Impact of the Sewol Ferry Disaster on Physical Changes: Focused on BMI

Abstract

This study aims to empirically verify whether disasters affect physical changes, linking research on the effects of disasters on psychology and the effects of psychology on physical changes. It focused on the Sewol ferry disaster, and physical changes were tracked from 2010 to 2018, including the four years before and after the disaster in 2014. We constructed panel data on obesity rates from 229 local governments and used longitudinal data to analyze the impact of large disasters on changes in obesity rates over time. The results indicated that the Sewol Ferry Disaster had a long-term effect on the increase in obesity rate over time. In the directly affected areas of Ansan and Jindo, there was not only a long-term increase but also an immediate increase in the obesity rate. The findings of this study provide an opportunity to expand our understanding of the impact of disasters on society, and can also serve as foundational data for national and local disaster-related long-term impact support policies.