Disaster: An Opportunity to Progress September-Eleven is an event that has left behind a monumental mark in the history of the United States and of the world. It was a day where thousands lost their lives, thousands’ lives were transformed and changed, and millions of the global community were stunned by the catastrophic event that has occurred. What occurred on September 11, 2001 was one of the most significant and devastating disasters that took place in the modern Digital Age. The definition of disaster commonly holds a negative connotation and conjures up imagery of chaotic mobs of panicking people screaming in fear and running for their lives from the catastrophic event occurring with the earsplitting sirens of police cars, fire …show more content…
This has therefore, established the popular meaning of disaster. However, by focusing on merely the negative aspects of disaster, we have lost sight of the opportunity to advance and progress towards a better and improved society. As exemplified in the September Eleven attacks, the solidarity and altruism that emerge in a time of crisis and catastrophe can provide society with a glimpse of the “paradise” or social utopia that could result (Solnit 3). However, as soon as the reorganization period ends, we return to a society dominated by rugged individualism, capitalism, and consumerism. The moments of harmony and selflessness are often short-lived and last only as long as the disaster remains relevant. We should therefore, begin to place more emphasis on this more optimistic meaning of disaster and recognize the opportunity to improve ourselves and strive …show more content…
Hence, the word assumed a negative and adverse connotation. In today’s society, the ubiquitous mass media presence and the entertainment industry play important roles in shaping and influencing the public’s values, beliefs, and opinions. To further affirm and sustain the negative perception of catastrophes, the media and Hollywood exaggerate and place heavy emphasis on the extraordinary aspects to attract attention and to provide a source of entertainment for the audiences. It has become a cultural norm to view disasters merely as negative events. It would be perceived as disrespectful or even deranged to consider disasters as being positive or even joyous. However, this perspective is challenged with the progression of disaster research. In mid-20th century, sociologist Charles Fritz illustrated the positive effects of disaster on societies in his research and Russell Dynes provided evidence that contrary to the popular conceptions of panic, aggression and looting in human behavior, the reality of disasters is that people converge in solidarity to help each other (Knowles 229,238-239). This provided the public with a new perception of the idea of disaster and provided us with an opportunity for disaster to show us how we can alter our
He states, “A crowd in panic has no sense or conscience” (Esposito 71). This communicates the sheer horror and hopelessness of the trapped victims. The experiences of the witnesses compounds this image, making the book vivid and persuading the audience to consider the far-reaching nature of the tragedy. How prepared are we for disasters in the contemporary world? I could only shudder in fear as I visualized Esposito’s fear of ill-informed crowds. Esposito persuades me to embrace the concept of educating the masses to remain calm under storm to reduce the number of
Drea Knufken’s thesis statement is that “As a society, we’ve acquired an immunity to crisis” (510-512). This means that humans in general, or citizens of the world, have become completely desensitized to disasters, we think of them as just another headline, without any understanding of their impact upon fellow
9/11 was one of the most devastating events in American History. Four hijacked passenger airplanes killed almost three thousand people. 9/11 changed millions of lives forever. American Citizens didn’t feel safe. This attack was a wake-up call to American security. 9/11 forced the country to acknowledge its shortcomings and fix them, before any more harm could come upon the United States of America. 9/11, as all acts of terror do, promoted the growth of technology, in this case, security in the United States. 9/11 also brought about feelings of hatred to the country. The United States soon became known as one of the most intolerable nations on this planet. Lastly, 9/11 butchered the economy and forced it down a long road to recovery.
... the catastrophic event into an opportunity for the future. Even though the tsunami of December 2004 ended in a huge death toll, ongoing trauma and homelessness of millions of Asians, still they can recuperate from this entire horrific event. If any good at all is to come from this adversity on a human scale, it will certainly be considered by the compassion and generosity that the world reveals to the survivors. I must admit that I find very difficult to let it sink in my brain the fact that it can happen to all of us anywhere and any time around the globe. It might not be a tsunami that these citizens have experienced, but there are other natural disasters we can stumble upon as well. Surely, it has been a great experience for me to write this paper and to discover the truth about the tsunami and the total effects of what these people have to deal with.
How did 9/11 change American history? The attacks of September eleventh changed our culture. Not only did it change our culture, but it changed our security. If the attacks had not happened, we would not have troops stationed in the Middle East. The attacks of September eleventh changed the history of our country.
