...The Disaster Relief Project of Post- Hurricane Katrina On August 29, 2005 the levees broke and started the flooding of the city with depths of more than 10 feet of water in some places. The category 4 storm had already taken its toll on the city. The head of DHS Michael Chertoff waited a total of 24 hours after receiving knowledge that the levees were breached to make the designation that hurricane Katrina was a "incident of national significance--requiring an extensive and well-coordinated response by federal, state, local tribal and nongovernmental authorities to save lives, minimize damage and provide the basis for long-term community and economic recovery." What followed this statement was a project management failure of catastrophic measures. I believe there are 4 major project management failures that could have been handled differently by local, state, and FEMA- communication, planning, leadership, and execution. FEMA, Local, and State officials failed to plan for events like this, they failed to communicate with each other during/after the event, they failed to show leadership, and they failed to execute any of the plans presented in a timely manner (one of which was to provide the trapped residents of the city basic needs of food and water). Given that New Orleans is essentially a bowl by being that about half of the city and surrounding areas are above sea level and the other half is up to 6 feet below sea level, the failure of the rescue efforts, and overall readiness...
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...morning, 29 August 2005, this is a day most New Orleans residents will never forget. This was the day a category 5 hurricane named Katrina made its catastrophic debut to the Gulf Coast region and killed over 1,300 people. (The White House, 2006, p. 1) After it was all said and done, the nation was shocked at the events that unfolded in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and people were left wondering, “What went wrong?” National Geographic reported that the storm originated about a week earlier, 23 August, in the Caribbean and worked its up from the Bahamas making landfall Thursday, 25 August, in Miami. Winds at this time were 75-80 mph making it a category 1 hurricane causing some tree damage and killing two people. (Drye, 2005) The storm lost strength for a little while but once it hit the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it rapidly gained momentum and before long reached wind speeds up to 175 mph making it a category 5 hurricane. On Sunday, 28 August, New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, issued a mandatory evacuation order. Roughly 24 hrs later, the full strength of Katrina slammed into New Orleans and Biloxi. (Drye, 2005) Local and state emergency managers are responsible for coming up with a plan of action for different hazardous situations. Once a situation gets overwhelming for those levels of management, federal assistance is then requested. Prior to Hurricane Katrina’s arrival, various local emergency management agencies (LEMAs), such as local fire, police, and emergency...
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...Enron, Hurricane Katrina Examples of Leadership Gone Wrong Poor crisis leadership was on display after Hurricane Katrina and during the financial crisis The New Orleans masses who huddled in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, the Enron retirees who lost their life savings, and the laid-off workers buried under the economic ruin of financial companies all live with a simple truth. Just as spectacularly as great leadership can spark success, failed leadership can bring down cities, businesses, and economies. The collapse of major financial companies starting with Bear Stearns, the stunningly botched reaction to Katrina, the inept federal response to tips about Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and the financial sleight of hand that brought down Enron are only the latest examples of leadership failure. "We keep making the same stupid mistakes, generation after generation," says William Baker, who holds a doctorate in industrial psychology and is the journalist in residence at Fordham University. Many of the most stunning leadership disasters have common ingredients, such as executives who lack integrity and build organizational cultures where dissent isn't heard. "Leadership is not position. It's moral authority. Moral authority comes from following universal and timeless principles like honesty, integrity, treating people with respect," says Stephen Covey, author of several bestselling books on leadership and self-improvement, including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective...
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...Governmental Fumble: Hurricane Katrina Things that occur naturally such as tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes are unpreventable and are considered to be natural disasters. However, when man knowingly aids in the destructive power of naturally occurring events to inflect more damage, it is unquestionably a manmade disaster. For many years, both in the past and present, the United States has experienced some of the most devastating natural and artificial catastrophes such as The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s and the September 11 terror attack by the Al-Qaida terror network among others. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the human factor contributed to both the deadliest and costliest hurricane to impact the city of New Orleans. A city that is known to be the birth place of Jazz and the yearly celebration of Mardi Gras has unfortunately inherited a new chain of thought as the city that went underwater. Hurricane Katrina was the third strongest land hurricane and the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. The hurricane is approximated to have affected more than 1.5 million individuals in the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, which contributed to the loss of billions of dollars in damages and job losses caused by the hurricane. The city of New Orleans was the most affected because it stood directly in Katrina’s path and although it is impossible to stop a naturally occurring event from occurring, it is not impossible to limit the damage that it inflicts...
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...(ARC), also identified as the “The Face of Recovery”, is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside the United States. The ARC is a non-profit organization that offers services in five areas of society. The community service sector helps citizens that are in need. In the communication sectors, the ARC provides comfort for military members and their families. The collection, processing and distribution of blood and blood products are also services provided by the ARC. There are also educational services on preparedness, health, and safety which are imperative for recovery acts. Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic Hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes. Hurricane Rita hit the coast of Louisiana and Texas only a month later and was even larger category 3 storm (Ferrell, Ferrell, Fraedrich 2011). The ARC raised more than 2 billion in private donations to fund massive relied efforts for both these disasters (Ferrell, Ferrell, Fraedrich 2011). Now let’s examine how this disaster impacted the ARC, benefits of business ethics. Business ethics’ is the application of ethical values, such as integrity, fairness, respect and openness, to business behavior. The American Red Cross was criticized for their operations being chaotic in some places, inequitable in others. This stung deeply within an...
