The Impact of Hurricane Katrina
By Sanjoli Gupta
Climate migration disproportionately impacts minority and low income groups inside the United States. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 and the racial disparities in the impacts are clear. 73 percent of those displaced by the hurricane were African American and a third of those were already living in poverty (Phillip 2021). Climate-related disasters exacerbate and uncover existing inequalities, and the resulting outward migration creates tensions and division. According to Belkhir and Charlemaine’s paper ‘Race, Gender and Class lessons from Hurricane Katrina,’ “Hurricanes may not single out victims by their race, or gender or class but neither do such disasters occur in historical, political, social, or economic vacuums…They expose the underlying power structures, the injustices, the patterns of corruption and the unacknowledged inequalities” (Belkhir and Charlemaine 2007).
Many of those displaced by the hurricane fled to Texas and met hospitality at first. However, when there was an increase in murders in Houston in 2006, the blame was quickly placed on the new migrants and an “us” versus “them” ideology took root despite the fact that issues of violent crime, poor public transport and unhealthy air were prevalent problems before the arrival of the climate migrants (Swartz 2006). With increasing displacement due to climate change, these tensions will only continue to grow as community members find it difficult to welcome migrants when resources are already stretched thin. In a country with preexisting racism and inequality built into our governing and healthcare systems, increasing prejudice because of climate migration can create more extreme disparities.
Although disasters like Katrina can force people out of cities, many people also move from rural to urban areas in search of new economic opportunities when climate change affects their livelihoods. The urban population is expected to grow to twice its current size in part due to the search for economic and social stability after climate change impacts (Blaine et al 2022). The only issue is that cities themselves have a myriad of climate issues and instabilities, including the ‘heat island effect’ where cities are warmer than surrounding areas, sometimes by many degrees, because of a lack of greenery and the dark surfaces created by concrete. Dr. Tegan Blane, an oceanography and climate specialist, explains that “widening economic inequality, strained urban service delivery, and heightened political mobilization, especially among marginalized populations” occurs in rapidly exploding urban populations.
As the migrants and original citizens find themselves competing for basic necessities such as water, energy, education, or public transportation, hostility increases, leading to political dissatisfaction and even violence (Blaine et al 2022). This pressure increases sectional inequality within cities, as certain areas develop to a greater extent than others, and gentrification pushes out those living in low-income housing. The increased population also strains already weak and crumbling infrastructure, including cracked bridges, old school buildings and outdated water supply systems (Rojas 2021).
Works Cited:
Phillip, Abby. “White People in New Orleans Say They’Re Better off after Katrina. Black People Don’t.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Oct. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/08/24/white-people-in-new-orleans-say-theyre-better-off-after-katrina-black-people-dont/.
Belkhir, Jean Ait, and Christiane Charlemaine. “Race, Gender and Class Lessons from Hurricane Katrina.” Race, Gender & Class, vol. 14, no. 1/2, 2007, pp. 120–52. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41675200. Accessed 7 Dec. 2022.
Swartz, Mimi. “The Year of Living Dangerously.” Texas Monthly, 1 Oct. 2006, www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-year-of-living-dangerously/.
Blaine, Tegan, et al. “Climate Change, Migration and the Risk of Conflict in Growing Urban Centers.” United States Institute of Peace, 27 June 2022, www.usip.org/publications/2022/06/climate-change-migration-and-risk-conflict-growing-urban-centers#:~:text=From%202015%20to%202050%2C%20the,of%20economic%20and%20social%20stability
Rojas, Rick. “Seven Infrastructure Problems in Urgent Need of Fixing.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/infrastructure-projects-joe-biden.html.
