...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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...Hurricane Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States of America. It took thousands lives of citizens of New Orleans, left them without homes and families, and changed their lives forever. Many of those who survived the hurricane died waiting for help to come. Hurricane Katrina exposed the existence of ''two Americas''. It took government several days to get help to the victims of Katrina in New Orleans. After watching Spike Lee's documentary ''When The Levees Broke'' I learned that the Government doesn't care about its citizens. After Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed to do what it was created to do - provide immediate relief to the victims of the disasters. People were waiting for help for days, suffering from the heat, lack of food and drinking water and watching their loved ones die without medical help. Those who were tired to wait for the rescue buses and started to walk toward the Gretna bridge were turn around at the gun point. They were not allowed in, like they were citizens of another country- refugees, and thats how the media called people of New Orleans. The disaster of Hurricane Katrina could've been avoided if the levees that protect city would have been designed and built properly. I believe that Federal Government and other officials were aware of the situation for a very long time and still did nothing to protect the people of New Orleans. Most of the citizens of...
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...Hurricane Katrina According to (Brunner, 2007), Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, destroying beachfront towns in Mississippi and Louisiana, displacing a million people, and killing almost 1,800. When levees in New Orleans were breached, eighty percent of the city was submerged by the flooding. About twenty percent of its 500,000 citizens were trapped in the city without power, food, or drinking water. Rescue efforts were so delayed and haphazard that many were stranded for days on rooftops and in attics before help arrived. The city became a toxic pool of sewage, chemicals, and corpses, and in the ensuing chaos, mayhem and looting became rampant; about fifteen percent of the city’s police force had simply walked off the job. The 20,000 people who made their way to the Superdome, the city’s emergency shelter, found themselves crammed into sweltering and fetid conditions. At a second shelter, the convention center, evacuees were terrorized by roaming gangs and random gunfire. Relief workers, medical help, security forces, and essential supplies remained profoundly inadequate during the first critical days of the disaster. New Orleans was in the path of that particular storm. I remember it like it was yesterday. My family and I received minor damage from this hurricane that year. We were left in the dark for over a week when this storm occurred. The city was mostly deserted during this storm. It was mostly the poor...
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...Tameka Whitney Introduction to Geography April 7, 2013 Hurricane Katrina On August 29, 2005 the Gulf Coast of The United States would change forever. The country watch from near and far as one of the strongest hurricanes in the past century made landfall. It caused havoc for so many. The days leading up the predicted landfall of Katrina, many residence of the South from Louisiana to Florida took warning and evacuated. It was the less fortunate fold such as the elderly, homeless and the immobile that were left to “ride” the storm out or find means to get to safer grounds. From Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans folks scrambled to take what they could salvage. As Katrina made landfall with a punch carrying hurricane force winds sustained at 125mph with a central pressure recorded to be the third lowest on record (Hurricane Katrina, NOAA). According to the Saffir and Simpson scale, Katrina made a rating of a Category 3 at landfall. With Katrina’s strength it broke sea walls and levees that were in place to hold the waters back from such storms. As the levees failed on the Mississippi River at New Orleans, Katrina pushed on ward flooding at least 80% of New Orleans with 3-10 feet of water (Getis, Pg. 81) Hurricane Katrina moved on land and vanished into the Ohio Valley and Northeast causing a major rainfall event for them. The real reality was just beginning to unfold as residence of the Gulf Coast were watch and seeing firsthand what devastation was left behind. Lives...
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...The initial response or lack thereof, to the widespread disaster in the Gulf Coast, caused by Hurricane Katrina, demonstrated high levels of incompetence and disorganization by government officials. Images of desperate individuals awaiting rescue on their rooftops, and masses of people packed together in deplorable conditions in the Super Dome, circulated the globe. There was no hiding from the painful reality and the obvious inaction or inability of those responsible to care for these individual in the wake of this catastrophe. Although a considerable amount of the blame has been placed at the feet of FEMA, it should be understood that multiple factors contributed to the situation in New Orleans. Some sections of the levees had been poorly constructed, and were not properly maintained. Local agencies failed to adequately plan and prepare of such an event. Local officials waited too long to order an evacuation, and did not consider how to assist those citizens who lacked the financial resources to evacuate on their own. Many of the obstacles and complications encountered during Hurricane Katrina may have been avoided if the training exercise labeled “Hurricane Pam” would have been completed in 2004. The fictional exercise was five-days long, and was intended to help prepare New Orleans for a category 4 hurricane. Over 50 officials from state, volunteer, and federal organizations participated, unfortunately FEMA caused an early termination of this event by pulling its funding...
