Natural Disaster Analysis After Hurricane Katrina: Risk Assessment, Economic Impacts and Social Implications

by Richardson, Harry W.; Gordon, Peter; Moore, James E., II

• ISBN13: 9781847203571
• ISBN10: 1847203574
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-30
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub

Summary

Hurricane Katrina was a pivotal event in the history of disaster mismanagement. Its impact will be felt well into the future and its lessons will be applied around the world. This influential volume explores key policy implications arising from the storm and its aftermath. Leading scholars from fields as diverse as decision analysis, risk management, economics engineering, transportation, urban planning and sociology investigate the policy issues associated with insurance, flood control and the rebuilding of levees, housing, tourism, utility lifelines recovery and resilience, evacuation, relocation and racial implications. By assessing the disruption of life in New Orleans, as well as the inter-regional economic impacts of the disaster, the authors suggest steps that can be taken to minimize future risks, not only in New Orleans but also in all locations threatened by natural disasters. It then goes beyond Katrina to explore experiences and responses to similar events in other parts of the world. Another important feature is a discussion of the overlap between terrorist-initiated disasters and natural disasters. The issues raised by Katrina are very complex and teasing out successful policy implications is far from easy. This book is a major advance towards that goal.Academics interested in the economics, policy, and planning aspects of natural and man-made disasters, specialists in emergency management and policymakers will find the insights and prescriptions offered here invaluable.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Comprehensive disaster insurance: will it help in a post- Katrina world?	p. 8
A decision analysis of options to rebuild the New Orleans flood control system	p. 34
Hurricane Katrina: lessons learned	p. 53
Katrina vs. 9/11: how should we optimally protect against both?	p. 71
Worst-case thinking and official failure in Katrina	p. 84
Risk, preparation, evacuation and rescue	p. 93
Not Katrina: the Thames Barrier decision	p. 120
Is New Orleans ready to celebrate after Katrina? Evidence from Mardi Gras and the tourism industry	p. 134
Estimating the state-by-state economic impacts of Hurricane Katrina	p. 147
Regional economic impacts of natural and man-made hazards: disrupting utility lifeline services to households	p. 187
Adjusting to natural disasters	p. 208
Katrina: a Third World catastrophe?	p. 230
Hurricane Katrina and housing: devastation, possibilities and prospects	p. 253
Unnatural disaster: social impacts and policy choices after Katrina	p. 279
Index	p. 299
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