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'All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.' Toni Morrison, 'The Site of Memory' On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a [...]

Katrina, Ike, and Sandy--are these extreme events the new normal? The emerging realities of a changing climate, as manifest in sea level rise and more intense storms, further exacerbate risk [...]

Over seventy percent of Americans identify with some faith community and use their faith as a means to cope with life experiences, especially following disasters (Weaver, Flannelly, Garbarino, Figley, & [...]

When the storm hit, Aesha was living ill a lovely apartment atop a law firm just off the Pass Road in Gulfport. A legal secretary at another firm, she'd been [...]

Objective: In this study, we examined the influence of pre-disaster perceived social support on post-disaster psychological distress among survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Method: Participants (N = 386) were low-income mothers between 18 and 34 years of age at baseline (M = 26.4, SD = 4.43). The majority (84.8%) was African American; 10.4% identified as Caucasian, 3.2% identified as Hispanic, and 1.8% identified as other. Participants were enrolled in an educational intervention study in 2004 and 2005. Those who had completed a 1-year follow-up assessment prior to Hurricane Katrina were reassessed approximately 1 year after the hurricane. Measures of perceived social support and psychological distress were included in pre- and post-disaster assessments. Using structural equation modeling and multiple mediator analysis, we tested a model wherein pre-disaster perceived social support predicted post-disaster psychological distress both directly and indirectly through its effects on pre-disaster psychological distress, exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and post-disaster perceived social support. We predicted that higher pre-disaster perceived social support would be predictive of lower pre-disaster psychological distress, lower hurricane-related stressors, and higher post-disaster perceived social support, and that these variables would, in turn, predict lower post-disaster psychologically distress. Results: Our analyses provide partial support for the hypothesized model. Although pre-disaster perceived social support did not exert a direct effect on post-disaster psychological distress, the indirect effects of all 3 proposed mediators were significant. Conclusions: Pre-disaster social support can decrease both exposure to natural disasters and the negative psychological effects of natural disaster exposure. These findings underscore the importance of bolstering the post-disaster social support networks of low-income mothers. Keywords: natural disasters, social support, low-income populations, mothers DOI: 10.1037/a0018317

Are charges of racial disparities in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's relief efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina accurate? Limited publicly available data on trailer distribution in New Orleans are compared to an on-site trailer count and to a complete trailer count from aerial photographs of New Orleans. The Lower Ninth Ward in Orleans Parish (98 percent Black prior to Hurricane Katrina) had significantly fewer trailers than neighboring Arabi in St. Bernard Parish (95 percent White prior to Hurricane Katrina). To control for administrative differences between parishes and socioeconomic factors, two affluent neighborhoods within Orleans Parish, Pontchartrain Park (97 percent Black prior to Hurricane Katrina) and Lakeview (94 percent White prior to Hurricane Katrina), are compared. The conclusion: racial discrepancies remain large and substantial. A number of hypotheses are developed and the implications discussed.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina's landfall in August 2005 and the reports of rampant looting of businesses in the city, we became curious about the extent of Katrina looting as compared to that after other major storms that hit New Orleans in 1947 and in 1965. Using burglary as a proxy variable for looting, we discovered that the burglary rates in the month before and the month after Katrina were significantly higher than those before and after the other two hurricanes. We then investigated the socioeconomic conditions in the city in an effort to explain these numbers. Population loss and high unemployment rates, coupled with a decline in high-paying manufacturing jobs and an increase in low-wage food and hotel service jobs generated severe economic inequality in the city that exacerbated the situation created by Katrina. Our current analysis of the impact of public school desegregation and the oil bust suggests that both events contributed to population loss and the increase in low-wage jobs prior to the storm. We believe that this type of research can assist in the recovery of New Orleans by providing an understanding of the city's pre-Katrina social and economic conditions and make clearer which post-Katrina changes are desirable.

