The information collected in this project will be studied by John Mutter and colleagues at Columbia University, to help us better understand how natural disasters such at Katrina affect communities, and devise measures to save more lives in the future. Were some age groups more impacted than others? Were some ethnic groups more vulnerable? Which areas were the hardest hit? We already have the beginnings of answers to some of these questions but we need to have a full accounting of the victims to be able to do this important work as accurately as possible. Our ultimate objective is to save lives in the future. To do this we need to know who was at greatest risk.
The database is derived from numerous sources. Some are official sources (morgues, obituaries, state agencies), others are more informal and we attempt to verify all the information provided.
We plan to keep the information in an accessible form on line indefinitely.
