Collective resources in the repopulation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

Most disaster researchers believe that collective resources can help recovery, but there has been little quantitative research because data are scarce. We investigate the contribution of civic engagement and social networks to repopulation in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (2005), also taking into account storm damage and individual resources like income, race, female-headed households, and age. We conducted a large (N=5729) representative survey in Greater New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina that contains extensive measures of collective resources. We aggregated these data to the census tract level and merged them with government data on repopulation and demographic factors. Our analyses show that civic engagement encouraged repopulation, though its effects faded over time. Social networks had an effect at the zero order, but were insignificant when damage was controlled. Damage had the largest, negative, effect on repopulation. Individual resources affected repopulation at the zero order, but when damage was controlled, only income and age had an effect.