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...6/3/14 Period 2 Hurricane Katrina My family and I were living in New Orleans at the time and it was less than 24 hours before the hurricane hit. You could hardly tell though, the weather was beautiful outside. The sun was out and there wasn’t a single cloud in sight. So my friend and I went to Seven Eleven to grab some junk food we could take to the shelter with us before the storm hit. As I walked into the store, I couldn’t help but notice a suspicious looking guy standing over by the Slurpee machines. He gave me the most intimidating look and stared at me for a good minute. That’s when I got the feeling that something wasn’t right. Something really bad was about to happen. I grabbed my friend and insisted that we leave . I told her how the guy was about to do something but she figured I was just being paranoid, and so she just continued to look for junk food. I looked over to see if the guy was still standing there but he was gone. All of a sudden I hear people screaming. I look over to see an man pointing a gun at the cashier and another guy waving a gun at the customers. My heart fell into my stomach. I grabbed my friend and ran to hide in the next aisle. I pulled out my phone and started to dial 911, but right then and there, the guy spotted me. I froze in fear as he came toward me with his gun. He pointed the gun at me. I knew that was the moment my life was going to end. All of a sudden, loud sirens began to go off throughout...
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...Datrel Johnson Professor Peter Johnson Geography 101 25 August 2013 Describe Hurricane Katrina Beginning in the 1950s, the United States have witnessed two Category Five Storms and seven Category Four Storms naming Hurricane Katrina as one of the most deadly Category Four hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina dismantled several sections of the levee which caused it to collapse. The storm then breeched the New Orleans’ levee system allowing Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi River to flow in the heart of the city. Furthermore, a tremendous amount of damages occurred throughout the coast of Mississippi and Alabama. The state of Louisiana sustained most of the damages not just from Hurricane Katrina, “but also to a unique physiographic setting of New Orleans.” (Locke) The storm, Hurricane Katrina was identified as powerful and huge because of the well-formed eye of a typical category four hurricane. Throughout the duration, warm sea water was its fuel for continued momentum and power. The intensity had “closely matched the water temperature” which led the hurricane to reach its peak intensity; category five. (Locke) The storm predicted maximum “rainfall east of the storm-eye track.” (Locke) As Hurricane Katrina took her course, evidence provided “that the right front quadrant” was indeed the most powerful part of the hurricane. (Locke) “The powerful winds and rain occurred here because of rotational winds and steering winds (the prevailing...
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...Housing market in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina Table of contents 1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………3 2. Pre-Katrina situation ………………………..…………………………………..4 3. After-Katrina situation…………………………………………………………..6 4. Current situation New Orleans….………………………………………………8 5. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...…9 6. References…………………………………………………………………….….10 Introduction It is August 29th of 2005 when the United States of America is badly affected by one of history’s most catastrophic nature disasters. Hurricane Katrina hits the south of New Orleans and causes severe damage to this city. This second biggest hurricane in the entire history of America left 80 percent of New Orleans flooded, approximately 80 billion dollars of damage and more than 1800 killed civilians. Due to this disaster, New Orleans was almost completely destroyed including the residences of thousands of families. Not only were there economic enormous problems but also political questions rose by that time. The president by then, president Bush, came in discredit because of cutting in the federal funding which was protecting New Orleans. Since then a lot of things have actually changed but unfortunately, too late. Complete neighborhoods were removed from the map, people became homeless and moved to different places. The effects on the housing market in New Orleans were immense. Because of the effect hurricane Katrina had on the housing market in New Orleans...
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...Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes in the United States. Katrina made landfall as a category three hurricane on August 29, 2005. The initial landfall was made in the Gulf Region near Buras Louisiana and later at the Louisiana and Mississippi border at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Katrina packed sustained hurricane force winds of 125 mph, and extended out 75 miles from the eye of the storm (NOAA, 2012). Katrina’s damage was devastating to residents of the area affected. The causes and impact of hurricane Katrina were negative environmental, social, and economical effects on the Gulf Coast Region. A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone or a low pressure system which forms in the tropics. It is a huge storm and is accompanied by thunderstorms. They can be as wide as 600 miles across and carry winds as high as 200 miles per hour. Hurricanes gather heat and energy from contact with warm ocean waters. The warmer the water is, the more intense the hurricane becomes. The storm surge caused by the hurricane which can be more than eighteen feet high causes flooding once it reaches land. Hurricanes range in categories one through five. A category one hurricane has winds of 74-95 miles per hour, and is considered to cause minimal damage. A category five storm has winds greater than 155 miles per hour, and the damage to expect is catastrophic. In 2001 FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) released a report that listed three most likely catastrophic...
