Approximately 1.7 million people and their relatives were displaced on account of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, constituting the largest internal migration in recent U.S. history (Falk et al., 2006; Picou & Marshall, 2007). New Orleans residents were moved to all fifty states, with large concentrations in Baton Rouge, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta. While some returned to New Orleans, many did not. A wide range of studies, including from our team (e.g. Elliot & Pais, 2006; Fussell et al., 2009, 2010) found that Blacks and people with lower incomes were significantly more likely to experience higher levels of hurricane exposure, including greater flooding and housing damage, than Whites and people with higher incomes. Our team is investigating the impact of race, income level, pre-Katrina homeownership status, and number of post-Katrina residential moves on the duration of displacement, the extent of property loss and housing damage, rate of return to New Orleans, and mental and physical health.
Publications:
Arcaya, M., Subramanian, S. V., Rhodes, J. E. & Waters, M. C. (2014). Role of health in predicting moves to poor neighborhoods among Hurricane Katrina survivors. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(46), 16246-16253. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1416950111.