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This paper presents damage assessment using a hierarchical transformer architecture (DAHiTrA), a novel deep‐learning model with hierarchical transformers to classify building damages based on satellite images in the aftermath of natural disasters. Satellite imagery provides real‐time and high‐coverage information and offers opportunities to inform large‐scale postdisaster building damage assessment, which is critical for rapid emergency response. In this work, a novel transformer‐based network is proposed for assessing building damage. This network leverages hierarchical spatial features of multiple resolutions and captures the temporal differences in the feature domain after applying a transformer encoder to the spatial features. The proposed network achieves state‐of‐the‐art performance when tested on a large‐scale disaster damage data set (xBD) for building localization and damage classification, as well as on LEVIR‐CD data set for change detection tasks. In addition, this work introduces a new high‐resolution satellite imagery data set, Ida‐BD (related to 2021 Hurricane Ida in Louisiana) for domain adaptation. Further, it demonstrates an approach of using this data set by adapting the model with limited fine‐tuning and hence applying the model to newly damaged areas with scarce data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters have large social and economic consequences. However, adequate economic and social data to study subnational economic effects of these negative shocks are typically difficult to obtain especially in low-income countries. For this reason, the use of night light data is becoming increasingly popular in studies which aim to estimate the impacts of natural disasters on local economic activity. However, it is often unclear what observed changes in night lights represent exactly. In this paper, we examine how changes in night light emissions following a severe hurricane relate with local population, employment, and income statistics. We do so for the case of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the coastline of Louisiana and Mississippi in August 2005. Hurricane Katrina is an excellent case for this purpose as it is one of the biggest hurricanes in recent history in terms of human and economic impacts, it made landfall in a country with high-quality sub-national socioeconomic data collection, and it is covered extensively in the academic literature. We find that overall night light changes reflect the general pattern of direct impacts of Katrina as well as indirect impacts and subsequent population and economic recovery. Our results suggest that change in light intensity is mostly reflective of changes in resident population and the total number of employed people within the affected area and less so but positively related to aggregate income and real GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods are among the natural disasters that cause financial and human losses all over the world every year. By production of a flood risk map and determination of potential flood risk areas, the possible damages of this phenomenon can be reduced. To map the flood extend in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, US, conditioning factors affecting the flood occurrence including elevation, slope, plan curvature, land use, distance from rivers, density of rivers, rainfall, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI), and normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) were identified and their information layers produced using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform. Then, for flood risk mapping, Random Forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) as two machine learning models have been implemented and their results compared. RF and SVM models have been validated based on the maximum absolute error (MAE) index with an accuracy of 0.043 and 0.097, respectively. Visualization of the predicted values in QGIS software confirms that the RF model has provided better outputs than that of the SVM model. By analysing the features importance of the layers in the RF model, it was verified that the elevation, slope, and plan curvature layers have the highest degree of influence on the flood risk with degrees of importance of 0.197, 0.135, and 0.123. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Floods are the most common and damaging natural disaster worldwide in terms of both economic losses and human casualties. Currently, policymakers rely on data collected through labor-intensive and, consequently, expensive street-level surveys to assess flood risks. We propose a laborless and financially feasible alternative: a framework that can effectively and efficiently collect building attribute data without manual street surveys. By utilizing deep learning, the proposed framework analyzes Google Street View (GSV) images to estimate multiple attributes of buildings simultaneously—including foundation height, foundation type, building type, and number of stories—that are necessary for assessing flood risks. The proposed framework achieves a 0.177-m mean absolute error (MAE) for foundation height estimation and classification F1 scores of 77.96% for foundation type, 83.12% for building type, and 94.60% for building stories, and requires less than five days to predict the attributes of 0.8 million buildings in coastal Louisiana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analize the rebuilding of the Gulf coast post-Hurricane Katrina. Design/methodology/approach - The paper posits that though Frédéric Bastiat passed away in 1850, the beauty of his sound economic reasoning is that it does not change over time and that his essay, "That which is seen, and that which is not seen," is especially insightful in analyzing the rebuilding of the Gulf coast The paper first expounds his lesson and then applies it to the conflict between the private and public sectors in order to attack the fallacies of government spending and vindicate the free-market approach to reconstruction. Findings - The paper finds that the areas where the government has coercively arrogated to itself a monopoly - police and fire departments to protect lives and property, courts to punish rights violators, water and sewer systems to restore potable water to homes - are the areas where recovery lags the most Since government has diverted its attention from these services where competition is not allowed, and has instead become