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Impediments to recovery in New Orleans' Upper and Lower Ninth Ward: one year after Hurricane Katrina
Author(s) -
Green Rebekah,
Bates Lisa K.,
Smyth Andrew
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.01011.x
Subject(s) - ninth , hurricane katrina , flood myth , storm , disaster recovery , poison control , forensic engineering , environmental planning , history , geography , political science , natural disaster , engineering , environmental health , meteorology , medicine , archaeology , law , physics , acoustics
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a rapid succession of plans put forward a host of recovery options for the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. Much of the debate focused on catastrophic damage to residential structures and discussions of the capacity of low‐income residents to repair their neighbourhoods. This article examines impediments to the current recovery process of the Upper and Lower Ninth Ward, reporting results of an October 2006 survey of 3,211 plots for structural damage, flood damage and post‐storm recovery. By examining recovery one year after Hurricane Katrina, and by doing so in the light of flood and structural damage, it is possible to identify impediments to recovery that may disproportionately affect these neighbourhoods. This paper concludes with a discussion of how pre‐ and post‐disaster inequalities have slowed recovery in the Lower Ninth Ward and of the implications this has for post‐disaster recovery planning there and elsewhere.