wal-Mart, “but I think we are doing everything right.”

Natural disasters are a major cause of emigration and displacement. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, US displaced tens of thousands of residents. Natural disasters can range from tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, blizzards and a number of less-known events such as waterspouts.

There are ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors which motivate people to migrate to new countries. ‘Push’ factors are negative elements in a person’s home country, such as lack of work. ‘Pull’ factors are positive things about a host country, such as employment opportunities or good weather.

Many people choose to emigrate based on the ‘push’ factor of inclement weather, or in more extreme cases, destroyed living environments following natural disasters. They may then choose where to emigrate based partly on the ‘pull’ factor of nice weather or a low likelihood of natural disasters.

The US Northeast (including New York, New Jersey and Virginia) has the lowest incidence of natural disasters in the United States. Internationally, the UK and continental Europe are known for their generally disaster-free weather conditions.