New Orleans: Hurracaine Katrina
analytical Essay
958 words
Magazines National Geographic (Bourne, Jr, October 2004) and Scientific American (Fischetti October 2001) as well as many newspapers had demonstrated the risks that would incur residents of New Orleans and surrounding areas. The New Orleans Times-Picayune even published in 2002 a 5-part series describing in detail the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina. Well before the hurricane of August 2005, experts warned that a hurricane of high intensity might create an apocalyptic catastrophe. In August 2002 all the experts had predicted that New Orleans could "die from drowning." In 2001, Professor Ivor van Heerden and his colleagues at Louisiana State University had developed models that predicted a hurricane of high magnitude would flood the region and New Orleans; they tried in vain to make themselves heard by senior government officials (in McMaster, 2005). His fear was such that in 2004 he had said that "a hurricane of Category 3 or higher, moving slowly would drown the city. There will be between 17 and 20 feet of water, and New Orleans, as we know it will cease to exist." In the interview he gave to the media in October 2004, Professor van Heerden conceded " Louisiana is a patient in the final phase that needs major surgery, a patient needed and new heart, new lungs and a new liver in order to survive. In the case where a slow Category 3 hurricane was to pass west of the city, the rains would put pressure on Lake Pontchartrain, and then pass through the highly industrialized areas; passing in these areas would mean that many chemicals would be picked up along the way. One must keep in mind that as well as the flood, the wind would also cause damage and a lot of infrastructure would be destroyed. The contaminated water would theref...
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Smith, D. (2003). Business continuity and crisis management. Retrieved April 14th, 2014 from http://opscentre.com/resources/pdfs/Research/Business%20Continuity%20and%20Crisis%20Management.pdf
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how professor ivor van heerden and his colleagues at louisiana state university developed models that predicted a hurricane of high magnitude would flood the region and new orleans.
- Opines that for effective cooperation, it is essential that there is mutual trust at all levels of the government, with a proportional power responsibility.
- Cites bourne, jr., k. (2004). gone with the water.
- Describes funabashi's message from the president of the rebuild japan initiative foundation.
- Cites wallop, h. (2011). japan earthquake: france tells nationals to leave tokyo.
- Analyzes how hurricane katrina ended decades of anticipation about the devastating effects of a hurricane of strong category.
- Analyzes the shortcomings of katrina, including inadequate resources allocated to disaster prevention, insufficient reactivity with respect to the gravity of the situation.
- Cites augustine, n., and baubion, c. (2013). oecd risk management: strategic crisis management.
- Cites campbell, a., and clenfield, j. on japan's communication key to business continuity.
- Analyzes how japan's pm urges people to clear 20-km zone around fukushima npp.
- Cites kourilsky, viney, and lavelle, m. (2012). one year after fukushima, japan faces shortages of energy.
- Explains how fema's 'pam' simulation foretold katrina disaster. macalester college.
- Cites the official report of the fukushima nuclear accident independent investigation commission.
Related
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- New Orleans Hurricane Katrinaexplanatory essayOn August 29th, 2006 New Orleanians were expecting a total of 12 to 15 inches of rain and extended five or six inches from the upcoming storm later known as the costliest hurricane in U.S history. The Category 3 hurricane devastated most of eastern North America with blustery winds of 170 mph (280 km per hour) and storm surge values ranging from 10 to 20 feet. The storm called ‘’Hurricane Katrina’’ originated in the Bahamas on August 23th, 2005, but only became a devastation the next day. On August 28th, Hurricane Katrina succeeded a Category 3 hurricane(sustained winds of 122 kt) and exceeded the limits of a Category 5 storm (sustained winds of 136 kt). The following day, the cyclone shifted northwest towards Mississippi and Louisiana, where the hurricane hit the hardest. New Orleans was one of the cities where the most damage was caused; leaving a negative environment, residential and economic effects on the Gulf Coast.
In this essay, the author
- Describes how hurricane katrina devastated eastern north america with blustery winds of 170 mph (280 km per hour) and storm surge values ranging from 10 to 20 feet.
- Explains that new orleans and surrounding areas had eluded the calamity of the storm. a flood warning was announced after it was predicted that the river would ‘’rise 60ft,’’ which would overflow a levee.
- Explains that hurricane katrina demolished more residential buildings than any other recent hurricane and left many people homeless.
- Explains that katrina was the costliest hurricane in u.s. history due to the damage dealt.
