Tragedy Behind Hurricane Katrina

As “the single most catastrophic natural disaster in U.S. history,” Hurricane Katrina wracked New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast region during and after 2005 and is virtually without parallel in recent U.S. history. The tremendous storm surge after the hurricane paralyzed the city of New Orleans because not only the city’s natural geographic features made it vulnerable to flooding, but also the built protective system failed and worsened the impact of flooding. The flooding ensued after Katrina exposed many persisting governmental management problems, which along with New Orleans’ long existed poverty, gender disparity, and racial equity, all played vital roles turning this natural hazard into a devastating disaster. While the hurricane, storm surge, and flooding were inevitable physical events that human have little power over, the tragedy behind Hurricane Katrina were socially created by different means of social discrimination that should be recognized and banished, but ignored instead.
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Katrina affected more than 600 miles of the Gulf coastline, with significant devastating damage in Louisiana because of the flooding followed the hurricane. New Orleans’ geographic location made the city vulnerable facing the tremendous storm surge, and its built system that supposed to prevent the city from flooding failed as the levees breached and caused even more rapid flooding. With a large amount of people left behind to face flooding on their own because of New Orleans’ persisting social discrimination of poverty, gender disparity, and racial inequity, Hurricane Katrina eventually became such a tragic event with many fatalities that is virtually without parallel in recent U.S.