Positive And Negative Effects Of Natural Disasters

In the last century, there have been approximately 13 hurricanes to hit the United States’ landfall (Citation). Many of these hurricanes don't only have a social impact, but also have an economic impact on the United States. However, the question is how impactful does a natural disaster have to be to cripple the United States, or can it help improve the economy? One crucial factor in the economy is the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is a common measurement for determining the health of an economy. Unemployment has a negative effect on the economy because it leads to higher payments from state and federal government for unemployment benefits, food assistance, and Medicaid. Not only is the government helping unemployed individuals

55). This is because things like a small flood would effect croplands differently than an urban center. A crop my actually benefit from silt deposits but the New York Stock Exchange would not. However, when disasters increase in scale they almost always have a significant impact on the economy (World Bank & United Nations, 2010, p. 55). Unfortunately, even though these impacts may be short-term there are third order effects on the economy. After Hurricane Katrina many areas were completely abandoned but many more were bought by developers pushing out the lower income populations, completely changing the local economy. This also highlights the different effect that disasters have on different demographics. As an example, the economies of developing countries are effected more by disasters then those of developed nations (World Bank & United Nations, 2010, p. 56). Although this may be because of population density or lack of infrastructure, it shows that demographics as well as the disaster itself have influence over the impact on local economy and

After Hurricane Katrina, ten months later, jobs plummeted to an average loss of 95,000. “During the month of November 2005, employment had dropped to 105,300 below the previous year’s figure.” (Dolfman pg. 7) Furthermore, Hurricane Karina in doubt did cause more damage to the economy than expected. The hurricane “affected 19% of U.S. oil production.” (Dolfman pg. 7) Hurricane Katrina completely destroyed 113 offshore oil and gas platforms, occurs damages to457 oil and gas pipelines, and spilled as much oil compared to the Exxon Valdez oil disaster. This devastating event “caused oil prices to increase $3 a barrel,” and gas prices sky-rocketed to $5 a gallon. (Dolfman pg. 7) Lastly, Hurricane Katrina’s impact struck Louisiana’s sugar industry, totaling an estimate of $500 million in “annual crop value.” (Amadeo)

Economic and development of any area is always and always will be interrupted by disasters big and small. These disasters can have a big impact on the economy by destroying businesses, homes, and damage property. As disaster pose a challenge to up and coming or existing developments or communities there are ways to possibly help damage and lose such as not building in a flood zone and moving to higher elevation. Disasters can have an effect on families to.

Natural disaster currently has become a large part of US economy, from tornadoes, fire, floods and hurricanes. These natural disasters have lead to death of people but also a billion dollar damage to several cities or states. According to National center of Environmental Information, in 2015 there were at least ten weather disasters that lead to property damages exceeding one billion dollar across United States. The natural disasters are found in many ways, the one most famous is Hurricane Katrina and another Hurricane Sandy. These two hurricanes are Atlantic hurricanes, Hurricane Katrina hit the Southern States and Hurricane Sandy hit near Atlantic City affecting many eastern States. Although the two hurricanes have occurred in separate years, yet they have caused a lot of damage in large cities leaving thousands of people without home. Furthermore due to these natural disasters has questioned the government how to prepare for natural disaster in near future. The hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy are both consider Natural disaster that has lead to heavy damages but one has more devastating effect than the other.

The state of New York was severely affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, particularly its suburbs, Long Island, and New York City. The devastation impacted New York City's Subway system, road tunnels, and many communities across the area. Furthermore, the New York Stock Exchange closed for two days, an entire hospital complex had to be evacuated as well as the surrounding neighborhood, and multiple fires destroyed over 100 homes in Queens. Thus, in the end, 53 people lost their lives due to Sandy. The economic impact accrued damage to thousands of homes and an estimate of 250,000 vehicles across New York. The city faced $19 billion in damage, with $32.8 billion required for restoration across the state of New York. (City of New York)

Katrina hit many southern cities. Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi were all hit but the most damage occurred in New Orleans. With the city mostly under sea level this presented much of the problem. The majority of the city was flooded. More than $200 billion dollars in damages were estimated. The loss of life, property, and business were devastating on New Orleans. This was the most costly of all natural disasters in the United States of America in my lifetime. This natural disaster disturbed the economic system of New Orleans, the labor markets around the U.S., and the individual businesses in New Orleans. The trending effect was a loss of 100,000 jobs in ten months and almost 2.9 billion in wages were lost (Effects of Hurricane Katrina, 2012). The storm helped to crush New Orleans and put a devastating effect on the economy of the U.S. Gas prices rose, product prices rose, and the tourism rate in New Orleans went to zero. The port was unable to open, the colleges were closed due to the devastation, and as I stated earlier tourism became null and void.

