Selected References – derived from list provided by Disaster Research Center
at the Univ. of Deleware, by Ms Pat Young, Librarian; June 24.
(items in red were highlighted by Claire B. Rubin)
Aguirre, B. E. THE 1999 FLOODS IN VERACRUZ AND THE PARADIGM OF VULNERABILITY. Newark,
DE: Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware; 2004.
Keywords: Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Preparedness; Developing Countries' Problems; Mitigation
Call Number: 25.341.A3.N5
Abstract:
This study examines the distribution of warnings and of services to victims of the 1999 floods in
Veracruz, Mexico and offers a criticism of vulnerability as the dominant paradigm guiding national
and international disaster-related programs. It has sections on the vulnerability paradigm, the 1999
flood, and the methods used in the analysis. The information comes from a survey of 385 head of
households flood victims residing in three cities in the north of Veracruz, Poza Rica, Gutierrez
Zamora, and Tecolutla. The results indicate that government services to the population threatened by
the floods were almost nonexistent. Radio programming and personal relations with friends,
neighbors, and kin, were the most important sources of warnings about the hazard. The respondents'
integration in their communities and the social organizations of these communities were key
determinants of their receipt of warnings and assistance such as vertical evacuation sheltering.
Authorities should place much greater emphasis than they do now on facilitating the use of vertical
evacuation and the service of radio stations providing information to communities at risk of extreme
weather events, improving their weather and disaster-preparedness programming and making radios
available to people in areas at risk of severe weather and other hazards. Disaster preparedness and
mitigation need to be made part of their efforts in community development, encouraging the growth
of social capital that can be used for disaster response and recovery. The implications of these
findings for the continued use of the paradigm of vulnerability that provides guidelines to presentday international assistance at times of disasters are considered.
Shelby, Ashley. RED RIVER RISING: THE ANATOMY OF A FLOOD AND THE SURVIVAL OF AN
AMERICAN CITY. St. Paul, MN: Borealis Books; 2003; ISBN: 0-87351-500-5.
Keywords: Floods-Case Studies; Historical Account; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 130.S4.R4
Notes: LCCN: 2003025177
Contents: Introduction
The Way Winter Ends
River Town
Watersick
Red River Rising
Flood and Fire
Devastation
Angels and Devils
The Value of Home
The Mistake
To Rebuild a City You Must Take It Apart
Flood Angst
Disaster Democracy
After the Flood
Sothern, Billy. DOWN IN NEW ORLEANS: REFLECTIONS FROM A DROWNED CITY. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press; 2007; ISBN: 978-0-520-25149-6.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Historical Account; Sheltering; Ethnic
and Minority Aspects; Emergency Management
Call Number: 130.S6.D6
Notes: LCCN: 2007000213
Photographs by Nikki Page
Contents:
Part I: Heading Straight for Us: The Days Before and After Hurricane Katrina
A Man Leaves Home
A Stranger Comes to Town
"This Blues is Just Too Big"
Part II: This Could be Anywhere: Katrina's Immediate Aftermath, Late Summer 2006
A Dollar Short
Poor, Nasty, Brutish, and Short
Not in My Backyard
Left to Die
Bring the War Home
The Dry Run of the Apocalypse
History Repeats Itself
Part III: Personals: Departures and Homecomings
Going Home
Oxford Town
I Do Believe I've Had Enough
Everyday Reminders
Part IV: Against the Ropes: New Orleans's Unlikely Recovery
Second Line
Gideon's Blues
Live from the Circle Bar
Corporate Limits
Fat Tuesday
Hard Lot
La Nueva Orleans
Yours in Struggle
In the Parish
Not Resigned
Epitaph
Abstract: “Post-Katrina New Orleans hasn’t been an easy place to live, it hasn’t been an easy place to be in
love, it hasn’t been an easy place to take care of yourself or see the bright side of things.” So reflects Billy
Sothern in this riveting and unforgettable insider’s chronicle of the epic 2005 disaster and the year that
followed. Sothern, a death penalty lawyer who with his wife, photographer Nikki Page, arrived in the Crescent
City four years ahead of Katrina, delivers a haunting, personal, and quintessentially American story. Writing
with an idealist’s passion, a journalist’s eye for detail, and a lawyer’s attention to injustice, Sothern recounts
their struggle to come to terms with the enormity of the apocalyptic scenario they managed to live through. He
guides the reader on a journey through post-storm New Orleans and an array of indelible images: prisoners
abandoned in their cells with waters rising, a longtime New Orleans resident of Middle Eastern descent unfairly
imprisoned in the days following the hurricane, trailer-bound New Orleanians struggling to make ends meet but
celebrating with abandon during Mardi Gras, Latino construction workers living in their trucks. As a lawyeractivist who has devoted his life to seeking justice for some of society’s most disenfranchised citizens, Sothern
offers a powerful vision of what Katrina has meant to New Orleans and what it still means to the nation at large.
.Travis, Mary Ann. KATRINA FIVE YEARS GONE. New Orleans, LA: Tulane Office of University Publications;
2010 Summer; 82, (1): 12-21.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Education/ School;
Statistics
Call Number: 131.T7.K3 (VF)
Notes: File also contains: Can Do by Carol J. Schuleter
Abstract: The cataclysmic storm that five years ago shook the university and the city of New Orleans
to their foundations proves to be a catalyst for change.
