Plenary: Hurricane Katrina and the Catastrophes to Come

Sat. 1:30-3:00 p.m., Interlocken A/B

Disaster studies have made important progress in recognizing the unequally distributed consequences of disasters, but there has been less progress in analyzing social factors that help create "natural" disasters. Hurricane Katrina showed us, vividly, the importance of doing our jobs better in the future. Katrina was not just a case of nature striking humans, not just due to the uniqueness of New Orleans, and not "the big one"—it was a case of humans first striking nature, doing so with the kinds of consequences that provide an important early warning to those of us who live elsewhere.

Similar lessons are available from other regions, ranging from America's second-largest population living below sea level, in California's delta region, to developments in the Mississippi River floodplain, near St. Louis. In all of these regions, and many more, the underlying causes of danger involved "economic development" projects that delivered little more than damage to humans and the economy, as well as to the environment.

It is time for the hazards community to speak out more clearly about a pervasive, three-part pattern, generally supported by the political system—spreading the costs, concentrating the economic benefits, and hiding the real risks. In very real senses, these have been floods of folly, created not just by extreme weather events, but also by deadly and avoidable patterns of political and economic choices.

Shirley Laska, Moderator
University of New Orleans CHART

William Freudenburg, Panelist
University of California, Santa Barbara

Ed Thomas, Panelist
Michael Baker Jr., Inc.

Kathleen Tierney, Panelist
University of Colorado Natural Hazards Center