involved in the provision of goods and services otherwise provided on the free market - houses, food, clothing - its efforts have not only not assisted the recovery, they have actually stood in its way. Originality/value - The paper provides a valuable overview of lessons that can be learnt from the aftermath of the Katrina disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyze some of the unseen negative effects of the post-Katrina government policies dealing with housing in New Orleans. Design/methodology/approach - Since Hurricane Katrina, the government, along with private for profit and not-for-profit organizations, has worked to rebuild the city of New Orleans. This effort is most evident in the response to the housing crisis that followed the storm. The government has spent billions of dollars and brought thousands of people in to rebuild homes and other infrastructure in the long run and to provide stopgap measures in the short run. The approximately 120,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers in the region are one of the most visible examples of government efforts. Findings - The paper finds that while the trailers did provide benefits to those who received them, it could be argued that the government's policies aimed toward solving the housing crisis suffer from Frédéric Bastiat's broken window fallacy. FEMA trailers and the multitude of workers brought in are examples of what is seen, and, as Bastiat showed, we must also look at what is unseen. Originality/value - The paper is of value in showing that the trailer problem, among many others, has weakened the relief effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery from disaster and displacement involves multiple challenges including accompanying survivors, documenting effects, and rethreading community. This paper demonstrates how African-American and Latina community health promoters and white university-based researchers engaged visual methodologies and participatory action research (photoPAR) as resources in cross-community praxis in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans. Visual techniques, including but not limited to photonarratives, facilitated the health promoters’: (1) care for themselves and each other as survivors of and responders to the post-disaster context; (2) critical interrogation of New Orleans’ entrenched pre- and post-Katrina structural racism as contributing to the racialised effects of and responses to Katrina; and (3) meaning-making and performances of women’s community-based, cross-community health promotion within this post-disaster context. This feminist antiracist participatory action research project demonstrates how visual methodologies contributed to the co-researchers’ cross-community self- and other caring, critical bifocality, and collaborative construction of a contextually and culturally responsive model for women’s community-based health promotion post ‘unnatural disaster’. Selected limitations as well as the potential for future cross-community antiracist feminist photoPAR in post-disaster contexts are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine one academic library and how the staff dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Design/methodology/approach -- A case study of the Tulane Recovery Center in New Orleans that was created after Hurricane Katrina in cooperation with Library Associates Companies (LAC). Findings -- Institutions may have a disaster plan outlined as to what to do in an emergency but in actuality one is never fully prepared for a natural disaster. Originality/value -- This paper examines the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University and the creation of the Tulane Recovery Center, which can serve as a model for other to follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a case study of the repositioning of New Orleans as a tourism destination after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. It examines the event from a post-disaster marketing viewpoint and first outlines the tourism industry in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, including visitor profile, destination image, and positioning statements. The article then recounts the effects of the hurricane on the tourism infrastructure. The effectiveness of recovery marketing strategies, including the repositioning strategies undertaken by the city's tourism marketing organizations, is examined. The disaster management frameworks as discussed in the literature are revisited and extended to include the lessons learned for post disaster market repositioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers comments of the author on Hurricane Katrina and focuses on the differences in risk conception and differences in technological culture in American and Dutch coastal engineering. Many wonder how U.S. failed to keep New Orleans dry, when large parts of the Netherlands can exist below sea level. These may be due to the wider technological cultures and the historical style of American coastal engineering is prone to precipitate such tragedies.

This paper examined the effect of Hurricane Katrina on children's access to personal healthcare providers and evaluated the use of propensity score methods to compare a nationally representative sample of children, as a proxy for an unexposed group, with a smaller exposed sample. 2007 data from the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health (G-CAFH) Study, a longitudinal cohort of households displaced or greatly impacted by Hurricane Katrina, were matched with 2007 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) data using propensity score techniques. Propensity scores were created using poverty level, household educational attainment, and race/ethnicity, with and without the addition of child age and gender. The outcome was defined as having a personal healthcare provider. Additional confounders (household structure, neighborhood safety, health and insurance status) were also examined. All covariates except gender differed significantly between the exposed (G-CAFH) and unexposed (NSCH) samples. Fewer G-CAFH children had a personal healthcare provider (65 %) compared to those from NSCH (90 %). Adjusting for all covariates, the propensity score analysis showed exposed children were 20 % less likely to have a personal healthcare provider compared to unexposed children in the US (OR = 0.80, 95 % CI 0.76, 0.84), whereas the logistic regression analysis estimated a stronger effect (OR = 0.28, 95 % CI 0.21, 0.39). Two years after Hurricane Katrina, children exposed to the storm had significantly lower odds of having a personal health care provider compared to unexposed children. Propensity score matching techniques may be useful for combining separate data samples when no clear unexposed group exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on writing about urban disaster and its representations on image. It offers an examination of the various photographic images of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. He considers art photographs taken by photographer Robert Polidori along with other photographs taken for insurance purposes. By placing the photographs in context of historical representations of disaster, the author questions the role of photographers as an eyewitness and the role of photographs as evidence.

