The greater New Orleans area--Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes--has yet to fully recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. As a result of the hurricane and its aftermath, many children experienced psychological trauma, which can have long-lasting effects. Experts have previously identified barriers to providing and…

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brought devastation and confusion to the Mississippi Gulf Coast region on August 29, 2005. A desperate need for leadership, collaboration, and coordination of relief and recovery efforts was revealed during a March 2007 strategic planning session involving 96 organizations, groups, agencies, and researchers…

This case study investigates the media discourse from Houma and Pointe-au-Chien tribal leaders in Louisiana on their experiences with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One section briefly engages the discourse as discernable from the reports found in Native American and non-Native American news media. Included is a brief yet close examination of these…

Hurricane Katrina traumatized the city of New Orleans and the Gulf South. It filled most Americans and global citizens with grief and rage in the late summer of 2005. As the world watched, feeling powerless to help the many thousands of suffering people, at first stunned and then furious over the ineptitude of government response to this…

In June 2004, the American national media spent a considerable amount of airtime revisiting the events of June 1964 when three civil rights workers were murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi. On the fortieth anniversary of the murders. National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" devoted airtime to a story, "Truth and Reconciliation in…

This study examined posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and comorbid disorders in 70 preschool children (ages 3-6) and their caregivers following Hurricane Katrina. Children's rate of PTSD was 50.0% using age-modified criteria. The rate of PTSD was 62.5% for those who stayed in the city and 43.5% in those who evacuated. Of those with PTSD, 88.6%…

This study advances a conceptual framework for understanding the transformation of places into recovery machines after major hurricanes. This framework contends that in the years following such disasters, pro-growth coalitions take advantage of new sources of material and symbolic capital to promote further demographic growth. It also contends…

Tornadoes and other natural disasters can lead to anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. This study provides further validity for the Oklahoma State University Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Scale-Child Form (OSU PTSDS-CF) by comparing it to the Behavior Assessment System for Children Self-Report of Personality (BASC-SRP).…

Information about the psychological status of children following a natural disaster is rare. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to create a psychosocial profile of relocated Hurricane Katrina youth (N = 83, ages 13 to 17) and integrate the findings into a growing body of literature on the psychological effects of disaster. Data were…

Disasters happen all the time; yet despite this, many organizations are caught unprepared or make unrealistic assumptions. These factors create environments that will fail during a disaster. Most information technology (IT) curricula do not cover disaster recovery (DR) plans and strategies in depth. The unfortunate result is that most new computer…

Hurricane Katrina, the disastrous storm that struck the Gulf Coast in late August of 2006, displaced an estimated 1 million people. Historians are already calling the resulting exodus of families from hard-hit communities in Louisiana and Mississippi the greatest mass migration in the United States since the Civil War. The diaspora extended north…

Nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina swept them off their campuses in and around New Orleans, thousands of college administrators, faculty members, and students began a new semester in January 2006. Students came back with a new spirit of determination to adapt to the new realities of New Orleans, and to campuses that are forever changed,…

This fact sheet summarizes a study that examined how schools in the U.S. Gulf Coast region perceived the mental health needs of students after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and how schools responded. According to the report, despite strong initial efforts to support the mental health needs of students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many…

Climate change is having a major effect on water cycles. There is an increased intensity and frequency of severe storms resulting in flooding. Floods in other parts of the world cause death on a major scale. Meanwhile across the planet, one billion people (a sixth of the world's population) do not have access to safe drinking water, and two…

The rate at which borrowers default on their federally guaranteed student loans has declined to 4.6 percent, in part because of a record number of consolidations, the Education Department announced last week. "Borrowers took advantage of the opportunity to lock in record-low interest rates by consolidating their federal student loans," the…