UF anthropologist sees hurricane changing New Orleans’ nature

August 30, 2005

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — New Orleans’ unique personality – and those of its residents — may never be the same in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Anthony Oliver-Smith, who has researched how communities re-emerge from destruction for more than 30 years, expects displacement will fragment neighborhoods and families, especially in poorer neighborhoods. He said the city and its residents will certainly recover, but it’s going to be a hard struggle.

“When neighborhoods that are tightly woven together get impacted like this, and houses get torn up and people are displaced, that breaks up some of those cooperative networks; they lose access to services they can afford such as child care,” he said. He hope authorities will consider those needs when they help people rebuild.

Oliver-Smith said he expects initial estimates of deaths and damage to rise considerably because the city’s location below sea level.

“I think they’ll find greater mortality. What we do know is that initial estimates tend to rise, especially when a disaster like this makes areas inaccessible,” he said. “We’re going to see a very large displaced homeless population.”

Oliver-Smith can be reached at (352) 377-8359 or (352) 392-2253, ext. 251, aros@ufl.edu.

In addition to Oliver-Smith, the following University of Florida sources are available to speak to the news media about a variety of storm- and hurricane-related topics.

Impact of barges hitting bridges: Gary Consolazio, an assistant professor of civil engineering, has studied the impact of barges hitting bridges. He heads a project for the State of Florida on how to reduce the cost of bridge construction while making them safer.
(352) 392-9537, ext. 1510, or grc@ufl.edu.

Hurricanes’ impact on beaches: Bob Dean, a retired UF graduate research professor emeritus in civil and coastal engineering, is one of the nation’s leading experts on beach erosion and has studied the effects of several hurricanes on Florida’s beaches.
(352) 392-9537, ext. 1430, or dean@coastal.ufl.edu.

Hurricane-proofing homes: Bob Stroh is a research professor in the Rinker School of Building Construction, director of the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing, and associate dean for research in the College of Design, Construction and Planning. He specializes in techniques and materials that minimize hurricane damage in new and existing homes.
(352) 392-4836, ext. 288, or stroh@ufl.edu.

Wind speed, force and impact on buildings: Kurt Gurley, an assistant professor of civil engineering, can provide information on ground-level hurricane wind speeds and wind forces on residential structures.
(352) 392-9537, ext. 1508, or kgurl@ce.ufl.edu.

Demographic effects on hurricanes: Stan Smith and Chris McCarty of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research can discuss how hurricanes prompt people to relocate, both temporarily and permanently. Smith, director of the bureau, and McCarty, director of survey programs, did a study to determine how the 2004 hurricanes affected community populations statewide – as well as related issues such as damage to homes. McCarty and Smith coauthored a 1996 paper that found that Hurricane Andrew forced 353,000 Dade County residents from their homes temporarily and that almost 40,000 people left the county permanently as a result of the storm.
McCarty: (352) 392-2908, ext. 101, or ufchris@ufl.edu;
Smith: (352) 392-0171, ext. 210, or sksmith@ufl.edu.

Wind damage to structures and utilities: Ron Cook, professor of civil engineering, can discuss wind damage to buildings, the state’s hurricane-related building codes and how hurricanes affect utilities.
(352) 392-9537, ext. 1507, or rcook@ce.ufl.edu.

Utility outages and power distribution: Paul Sotkiewicz, director of energy studies at UF’s Public Utility Research Center, has expertise in energy economics and electric utilities, and can answer questions about power distribution, regulation, restoration and underground utility lines.
(352) 392-7842, or paul.sotkiewicz@cba.ufl.edu.

Psychological impacts of hurricanes: Brenda Wiens, a research assistant professor and psychologist in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and the National Rural Behavioral Health Center, can speak about the mental health effects of hurricanes.
(352) 273-5125, or bwiens@phhp.ufl.edu.

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