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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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jaostrander

Andrew Lakoff works in the Department of Sociology at the University of Southern California Los Angeles. He studies social theory and is a medical anthropologist. While he is not directly situated within the emergency response system, his knowledge from studying past events and how the system works may provide insight into better emergency response techniques.

Stephan Collier is a Doctor of Philosophy and works at The New School. While he is also not situated within the emergency response system, his outside views and understandings could help to improve techniques used by providers.

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jaostrander

"The sufferers and their administrators were also supported by the nonsuffering citizens, who paid a 12 percent tax on their salaries to support compensations"

"When I returned in 2000 to Kyiv to conduct further research, I discovered that cur- rent democratic politicians, many of whom drafted the original compensation laws as sovereignty-minded nationalists, now saw the Cherobyl compensation system as a dire mistake that has "accidentally" reproduced a socialist-like population."

"She saw the illness of this group as a "struggle for power" and material resources related to the disaster."