In August 2016, Louisiana parishes witnessed record rainfall levels, resulting in catastrophic flooding in the Amite and Comite Rivers. In this study, we analyze the spatial patterns of the social vulnerability index (SVI) in each flood zone within Louisiana parishes of East Baton Rouge, Ascension, and Livingston. We use geographically weighted regression (GWR) models to analyze the relation among spatial distribution of the SVI, flood zones, and impervious surfaces. We found that spatial distribution of population and the SVI varies significantly in the disaster affected area. We also found an increase in impervious/developed areas in all flood zones between 2001 and 2011, which may have augmented flooding intensity. The GWR results indicate that spatial variations in the relationship of the social vulnerability index with flood zones and impervious land cover are significant. The most vulnerable places from a biophysical standpoint did not always overlap with the most vulnerable populations. In conclusion, vulnerability varies over space and is not uniform throughout the disaster affected area. Therefore, timely and accurate estimation of the spatial nature of natural disasters and the specific sub-populations that are differentially affected is required. En el mes de agosto del 2016, las parroquias de Louisiana registraron niveles récord de lluvia, lo cual provocó inundaciones catastróficas en los ríos Amite y Comite. En este estudio, analizamos los patrones espaciales del índice de vulnerabilidad social (SVI) en cada zona de inundación dentro de las parroquias de Louisiana en East Baton Rouge, Ascension y Livingston. Utilizamos modelos de regresión ponderada geográficamente (GWR) para analizar la relación entre la distribución espacial del SVI, zonas de inundación y superficies impermeables. Encontramos que la distribución espacial de la población y el SVI varía significativamente en el área afectada por el desastre. También encontramos un aumento en las áreas impermeables/ desarrolladas en todas las zonas de inundación entre 2001 y 2011, lo que puede haber causado un aumento en la intensidad de las inundaciones. Los resultados de GWR indican que las variaciones espaciales en la relación del índice de vulnerabilidad social con las zonas de inundación y la cubierta impermeable de la tierra son importantes. Desde un punto de vista biofísico, los lugares más vulnerables no siempre se superponían con las poblaciones más vulnerables. En conclusión, la vulnerabilidad varía con el espacio y no es uniforme en toda la zona afectada por el desastre. Por lo tanto, se requiere una estimación oportuna y precisa de la naturaleza espacial de los desastres naturales y las subpoblaciones específicas que se ven afectadas de manera diferente. Por lo tanto, se requiere una estimación oportuna y precisa de manera diferente de la naturaleza espacial de los desastres naturales y de las subpoblaciones específicas que se ven afectadas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health and well-being of pregnant women during and after natural disasters remains an international concern. In this mixed methods study we described pregnant women's mental health, psychosocial concerns and sources of stress living in New Orleans during long term recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Our survey of 402 pregnant women indicated poor social support was associated with higher levels of depression symptomology, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and stress. Women were interviewed and described seven common areas of worry. We concluded that pregnant women living in post-disaster communities have stressful lives years after the event, needing innovative models of care to build resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze results from 114 face-to-face qualitative interviews of people who had evacuated from the New Orleans area in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, interviews that were completed within weeks of the 2005 storm in most cases. Our goal was to understand the role information and knowledge played in people's decisions to leave the area. Contrary to the conventional wisdom underlying many disaster communication studies, we found that our interviewees almost always had extensive storm-related information from a variety of sources, including media reports and (in many cases) other background knowledge gleaned from experiences with previous storms, often from interpersonal sources. However, consistent with a theme in communication research that has been identifiable since at least the 1940s, interpersonal communication networks were most often what ultimately caused these individuals to act on this information, and therefore those with “weak ties” (a concept borrowed from sociology) to the broader “mainstream” community may have been disadvantaged, slower to leave, and thus more vulnerable to the storm's main effects. From our evidence, the end result was less a function of discrimination as it was one of differential activation of a relevant social network. These results argue for the rejection of a “deficit model” that assumes varied reactions to natural disaster result from some kind of an information deficiency, and remind us that behavior under such circumstances is the result of a process of collective behavior, not only individual cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood protection is often presumed to be a public good and hence a government responsibility. Unfortunately, the full costs of publicly-funded flood control efforts are often obscured. Moreover, reliance on government protection can create false impressions that individual risks have