By looking back at history, it is clear that the economy is an ever changing thing that is unpredictable in many ways. From the stock market crash in the 1920’s to the more recent housing market crash in the 2000’s one thing is for sure; many different factors affect the United States economy every day. In addition to man-made factors there are also other elements that cannot be controlled or even consistently predicted that impact the growth or decline of the economy overall. For example, natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and tsunamis not only cause immediate damage wherever they strike, but also have long term economic affects for years to come. One of the natural disasters that left the biggest impact on the economy was Hurricane

Natural disasters have costed the government a massive amount in the past years. Hurricanes such as Katrina left people in Florida, Haiti, Louisiana and other parts of the gulf feeling helpless. Katrina ravaged states along the coast of the gulf making it the most expensive damage from a natural disaster, 108 billion dollars. However, in 2017, the disasters required over three hundred and ten billion dollars for repairs (Bowden, 2017). How will this be paid for? Will the government have to cut budgets from other programs? Over five natural disasters have struck the United States and surrounding countries this year. These disasters consisted of hurricanes, mudslides, wildfires, flooding, and earthquakes. Hurricane Harvey hit approximately “number” major cities in

Hurricane Katrina had caused many people to lose their homes and costing billions. “People were displaced from their homes; some lost everything they had. Many left the area and did not return. With more than 1,800 deaths in five states and $81 billion in property damage.” Hurricane Katrina, although only starting at a category one, eventually did reach a category five causing extreme damage. Oil refineries, cargo facilities and fisheries, and New Orleans’s tourist industry were severely impacted by the storm. Homes were not the only thing damaged, New Orleans’s economy was also plummeting and affected the United

A disaster can hurt the economy in two ways. It can reduce supply, that is, it

People have a home but once the home is destroyed, there is no roof to stay under. Everything such as money and belongings will be all gone meaning everyone will have to start over. People would become greedy and criminal like since no one has anything left. If people see things that are valuable, people will fight and argue to win that valuable thing causing war leading to death. Everyone will starve because of hunger. No one will have the utensils and time to cook. If there were things to cook with, there will be no crops or animals left to cook/eat. In conclusion, natural disasters have a huge effect to the environment and people. War will start since everything would be extremely valuable, everyone will fight to get what they need and want.

In the United States, people who live in poverty are already one of the most vulnerable populations and it is this population that is heavily impacted by public policy relating to natural disasters. Often, public policies relating to disaster preparedness and recovery are not discussed until after a natural disaster takes place which is too late to do any good for the people affected and who are devastated almost beyond comprehension. The role of government in disaster preparedness and recovery became a “hot button” issue especially after Hurricane Katrina when the federal and local governments seemed to protect/help those who already had resources and not those with little to no resources. According to a Gallup Poll by Jones & Carroll (2005), forty-nine percent of respondents said that FEMA was most helpful to them while thirty-one percent of respondents said that nothing was helpful to them during recovery from Hurricane Katrina. This information indicates that there is a gap in services disaster relief policies and programs that needs to be filled.

While natural disasters such as floods, drought and hurricanes are commonly thought to occur due to environmental forces such as weather, climate and tectonic movements; a deeper investigation into the ‘disaster’ displays other contributing forces. Human factors have a large, if not equal, contribution to the occurrance and outcome of such disasters (Pelling, 2001). As Pelling (2001) argues, there is both a physical and human dimension to ‘natural disasters’. The extent to which the natural occurrence of a physical process, such as a flood or earthquake, impacts on society is constructed by that society, creating a ‘disaster’ as measured by a

Natural disasters are anything from floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, or anything else nature could develop that causes massive amounts of damage, or cause a large losses of life. Such events are not anything caused because of human beings, but only by the actions of atmospheric conditions, or due to the changes of continental drifts that these disasters occur. Technology has come a long way since the early days before the industrial revolution where predictions can be made and warnings can be issued. This helps reduce the amount of possible loss of lives that would occur in 21st century. However, that is not what happened during Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 Hurricane.