African Americans’ Decisions Not to Evacuate New Orleans Before Hurricane Katrina: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Objectives. We examined the psychosocial and personal factors that influenced African Americans’ decision not to evacuate New Orleans, La, before Hurricane Katrina’s landfall. Methods. We conducted 6 focus groups with 53 African Americans from New Orleans who were evacuated to Columbia, SC, within 2 months of Hurricane Katrina. Results. The major themes identified related to participants’ decision to not evacuate were as follows: (1) perceived susceptability, including optimism about the outcome because of riding out past hurricanes at home and religious faith; (2) perceived severity of the hurricane because of inconsistent evacuation orders; (3) barriers because of financial constraints and neighborhood crime; and (4) perceived racism and inequities. Conclusions. Federal, state, and local government disaster preparedness plans should specify criteria for timely evacuation orders, needed resources, and their allocation (including a decentralized distribution system for cash or vouchers for gas and incidentals during evacuation) and culturally sensitive logistic planning for the evacuation of minority, low-income, and underserved communities. Perceptions of racism and inequities warrant further investigation.