been minimized, thus encouraging more personal and business investment in disaster-prone regions. Reimbursing these losses after a disaster perpetuates a cycle in which resources spent to protect communities from flood damage can instead increase vulnerability and create a climate of "moral hazard" where people fail to take appropriate actions to reduce risk. As New Orleans continues to rebuild from the damage of Hurricane Katrina, there is a need to consider comprehensive approaches that will provide decision makers at all levels with incentives to manage flood risk more effectively. This paper offers guidance for developing more rational, risk-based government policies for flood protection, approaches that could be less costly and place fewer people and their livelihoods at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe displacement dynamics in Louisiana approximately 1 year after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Policy-makers and service-providers require a more detailed understanding of displacement in order to provide for geographically dispersed populations. Census estimates of net change are often insufficient because they fail to capture the broad range of movement of people. Therefore, we draw upon original data to more fully describe patterns of movement across and within parish lines in southern Louisiana. The 2006 Louisiana Health and Population Survey (LHPS) was commissioned by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Louisiana Recovery Authority to provide information on population dispersion and related health characteristics in and around hurricane-affected regions. Our paper utilizes this unique dataset to describe three distinct dimensions of displacement dynamics: in-migration, out-migration, and intra-parish movement. These displacement dynamics add important correctives to the broader “net effects” commonly cited in media reports of population changes, which vastly understate the extent of displacement in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the public policies that lead to ‘`Katrina,’' paying particular attention to political decisions that created unusual risks in the New Orleans area. Most of the deaths from hurricane Katrina were concentrated in one place, New Orleans, and those losses arose in large part from its location in combination with its three century long effort to ‘`manage’' the risks associated with that location. Crisis management is inherently more error prone than ordinary policy making, because surprise implies the existence of significant information problems and urgency implies that time does not exist to completely address those problems (Congleton, 2005). In New Orleans the unavoidable mistakes of crisis management were compounded by policy choices made well before Katrina made landfall, as well as federalism, partisan politics, corruption, and incompetence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this particular paper, we contribute to both of these areas of relevance. A methodology is developed for estimating willingness to pay for a reduction in the probability of flooding in an urban area. These estimates can potentially be used in developing benefit/cost analyses. The theoretical development here enhances previous research efforts in that we examine a reduction in probability. Other studies examine a reduction in losses, not likelihood, when modeling willingness to pay. The approach taken is based on the supply uncertainty case in the option price literature and follows Smith (1985). Changes in probability seem to be especially relevant to the location decision in urban areas with flooding hazard. More importantly, the nature of the urban flooding case enables us to develop criteria for stronger tests of the viability of using urban housing markets to test consumer behavior and measure economic benefits. Because of the availability of flood insurance in most urban areas subject to flooding hazard, consumers have a choice: pay higher insurance premiums in areas with a greater likelihood of flooding or pay higher housing costs in areas with lower probabilities of flooding. The insurance premium differentials provide an exogenous measure to compare with the property value differentials. In some cases, the insurance premium differentials can actually be used to calibrate the accuracy of the estimated property value differentials. Thus, more (or less) confidence can be placed on the hedonic method for revealing consumers willingness to pay for a reduced likelihood of the hazard occurring. The empirical results, based on data from a homogeneous housing market subject to flooding hazard and participating in the federal flood insurance program, indicate that the property value differentials are influenced by flooding hazard. Further, the estimated differential from the hedonic method, when compared to the insurance premium differential, tends to support the theory of consumer behavior under uncertainty. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In the next section, the theory of how residential housing markets can reveal willingness to pay is logically developed. The data are described in section III. The empirical results and comparisons are presented in section IV while conclusions are given in the last section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Information about circumstances leading to disaster-related deaths helps emergency response coordinators and other public health officials respond to the needs of disaster victims and develop policies for reducing the mortality and morbidity of future disasters. In this paper, we describe the decedent population, circumstances of death, and population-based mortality rates related to Hurricane Andrew, and propose recommendations for evaluating and reducing the public health impact of natural disasters.Methods: To ascertain the number and circumstances of deaths attributed to Hurricane Andrew in Florida and Louisiana, we contacted medical examiners in 11 Florida counties and coroners in 36 Louisiana parishes.Results: In Florida medical examiners attributed 44 deaths to the hurricane. The mortality rate for directly-related deaths was 4.4 per 1 000 000 population and that for indirectly-related deaths was 8.5 per 1 000 000 population. In Louisiana, coroners attributed 11 resident deaths to the hurricane. Mortality rates were 0.6 per 1000 000 population for deaths directly related to the storm and 2.8 for deaths indirectly related to the storm. Six additional deaths occurred