Employing a community ecology perspective, this study examines how interorganizational (IO) communication and social capital (SC) facilitated organizational recovery after Hurricane Katrina. In-depth interviews with 56 New Orleans organizations enabled longitudinal analysis and a grounded theory model that illustrates how communication differentiated four phases of recovery: personal emergency, professional emergency, transition, rebuilding. Communicative action taking place across phases corresponds with the evolutionary mechanisms. Most organizations did not turn to interorganizational relationships (IORs) until the transitional phase, during which indirect ties were critical and incoming versus outgoing communication was substantively different. Organizations did not consistently use IO SC until the last phase. This study underlines the fact that organizations and their systems are fundamentally human and (re)constructed through communicative action. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01371.x

The purpose of this study was to document changes in mental and physical health among 392 low-income parents exposed to Hurricane Katrina and to explore how hurricane-related stressors and loss relate to post-Katrina well-being. The prevalence of probable serious mental illness doubled, and nearly half of the respondents exhibited probable posttraumatic stress disorder. Higher levels of hurricane-related loss and stressors were generally associated with worse health outcomes, controlling for baseline socio-demographic and health measures. Higher baseline resources predicted fewer hurricane-associated stressors, but the consequences of stressors and loss were similar regardless of baseline resources. Adverse health consequences of Hurricane Katrina persisted for a year or more and were most severe for those experiencing the most stressors and loss. Long-term health and mental health services are needed for low-income disaster survivors, especially those who experience disaster-related stressors and loss. DOI: 10.1111/j.939-0025.2010.01027x

Byline: Makiko Hori (1), Mark J. Schafer (2) Keywords: Displacement; Disaster; Migration; Hurricane Katrina; Hurricane Rita; Environment; Natural hazards; Natural disaster; Social impacts; Homeonwership; Income Abstract: Hundreds of thousands of Louisiana citizens were displaced from their homes as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Of those displaced within Louisiana some relocated to other parishes, some to other residences within the same parish, and others were able to return to their pre-storm residence. This article draws upon data gathered by the 2006 Louisiana Health and Population Survey to examine the social costs of displacement across 18 Louisiana parishes approximately 1 year after the hurricanes. Specifically, we examine how displacement affected housing, economic, and health outcomes for individuals and families. Further, we compare the implications of two types of displacement (1) internal displacement--within-parish relocation versus (2) external displacement--relocation across parish lines. We found that the displaced had lower odds of owning their homes, living in detached housing, and retaining access to primary health care facilities. The displaced were also more likely to be unemployed and exhibit symptoms consistent with severe mental illness. The externally displaced suffered income declines. These trends are critically important for understanding both the short- and long-term ramifications of displacement after disaster. Our findings have implications for theories, policy makers, and planners considering the larger social costs of disaster and large-scale displacement. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Sociology, Louisiana State University, 126 Stubbs Hall, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA (2) Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, 101 Agricultural Administration Building, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA Article History: Registration Date: 24/11/2009 Online Date: 20/12/2009

Effective social work education that promotes social justice requires expanded curricular models and creative pedagogical approaches. This article presents a curricular case study demonstrating the use of current events to enhance both implicit and explicit curricula. How the cultural crisis of Hurricane Katrina was used to engender transformative learning for both students and teachers is described. Practical tools and resources that can be adapted by educators to incorporate other current events into their teaching-learning are provided. A critique of the process and suggestions for future implementation are discussed. Student perspectives illustrate the effectiveness of this pedagogical approach to provide transformative learning that promotes social justice., SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION occurs in an increasingly complex global context. Teaching-learning that engages these complexities and moves toward social justice requires evolving models, creative approaches, and expanded applications (Galambos, 2008). [...]

Little is known about the Latino workers who came to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to clean up and repair the city. The author uses data from surveys collected at the visits of the Brazilian, Mexican, and Nicaraguan consulates (N = 253) to study the internally mobile immigrants who arrived after Katrina and who anticipate leaving New Orleans within 2 years of the survey, or what the author calls a rapid response labor force. Four hypotheses are examined: (1) that there is no difference between national origin groups in their propensity to be a member of the rapid response labor force; (2) that members are newer immigrants who have few ties to immigrants already in the United States; (3) that members are pioneers (unaccompanied working age men with weak residential ties); and (4) that members use a mobility strategy to obtain higher wages. I find that Brazilians and Mexicans are more likely than Nicaraguans to be rapid responders. Rapid responders have low levels of U.S. migratory experience, little or no English language ability, and few social network ties compared to those who are not internally mobile. These rapid responders use an internal mobility strategy to obtain higher wages and overcome their labor market disadvantages. Keywords: Latinos; Mexicans; Brazilians; Nicaraguans; New Orleans; immigrants; Hurricane Katrina

