Higher ground: an exploratory analysis of characteristics affecting returning populations after Hurricane Katrina

As a natural and social disaster, Hurricane Katrina has changed how we view disaster experiences from a social, environmental, and demographic perspective. While much literature has concentrated upon descriptive population changes in the wake of the disaster, less attention has been directed toward how certain population characteristics have affected some Katrina evacuee’s ability to recover in the post-disaster period. This study utilizes a series of logistic regressions upon Current Population Survey data to lend inferential insight into how population groups prone to social and environmental vulnerability have been differentially enabled to return or not-return to their pre-disaster residence. The results validate descriptive findings that Black/African American and impoverished populations have less probability for return, though this relationship may not be as simple as initially supposed. Further, the results suggest that the increase in Hispanic populations in the area may in fact be a non-native one, and some popular conceptions of vulnerability may not seem to be applicable to the unique circumstances surrounding migration from the Gulf Coast. These findings suggest complexity in population relationships in the Gulf Coast not immediately apparent from descriptive level analysis and challenges for ongoing evaluation of the recovery and measurement of Hurricane Katrina-affected areas.