among non-residents who drowned in international waters in the Gulf of Mexico. In both Florida and Louisiana, mortality rates generally increased with age and were higher among whites and males.Conclusions: In addition to encouraging people to follow existing recommendations, we recommend emphasizing safe driving practices during evacuation and clean-up, equipping shelters with basic medical needs for the population served, and modifying zoning and housing legislation. We also recommend developing and using a standard definition for disaster-related deaths, and using population-based statistics to describe the public health effectiveness of policies intended to reduce disaster-related mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the connections of the main character of the book "The Awakening" and the life of the author Kate Chopin during the Great October Storm, a hurricane that swept the Louisiana coast in 1893. It highlights the effects of the Great October Storm on both the creation and implications of Chopin's book. It also associates individual's life to the life of the main character, who tried to rebuild their lives and understand what lives really mean. It explores how Chopin became a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana and how storms hit her family that forced them to move inland to Cloutierville.

Using stated choice survey data we report on subjects’ perceptions of the risks of hurricanes and intended relocation decisions when faced with such risks. All of the subjects were displaced by either Hurricane Katrina or Rita, in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas in 2005. Results here suggest that subjective perceptions of risk are quite high as compared to scientific estimates of risk, and relocation decisions revealed from a discrete choice experiment are significantly determined by levels of hurricane strike risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An empirical implication of egalitarianism in the provision of public disaster relief services is that the probability of surviving a natural disaster should not be conditioned on a household’s position in the income distribution, or its racial characteristics. In this paper, we utilize data on deaths attributed to Hurricane Katrina in the City of New Orleans to estimate a political economy model of the public provision of disaster rescue services. Parameter estimates reveal that the probability of dying as a result of Hurricane Katrina, at both the census tract and individual level, increased with respect to being black and poor. Our results suggest that there was a departure from egalitarian principles in the provision of public disaster rescue services during Hurricane Katrina, and are consistent with a political economy of race and class governing decisions about the allocation of public resources to ameliorate population environmental risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of government and independent research conducted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in an effort to highlight additional areas in need of study. In addition to the overview of natural disasters and their impact on the United States, the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake and the actions taken by the government, the local and private sector is also highlighted as providing some lessons learned but maybe forgotten in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine if complementary and alternative medicine therapies are associated with mental health in postdisaster environments. Design: Pregnant women (N = 402) were interviewed between 2010 and 2012 as part of a larger cross-sectional study on hurricane recovery and models of prenatal care. Methods: Symptoms of depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Screen), prenatal anxiety (Revised Prenatal Distress Questionnaire), posttraumatic stress (PCL-S), and perceived stress (PSS) were examined. Logistic regression was used to adjust for income, race, education, parity, and age. The most commonly reported therapies were prayer, music, multivitamins, massage, and aromatherapy. Findings: Mental illness symptoms were common (30.7% had likely depression, 17.4% had anxiety, and 9.0% had posttraumatic stress). Massage was protective for depression (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Index [EDSI] >8; adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.3-0.9), while use of aromatherapy (aOR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.1-3.2) and keeping a journal (aOR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.1-3.2) were associated with increased odds of depression. Aromatherapy was associated with symptoms of pregnancy-related anxiety (aOR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.1-3.8). Conclusions: Symptoms of mental illness persist after disaster, when untreated. Nurses should consider assessing for complementary and alternative medicine utilization in pregnancy as a potentially protective factor for mental health symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When expectant mothers are exposed to traumatic events such as natural disasters, their children are at increased risk for developmental and behavioral problems. Many people believe that young children will not be impacted by the traumatic experiences that occur during and following disasters. Therefore, planning for the youngest children at the time of disasters rarely occurs. In New Orleans area Head Start Centers in 2010-2011, during and following Hurricane Katrina, unexpected findings became apparent in developmental and social-emotional screenings. Assessments revealed that children born closer to Hurricane Katrina showed more developmental concerns than children born more than 2 years post-Katrina. Findings support the need for increased awareness and services for pregnant women and young children following disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilized latent profile analysis to identify typologies of distress [i.e., patterns of posttraumatic stress (PTS), anxiety, and depression symptoms] among children exposed to Hurricane Katrina. Outcomes and risk factors for these pattern groups were examined. Participants were children ( n = 353; ages 8-15 years) affected by Hurricane Katrina. Children were assessed at 3-7 months (Time 1) and 14-17 months (Time 2) post-Katrina. Results identified three pattern groups (No Disturbance, PTS Only, and Mixed Internalizing) at Time 1. Children in the No Disturbance