This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Sastry, N. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Displaced New Orleans Residents in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: Results From a Pilot Survey

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nsastry{at}umich.edu.

	Abstract

This article introduces us to the complexities of conducting social scientific research in a major urban disaster zone and reports on results from the most systematic survey at the time aimed at tracking the whereabouts of pre-Katrina residents during the first year of recovery, the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Survey. This survey drew an area-probability sample of pre-Katrina dwellings and set out to interview the residents approximately 12 months after the storm, when educated guesses placed the New Orleans’s city population at roughly half its pre-Katrina total. Results confirm that early returnees tended to be disproportionately White, elderly, better educated, and far less likely to have homes rendered uninhabitable by the disaster. These patterns begin to show how demographic processes triggered by the disaster exacerbated existing inequalities in the region, allowing more advantaged residents to return while leaving less advantaged residents dispersed across numerous destinations.

First published on October 7, 2009
Organization & Environment 2009, doi:10.1177/1086026609347183


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?