Anecdotal accounts and media stories about poor birth outcomes following a
major disaster have as yet not been verified in an academic context, especially
for the United States. If this relationship is true, the implications are that a
population already disproportionately affected by a disaster might continue
to suffer for literally years to come. The potential for this disproportionate
disaster legacy is no better illustrated than in the landscapes of post
Hurricane Katrina and Rita in Louisiana. In order to gain insight into whether
such a problem may exist for Louisiana, and by extension any other postdisaster
environment, this book goes back to analyze the pregnancy surfaces
for areas impacted by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. This book will show that in
the Louisiana landscape affected by Hurricane Andrew, proportions of
preterm deliveries did rise, and for different time periods after landfall. Why -
was it because of post-disaster stress? What are the implications of these
findings for recovery operations after Hurricane Katrina? This book will frame
results in a more general overview of post-disaster health and general birth
risks. The intended audience are students / researchers in public health,
disaster science, social vulnerability and medical geography.