White 1
Megan White
English 111
Research Essay
January 9, 2015
The Disaster of Disasters
Any situation that has the potential to endanger and individual’s life causes the same
reaction. No matter what it is, he feels the same terror, the same helplessness, and the same
urgency. Disasters fall under this category of “dangerous situations” and they too usually evoke
the same feelings, just on a mass scale. Hurricane Katrina and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 are
two such disasters that caused mass havoc on the United States that lasted years. However, in a
survey conducted earlier this year only 21.42% of the participants thought that these events
were similar in some way (White). The nation needs to reflect on past disasters in order to
improve disaster recovery plans and avoid chaotic aftermaths ,like those of Hurricane Katrina
and the 9/11 attacks.
The issues surrounding these catastrophes were magnified due to a lack of preparation.
Prior to the 9/11 attacks, airports did not possess the security needed to keep terrorists out.
Hijackers and bombers could easily get passed screening devices using bombs and other
weapons that resembled everyday objects (Szyliowicz 50). The ease with which weapons could
get passed security helped make the hijackings of the 9/11 attacks possible. The government
did try to make airports safer, but failed. After the Pan AM 103 disaster, congress passed the
Aviation Security Improvement Act. Intended to increase airport security, the act simply made
rules concerning the financial security of airlines, while security procedures actually remained
White 2
the same (Szyliowicz 50). The government’s failed attempt to implement effective security
legislation created gaps in security that the terrorists of 9/11 would use. Airports were not the
only places that lacked preparation. The United States as a whole was not prepared for any
type of terrorist attack, as seen in the 1993 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The
bombing killed six people and injured a thousand more (Dahl 785). At the time, the attacks
served as a wake-up call to the threat of terrorism, but it was short lived due to the small death
toll and the government’s view of the attack as “unsuccessful.” The government decided to
caution the surrounding areas to increase their security for a few months instead of passing
legislation that would help prevent future attacks (Dahl 789). Because of the government’s
failure to plan against prevent future attacks, America was not prepared for the “successful”
terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Much like 9/11, the government failed to properly plan for a storm like Hurricane
Katrina. The evacuation processes set into place prior to Katrina proved to be both ineffective
and poorly communicated. In an interview, Bernadette Migues, a survivor of the hurricane,
stated: “the evacuation requirements weren’t very good. They said that it was “mandatory” to
evacuate, but they didn’t have any evacuation routes laid out [for my town] and they didn’t
take into account that many people had nowhere to go.” Had the evacuation plans been
refined prior to the hurricane, the large number of casualties and victims could have been
avoided. New Orleans, one of the worst cities affected, was also ill prepared, mainly due to
their levee system that failed during the hurricane. In 2003, the Natural Hazard center
published an article that discussed the outcomes of a hurricane hitting New Orleans. The center
stated, “The levee system… [is] unable to keep up with increasing flood threats from... [the]
White 3
eroding coastline and thus unable to protect the city” (Tierney 182). The article also discussed a
simulated hurricane, named Hurricane Pam, which demonstrated the same characteristics that
Hurricane Katrina would posses. In the exercise, participants easily knew that the levees would
fail and that the results of such a hurricane would be catastrophic. Even with this information,
FEMA chose not to pursue further planning or better maintenance to the levees (Tierney 181).
It was obvious that the “bowl city” of New Orleans was ill prepared for such a disaster, and the
government failed to do anything to help prepare for it. Ultimately the lack of precautionary
measures would lead to total destruction as well as social upheaval.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks caused many negative social implications for the American
public. The biggest implication that Americans faced on a social level was a sense of lost
security. Many Americans felt scared and unsure of their future. In one poll, 42% of participants
said that they regularly thought about another attack and felt nervous on a daily basis (Crotty
38). This demonstrates that a majority of Americans, previously unconcerned about terrorism,
now feared it. Out of those exposed to this newfound fear, young people were the most
affected. Bill Clinton’s daughter, Chealsea, said:
I woke up Tuesday morning feeling good about where I was in life and happy with where
I was going. Now that sense of security is gone and since the eleventh, for some
moment every day, I have been scared. Not by a sense of immediate danger, but by
something more subtle and corrosive: an uncertainty…(Crotty 39)
Clinton’s quote shows that the youth of American now had to live in a time where uncertainty
and fear were commonplace.
