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Hurricane Katrina Essay
In August of 2005 one of the worst “natural disasters” hit New Orleans, putting the city
through many hardships after Hurricane Katrina hit. The city would not have gotten as damaged
as it did if it were not for the levees breaking. In addition, if the government acted immediately
upon what happened in New Orleans, the city would most likely be further along in
reconstruction and transition than it is now. Finally, if FEMA gave the citizens of New Orleans
water, food, and other much needed humanitarian aid and supplies immediately following this
devastation than many people would be satisfied and back up on their feet, but that is not what
happened. After Katrina hit the government and President Bush knew long before the hurricane
came what big of an effect it would have and when it was coming. Both the government and
President were informed of the immense impact that this hurricane could potentially happen and
how to initiate a response team and take proper precautions. But, how Bush acted during
hurricane Katrina was similar to his response during 9/11. The government and the president all
had heard about the warning of an attack on the twin towers but failed to take notice. This
resulted in an attack in both New York City and Pennsylvania. This was similar to when
Hurricane Katrina hit, the next day or so Bush flew over New Orleans to go on vacation, but he
did not stop and visit to aid the people who were trapped get out of New Orleans to a safer
environment. I believe that Hurricane Katrina was a man-made disaster that could have been
dealt with differently than it had. These reasons that are stated bring to a close for why it is
believed that Hurricane Katrina was considered more of a man-made disaster. Hurricane Katrina
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was considered more of a man-made disaster because the levee’s weren’t built properly, the
federal emergency management agency (FEMA) did not respond immediately after Katrina hit
and the government failed to take action to what was going on.
There is strong evidence that validates why the levee’s broke and how it contributed to
Hurricane Katrina being known as a man-made disaster. In particular, the Army Corps of
Engineering did not build the levees properly which had a big affect on whether or not Hurricane
Katrina was a man made or natural disaster, because they did not do a good construction job on
the levees and they knew this. They decided not to fix the levees after this. When the Corps of
Engineering were constructing the levees they did not take into account the risk factors that
could take place due to a hurricane occurrence. The levees were also built poorly in relevance to
the banks and floodwalls causing 80% of New Orleans to flood and be underwater. The lack of
safety they contained was a result of the devastation New Orleans saw after Katrina. If the levees
had been built earlier with higher safety standards and better flood walls, it is possible that there
could be less damage today. These small failures that we saw in the levee construction contribute
to larger problems when disasters take place. It is believed that this was one of the large “manmade” contributions that caused Katrina to be so devastating to New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina received a lack of response from The Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) and did not provide what the citizens needed after Hurricane Katrina hit. This
is because FEMA failed to provide trailers that they had promised to the people of New Orleans.
Instead these trailers did not arrive until months later than they were expected. Many people
soon believed that FEMA had gotten a widespread criticism for a slow and ineffective response
to Hurricane Katrina which was true and well deserved, considering they did not act well upon
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the fact that these people needed to receive some form of aid. Many failures of FEMA where
also due to them leaving people stranded for days on New Orleans rooftops without food or
water and medical patients dying for lack of medical materials, this was very significant because
it was one of the foremost reasons why the people of New Orleans were frustrated with FEMA .
Katrina would have been devastating regardless, however FEMA had the opportunity to make
the effects of Katrina less harmful and destructive. FEMA’s lack of response turned this manmade disaster into something even more overwhelming to the people of New Orleans than they
were prepared for. This state’s why FEMA failed to assist in the post Katrina atmosphere and
contribute to its demoralizing effects in the city.
Above all, the government failed to take proper actions to the people of this city in need
after Hurricane Katrina struck. The government’s response consisted primarily of
disorganization, mismanagement and lack of preparation to initiate a response team prior to and
post Katrina. There was a large public debate taking place that aroused on both the local, state
and national levels of government and what their role’s should be in taking action in this storm’s
occurrence. In addition the media and its portrayal of this hurricane did not help prompting
response. Instead they assisted in instigating and shaking up people nationwide on why the
government was not contributing to aid in the area. Prior to the hurricane taking place, New
Orleans was already seen as one of the poorest city’s in the country. In this caused many people
to not have the ability to evacuate the city on their own, instead resulting in them being trapped
in the devastation. The government failed to provide any proper emergency precautions for the
people, this includes: low-income people, car less individuals, sick, or the elderly. These people
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were stranded due to the inability for them to relocate and the failure of the government to
provide escape options.
Furthermore, this concludes why it is believed that Hurricane Katrina was considered a manmade disaster because the levees were not built properly to with stand a hurricane as big as
Katrina. Also, the federal management agency (FEMA) did not respond to the after math of the
hurricane. To finish, the government did not take action to what was occurring, if the
government and president would’ve taken more action on the hurricane and immediately went to
New Orleans got the medical and needed supplies for the people, than New Orleans would be in
much better shape. In the future, if there was to ever be another hurricane as strong and
dangerous as Katrina was then I think FEMA, the government and president should all be well
prepared to help out the citizens in need. Another thing to think about is the levees would have to
be well structured and should be able to handle the storm in its path. Overall, Hurricane Katrina
was more of a man-made disaster because of the numerous defects relevant to both response and
preparation for Katrina.