group reported the lowest levels of internal distress, while the Mixed Internalizing group reported the highest levels of internal distress at Time 2. The Mixed Internalizing and the PTS Only groups reported greater school problems than the No Disturbance group at Time 2. Perceived life threat and community violence exposure were risk factors associated with higher likelihood of falling in the PTS Only and Mixed Internalizing groups, compared to the No Disturbance group. Immediate loss and disruption was also a risk factor associated with a higher likelihood of falling in the PTS Only group, compared to the No Disturbance group. Finally, social support from parents or a classmate/friend was a significant protective factor associated with a lower likelihood of falling into a symptomatic pattern group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hurricane Katrina created a variety of issues that tested the resilience of families and children who were forced to relocate. This article describes the use of culturally affirming, thematically appropriate bibliotherapy as part of a long-term program to assist a group of elementary school aged African-American children cope with feelings of anxiety, displacement, and loss. This intervention provided a medium through which the participants could explore issues of isolation and the loss of their homes, family structures and a sense of security, while also providing academic and social supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a 2012 survey conducted by members of the Louisiana Academic Library and Information Network Consortium (LALINC) to determine the status of the curricular integration of information literacy instruction following numerous budget cuts to Louisiana higher education since 2008. The article also discusses the 2012 deletion of the information literacy requirement from the Louisiana Board of Regents' general education requirements and provides a comparison of general education and library requirements in the states belonging to the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB). The authors conclude that a statewide general information literacy requirement is not currently practical for Louisiana higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Recent evaluations of school choice school reforms have focused on improving academic achievement but have ignored associations with adolescent health and the risk of interpersonal violence. The innovative school choice model implemented in post-Katrina New Orleans provides a unique opportunity to examine these effects. METHODS Using a sample of approximately 1700 students from the 2009 School Health Connection Survey, the relationships between the type of school attended and depression, suicide planning, absences attributable to fears for personal safety, and threats of violence at school are examined. Multivariate regression analysis adjusting for self-selection into the type of school attended-a city-run high-performing school, a state-run failing school, or an independent charter school-estimates the effects of school type on student health. RESULTS Relative to students at state-run schools, students who choose to attend city-run schools are less likely to plan for suicide or to miss school because they are afraid of becoming victims of violence. These beneficial effects tend to be larger for students traveling from higher violence neighborhoods. The effects for charter schools are similar but less robust. CONCLUSIONS Local school jurisdictions that implement reforms allowing adolescents and their families greater freedom in school choice may also improve adolescent health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimates of the cost of potential disasters, including indirect economic consequences, are an important input in the design of risk management strategies. The adaptive regional input-output (ARIO) inventory model is a tool to assess indirect disaster losses and to analyze their drivers. It is based on an input-output structure, but it also (i) explicitly represents production bottlenecks and input scarcity and (ii) introduces inventories as an additional flexibility in the production system. This modeling strategy distinguishes between (i) essential supplies that cannot be stocked (e.g., electricity, water) and whose scarcity can paralyze all economic activity; (ii) essential supplies that can be stocked at least temporarily (e.g., steel, chemicals), whose scarcity creates problems only over the medium term; and (iii) supplies that are not essential in the production process, whose scarcity is problematic only over the long run and are therefore easy to replace with imports. The model is applied to the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and identifies two periods in the disaster aftermath: (1) the first year, during which production bottlenecks are responsible for large output losses; (2) the rest of the reconstruction period, during which bottlenecks are inexistent and output losses lower. This analysis also suggests important research questions and policy options to mitigate disaster-related output losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gulf Coast women are especially vulnerable to the effects of disaster and for many this vulnerability is compounded by existing poor health-related quality of life. Post-Hurricane Isaac, a baseline survey battery utilizing the Reproductive Health Assessment After Disasters (RHAD) Toolkit, the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey, and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were used quantitatively to assess reproductive health risks, services, and outcomes and to explore the psychosocial effects of disaster among pregnant and postpartum women aged 18-45 years (N=300). The pilot study included trained community health workers and patient navigators to implement a community needs assessment in Southeast Louisiana. The community health navigation corps administered RHAD and the brief psychosocial battery to gain a closer understanding of post-disaster reproductive health needs. Findings demonstrate the importance of making a transition from patient navigation into disaster management in order to reduce fragmentation in health care systems and to implement innovative approaches in survey methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our climate is in a constant state of flux and disaster policy and hazard mitigation measures must anticipate and adapt to these and other changes. This is