This study explores the extent to which people's prior experience of a natural disaster influenced subsequent behavior concerning the threats of a hydrometeorological disaster and if duration of residency in a disaster-prone landscape affects the extent of preparedness for an impending disaster. Mixed methods research strategies involving survey, field observation, and participant observations at several locations including rescue and evacuation centers in New Orleans, Louisiana, Austin, Texas, and Lawrenceville, Georgia, were used, during the immediate impact phase, emergency shelter phase, and post-impact and recovery phase of Katrina catastrophe. For the survey, a sample of 598 subjects completed a 15-page, 54-item questionnaire addressing various aspects of the Katrina flood in the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. The qualitative aspect consists of field observations of the event, interviews, and direct comments by the victims dispersed across the South. In the regression analysis performed, prior experience was found to be less important than friends' and family members' influence in determining evacuation behavior. However, duration of residency and prior experience were found to be slightly significant in predicting the odds of evacuation. Keywords: Hurricane Katrina; natural technological disaster; flood catastrophe; social vulnerability; social disorganization; psychosocial impacts; FEMA; USACE

Ex-prisoners tend to be geographically concentrated in a relatively small number of neighborhoods within the most resource deprived sections of metropolitan areas. Furthermore, many prisoners return 'home '' to the same criminogenic environment with the same criminal opportunities and criminal peers that proved so detrimental prior to incarceration. Yet estimating the causal impact of place of residence on the likelihood of recidivism is complicated by the issue of selection bias. In this study, I use a natural experiment as a means of addressing the selection issue and examine whether the migration of ex-prisoners away from their former place of residence will lead to lower levels of recidivism. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Louisiana Gulf Coast, damaging many of the neighborhoods where ex-prisoners typically reside. The residential destruction resulting from Hurricane Katrina is an exogenous source of variation that influences where a parolee will reside upon release from prison. Findings reveal that moving away from former geographic areas substantially lowers a parolee's likelihood of re-incarceration.

In the several years that have passed since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in the late summer of 2005, it has become increasingly clear to many observers that governments [...]

Hurricane Katrina altered both New Orleans' cultural and physical landscapes. Currently New Orleans' Latino population is estimated to have increased nearly twofold since the city flooded in August 2005. Unlike [...]

The flooding of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005 uncovered critical issues in local, state, and national strategies for emergency preparedness and disaster relief. [...]

To meet the dire need for housing following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials created lists of potential sites for trailer parks. We analyze approved sites to track which factors were linked with larger (or smaller) numbers of trailers and trailer sites per zip code block. Areas which displayed greater levels of social capital, as evidenced by voluntaristic activities such as voting, were slated for fewer trailers, controlling for race, income, education, flood damage, and other relevant factors. Civil society worked simultaneously to bring citizens together while mobilizing them against the threat of trailer parks in their backyards. Keywords: New Orleans; Hurricane Katrina; civil society; temporary trailers; facility siting

On the night of the 28th of August, and the entire day Monday, 29 August 2005, both the city of New Orleans and its residents were forever changed. In fact, [...]

It is found that flood exposure is the single most important factor in determining the decision to return 18 months after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana. Those who experienced flooding and did not return had reduced earnings than other groups after analyzing the data from low-income parents who were mainly African American women.

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2008.00238.x Byline: Rachel E. Luft

All Americans Black and White are shocked by the failed evacuation of residents from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast states. The environmental justice framework assists the researcher in identifying the basic assumptions that may contribute to our understanding of the differential and unequal protections of emergency planning, emergency management, and evacuation of an environmental disaster like Hurricane Katrina. This natural disaster questioned the ethical and political questions of 1) who get rescued and who does not, 2) why was the evacuation prolonged and delayed for mostly blacks, poor whites, disabled individuals, and the elderly, and 3) how much financial, medical, and social services assistance will these individuals receive from our federal government. This article takes a snapshot at the public health, educational, economic and housing development, transportation inequities, and rebuilding efforts of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The author uses the environmental justice framework to examine, analyze, critique, and describe the racial and social inequalities experienced by African Americans as a result of Hurricane Katrina. KEY WORDS: Natural Disaster, Displaced Residents, Environmental Justice, Introduction It has been six years since 9/11 and one would think that our federal medical disaster plan for dealing with large-scale disasters would be top-notch. Think again, Hurricane Katrina [...]

