Rights-based evaluation of government responses to a given 'natural' disaster : Katrina as case study

Abstract

Disaster impacts human mobility and a rights-based approach to disaster response is needed to protect the human rights of those who seek migration as an adaptation strategy. This paper deals with returning to a place after a catastrophic environmental disaster when the dynamics of that place call into question the tenability of place. The overarching question of the research is "How is disaster socially constructed at the largest societal scales and how do differences in these interpretations interact in a crisis?" Specifically, I break down this broad framework into two main questions: How does the United States federal government situate itself it terms of taking responsibility for displaced persons to return to their home? How are international laws and customary norms socially constructed around rights and return? This paper takes as a case study the legacy of Hurricane Katrina. This paper argues that the right to return is an obligation to return displaced persons to a state of dignity, not necessarily a specific geographic location.