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Introduction: Social Organization of Demographic Responses to Disaster: Studying Population-Environment Interactions in the Case of Hurricane Katrina

Fussell, E., Elliott, J. R. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:05:15 PDT

This article introduces a special issue of Organization & Environment that uses the historic case of Hurricane Katrina to investigate the social organization of demographic responses to disaster. It begins by establishing natural disasters as a dramatic form of human interaction with the environment. It then goes on to advance a novel framework for understanding the different population movements triggered by such interaction in the context of broader organizational failures. These population movements include unequal resettlement of the disaster zone by former residents, prolonged displacement in other locales, and arrival of a new recovery labor force perceived as socially different from formerly established populations. Respective articles on the social organization of these different population movements are previewed and connections with allied subfields are discussed.

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

Sastry, N. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:33:44 PDT

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.

Evacuation and Return of Vietnamese New Orleanians Affected by Hurricane Katrina

Vu, L., VanLandingham, M. J., Do, M., Bankston, C. L. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:33:44 PDT

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans East—where the main Vietnamese enclave is located— especially hard. By chance, shortly before this disaster, sociodemographic and health data had been collected for a population-based sample of working-age Vietnamese Americans living in New Orleans. One year after the storm, the authors reinterviewed nearly all respondents from the original sample who had returned to the area, which netted about two thirds of the original sample. Results show that returnees were more likely than those yet to return to have been employed before the storm, to have worked in the skilled sector of the economy, to have been married, and to have owned a home. Many problems experienced during the immediate aftermath of the storm, such as crowded and unsanitary conditions, had been resolved by the first anniversary; however, other problems remained, such as a continuing lack of information, lack of access to medical care, and fears of violent crime.

Unequal Return: The Uneven Resettlements of New Orleans' Uptown Neighborhoods

Elliott, J. R., Hite, A. B., Devine, J. A. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:33:43 PDT

This article examines early resettlement of four neighborhoods in New Orleans’ Uptown district, which was among the first areas to officially reopen for residential return. Drawing on survey data collected from more than 400 households, results show that even in relatively unflooded sections of town, racial and class disparities shaped early returns and accumulated to the disadvantage of African American residents of the city. A key mechanism behind this cumulative disadvantage was that neighborhoods that were predominantly White were disproportionately spared by flooding from the disaster and, consequently, better positioned to host displaced residents from more damaged parts of New Orleans. Because racial boundaries shape housing and social aid networks, White residents from damaged parts of the city became more likely to relocate to these early areas of resettlement, allowing White residents as a whole to play a disproportionate role in the city’s early planning and recovery efforts.

Risk Amid Recovery: Occupational Health and Safety of Latino Day Laborers in the Aftermath of the Gulf Coast Hurricanes

Delp, L. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:33:43 PDT

After Katrina, the Bush administration suspended Department of Labor workplace regulations throughout the Gulf, a move consistent with their general emphasis on voluntary workplace protection programs rather than government oversight. This approach left many workers in hurricane reconstruction jobs unprotected, especially Latino immigrant day laborers who, facing language barriers and legal constraints, were least able to negotiate workplace safety or other labor conditions. Fifty-three immigrant workers and 28 key informants from community, union, church, and relief organizations in Louisiana and Mississippi were interviewed at job hiring sites and relief organizations using an inductive, exploratory approach. In this multihazard and changing work environment with a new and fluctuating workforce, enforceable policies mandating worker protection and education were sorely lacking. Free market conditions, driven by incentives to work as fast as possible, and the preponderance of unregulated small contractors and individual home owners as employers contributed to the unsafe environment. Although workers and home owners attempted to take precautions, they usually lacked adequate education about hazards, access to protective equipment, and training in its proper use. However, the labor conditions during the hurricane recovery in the Gulf Coast are likely to be duplicated throughout the country in workplaces employing Latino day laborers unless workers’ health is given greater priority by regulatory agencies.

The Other Side of the Diaspora: Race, Threat, and the Social Psychology of Evacuee Reception in Predominantly White Communities

Hunt, J. S. — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:29:38 PDT

This article provides a social psychological framework for understanding the reception of Hurricane Katrina evacuees in predominantly White relocation communities. According to this framework, racial prejudice and perceptions of economic and social threat are likely to have an important influence on residents’ reactions to the evacuees. In the "Katrina in my Community Study," the authors surveyed 532 residents from Colorado Springs, CO, Salt Lake City, UT, and San Antonio, TX—three cities that had African American populations well below the national average and that received large numbers of Katrina evacuees. The respondent’s evaluations of and judgments about the evacuees, including overall attitudes and support for continued assistance, were explained to a greater extent by perceived threat and prejudice than by their actual experiences with the evacuees. Thus, at least in predominantly White communities, race and subjective feelings of threat may frame decisions about helping newcomers to a community, even when need is salient.

Finding Housing: Discrimination and Exploitation of Latinos in the Post-Katrina Rental Market

Weil, J. H. — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:29:38 PDT

This case study investigates the discriminatory and exploitative housing practices that contributed to the social marginalization of Latinos in the Gulf Coast Recovery Zone following Hurricane Katrina. Discriminatory practices (such as denial of available units or rejection of Latinos from homeless shelters) leave migrants vulnerable to homelessness and economic exploitation. The most vulnerable Latinos are those who hold an undocumented legal status, have marginal occupational status, or have limited English ability. These vulnerabilities are magnified following a disaster when housing is in short supply, group tensions are high, employers are heavily involved in allocation of housing, and government oversight is lacking. Using 25 interviews with established and newly arrived Latino immigrants on the Gulf Coast, the author finds that these four factors—legal status, occupational status, limited English language ability, and the disaster context—contributed to the exploitation of and discrimination against Latinos in the housing market following Katrina.

Post-Katrina New Orleans as a New Migrant Destination

Fussell, E. — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:29:37 PDT

The Latino immigrants arriving in New Orleans immediately after Katrina showed that they are often the first to respond to new labor demand for low-skill occupations. Using a convenience sample of this population collected between 5 and 7 months after Katrina, I investigated the sociodemographic and migratory characteristics of the "rapid response labor force" at a time when very little reliable population data were available. Whereas other articles in this issue expose the exploitative conditions that immigrants labored under during this time, this article focuses on how the Latino immigrant population in New Orleans differs from a national sample of immigrants and how national-origin groups within New Orleans differ from each other. I find that immigrants in New Orleans are younger, more often single, and less embedded in a social network than other immigrants. Within the New Orleans sample, I find that Central Americans have moved less often, less recently, and have more connections to established immigrants in the area than the Brazilians and Mexicans. The Central Americans also earn far less on average than the other two national-origin groups. The weaker and more mobile ties of the Brazilians and Mexicans may not only create greater earnings opportunities but also reinforce a practice of moving on to new destinations in search of better opportunities and more wages. In this way, recently arrived and weakly connected immigrants are predisposed to form a rapid response labor force.