"Thirteen prominent black intellectuals explore the meaning of Katrina and address some of the difficult and disturbing questions raised in its wake. After the Storm helps us understand what happened in the Gulf region, what should happen in the recovery and redevelopment effort, and what these events tell us about inequality in contemporary America."--BOOK JACKET.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans leaving death and destruction across the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Gulf Coast counties. The lethargic and inept emergency response that followed exposed institutional flaws, poor planning, and false assumptions that are built into the emergency response and homeland security plans and programs. Questions linger: What went wrong? Can it happen again? Is our government equipped to plan for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from natural and manmade disasters? Can the public trust government response to be fair? Does race matter? Racial disparities exist in disaster response, cleanup, rebuilding, reconstruction, and recovery. Race plays out in natural disaster survivors' ability to rebuild, replace infrastructure, obtain loans, and locate temporary and permanent housing. Generally, low-income and people of color disaster victims spend more time in temporary housing, shelters, trailers, mobile homes, and hotels - and are more vulnerable to permanent displacement. Some 'temporary' homes have not proved to be that temporary. In exploring the geography of vulnerability, this book asks why some communities get left behind economically, spatially, and physically before and after disasters strike.

Two years after Hurricane Maria hit, Puerto Ricans are still reeling from its effects and aftereffects. Aftershocks collects poems, essays and photos from survivors of Hurricane Maria detailing their determination to persevere. The concept of "aftershocks" is used in the context of earthquakes to describe the jolts felt after the initial quake, but no disaster is a singular event. Aftershocks of Disaster examines the lasting effects of hurricane Maria, not just the effects of the wind or the rain, but delving into what followed: state failure, social abandonment, capitalization on human misery, and the collective trauma produced by the botched response.

Disasters—natural ones, such as hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes, and unnatural ones such as terrorist attacks—are part of the American experience in the twenty-first century. The challenges of preparing for these events, withstanding their impact, and rebuilding communities afterward require strategic responses from different levels of government in partnership with the private sector and in accordance with the public will. Disasters have a disproportionate effect on urban places. Dense by definition, cities and their environs suffer great damage to their complex, interdependent social, environmental, and economic systems. Social and medical services collapse. Long-standing problems in educational access and quality become especially acute. Local economies cease to function. Cultural resources disappear. The plight of New Orleans and several smaller Gulf Coast cities exemplifies this phenomenon. This volume examines the rebuilding of cities and their environs after a disaster and focuses on four major issues: making cities less vulnerable to disaster, reestablishing economic viability, responding to the permanent needs of the displaced, and recreating a sense of place. Success in these areas requires that priorities be set cooperatively, and this goal poses significant challenges for rebuilding efforts in a democratic, market-based society. Who sets priorities and how? Can participatory decision-making be organized under conditions requiring focused, strategic choices? How do issues of race and class intersect with these priorities? Should the purpose of rebuilding be restoration or reformation? Contributors address these and other questions related to environmental conditions, economic imperatives, social welfare concerns, and issues of planning and design in light of the lessons to be drawn from Hurricane Katrina.

Launching a propulsive middle grade nonfiction series, a young man shares how he combated Puerto Rico’s public health emergency after Hurricane Maria. Suffering heavy damage in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017, Puerto Rican communities lacked access to clean water and electricity. Salvador Gómez-Colón couldn’t ignore the basic needs of his homeland, and knew that nongovernmental organizations and larger foreign philanthropies could only do so much. With unstoppable energy and a deep knowledge of local culture, Salvador founded Light and Hope for Puerto Rico and raised more than $100,000 to purchase and distribute solar-powered lamps and hand-powered washing machines to households in need. With a voice that is both accessible and engaging, Salvador recalls living through the catastrophic storm and grappling with the destruction it left behind. Hurricane brings forward a captivating first-person account of strength, resilience, and determination, and heralds the start of a new series of compelling narrative nonfiction by young people, for young people.

Nine-year old Gertie and her family have to leave their home quickly when Hurricane Katrina is about to flood New Orleans. Gertie must leave behind her friends, her house, her "stuff" and life as she knew it before the storm. How will she deal with going to a new school, making new friends, and celebrating the Jewish holidays in a place she has never lived before? What is her plan to deal with what's happened and at the same time make the world a better place?

Chazz Cohen lives with his grandmom in the Garden District of New Orleans. In his family, money is no problem. But money won't buy Chazz what he wants--a "real" home with his mom. Across town in the Ninth Ward, Lyric Talbert wishes her mom didn't expect so much from her, especially when her little brother gets sick. It seemed like the storm would blow over as so many had. But Katrina burst the levees, and the world turned to chaos for Chazz and Lyric and their families. They quickly learn that, though their worlds were different before the storm, it was their courage and compassion that would help them make it through. Through the alternating stories of Chazz and Lyric, acclaimed children's author Gail Langer Karwoski chronicles the disaster that forever changed New Orleans and its people.

The English-language debut of one of the most thrilling and accomplished young Mexican writers Winner of the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute's Tanslation Prize Longlisted for the National Book Award Shortlisted for the Booker Prize Winner of the Internationaler Literaturpreis New York Public Library Best Books of 2020 Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2020 The Witch is dead. And the discovery of her corpse has the whole village investigating the murder. As the novel unfolds in a dazzling linguistic torrent, with each unreliable narrator lingering on new details, new acts of depravity or brutality, Melchor extracts some tiny shred of humanity from these characters—inners whom most people would write off as irredeemable—forming a lasting portrait of a damned Mexican village. Like Roberto Bolano’s 2666 or Faulkner’s novels, Hurricane Season takes place in a world saturated with mythology and violence—real violence, the kind that seeps into the soil, poisoning everything around: it’s a world that becomes more and more terrifying the deeper you explore it.

On October 10, 2018, a category 5 hurricane hit the panhandle of Florida. Left in its wake are thousands of damaged buildings. Some will be rebuilt or repaired, and some will be torn down; however, many are left exactly as they were over a year ago and may possibly remain that way forever. These are not your usual abandoned buildings. They are the remains of people's homes, businesses, boats, and livelihoods. This book is a respectful representation of the destruction that Hurricane Michael left and the bittersweet beauty of the abandoned buildings still standing. In Abandoned After the Storm: Hurricane Michael, photographer Kim Hill allows a glimpse into the remains of what was left in hopes of drawing attention to the struggle that the people of the panhandle are still dealing with.

Eli and Maxine fight to escape both the hurricane sweeping Shackles Island and the phantoms haunting them in this richly written survival story. TWO PEOPLE WITH LOSSESEli and Max both have good reasons to go to the lighthouse on Shackles Island. For Max, it's an old vacation spot, the rare location where she has only good memories -- so it's the right place to scatter her dad's ashes. For Eli, it's the highest point near his Louisiana home, with the clearest view of the rocks where his sister died -- so it's the right place to end his own life as well.A STORM WITHOUT LIMITSBut neither of them expected the other, nor the storm. Because Hurricane Celeste is roaring toward Shackles Island, and its power will break bridges, slash electric lines, and stir up deadly wildlife -- some of it human. When the ruthless Odenkirk family steals Max's Jeep with her most precious possession inside, she and Eli begin a desperate quest to get it back and get off the island ... until they realize they must go into the hurricane.