2
Weber, Caroline. APRES LE DELUGE: THE 1910 FLOOD BROUGHT PARISIANS TOGETHER EVEN AS IT
STRAINED RESOURCES AND INUNDATED HOMES. New York: The New York Times; 2010
Jan 31: 19.
Keywords: Floods-Case Studies; Social Response; Disaster Response; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 131.W4.A6 (VF)
Notes: Review of Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910.
Book is available in the Resource Collection under call no. 150.J3.P3
Carr, David. A DISASTER STILL RAW, YEARS LATER [Web Page]. 2009 Apr 6; Accessed 2009 Apr 20.
Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/business/media/06carr.html?em.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Mass Media
Call Number: 132.C3.D5.1 (VF)
Abstract: Last week, the 2600 block of Annette Street in New Orleans looked like a place frozen at a
very bad moment in time. There were tree limbs everywhere and a dump truck overturned in front of
a row of houses with perforated walls that all seemed to sag in different directions. More than threeand-a-half years after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed the city, it was as if the flood had just receded
from this street in the Seventh Ward.
The tableau was in fact a man-made disaster — a set for the pilot of “Treme,” an HBO series about a
group of New Orleans musicians picking up the pieces after the flood. But then, many people would
say that the flood that followed the hurricane was man-made as well.
Ellick, Adam B. FLOODS COULD HAVE LASTING IMPACT FOR PAKISTAN [Web Page]. 2010 Aug 16;
Accessed 2010 Aug 18. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/world/asia/17pstan.html?emc=eta1.
Keywords: Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Developing Countries' Problems
Call Number: 132.E4.F5 (VF)
Abstract: Even as the government and international relief workers struggle to get food and clean
water to millions of flood-stricken Pakistanis, concerns are growing about the enduring toll of the
disaster on the nation’s overall economy, food supply and political stability.
More rain fell on Monday, adding to the worst flooding in memory and confronting Pakistan with a
complex array of challenges, government and relief officials warned. Though they range over the
immediate, medium and long term, nearly all need to be addressed urgently.
Providing clean water for millions and avoiding the spread of diseases like cholera are the first
priorities. But there are also looming food shortages and price spikes, even in cities. There is also the
danger that farmers will miss the fall planting season, raising the prospect of a new cycle of
shortfalls next year.
Elliott, Debbie, Reporter. FILLING IN NEW ORLEANS' FUTURE, ONE BLANK AT A TIME [Web Page]. 2012
Jul 2; Accessed 2012 Aug 2. Available at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=155916382.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; City Planning;
Economics
Call Number: 132.E4.F5.1 (VF)
Notes: Transcript of news story broadcast on NPR
File includes 10 listener comments
Abstract: Article describes urban planning that took place to rebuild New Orleans following
Hurricane Katrina and the impact that the recovery process has had on entrepreneurs and start-up
businesses.
KATRINA'S UNFINISHED BUSINESS [Web Page]. 2010 Nov 2; Accessed 2010 Nov 3. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/03/opinion/03wed3.html?_r=1&emc=eta1.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Reconstruction
Call Number: 132.K3.5 (VF)
Notes: A copy of the report referenced in the article can be found in the Resource Collection under
3
call no. 154.P5.B4 (VF)
Abstract: New Orleans is finally rebounding from much of the devastation wrought by Hurricane
Katrina. But five years later, a big problem remains: blighted neighborhoods. To attract a vibrant
middle class, these neighborhoods need to be repaired and restored, or, at the very least, stabilized.
Residents who have been unable to rebuild because storm relief grants were too small or unfairly
calculated need more help from the city and state.
A RESIDENT REBUILDS (PARTS 1 AND 2) [Web Page]. Accessed 2007 Sep 17. Available at:
http://video.on.nytimes.com.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Reconstruction
Call Number: 132.M6.2 (VF)
Notes: "William Pickett, who drives a buggy in the French Quarter, explains how he and his dog
escaped the floods and returned to rebuild his mid-city home."
Print-out of web page containing video link.
Robertson, Campbell. IN NEW ORLEANS, RECOVERY IS NOT ENOUGH. 2009 Aug 31.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 132.R6.I5.1 (VF)
Abstract: Houses still sit empty, residents are still scattered and streets still echo with the sounds of
hammers and power saws. But on the fourth anniversary of the hurricane that redefined its future,
New Orleans is no longer talking about mere recovery.
Yes, people are returning: the number of households receiving mail is now more than three-fourths
of the pre-Katrina figures, according to the latest estimates, up from fewer than half three years ago.
Projects stalled by red tape and the bad credit market, like the Lafitte public housing complex, are
finally getting back on track.
But reverting to the city that existed here before the flood is not the goal. For a city that justly if
sometimes self-consciously relishes its own nostalgia, there was much about pre-Katrina New
Orleans, from the unstable floodwalls to the stagnant economy, that was best left behind.
Employment had not grown for the six years before the storm. The population had been shrinking
since the 1960s. In 2005, there were only two Fortune 500 companies with headquarters here — now
there is only one, Entergy, a power company.
Robertson, Campbell. ON ANNIVERSARY OF KATRINA, SIGNS OF HEALING [Web Page]. 2010 Aug 27;
Accessed 2010 Aug 30. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/us/28katrina.html?_r=1&emc=eta1.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 132.R6.O5 (VF)
Abstract: This city, not that long ago, appeared to be lost. Only five years have passed since corpses
were floating through the streets, since hundreds of thousands of survivors sat in hotel rooms and
shelters and the homes of relatives, learning from news footage that they were among the ranks of
the homeless.
