Socioeconomic Impact Of Hurricane Katrina

A modern-day study being done about the racial discrimination that was brought upon thousands of families during Hurricane Katrina is now in the limelight and takes a specific look at the way certain people perceive this notion of racism. The arguments that are being considered examine the past reports of Black and White participants regarding racial differences and their perceptions of the racial inequality following Hurricane Katrina. The participants for this investigation were asked whether or not the United States government would have provided aid and responded faster to different socio-economic and racial groups during the hurricane. According to de la Peña et al. (2010), a higher percentage of White participants said that socio-economic status is more important, while Blacks relied on race more. Additionally, more White participants believed that the slow government response effort was not influenced by race and/or socio-economic status of the victims. Although there is a contention between the two races, there is a higher percentage of agreement when concerning discrimination altogether.

On the morning of August Twenty-ninth, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region. The storm brought the water to about twenty feet high, swallowing eighty percent of the New Orleans city immediately. The flood and torrential rainstorm wreaked havoc and forced millions of people evacuate from the city. According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, Katrina caused approximately one hundred and eight billion dollars in damage. Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive disasters have ever occurred in the United States, but it also revealed a catastrophic government at all levels’ failure in responding to the contingency.

“When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm,” (“Bush”). This is what former president George W. Bush said during his speech in New Orleans concerning the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was a massive natural disaster that consisted of high powered winds and immense amounts of water. The hurricane was initially a category 3, but gradually rose to the classification of a category 5 storm, which is the largest storm there is (“Hurricane Irene”). In fact, there were accounts of winds recorded at about 127 miles per hour in the Gulf areas such as Grand Isle, Louisiana, and near the Mississippi River (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics”). All of these factors are made

As Hurricane Katrina ravaged the South and drowned large parts of New Orleans this past September, the ugly reality of our nation's continuing problem with class, poverty, and race became apparent. Many Americans began to question the possibility of racism being a deciding factor in the fate of many New Orleans citizens who were black and who lived in the poorest, most low-lying portion of the city, the Ninth Ward. Many, including First Lady Laura Bush, denounce critics who say race played a role in the federal government's slow response to the victims of Katrina. While it is possible that the government's slow response to the disaster was not directly due to racism, there are many unanswered questions suggesting the protection of the city

Katrina affected US imports because of infrastructure damages and reduced economic activity. In 2005, the United States imported approximately $1.7 trillion in goods. This means that there was a 0.25% decrease in imports growth for 2005. The United States current elasticity was at 1.3, which implies that imports dropped another ⅓ of a percent by the end of the year. Therefore, US imports fell an extra $5.6 billion. However, imports increased by the same amount in 2006, demonstrating that the effects Katrina had on US imports were not permanent. Correspondingly, in 2005, exports in the United States only grew by 10% but in 2004 and 2006, they grew by 13%. The reason being that the Mississippi river was clogged and it prevented goods from being

Paycheck to Paycheck details the daily life of Katrina who lives, like many more American women than one might think, in poverty. The social context of her situation is all too common and overlooked as merely poverty, people do not understand the gendered implications. Katrina finds herself in poverty due to her ex-husband’s addiction problem and after their separation things are not looking up. She even states that all of the income went to his addiction, prior. Single motherhood is anything but easy for Katrina

Even the climate has the ability to impact inequality. As the frequency of natural disasters increases, there is a growing need for people to have enough money to pay for recovery or to afford insurance against such occurences. One only needs to look at New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, or even how the different boroughs of New York City were affected by Sandy. As catastrophic weather events increase, there is a need for more economic stability.

Following Hurricane Katrina, many people were homeless, and thought that the minorities were not being treated fairly post-hurricane. Media images that were shown from Katrina showed that nearly all those left behind to suffer and some die were black Americans. Families that were most able to afford homes in flood-protected areas and that had resources to evacuate easily suffered a great deal less than poorer families. There was not enough resources for them and they were forced to leave all of their belongings. Post-Katrina, many of the minorities were not allowed back into their homes because it was a hazard. Parts of the city was covered deep in water and thousands had been unable to evacuate, leaving them to die. As news spread fast

Past research demonstrates a large racial divide in support of issues with clear racial overtones and we examine the possibility of a racial divide in reactions to Katrina using data from a national telephone survey of white and black Americans. Some find that there is a large different in racial sympthanys for the victims of Hurrican Katrina, how fast the government responded to urgency of attention for the victims, and support for proposed solutions to mend hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, verifying the racial nature of the disaster. Blacks viewed the hurricane victims more positively than did whites, drew a sharper distinction and held more sympathetic feelings for those stranded than evacuated from New Orleans, and were substantially more supportive of government efforts to improve the situation of hurricane victims and rebuild New Orleans. This racial gap is as large as any observed in recent polls, holds up even after controlling for education, income and other possible racial differences, and documents more fully differences that were hinted at in public opinion polls reported at the time of the disaster.

Hurricane Katrina is another storm that impacted the black community most. Hurricane Katrina racks up 1,833 deaths, fifty-one percent being African Americans. The citizens’ cries for help do not match their expectations of help they are receiving. Many of the deaths are due to the poor evacuation process before Katrina touches down, and insufficient amount of food and zero water supply after the storm. The storm striking in a part of Louisiana that is mostly in poverty did not help at all. Sixty eight percent of the survivors believe the rescue efforts would be more effective if they have been white and wealthier.

When Hurricane Katrina made landfall, it became one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to hit the United States, taking numerous lives and wiping away homes and belonging. Hurricane Katrina not only left physical devastation in its wake, but also has generated much debate investigating the question of whether the government’s mishandling of the emergency was an issue of race or class. Many people, including hurricane victims and critics, attributed that lack of immediate response to racial injustice, for those who were left behind to suffer and die were predominantly African Americans. Meanwhile, families who had sufficient resources to evacuate and could afford homes in safer, flood-protected areas were afflicted much less than poorer families,

Most neighborhoods in New Orleans have returned to their original population with some neighborhoods actually growing in size. The U.S. Census Bureau states that New Orleans has grown by 12 percent between 2010 and 2014. Unfortunately, not all of the cities have grown equally, cities along the Mississippi have grown on average 300% where cities near the French Quarter have only grown about 0.1% since Katrina. Since the storm, the increase in population is not the only thing that has changed. The majority race of New Orleans is making a shift before African American’s were the clear majority but post-Katrina that's not the case. Whites now represent a larger part of New Orleans than before Katrina. The population of both African Americans and Whites decreased after Katrina but more Whites returned

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

On August 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana as a category three storm and brought with it some of the most catastrophic effects that any hurricane has ever left behind. Twenty foot surges of flood water washed into New Orleans after the levees broke, and ended up flooding over 80% of the city. It was now in the hands of the United States government to help the millions of displaced Americans find proper shelter, food, water, and services that were required for their recovery.

The opinion of New Orleans residents regarding how Hurricane Katrina was handled by the government also depends on the resident’s race, class, and gender. Many of the poor urban residents in New Orleans that were the most devastated by Hurricane Katrina were African American (Pardee, 2014). These residents felt that they were forgotten by their government and left to die because they did