INTRO
An activity that we participate in on a daily basis is belonging and being part of a community. We live in a world where associating and identifying ourselves with certain groups is how we share common interests, and we are responsible for facing whatever may come our way. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences and similarities between the approaches seen from the Chicago Heat Wave and Buffalo Creek Flood. The main differences are historical groundwork, relationship to land, physical/social vulnerability, problematic development, choices we make and media coverage. Kleinberg and Erikson both offer a greater variety of what exactly a disaster or community consist of. Although, both have some overlapping themes and ideas, their methodological approaches and expectations of a community dealing with a disaster differ significantly.
ERIKSON’S APPROACH (historical groundwork, relationship to land, choices we make)
The most notable difference between these two approaches happens to also be a key factor within both disaster events. Erikson’s conceptual approach to studying disaster and community relies highly on historical groundwork. Erikson stresses the importance behind his approach is to be able to understand what a certain place was like at a historical time and the communication that was involved within that community. Erikson describes the mountaineer community as, “In a country with no public institutions, no townships, no systems of social control, few stable congregations, and no other associations of any kind, membership in a family unity was the only source of identification and support one had.” (p. 59) From this approach, we learned that the mountaineers had a very intensively individua...
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...fited from the integration of the other’s since Erikson’s approach integrated the key aspect of response to changing conditions, which is something the city of Chicago desperately needed to work on. And Klinenberg’s approach integrated the key aspect of construction as a public event, which, media coverage is something, the Buffalo creek flood lacked. The themes derived from both authors approaches; historical groundwork, relationship to land, choices we make, problematic development, media coverage and physical/social vulnerability allow us to generate knowledge on the loss of community and production of disaster within the social world. Although, natural disasters are inevitable, many people see them in different ways but both of these authors and approaches offer citizens take accountability and learn the degree of lessons in order to be prepared for the future.
In the book Heat Wave A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, by Eric Klinenberg expose how a number of social, political, and economical factors created one of the largest and most traumatic events in recent history. The Chicago heat wave in 1995 was a disaster, which led to over 700 heat-related deaths in Chicago over a five days period creating. Most of the victims of the heat wave were poor elderly residents of the city, who didn’t have any relative or were neglected by the public officials and was unable to purchase air-conditioning units for their home. Most of the elderly isolated themselves and refused to open windows or sleep outside in fear of crime. Alot of lives were loss or in destress because of isolation, poverty and media who played a major role by portraying the countless deaths on the natural disaster and highlighting of negative activities especially in the urban area
Hurricane Katrina has affected the lives of thousands of Americans. According to Anne Waple of NOAA’s National Climate Data Center, Katrina is “one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent US history” leaving “At least 80% of New Orleans…under flood water”. Film director, Spike Lee, in his documentary, When the Levees Broke, looks into the lives of the people of New Orleans that was affected by Hurricane Katrina. Lee’s purpose is to address racial disparities, political issues, and the discrimination against helping victims during the storm. He adopts a straightforward tone from the victims and outsiders in order to illustrate how the residents of New Orleans were affected by failures of the government for the duration of Katrina, before and after. Despite the government programs and their slow attempt to help, the government did not act quickly in the events of Hurricane Katrina because many residents of New Orleans did not receive the great amount of aid they were promised.
Governments, the private sector, Non Governmental Organizations and Community Organizations play vital roles in recovery. The essence of a recovery effort is the resources captures to assist, the capability of assistance and other best practices for recovering from a disaster. Rubin and Popkin, (1990) in their report entitled Disaster Recovery after hurricane Hugo in South Carolina thoroughly outline many challenges to which organization and other bodies had face in Hurricane Hugo’s recovery effort. These inefficiencies cause a spiral of increase lost of life, property and livelihood for hundreds of people to which the hurricane affected.
The Robert T. Stafford Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, or the Stafford Act is by far the most important federal law when it comes to disaster management (Hunter, 2009, p. 189). The purpose of this paper is to provide an argument is support of the Stafford Act. I will address how the Stafford Act has been modified to support large scale devastation, as well as the federal government’s responsibility to reimburse local entities. Additionally, I will discuss how the Act has improved its catastrophic disaster housing plans to meet community needs. Finally, I will describe the changes made to reduce the bureaucratic red tape.
David McCullough’s Johnstown Flood is an unique piece of nonfiction that tells the story of how a normal town in the middle of Pennsylvania encounters a devastating, and life altering event. This event was the Johnstown flood, and fire (that resulted from the flood) leading to the death of 2,209 people. This book starts out with how the town came to be a small, but prosperous home for millionaires such as Andrew Carnegie. Then, McCullough proceeds to let the reader feel as if they are in the town experiencing these devastating events, and creates a seamless storyline. Even though the book focuses on the flood other recalls of important events that show us the everyday life of the town, and makes extremely helpful references to historical passages that increase the context for the reader. Finally the book ends with how Johnstown recovers from the devastation in life, land, and property.
