Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Digital history has grown into a critical aspect of history scholarship and practice. The literature surrounding digital history is colored by its discussions of the possibilities and problems of digital history, both as an archiving tool and a method of increasing interaction with public history. This literature is also defined by its lack of answers to these questions, and lack of examinations of these possibilities in cases studies. By examining how three different New Orleans historical institutions have embraced digital history for preservation and public history in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, this thesis will illustrate how questions of preservation, access, and the impact of digital history on research are being answered by these institutions. The New Orleans historical institutions evaluated in this paper have used digital history to bolster their preservation in the face of natural disaster, and to foster increased interactivity and importance with the New Orleans community.

This PhD dissertation examines the relationships between cultural heritage and the environment, focusing specifically on the devastation and rebuilding of New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Departing from conventional approaches to the natural world (such as documentation- and conservation-based approaches), this thesis adopts a developmental-systems based approach to cultural heritage in order to construct a new way of interpreting it, within the specific context of natural disaster. This new approach, termed 'heritage ecology', reinterprets cultural heritage in two ways: first, as a physical assemblage of sites, materials, traditions, beliefs, and practices that are constructed in significant ways by their natural environments; and second, as a metaphorical ecosystem which impacts back on the assessment and construction of that natural environment in turn. In order to construct this approach, the thesis poses three interrelated questions: how is cultural heritage transformed as a result of disaster, how do societies rebuild their heritage after disaster, and how does heritage contribute to the rebuilding process? Examining a rebuilding process in real-time provides a unique window on these processes; events and developments in New Orleans taken from the first four years of recovery (2005-2009) suggest that prior understandings of how societies rebuild themselves after disaster have neglected crucial aspects of cultural heritage that are integral to that process. The examination of data from the case study - data of diverse forms, such as historiography, the culinary arts, music, the built environment, and memorial sites and landscapes - reveals the limitations of traditional approaches to heritage and prompts a reassessment of a range of issues central to heritage research, issues such as materiality, authenticity, and commodification. This study moreover incorporates into heritage research concepts previously unconsidered, such as infrastructure and policy. In the coming century of global climate change and increased environmental hazards, this last theme will become increasingly central to heritage policy and research; the dissertation concludes accordingly, with a reflection on contingency and future disaster.

This thesis examines the problem of impact of catastrophic natural events on insurance and reinsurance markets, with special focus on 2005 hurricane Katrina. It aims to analyze and evaluate the consequences of large scale economic loss on global insurance market. First part of the thesis describes the event and its implications. Impact on oil and gas industry and others is discussed. Main section is focused on repercussions of this event for both local and global insurance markets. Influence on selected subjects and new trends observable after Katrina are considered. Changes to alternative risk transfer instruments after 2005 are investigated.

Disasters are an ever increasing phenomena in our society, resulting in many people being adversely affected. the social vulnerability paradigm explores the social, economic and political factors which contribute to certain populations being disproportionately affected by disasters. However, the paradigm has not yet begun to investigate the cultural or religious ideologies which may affect a population's behavior in disaster. This study is an exploratory investigation into whether religious ideologies may impact a person's decision to prepare, or not, in the event of a disaster. Specifically, it seeks to investigate whether a person who holds a belief that natural disasters are under God's control will prepare for the hazard? the study undertaken five years after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans show that religious ideology is closely linked with one's capacity to prepare for the hazard which is closely tied in with social structure. It may appear that a person's 'fatalistic' attitude is tied to economic inability to prepare for a hazard. This does not mean that they will not prepare but that preparation may include prayer as their initial attempt to mitigate.

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, numerous groups emerged to address recovery related needs in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes. The phenomenon of emergent groups is widely noted in the disaster literature, but there has been little empirical research focusing on these groups. And, the existing literature discusses emergent groups primarily in the context of response. This study sought to explore the factors related to formation of emergent recovery groups (ERGs) and allow ERGs to have an extended lifespan. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews with founders of twenty ERGs that formed to work in Orleans and St. Bernard Parishes. It was found that the factors related to group formation were the same factors that contributed to the continued existence of the ERG including post-event community situational context, unmet needs, a group driver/leader, ability to network, level of integration, and resources.

Responses to a web-based survey following Hurricane Katrina were evaluated. The 3,140 university student respondents were separated into impact groups based on evacuation experience: high-impact (student evacuated), moderate-impact (friend/family evacuated), and low-impact (neither student nor friends or family evacuated). Students’ responses to items evaluating service utilization, services desired, and psychological distress were examined by gender, race, and impact group. Female students rated services as more supportive, and reported a greater desire for services not provided by the university, compared to male students. Compared to Caucasian students, African American students viewed services as more supportive and desired services not already provided by the university. Students in the high-impact group scored higher than the other impact groups on measures assessing symptoms of psychological distress. Overall, the results may be used by universities and other organizations to implement future programs and policies for responding to natural disasters.

This study looks at the changes to NDVI value in the Weeks Bay Reserve following the impact by Hurricane Katrina. Four Landsat images from March 24, 2005 (Pre-Katrina), September 16, 2005/ April 26, 2006 (Post-Katrina) and August 7, 2002 (Control) were classified into different landcover types and run with the NDVI vegetation index. Those images were compared against each other and showed that the September image had a NDVI value drop of 49% and the April image had a 47% drop as compared to the previous March. The emergent vegetation surrounding the shoreline was most susceptible to changes in NDVI value and recovered the slowest of the tested landcover types. Swift tracks, bay areas, and rivers in the study area where tested and showed that the rivers are the most susceptible change in NDVI value and recovered the slowest.

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