Connecting Future Evacuation to Current Recovery: Saving the Lives of Older People in the Next Catastrophe

Abstract

An inextricable link. As we write this article, we remember the abandonment and eventual death of so many of our community elders. We mourn their deaths on the interstate, in their homes struggling far air, in the Superdome and theMorial Convention Center, in nursing homes and hospitals where no one came for days, in buses on the way to Houston or Atlanta. These deaths were unexpected, but they could have been avoided. We hope that lessons of this terrible experience and the voices of the elders who remain will guide future planning. As the whole world witnessed during the last week of August 2005, the evacuation of New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina was tragically inadequate for a significant number of the citizens of that city. Older people were among those who fared the worst. People age 65 and older had higher rates of mortality from this event than did any other age group. And yet, the story of older people is one of the most underreported and least understood narratives of the storm (Gullette, 2006; Sharkey, 2007). Older people perished from drowning and from exposure, heat, and dehydration. And in the aftermath, many of those who were evacuated suffered life-threatening or deadly events. At the first anniversary of the storm, 1,464 deaths within the metropolitan region were officially attributed to Katrina (Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, 2006). Some 850 of those occurred or were discovered during the immediate impact and aftermath of the storm. Subsequently, another 600 were added to that list as missing persons were found deceased and as numbers of deaths were determined to have been caused by the events of evacuation. Among the earliest 850 documented deaths, some 70 percent of the victims were over the age of 60, whereas people in that age group constituted less than 15 percent of the city's population (Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, 2006). Given the nature of the deaths that were documented later, after relocation, it is likely that the percentage of elders in the total number of dead is even higher. The literature has long acknowledged that older people are one of the most vulnerable groups in any disaster. Klinenberg (2002) and Conti and colleagues (2005) note the biological characteristics, specifically physical frailties and late-age-onset diseases that make elders more at risk during a heat wave, for example. Moreover, Klinenberg (2002) and Sharkey (2007) show how the specific social characteristics of older people in urban poor neighborhoods increase their vulnerability. This was and is the story of New Orleans-extreme vulnerability for older people both in the disaster event and during subsequent recovery efforts. This article describes how the convergence of a myriad of factors, including social characteristics and environmental conditions existing before the storm and exacerbated during and after the Katrina catastrophe, put the older population of New Orleans at enhanced risk compared to younger people. Recommendations from a community stakeholders group suggest how older people could have more influence and safety during current rebuilding efforts and in any future disaster. THE DISASTER CYCLE Emergency managers divide their respective tasks into four overlapping phases in what is called the comprehensive emergency management, or disaster, cycle. Those four disaster phases include mitigation projects designed to reduce future risks; preparedness efforts that include education, planning, and training; response efforts that focus on saving lives; and recovery work that comprises the hard tasks of restoring and rebuilding the private and public sectors (Phillips and Jenkins, forthcoming). These four areas serve to frame both the experience of elders in New Orleans since August 2005 and the critical issues for their future safety. Mitigation issues before Katrina. In Orleans Parish before Katrina, residents of all ages were unaware of storm-related information, including any long-term plans and any government preparations, but older people did have distinct memories of prior hurricanes and their ability to survive. …