Recovery efforts in areas ravaged by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina are beginning to gain steam, according to the latest in a series of reports examining the damage. Local officials, though, believe it will be years before communities make a full comeback.
The results of the latest examination of area recovery planning—along with recommendations for the future—can be found in GulfGov Reports: The Role of Community Rebuilding Plans in the Hurricane Recovery. The report, recently released by Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, is the sixth and final report in a three-year project that assessed how well federal, state, and local institutions responded to the 2005 hurricanes. Researchers also plan to release a comprehensive book of their findings.
For more information on the GulfGov project and to access the report series online, visit the GulfGov Website.
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.