IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/johsem/v10y2013i2p497-520n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Catastrophe Characteristics and their Impact on Critical Supply Chains: Problematizing Materiel Convergence and Management Following Hurricane Katrina

Author

Listed:
  • Wachtendorf Tricia

    (Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, USA)

  • Brown Bethany

    (Department of Criminal Justice, Loyola University of New Orleans, New Orleans, USA)

  • Holguin-Veras Jose

    (Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, USA)

Abstract

The influx of supplies after disaster events helps to meet the emergent needs of the impacted area and fill gaps in logistical plans. This same materiel convergence, however, can present a challenging social problem. Organizations must contend with difficulties in supply acquisition, reception, transport, storage, and distribution. In this paper, we use Hurricane Katrina, which impacted the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005, as a case study to test whether Enrico L. Quarantelli’s six characteristics of catastrophe generate unique relief provision challenges. Qualitative analysis of interviews with key organizational actors in the response effort revealed that the six characteristics did influence the manifestation of the social problem. Analysis also revealed a seventh catastrophe characteristic: mass and extended out-migration of people.

Suggested Citation

  • Wachtendorf Tricia & Brown Bethany & Holguin-Veras Jose, 2013. "Catastrophe Characteristics and their Impact on Critical Supply Chains: Problematizing Materiel Convergence and Management Following Hurricane Katrina," Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 497-520, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:johsem:v:10:y:2013:i:2:p:497-520:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/jhsem-2012-0069
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jhsem-2012-0069
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jhsem-2012-0069?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:johsem:v:10:y:2013:i:2:p:497-520:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.