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Mike Smith and Jeff Rojek, faculty members in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, interviewed dozens of Gulf Coast law enforcement personnel in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to better understand their tremendous difficulties in attempts to save lives, safeguard property, and maintain order after the hurricane’s landfall. A final report of their findings has been published and disseminated
to many law enforcement agencies throughout the Southeast, and the two researchers
have coordinated law enforcement disaster symposiums and published study findings
in scholarly journals. |
Hurricane Katrina's cataclysmic devastation in 2005 made it the costliest and among the deadliest natural disasters in our nation’s history. The New Orleans area and coastal Mississippi are still trying to recover from the onslaught nearly two years later.
Within a few weeks of the storm, the University of South Carolina created the Coastal Resiliency Information Systems Initiative for the Southeast (CRISIS) and provided $400,000 for 18 teams of researchers, including social scientists and engineers. "We have all been touched by the tragedy and humanitarian crises which unfolded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," said Harris Pastides, South Carolina's vice president for research and health sciences. "As a natural 'laboratory,' Hurricane Katrina offers an opportunity to examine all aspects of coastal resiliency, including the immediate and delayed long-term impacts on natural ecosystems and human communities."
South Carolina scientists went to the hard-hit areas of the Gulf Coast to collect data before it was lost or cleared away. Doing so was vital to determine which communities were hardest hit, how well and how equitably recovery efforts were being carried out, and many other factors, including:
- an assessment of law enforcement response to Hurricane Katrina
- disparities in Hurricane Katrina evacuation
- outcomes for Latinos in the aftermath of the hurricane
- levee breaches and closure procedures
- risk of mosquito-borne disease in the wake of the hurricane
The initial research spawned larger investigations, including a multi-disciplinary team that was awarded a $719,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the post-Katrina recovery process. The team includes faculty from geography, psychology, history, and mathematics. “We’re interested in looking at disparities in the recovery process across the socio-economic spectrum,” said principal investigator and geography professor Susan Cutter, “because the pace of the recovery seems to differ among the hard-hit areas. We want to know why.”
Learn more about findings from the research, and the University of South Carolina's Katrina CRISIS initiative at www.sc.edu/katrinacrisis/intro.shtml.
Satellite image: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team
Aftermath photos: USC Hazards Research Lab
Related Links:
- Katrina CRISIS research topics and findings index
- Katrina CRISIS index of scientists
- University of South Carolina Research and Health Sciences division
- University Snapshots:
Quick Facts (PDF)
• The Katrina CRISIS research is one part of South Carolina's environmental research initiatives, which focus broadly on water and coasts, environment and health, and environmental risk and vulnerability. For more information on environmental research at the University of South Carolina, visit http://environmental.sc.edu/
