scope:

Hurricane Katrina, closely followed by Hurricane Rita, was, without doubt, the most catastrophic natural disaster in U.S. history. It devastated the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, inflicted serious losses in Florida and Alabama as well as the harder-hit states at the core of the disaster, and all but destroyed a city unique in American culture. Through it all, health-care providers in the Gulf States and those who had come to help continued to assess what one responder called "a lifetime of lessons in a single storm." This oral history of the public health response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the flooding of New Orleans provides an unprecedented glimpse into what really happened.These public health heros lived, in real time, through the dramatically and rapidly unfolding events of the storms. And as they were in the experience, they absorbed the enormity of this disaster, reacting instinctively, often courageously, to what had to be done, under conditions few had ever experienced. Their accounts will provoke further questions about how we are training ourselves to be disaster responders. A portion of the sales price of this book will be donated to a Hurricane Relief Fund.