Natural Hazard Observer Nov 2005

• Year: 2005
• Title: Natural Hazards Observer
• Author: Natural Hazards Center University of Colorado at Boulder
• Description: November 2005
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

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perdome, but almost all said they had not directly ob-
served any of these events, lending substantive support to
the prevalence of rumors at the Superdome.
Upon arrival at the shelters at Reliant Park in Hous-
ton, most evacuees were grateful to be able to have a
place to sleep, shower, be fed three meals a day, and re-
ceive medical treatment from the American Red Cross. At
Reliant Park, individual and family financial assistance in
the form of debit cards from the American Red Cross and
the Federal Emergency Management Agency were avail-
able to evacuees, and most took advantage of these re-
sources. Many additional social services were available to
the evacuees at Reliant Park, such as housing and job of-
fers from cities in other states, offers of Section 8 Hous-
ing in Houston from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, and an airline offering free one -way
tickets to reunite dislocated family members. Most of the
residents emphasized how grateful they were for the ser-
vices provided on -site and to the city of Houston for its
hospitality and willingness to assist them.
Housing Intentions
A critical element of the research in Houston was
capturing evacuees' early intentions to return and rebuild
in Louisiana (primarily New Orleans) or relocate else-
where. Although this research is ongoing, initial inten-
tions indicate a slight majority plan to return and rebuild
in New Orleans, a substantial minority plan to relocate in
Houston or elsewhere, and some are unsure of their long-
term housing intentions due to the uncertainty of the cur-
rent state of their house, the intentions of other members
of their family, or their employment status.
For many natives of New Orleans who had experi-
enced Hurricanes Betsy, Camille, and /or Georges,
Katrina marked their first evacuation outside of Louisiana.
The anticipated prolonged inoperability of New Orleans
provided a unique opportunity for evacuees to reflect upon
their lives and the city. Perhaps most surprising was the
intent of a few lifetime residents of New Orleans to per-
manently relocate their entire families to Houston as a
result of Hurricane Katrina. Of those predominately work-
ing -class African Americans that intend to return to New
Orleans, it is important to note that many do not have the
financial resources to rebuild or as renters may be signifi-
cantly constrained in their housing choices due to a short-
age of decent, safe, and sanitary houses in a post- Katrina
New Orleans.
Future lines of research in this area could yield par-
ticularly substantive understanding of how a catastrophe
may serve as a catalyst for the reproduction or exacerba-
tion of inequality. Already, there are reports of external
real estate speculators attempting to purchase properties in
the French Quarter and Garden District of New Orleans in
hopes of redeveloping the area.' Although the potential
effects of gentrification in a post- Katrina New Orleans are
not presently known, this research provided an excellent
Opportunity to assess the ephemeral intentions and aspira-
tions of evacuees.
Conclusion
This report attempted to highlight the significance of
race and class issues by demonstrating that predominantly
working -class African Americans did not evacuate be-
cause they did not have the financial resources to do so.
In addition, this report has provided some preliminary
observations on issues related to looting, evacuation, shel-
tering, and housing among Hurricane Katrina survivors at
Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. Based on the scope and
severity of the damage and the prolonged inoperability of
New Orleans, it will be sometime before the full impact
of Hurricane Katrina is known. However, ongoing analy-
sis of these data will provide a starting point for exploring
the short- and long -term implications of Katrina and the
impacted population. In addition, this research has high-
lighted the need for disaster studies to focus on both or-
ganizational features of disaster and explore how disasters
may serve as a catalyst for the reproduction or exacerba-
tion of inequality.
John Barnshaw (barnshawoa udel. edu)
Disaster Research Center
University of Delaware
The author wishes to thank Havidan Rodriguez and
Joanne Nigg for their assistance.
`Wilson, William. 1978. The declining significance of race:
Blacks and changing institutions. Chicago, IL: University of
Chicago Press.
Teagin, Joe. 1991. The continuing significance of race: An-
tiblack discrimination in public places. American Sociologi-
cal Review 58:101 -116.
'Quarantelli, Enrico. 2005. Catastrophes are different from
disasters: Some implications for crisis planning and manag-
ing drawn from Katrina. Social Science Research Council
Web site. ( http:// Understandingkatrina .ssrc.org /Quarantellil)
'Harris County Joint Information Center. 2005. Number of
Citizens. Harris County, TX: Harris County Joint Informa-
tion Center. (http://Www.hcjic.org/d`efault.asp)
5The Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Har-
vard University. 2005. Survey of Hurricane Katrina evacu-
ees. Menlo Park, CA: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Founda-
tion. (http: / /Www.kff.org /newsmedia /upload /7401.pdf)
'Feagin, Joe, Hernan Vera, and Pinar Batur. 2001. White
Racism. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
'Kendra, James, and Tricia Wachtendorf. 2003. Creativity in
emergency response to the World Trade Center disaster. In
Beyond September 11th: An account of post- disaster re-
search, ed. J. Monday. Boulder, CO: Natural Hazards Re-
search and Applications Information Center.
'Blanton, Kimberly. 2005. Speculators circle New Orleans
for real estate deals. Boston Globe, September 9, 2005.
13 Natural Hazards Observer November 2005