BACKGROUND: Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that impoverished communities are less likely to evacuate and are more affected by disasters. While poverty, lack of transportation to or shelter in safe areas, and experiences riding out hurricanes safely were certainly factors in delaying evacuation, social networks (the web of relationships that surround individuals) may also have played a role. We interviewed evacuees from Hurricane Katrina to give voice to those issues influencing evacuation in impoverished, minority communities.
METHODS: From September 9 (11 days post-hurricane) to September 12, 2005 we performed qualitative interviews with 58 adult evacuees randomly sampled from Houston´s three major evacuation centers. Interviews focused on factors influencing evacuation behavior prior to the hurricane´s landfall. We analyzed the transcribed interviews using grounded theory methodology. Three investigators independently coded and resolved disagreements by consensus.
RESULTS: Participants were mainly African American, low income, and from New Orleans Parish. We identified 1194 statements coded into the following domains: 1) Instrumental: the resources and practicalities related to evacuation; 2) Cognitive/Affective: the receipt, understanding, and processing of evacuation messages; 3) Social/Cultural: the influence of social networks and attitudes about hurricanes. Participants affirmed the importance of the widely reported instrumental and cognitive reasons for non-evacuation, including income, transportation, jobs/property, health, and risk perceptions. However, these factors were mediated by the influence of social networks (a Social/Cultural sub-domain) that facilitated or hindered evacuation decisions. For some the extended family was a resource: “My sister, she had called me. So I went to pick her and her children up, and grand children, and we just started driving .” For others, church members encouraged evacuation: “So our clinical manager called back. She says, `Stella, the Lord said get out of that house.´ I said, `We're on our way out now if you would hang up.´” Participants described networks outside of New Orleans that provided “an open invitation” as facilitating evacuation or noted the absence of networks outside of New Orleans as hindering evacuation: “Really truly, we had cars, but we didn't know anybody to go to.” Obligations to the elderly influenced evacuations: “ We had to come back home. My mother-in-law had called for us to come back . You know when they get a certain age they get confused.” Participants who sheltered extended family members in their homes were subsequently unable to evacuate: “I could have made it on my own, but it was just my aunt and my uncle. Every few steps he made she forgot his walker every few steps he made he was falling down.”
CONCLUSIONS: Improving disaster plans for impoverished, minority communities requires more than remedying access to shelter and transportation. The influence of social networks demands better community-based disaster programs. Programs should address social units (households, extended families, neighborhoods) and risk communications must account for social networks if they are going to sway those whose norms, risk perceptions, and decision-making are highly influenced by their social networks. Public health and disaster planners should leverage these networks by teaming with indigenous helpers, civic, and community organizations when devising their communications and plans.