Study: Disasters put women at increased risk of violence

A post-1997 Red River flood study by a "disaster sociologist" found that women were at significantly greater risk of violence after the flood, which also "exacerbated racial divisions among women in the Red River Valley."

Also, despite women being primary users of emergency assistance, shelters and temporary housing, the study found that the particular needs and abilities of women were not always taken into account by planners.

Another key finding: Providing adequate child care and other family services during and after a disaster is essential to business recovery.

The study report included recommendations for planners preparing for future such emergencies.

Elaine Enarson, now living in Denver, said she has continued to work on questions of gender and disaster resilience.

While progress may have been made on local levels where planners took to heart lessons learned from their disasters, "I don't see any evidence of substantively more attention (being paid) to the issues raised in the wake of the 1997 flood," she said.

"It's a cinch we didn't see much movement in this area in the wake of (hurricanes) Katrina and Rita."

In Grand Forks, protection orders obtained by women jumped by two-thirds in the first quarter of 1998 over the same period in 1997, according to Enarson, citing local agencies' figures. Calls for counseling were up 59 percent in July 1997 over July 1996.

Kristi Hall-Jiran, director of the Community Violence Intervention Center (CVIC) in Grand Forks, was director in 1997, when the flood wiped out the center's offices on South Third Street, scattered staff and made bad domestic situations worse.

"It was absolutely crazy" in the months following the flood, she said. "We never could have predicted it." But with so much housing lost, "people let abusers back in, or they had lost their home and had nowhere else to go."

Hall-Jiran said she met with Enarson, "and she gave us some good ideas" for responding to a disaster.

"We had our crisis line up within 24 hours, but trying to find all our staff and contact all our clients was hard," she said. In any future disaster, "We want to make sure our clients know how to reach us.

"I've just completed a new 60-page disaster plan, and I feel good about it."

Three stages of post-flood surveys

Enarson has taught and conducted research in Australia and Canada as well as throughout the United States on social vulnerability and gender relations in disaster settings.

She is a past director of the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence, the University of Nevada at Reno's Women's Center and the UNR women's studies program.

In the Grand Forks area, she interviewed scores of women from diverse backgrounds at three intervals - six, 12 and 18 months after the 1997 flood. In addition to warnings about increased domestic abuse and sexual violence, she came up with lessons for people in disaster preparedness, management and recovery.