Total Persons in the U.S. 2008

This image is a map taken from AmericanFactFinder. This map represents the total population of the U.S., specifically, which states are most densely populated in 2008. I would imagine that in 2005, Louisiana would have been a darker shade of green on this map. That being said, I am curious as to whether or not Hurricane Katrina would have had a big impact on how this map is depicted at all. Moreover, if we were to stack this map on top of the Hometowns vs. Relocations Map in the earlier post, it would seem that the two do not correlate. In other words, it seems that although many Post-Katrina survivors relocated in or around the South, it is not very apparent on this 2008 population map. I also find it interesting that if we layer this map on top of the poverty map, we would find the highest rates of poverty in some of the lower-populated states; particularly in Louisiana. This just reinforces my earlier suggestion of how poverty is still a very real threat to Post-Katrina Survivors. There may not be many people living in the most damaged parts of Louisiana, however, they are the poorest in the country and are in need of aid.



Now, although I generally do not go to Wikipedia for academic aid, I found this interesting map that reaffirms by predictions in the earlier segment of this post. This map represents population change from 2000-2008, and if you look closely, the greatest loss of population occurred in Louisiana at -1.3%. Evidently, Hurricane Katrina did, indeed, have a great impact on survivor relocation.

Post-Katrina: U.S. Poverty Rate 2007

This is another map taken from AmericanFactFinder that shows the percentage of people below the poverty line in the U.S. in 2007. The different shades of green represent the varying percentages of people who fell below the poverty line between 2005 and 2007. This is an interesting map because the data intersects with when Hurricane Katrina made touchdown in the Gulf Coast and with the aftermath years. If we were to overlap the Hometowns vs. Relocations map with this one, the two present a striking correlation. The darker green areas of the map show that many people residing in the South fall below the poverty line, and in the previous map, this is generally where most Post-Katrina people returned. Impoverished people were restricted to the South and unable to escape because their socioeconomic status impaired them and made transportation nearly impossible. I find this map interesting because the dark shades of green reiterate the fact that the South has always been a place of deep-rooted poverty in the U.S. The dark green is a reminder of the state in which many people live today; it is a reminder of the ongoing strife that Post-Katrina survivors still face, 4 years after the storm.

Post-Katrina Survivors: Hometowns vs. Relocations

I found this map in a web article about post-hurricane Katrina Survivors on the following website: http://www.epodunk.com/top10/diaspora/index.html. I find this map interesting because I am originally from New Orleans; I was lucky enough to move before Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. I have a deep-rooted interest in the aftermath of the storm, and this particular map shows 40,000 post-Katrina survivors' hometowns and where they currently reside. (Hometowns are marked by a white dot in the South and current residences are marked by another white dot elsewhere; these white dots are connected by a black line that give an idea of how far from home some of the survivors were relocated.) I find it interesting that most people relocated to either the East Coast or to Florida because these particular areas of the country aren't necessarily storm-proof. I also could have predicted that not many people would have relocated to the West Coast, as many Post-Katrina survivors did not have the means to travel such a great distance. For that matter, it is not unusual to see that many people relocated in or around the South. I will investigate this phenomena in future posts.