President Bush's major post-Katrina speeches: Enhancing image repair discourse theory applied to the public sector

When Hurricane Katrina swept the Gulf Coast, President Bush's newly formed Department of Homeland Security received its first test and failed. In Katrina's aftermath, Bush not only had to manage one of the nation's worst natural disasters, but also had to quell political backlash about the federal government's response to Katrina. This study examines: (a) how Bush presented the federal response to Katrina in his speeches; (b) how Bush responded to the public's criticism in his speeches; and (c) how effective Bush's speeches were in repairing his tarnished image.     

Systemic Valuation of Strategic Preparedness Through Application of the Inoperability Input-Output Model with Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has mandated all regions to "carefully weigh the benefit of each homeland security endeavor and only allocate resources where the benefit of reducing risk is worth the amount of additional cost" (DHS, 2006, p. 64). This mandate illuminates the need to develop methods for systemic valuation of preparedness measures that support strategic decision making. This article proposes an analysis method that naturally emerges from the structure of the inoperability input-output model (IIM) through which various regional- and sector-specific impact analyses can be cost-effectively integrated for natural and man-made disasters. The IIM is described extensively in a companion paper (Lian et al., 2007). Its reliance on data classifications structured by the U.S. Census Bureau and its extensive accounting of economic interdependencies enables us to decompose a risk analysis activity, perform independent assessments, and properly integrate the assessment for a systemic valuation of risk and risk management activity. In this article, we account for and assess some of the major impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to demonstrate this use of the IIM and illustrate hypothetical, reduced impacts resulting from various strategic preparedness decisions. Our results indicate the capability of the IIM to guide the decision-making processes involved in developing a preparedness strategy.     

Ethical Issues in Disaster Research: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina

Conducting research in the wake of a catastrophic event imposes the dual responsibilities on researchers of protecting the rights of the survivors as research subjects, while also ensuring research quality and the dissemination and application of findings. This article, based partially on the authors’ experiences of conducting research in school districts following Hurricane Katrina, examines the ethical issues that arise when working with survivors, reticent organizations, and institutional review boards. Challenges experienced by researchers concerning access, informed consent, confidentiality, subject compensation, and enlisting the assistance of stressed institutions are described. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0036566000. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.     

Public Support for Policies to Reduce Risk After Hurricane Sandy

A phone survey was conducted in New Jersey in 2013 four months after the second of two major devastating tropical storms (Sandy in 2012 and Irene in 2011). The objective was to estimate public support for restricting land uses in flood zones, requiring housing to be built to resist storm waters, and otherwise increasing mitigation and resilience. Respondents who supported these mitigation and resilience policies disproportionately were concerned about global climate change, trusted climate scientists and the federal government, and were willing to contribute to a redevelopment program through taxes, bonds, and fees. They also tended to have collectivist and egalitarian worldviews. Half of the respondents supported at least four of the seven risk‐reducing policies. How their support translates into public policy remains to be seen. Lack of willingness to personally fund these policies is an obstacle.     

Utilizing Compassion Fatigue Education in Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina

Compassion Fatigue is a state that includes the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This text reviews events following the Hurricane Ivan and Katrina disasters and how Compassion Fatigue education helped to identify and ameliorate symptoms of the problem. I worked in a community center in the Pensacola area for one week following Ivan and in a shelter in my residential area of Houma, Louisiana for two months following Katrina. Examples of traumatic stories and coping with my own secondary stress are given. Implications include education regarding CF for all mental health professionals, especially during and following work in disasters or with populations of the traumatized.     

Community Revitalization in Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Critical Analysis of Social Capital in an African American Neighborhood

ABSTRACT

This research explored the role of social capital, particularly civic engagement and social trust, in community revitalization efforts in a primarily African American post-Katrina neighborhood (n?=?153). Findings reveal high levels of participation in neighborhood and political activities but low levels of social trust. Eighty-four percent of this primarily African American sample reported that they do not trust people of other races as compared to 23 to 32% of African American respondents in the national study. Drawing from critical theoretical perspectives, we offer a critique of the limits of social capital theory as well as a discussion of the importance of building social and racial trust as central components of community development practice. Implications include emphasizing organizational capacity-building activities, community organizing training, and racial reconciliation efforts in post-disaster environments.     

Mothers of adolescent girls 1

Abstract

It is increasingly difficult to distinguish natural events from those influenced by human actions. Furthermore, researchers in various fields have established that the level of devastation and the predicted likelihood of recovery of neighborhoods and communities correspond with the amount of political and socioeconomic capital held by neighborhoods and communities prior to disasters such as the Hurricane Katrina. In this paper we analyze the significance of the discourse of “natural disasters” through the framework of social ecology. We contest the neutralist discourse of “natural disasters” by underscoring the numerous interdependent sociopolitical forces, which shape the context in which disasters occur.     

When the Floods of Compassion Are not Enough: A Nation's and a City's Response to the Evacuees of Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina exposed serious deficiencies in the social support safety net at the federal, state, and local level. This article explores the impacts of the disrupted safety net through participant observation and interviews with service providers and evacuees resettled in one southern city. Their stories illustrate how vulnerable low‐income groups struggle to cope with disaster within the context of inadequate larger support systems and the legacy of racism. The data also illustrate the limits of the local resources and response, given the years of retrenchment and underfunding and increasing dependence on nongovernmental sources of support. The authors explore some of the implications of this trend for evacuees' long‐term recovery and social work intervention.