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...Hurricane Katrina changed the way United States viewed floodplain management and flood risk management. The Great Mississippi River Flood of 1993 produced the highest economic damages of the century, killing over 130 people, costing over $20 billion dollars in flood damages. Hurricane Katrina caused over a million people to lose homes, jobs, and took over 1300 lives. It has been estimated the restoration of the communities and some level of flood protections will exceed over $100 billion dollars when it’s all done. Before the twin towers were hit on September 11, 2001, it seem like the United States was headed in the right directions with floodplain and risked management. Due to the terrorist attacks on that day, change the way America took their approach on homeland security. All the focus and money shifted to US Department of Defense, and the natural hazard management was kind of put on the back burner and basically forgot about until Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina changed the game for how America planned for flooding and risk management. When Hurricane Katrina hit, it was a slap in the face on the response to flooding that took place in New Orleans. Up to this point there was not a single inventory of levees and flood damage structures in United States. America became a reactive force instead of an active force. The Secretary of Defense got involved and requested the US National Academics to establish...
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...It is human nature, that at a “personal and institutional level - to lose focus on long- term needs in the light of short- term demands.”64 Major Hurricanes of the scale of Katrina do not happen frequently so society tends to neglect and take no action. In doing so, they will unknowingly contribute to the severity of the consequences from the next hurricane strikes. Long term safety must take precedence and needs to “place the protection of public safety, health and welfare at the forefront of the nation’s priorities.” 65 What any city can learn from Hurrican Katrina is that each city needs to develop a long term plan to protect its citizens.. If a plan does not exist at all, it is important that they make one that contains all necessary elements...
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...Racism and Hurricane Katrina Matt DePalma Geography 1000 Assignment 1 October 4, 2013 Under the presidency of George W. Bush, Hurricane Katrina was deemed as a national, political, and racial disaster. From preparations of the hurricane, rescue efforts provided, and money funded for the storm, Hurricane Katrina represented a nationwide failure and the casualties and emotional scars it left on the people of New Orleans is evidence. Monday, August 29, 2005 will forever live on as a day of infamy in New Orleans, a day where not only poor planning was obvious but racial inequalities also became even more apparent to the people. In the aftermath of its destruction, Katrina showed the world just how racist New Orleans was, and how corrupt and slowly the government acted towards saving lives. Unfortunately, New Orleans the the United States government left the black, poverty stricken population for dead, exposing a city still full of racism for had they not been, more lives could have been rescued. For starters, Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans during the storm had issued a mandatory evacuation of the city in preparation of the storm (Trouble the Water). This is a seemingly righteous and smart political move on Nagin’s part except that he also provided no transportation for those without cars or money. As a mayor, Nagin had to know that not every single person in his city could afford the luxury of travel for evacuation of Katrina. Nagin left 100,000 people, most of...
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...As the response to Hurricane Katrina and relevant recovery operations required ethical decision-making, due attention should be paid to assessment of the validity and effectiveness of ethical decisions. There are many resources, both videos and articles, that provide detailed description of the tragic situations created by the impact of the natural disaster and some ethical dilemmas faced by responders. In all cases, the concepts of ethics, justice, equity, equality, and professional competence played an important role in decision-making processes. The storm caused “more than 1,800 fatalities and more than $100 billion in damage” (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2015). Policy makers’ decisions caused harm and completely destroyed the...
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...By: Miralem Smajic October 2, 2011 Political Science 3000 Professor: David G. Houghton In the milestone event of hurricane Katrina’s devastating destruction in 2005, the recovery process has had major impacts on the people in the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout the incident of Katrina, many organizations have helped contribute and donate their effort for the people of Louisiana and other states that have been affected by Katrina. Although years have passed since Katrina occurred, Red Cross for instance has raised the most for the beneficiary victims of Katrina. Donations throughout the United States such as: Red Cross, The Salvation Army, Joan B. Kroc, The American Cancer Society, and many other contributors raised funds for the victims of Katrina. The contributors statistics show that “The Red Cross moved up two spots to No. 2, rising nearly $3-billion,” Chronicle of Philanthropy. 20.2 (Nov. 1, 2007) while “The Salvation Army fell to No. 3, raising $1.6-billion” Chronicle of Philanthropy. 20.2 (Nov. 1, 2007) in the effort to provide outstanding amount of contribute to the people of Katrina’s destruction. Many who have lost their businesses and other data in the computing related plans by which the “Information Technology (IT) Disaster Recovery plan (DRP) to help protect their business data so as to ensure their survival,” (Academy of Strategic Management Journal. 10.2 (July 2011): p127) provides people who own businesses a safer straightforward plan to protect their...
