To give voice to people whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing floods, The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a unique survey of evacuees in shelters in the Houston area.  The Survey of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees provides information on evacuees' lives before the hurricane and inside Houston area shelters, as well as their plans for the future. The survey also includes a number of health-related questions, including information on health insurance status, chronic health conditions, prescription drugs, and injuries from the hurricane and resulting flood.

The Survey of Hurricane Katrina Evacuees is based on sample of 680 randomly selected adults ages 18 years and older, staying in the Houston Reliant Park Complex (which included the Reliant Astrodome and the Reliant Center), the George R. Brown Convention Center, and five smaller Red Cross shelters in the greater Houston area. Interviews were conducted face-to-face September 10-12, 2005. The survey was conducted and analyzed jointly by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Interviews were conducted by 28 professional, Houston-based interviewers under the supervision of staff from Kaiser and ICR/International Communications Research, and with input from The Post staff in Houston. The Red Cross gave The Post/Kaiser/Harvard interviewing team permission to interview at the various centers, but was not a co-sponsor of the survey and bears no responsibility for results presented here.

 Toplines and Methodology (.pdf)

Washington Post Article

Free access to the American Journal of Public Health article on survey findings .