ABSTRACT
The Gulf Coast region of the United States is an ideal setting for the study of resilience. The region’s history tells a story of people and communities able to withstand adversity, rebuild after devastation, and navigate uncertainty. Woven into this narrative is a series of focusing events that contributed to the development of emergency management in our nation, including the Hurricane of 1900 in Galveston, Hurricane Andrew in Florida, and Hurricane Katrina, which affected the entire Gulf Coast region. Most recently the region has managed the biggest environmental disaster in history—the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These events have not only defined and reframed the role and purpose of our federal government in disaster management; they have shown that if resilience is to be found in tangible, meaningful forms, it is in the Gulf Coast.
