The long-term recovery from major hurricanes is the neglected aspect of hazards study. Before Hurricane Katrina (2005), New Orleans (USA) had emergency response and short-term restoration plans in place, but no comparable long-term recovery plan. Assembling a recovery plan with adequate community input took more than two years and stalled efforts on the ground. The recovery continues today (2018) and has overlapped with subsequent recovery efforts from other disasters complicating funding and implementation. This paper reviews the conflicts inherent in long-term recovery to multiple disasters. It relies on qualitative historical analysis of historical documents to trace responses to sequential extreme events in order to expose the challenges passed on to subsequent generations when recovery is incomplete when the next tragedy strikes. The key question it addresses is: how has the failure to incorporate lessons learned from prior events complicated and prolonged the recovery form the recent spate of tragedies. And in broader terms, how can the analysis of overlapping recoveries be used to minimize the impact of future extreme events in other locations?
Results/Conclusions
The historical analysis reveals that: (1) multiple disasters in sequence can magnify the social challenges to recovery, (2) extended intervals allow for a loss of sense of urgency and a decline in readiness for subsequent events, and (3) failure to sustain elements of resilience subject society to traumas that might have been avoided.