  The objective of this study is to examine spatial patterns of impacts and
recovery of communities based on variances in credit card transactions. Such
variances could capture the collective effects of household impacts, disrupted
accesses, and business closures, and thus provide an integrative measure for
examining disaster impacts and community recovery in disasters. Existing
studies depend mainly on survey and sociodemographic data for disaster impacts
and recovery effort evaluations, although such data has limitations, including
large data collection efforts and delayed timeliness results. In addition,
there are very few studies have concentrated on spatial patterns and
disparities of disaster impacts and short-term recovery of communities,
although such investigation can enhance situational awareness during disasters
and support the identification of disparate spatial patterns of disaster
impacts and recovery in the impacted regions. This study examines credit card
transaction data Harris County (Texas, USA) during Hurricane Harvey in 2017 to
explore spatial patterns of disaster impacts and recovery during from the
perspective of community residents and businesses at ZIP code and county
scales, respectively, and to further investigate their spatial disparities
across ZIP codes. The results indicate that individuals in ZIP codes with
populations of higher income experienced more severe disaster impact and
recovered more quickly than those located in lower-income ZIP codes for most
business sectors. Our findings not only enhance the understanding of spatial
patterns and disparities in disaster impacts and recovery for better community
resilience assessment, but also could benefit emergency managers, city
planners, and public officials in harnessing population activity data, using
credit card transactions as a proxy for activity, to improve situational
awareness and resource allocation.
