All around the world every year some catastrophes happen to cause deaths, distress, and damages- Alas, New Orleans faced a deadly category 4 hurricane in 2005; Hurricane Katrina will be remembered by everybody in New Orleans and all around the world for its aftermaths, societal response and political manipulations that have been a prime example of how a disaster shouldn’t be handled. It was one of the worst hurricanes that the USA has ever faced in modern history. It was a terrible nightmare and the situation only got even worse when mistakes were perpetually repeated by government and disaster management agencies, whether it's concerned about rescuing victims from the cyclones or from fellow fraud-doting citizens; they consistently failed.
Tropical cyclones are deadly and devastating storms. Flooding and High winds are the primary causes of hurricane-inflicted loss of life and property damage, Hurricane Katrina hits numerous towns but the New Orleans has been impacted the most and devastated the whole United States. Some consider it to be of category 4 (extreme) and some it to be category 5 (catastrophic) but studies claim it to be a super-typhoon which is equivalent to a category 4 or 5 hurricane. Since it flooded very quickly making places to flood from three feet to about nine feet. People went to their rooftops to find a way of survival. The magnitude of the damage that it has caused is nearly impractical to assess. Only about 10% of the planning was finished evacuation of the estimated 100,000 people who did not have cars or other means of getting out of the city. Once the storm hit and the floodwaters rose, many of the homes were without electricity, food, or water. Some sufferers died while they awaited rescue. Local authorities estimated unspecified hundreds of deaths and hundreds of thousands of refugees. Hundreds died in the Gulf Coast region. After Hurricane Katrina, the economic and human losses from natural disasters continue to escalate, and that 95% of this burden is carried by developing countries mainly South Asian countries.
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Perhaps, it is necessary to note that this catastrophe has led to numerous economic and social problems. Victims not only faced environmental challenges but, economic chaos opened the way to the unbelievable circumstances when it comes to the deviance of the funds. Unfortunately, there is always some mercenary human existence that is ready to take advantage of the situation. These people indulged in making false documentation in order to receive funds from the government. Not just violating state and federal laws but also taking the right of the injured party which leads to a significant problem for the officials for deciding who is and who really isn’t a survivor of the hurricane. On the other hand, societal preferential partiality was also working invariably with economic suffrages. According to a 2010 census, roughly 60% of the Orleans population comprises of African-Americans. Perhaps, Americans' thoughts about black are very clear, for them they’re not more than a historical slave and bad people. Katrina shows how can people be living nearby each other but still be way different from each other. In this regard, the failure of authorities was just one end of the whole aftermath, socioeconomic norms and social hierarchy helps to maintain these ill-fated citizens’ poorer sufferings to the fullest. Part of the society responded generously while others reacted greedily. Looting, violence, and unsanitary conditions were reported. Many of the deaths result from health complications and civil blunt and not from the direct flooding. Thus it’s not difficult to state that, “One’s personal financial circumstances tend to represent a much heavier blow than the blow one suffers from seeing that people in New Orleans and surrounding areas are suffering” (Kimball, 2006).
Katrina divulged the baby efforts government made at combating the aftermaths. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was known for creating ‘national disgrace’ because of its coordination and communication problem with other federal agencies’ relief organizations. Investigators have concluded that the federal government, even when it saw this alarming warning from the National Weather Service, didn’t take it seriously maybe knowing that local officials too won’t be able to hold the things together. When Hurricane Katrina swept the coast and destroyed New Orleans, many of these Americans suffered from the lack of intervention of the U. S. government. Criticism of trembled and downhearted residents who remained in New Orleans without water, food, or shelter, and the deaths of several citizens by thirst, exhaustion, and violence days are still valid. Although in some cities, the evacuation was done effectively, so there were not many casualties but in others, the authorities failed. “The fact that all the parties involved in the analysis and conclusion phase of levee analysis prior to hurricane placed blame on one another for either not communicating the necessary information or failing to act on the information communicated” (Haubert, 2015).
It is clear that if more effective plans were made for the most affected and vulnerable minorities’ of New Orleans things could’ve been different. Nonetheless, despite of accepting the mistakes done, “Some government officials still claim it to be an unavoidable tragedy and the aftermaths were inevitable no matter what are the government actions” (Haubert, 2015). Even though, many plans were made for shelter and transportation; yet, it will likely be insufficient for improving disaster plans for communities who faced the loss of friends, strong ties to extended family, and community groups influenced other factors affecting evacuation. Certainly, authorizes were not prepared logistically. Preparedness failed; and management couldn’t put up with. Ultimately, victims had to go through the repercussions of the hurricane. Only if weather forecast were taken a little more seriously. Anyway, after everything US can never be the way (at least economically) like the way it was 15 years from on.