- Explains how new orleans' levees have been increased and the shape changed from concrete ‘i’-shaped to steel ‘t’ and ‘l’
- Explains that hurricane katrina killed around 2,000 people and affected 90,000 square miles of the united states. people along the gulf coast have made a great attempt to return to their normal lives while rebuilding their city.
674 wordsRead More - Hurricane Katrina: The New Orleans Levee Failuresexplanatory essayVan Heerden, Ivor Ll. "The Failure of the New Orleans Levee System Following Hurricane Katrina and the Pathway Forward." Public Administration Review, 67.6 (2007): 24-35.
In this essay, the author
- Explains the failure of the levee system, which was supposed to protect the people of new orleans, led to the death of more than 1500 citizens.
- Explains that the usace used the "standard project hurricane" model to design the protective system for the most severe recipe of meteorological conditions.
- Explains that the usace is expected to hand over a section of the system to the new orleans levee district.
- Explains that the louisiana department of transportation, responsible for overseeing the overall hurricane system protection, failed to oversee the years of inadequate construction design and effectiveness.
- States that the u.s. senate, committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, held a hearing on hurricane katrina: who’s in charge of the new orleans levees.
1001 wordsRead More - San Francisco Earthquake of 1906explanatory essayOn the night of April 18, 1906, the whole town was woken by erratic shaking. Although the earthquake lasted under a measly minute, it caused significant damage. Many fires started all throughout the city; San Francisco burned in turmoil.
In this essay, the author
- Recounts how san francisco was woken by erratic shaking on april 18, 1906, which caused significant damage. many fires started all throughout the city.
- Narrates how a ship with rats infected with bubonic plague started the first plague epidemic in the continental u.s.
- Describes how a forceful shaking woke many people from their sleep on april 18, 1906.
- Describes how enrico caruso woke up feeling contented after performing carmen at san francisco's grand opera house the night before the earthquake.
- Explains that the earthquake was one of the most powerful earthquakes to ever occur in the united states.
- Narrates how genthe saw a number of men and women, half-dressed, rushing to the middle of the street for safety.
- Explains that most civilians thought there was no hysteria, no signs of real terror or despair until the fire broke out.
- Describes how the raging fire consumed the vast majority of the city, leaving the water and sewer pipes destroyed, telephone lines, railroads, and streets ruined.
- Describes how firefighters rushed to put out the fire at the valencia street hotel. they attached their fire hoses to the hydrants, but couldn't find water.
- Describes the chaos at the ferry building, where hundreds of people tried to escape. brigadier general frederik funston sent presidio troops into san francisco.
- States mayor eugene schmitz announced a new proclamation stating, "the federal troops, the members of the regular police force, and all special police officers have been authorized by me to kill persons engaged in looting or the commission of any other crime."
- Explains that the proclamation gave the police authority to maintain order, but didn't allow the shooting of civilians. navy, army, police, and california national guard tried to keep chaos under control and keep violence from occurring.
- Describes how the fires at golden gate and buchanan street were extinguished after long hours. the california street engine-house was in ruins and the prospect of ever repairing and getting it in operation seemed impossible.
- Analyzes how james stetson managed to get his railroad running again in five months. jack london wrote a paid commentary about the disaster.
- Describes san francisco as modern and elegant; beautifully designed houses and neighborhoods were abundant and slums were gone. because chinatown burned down, racists wanted to rebuild it but on the outskirts of town.
- Explains that san francisco was one of the most powerful earthquakes in the united states. it destroyed 290 miles of land along the san andreas fault line, destroyed 28,000 buildings, and destroyed 500 blocks.
- Explains that the 1906 san francisco earthquake destroyed over a quarter of the city and made over half the population homeless.
- Cites san francisco fire department museum's great fires 1906 great earthquake & fire.
- Describes the facts about the 1906 san francisco earthquake and fires.
1875 wordsRead More - Hurricane Katrina In New Orleansanalytical essayHurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29th, 2005. This hurricane displaced virtually the entire population of the city as a result of massive flooding caused by the levees breaking and Lake Pontchartrain emptying its waters into 80% of the city. Soon after the tragedy, statistical observers began predicting who would make a return to the Crescent City. The most widely accepted predictions were that New Orleans would become both wealthier and whiter as a result of “selective migration” (Fussell, Sastry, and Vanlandingham 1). Their predictions were correct. Black residents returned to the city at a much slower rate than white residents did, and that is without even taking the socioeconomic variables into account. The racial disparities were caused mostly because the areas that experienced greater flooding and more damage were areas like the Lower Ninth Ward, an area notorious for its African American lower class population. Did this happen by coincidence? Or were these areas’ homes poorly constructed as a result of socioeconomic factors? Only 30 percent of the low-income neighborhoods’ residents have returned in contrast with the rest of the city, which has had almost a 90 percent return rate (Al Jazeera). Why is that? What happened after Katrina that caused so many people to leave the “Big Easy” forever? In this paper, I will analyze how natural disasters, specifically Hurricane Katrina, affect various races and neighborhoods (according to income) in urban areas, specifically New Orleans. We will begin by observing the various patterns that emerge in post disaster reconstruction in order to understand what truly happened after the storm. Next, we will discuss specifically the reconstruction plans for New Orleans after Katr...