especially true in the parishes of South Louisiana where a combination of factors have created a highly dynamic landscape where residents must react to anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic forces simultaneously. Major policies and mitigation efforts along Louisiana's Gulf Coast as they relate to disaster management and/or climate change were chronicled to determine how they have incorporated the unique vulnerabilities of South Louisiana. In addition to exacerbating disasters, changes in climate can create a 'slow disaster' because of far-reaching impacts on multiple natural processes. A 'slow disaster' is difficult to encourage communities to prepare for because the impact is usually realized over the course of years and decades instead of a few hours or days, as is the case with most disasters. Proactive planning and inclusion of potential climate change impacts in hazard mitigation plans is a positive step in reducing the impact of future disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hurricane Katrina caused many individuals to evacuate to towns and cities throughout the United States. Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a treatment program designed to help clinicians and other disaster relief workers address the needs of adults, youth, and families immediately following disasters. We conducted focus groups with disaster relief and evacuee service providers in the Kansas City Metro Area as an exploratory study to identify their perceptions of the needs of evacuees. Participants identified a number of mental health needs, as well as displacement-related challenges, including loss of social support, material loss, unemployment, and other stressful life events that were secondary to the hurricane. Many of these needs are consistent with principles presented in the PFA manual. We also found that service providers faced unique challenges when attempting to assist evacuees. We discuss implications of these findings for treatment programs and provide suggestions for addressing barriers to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the impact of natural disasters on marital and partner relationships. In this study, the authors aimed to fill this gap by investigating the changes in such relationships in a sample of 40 low-income, mostly African American women who survived Hurricane Katrina. Through in-depth interviews, participants described how the hurricane affected their intimate relationships. The authors found that, although many participants reported negative changes in their relationships, others reported that their relationships grew stronger, often despite initial strain. As a framework for understanding the processes underlying participants’ negative and positive outcomes, the authors drew on the family stress model. Consistent with the model, participants reported that the hurricane led to external stressors, including unemployment and prolonged separations, and that these stressors, in turn, undermined both individual functioning and relational processes (e.g., communication and support). Conversely, participants reporting positive changes experienced new employment opportunities, a greater sense of perspective, and high levels of effective communication and support in their relationships. Based on the findings, policies that reduce the economic strain of low-income families in the aftermath of disasters and empirically supported, culturally sensitive, clinical interventions for individuals and couples are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This qualitative research explores the issues and challenges that nonprofit organization executives contended with as a consequence of Hurricane Katrina. Through interviews with 10 executive directors of small and medium-size nonprofit, community-based organizations in New Orleans, this study examined the critical issues, coping strategies, and lessons the executives learned as they sought to reestablish their nonprofit organizations in the aftermath of the disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fourth century, Gregory of Nazianzus argued that cattle plague, drought, hailstorms, and crop loss in Nazianzus were caused by the unrighteous activity of the city's residents. In 2005, evangelical leader Pat Robertson raised the possibility that the disaster of Hurricane Katrina was a direct result of the fact that `we have killed over 40 million unborn babies in America'. One year later, African American humanist Anthony Pinn wrote that the aftermath of Katrina was a moral indictment of the oppres- sive structures inherent in U.S. society. Though separated by time and ideology, these three claims share the assumption that religious and moral lessons can be learned from natural disasters. We analyze these responses in order to demonstrate how religious interpretations of disasters can move from a common assumption to widely diverse moral arguments, and to urge that scholars provide more historical and theological context when analyzing religious claims about natural disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: As a result of Hurricane Katrina, > 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and a significant amount of sediment was deposited throughout the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Researchers have identified the potential for increased lead hazards from environmental lead contamination of soils. OBJECTIVES: We assessed the distribution of residential soil and dust lead 2 years poststorm and compared soil lead before and after the storm. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study in New Orleans in which households were selected by stratified random sampling. A standard residential questionnaire was administered, and lead testing was performed for both the interior and exterior of homes. Logistic regression was used to identify significant predictors of interior and exterior lead levels in excess of allowable levels. RESULTS: One hundred nine households were enrolled; 61% had at least one lead measurement above federal standards. Of homes with bare soil, 47% had elevated lead and 27% had levels exceeding 1,200 ppm. Housing age was associated with soil lead, and housing age and soil lead were associated with interior lead. Race, income, and ownership status were not significantly associated with either interior or exterior lead levels. The median soil lead level of 560 ppm was significantly higher than the median level of samples collected before Hurricane Katrina. