As Hurricane Isaac continues to batter the Gulf Coast, disaster expert Dr. Scott Knowles is available to discuss how Hurricane Katrina has shaped expectations for Isaac - and how reactions to the storm's effects could affect future natural disasters. Dr. Knowles is a professor in the Department of History & Politics at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is a historian of modern cities, technology, and public policy, with a particular focus on risk and disaster.
According to Dr. Knowles, "An effective response to natural disasters builds public trust in government. But there's another angle to this, which is that President Obama does not want to be seen as opportunistic in the face of disaster. However, he does need to take the action that's necessary to save lives down there and try to get relief in place."
"Whatever happens with Isaac, we are dealing with the legacy of decisions made after September 11, and the [focus has been] away from hazards we know are going to happen every year. Our number one disaster priority from the federal government's perspective is terrorism, and everything else is just a distraction. Hurricane season happens ever year - we can be better prepared. We've taken our eye off of those because we focus on disasters we can't predict. That's not to say we shouldn't focus on terrorism prevention. We can do both, but we haven't been."
Dr. Knowles' most recent book is The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2011). In the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, the book traces the intertwined histories of disaster experts—specialists in predicting the unpredictable and managing the unmanageable—revealing how their interdisciplinary research and practices over the past century have shaped modern America.
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