The Role Of Authoritarian Government And Hurricane Katrina

If your neighborhood was flooded, how fast would you want the government to respond? Hours? Days? Weeks? Well, for victims of Hurricane Katrina it was months. But why? One of the purposes of the government is to serve the people. There was different government groups at the sites of the aftermath of Katrina, but many of them didn’t even bother to help the victims in need like the military, police, and national guard. In the book “ Zeitoun” written by Dave Eggers we see that a victim of the hurricane had more of an authentic human response than the government did. Before the hurricane hit there was a mandatory evacuation, but many people stayed behind for different reasons. The aftermath of Katrina led to even bigger issues than need be because

A running theme throughout most of the literature on Katrina shows that the inability for the bureaucracy to effectively manage the crisis contributed to human suffering, needless death and disenfranchisement, and frankly, in excess and drawn out repairs. What should happen? Again, there are local issues as well as broader national issues. Certainly, though, the billions of dollars in funding that go to crisis management at the national level should be honed and made accountable for doing exactly what their mandate indicates: effectively handling disasters. The money and time spent on cleaning up the disaster, though, led to increased criminal activity in New Orleans, public calls from new leadership, and governmental criticisms. In July 2012,

I believe the principle of federalism didn’t work in the case of hurricane Katrina for the following reasons. Before the storm no one really did anything to prepare. Very little people evacuated like the mayor urged them to. Some people gathered food food and tried to fill up their cars with gas but gas stations started to close down. Even though the President knew that the storm was going to hit, he was on vacation visiting his mother instead of preparing for the storm.

Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a

In a time of crisis, the government response to the situation at hand was poor and inefficient. There were numerous flaws and errors in the relief plan proposed to the government which in turn led to delayed relief to victims in need. The immediate response phase after Katrina lasted roughly 12 days. During this time, “victims were evacuated, rescued, sheltered, and received medical care from first responders, charities and other non-governmental organizations, and private citizens”(McNeill, 2011). The fact that the U.S. government organizations were not the first responders to the disaster is shameful for our country.

This case summarizes events preceding the Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural catastrophes in the modern history of the USA. It raises questions about the lack of reasonable prevention and preparation actions due to flimsy structure and management of the responsible organizations and persons, invalidity and inconsistence of their actions and incapability of making the decisions in a timely manner. As a result of the unstructured and incoherent activities, we could observe several ineffective and costly attempts to mitigate floods and hurricanes. In the beginning the local officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and “White Houses past and present always seem penny-wise and pound-foolish” because of the chain of the wrong

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans. The communication broke down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were broken down, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” (Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS).

Natural disasters are inevitable. Some are with warning or unforeseen. Many natural disasters are without harm or break world records. However when catastrophes like these happen, most countries have backbones to support them in their lowest points. Regardless of countries having reinforcements, some aid can be hindered due to ignorance and wicked mindsets. Hurricane Katrina is living proof of the inhumane actions done by the country’s spitefulness. Racism is one of the main reasons our human rights are violated on a daily basis. Racism is so extreme, that this country left thousands of people in Louisiana to die before and after the hurricane hit. Although help was brought upon, it was distributed in a very unorganized and unfair manner.

Another interesting difference of the movie and the Bible were the miracles shown in the Book of Exodus. In the Bible, Moses uses a staff to perform the miracles God asks him to do. He even turns the staff into a snake. However, in the movie, he uses a sword to part the Red Sea. In the Bible, God orders Moses to go to the bank of the Nile and use his staff to stretch it out for the rivers and all the reservoirs of water to turn into blood.

In my opinion, all three levels of government failed the people of New Orleans in responding to Hurricane Katrina. There was plenty of pushing the blame on one another that ended up delaying responses and finding results. It seemed like one level of government would try saying the other level of government is responsible for that role. For example, The Director of FEMA, Michael Brown would say that the local and state are in charge of evacuation planning. There is some truth to that, but according to the U.S federal law governing homeland security it states that FEMA, “operations to save lives, through evacuating potential victims.” (Producers, 2005).

For this project I chose the smallest of Mars’s two moons, Deimos. It was discovered on August 11, 1877, although could have been around a lot longer but the planet’s glare kept both moons hidden from discovery. Deimos and Phobos were both named after Greek god sons, as were most planets and their moons in our solar system. Deimos is lumpy and potato- like in shape, only being about 7.8 miles in diameter.

On August 29, 2005, the third strongest and biggest hurricane ever recorded in American history hit the Gulf Coast at eight o’clock a.m. The interaction between a tropical depression and a tropical wave created a tropical storm later referred to as Hurricane Katrina (FAQS, 2013). Forming over the Bahamas, Hurricane Katrina gradually strengthened as it moved closer and closer to the Gulf of Mexico. Recorded on August 28th, 2005, Katrina jumped from a category three storm to a category five storm with maximum sustained winds up to 160 miles per hour. Although other hurricanes, such as Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma, exceeded Katrina, this dominant storm was classified as the fourth most intense hurricane

Hurricane Katrina exposed huge issues in the United States disaster preparedness and response programs. In 2005, the structure for homeland security was unable to manage catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina. Unified management of national response

The Colosseum is an example of one of the first sports stadiums. It was built for the pure entertainment of the crowd. It has been around since 80AD and it could hold 60,000 people inside. The Colosseum has been able to withstand the forces of nature and the forces of humans such as thieves and vandals and has lasted over thousands of years. This proves that the Colosseum is a wonder that will last for many years to come which means many generations will be able to enjoy it, thus I believe it should be one of the 7 wonders.

Katrina traveled into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26 and started to expand. When the storm reached the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane however, deteriorated before making it to Louisiana to a Category 3 on August 29 with winds at 145mph. Due to the 20 to 30 foot storm surge and levee failure, it resulted with the infrastructure critically damaged from Florida to Texas. State and local agencies use the Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model to know whom and when to evacuate to include what routes people should take. There was argument on who failed the devastated areas, since the assistance needed could not get to the certain areas due to massive flooding and bridges destroyed. Even though there was no one agency to blame through the lack of coordination and communication from local agencies up through the Federal Government, the lessons learned where noticed within hours and days after the storm arrived, the local population felt as being neglected or forgotten.