African Americans' decisions not to evacuate New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina: a qualitative study

K. Elder, S. Xirasagar, N. Miller, S.A. Bowen, S. Glover and C. Piper

American Journal of Public Health, 2007, vol. 97, issue S1, S124-129

Abstract: OBJECTIVES: We examined the psychosocial and personal factors that influenced African Americans' decision not to evacuate New Orleans, La, before Hurricane Katrina's landfall. METHODS: We conducted 6 focus groups with 53 African Americans from New Orleans who were evacuated to Columbia, SC, within 2 months of Hurricane Katrina. RESULTS: The major themes identified related to participants' decision to not evacuate were as follows: (1) perceived susceptability, including optimism about the outcome because of riding out past hurricanes at home and religious faith; (2) perceived severity of the hurricane because of inconsistent evacuation orders; (3) barriers because of financial constraints and neighborhood crime; and (4) perceived racism and inequities. CONCLUSIONS: Federal, state, and local government disaster preparedness plans should specify criteria for timely evacuation orders, needed resources, and their allocation (including a decentralized distribution system for cash or vouchers for gas and incidentals during evacuation) and culturally sensitive logistic planning for the evacuation of minority, low-income, and underserved communities. Perceptions of racism and inequities warrant further investigation.

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2006.100867_4

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2006.100867

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