Term Paper on "Hurricane Katrina That Ripped"

Term Paper 4 pages (1445 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

This is because a full one-fifth of New Orleans residents live below the poverty line and one out of five does not have a car. To add to the problems, the government agencies were unable to provide adequate transportation for evacuating such people. It is reported that hundreds of available New Orleans school buses stood idle during the evacuation simply because of a bureaucratic hurdle: the buses were under the jurisdiction of the Orleans Parish School Board rather than the mayor's office. ("Hurricane Katrina" para on "Evacuation"). The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is supposed to co-ordinate such activities in emergency failed hopelessly in its function. Those who were left behind in New Orleans were asked to gather in the Superdome for evacuation, but the Homeland Security had failed to make arrangements for housing the 60,000 people who eventually took shelter in the stadium. The result was a total break down of almost all services such as the air conditioning, electricity, running water, working toilets, which eventually led to total chaos. To add to the woes, the evacuation of the affected people was delayed inordinately by the National Guard mainly due to the reason that half of the Guard's are deployed in Iraq and many others are on duty in the never-ending 'War on Terror.' A similar situation, on a slightly smaller scale, occurred at the New Orleans Convention Center. In short, all that could go wrong in the government's handling of the Katrina went wrong.

The Contrary View

Despite valid criticism of the government handling of the crisis some people hold a contrary view. The White House blamed Mother Nature and the magnitude of the storm as well as inadequate ground information for the slow response. Apologists for the administration also contend that natural disasters are always hard to predict and people who chose to ignore the warnings and stubbornly refused to evacuate from the disaster areas were partially to be blamed themselves for their own predicament. A right wing group even attributed the disaster to God's desire to destroy the five abortion clinics in the city; their proof: a radar photograph showing that the hurricane "looks like a fetus facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation." (Quoted by Klein)

Conclusion

The Hurricane Katrina that devastated the West Coast of the United States and almost completely destroyed the city of New Orleans on August 29 was the biggest natural disaster to have visited the country. The response of the government agencies to tackle the challenge was woeful; a direct result of the policies that have de-emphasized the role of the government in protecting the most vulnerable sections of the society against natural disasters and more.

Works Cited

"Hurricane Katrina." From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. September 12, 2005. September 12, 2005.

Karl, Terry Lynn. "Bush's second Gulf disaster." Open Democracy. August 09, 2005. September 11, 2005.

Klein, Joe. "Listen to What Katrina Is Saying." September 04, 2005. September 11, 2005. Time.com.

"The Lost City": Special Report: After Katrina. Newsweek: Print Edition, September 12, 2005

The current estimates of the damage are: As of September 12, 2005, the confirmed deaths are 985 (ultimate figure is likely to be in the thousands); estimated economic loss of over $100 billion, with over a million people displaced ("Hurricane Katrina" Wikipedia)

Erosion as a direct result of construction and draining of the wetlands has brought the Gulf of Mexico thirty-two kilometers closer to land than it was in 1965. As a result, hurricanes pack more speed and power when they strike inland. (Karl) Some people also hold the view that global warming is the primary reason behind more severe hurricanes such as Katrina

The ideology is typified by oft-repeated nuggets such as: "business of government is not to provide services" and a Margaret Thatcher quote from 1987: "There is no such thing as society ... There are individual men and women, and there are families."

A poll taken at the time of a fictional "Hurricane Pam" exercise in 2004 had predicted if ordered to evacuate, 30% of New Orleans population would stay behind. ("The Lost City," 22)

People had started to gather in the Superdome on August 28 and were eventually evacuated fully only by September 6.

A hurricane like… READ MORE

How to Reference "Hurricane Katrina That Ripped" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

What Went Wrong in New Orleans as it Relates to Hurricane Kathleen Term Paper

New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina touched land near New Orleans, Louisiana on August 29, 2005 and its storm surge ripped the levees built to protect New Orleans from Lake… read more

Term Paper 15 pages (4582 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Weather / Climate / Meteorology

---

Children Lost Forgotten and Dispersed After Katrina Term Paper

Katrina

Children Lost, Forgotten and Dispersed After Katrina

Natural disasters hit without prejudice, devastating the rich and poor, black and white, etc. (Kahlenberg, 2005). When a major disaster, such as… read more

Term Paper 17 pages (4667 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Child Development / Youth / Teens

---

Crowdsourcing Techniques in Call Centers Dissertation

[EXCERPT] . . . promising phenomenon that lends itself to call centers' ability to improve their own and their other business units' efficiency is the employment of crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is… read more

Dissertation 96 pages (26560 words) Sources: 53 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

To Analyze Fiction Sort Story Essay

Fictional Short Story

In "Story of the Hour" and other works such at "The Storm," author Kate Chopin rails against the social conventions of her time. She does this very… read more

Essay 2 pages (663 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA Topic: Family / Dating / Marriage

---

Emergency Room Nurse Term Paper

Emergency Room Nurse

Collaborative care is the collaboration of a range of health service providers, other caregivers, the patients as well as their families and the community. "The essence of… read more

Term Paper 4 pages (1385 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Healthcare / Health / Obamacare

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>