For most of the last year, in many parts of the city, the waters finally seemed to be receding.
In November, a federal judge ruled that much of the flooding after Hurricane Katrina was a result of
the negligence of the Army Corps of Engineers, vindicating New Orleanians, who had hammered
this gospel for four years. In January, the federal government cleared the way for nearly half a
billion dollars in reimbursement for the city’s main public hospital, an acceleration of funds that led
to the announcement this week that nearly $2 billion more would be coming in a lump-sum
settlement for city schools.
Saulny, Susan. AFTER IOWA FLOOD, FEELING JUST A BIT IGNORED [Web Page]. 2009 Aug 28; Accessed
2009 Aug 28. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/us/28cedar.html?emc=eta1.
Keywords: Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 132.S3.A3.2 (VF)
Abstract: It was more than a year ago that the core of this city was submerged to its rooftops, a result
4
of record flooding on the Cedar River that caused an estimated $6 billion in damage — among the
most costly natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina.
The outpouring of attention toward New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, ratcheting up again now as the
fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, has not been seen here. In fact, the people of
Cedar Rapids are feeling neglected.
The recovery here is only limping along as waterlogged buildings are still being gutted, thousands of
displaced families remain in temporary housing, and large-scale demolition to make way for a new
downtown has just begun.
Trethewey, Natasha. OUR LOSS, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE STORM [Web Page]. 2010 Aug 28; Accessed
2010 Aug 30. Available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29trethewey.html?emc=eta1&pagewanted=print.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 132.T7.O8 (VF)
Abstract: Two years ago, on one of my many journeys home to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I saw on
the side of the road the campaign placard of a local politician. “Katrina isn’t over,” the sign read. I
could see then, as I can now, five years after the hurricane, that it is true.
The part of the city of Gulfport I was entering that day, a section called North Gulfport, remains one
of the most blighted areas on the coast. Highway 49 cuts through it, and on either side of the
highway there are “for sale” signs, condemned structures awaiting demolition, empty lots strewn
with trash and overgrown with weeds, and a few neat houses hunkered against the neighborhood’s
demise. This stretch along the highway, roughly five miles up from the beach, is where I am from,
where my ancestors settled three generations back and where my cousin Tammy lives still, with my
brother Joe nearby.
Blakely, Edward J. MY STORM: MANAGING THE RECOVERY OF NEW ORLEANS IN THE WAKE
OF KATRINA. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press; 2012; ISBN: 978-0-81224385-7.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Government;
Economics
Call Number: 150.B5.M8
Notes: LCCN: 2011026052
Contents:
Introduction
Part I. Seeing the Problem
An Alarming View from Down Under
Getting to New Orleans
A Harbinger of Problems to Come
"Fix It!"
Part II. Where to From Here?
Imagining a Future Out of Mud: A Recovery Plan
Inside the Mayor's "Cocoon"
Putting My Team on the Field: Recovery Administration
Politics and Money
Reviving a Drowning Economy
Part III. Elements of the City
In Search of Civic Leadership
More than Bricks and Sticks: Reviving Neighborhoods
The Race Cards of Recovery
A Medium Off Message
Levees and FEMA: The Real Hazards for New Orleans
Part IV. Assessing the Recovery
Chance to Assess the Recovery
The "Big Easy," Nothing Comes Easy, Not Even Leaving
5
Chapter Notes
Appendix: Memorandum of Understanding
Abstract: Edward J. Blakely has been called upon to help rebuild after some of the worst disasters in
recent American history, from the San Francisco Bay Area's 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake to the
September 11 attacks in New York. Yet none of these jobs compared to the challenges he faced in
his appointment by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin as Director of the Office of Recovery and
Development Administration following Hurricane Katrina.
In Katrina's wake, New Orleans and the Gulf Coast suffered a disaster of enormous proportions.
Millions of pounds of water crushed the basic infrastructure of the city. A land area six times the size
of Manhattan was flooded, destroying 200,000 homes and leaving most of New Orleans under water
for 57 days. No American city had sustained that amount of destruction since the Civil War. But
beneath the statistics lies a deeper truth: New Orleans had been in trouble well before the first levee
broke, plagued with a declining population, crumbling infrastructure, ineffective government, and a
failed school system. Katrina only made these existing problems worse. To Blakely, the challenge
was not only to repair physical damage but also to reshape a city with a broken economy and a
racially divided, socially fractured community.
My Storm is a firsthand account of a critical sixteen months in the post-Katrina recovery process. It
tells the story of Blakely's endeavor to transform the shell of a cherished American city into a city
that could not only survive but thrive. He considers the recovery effort's successes and failures,
candidly assessing the challenges at hand and the work done—admitting that he sometimes
stumbled, especially in managing press relations. For Blakely, the story of the post-Katrina recovery
contains lessons for all current and would-be planners and policy makers. It is, perhaps, a cautionary
tale.
Jackson, Jeffrey H. PARIS UNDER WATER: HOW THE CITY OF LIGHT SURVIVED THE GREAT FLOOD
OF 1910. New York: Palgrave MacMillan; 2010; ISBN: 978-0-230-61706-3.
