RT Journal
A1 Rosenbaum S
T1 US health policy in the aftermath of hurricane katrina
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2006
FD January 25
VO 295
IS 4
SP 437
OP 440
DO 10.1001/jama.295.4.437
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.295.4.437
AB 
In a season that experienced an onslaught of major hurricanes, Hurricane Katrina nonetheless stands apart as a seminal social event. Katrina did not merely lay waste to a geographic region; it also exposed every public policy failure essential to community and population health. Nicholas Lemann wrote that, “after the levees broke, we watched every single system associated with the life of a city fail: the electric grid, the water system, the sewer system, the transportation system, the telephone system, the police force, the fire department, the hospitals, even the system for disposing of corpses.”1 The US Department of Homeland Security reported that as of September 15, 2005, 90 000 square miles had been declared disaster areas, and over 122 000 persons were housed in shelters throughout the nation.2 Three months later, in December 2005, more than a million people are still reported to be homeless.3