“We cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn't have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness”, stated by the philanthropist and model Petra Nemcova. It has only been 11 years, since hurricane Katrina transformed, killed, and hurt over a thousand people along the Gulf Region, and especially New Orleans (CNN, 2016). Within a matter of days thousands of children and adults had nowhere to call home, because home was no longer there. There were many questions asked throughout the duration of hurricane Katrina and after, if the government had executed their job properly in order to aid the people of New Orleans? There are answers, and opinions on this question, but after all hurricane
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Under certain conditions the government cannot always do so, but it can take precautions in order to make sure that its citizens are alright if an issue arises. According to Debarshi Chaudhuri (2010), “The Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco decided to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana on August 26, 2005.” The next day, on the federal level, Bush who was president at the time complied. After this, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) began to take action in Louisiana. The mayor at the time, C. Ray Nagin had officially declared an evacuation of the city on August 28th, 2005 (Chaudhuri, 2010). With all this going on, there was still no true evacuation plan that could help the citizens leave the city. Since people weren’t able to evacuate the city, they were told to head to the Superdome for further assistance. The Superdome essentially, was a place for the people to “weather the storm” (Chaudhuri, 2010) and for those who could not leave the city before the storm, which hit on the morning of August 29th, 2005. Additionally, I believe that if their would have been a proper evacuation plan more individuals would’ve been able to leave the city, and there may have been less casualties. Since there was no set plan, I felt as if the government did not do enough or act efficiently to help the people of New Orleans because they knew that the storm was …show more content…
Essentially it killed about 1,577 people (CNN, 2016) in the city of New Orleans. By the same token, the people of this city were suffering. Upon being displaced from their homes, the next challenge was trying to survive. Since, 80 percent of the city was flooded after the levees broke; there was an issue with receiving clean water. The relief workers had to find a way to provide shelter, food, and clean water. It was stated by Kellogg Schwamb, “survivors in many areas face a double threat from a lack of drinking water and sewage treatment” (Schwamb, 2005). Since there was no major electricity, pumps and waste treatment weren’t able to properly do their job. Because of this conditions were easily made for disease to spread, especially since all the people were in one shelter. With a host of other issues, the excess amount of flood water, made way for insects to breed. There was talk of potential risk of the West Nile virus because of the mosquitoes. Then again, citizens would also have to watch out for toxic contaminants. Not only did hurricane Katrina affect the people’s physical health, it also affected their mental health. According to Cheryl Person, MD, “This tragedy is going to be prolonged, with sustained levels of distress” (Person, 2005). Along with this, she also stated that some individuals may experience some level of PTSD. Being that New Orleans is mostly made up of lower
Under certain conditions the government cannot always do so, but it can take precautions in order to make sure that its citizens are alright if an issue arises. According to Debarshi Chaudhuri (2010), “The Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco decided to declare a state of emergency in Louisiana on August 26, 2005.” The next day, on the federal level, Bush who was president at the time complied. After this, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) began to take action in Louisiana. The mayor at the time, C. Ray Nagin had officially declared an evacuation of the city on August 28th, 2005 (Chaudhuri, 2010). With all this going on, there was still no true evacuation plan that could help the citizens leave the city. Since people weren’t able to evacuate the city, they were told to head to the Superdome for further assistance. The Superdome essentially, was a place for the people to “weather the storm” (Chaudhuri, 2010) and for those who could not leave the city before the storm, which hit on the morning of August 29th, 2005. Additionally, I believe that if their would have been a proper evacuation plan more individuals would’ve been able to leave the city, and there may have been less casualties. Since there was no set plan, I felt as if the government did not do enough or act efficiently to help the people of New Orleans because they knew that the storm was …show more content…
Essentially it killed about 1,577 people (CNN, 2016) in the city of New Orleans. By the same token, the people of this city were suffering. Upon being displaced from their homes, the next challenge was trying to survive. Since, 80 percent of the city was flooded after the levees broke; there was an issue with receiving clean water. The relief workers had to find a way to provide shelter, food, and clean water. It was stated by Kellogg Schwamb, “survivors in many areas face a double threat from a lack of drinking water and sewage treatment” (Schwamb, 2005). Since there was no major electricity, pumps and waste treatment weren’t able to properly do their job. Because of this conditions were easily made for disease to spread, especially since all the people were in one shelter. With a host of other issues, the excess amount of flood water, made way for insects to breed. There was talk of potential risk of the West Nile virus because of the mosquitoes. Then again, citizens would also have to watch out for toxic contaminants. Not only did hurricane Katrina affect the people’s physical health, it also affected their mental health. According to Cheryl Person, MD, “This tragedy is going to be prolonged, with sustained levels of distress” (Person, 2005). Along with this, she also stated that some individuals may experience some level of PTSD. Being that New Orleans is mostly made up of lower