Operation Child-ID: reunifying children with their legal guardians after Hurricane Katrina

Children constitute a vulnerable population and special considerations are necessary in order to provide proper care for them during disasters. After disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the rapid identification and protection of separated children and their reunification with legal guardians is necessary in order to minimise secondary injuries (i.e. physical and sexual abuse, neglect and abduction). At Camp Gruber, an Oklahoma shelter for Louisianans displaced by Hurricane Katrina, a survey tool was used to identify children separated from their guardians. Of the 254 children at the camp, 36 (14.2 per cent) were separated from their legal guardians. Answering 'no' to the question of whether the accompanying adult was the guardian of the child prior to Hurricane Katrina was a strong predictor (27.8 per cent versus 3.2 per cent) of being listed as 'missing' by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). All the children at Camp Gruber who were listed as 'missing' by the NCMEC were subsequently reunited with their guardians.     

Hurricane Katrina disaster diplomacy

Hurricane Katrina struck the United States at the end of August 2005. The consequent devastation appeared to be beyond the US government's ability to cope with and aid was offered by several states in varying degrees of conflict with the US. Hurricane Katrina therefore became a potential case study for 'disaster diplomacy', which examines how disaster-related activities do and do not yield diplomatic gains. A review of past disaster diplomacy work is provided. The literature's case studies are then categorised using a new typology: propinquity, aid relationship, level and purpose. Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath are then placed in the context of the US government's foreign policy, the international response to the disaster and the US government's reaction to these responses. The evidence presented is used to discuss the potential implications of Hurricane Katrina disaster diplomacy, indicating that factors other than disaster-related activities generally dominate diplomatic relations and foreign policy.     

Crime in post‐Katrina Houston: the effects of moral panic on emergency planning

This study used a mixed methods approach to estimate whether a moral panic occurred after Hurricane Katrina forced the evacuations of more than 250,000 people to Houston, Texas. The study viewed data from the Houston Police Department combined with a qualitative review of references of criminal activity in local print media. In total, over 8,500 lines of text were analysed to discern themes associated with media representations of the influence of evacuees on the city of Houston. There was little evidence of statistically significant increases in crime over the months following the evacuations. There was, however, evidence that evacuees, principally from New Orleans, were blamed for perceived increases in violent crime and lawlessness. There are also significant policy implications for state, local and federal governments. In particular, the policies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were blamed for at least some of the perceived crime attributed to Katrina evacuees.     

Nonfatal injuries following Hurricane Katrina--New Orleans, Louisiana, 2005

The Journal of Safety Research has partnered with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, to briefly report on some of the latest findings in the research community. This report is the fourth edition in a series of CDC articles. BACKGROUND: An active injury and illness surveillance system was established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH) in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in functioning hospitals and medical clinics. RESULTS: The surveillance system recorded 7,543 nonfatal injuries among residents and relief workers between September 8-October 14, 2005. The leading mechanisms of injury identified in both groups were fall and cut/stab/pierce, with a greater proportion of residents compared to relief workers injured during the repopulation period. Clean-up was the most common activity at the time of injury for both groups. CONCLUSION: Injuries documented through this system underscore the need for surveillance of exposed populations to determine the injury burden and initiate injury prevention activities and health communication campaigns.     

Place satisfaction and perceived recovery after Hurricane Sandy on Staten Island’s East Shore

Individuals’ relationships to place play an important role in their interactions with their residential environments. Prior research has suggested that neighbourhood satisfaction is closely related to neighbourhood attachment, and that attachment is linked to disaster recovery. This study uses data from a survey of residents of the East Shore neighbourhoods of Staten Island, New York, an area that experienced severe storm surge flooding during Hurricane Sandy, to test the association between neighbourhood satisfaction and self-reported recovery from the storm. Perceived recovery from Sandy is treated as the dependent variable in several ordinal logistic regression models. The key independent variable measure tested is neighbourhood satisfaction rating. A statistically significant direct positive relationship is found between neighbourhood satisfaction and perceived recovery from Sandy. This finding is robust across multiple models with various controls and other covariates. These results suggest that place satisfaction may contribute to disaster recovery.     

Long‐term effects of Hurricane Katrina on the psychological well‐being of evacuees

Hurricane Katrina of August 2005 forced more than one million people to evacuate the Gulf Coast of the United States. This study examines the psychological health and well‐being of a subset of evacuees to determine the prevalence of ongoing mental health problems. Interviews were conducted with 101 adults who evacuated to Louisville, Kentucky, and were living in the state at the one‐year anniversary of the event or had recently returned to the Gulf Coast. The psychological health and well‐being of respondents was evaluated using several well‐validated measures. More than one‐half met the criteria for post‐traumatic stress disorder and a majority were suffering from depression and anxiety. The mean quality of life score was 0.6 on a scale from 0–1, suggesting that adaptation and return to pre‐hurricane well‐being had not occurred 12 months after the storm. The potential for long‐term psychological damage exists in this sample of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Results suggest other evacuees may also be at heightened risk.     

Lessons from the 2006 Louisiana health and population survey

The 2005 hurricane season caused extensive damage and induced a mass migration of approximately 1.1 million people from southern Louisiana in the United States. Current and accurate estimates of population size and demographics and an assessment of the critical needs for public services were required to guide recovery efforts. Since forecasts using pre-hurricane data may produce inaccurate estimates of the post-hurricane population, a household survey in 18 hurricane-affected parishes was conducted to provide timely and credible information on the size of these populations, their demographics and their condition. This paper describes the methods used, the challenges encountered, and the key factors for successful implementation. This post-disaster survey was unique because it identified the needs of the people in the affected parishes and quantified the number of people with these needs. Consequently, this survey established new population and health indicator baselines that otherwise would have not been available to guide the relief and recovery efforts in southern Louisiana.     

Rebuilding others’ communities: a critical analysis of race and nativism in non-profits in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures facilitated the unprecedented proliferation of non-profits in some areas of the city. While the short- and moderate-term experiences of non-profits in the aftermath of Katrina have been examined, their long-term successes and failures remain unknown. In this paper we look at how race and nativism hindered the success of non-profits in rebuilding New Orleans. We likewise seek to demonstrate how the reactions on the part of non-profits to being the racial other or that of an outsider often further impeded the effectiveness of non-profits. The three authors, using data from participant observation, interviews, and ethnography, over a four-year period, describe generalisable lessons learned from rebuilding New Orleans’ communities, including the recognition of competing racial discourses in redevelopment; the valuing of local knowledge; and coming to terms with the paradoxes of the affect economy.     

Distribution of toxic trace elements in soil/sediment in post-Katrina New Orleans and the Louisiana Delta

This study provided a comprehensive assessment of seven toxic trace elements (As, Pb, V, Cr, Cd, Cu, and Hg) in the soil/sediment of Katrina affected greater New Orleans region 1 month after the recession of flood water. Results indicated significant contamination of As and V and non-significant contamination of Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg and Pb at most sampling sites. Compared to the reported EPA Region 6 soil background inorganic levels, except As, the concentrations of other six elements had greatly increased throughout the studied area; St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemines Parish showed greater contamination than other regions. Comparison between pre- and post-Katrina data in similar areas, and data for surface, shallow, and deep samples indicated that the trace element distribution in post-Katrina New Orleans was not obviously attributed to the flooding. This study suggests that more detailed study of As and V contamination at identified locations is needed.