Introduction
This paper examines two types of crises: riots and earthquakes. Both types of crises occurred in the Los Angeles area in the 1990s: the Rodney King riots of late April and early May 1992 and the January 1994 Northridge earthquake. Both disasters caused numerous deaths and injuries—and widespread economic damage throughout the city. However, there were notable differences between the two disasters.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots resulted in 53 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and more than $1 billion in economic damage (Baade, Baumann, & Matheson, 2007). The riots began, Useem (1997) wrote, “shortly after a jury acquitted four Los Angeles police officers charged with beating Rodney King, who had refused to get into a prone position following a high-speed automobile chase” (p. 358). The riots lasted for four days, but their impact on the city was much longer, Baade, Baumann, and Matheson (2007) wrote. “Economic activity in Los Angeles following the riots took at least 10 years to return to its previous levels,” they noted, “if indeed full recovery ever occurred” (p. 2062). The riots, they found, had “a long-lasting negative impact” on the City of Los Angeles while “while leaving the economy of the rest of the County of Los Angeles relatively unscathed” (p. 2069). The areas of Los Angeles most affected by the riots were the poorest of the city, and FEMA designated just $148 million to efforts to rebuild after the crisis (Baade, Baumann, & Matheson, 2007). “The failure of Los Angeles’ economy to recover following the Rodney King riots,” Baade, Baumann, and Matheson (2007) contended, “suggests that there is potential for an uneven recovery biased against racial minorities and the economically disadvantaged” (p. 2075).
The 6.7-magnitude Northridge earthquake also was devastating to the City of Los Angeles, causing 57 deaths, more than 1,500 serious injuries, and multiple billions of dollars in economic damage (Nelson & French, 2002). However, many of the areas affected by the earthquake were relatively affluent (Heller, et al., 2005). “In wealthier areas,” Baade, Baumann, and Matheson (2007) contended, “the pecuniary incentive for private business and citizens to rebuild is stronger and in some cases the rebuilding effort can cause net income gains in response to a natural disaster” (p. 2075).