Katrina, Sandy linked in time
Luisa Dantas, an adjunct faculty member at Tulane University, unveils an interactive timeline that connects Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy on an innovative Web platform combining video, articles and data to explore stages of disaster recovery.
In honor of the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, LandOfOpportunity and Sandy Storyline are launching “Katrina/Sandy,” a Web-based interactive timeline comparing and contrasting the impact and responses to Katrina with Hurricane Sandy.
“Katrina/Sandy” brings together the stories of people impacted by each storm, contextualizing them with multimedia research, data, and diverse perspectives to promote a deeper understanding of community rebuilding in the wake of disaster.
“Nearly a decade later, the recovery of the Gulf Coast is ongoing and contested. But have we learned anything?” -- Luisa Dantas, adjunct lecturer of English
“After Katrina, the world was shocked by the devastation, the inequity, and the government"s incompetent response,” says Luisa Dantas, director and producer of LandOfOpportunity, a New Orleans-based interactive web platform.
“Nearly a decade later, the recovery of the Gulf Coast is ongoing and contested. But have we learned anything? Will Hurricane Sandy recovery be different? And what about the next storm? As documentary media producers, we wondered what we can learn by placing stories and scholarship from Katrina and Sandy side by side,” says Dantas, an adjunct lecturer in the Tulane University Department of English who teaches Screenwriting, and a Monroe Fellow with the Center for the Gulf South at Tulane.
Hosted on LandofOpportunity, the timeline juxtaposes Katrina and Sandy stories at key moments: the storm, aftermath, recovery/rebuilding and the future. This collaboration includes never-before-seen footage from filmmaker William Sabourin, who captured the mounting tension and despair in New Orleans immediately following Katrina, alongside haunting images of a battered New York City.
Users follow their own path through the timeline, discovering fresh perspectives and insight into survival and recovery.
Rachel Falcone, co-director of Sandy Storyline, says, “The interactive timeline is a great way to place stories from people impacted by Hurricane Sandy in conversation with other national disasters like Hurricane Katrina. At face value there are stark differences, but as we look closer we can see that there are many similarities that speak to arguably the biggest challenges of the 21st century.”
