This week, a report by Lowlander Center facilitator Kristina Peterson and long-time Lowlander Center collaborator Julie Maldonado was published by the National Hazards Center. The report outlines the development of the Disaster Justice Network, a volunteer network advocating for just recovery from hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta. The network includes community leaders, faith leaders, advocates, activists, practitioners, researchers, and students who weave together environmental justice and disaster expertise in order to develop strategies that address inequitable access to disaster response and recovery efforts.
Abstract: On August 27, 2020, Hurricane Laura hit southwestern Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane—one of the most powerful storms to strike the Gulf Coast in decades. Subsequent storms also hit the region—Hurricane Delta on October 10 in the same area as Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Zeta on October 20, which cut across southeastern Louisiana. These storms were part of the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, with 30 named storms, including 13 hurricanes. Louisiana sat in the hurricane cone of uncertainty for eight of those storms. Hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta are the latest in a complex history of layered disasters and co-occurring injustices in the region. The communities most affected were already enduring high levels of pollution, COVID cases, poverty, substandard housing, failing infrastructure, extreme land loss, subsidence, climate change, and other weather impacts. Some communities on the brink of receivership were already at risk of bankruptcy (Hillburn, 20131), and then were hit by a severe winter storm after the hurricanes. While each of these alone can be dire, the compounded effects of co-occurring disasters amount to a sum greater than their individual parts. Decisions about hurricane disaster recovery—based on insufficient master plans and regional economic models—most often affect Latinx, Vietnamese, Indigenous, African American, Creole, and other communities of color. Our intent was to gather data that could support the informed decision-making of communities, families, and individuals about their future well-being. This ongoing process is aimed at fostering visions of a rejuvenated future based on human and environmental rights with the full participation local residents about their own well-being and that of their communities.
Full Report: https://hazards.colorado.edu/quick-response-report/justice-driven-disaster-recovery.