Chapter 8 - The resilience in the shadows of catastrophe: Addressing the existence and implications of vulnerability in New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the reduction of the psychosocial costs of disasters of the most vulnerable. Drawing from the experiences of Katrina, we argue that the poor are often marginalized or ignored by policymakers and postdisaster service planners; that the tools used to identify communities most vulnerable to poor postdisaster mental health are missing or ignored because of the lack of a comprehensive understanding and estimation of disaster vulnerability. This chapter first reviews the concept of vulnerability in the wake of catastrophe. It is noted that there is little hope of providing adequate resources immediately after and long after disasters if there is a history of ignoring the population disparities of the medical and mental health. Moreover, it is noted that most disaster recovery-focused research projects rarely take into account indicators of social vulnerability. We argue here that government leaders responsible for disaster mitigation must insist on disaster plans that take into account the special needs of vulnerable communities, specifically, the poor, elderly, children, and persons with a disability (mental, physical). The final section of this chapter offers an illustration of the usefulness of the vulnerability model [Pressure and Release (PAR) model] that was effectively utilized in our recent study of Louisiana that successfully identified the most vulnerable within Louisiana parishes. The most challenging part, however, is actually utilizing these tools to motivate change in disaster planning and mitigation focused on the most vulnerable. We attempt to demonstrate that this approach is useful to everyone who cares about postdisaster resilience in predicting the root causes, dynamic pressures, and unsafe conditions that result in disasters. Moreover, the PAR model allows for an understanding of the factors that predict social vulnerability. We argue here that the model has great promise for identifying social vulnerability in other geographic locations in the United States and beyond. This chapter concludes with a discussion of improved, systemically sensitive, and asset-informed strategies for preventing or reducing social vulnerability in anticipation of future disasters, informed by the PAR model as described in this chapter.