Katrina hit blacks more than whites, study finds

NEW ORLEANS – The catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina has cost countless people here their homes, their jobs or their health. But according to a survey released Thursday regarding daily life in the flood-ravaged city, the burden has fallen far heavier on blacks than on whites.

The proportion of black respondents who described their lives as “disrupted” more than a year after the storm (59 percent) was about double that of whites who said the same (29 percent).

The racial disparities ran across job experiences, housing and health. Researchers said the differences persist even when comparing blacks and whites who have similar incomes.

“Whites were hit hard, too, but blacks were disproportionately living in the areas that were most flooded,” said Mollyann Brodie, vice president of public opinion and media research for the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducted the survey. “And even before Katrina hit, there were gaps between blacks and whites.”

The findings were part of a 100-page study that depicts the area’s daily struggle to recover from the August 2005 storm. The Kaiser Post-Katrina Baseline Survey of 1,504 randomly selected adults in greater New Orleans was conducted from September to November 2006 using face-to-face interviews. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is plus or minus four percentage points.

More than one in five city residents described their mental health as worse than it was before Katrina, with 4 percent saying they were taking a new prescription as a result. One-quarter said they were very satisfied with their overall quality of life, while 65 percent said they felt that way before the storm.

Researchers also reported finding a surprising amount of optimism among city residents. While anecdotal reports have suggested that many residents were leaving, only 11 percent reported they were seriously considering a move.