1-+Hurricane+Katrina+Strikes


 * Disaster Strikes**

It was August 29th, 2005. Disaster struck. Millions of people were uprooted, and the president's popularity declined. Upon its arrival, Hurricane Katrina showed no mercy to the city of New Orleans. But the Hurricane itself wasn't the entire problem. It can be speculated that poor disaster prevention was the cause for all of the destruction that occurred. In fact, FEMA (or the Federal Emergency Management Agency) ranked New Orleans one of the most vulnerable cities to natural disaster in the United States. This was largely due to the location of the city. New Orleans is not only below the sea level, but is nestled between Lake Ponchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico. When the storm struck, the levees that served as shields against the waters broke, and the entire city was flooded. It became clear when the hurricane approached that evacuation was necessary. While many people did evacuate, the sick and the poor without a means of transportation were forced to stay. "The 100,000 who remained in the drowning city were largely poor and predominantly black, exposing the racial dimension of New Orleans’s persistent poverty: 28% of New Orleanians are poor (twice the national average) and 84% of those are black. The elderly poor were also disproportionately affected by the disaster: 70% of the New Orleans area's 53 nursing homes were not evacuated before the hurricane struck" (Brunner). What was more alarming was the lack of preparation involved in the response efforts. No crime prevention plans were put in place; likewise, no transportation plans were put in place. Chaos, looting, and sickness swept the city in the aftermath. 


 * The Aftermath and Response **

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina could be described as a nightmare. Nationally, oil prices skyrocketed as the gulf oil business was disrupted. FEMA failed to initiate a relief plan until two days after the storm had subsided, creating disgust throughout the nation. Meanwhile, the survivors found that the contaminated flood waters that engulfed the city cut off their water and food supplies. Those who consumed the liquid became ill, and those who failed to find food became ill as well. Looters ran rampant through the city, collecting what profit they could. It could be said that if FEMA had only been quicker, Katrina's impact could have been dramatically reduced.

Furthermore, the response given by President George W. Bush was considered less than adequate. While the New Orleans levees were widely anticipated to be problems when the storm arrived, he asserted that he didn't "think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." His focus towards the issue was clearly minuscule. However, he continued to address the nation in weeks to come in order to make up for his earlier shortcoming.

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