In late October of 2007, over two years since Katrina, the New Orleans Times-Picayune was featuring front-page articles on the wild-fires that had recently destroyed over a thousand homes in [...]

Drawing from interviews with advocates that addressed disaster recovery issues after Hurricane Katrina, the authors highlight three groups of women--domestic violence/sexual assault workers, advocates of federal postdisaster policy, and members of public housing resident councils. Women's efforts to mobilize networks and resist unfair policies, particularly in the context of a disaster, are discussed. Keywords: advocacy; disaster; Hurricane Katrina; women; community organizing

The manner in which the historically prevalent policies that have resulted in poverty and racial inequality in New Orleans have contributed to the unequal disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina are discussed.

This study tested a contextual model of disaster reaction by examining regional differences in the psychosocial impact of Hurricane Katrina. A total of 386 individuals participated in this study. All were recruited in the primary areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and included residents of metropolitan New Orleans (Orleans Parish, Louisiana), Greater New Orleans (i.e., Metairie, Kenner, Gretna), and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (i.e., cities along the coast from Waveland to Ocean Springs, Mississippi). Participants were assessed for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, other psychological symptoms, perceptions of discrimination, perceptions of social support, evacuation distance, and the extent to which they experienced hurricane-related stressful events. Results were consistent with previous research on the impact of disasters on mental health symptoms. Findings extended research on individual differences in the response to trauma and indicated that regional context predicted unique variance in the experience of discrimination, social support, and emotional symptoms consistent with the theoretical model presented. Keywords: Traumatic stress: Discrimination: Social support: Emotional symptoms

ABSTRACT This article argues that Schumpter's framework of 'creative destruction' can, with minor modifications, be used to evaluate and interpret the regeneration and rebuilding process following Hurricane Katrina on the [...]

ABSTRACT This paper provides results from a study funded by the National Science Foundation to examine the effects of Hurricane Katrina on an area of the Mississippi Gulf Coast immediately [...]

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to offer a brief description of the unique context faced by a team of researchers collecting survey data on the Mississippi Gulf Coast [...]

The way in which Tulane University School of Medicine and Louisiana State University School of Medicine at New Orleans struggled and survived post-Katrina is presented.

The article deals with the cruelty faced by prisoner of Orleans Parish Prison during the Hurricane Katrina, August 2005.

This article draws on primary and secondary data to provide insight into the processes and conflicts over efforts to brand New Orleans as an entertainment destination from the 1990s to the present. The author identifies the key actors and organized interests involved in branding New Orleans, the rationale and logic of branding, and marketing strategies used to enhance place distinctiveness. The second half of the article describes the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans's tourism sector and examines efforts to rebrand the city. The article points to the problems, contradictions, and unpredictabilities of urban branding. This analysis provides an important opportunity for theoretical development and offers a unique perspective for understanding urban branding as a contested and conflictual process of homogenization and diversification. Keywords: tourism; branding; New Orleans.

Because an influenza pandemic would create the most serious hardships for those who already face most serious hardships, countries should take special measures to mitigate the effect of a pandemic [...]

New reporters and government officials are usually sympathetic to the plight of victims during natural disaster. Yet for many stranded victims, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's arrival to New Orleans, this was not necessarily the case. This article contends that as a result of media portrayals and decisions of government officials, black disaster victims were seen and treated as unworthy victims. The analysis draws upon reported news accounts and official decisions to examine how Katrina victims were socially constructed as anti-social and deviant in media coverage, and, in turn, how those portrayals influenced the ways government officials responded to disaster victims as criminals. Keywords Man-made disaster. Black victims. Criminals. Antisocial behavior. Disaster mythology. Media reporting. Military response. Federal * State * Local disaster management