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Hurricane Katrina and the Paradoxes of Government Disaster Policy

Bringing About Wise Governmental Decisions for Hazardous Areas

Bibliographic Data

ID9773136
AuthorsRaymond J Burby (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume604
Issue1
Pages171-191
Publication date2006-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0002716205284676
OpenAlexW2147268476
LanguageEN
Citations received151
References cited13

The unprecedented losses from Hurricane Katrina can be explained by two paradoxes. The safe development paradox is that in trying to make hazardous areas safer, the federal government in fact substantially increased the potential for catastrophic property damages and economic loss. The local government paradox is that while their citizens bear the brunt of human suffering and financial loss in disasters, local officials pay insufficient attention to policies to limit vulnerability. The author demonstrates in this article that in spite of the two paradoxes, disaster losses can be blunted if local governments prepare comprehensive plans that pay attention to hazard mitigation. The federal government can take steps to increase local government commitment to planning and hazard mitigation by making relatively small adjustments to the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and the Flood Insurance Act. To be more certain of reducing disaster losses, however, the author suggests that we need a major reorientation of the National Flood Insurance Program from insuring individuals to insuring communities

Business · Casualty insurance · Computer security · Damages · Economic growth · Economics · Emergency management · Environmental planning · Flood mitigation · Flood myth · Geography · Government (linguistics · Harm · Hazard · Hazardous waste · Hurricane katrina · Insurance policy · Local government · Natural disaster · Political science · Property insurance · SAFER · Settlement (finance · Vulnerability (computing · Disaster Management and Resilience · Engineering · Finance · Flood Risk Assessment and Management · Insurance and Financial Risk Management · Law · Public Administration

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Unique citing works151
Citations per year7,55
Citation span2006 - 2026 (21)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 146
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