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Omar Pérez: Submarine Roots, Resisting (un)natural disasters

omarperez

I am interested in seeing how social ties and networks have been used to cope with (un)natural disasters. My research focus on places under disasters conditions such as Puerto Rico after hurricane Maria, in which social ties have made the difference between life and death. Furthermore, “natural” disaster has been used to approved austerity measures and unjust policies to impoverished communities like in New Orleans after Katrina. These policies were not new, as they are rooted in structures of power to preserve the status quo. Yet, people have resisted, “through a network of branches, cultures, and geographies” that has stimulated a reflective process of looking within for solutions rather than outside. As often this outside solutions are not only detached from community’s reality but can perpetuate social injustices and inequalities.

McKittrick, K., & Woods, C. A. (Eds.). (2007). Black geographies and the politics of place. South End Press.

Bullard, R. D., & Wright, B. (Eds.). (2009). Race, place, and environmental justice after Hurricane Katrina: Struggles to reclaim, rebuild, and revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Westview Press.

Annotated Bibliography (EIS)

This link complements the Essay Bibliography of the Project Environmental Justice framing implications in the EIS.

EPA Database on EISs

This (EIS) database provides information about EISs provided by federal agencies, and EPA's comments concerning the EIS process.

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Kristine.Gerges

''Nature is eventually going to take its course,'' said David Turner of the United States Forest Service. ''It is a cataclysmic event for humans. But this is a dry habitat. Fire has been sweeping through this land for centuries.'' The flames are part of a cleansing process with real benefits, a lesson the Indians learned long ago to their hunting advantage but forest officials came late to. Now, in part due to budget restrictions, they do not rush in to fight every blaze everywhere. Some isolated fires are left to burn themselves out, naturally.

 

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Kristine.Gerges

The nation’s busiest subway system sustained the worst damage in its 108 years of operation on October 29, 2012, as a result of Hurricane Sandy. Millions of people were left without service for at least one week after the storm, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rapidly worked to repair extensive flood damage (Photo credit: William Vantuono, Railway Age Magazine, 2012).