22 August 2014

Call for papers: "The Global Katrina Effect, 2005-2015: Hurricane Katrina’s Impact on Disaster Management Systems Worldwide"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Emergency Management.

August 2015 will mark the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, considered to be one of the defining historic events within the emergency management field in the United States.

Accordingly, this anniversary will prompt numerous reflective academic assessments of how this disaster, which struck the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coasts, changed the US emergency management landscape thereafter. Less known, however, is the impact that Hurricane Katrina had on disaster management systems in other countries – over a variety of subject areas ranging from emergency preparedness to coastal management to companion animals.

This special issue seeks to advance new ways of understanding the global lessons drawn from Hurricane Katrina through a cross-national comparative examination of case studies. Papers should adhere to the following structure:

1) Highlighting what happened during Hurricane Katrina regarding a specific subject area;

2) Reviewing changes in institutions, procedures or law in the United States as a result of lessons learned from Katrina in this sector;

3) Most significantly for the scope of this issue, identifying how other countries adapted their emergency management systems/policies post-Katrina and whether these innovative changes might be utilised by the US and other countries.

This issue will partially incorporate revised versions of selected papers presented at an international symposium hosted by the Center for Disaster Research & Education, Millersville University in October 2014. However, the editors are seeking additional studies to complete the issue. Therefore, any researcher interested in this subject area is invited to submit an original paper addressing the global lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina. Interdisciplinary studies are particularly encouraged.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Vulnerable populations
  • Business/legal/political continuity issues
  • Role of the military
  • National-State/Provincial-Local relations
  • Crisis communications
  • Risk reduction

Important Dates
Submission of manuscripts: 31 December, 2014

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