Loss of identity in disaster: how do you say goodbye to home?

TOPIC Hurricane Katrina was a disaster that affected the lives of many people from the Gulf Coast area. The hurricane affected their emotional and physical health, and devastated their financial and material status. PURPOSE This article relates the lived experience of a Hurricane Katrina New Orleans evacuee who relocated to Texas permanently. CONCLUSION The people who resided in these communities lost not only their homes but their culture and day-to-day life. One's culture and identity are developed and learned over time and cannot be easily replaced. A person may adopt another culture or identity, but the original self (much like the city of New Orleans) has been shattered and torn.