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence (61%) of lead above recommended levels in soil and dust samples in and around residences raises concern about potential health risks to the New Orleans population, most notably children. Steps should be taken to mitigate the risk of exposure to lead-contaminated soil and dust. Further research is needed to quantify the possible contribution of reconstruction activities to environmental lead levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to determine retail recovery patterns after a natural disaster and to provide useful information for areas recovering from a major disaster. The New Orleans metropolitan area serves as the primary area studied in this research due to Hurricane Katrina's status as the most costly natural disaster in the history of the United States. Eight additional cities that were impacted by natural disaster were also investigated in order to compare and contrast the retail recovery rate ofthese cities to New Orleans across 10 retail categories. The Yellow Pages telephone book and the United States Census of Retail Trade were utilized to determine recovery rates and the existence of possible patterns of recovery in each of the 10 retail categories. The analysis also includes a provision for population shifts due to the respective disasters. The results, which demonstrate both consistencies and inconsistencies across the disaster recovery areas, are discussed and future direction for retail recovery research is advanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by an ecological perspective, the authors examined event, individual, structural/cultural, and family/community factors that shaped the psychological well-being of older adults displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. The authors first established the negative effects of displacement on psychological well-being by comparing displaced older adults with permanent Baton Rouge residents. Displaced older persons’ psychological well-being was positively related to their age and physical health. Older displaced women coped with displacement better than men. Avoidant coping was negatively related to the older adults’ well-being, whereas spiritual coping showed no effect. The functioning of older persons’ family was positively related to their psychological well-being, whereas dependence on people outside immediate family showed a negative relationship. Income, education, and race were largely unrelated to psychological well-being. Findings provide implications for future studies regarding the relationship between disaster and psychological well-being and provide practitioners with suggestions for work with older adults displaced by disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Annals of the Association of American Geographers is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Between 2006 and 2009, two health sciences librarians at Baton Rouge General Medical Center created and launched the Louisiana segment of the National Library of Medicine's Go Local program, whose ultimate goal was to improve the health information-seeking experience of the general public. Louisiana Go Local was successfully launched in October 2009, but in spring 2010 the national umbrella program was cancelled by the NLM. This article describes the three-year development of a statewide database of health services descriptions and contact information to assist nonexpert health information seekers in finding those health care providers located geographically closest to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few analyses offer statistical support for claims that news broadcasts during Hurricane Katrina propagated racist ideologies. The authors conducted a content analysis of the first week of network and cable television broadcasts from New Orleans after the hurricane made landfall. Although many hurricane victims were low-income African Americans, news of looting and other activities featured disproportionate numbers of Whites, particularly in speaking roles. In general, White journalists and sources were sympathetic toward African American victims but critical of their behavior when it did not conform to White middle-class norms. The authors believe such coverage reflects aversive racism, a subtle and conflicted form of contemporary racial animosity. Accordingly, their work revises Herman and Chomsky's model of news production by considering the racial dimensions of propaganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Professional Geographer is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Few studies have assessed the results of multiple exposures to disaster. Our objective was to examine the effect of experiencing Hurricane Gustav on mental health of women previously exposed to Hurricane Katrina. A total of 102 women from Southern Louisiana were interviewed by telephone. Experience of the hurricanes was assessed with questions about injury, danger and damage, while depression was assessed with the Edinburgh Depression Scale and post-traumatic stress disorder using the Post- Traumatic Checklist. Minor stressors, social support, trait resilience and perceived benefit had been measured previously. Mental health was examined with linear and log-linear models. Women who had a severe experience of both Gustav and Katrina scored higher on the mental health scales, but finding new ways to cope after Katrina or feeling more prepared was not protective. About half the population had better mental health scores after Gustav than at previous measures. Improvement was more likely among those who reported high social support or low levels of minor stressors, or were younger. Trait resilience mitigated the effect of hurricane exposure. Multiple disaster experiences are associated with worse mental health overall, although many women are resilient. Perceiving benefit after the first disaster was not protective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies on the impact of natural disasters have focused primarily on immediate stress reactions and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms rather than on evacuees' stories of grief and loss. Known categories of grief and loss do not fully capture the experiences of disaster survivors as evidenced by interviews of Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Austin, Texas. This article will describe their experiences through a resultant framework of Disoriented Grief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]