The natural disaster in 2005 proved to be a major blow to many authoritative figures and organizations. Their failure to responsibly provide citizens’ safety at emergency situations left scars all around the world. The federal government had failed to completely step in when stae and local authorities exhibited minimal signs of motivation to support the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. In response to the film “When the Levees Broke” by director Spike Lee, the documentary clearly displayed the devastating situation that citizens were stuck in, but with few and late assistance from their own governmental representatives, citizens were fighting to survive. To make matters worse, the people were the first in sight to provide assistance to their
Conflict Theory is a theoretical approach that can be used to describe many of the events that unfolded in Hurricane Katrina. “Exogenous conflict refers to conflict that occurs between systems or from the external environment and is generally based on wars, cultural invasion, and ideology” (Robins, et.al. 2012,p. 61). Examples of conflict theory, as portrayed in the documentary, Trouble the Water, were many. The documentary chronicles some of the struggles of the predominantly African American population in New Orleans during the disaster. Race, class, and power played an intricate role in the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. This disaster brought forth a mass of media attention due to the magnitude of the hurricane and the
Human beings have overcome catastrophe and cataclysm since the dawn of time. There is no better example than in Pat Frank’s Alas Babylon. Randy Bragg is “a thirty-two-year-old progressive lawyer from a respected family in the rural Florida town of Fort Repose” (Schwartz 2006). When bombs are dropped, nearly every major city in the U.S. has been evaporated in the matter of seconds. Randy realizes that only the strong survive, so in order to keep him and his small town alive, he will have to unite a community and realize his true potential. The persistent human spirit makes those of the small town, become leaders and work hard to beat the circumstances thrown at them.
We live in world full of natural disasters and tragedies. It seems as if a new mass shooting devastates a community every other week, or a hurricane wipes out an entire city. In the face of tragedy we must decide how we respond. Do we go about our lives like before? Do we just do the best we can to make it through? Or do we use the tragedy to serve our personal and social agendas? Many question the motives of people who become activist in the wake of tragedy, and others praise them for there bravery.
The second way a collective trauma is recognized is through the loss of shared understandings. The people of Buffalo Creek, though unaware, understood what was expected of them since they were a part of the community of Buffalo Creek. They shared ideas and these ideas helped to shape the personalities of the people from Buffalo Creek. When the flood occurred, these people lost their shared understandings, which greatly affected their personalities and caused them to become fearful. The devastation of losing their community and its understandings revealed another way in which collective trauma can be identified. The people of Buffalo Creek shared the same ideas as a collective group, so when the disaster occurred, they experienced a collective
In conclusion, hurricane Sandy was unlike any other hurricane. Its large size, intensity and unusual path made it a force to be reckoned with. Although its rainfall measurements and wind speeds weren’t that high compared to some other hurricanes, the storm still managed to significantly disrupt the country’s infrastructure and the cost of rebuilding and repairing affected areas was billions. Understanding the causes, characteristics and impacts of such natural disasters is one way we learn to prepare for such events before and rebuild our communities
In chapter eight of Acts of God, Ted Steinberg discusses how natural disasters impact the poor in the United States and how the US government has historically responded to natural disasters. According to the text, there is a tendency among policymakers to blame calamity/disaster on nature; this perspective has led to much difficulty in disaster relief efforts. In the text, Steinberg implies that the government has typically been inadequate at helping the poor in disaster’s wake.
McCullough presents a meticulously researched, detailed account of the Johnstown Flood of May 31st 1889, which provides arguments for why the disaster was both “the work of man” and “a visitation of providence”. However, it is apparent that McCullough believes that man was more responsible than nature/god for the extent of the catastrophe. In McCullough’s opinion, the storm that caused the flood was no more than the inevitable stimulus of the disaster, whereas the deferred maintenance and poor repairs on the dam were the primary reason that Johnstown was devastated in 1889. McCullough exposes the failed duties of Benjamin Ruff and other members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, whilst simultaneously questioning the responsibility of the Johnstown folk who were concerned about the safety of the dam but complacently trusted the wealthy, powerful club members to fulfil their responsibilities. McCullough clearly explains the debate that took place immediately after the flood, on what or whom was to blame for the disaster, by explaining the views of the press, the townspeople and the lawsuits that were filed. McCullough’s view is evident from the sub-title of his book. By placing the word “natural” within quotation marks, McCullough immediately suggests that the flood was unusual to any other, and implies that mankind has displaced its blame onto nature.
In 2011 FEMA published the Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management document to re-emphasize the importance of involving the entire community in the execution of emergency management related activities. FEMA’s was trying push the focus of emergency past that of a strictly governmental function. Noting the importance of public-private partnerships, especially in the service sector, FEMA urged a wider a net to be cast not just in the response phase, but all phases of emergency. Additionally, with expanding diversity in the County, FEMA stressed the importance of forging strong connections with community leaders to enable a better understand and appreciation of the type of peoples that make up the community.
Communities throughout the country and the world are susceptible to disasters. The environment and location of a community often predisposes a greater susceptibility to the type of disaster. For example Central Pennsylvania would not be susceptible to an avalanche however communities in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado would have increase vulnerability. Understanding the types of disaster for which the community is susceptible is essential for emergency preparedness (Nies & McEwen, 2011). All communities are susceptible to man-made disasters; terrorism, fires, and mass transit accidents and emergency preparedness are essential. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) is responsible for disaster planning.