Gender Differences in Self-Reported Evacuation Experiences Analysis of the City Assisted Evacuation Program During Hurricane Gustav

摘要

No plan and implementation for evacuating New Orleans or any urban area will be perfect. In the four years after Hurricane Katrina, the city adopted a process of contin-ued improvement in evacuation planning. However, the survey indicated that there are still needs that must be addressed to ensure a more complete evacuation of the city's most vulnerable citizens. The findings suggest that there are some significant differences in evacuation expe-riences based on gender. Women have significantly less access to a reliable vehicle for self-evacuation, making them far more dependent on a viable city-assisted evacu-ation program. Women are also significantly more likely to be dependent upon nonfamily entities for their enroll-ment in CAEP, relying on various public service agencies. The overrepresentation of female heads of households in vulnerable communities makes lack of adequate finances a significant barrier to evacuation.