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Emergency and crisis response plan
Hurricane katrina innital response
Conclusion of disaster preparedness and emergency response
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Introduction
Since there have been many disasters which generated in enhancing resilience to potential future disasters, I am going to focus mainly on problem of Hurricane Katrina and generally, problems of hurricanes in this part of United States.
To what extent was the community resilient during and after the Hurricane Katrina?
Hurricane Katrina struck mainly in New Orleans, in the United States, in the area of quite frequent occurrence of hurricanes. Even though the state knows about the frequency, it has not been prepared, and thus resilient, enough. Enormous hurricane force breached the levees and ensuing flood. During the disaster, the National Response System failed miserably, including local, state and federal officials, as well. “In addition, most of the feelings stem from perception that Hurricane Katrina from its impact through its media coverage, and governmental response was viewed as a racial event.” Although, there were more casualties of African Americans, casualties of the White people were after the disaster overestimated. The larger amount of Black casualties subsequently suggested deep poverty and inequality compared to the White citizens.
John Harrald describes a critical success factors necessary for a disaster response, including preparedness and prevention, initial reaction and mobilization, organizational integration phase, production phase and transition/demobilization phase. “These factors capture the essential need to anticipate future problems, creating the potential for their solution before they occur, avoiding the reactive, bureaucratic response as we saw during Hurricane Katrina.“
New Orleans, as a frequent “hurricane area,” had already enhanced resilience before the Hurricane Katrina, howe...
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Conclusion
On the example of the Hurricane Katrina we could see vulnerability and thus, low resilience of the community. However, the community just gained the opportunity to prepare itself into future, so now it can strengthen its abilities to face disasters with less negative and more positive outcomes.
Works Cited
Allen, Troy D. “Katrina: Race, Class, and Poverty: Reflections and Analysis.“ Journal of Black Studies 37, no. 4. (2007): 466-468
Harrald, John R. “Agility and Discipline: Critical Success Factors for Disaster Response.“ Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 604. (2006): 256-272
Lowe, S.R, Willis, M & Rhodes, J. “Health Problems among Low-Income Parents in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.“ The Risk Project. 2013, http://www.riskproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Study-Implications.pdf. (accessed January 6, 2014).
Niman, Michael I. "KATRINA's AMERICA: Failure, Racism, And Profiteering." Humanist 65.6 (2005): 11. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
Rankine also shares the horrible tragedy of hurricane Katrina experienced by the black community, where they struggled for their survival before and post the hurricane catastrophes. She reports that the lives of black people in the disaster were of no cost for white administration and they delayed the help. She expresses this by writing, “I don’t know what the water wanted. It wanted to show you no one would come” (Rankine 94)(11).
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount of damage and danger all throughout the city, officials claimed that there was work being done to restore the city of New Orleans as a whole but many parts, and even the people, of the city were overlooked while areas of the city with higher economic value, and more tourist traffic, were prioritized along with those individuals.
According to Hurricane Katrina At Issue Disasters, economic damages from Hurricane Katrina have been estimated at more than $200 billion… More than a million people were displaced by the storm… An estimated 120,000 homes were abandoned and will probably be destroyed in Louisiana alone (At * Issue). For this perspective, “Hurricane Katrina change the Gulf Coast landscape and face of its culture when it hit in 2005” (Rushton). A disaster like Katrina is something the victims are always going to remember, for the ones the lost everything including their love ones. Katrina became a nightmare for all the people that were surround in the contaminated waters in the city of New Orleans. People were waiting to be rescue for days,
middle of paper ... ... The. “Hurricane Andrew: The Human Side of Recovery.” Disaster Recovery Journal, System Support Inc. 1 Sept. 2001. Web.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the United States. The storm resulted in more then US$100 billion in damage when the cities flood protection broke and 80% of the city was flooded (1). The protection failure was not the only cause for the massive flooding, the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of New Orleans into the city. 330,000 homes were destroyed and 400,000 people from New Orleans were displaced, along with 13,00 killed (1). Although the population quickly recovered, the rate of recovery slowed down as the years went on leading us to believe not everyone
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In summary, the events of Hurricane Katrina had left a lasting and devastating impact on not only the general public, but also those within public safety including local, state and federal agencies. The storm had affected nearly hundreds of square miles resulting in thousands of casualties, and people misplaced with no homes to go to as well. In addition, there were many contributing factors that had resulted in major life, including the geography of New Orleans, how the levees around New Orleans were built, as well as the lack of coordination between local, state and federal officials.
The initial response or lack thereof, to the widespread disaster in the Gulf Coast, caused by Hurricane Katrina, demonstrated high levels of incompetence and disorganization by government officials. Images of desperate individuals awaiting rescue on their rooftops, and masses of people packed together in deplorable conditions in the Super Dome, circulated the globe. There was no hiding from the painful reality and the obvious inaction or inability of those responsible to care for these individual in the wake of this catastrophe. (12, 791)
Shah, Anup (2005, November 13). Hurricane Katrina. Global Issues. Retrieved from mhtml:file://F:Hurricane Katrina—Global Issues. mht
New Orleans was only at a partial risk until the night before it hit. On this night 80% of the people evacuated to higher grounds. When Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005 New Orleans began to flood. The storm had a category 3 rating on the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Scale. Some of the wind speeds were 100-140 miles per hour and stretched 400 miles across. Some areas were under 15 feet of water. There were also several breaches in canals, including 17th Street Canal, Industrial Canal, and the London Avenue Canal. This has affected the United States of America today because our technology for tracking the hurricanes is even better and the evacuation systems have been revised since that time. Lastly, Hurricane Katrina has affected history because of the expenses it took to repair the damages and the emotional damage that was caused. The aftermath of the hurricane was drastic. About 986 Louisiana residents died and 134,000 houses were destroyed in New Orleans during the flooding. Therefore, evacuation shelters housed 237,000 people during and after the storm. Also, the “cleanup” cost nearly $135 billion to repair all of the damages that Hurricane Katrina
Some of the damage done by Hurricane Katrina could have potentially been avoided if protection systems were installed to the proper extents. In Louisiana, “some parts of the metro area continue to lack hurricane protection built to federal standards” (Webster). Had the greater Louisiana area been better protected, it is very likely that more people would have survived and the total cost of the storm been less. Even in areas where levees...
There comes a time in the world where the outcome of certain events can cause a huge social change, one of those events is Hurricane Katrina. The events that took place prior to, during and after Katrina although impact only a few places physically it was left in the minds of everyone in the world. There were many actions that could have taken place to prevent the damage of such a catastrophic event, however nothing was done. Hurricane Katrina, a category 3 hurricane struck Louisiana and parts of the Mississippi. New Orleans in particular, due to various reasons received the most damage. Katrina first started off as a small hurricane formed in the Bahamas as it moved towards Louisiana and Mississippi it became a category 5, which is the strongest it can become, then decreased to category 3 once it finally struck. The storm caused an incredible amount of damage that Hurricane Katrina was noted as the most destructive and costly natural disaster in US history. The death toll was 1,836 people with 200 bodies left unclaimed as well as over 700 people unaccounted for. Hurricane Katrina was a source of social change as people have learned from the impact it had on the mind and body of the citizens of New Orleans, the mismanagement and lack of leadership the government showed, and the substantial immediate and long term economic damage it caused the country.
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...
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