Title: Establishing and operating shelters after Hurricane Katrina

Authors: Brenda D. Phillips; Thomas A. Wikle; Angela Head Hakim; Lynn Pike

Addresses: Center for the Study of Disasters and Extreme Events, Oklahoma State University, 214 Murray Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. ' Center for the Study of Disasters and Extreme Events, Oklahoma State University, 214 Murray Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA. ' St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. ' Department of Sociology, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA

Abstract: On 29 August 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana and Mississippi coastline, causing catastrophic damage and disruption to basic services across a large geographic area. Storm surge along the US Gulf Coast, coupled with damage to the levee system protecting New Orleans, severely damaged structures and blocked access to affected areas leaving more than one million persons displaced from their homes. Demands for food, medical supplies and other resources quickly overwhelmed government and relief organisations. In the hours and days that followed, hundreds of shelters were established to house evacuees across a multi-state area. This paper presents findings from a set of interviews conducted with the managers of 82 shelters in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Field data were used to identify, typologise, and evaluate the operation of emergency and temporary shelters from the perspective of the managers and volunteers.

Keywords: Hurricane Katrina; shelter management; emergency shelters; temporary shelters; social vulnerability; QDA; qualitative data analysis; spatial zone sampling; hurricanes; storms; Louisiana; Mississippi; USA; United States; coastlines; catastrophic damage; catastrophic disruption; basic services; catastrophes; storm surges; storms; Gulf Coast; levee systems; New Orleans; floods; flooding; flood protection; displaced persons; homeless people; food supplies; medical supplies; government agencies; relief organisations; evacuees; multi-state areas; shelter managers; Texas; volunteers; disaster management; emergency management; emergencies; disasters.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEM.2012.046012

International Journal of Emergency Management, 2012 Vol.8 No.2, pp.153 - 167

Received: 22 Jul 2011
Accepted: 25 Oct 2011

Published online: 27 Mar 2012 *

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