REBUILDING A COMMUNITY POST

HURRICANE KATRINA

By: Vernessa Shih Fall 2012 FINAL PRESENTATION

PP M224A GISProfessor Kawano

Hurricane Katrina Aug 23,2005 – Aug 31, 2005

• What happened?• What were

rebuilding goals?• What were

parish priorities?• What areas

saw the most success in rebuilding?

Hurricane Katrina Aug 23, 2005 Aug 31, 2005

140 mph

Let’s get factual . . . 217,000 Homes Damaged 1.4 million people displaced, 15

million people affected estimated 75-110 billion dollar cost

(referred to as the costliest natural disaster in history)

extreme coastal erosion Over 1,800 deaths

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU?

(PICK THREE)1. Build better levees and other

hurricane protection (58%)2. Encourage development of

new housing (34%)3. Restore coastal areas (27%)4. Improve schools (26%)5. Attracting new businesses to

the area (26%)6. Making reconstruction jobs

available to residents (25%)7. Providing better

community/social service (21%)

8. Making street/highway improvements (13%)

9. Reducing crime (13%)10.Devising a workable

evacuation plan (13%)

Five Parish Breakdown

Jefferson Parish1. Build

better levees and other hurricane protection

2. Restore coastal areas

3. Attract new businesses to the area

4. Improve the school

*107,000 damaged homes

Orleans Parish1. Build

better levees and other hurricane protection

2. Encourage development of new housing

3. Improve schools

4. Make reconstruction jobs more available

*largest number of displaced residents*90% evacuated

Plaquemines Parish1. Build

better levees and other hurricane protection

2. Restore coastal areas

3. Attract new businesses to the area

4. Improve schools

*over 50% buildings destroyed

St. Bernard Parish1. Build

better levees and other hurricane protection

2. Restore coastal areas

3. Buy out flood-prone properties

4. Encourage development of new housing

*29,000 destroyed homes

St. Tammany Parish1. Build

better levees and other hurricane protection

2. Restore coastal areas

3. Attract new businesses to the area

4. Make highway and street improvements

*38,900 damage claims

Louisiana Population Density by

FEMA Emergency Evacuation

Routes

Indicators for Improvement:Calculating the

decrease in students

dropouts for 7-12th graders,

comparing 2000 to 2010

(from schools statistics tracked

by Louisiana Department of

Education

*Highlighting areas of high African Am population

Hurricane Katrina completely changed the way our country reacts to

disasters

Every Error Known to Man . . .

Caveats• Clearly it would have been beneficial to have access to

additional data regarding the Hurricane, but when Katrina hit and then Rita, gathering data is most likely not at all a priority

• Regardless of missing attributes, this is still an important area of study

• Groundbreaking in terms of being able to see new applications of GIS for other disasters, using Google Earth/Twitter/Social Networking to track disasters, Hurricane Sandy Shapefiles are already available

• Problems:• Many clearinghouses, databases, including FEMA have

been closed or have severely limited access only allowed to organizations associated with rebuilding or giving grants

• Disaster data is by nature very unreliable

SourcesESRI/Social Explorer

NASA

CENSUS.gov/American Fact Finder

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

FEMA

GOOGLE EARTH

US Geological Survey

Greater New Orleans Community Data Center

Regional Planning Commission for New Orleans

City of New Orleans

Mysealevel.org

Regional Planning Commission for Great Metro New Orleans

LSU AGU Center

LSU Atlas Database

SimplyMap

Louisiana Dept of Education

Crisis Commons

Louisiana Site Selection.Com

Louisiana Map.Com

State of Louisiana.gov

Skills Used Point or line graduated

symbol Geoprocessing – Clipping Geoprocessing – Joining

Geocoding – FEMA Locations KMZ/KML files

Custom Shape files Original Data

Aggregating attribute fields Attribute sub-sets selections Boundary sub-sets selections

Images