Keywords: Floods-Case Studies; Social Response; Disaster Response; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 150.J3.P3
Notes: LCCN: 2009024060
Review of book can be found in the Resource Collection under call no. 131.W4.A6 (VF)
Contents:
Introduction
Part One: Water Rising
The Surprising Rise of the Seine
The River Attacks
Paris Under Siege
Part Two: Paris Under Water
Rescuing a Drowned City
Up to the Neck
A City on the Brink
Part Three: Water Falling
The City of Mud and Filth
After the Flood
Making Sense of the Flood
Epilogue
Abstract: In the winter of 1910, the river that brought life to Paris the Seine became a force of
destruction in a matter of hours. Torrential rainfall saturated the soil and faulty engineering created
conditions that soon drowned Parisian streets, homes, businesses, and museums, thrusting the city
into a battle with the elements. Given the Parisians’ history of deep-seated social, religious, and
political strife, many citizens worried that they wouldn’t be able to collaborate to confront the crisis.
Yet while the sewers, Métro, and electricity failed around them, Parisians of all backgrounds rallied
to save the city and one another. Improvising techniques to keep Paris functioning and braving the
dangers of collapsing infrastructure and looters, leaders and residents alike answered the call to
action.
In breathtaking detail, Jeffrey Jackson captures here for the first time the epic story of the great
6
flood. As the waters rise, so does the tension, but ultimately, the Parisians’ love of their city leads
them to triumph over nature against all odds.
Johnson, Cedric editor. THE NEOLIBERAL DELUGE: HURRICANE KATRINA, LATE CAPITALISM, AND
THE REMAKING OF NEW ORLEANS. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press; 2011;
ISBN: 978-0-8166-7325-4.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Ethnic and Minority Aspects;
Government; Politics; Gender; Disaster Reocvery; Mass Media
Call Number: 150.J6.N4
Notes: LCCN: 2011028098
Contents:
Part I: Governance
From Tipping Point to Meta-crisis: Management, Media, and Hurricane Katrina
"We are Seeing People We Didn't Know Exist": Katrina and the Neoliberal Erasure of Race
Making Citizens in Magnaville: Katrina Refugees and Neoliberal Self-governance
Part II: Urbanity
Mega-events, the Superdome, and the Return of the Repressed in New Orleans
Whose Choice? A Critical Race Perspective on Charter Schools
Black and White, Unite and Fight? Identity Politics and New Orleans's Post-Katrina Public
Housing Movement
Part III: Planning
Charming Accommodations: Progressive Urbanism Meets Privatization in Brad Pitt's Make It
Right Foundation
Laboratization and the "Green" Rebuilding of New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward
Squandered Resources? Grounded Realities of Recovery in Post-tsunami Sri Lanka
Part IV: Inequality
How Shall We Remember New Orleans? Comparing News Coverage of Post-Katrina New
Orleans and the 2008 Midwest Floods
The Forgotten Ones: Black Women in the Wake of Katrina
Hazardous Constructions: Mexican Immigrant Masculinity and the Rebuilding of New Orleans
Abstract: The Neoliberal Deluge locates the root causes of the disaster of Katrina squarely in
neoliberal restructuring and examines how pro-market reforms are reshaping life, politics, economy,
and the built environment in New Orleans. The contributors argue that human agency and public
policy choices were more at fault for the destruction and social misery experienced than were sheer
forces of nature.
Miller, DeMond Shondell and Jason David Rivera (editors). COMMUNITY DISASTER RECOVERY AND
RESILIENCY: EXPLORING GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIEIS AND CHALLENGES. Boca Raton,
FA: CRC Press; 2011; ISBN: 978-1-4200-8822-9.
Keywords: Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 150.M5.C6.2
Notes: LCCN: 2010035466
Contents:
Section I: Opportunities and Challenges for Building a Community-based Institutional
Infrastructure
Disaster Preparedness among Community-based Organizations in the City and County of San
Francisco: Serving the Most Vulnerable
Safe Schools for the Community: A Case and Tool for Disaster-proof Schools
Opportunitiies and Challenges of Battered Women's Shelters in the Aftermath of a Disaster
Section II: Opportunities and Challenges for Social and Cultural Revitalization
Disaster Resilience: Exploring All Hazards and Cross-cultural Perspectives
Community Resilience in New Orleans East: Deploying the Cultural Toolkit within a Vietnamese
American Community
Social Capital after a Disaster: A Case Study of the 2008 Flood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
7
Section III: Opportunities and Challenges for Economic Recovery
Natural Disasters, Climate Change, and Recovery: The Sustainability Question in Post-Ivan
Grenada
Information Commodification and Social Capital in Local Street Markets
Role of Information and Communication Technologies in Disaster Rehabilitation in Agriculture
and Ecotourism: Bukit Lawang, Indonesia
Section IV: Opportunities and Challenges for Public Health and Safety
The Irrawaddy Crisis: Myanmar and Cyclone Nargis - Challenges and Opportunities for Change
Challenges of the Worried Well in the Event of a Pandemic or Terrorist Attack
Aborigines' and Migrant Settlers' Crisis and Reconstruction Efforts in Two Yoruba Communities
in Southwestern Nigeria
An Assault on the Community's Fabric: Tragedy, Challenges, and Opportunities of School
Shootings
Section V: Opportunities and Challenges for Housing and Housing Policy
Housing Reconstruction in Post-Mitch Nicaragua: Two Case Studies from the Communities of
San Dionisio and Ocotal
Building Earthquake-resilient Communities
Section VI: Opportunities and Challenges for Public-Private Partnerships in the Twenty-first
Century
Bridging the Public-Private Partnership in Disaster Management in Bangladesh
Building Disaster-Resilient Communities: The Public-Private Partnership Approach
Patterns of Public-Private Partnership in Community Reconstruction: The Case of Taiwan after
the Chi-Chi Earthquake
Section VII: Opportunities and Challenges for Disaster Mitigation
How Nations Should Develop Disaster Plans for Mitigation, Preparedness, Response, and
Recovery: Lessons Learned from Major International Disasters
Private Resilience Responses against Collective Recovery Interests: The Case of the Mega-fires of
Ilia, Greece, in August 2007
Preplanning for Recovery
Preparedness for Emergency: Learning from War-caused Disaster in Israel
Conclusion: From Recovery to Resilience: Long-lasting Social Change and Disaster Mitigation
Abstract: In the past, societies would learn from disasters and move the location of their urban
development to safer areas, allowing naturally occurring ecosystems to maintain themselves and for
societies to exist symbiotically with the environment. These days, however, it seems that society no
longer takes cues from the environment but rather relies on technical advancement to attempt to
control and overcome the environment, sometimes with wholly unsuccessful and even catastrophic
results.
