Compounded vulnerability: comparing disaster and climate hazard experiences of rural food pantry users with a neighboring suburban community in the Southeastern US

Rural food pantry users may experience layered social, health, and disaster-related vulnerabilities that are not fully captured in broader community-level assessments. This cross-sectional study compared disaster experiences, climate-related hazard encounters, and underlying vulnerability indicators between rural food pantry users in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, and a neighboring general community convenience sample in Horry County, South Carolina. Survey measures captured sociodemographic characteristics, chronic health conditions, self-reported mental health, disaster exposure and recovery experiences, and climate-related hazard encounters. Descriptive statistics and Fisher’s exact tests were used to compare the two cohorts. The food pantry cohort was older, predominantly African American, and had lower educational attainment than the general community cohort. Pantry participants also reported higher burdens of chronic disease, particularly hypertension and diabetes, and a higher prevalence of heirs’ property ownership. Although the two cohorts reported similar frequencies of disaster exposure, the food pantry cohort experienced significantly greater disaster-related financial losses, longer power outages, and greater reliance on federal disaster assistance. Overall, the findings suggest that food pantry use can identify a population facing compounded vulnerability, in which chronic resource constraints, health burdens, and recovery barriers intersect with disaster and climate-hazard exposure. Policy and preparedness strategies should leverage food pantries as trusted critical anchor institutions for disaster communication, preparedness outreach, and recovery support among structurally vulnerable populations.