When complicated systems fail catastrophically, there are processes that aim to fulfill three general objectives. One, is to assign blame, another, to understand what happened and what why it happened. Last, is to fix the specific feature or problem so that disaster will not happen again. In the article “Blowup” published in 1996 by The New Yorker, author Malcolm Gladwell examines catastrophes such as the Challenger explosion, and the near-disaster at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. He begins by defining the “rituals of disaster,” [1] a modern process in which physical evidence is collected and scrupulously analyzed to form a conclusion, and further explores the sociological aspects surrounding disasters, tying them to the human
As the blood trickled down the flight attendant’s neck, they all prayed that they wouldn’t die. A dark skined man headed toward the front of the plane to claim his next victim. He slowly pressed the cold, red blade of a knife into the pilot’s neck. Many of those who saw screamed. They all knew, then, that they would die. Passengers felt the plane take some wild turns and they realized that they had turned around. Not long after this occurred to four planes, every single passenger died. Terrorists had taken over planes in America. Four planes, nineteen terrorists, and almost 3,000 dead people later, the United States of America has been changed forever.
On a constant basis, horrific natural disasters destroy pieces of the world each day. Leonard Pitts expresses the central theme in the article “ Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel ” to be that in this world, where tragedy is now common, people have learned to recover from cataclysm and accept tragedy as the result of having a life. People worldwide have learned to grow to adapt to hardships and nationwide struggles that may occur. Pitts states, “ we do the same thing.
On September 11, 2001 a series catastrophic events occurred in New York City, New York. Al-Qaeda planned strategically conducted events, known as suicide attacks. Nineteen al-Qaeda members hijacked four commercial airplanes, including United Airlines Flight 93, American Airlines Flight 11, American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines 175. Two of the planes purposely crashed into the World Trade Center buildings. In addition, another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, VA. and the fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Those passengers on the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, attempted to win control over the plane; however, there were no survivors.
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
On September 11, 2001, terrorists savagely attacked the United States of American. Thousands of individuals lost their lives as two airplanes crashed into the two World Trade Center 1`buildings and the Pentagon. This brutal act shook the world. This terrorists’ attack has changed many aspects of people’s lives worldwide. It not only affected the US but everyone around the world. During the aftermath, we learned that we lost one of our native virgin islanders. US Army, Staff Sargent Maudlyn A. White, 38, born on St. Croix died on active duty in the Pentagon. She was described as a quiet person who was independent. Not only were the Virgin Islands affected by her death, but also the financial decline the islands started to experience. After September 11, the Caribbean was dramatically impacted; security levels rose, tourism levels dropped, and people became more hesitant about travelling.
September 11, 2001 was a day that Americans and the world for that matter will not soon forget. When two planes went into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and two others went into the Pentagon and a small town in Pennsylvania, the world was rocked. Everyone in the United States felt very vulnerable and unsafe from attacks that might follow. As a result, confidence in the CIA, FBI, and the airlines were shaken. People were scared to fly after what had happened.
While it may seem like human survival after a traumatic event may be anarchy, yet after chaos there can be order, humans come together in light of horrible events and even in the worst disaster culture will survive. Therefore, humanity is not in as much trouble as it can be assumed in case of disaster.
Sometimes one phase of the emergency management tends to overlap of adjacent phase. The concept of “phases” has been used since the 1930’s to help describe, examine, and understand disasters and to help organize the practice of emergency management. In an article titled Reconsidering the Phases of Disaster, David Neal cites different examples of different researchers using five, six, seven, and up to eight phases long before the four phases became the standard. (Neal 1997) This acknowledges that critical activities frequently cover more than one phase, and the boundaries between phases are seldom precise. Most sources also emphasize that important interrelationships exist among all the ph...
The English writer John Ruskin once said “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather,” (John Ruskin Quotes - Page 4) but I’m sure there are many who disagree with him. Nature’s beauty is a gift from God, but occasionally nature is not so aesthetically pleasing. Natural disasters occur often around the world destroying the lives of many on a regular basis. An example could be the recent flood victims of Australia or even last year’s earthquake in Haiti. There are several types of natural disasters¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬- from earthquakes to hurricanes and floods; they often strike without warning and leave a path of destruction and despair in their path.