HURRICANE KATRINA

A new book on the management of the biggest disaster in recent U.S. history will be published:


Managing Hurricane Katrina: Lessons from a Mega-disaster

Arjen Boin, Christer Brown and James Richardson

Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge)

Here you will find our library of media links as discussed in the book:

Chapter 1. Hurricane Katrina Revisited: Reflecting on Success and Failures.

Chapter 2. Why didn’t they see it coming?

Chapter 3. Understanding the Unimaginable: Why Collective Sense-making Failed.

Chapter 4. Who’s in charge here? Coördinating a multi-level response.

Chapter 5. Meaning-making in Crisis: The determinal effects of missing narratives and escalating blame games.

Conclusion. Re-assessing the Katrina response: Lessons of a mega-disaster.

Timelines.

Map produced by Mary Lee Eggart

Editorial reviews - Managing Hurricane Katrina: Lessons from a Megacrisis

“Millions of words have been written about Hurricane Katrina. But few studies are as balanced, sober, and well-researched as this study. Managing Hurricane Katrina draws upon the deep expertise of its authors and an intensive research effort to not simply recap all the things that went wrong. Rather, this book helps us to understand what went wrong and what went right. This approach will be of considerable interest to disaster scholars and emergency managers who seek to learn from the hard lessons taught by Hurricane Katrina to better prepare for and respond to the next catastrophe.” ―Thomas Birkland, Professor of Public Policy, North Carolina State University

“Boin, Brown, and Richardson’s impressive study of the Hurricane Katrina ‘megacrisis’ serves up a compelling blend of cutting-edge crisis management concepts, dramatic and meticulously researched empirics, and lessons of great practical value to leaders, emergency managers, journalists, and others who participate in and observe crisis management. Their work has done for the burgeoning Katrina literature what Graham Allison’s seminal Essence of Decision did for the discourse on the Cuban Missile Crisis.”―Eric Stern, professor, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity, University at Albany