Social Impact Of Hurricanes

The social and human impacts of cyclone Debbie on the community were heavy with over $1.5 billion in property damage. On Whitsunday islands, the winds reached up to 263 km/h which damaged the power connections to homes and approximately 63 000 properties were effected. Multiple trees fell onto to power lines which caused the power outages. Due to the cyclone mines, all around Queensland were effected. An estimated 10 million tonnes of coal were lost. Mines were flooded which was

A hurricane is formed over warm tropical oceans. A hurricane is a severe storm.Hurricanes happen in late summer or early fall. Hurricanes spread 70-90 miles wide. Hurricanes are found over warm tropical oceans.

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)

Often, the government responds to natural disasters with thorough preparation and planning. The federal, state, and local levels of government do this in an effort to help reduce injury and property damage as well as ensure the overall safety of the general population. The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season saw the costliest and one of the deadliest storms in United States history. This storm was Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina displaced of an estimated 645,000 Louisiana citizens (Cepeda, Valdez, Kaplan, & Hill, 2010). This paper will examine…

Hurricane Katrina was an excellent case study in the divide between society, the government, and the individual as well as the inability for big government and law enforcement to manage crisis. One event factor, only partially controlled by society, was the almost $100 billion and counting effect of Hurricane Katrina on the U.S. Economy. This figure is quite low, when one takes into account not just the repairs and reconstruction for the region, but the interruption of the Gulf oil supply, ruin of exports like grain, forestry in adjoining areas, hundreds of thousands left unemployed (fewer taxes into the government) as well as the huge economic impact the lack of tourism will have on the Louisiana economy (Reidy 2005; Cooper, 2007).

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.

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.

Following Hurricane Katrina, many people sought to answer the question of whether its social effects and the government response to the country’s biggest natural disaster had more to do with race or with class. During the Hurricane Katrina, the damage was worst in the city's low-lying areas where poor, black residents were concentrated. The fact that most of those pleading for help were black served as a reminder that race continued to affect the opportunities of Americans. The racial dimension of this inadequate governmental response provided a focused attention on the mixture of political bungling and racial hostility that transformed a natural disaster into an enduring human tragedy. Race, class and economic factors are seen as inextricably

Junot Diaz once said “Disasters don’t just happen. They are always made possible by a series of often-invisible societal choices that implicate more than just those being drowned or buried in rubble” (Junot Diaz, 1). This quote introduces the idea of what is referred to as a social disaster. A social disaster can be a natural disaster such as earthquakes, tsunamis, or hurricanes etc. that are associated with some environmental, cultural, or political problem (Hovenac, 1). These societal problems can be a result of the natural disaster but more often issues that have always been there that are uncovered by the event of the natural disaster. When we look back at natural disasters that have occurred in United States, we notice that societal issues also arise with these events. A known example of this is when Hurricane Katrina hit the United States in 2005. As a result of the storm, researchers claimed that the socioeconomic status of those affected by the storm played a vital role in the damages that they face. This natural disaster brought attention to the pressing issue of the socioeconomic imbalance in our country and how it affects those in a natural disaster.

Due to disasters created by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, United States employment has fallen for the first time since 2010 after having seven year job growth streak. The monthly job report suggest that 33,000 jobs were lost due to the two disasters that struck Texas and Florida. Prior to the disasters, it was acknowledged that the report expect a rise of 67,000 jobs in September had there been no hurricanes to affect the employment rates. Employment decline in September mainly concentrated in low-wage industries and employment in the leisure and hospitality sector, such as hotels, restaurants and other weather-dependent

Socioeconomic groups played a big role in preparing, experiencing, and recovering from this storm. Hurricane Irma left an economic

The above quote was spoken by a Mr. Jim Willis and quoted by the Washington Post. It summarized perfectly how a natural disaster has the ability to unmask the disparities of society. On August 29th, 2005, a moment in American history was being created. This moment has come to be known as Hurricane Katrina. Her high wind speeds and three days of endless rain led to numerous deaths and astronomical amounts of damages for the residents of Louisiana and Mississippi. Although her terror only lasted for three taunting days, just like the residue she left behind, she also left residents with emotional, physical, and psychosocial scars.

In October of 2012, a post-tropical cyclone swept its way through the Caribbean. The name of this cyclone is better known as Sandy. It began its journey to the East Coast as that of a tropical wave in the Caribbean, and in a matter of 6 hours turned into a tropical storm and then eventually a hurricane. The winds increased to up to 74 miles per hour. Sandy was a 5.8 out of 6 on NOAA’S s scale causing nearly 285 deaths, and costing nearly $367 billion. Although, this was a devastating hurricane, it could have been more destructive if the proper precautions were not taken before and during the storm. However, there are certain procedures that need to be improved in order to ensure the coasts are better protected.

Hurricanes are one of nature’s most natural occurrences and intense phenomenal storms. Yet, as phenomenal as they are, they are still one of the deadliest and disastrous natural occurrences that continue to plague costal residents with fears of their homes being destroyed, their towns wiped out, and loved ones either disappearing or dying.

Hurricanes are among the costliest and the most destructive of natural disasters. Since 1995, the United States has witnessed more intense activities by hurricanes with Mobile County in Alabama experiencing hurricane Ivan and hurricane Dennis in 2004 and 2005 (Link, 2010). In 2005, Hurricane Katrina was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes to have hit the United States and was rated category three in Mobile County (Marchi, 2007). The response to the disaster was poor owing to the lack of proper disaster preparedness as