Emphasizing non-traditional approaches to disaster recovery and rebuilding communities,
Community Disaster Recovery and Resiliency: Exploring Global Opportunities and Challenges
brings together leading research from top academics and scholars on the different ways various
societies have experienced disasters, learned from them, and revised their thinking about building
community preparedness and resiliency pre- and post-disaster.
 Provides a clear, concise, and up-to-date understanding of best practices for rebuilding community
institutions and community development after a disaster
 Focuses on integrated solutions for ecological restoration and community development in disaster
recovery planning and implementation
 Compares and contrasts community rebuilding between different nations at different stages of
development, economic power, and stability
 Includes case studies that illustrate best practices, integrating the concept of community and
community rebuilding for local, national, and international stakeholders
All chapters offer diverse community examples that form a framework for comparing best practices.
They focus on integrated solutions for ecological restoration and community development and
explain how communities can reduce their vulnerability to disasters and reduce recovery time
following a disaster. The book indentifies the opportunities and challenges communities are most
8
likely to face on the road to recovery and supplies the interdisciplinary, social scientific
understanding required to effectively address those challenges.
Mutel, Cornelia F. editor. A WATERSHED YEAR: ANATOMY OF THE IOWA FLOODS OF 2008. Iowa City,
IA: University of Iowa Press; 2010; ISBN: 978-1-58729-854-7.
Keywords: Floods-Case Studies; Mitigation; Disaster Recovery; Economics; Ecology
Call Number: 150.M8.W3
Notes: LCCN: 2009024948
Contents:
Section I: Rising Rivers, Spreading Waters
What Causes Floods in Iowa?
Why Were the 2008 Floods So Large?
Iowa City and the Flood
The University of Iowa and the Flood
Linn County and the Flood
Forecasting a Record Flood
Estimating Flood Frequency
Section II: Why Here, Why Now?
The Hydrologic Footprint of Annual Crops
The Hydrology of Urban Landscapes
The Coralville Dam and Reservoir: Design and Operation
The Dam and the Flood: Cause or Cure?
Was Climate Change Involved?
Section III: Flood Damages, Flood Costs, Flood Benefits
Flood Effects on Archaeological Sites
Flood Effects on Modern Communities
Economic Losses from teh Floods
How Did the Floods Affect Farmland?
What's in Your Floodwaters?
Air Quality Hazards
Flood Effects on Natural Communities
Section IV: Looking Back, Looking Forward
When (Not If) the Big One Comes
Watershed-based Flood Management
Flood Barriers
Managing Urban Runoff
Perennial Farming Systems that Resist Flooding
The Great Flood of 1993: Did We Learn Any Lessons?
Abstract: In June 2008, the rivers of eastern Iowa rose above their banks to create floods of epic
proportions; their amazing size flowing in places at a rate nearly double that of the previous record
flood and the rapidity of their rise ruined farmlands and displaced thousands of residents and
hundreds of businesses. By providing a solid base of scientific and technical information presented
with unusual clarity and a wealth of supporting illustrations, the contributors to this far-reaching
book, many of whom dealt firsthand with the 2008 floods, provide a detailed roadmap of the causes
and effects of future devastating floods.
While the book draws most of its examples from one particular region, it explains flooding
throughout a much larger region the Midwestern Corn Belt and thus its sobering yet energizing
lessons apply well beyond eastern Iowa. By examining the relationships among rivers, floodplains,
weather, and modern society; by stressing matters of science and fact rather than social or policy
issues; and by addressing multiple environmental problems and benefits, the twenty-five essays in A
Watershed Year inform and educate all those who experienced the 2008 floods and all those
concerned with the larger causes of flooding.
Olshansky, Robert B. and Laurie A. Johnson. CLEAR AS MUD: PLANNING FOR THE REBUILDING OF
9
NEW ORLEANS. Chicago: American Planning Association, Planners Press; 2010; ISBN: 9781-932364-80-4.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Reconstruction;
Government
Call Number: 150.O4.C5
Notes: LCCN: 2009941508
Contents:
The Hurricane Katrina Catastrophe
Order from Chaos: Planning at the State and Federal Levels
Planning for New Orleans: October 2005-March 2006
Return to Chaos: Spring 2006
The New Orleans Neighborhoods Rebuilding Plan
The Unified New Orleans Plan
Passing the Planning Baton
Conclusions
Abstract: Planning the rebuilding of New Orleans has been among the greatest urban planning
challenges of our time. As witnesses and participants, Olshansky and Johnson bring unparalleled
detail and insight to the seemingly incomprehensible.