In this essay, the author
- Argues that speed of recovery is important to keep businesses alive, rebuild infrastructure, and provide temporary and permanent housing for disaster victims.
- Argues that the disproportionate extent to which african americans were affected by katrina could be attributed to preexisting social and economic disparities in the area.
- Analyzes how hurricane katrina exposed the vulnerability of poor african americans and the long-existing social and racial inequalities that existed in new orleans.
- Argues that many of the racial disparities that occurred in post-katrina relief and reconstruction were "blind." fema storm damage data shows that the storm's impact was disproportionately sustained by coastal louisiana’s african american community.
- Argues that the slow return rate of the citizens of new orleans after hurricane katrina raises important questions about urban reconstruction and government relief and intervention after natural disasters.
- Analyzes how hurricane katrina affected various races and neighborhoods in urban areas, specifically new orleans.
- Analyzes how hurricane katrina reinforced some already well-known urban planning lessons: the u.s. government acknowledges racial minorities and the poor at a lesser rate than wealthy white americans.
- Analyzes how post-disaster reconstruction influenced the rate at which new orlenians returned to their home.
- Analyzes how the racial disparities in fema's relief efforts in new orleans after hurricane katrina are legitimate and true.
- Argues that preexisting inequalities can combine with government decisions to establish structural inequality. fema refuses to release its data on who, or how many people it provided shelter to, which makes researching whether or not race genuinely played a role in government invention after katrina near impossible.
2461 wordsRead More - Hurricane Katrina Social Disaster Essayanalytical essayAugust 2005 marked an extremely devastating time for the citizens of New Orleans, Louisiana, after being hit by “one of the strongest storms to impact the coast of the United States” as described by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (Waple 1). The real destruction occurred only after the hurricane had passed though and the levees separating New Orleans from surrounding lakes were breached leaving over 80% of the city under water. Although it is easy to claim the failure in the levees could not have been anticipated, multiple authors beg to differ. Hurricane Katrina was “one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent US history” (Waple 5), but one must acknowledge that the government’s obvious disregard for the unstable levees in New Orleans and their poor handling of the aftermath made Hurricane Katrina a social disaster overall.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that the government's disregard for the unstable levees in new orleans and their poor handling of the aftermath made hurricane katrina a social disaster overall.
- Analyzes how the noaa report published just months after hurricane katrina made landfall repeatedly compared and ranked it with other major hurricanes.
- Analyzes how michael eric dyson's "levees and lies" chapter of his book, "come hell or high water: hurricane katrina and the color of disaster" highlights how bush and his administration ignored the problem, leaving thousands of citizens at risk.
- Opines that hurricane katrina will always be remembered as an immensely devastating natural disaster, especially by those still struggling, 10 years later, to rebuild their lives.
713 wordsRead More - Environmental Causes And Environmental Impacts Of Hurricane Katrinaexplanatory essayOn August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale with winds up to one-hundred and forty miles per hour. Katrina was one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the United States. One-thousand eight hundred deaths, seven hundred missing and one-million displaced is evidence of the human toll that Katrina caused and $84 billion in cost makes Katrina the most expensive natural disaster in United States history. (Blackwell) While these numbers are devastating, the environmental impacts of Katrina still threaten the citizens of New Orleans today. The environmental impacts from Katrina were compounded by man-made environmental hazards. (West)
In this essay, the author
- Explains that hurricane katrina was one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the united states.
- Explains that many homes in new orleans had high levels of lead and arsenic in them due to an above average level of poverty. soil samples taken before and after katrina showed elevated levels.
- Explains that new orleans had a high concentration of hazardous material storage locations, environmental protection agency superfund sites, and toxic release inventory facilities.
- Explains that the flood waters of katrina caused the levees to break, which caused environmental impacts to become wide-spread.
- Opines that katrina had significant negative environmental impacts on new orleans. the extent of the impacts is unknown and continues to cause a risk to the population.
