MARS - George Mason University

Is there any measure to gauge the emotional impact of such an event? 12 We know
that divorce, alcoholism, and domestic violence became part of the ongoing destructive
consequences 13
(Cohan and Cole)(Vlahov et al.)(Jenkins and B. Phillips)(Richardson and
Byers 279)(Clemens et al.). Suicide and depression were a shocking after effect, with
one person jumping off an upper tier during the five dark days of Superdome
confinement (Horne 275-76)(Brinkley 192)(M. Gibbs and Montagnino 98). And, with
each passing year, the New Orleans suicide rate has increased significantly, currently
approaching twice the national average (Barrow 1).
14
Katrina is called one of America’s most anticipated disasters. On so many
levels and at so many junctures, human suffering could have been foreseen, prevented,
and ameliorated. Max Mayfield, the Director of the National Hurricane Center, 15
did
something he had never done before in his 33 years of watching hurricane weather
patterns (Cable News Network and Andrews McMeel Publishing 10). He personally
called the governor and mayor on Saturday before the Monday hurricane to warn them of
its likely severity (Brinkley 57-58, 79-80, 97-98). By Sunday morning Katrina was a
12 Most economic disaster impact studies do not account for intangibles such as loss of historic monuments,
memorabilia, and cultural assets and the hidden cost of trauma (Clower 244). Some economists value the
loss of human life at 2 million dollars per person (Clower 237).
13
New Orleanians coined the phrase, “Katrina Syndrome,” as a fear of spending money, an inability to
make decisions, confusion, and a debilitating grieving for loss of place (Allain 38, 44).
14
It should be stated that while an exercise called “Hurricane Pam” by local, state, and federal disaster
employees had taken place in New Orleans the year before to prepare for a category three storm, the
exercise showed the levees as being overtopped, not breached (FEMA Managers in the Field for the First
20 Days vii).
15
The National Hurricane Center, near Miami, is a unit of the National Weather Service. Both of which are
part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
6