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New Orleans citizens were all too familiar with the sound of gale force winds pounding on their doors and rain drowning their city's streets. Though it had been about three years since the Hurricane Katrina disaster, recent Hurricane Gustav had many residents of Lousiana's capital experiencing an all too realistic case of deja vu.
One Virginia Tech researcher has been studying the psychological effects that the deadly 2005 storm brought forth.
Russell Jones is a professor of psychology who teaches a graduate level course on the effects of trauma on the psyche. Jones has been working with groups in New Orleans that are attempting to help people cope with their tragedies.
"I was there mainly to develop and strengthen mental health infrastructure, to find out what needs help, which areas needed work, and to find out where people were in terms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and depression," Jones said.
Jones has also held workshops in New Orleans to try and teach other mental health professionals how to deal with victims of massive mental trauma. Throughout his time in the disaster zone, Jones has learned a considerable amount himself.
"When I speak with victims of a trauma, one thing they always say is, 'It's going to happen again.' That's their number one fear," Jones said.
"The mental health facilities in New Orleans were, as I saw, undermanned, underfunded and not at all ready for Katrina," Jones said. "I was there to provide help to local heath associations and agencies, get the school programs up and running and getting people back and into their homes."
With this lack of mental health treatment options, people, especially those of lower income, were unable to seek treatment. This left the wounds torn by Katrina open and vulnerable to be exploited by a second storm. Jones said that as Gustav approached, thoughts of a mirrored tragedy intensified.
Jones noted that though the storm continues to provoke terror in many of those affected, one thing they did not observe was a rise in suicide after Katrina.
"Individuals felt that they had a greater sense of purpose after the storm. They felt that they wanted to do more in terms of recovery to react to dealing with the consequences," Jones said.
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"The population is almost back to where it was ... it's at about 75 percent, and it's still rising," Flynn said. So when can we expect the residents of the 9th Ward to return to being the upstanding citizens they were prior to storm? Oh wait, that's right... they were a bunch of drug-addled, sub-human savages well before Katrina.
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I dont think the population is coming back at the rate reported. Many people are leaving now because they realize that statistically there is as much chance for another Katrina this year, or next year, as there was in 2005. Reasonable people will continue to leave when the opportunities are right.
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hokie_alum... that was a pathetic example of some obviuosly deep seeded racism. I am ashamed to call you an Alumni of Virginia Tech. The 9th Ward, even as it was a lower income community, gave birth to some of America's Jazz greats, flourished as a place of mixing cultural genres, and stands as a symbol of American history. Please do not forget that it is also located mere blocks from the French Quarter. The word "savages" is horribly offensive and I hope that you are not this igrnorant in your every day life. You should respect that the people of the 9th Ward have been through a tragedy that you could not begin to comprehend, and do not deserve to be lumped into a category of "drug-addled" or "sub-human." The only "sub-human" behavior I see is your lack of compassion for your fellow man, and your obvious display hatred. You should be ashamed of yourself.
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The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge not New Orleans. How could the editor not catch that? It's the second sentence!
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