Hurricane Andrew: Ethnicity, Gender, and the Sociology of Disasters

Hurricane Andrew has proved to be the most costly natural disaster in US history. This book documents how Miami prepared, coped and responded to the hurricane which slammed into one of the largest and most ethnically diverse metropolitan areas of the United States. With estimated winds of 145mph, the area's infrastructure was laid to waste - nearly all public buildings were severely damaged or destroyed. Approximately 49,000 private homes were rendered uninhabitable, leaving more than 180,000 people homeless. Total losses were in excess of $28 billion. This book explores how social, economic and political factors set the stage for Hurricane Andrew by influencing who was prepared, who was hit the hardest, and who was most likely to recover. Disasters are often seen as natural physical phenomena that impact our communities in impartial ways. As a result, the damage they inflict and the difficulties experienced in recovering are simply seen as a function of the strength of the agent itself and where it happens to hit the hardest. But disasters are inherently social events.