The University of New Mexico

NEWS RELEASE

 


Contact: Steve Carr, (505) 277-1821, scarr@unm.edu 

February 13, 2006

‘Hard Times in the Big Easy: Hurricane Katrina and the Hazards of Place' Topic of Lecture Sponsored by UNM Geography Department

The geography department at UNM continues its 2005-06 lecture series with University of New Orleans assistant professor Ron Hagleman who will give a lecture titled ‘Hard Times in the Big Easy: Hurricane Katrina and the Hazards of Place.' The lecture will be held Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium (rm. 208) of the UNM Science and Technology Park , located at 800 Bradbury Dr., S.E. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Hurricane Katrina was - to many scientists, policymakers, and New Orleans residents - a forgone conclusion. When, not if, and where were the questions being asked by most local and regional managers about Hurricane Katrina making landfall. This sense of inevitability came from an awareness of the myriad of ways in which the city of New Orleans and its surrounding areas are at risk from environmental change, both chronic and acute. Since being established as an outpost for French colonial resource extraction in the early 1700s, New Orleans has been under siege by its natural setting.

In response to nature's advances, the city has existed in a continuum of technocratic fixes to regional environmental hazards, with the most "heroic" and place altering of efforts coming on the heels of environmental disasters. A brief history of environmental management and an assessment of the accumulation of the Hazards of Place endemic to New Orleans are presented along with the results of hurricane evacuation surveys conducted in the months prior to Hurricane Katrina. Further discussion will be held on the reconstruction and possible futures of the city.

Hagleman is an assistant professor at UNO specializing in urban and hazards geography with a focus in the historical geography of the environment and environmental management-related social impact assessment. Hagleman has participated in numerous state and federally funded research projects focused on the human impacts of both chronic and acute environmental change in the Gulf Coast region.

 


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