The Dialogue: Remembering Katrina

Remembering Katrina: Resilience and Recovery in the Gulf Coast

Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States. More than 1,800 people lost their lives. Over 1 million people were displaced with nearly 600,000 evacuated. Millions more survivors were left to find their way forward in a changed world.

As related in a recent blog post, SAMHSA is marking the anniversary by providing resources that can help survivors and the nation cope with feelings that disaster anniversaries may stir up.

One highlighted resource is a special edition of The Dialogue from SAMHSA's Disaster Technical Assistance Center. The special double issue includes an infographic and seven articles that are written in memory of all those who lost their lives, and in honor of all those who survived. The issue celebrates those who worked tirelessly to support survivors on their road to recovery—a new normal.

Download the Full Issue [PDF — 5 MB]

---

Issue Highlights

Special Feature: Gulf Coast Disaster Behavioral Health Coordinators Look Back

The states that border the Gulf of Mexico were all affected by Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Rita shortly after. In this Q&A, state disaster behavioral health coordinators from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas share their insights from responding to Hurricane Katrina and talk about how disaster preparedness and response have changed in the ensuing 10 years.

Part of the Fabric of Recovering Communities: The Katrina Assistance Project

SAMHSA determined that as many as 500,000 people needed behavioral health assistance after Katrina's landfall and so moved swiftly to create the Katrina Assistance Project (KAP). KAP was funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through SAMHSA (at approximately $12 million) to support the mental health and substance use needs of people affected by Hurricane Katrina.

All Hands: SAMHSA's Response to Hurricane Katrina

When Katrina hit, SAMHSA—for the first time—activated an emergency response center for a disaster. SAMHSA staff, as well as clinicians from other agencies and from around the country, were deployed to provide support to survivors, help relieve clinicians who also needed to attend to their own recovery, and stand up treatment facilities.

Turning Rebuilding Into Reengineering: New Orleans School Systems After Katrina

As part of SAMHSA's massive recovery effort for Katrina, there was also a little-known but important area of support that involved helping the Louisiana Department of Education recover from the catastrophic hurricane-related damage to the public education system in southern Louisiana.

Hurricane Katrina: Recovery and Resilience Among Children

Since 2005, the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center have been providing school-based intervention and treatment services to children affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina's First Responders: An Interview With Danny Adams, Assistant Fire Chief, Ret./Disaster Behavioral Health First Responder Lead, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Mr. Adams relates experiences from his outreach work with Louisiana Spirit, a federally funded crisis counseling program in Louisiana, to coordinate and assist crisis counselors with reaching out to the first-responder community.

Native American Communities Affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Tribal leaders estimate that 5,000 to 6,000 Native Americans lost their homes and everything they owned due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This article describes experiences of tribal communities after these disasters.

---

Recommended Resources

• Disaster Anniversaries Webcast: This 35-minute webcast will help listeners understand common reactions individuals who have survived a disaster may experience as the anniversary approaches and how to use disaster anniversaries as opportunities to build resilience and enhance recovery among survivors and communities.
• Intermediate and Long-Term Behavioral Health Effects of Hurricane Katrina: This research bulletin includes a review of five journal articles about the intermediate and long-term behavioral health trends in survivors of Hurricane Katrina to seek an understanding of the lasting impact of large-scale disasters.
• Anniversaries and Trigger Events: This web page describes how anniversaries of disasters and other trigger events may renew symptoms of emotional distress in disaster survivors.