Citation

Curtis A, Li B, Marx BD, Mills JW, Pine J. Disasters 2011; 35(1): 19-35.

Affiliation

Department of Geography, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01190.x

PMID

20722694

Abstract

This paper analyses structural and personal exposure to Hurricane Katrina. Structural exposure is measured by flood height and building damage; personal exposure is measured by the locations of 911 calls made during the response. Using these variables, this paper characterises the geography of exposure and also demonstrates the utility of a robust analytical approach in understanding health-related challenges to disadvantaged populations during recovery. Analysis is conducted using a contemporary statistical approach, a multiple additive regression tree (MART), which displays considerable improvement over traditional regression analysis. By using MART, the percentage of improvement in R-squares over standard multiple linear regression ranges from about 62 to more than 100 per cent. The most revealing finding is the modelled verification that African Americans experienced disproportionate exposure in both structural and personal contexts. Given the impact of exposure to health outcomes, this finding has implications for understanding the long-term health challenges facing this population.

Language: en