White 4
Another issue that arose after 9/11 concerned the government’s attempt to invade
citizen’s privacy. The Patriot Act, created by George Bush after 9/11, was among one of the
most important and controversial acts passed because many thought that it violated people’s
privacy. One of the most crucial parts of the act was Title 2, which allowed surveillance agencies
to go through electronic messages, share information with other agencies, and infiltrate other
organizations (Crotty 153). Bush created Title 2 in order to help combat terrorism, but at the
cost of the privacy of the American public. The Patriot act also made it legal for the FBI to spy
using wiretaps for anyone who was “suspected of terrorism” (Crotty 162). The act caused a lot
of controversy over whether or not the government was crossing the line and going too far into
the private lives of individuals. Most agreed, however, that in order to protect the U.S from
another terrorist attack, they would have to give up their privacy.
Similar to 9/11, the aftermath of Katrina had its own set of social issues, including a
racial and class struggle in New Orleans. Due to the layout of New Orleans, poorer sections
were hit the hardest. This was because the poorer neighborhoods sat closest to the weakest
levees, while the richer neighborhoods sat farther inland (Green). Due to this sectioning, many
poor minorities lost their homes, while the upper classes received only minimal damage.
Thousands of minority victims now had to relocate to over-packed shelters like the Superdome.
It was here that the media immediately exaggerated racial issues. The media loved to show
post-Katrina conditions in New Orleans as lawless and racist. It was common to see pictures of
minority looters stealing food along with white soldiers toting around weapons (Nicholls 352).
This, however, was not really the case. Looting did happen, but not often. Racial profiling also
wasn’t a major issue, instead the real issue revolved around a divide between the lower and
White 5
upper classes of New Orleans. The media, however, publicized the few racial situations that
they found, sweeping the class struggle aside (Nicholls 351). Media exaggerations mislead many
who weren’t affected by Katrina and brought attention to a racial problem that didn’t really
exist as opposed to a class division that did.
Whereas the government seemed too responsive after 9/11, after Hurricane Katrina it
seemed to be too unresponsive. A major government agency that didn’t seem to respond to the
hurricane very well was the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA.
When they did finally respond to the disaster, they did so in an extremely confusing and
frustrating manner. It was so confusing in fact that a term-FEMA-tized- was created. It referred
to the stress that many people felt when dealing with FEMA (Angel 111). One provider that
worked with FEMA stated, “I can call FEMA four times in one day for the same client and ask
the same question and every time get a different answer… There’s a lot of conflicting
information… with the FEMA people” (Angel 115). Because of the confusion and frustration that
FEMA created, many felt that the government fell short doing an adequate job of handling the
situation.
Government shortcomings of disaster management are still an issue. Had people
recognized the problems of past disasters and improved recovery plans based upon them, such
shortcoming would not exist. 78.58% of participants in a recent survey said that these two
disasters had no relation to each other (White). The facts say otherwise. Both events can be
linked to faults in the level of preparedness that existed. Victims in the aftermath of each event
felt like the government was not responding correctly, although they differed in how they felt
the government wasn’t responding correctly. Both had multiple social implications that arose
White 6
and were exaggerated by the media to some extent. These connections need to be seen by the
people. By using the similarities in issues, failed attempts in response, and inadequacy in
preparation, people can work to correct mistakes that are being made repeatedly in the case of
a disaster. Recognizing and learning from past mistakes can lead people to face dangerous
situations, like disasters, feeling more prepared and less frightened.
White 7
Works Cited
Angel, Ronald. Community Lost: The State, Civil Society, and Displaced Survivors of Hurricane
Katrina. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012. Print.
Crotty, William J. The Politics of Terror: The U.S. Response to 9/11. Boston: Northeastern UP,
2004. Print.
Dahl, Erik J. "Missing The Wake-Up Call: Why Intelligence Failures Rarely Inspire Improved
Performance." Intelligence & National Security 25.6 (2010): 778-799. America: History &
Life. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
Green, Rodney, Marie Kouassi, and Belinda Mambo. "Housing, Race, And Recovery From
Hurricane Katrina." Review Of Black Political Economy 40.2 (2013): 145-163. Business
Source Complete. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Migues, Burnadett. "From a Survivors Point of View: Hurricane Katrina." Telephone interview.
13 Dec. 2015.
Nicholls, Keith, and J. Steven Picou. "The Impact Of Hurricane Katrina On Trust In Government
The Impact Of Hurricane Katrina On Trust In Government." Social Science Quarterly
(Wiley-Blackwell) 94.2 (2013): 344-361. America: History & Life. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Szyliowicz, Joseph S. "Aviation Security: Promise Or Reality." Studies In Conflict & Terrorism 27.1
(2004): 47-63. America: History & Life. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.
Tierney, Kathleen. "Hurricane In New Orleans? Who Knew? Anticipating Katrina And Its
Devastation." Sociological Inquiry 78.2 (2008): 179-183. America: History & Life. Web. 14
Dec. 2014.
White, Megan. “ Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.” Survey. 16 December 2015.