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...Running Header HURRICANE KATRINA Implementation Failure Stephanie Anderson Public Policy and Social Services Sociology 320 Professor John Zurovchak February 20, 2012 1 Hurricane Katrina In 2005 the United States experienced a tough lesson regarding it's preparedness related to natural diasters and it's ability to respond to the needs of it's citizens. The arrival of hurricane Katrina and the devastation that followed, revealed many weaknesses in the country's structure regarding a national emergency response system. The issues identified as the Federal Government attempted to respond to the situation revealed numerous area's of opportunity, regarding the country's lack of readiness to respond. Some of the challenges that surfaced with the wake of Katrina: Ineffective National Preparedness, Public Communication, Public Safety, Search and Rescue and Homeland Security Professional Development and Education to name a few. These challenges made it impossible for the Federal Government to provide a timely and effective response to the devastation. With the challenges that surfaced, it became apparent that new policies would need to be implemented in order to prevent the breakdown and lack of preparedness experienced with Katrina. The first being a need to adopt an effective policy regarding National Preparedness, our current system ...
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...After the recent disaster of Hurricane Katrina, there have been many opportunities to examine the multiple sides of the story. Many of these sides have been released to the public, but told with conflicting viewpoints. The most common conflict brought up again and again is between FEMA and the relief victims. Relief victims and FEMA argue over humanitarian aid issues such as evacuation, supplies, and housing. Evacuation was the most important humanitarian effort that FEMA could provide. Getting residents out of the disaster area was the primary goal of FEMA. Evacuation by bus was the initial form of evacuation. The bus evacuation plan that FEMA provided allowed the whole city to evacuate in a reasonable amount of time. Then evacuation by plane was added as another way for FEMA to get relief victims out of the city in large numbers. The plane evacuation was very efficient once it got under way. The conditions at the airport allowed only outbound aircraft. The last form of humanitarian aid shown through evacuation was the creation of emergency shelters. FEMA, in conjunction with surrounding states, had set up shelters where the evacuees could go. Then states further away volunteered to house evacuees. The shelters provided a place for evacuees to stay after the hurricane and provided time for them to look for more permanent housing. FEMA provided basic humanitarian aid by evacuating Katrina survivors. Supplies were a form of humanitarian aid that FEMA provided. The most basic...
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...July 29, 2013 Trouble the Water Watching this documentary helped me to really open my eyes to see what kind of government protects us. Our president at that time back in 2005, George W. Bush, was so oblivious to the destruction Hurricane Katrina caused. Many families lost their loved ones as well as their homes. My expectation was that the government would fly in within a day or two providing all the necessities to survive. In this situation, that was not the case. It took around five days for Louisiana residents to receive aid. George W. Bush released a statement saying that the reason for a long response time was due to the fact that all army troops were at war and could not withdraw them. In my personal opinion I saw it as discrimination. He felt it was not too much of a concern because of the poverty these American citizens lived in. The majority of the population was African-American. Seven days later Mr. Bush decides to actually walk among the debris and finally bring in the military to help. Only to my surprise, when I thought he was finally doing good, the families start to get relocated and separated. Families were torn apart an forced to relocate all over the U.S. I couldn't help but to get emotional through all of this. America is known for one of the richest countries in the world, and in a natural disaster our help is not even at reach. Ex president Bush to me was by far the worst president. Our country, Louisiana, families, depended on this man and he clearly...
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...9 RUNNING HEAD: LEADERSHIP FAILURES DURING KATRINA Leadership Failures of Hurricane Katrina Mark L. Perkins Webster University MNGT 6000 Professor Lee Trovas February27th2014 Abstract Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history, not only because of the severity of the storm, which couldn’t be prevented, but due to poor planning and the years it took to rebuild and allow the people of New Orleans to move on with their lives.Hurricane Katrina happened four (4) years after the September 11th terrorist attacks and three (3) years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and one (1) year after the DHS had created a National Response Plan. With the world watching the Federal Government failed the people of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The government failed to show initiative and the ability to provide for the basic needs for the people of New Orleans on many levels, including planning, logistics and communication during the natural disaster and the aftermath of the storm. . Introduction I’m going to discuss several failures of leadership and not just on the federal government but on the city and state as well. There are too many to fault that are identified later in this disaster ranging from pre-planning,...
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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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...A plethora of natural disasters have occurred in the past twenty years, but very few compare to the social and economic impact Hurricane Katrina had on the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina formed on August 23, 2005 over the Gulf of Mexico and strengthened to a category five hurricane. The places that were affected by this hurricane ranged from the Bahamas, Louisiana, Alabama, and other parts of the southeastern region of North America. The estimated count of fatalities was about 1,800 and more than seventy percent of the fatalities occurred in Louisiana. Prior to landfall, the hurricane had decreased to a category three hurricane, which caused some people to underestimate the strength and effect that the hurricane could inflict. More specifically, Hurricane Katrina reached high winds of up to 175 miles per hour and moved cars and boats from the coast about seven to ten miles inland. As most cities and states caught wind of the news from the National Weather Services, several mandatory evacuation protocols were placed into effect for the first time ever. Hurricane Katrina affected the United States politically, economically, and socially due to the ill advised decision making and faults within local...
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