It is not an exaggeration to say that Hurricane Katrina represents one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. At least 1,833 are reported to have died or gone missing as an outcome of the hurricane, which was formed on August 23, 2005. According to official records, nearly one million people were left homeless; in fact, it would be reasonable to indicate that Hurricane Katrina has ranked among the costliest disasters to hit the United States throughout the history. The destructive storm has been found to cause up to $108 billion in damage. Hurricane Katrina’s flooding overran New Orleans early in the morning on August 29, 2005. Quite a number of devastating consequences have been strongly associated with the tropical cyclone that “made landfall on the Gulf Coast and generated a huge disaster” (Edwards). While the final death toll was at 1,833, many more lives were disrupted indeed. Sure enough, the hurricane deprived a huge amount of people of access to their homes and jobs. In addition, it is fitting to argue that the natural disaster separated the masses from their relatives. The last but not least, Katrina survivors have undergone physical and mental distress; all in all, bitter memories of that life-altering disaster are never far from their hearts.
By immersing into the steps established in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it comes to light that some did make sense in terms of curbing the catastrophe. It cannot be overstressed that starting a voluntary evacuation and reaching people stranded on roofs must be seen as an absolutely right decision. On the other hand, many criticize the government for the overly bureaucratic approach to mitigating the catastrophe hazards. In reality, signing disaster declarations for Louisiana and Mississippi was not major at the time. Apart from the bureaucracy that prevailed, the nation witnessed communication breakdown. Despite the fact that the local authorities announced plan to call for evacuation, the first power in the world did not have an emergency preparedness plan for the city. As noted by some, “officials seem to have been taken by surprise by the breakdown in communications, in every sense of the word, with mobile phones and landlines not operating” (Borger & Campbell).
Of course, the coordination of disaster response measures by US government has seen an impressive improvement since the hurricane passed southeast of New Orleans in 2005. At the same time, it can be said that New Orleans is still recovering from probably the strongest hurricane ever recorded. Notably, there is yet much to be done for New Orleans to be fully rebuilt. Another issue of concern is that 1 in 3 blacks did not come back to the city after the incident; and it is because the authorities did not see the urgency in the need to examine the determinants of returning to New Orleans.
Amid the rapid intensification of Hurricane Katrina, the state proved unable to manage the situation; this in turn prompted considerable criticism from the citizenry. In retrospect, no one can fail to note that Katrina’s severity has necessitated a multifaceted approach to dealing with the storm, which attained Category 5 status. There is a general opinion that the federal government’s sluggish response helped identify critical flaws in America’s national preparedness at all levels, “ from the White House to Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana to Mayor C. Ray Nagin of New Orleans” (Lipton). Anyway, the present-day authorities do show the ultimate commitment to reorganize priorities with great emphasis upon exercising the emergency response organization on a national scale. To date, the government makes stress upon the campaign aimed at nurturing a more general capability to react to various types of crises.
- Borger, Julian, and Duncan Campbell. Why Did Help Take So Long to Arrive? The
Guardian N.p., 3 Sep. 2005. Web. 07 May. 2018. - Edwards, Chris. Hurricane Katrina: Remembering the Federal Failures. Downsizing the
Federal Government N.p., 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 07 May. 2018. - Lipton, Eric. First Report on Katrina Assails Bush’s Response. The New York Times N.p.,
13 Feb. 2006. Web. 07 May. 2018.