New Orleans had to rebuild its structures and institutions, but it also had to create an equitable and
effective community planning structure while addressing the concerns of state, federal, nonprofit,
and private-sector stakeholders. In documenting this unprecedented process, the authors spent years
in New Orleans, interviewing leaders and citizens and abetting the design and execution of the
Unified New Orleans Plan. Their insights will help cities worldwide face the challenges of
rebuilding and recovering after disaster strikes.
Solnit, Rebecca. A PARADISE BUILT IN HELL: THE EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNITIES THAT ARISE IN
DISASTER. New York: Viking; 2009; ISBN: 978-0-670-02107-9.
Keywords: Earthquake-Case Studies; Explosion; Historical Account; Terrorism; Hurricanes-Case
Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Social Factors; Disaster Response; Disaster Recovery
Call Number: 150.S6.P3
Notes: LCCN: 2009004101
Contents:
Prelude: Falling Together
I: A Millennial Good Fellowship: The San Francisco Earthquake
The Mizpah Cafe
Pauline Jacobson's Joy
General Funston's Fear
William James's Moral Equivalents
Dorothy Day's Other Loves
II: Halifax to Hollywood: The Great Debate
A Tale of Two Princes: The Halifax Explosion and After
From the Blitz and the Bomb to Vietnam
Hobbes in Hollywood, or the Few Versus the Many
III: Carnival and Revolution: Mexico City's Earthquake
Power from Below
Losing the Mandate of Heaven
Standing on Top of Golden Hours
IV: The City Transfigured: New York in Grief and Glory
Mutual Aid in the Marketplace
The Need to Help
Nine Hundred and Eleven Questions
V: New Orleans: Common Grounds and Killers
What Difference Would it Make?
Murderers
Love and Lifeboats
10
Beloved Community
Epilogue: The Doorway in the Ruins
Abstract: What most people believe and what actually happens in the aftermath of a disaster are two
different things. The movies, the media, and the authorities have too often insisted that we are a
chaotic, selfish species and ought to fear each other. Yet in the wake of almost every major disaster
a wave of altruistic and brave improvisation saves lives, forms communities, and shapes many
survivors’ experiences.
The most startling thing about disasters, according to award-winning author Rebecca Solnit in her
new book, A Paradise Built in Hell, is not merely that so many people rise to the occasion, but that
they do so with joy. That joy reveals an ordinarily unmet yearning for community, purposefulness,
and meaningful work that disaster often provides. These spontaneous acts, emotions, and
communities suggest that many of the utopian ideals of the past century are not only possible, but
latent in everyday life. A disaster can be a moment when the forces that keep these ideals from
flowering, those desires from being realized, fall away. Solnit’s book points to a new vision of what
society could become one that is less authoritarian and fearful, more collaborative and local.
A Paradise Built in Hell travels through five major North American disasters, from the 1906
earthquake in San Francisco and the 1917 explosion that tore up Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the 1985
Mexico City earthquake, New York’s 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and reveals
little-known but well-documented patterns of institutional failure, destructive beliefs, and
extraordinary human achievement. In passing, the book also visits the London Blitz, Argentina’s
2001 economic upheaval, Nicaragua’s politically profound 1972 earthquake, other forms of social
disruption from carnivals to revolutions and Hollywood’s comically problematic take on disaster
and heroism.
Solnit has won acclaim for her ability to consistently locate unseen patterns and meanings in broad
cultural histories, from her history of walking to her exploration of the world made by nineteenthcentury technologies. This new book investigates the moments of joy, resourcefulness, and
generosity that arise amid disaster’s grief and disruption and considers their implications for
everyday life and for the coming era of increasingly common and intense calamity, natural,
seminatural, and man-made.
Woods, Clyde editor. IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE KATRINA: NEW PARADIGMS AND SOCIAL
VISIONS. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 2010; ISBN: 978-0-8018-9561-6.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Ethnic and Minority Aspects;
Economics; Gender; Disaster Response; Politics; Social Factors; Social Response
Call Number: 150.W6.I5
Notes: LCCN: 2009938125
Contents:
Introduction: Katrina's World: Blues, Bourbon, and the Return ot the Source
Histories of Race, Gender, Sex, and Class
"More Desultory and Unconnected Than Any Other": Geography, Desire, and Freedom in Eliza
Potter's A Hairdresser's Experience in High Life
"Justice Mocked": Violence and Accountability in New Orleans
Activists and Institutions
Beyond Disaster Exceptionalism: Social Movement Developments in New Orleans after
Hurricane Katrina
Stories at the Center: Story Circles, Educational Organizing, and Fate of Neighborhood Public
Schools in New Orleans
Of Armed Guards and Kente Cloth: Afro-Creole Catholics and the Battle for St. Augustine Parish
in Post-Katrina New Orleans
The Politics of Reproductive Violence
Culture, Music, and Performance
Jazz and Revival
Second Lining Post-Katrina: Learning Community from the Prince of Wales Social Aid and
Pleasure Club
Upholding Community Traditions
11
On Conjuring Mahalia: Mahalia Jackson, New Orleans, and the Sanctified Swing
"My FEMA People": Hip-Hop as Disaster Recovery in the Katrina Diaspora
"We Know This Place": Neoliberal Racial Regimes and the Katrina Circumstance
We Know This Place
Tourism Industrial Complex
Katrina Tourism and a Tale of Two Cities: Visualizing Race and Class in New Orleans
"Roots Run Deep Here": The Construction of Black New Orleans in Post-Katrina Tourism
Narratives
Geographies of Disaster
Les Misérables of New Orleans: Trap Economics and the Asset Stripping Blues, Part 1
Freedom Land
After Katrina: Racial Regimes and Human Development Barriers in the Gulf Coast Region
Refugee Bodily Orbits
Abstract: Assessing the damage left by Hurricane Katrina in social, cultural, and physical terms, the
essays in this volume suggest that the nation's long and historic engagement with the Gulf Coast has
entered a new era.