733 wordsRead More - Katrina: An Aftermath of Health and Safety iIssuesanalytical essay6:10 am August 29th 2005. Similar to December 7th 1941 and September 11th 2001, this is a day that will be remembered as a day of fear and uncertainty and a horrific aftermath. August 29th is the day that Hurricane Katrina made its second and most deadly landfall on the Southern United States. Released on September 5th 2005 an estimated 11.9 million Americans were affected by Katrina between Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (U.S. Census Bureau). With only a few days to gather all that they could, thousands if not hundreds of thousands Americans had to evacuate their homes and leave the life they knew. Sadly for all of the ones that could not pick up and leave had to ride out the deadly power of Katrina and hope of emergency aid. With some areas flooded to almost 25 feet of water there was many health ( sewage and waste flooding streets, no food, no water, etc) and public safety issues( high floods, collapsing homes, etc) that would have to be handled immediately for those that were needing rescued and for everyone to come home and rebuild. Right away there were several public emergency groups dispatched to help with the aid and recovery. Once the government got involved more appeared. Being that it is almost the 5 year anniversary of Katrina the question is how effective were these efforts?
In this essay, the author
- Explains that august 29th is the day that hurricane katrina made its second and most deadly landfall on the southern united states.
- Analyzes the health issues of displacement, drinking water, growing viruses, emotional state of survivors, and toxic contamination caused by hurricane katrina.
- Compares the number of people affected by katrina to pre-hurricane numbers, stating that a critical issue for relief volunteers and residents is exposure to toxic or biological contaminants from sludge water.
- Explains how the red cross, salvation army, and catholic charities helped displaced storm survivors in the aftermath of hurricane katrina.
- Analyzes how hurricane katrina increased mental and physical health problems in new orleand by up to three times.
- Cites fink, sheri, and the centers for disease control and prevention's hurricane katrina response.
1110 wordsRead More - Impact Of Hurricane Katrinaanalytical essayHurricane 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
In this essay, the author
- Explains hurricane katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the united states. the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of new orleans into the city.
- Explains that hurricane katrina changed the lives of the residence who lived there forever. the category 3 storm cost around us$135 billion in damages.
- Analyzes the decline in the population of new orleans after hurricane katrina.
- Analyzes how hurricane katrina added to the many push factors of new orleans such as high unemployment rates and poverty.
- Opines that the rate of recovery is slowing down due to the multiple push factors of new orleans and the pull factors or nearby states.
1195 wordsRead More - Hurricane Katrina In New Orleansexplanatory essayIt landed from August 23, 2005 to the 31st on Louisiana State, Mississippi State, Alabama State, Florida State, and Georgia State and did the take its toll of Hurricane Katrina. Especially, it is in New Orleans in Louisiana State that damage was large. 80% of the town in New Orleans went under water to the damage. The hurricane ranges from category 1 to 5. Category 1 is wind speed of up to 95 miles per hour causing damage to trees and branches. Category 2 is that hurricane has winds of up to 110 miles per hour, enough to punch the air out of you lung. When the wind speeds hit 130 miles per hour, hurricane become category 3. Category 4 is roof tiles and peeled off and houses will sustain structural damage. Category 5 is the most feared with
In this essay, the author
- Explains that hurricane katrina landed on louisiana, mississippi, alabama, florida, and georgia state and caused large damage in new orleans.
- Explains that 80% or more of new orleans city was 0-meter region. the ground had subsided consistently since the 70's because of the mining of oil by the gulf of mexico.
256 wordsRead More - The History of Hurricane Katrinaanalytical essayShah, Anup (2005, November 13). Hurricane Katrina. Global Issues. Retrieved from mhtml:file://F:Hurricane Katrina—Global Issues. mht
In this essay, the author
- Describes hurricane katrina as the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in american history.
- Explains how the ruckus of hurricane katrina affected seven states, including georgia, florida, alabama, mississippi, and louisiana.
- Explains that fema is a well-known organization in areas affected by katrina such as louisiana.
- Cites herman, charles (2006, august 25). katrina’s economic impact: one year later. abc news.
- Explains that unemployment rates were elevated due to katrina, and that the state of louisiana lost 214,000 jobs.
- Analyzes how 1.4 billion dollars was distributed to imposters by the u.s. government during this time of loss.
- Analyzes how pump prices jump across the u.s. after katrina. bush, george w. (president of the united states). president discusses hurricane relief
- Cites shah, anup, solanki, parul, thomas, hilton, sieger, m, gajilan, a, burger, t. j., roston, e.
1811 wordsRead More