Vulnerability and social resilience: comparison of two neighborhoods in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

Abstract. On August 29th of 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast of the United States leading to one of the most powerful disasters in history. Damage costs reached more than 100 billion dollars, as well as 150,000 flooded houses and 1,330 deaths. 10 years later, the damage remains visible in the city of New Orleans, and the rate of recovery is highly varied throughout different neighborhoods in the city. A popular idea is to associate this to the neighborhood social class, i.e. the poorer an area is, the more difficult the recovery process is. However the reality is more complex. This study looks at two economically similar and highly damaged neighborhoods, with two deeply different recoveries. The Lower 9th Ward, an isolated, and poor neighborhood surrounded by water with the Mississippi River and the industrial canal, has experienced an extremely slow recovery. However, in the isolated and relatively poor neighborhood known as Village de l'Est, located on former marshes at the edge of the city between Lake Pontchartrain and the Bayou Bienvenue, the Vietnamese community ties and cohesion have brought the neighborhood back to fruition faster than anyone would have expected. Despite many common features weakening their technical resilience, such as relatively modern and fast urbanization on former natural and low lands protected mostly by levees, their radically different reaction following Katrina points out the key role of social resilience. This communication will aim to present decisive social aspects of resilience aside from geophysical and physical features such as risk awareness, social link and community culture.

Recognition of factors that promote resilience to hurricanes

“…Actions to respond to shocks should carefully consider and evaluate how short-term benefi ts can aff ect long-term goals (Torres & Alsharif, 2016). Resilience seeks to obtain a be er and safer state; the faster a system returns to a balanced state a er an event, the more resistant it becomes (Leroy et al, 2016). A er the occurrence of a natural disaster, the most important task of the system is the recovery in the shortest possible time (Khomami & Sepasian, 2018).…”

“…However, these models have shown limitations and insuffi ciency in the face of intensifying disruptive events (Quenault, 2013;Reghezza-Zi , 2013). Technical protection measures are not fully reliable, as demon- (Leroy et al, 2016). Specifi c topics focused on infrastructure, ecology, mental health, and sociology prevail in the literature on resilience to hurricane disasters.…”

“…To ensure community resilience, it is important to maintain the fl ow of food, materials, fuel, water, and other vital resources before, during, and a er a fl ood (Brown & Dawson, 2016). Social resilience is about raising awareness of risk and improving the possibility to face the event rationally (Leroy et al, 2016). The literature on disaster mental health provides studies on mental disorders in individuals a er a disaster, such as post-traumatic social disorders, general anxiety disorder, panic disorder depression, and suicidal tendencies (Pietrzak et al, 2012).…”

“…The concept of resilience has gained a ention in disaster management, especially a er the man-made disaster of the September 11, 2001 a acks and the 2005 natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina (Leroy et al, 2016;Tokgoz & Gheorghe, 2013). The concept of resilience has progressively gained momentum, the success of a system relies more and more on its capacity to react to sudden shocks in a positive and evolutionary perspective (Rota et al, 2020).…”

“…A er a disaster, the recovery will depend on the preparedness, mitigation, and responsiveness of stakeholders (Tokgoz & Gheorghe, 2013). To increase system resilience, planners should understand and incorporate into their assessments and planning processes, the perception and concerns of stakeholders (Becker et al, 2015), and the awareness and behavior of society (Leroy et al, 2016).…”