10/13/2010 Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy

Policy Studies Commons

Risk, Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy

Manuscript Title

Chronic Disease as an Evacuation Impediment: Using a Geographic Information

System and 911 Call Data after Katrina to Determine Neighborhood Scale Health
Vulnerability

Authors

Andrew Curtis, Universty of Southern California 1

Abstract

This paper will add to the health and disasters literature by considering the spatial patterns of a factor
not commonly associated with evacuation decisions, the existing chronic health burden of the
population. 911 calls for the period from August 29 to September 8, 2005, were mapped using a
Geographic Information System for 15 neighborhoods of New Orleans. For each neighborhood the total
number of calls was reduced to unique residences, and any mention of a health-related problem was
recorded. By using single locations and then reinterpreting medical attributes as a percentage of all
such locations, or as a percentage of those mentioning medical information, an approach is presented
to spatially standardize knowledge from these data. The results show that a sizable portion of those who
did not evacuate from Katrina before landfall were suffering from some ailment, especially chronic
diseases commonly associated with the urban poor. Of particular note is the diabetes rate, with six
different neighborhoods having approximately 10% of their 911 calls mentioning the disease. The paper
concludes with suggestions as to how this research should progress, with fine spatial scale geographic
analysis of health data becoming more common in understanding evacuation impediments and the post-
disaster landscape in general.

Recommended Citation

Curtis, Andrew (2010) "Chronic Disease as an Evacuation Impediment: Using a Geographic Information
System and 911 Call Data after Katrina to Determine Neighborhood Scale Health Vulnerability," Risk,
Hazards & Crisis in Public Policy: Vol. 1: Iss. 3, Article 5.
DOI: 10.2202/1944-4079.1027
Available at: http://www.psocommons.org/rhcpp/vol1/iss3/art5

Links
1. http://www.psocommons.org/cgi/query.cgi?
field_1=lname&value_1=Curtis&field_2=fname&value_2=Andrew&advanced=1
2. http://www.psocommons.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=rhcpp
3. http://www.psocommons.org/cgi/submit.cgi?

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