From: Wesley Shrum <shrum@xxxxxxx>
Date: September 12, 2005 7:48:01 AM EDT
To: 'Jeremy Hunsinger' <jhuns@xxxxxx>
Subject: Public Shelters After Katrina
On Friday, Sept 9, a team of ten people from the Department of
Sociology at
LSU videotaped thirty qualitative interviews with displaced persons
living
in a Baton Rouge public shelter. (The shelter was the first and
largest
collective facility in the city.) The individuals were interviewed
from
11am to 4pm. Residents are permitted to leave the space from 7am
to 7pm.
Again, we present our preliminary observations, before the tapes
have been
systematically examined. Our best estimate at the present time is
that
fewer than 10% and probably closer to 5% of displaced persons are
living in
shelters. We do recognize that our last couple of points go beyond
our
data, but seem critical for future evacuation planning.
--The shelter, though large, is well organized, peaceful, secure--and
relatively empty during daylight hours. It is well stocked with food,
blankets, medical supplies, and other basic needs items. Families
stay
together in "residences" and "communities" marked by symbolic
indicators.
Residents and staff have settled into a routine that is disrupted
primarily
by the media. Since it was opened, the 5000 residents have been
interviewed
by approximately 1000 members of the media, (est. by press
office). (Note:
we conducted interviews within a section of the facility that was
relatively
unavailable to the media.)
--Shelter residents are predominantly poor and African American.
They are
almost exclusively from New Orleans, and are predominantly late
evacuees.
(This could be due to the time of day the interviews were conducted.)
Transportation out of New Orleans remains a problem of unknown
significance,
since many of these individuals, while poor, view their lack of
evacuation
as a choice (part of a hurricane culture).
--Shelter residents were appreciative of the aid provided. We
considered
describing their general mood as "satisfied" with the assistance, but
"resignation" is more accurate. It is impossible to overemphasize
that no
one wanted to be there and many had lost most or all of their
possessions.
--The most important reason these individuals now reside in this
public
facility is that they did not use remote family & friendship
networks for
evacuation support. We have not yet been able to determine whether
this was
because they did not possess such networks or did not activate ties
that
did, in fact, exist but were unused owing to issues involving
reciprocation
and information search. Another issue that will be important to
resolve is
whether the lack of a place to stay and transportation encouraged
risk-taking (staying behind) or whether the decision to stay was
primary,
and it was simply their lack of networks that resulted in shelter
residence. It did seem to us that improved ability to send and
receive
personal information would have reduced the likelihood of shelter
residence.
--The data base now being created for public facilities should include
information on network ties to facilitate the transition from
collective to
private residences.
Summarized by W. Shrum, 9 September 2005
-----Original Message-----
From: Wesley Shrum [mailto:shrum@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 9:50 AM
To: 'Wesley Shrum'
Subject: One Week After Katrina
On Sept 5, one week after Katrina, a team of ten people conducted
qualitative interviews in the parking lot with approximately 50
displaced
persons at a central Baton Rouge location. Afterwards, we met for
a couple
of hours, to abstract a consensus view of what we had learned. It is
important to keep in mind that we spoke with individuals with some
mobility
(own car, other’s car, bus) that had been displaced by Hurricane
Katrina and
we have not yet interviewed those living in collective shelters.
--The vast majority are from the New Orleans metropolitan area
(including
Kenner, Metairie, Chalmette, but not the New Orleans North Shore or
Plaquemines). The vast majority of displaced persons are staying
in private
homes.
--The further one goes away from hurricane areas, the more, the
better, and
the quicker is the assistance (people came back to Baton Rouge
because they
want to be closer to home, even in spite of reduced assistance).
--Crime and fear of crime was universally unobserved or
insignificant, both
for early and late evacuees.
--Blacks are more committed to returning home to New Orleans than
whites,
who express more reservations about returning (note, this does not
take into
account social class).
--Displaced people have received assistance from (in order of
importance),
family, friends, and strangers. Churches have helped. Public
(government)
assistance was not just negligible—no member of the team recalled any
instance of government assistance reported by this group of
individuals (in
the rare cases where help was requested, it was not provided).
--Most people consider themselves to be very lucky, doing well, or
doing
reasonably well given the circumstances. They are not requesting
assistance
(beyond that they are receiving, and some of the most fortunate
have their
own means). But the minority of persons who are not doing well
DESPERATELY
NEED HELP.
--The main concerns are financial, for a place to stay, and
education for
their children.
Put simply, depending on how long before they move back (if they
do), people
are worried that they will wear out their residential welcome.
Summarized by W. Shrum, 5 September 2005