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...documentary about the disastrous flooding of New Orleans during the Hurricane Katrina in a different viewpoint. While mass media describes the flood as well as the hurricane as a natural disaster, Shearer claims that the flooding was actually a man-made disaster, not a natural one; and the film contains comprehensive investigations with scientific data to support the claim. “The Big Uneasy” emphasize on the ineffective design and maintenance of the flood-protection system as well as the engineering structure of Mississippi River’s waterway in the city. Severe environmental damages due to poor infrastructural planning also ruin the natural flood barrier of the region. Furthermore, these problems are supported...
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...Devastated, confused, panicked, outraged, and frightened. Undoubtedly, these words describe just a handful of emotions experienced by the victims of Hurricane Katrina during and in the days following its horrific landfall on the cities of Louisiana, Mississippi, and their neighboring states. Although not often viewed as such, authorities in positions slated to respond to the disastrous effects Katrina were a second type of victim of the hurricane. They were victims in authoritative positions who experienced the same feelings of dread and fear only to have it compounded by the knowledge that they were responsible to react and respond to the dread and fear of the masses. Using principles of critical thinking to describe how I would imagine being an authority figure expected to respond to the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina is a daunting task. For my opinions and thoughts to not be considered as “biased, distorted, partial, uninformed, or downright prejudiced” (Our Concept), thinking, especially when much of the reference material provided for the writing assignment could be interpreted as such, is challenging. It is understandable, however, how that type of thinking played out during the storm and its aftermath; how the actions of those in authority in the spur of the moment affected the overall outcome of the disaster because of the sheer enormity of it all. Clearly, had they had the luxury of time to think by “skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing”...
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...Natural eco system services regulating water flow was replaced with machines levees and pumps that keep the water off the streets. This had lack of regard for natural ecosystems left the city of New Orleans, vulnerable to a catastrophic flooding during this Category 5 Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina had been listed one of the most horrible storms in history. The environmental consequence was devastating. New Orleans was vulnerable to wind and water, and over time a great deal has been done to help save this city from harm. Hurricanes Katrina storm course breached floodwalls and levees New Orleans, causing a widespread of damage along with the hampering rescue and improvement. The flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina was predicted, the degree of flooding was vague. Since much of the landscape of the city is underneath the sea level and lacking natural drainage precipitation frequently causes local flooding which is controlled by a system of canals and pumps (Cater 2005). New Orleans was faced with flooding threats from the Mississippi River, costal storms and severe precipitation. The levees as well as floodwalls around the city were intended to present a certain level of defense for such threat as Katrina. However the levees prevented the deposition of sediments that remain behind after the floodwater settle. Under natural conditions these sediments replenish and maintain the delta, building up costal wetlands. Most of the nation’s flood along with storm damage reduction...
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...Hurricane Katrina: Race and Class in America and the Failure of Its Government Carlus R. Townsend English 215 2/25/12 Introduction How hurricane Katrina exposed Racism in the US Hurricane Katrina that happened 7 years ago was a natural adversity. Few years following Hurricane Katrina, individuals are still feeling the repercussion and queries of racism. Katrina uncovered racism and division inequality in America, and the way the government failed the citizens in so many aspects. Many black people residing in New Orleans that were affected felt as if they considered themselves as genocide victims compared to what happened to them and the treatment they received after the hurricane. The majority of the affected people were blacks and this paper try to analyze how the victims of the hurricane were discriminated upon because of their race and face unbearable inequality because of their race ethnicity. Discrimination against Hurricane Katrina victims Various people, particularly the politicians, spoke out insisting that the comparison of the holocaust was inappropriate, as there was no use of any gas chambers utilization. This resulted to many people wondering if the act of racism was in existence without absolute violence. Communities residing in New Orleans insists that individuals died because of utter neglect. This took place because the affected persons were the black race, and so the government neglected them and was not concerned to what happened...
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...The Future of Emergency Management Jeffrey C. Jones Case Studies in Natural and Man Made Disasters Professor Charles Kocher July 16, 2012 Abstract Emergency managers have historically been just that, managers of emergency situations. As the field of emergency management changes, more and more emphasis is being placed on the prevention of the emergency all together. This paper will lay out the frame work of emergency management in terms of total reorganization. The current model although tweaked many times is still response heavy, the new model will be more prevention and mitigation based, as will call for the total overhaul of conventional emergency management. Introduction The American public as an expectation that be it private or government on any level professional responders and emergency managers should be capable of handling any and all types of emergencies. They have an expectation be it fair or not that these responders should execute these responses without error. This expectation is only further fueled by popular television programs that depict stoic emergency managers that handle the large events everyday. In addition to emergency managers the same could be said about military commanders, and political leaders. The odd coincidence is that this was also the key duty that emergency managers have always focused on. The thought was that if a manager handles the call or...
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