Many who saw images of Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in August 2004, distinctly remember the people stranded on rooftops. Thousands of people failed to evacuate, for various reasons, and almost 2,000 lost their lives. Around 30,000 ended up at the Superdome, which was clearly not equipped to deal with so much need in such dire conditions. A hurricane had been predicted days in advance, and warnings to evacuate issued. As the horrible images flashed across television screens, many wondered, "Why did they stay?"

Read the article: Stephens, N.M., Hamedani, M.G., Markus, H.R., Bergsieker, H.B., & Eloul, L. (2009). Why did they "choose" to stay? Perspectives of Hurricane Katrina observers and survivors.Psychological Science, 20(7), 878-886.

Considerating the cultural issues learned in psychology of disaster and throughout and discuss this question of "Why did they stay?" addressing the following questions:

• What cultural issues needed to be considered by those urging people to leave?
• How did culture play into people staying, whether by choice or not?
• How could cultural sensitivity have helped prevent the scope of the tragedy