The authors talks about Katrina and the failure in leadership which led to a poor response and worse results which impacted first responders. The emergency response did not have the resources or personnel to tackle the problem. The article also looks at the long-term view of emergency response and the failures in current protocol or the lack there of.
The arguments are supported by data from the National Institute of Health and beyond as well as interviews with people on the ground.
1) ‘New Orleans offers an example of the perpetuation of a “state of emergency” that was initiated by Katrina but has been sustained by ongoing politicoeconomic machinery—a machinery that ultimately needs to “have a disaster” to justify its existence.’
2) “…the idea that they had to stay in a state of heightened response to the pending ‘crisis’- a state they had to already been in for over two years- produced huge anxiety and exhaustion.”
3) ‘This chain of events prompted residents to say things like: We all asked, “Who was meaner: Katrina, Rita or FEMA? And everybody’s pointing at FEMA.” ‘
1) I looked into how other countries that faced significant disaster dealt with their displaced populations. (http://fukushimaontheglobe.com/the-earthquake-and-the-nuclear-accident/situation-of-the-evacuees)
2) Next, I researched the American Psychological Association’s views on mental health and disasters. (http://www.apa.org/topics/disasters/)
3) Lastly, I looked into “price gouging” during and after natural disasters and both sides of the argument. Pros: (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/peter-mccaffrey/5-reasons-price-gouging-is-okay_b_3487621.html) and cons: (https://www.uvm.edu/~vlrs/doc/pricegou.html)
1) Personal trauma: this includes not only the direct, immediate effects of the disaster but also the long-term mental and physical effects from the disaster.
2) Way of life disrupted “disaster capitalism”: the next part of the syndrome includes business taking advantage of the situation for profits; the main case being private companies profiting off of federal funding to rebuild the homes and lives of the citizens who were affected.
3) Displacement: the well-off are able to relocated after the disaster has ended but for those less fortunate, there permanent effects are worse, and there is little they can do to relocated to their homes and communities after the superficial aspect of the disaster have ended.
The extensive citation show the work that went into the research to put the article together. The article cites other research articles as well as government publications and interviews.
The main argument of the article is “Chronic disaster syndrome” stems from three problems: first the long-term effects of personal trauma, second the disruption of the smooth functioning of their way of life, and third the permanent displacement of depressed populations from the social landscape.
CP111 did an article about this research article.
Southern Spaces did an article about the topic and listed this article as a resource.
Even Quizlet has a page citing and for this article.
Dr. Vincanne Adams is the “Former Director (2000-2012) and Vice-Chair, Medical Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine (joint program with UC Berkeley Anthropology). Areas of research and publication include: Global Health, Asian Medical Systems, Social Theory, Critical Medical Anthropology, Sexuality and Gender, Safe Motherhood, Disaster Recovery, Tibet, Nepal, China and the US.”
Taslim van Hattum is a Director at the Maternal & Child Health Portfolio at The Louisiana Public Health Insitute, part of the Greater New Orleans Area Hospital & Health Care, and studied at the Louisiana Public Health Institute as well as the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
Dr. Diana Bianchi is the director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with experience in prenatal geneticist, pediatrics, and obstetrics.