Aging Disaster: Mortality, Vulnerability, and Long-Term Recovery among Katrina Survivors

Abstract

Data from this multi-year qualitative study of the effects of Hurricane Katrina and flooding in New Orleans suggest differences in how the elderly cope with disaster. At the time of the disaster, the elderly of New Orleans were at greater risk than other groups, and more elderly died than any other group during the storm and in the first year after. Those who did survive beyond the first year report coping with the long term disaster aftermath better than the generation below them, experiencing heightened stresses, and feeling as if they are “aging” faster than they should. We offer insight on how we might define and characterize disasters, and illustrate that long-term catastrophes “age” in specific ways.

Rehabilitation of vulnerable groups in emergencies and disasters: A systematic review

“…[19] The main barriers for implementing rehabilitations programs reported in some of the studies were lack of detailed information of affected population, lack of trained personnel, structural and non-structural destruction caused by emergencies and disasters, shortage of trained rehabilitation professionals and medical workforce, lack of coordination with other responsible agencies and private volunteer organizations, reduced sensitivity of authorities after a few days from disaster, and lack of comprehensive management plans for disabilities persons after occurrence emergencies and disasters. [13,14,21,28] We did not find any programs related to spiritual rehabilitation for vulnerable groups after emergencies and disasters. Some of reviewed articles did not specify details regarding the duration of rehabilitation period, which was recognized as one of the studies weaknesses.…”

“…The studies were mainly conducted in Asian countries and United States, including India, [15,19,20,[25][26][27]31] China, [18,22,23,34,36,37] Pakistan, [16,28,30] Iran, [13,17,21] Indonesia, [29,32] Sri Lanka [35] and United States. [14,24,33] The results of the studies showed that 56% of the studies are about rehabilitation programs for women, 32% is for children, 24% is for elderly, and 16% is for disabled people. Each study included more than one [29] (2008) + --+ + -+ + + -6/10 Rathore et al [30] (2008) + --+ + --+ + + 6/10 Bazeghi et al [17] (2010) + ---+ --+ -+ 4/10 Ni et al [34] (2013) + + + ----+ + -5/10 Xiao et al [23] (2011) + -+ ---+ + --4/10 Li et al [22] (2012) + + -----+ + -4/10 Tan et al [25] ( [14] (2011) + + -----+ --3/10 Bazeghi et al [17] (2010) + ---+ --+ -+ 4/10 Mansoor et al [16] (2013) + + --+ -+ + + + 7/10 Larson et al [15] (2015) + + -+ + --+ -+ 6/10 Huang et al [18] [11,12] Abbreviations: yes (+), no (-); World J Emerg Med, Vol 8, No 4, 2017 vulnerable group.…”

“…[14,24,33] The results of the studies showed that 56% of the studies are about rehabilitation programs for women, 32% is for children, 24% is for elderly, and 16% is for disabled people. Each study included more than one [29] (2008) + --+ + -+ + + -6/10 Rathore et al [30] (2008) + --+ + --+ + + 6/10 Bazeghi et al [17] (2010) + ---+ --+ -+ 4/10 Ni et al [34] (2013) + + + ----+ + -5/10 Xiao et al [23] (2011) + -+ ---+ + --4/10 Li et al [22] (2012) + + -----+ + -4/10 Tan et al [25] ( [14] (2011) + + -----+ --3/10 Bazeghi et al [17] (2010) + ---+ --+ -+ 4/10 Mansoor et al [16] (2013) + + --+ -+ + + + 7/10 Larson et al [15] (2015) + + -+ + --+ -+ 6/10 Huang et al [18] [11,12] Abbreviations: yes (+), no (-); World J Emerg Med, Vol 8, No 4, 2017 vulnerable group. The mean of the period of physical, psychological, social, and economic rehabilitation programs was about 7.3 months varying from 1 week to 50 months, which were based on the type of the disaster and the countries where the disaster occurred.…”

“…Reciprocally the use of social sources of the damaged area may be increased. [14,15,18,21,25,28,34] Studies also emphasized the activity of vulnerable groups especially women in the economic rehabilitation activities in order to meet financial needs by starting small businesses. Supporting the social activity of women leads to ability to direct and organize many active and potent individuals.…”

Barriers to Long-Term Return after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Lessons from Hirono Town

“…This is consistent with other analyses in the literature that younger people are more likely to relocate after a disaster, while older people are more likely to return (Groen and Polivka, 2010;IDMC, 2015). Older populations were reflected as more resilient to post-disaster life challenges, better capable of accepting and adjusting to loss, and able to integrate their positions of respect to maintain community functionality (Adams et al, 2011;WHO, 2008). Younger generations burdened with multiple tasks of finding permanent employment and rebuilding-while facing concurrent bureaucratic and insurance challenges-and often charged with care-giving of children and parents, do not have the same impetus to return as older generations (Adams et al, 2011).…”