While many of the essays analyze Katrina in terms of the relatively recent past, others explore how
reaction to the hurricane's aftermath is rooted in the region's history. Uniquely combining humanities
and social sciences research, the contributors reevaluate the political, social, and economic dynamics
that existed before this "natural" disaster and the subsequent responses and actions, or lack thereof.
Investigations of public policies, organizations, social movements, and neoliberalism range from a
traditional policy case study of the often-neglected Alabama and Mississippi experience to an
analysis of urban social movements in New Orleans to a broad critique of local policy that has global
implications. Innovative young scholars provide essays on music, literature, tourism, and gender.
Interviews with key community leaders and historic poets round out the volume.
The many social, political, racial, economic, and personal disasters that followed Katrina produced a
number of intellectual dilemmas. How could this happen in the wealthiest nation in the world? How
could the U.S. government so callously abandon its citizens when they so desperately needed federal
aid? Why was the most powerful military in the world unable or unwilling to act? Readers will find
in this collection compelling answers to these, and other, complicated questions.
JOURNAL OF DISASTER RESEARCH - SPECIAL ISSUE ON "BUILDING LOCAL CAPACITY
FOR LONG-TERM DISASTER RESILIENCE, PART 2". Tokyo, Japan : Fuji Technology
Press Ltd. Vol. 5, 2010.
Keywords: Disaster Recovery; Economics; Risk Analysis; Floods-General; Mitigation; Law/
Legislation; Earthquake-Case Studies; Tsunamis-Case Studies; Architecture
Call Number: 152.J6.6
Notes: Contents:
Toward an Enhanced Concept of Disaster Resilience: A Commentary on Behalf of the Editorial
Committee
How Business Flow Diagram's [sic] Improve Continuity of Operations Planning
Building Disaster Resilient Organizations in the Non-government (NGO) Sector
Urban Technological Risk Characterization and Management: Towards a Better Understanding of
Non-natural Threats in Merida City, Venezuela
Seismic Regulations Versus Modern Architectural and Urban Configurations
An Assessment of Coastal Zone Hazard Mitigation Plans in Texas
California's Natural Hazard Zonation Policies for Land-use Planning and Development Strategic
Disaster Reduction Planning with Government Stakeholder Collaboration - a Case Study in Nara and
Kyoto, Japan
Post-disaster Redevelopment Planning: Local Capacity Buidling Through Pre-event Planning
Working Together, Building Capacity - a Case Study of Civil Defence Eemrgency Management in
New Zealand
Chile's 2010 M8.8 Earthquake and Tsunami: Initial Observations on Resilience
Requirements and Verification Methodology for the Design Performance of Tsunami-Hinan
Buildings (Temporary Tsunami Refuge Building)
12
Evacuation Facility Selection Situations in Whole-building Evacuation, Actually Implemented in a
Super-high-rise Building - Results of Questionnaire Survey with Evacuees
Masozera, Michel; Melissa Bailey, and Charles Kerchner. DISTRIBUTION OF IMPACTS OF NATURAL
DISASTERS ACROSS INCOME GROUPS: A CASE STUDY OF NEW ORLEANS. Ecological
Economics. 2007; 63:299-306. ISSN: 0921-8009.
Keywords: Natural Disasters; Economics; Hurricanes-Case Studies
Call Number: 152.M3.D5.4 (VF)
Abstract: This paper explores elements of vulnerability to natural disasters in the context of
Hurricane Katrina. We examine whether neighborhoods in New Orleans were impacted differently
by Hurricane Katrina based on pre-existing social, physical and economic vulnerabilities. We
evaluate the degree to which the initial impacts of Hurricane Katrina were distributed among the
New Orleans' residents. Geographic Information System (GIS) technology was used to perform
analyses using household income, housing values, and elevation and flood levels. Next, we
investigate whether particular socio-economic groups in the city were more vulnerable during the
response and recovery phases.
Findings indicate that Hurricane Katrina caused severe flood damages in the majority of New
Orleans neighborhoods, regardless of income, elevation and other social factors. However, findings
do suggest that pre-existing socio-economic conditions play a significant role in the ability for
particular economic classes to respond immediately to the disaster and to cope with the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. The paper concludes with policy recommendations to reduce social and
economic vulnerabilities to natural disasters, as well as suggestions for future research.
Czerwinski, Stanley J., Director. OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL COORDINATOR FOR GULF COAST
REBUILDING: PERSPECTIVES AND OBSERVATIONS [Web Page]. 2009 Apr 10; Accessed
2009 Apr 21. Available at: www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-411R.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Government
Call Number: 154.C8.O3 (VF)
Abstract: In November 2005, the President issued an executive order establishing the Office of the
Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding (OFC) with the broad mission of supporting recovery
efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Given their vast size and impact, these storms
presented unprecedented rebuilding challenges to federal, state, and local officials which, combined
with concerns about the lack of coordination in government’s initial response to the disaster,
precipitated the creation of the Office of the Federal Coordinator. 1 To assist in your ongoing
oversight responsibilities of the recovery of the Gulf Coast, you asked us to: (1) describe the
functions the Coordinator has performed, (2) obtain stakeholder perspectives regarding the office’s
operation, and (3) provide observations on issues to be considered for moving forward. We provided
your staff with summaries of our findings this past February to answer these questions as well as our
observations, including extending the term of OFC. We have since updated some of the information
in our briefing (see enclosure I), using information that has subsequently become available including
the President’s decision to extend the operations of OFC through September 30, 2009. This letter
transmits those updated slides.
To conduct our work, we obtained and reviewed key documents from the Office of the Federal
Coordinator and conducted interviews with senior officials. In addition, we interviewed officials
from other federal agencies with significant roles in the recovery effort, including the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. To learn about the experiences and opinions of state, local, and
nongovernmental officials regarding the office, we interviewed senior representatives from the
Louisiana Recovery Authority, the Louisiana Recovery School District, the Mississippi Governor’s
Office of Recovery and Renewal, the City of New Orleans Office of Recovery Management, and
Catholic Charities-Archdiocese New Orleans. Finally, to provide context and criteria for our review,
we examined previous work by GAO and the relevant disaster recovery and organizational
management literature. We conducted this performance audit from February 2009 through March
2009 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require
13
that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence
obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
NEW ORLEANS FIVE YEARS AFTER THE STORM: A NEW DISASTER AMID RECOVERY. 2010
Aug.
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Ethnic and Minority
Aspects; Medical
Call Number: 154.N4.3
Notes: Produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Publication No. 8089)
Contents:
Introduction
A Portrait of New Orleans Residents in 2010
The Recovery
Report Card on Specifics of Progress
Race in Orleans Parish
Health Care in Orleans Parish
Conclusion
Abstract: We began this series of three major surveys of Orleans Parish residents in 2006, one year
after Hurricane Katrina pounded the city and water breached its overburdened levees, leaving 80
percent of the city underwater. In this third installment we spoke to parish residents during a new,
unfolding economic and environmental disaster: an oil spill of unprecedented size in the Gulf waters
off the Louisiana coast whose long term effects are at present incalculable even as its short term
effects manifest in the form of dark, sticky oil washing up on the area’s shores.
This third chapter of our survey series is intended to provide perspective at the five year anniversary
of Katrina’s deadly arrival: How do residents feel now that the storm and flooding are five years
behind them? How satisfied are they with the rebuilding process and what challenges and concerns
animate them, both Katrina-related and otherwise? What does this new Gulf Coast disaster mean to
them thus far?
Like all surveys, our 2010 data is a snapshot of a point in time, a point before the horrendously
leaking oil well was permanently capped, a point before the full extent of the disaster could be
accurately assessed, a point representing the early months of a newly elected mayor’s tenure. But as
a snapshot, and building on what we learned about the views and real-life experiences of residents in
2008 and 2006, it proves helpful in understanding New Orleans’ continuing journey of recovery. The
report below provides an unusually thorough look at how residents view the rebuilding process, the
extent to which they see New Orleans as having healed from Katrina, and the extent to which they
expect to be impacted by the Gulf Coast oil spill. It also assesses residents’ feelings about hot topics
such as health care, jobs, crime and political corruption and catalogues the extent to which they are
facing challenges paying bills, finding and keeping good jobs, and
getting needed medical services in this difficult economy. Finally, the survey allows us to paint a
picture of a city which remains divided by race and income, even as race relations seem to be on a
positive trajectory.
Shenot, Christine. LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROFESSIONALS TEAM UP ON DISASTER RECOVERY. ICMA
Press. 2007 Apr; 89(3).
Keywords: Hurricanes-Case Studies; Floods-Case Studies; Disaster Recovery; Government
Call Number: 154.S4.L6 (VF)
Notes: "For many Americans, the horrors of Hurricane Katrina have been forever distilled in the
frightening media images that came out of New Orleans. The chaos that consumed the Big Easy
played out in countless scenes of desperate evacuees packed into the Louisiana Superdome and the
city's convention center. We saw people waving for help from rooftops where they waited to be
rescued and residents traveling flooded neighborhoods in small boats, picking up stranded people
including seniors, children, and the disabled."
14
Cohn, Timothy A.; Kathleen K. Gohn, and William H. Hooke (eds.). LESSONS FROM PPP2000: LIVING WITH
EARTH'S EXTREMES. Tampa, FL: Institute for Business and Home Safety; 2001.
Keywords: Natural Hazards, Insurance, Disaster Recovery, Industry, Public Works, Risk Analysis,
Physical Health, Military, Economics, Warning Systems
Call Number: 159.C6.L4
Notes: Table of Contents
1) Insurance Sector
2) Managing Catastrophic Risks
3) Mega Cities
4) Earthquakes
5) A Global Perspective
6) Disaster Recovery Business Alliances
7) Real-Time Hazards Monitoring
8) Floods
9) Critical Infrastructure
10) Motivating People
11) Challenges for the Next Century
12) Public Health
13) The Military
14) Combined Disasters
15) Conclusions
.
.
15