Effects of Hurricane Katrina

Introduction

The effects of Hurricane Katrina, which struck last week the southeastern U.S., will have a negative impact on GDP, and the national industrial sector. The brokerage believes that a possible escalation of the price of crude oil, in addition to the known adverse effects generic 'should have a more significant negative impact on those' two titles and that sector. Research notes that the effects of Hurricane Katrina were catastrophic, estimating the loss of hundreds of lives and material damage amounting to one hundred billion dollars.

The Golden Broker points as direct consequences of the hurricane, the cuts in the extraction / production of oil has led to raw materials at record levels, the loss of skilled labor and rising unemployment, and the destruction of infrastructure structures (American Red Cross, 2013).

Indirectly, the “Katrina” has consequences in terms of economic growth, with the secretary of state treasury to estimate a negative impact on U.S. GDP of 0.5% in 2005. The hurricane also caused a loss of consumer confidence and may have effects on the monetary policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve, with a more moderate rise in interest rates.

Discussion

Tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, heat waves and cold able to claim lives in profusion, as happened in Europe in 2003. If all this were not enough, an aggravating factor: the significant increase in cases of diseases, like respiratory, skin cancer and even tropical, such as malaria and leptospirosis. This framework is similar to that of the biblical apocalypse, but corresponds to a reality insistently expected by scientists and environmentalists from around the world: the impact of climate change on the lives and health of people and the planet.

Study by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), in April this year, with reference to the predictions of the models for the behavior of climatological temperature and rainfall until the year 2100, paints a bleak picture. The result of this work, supported models based on emission scenarios of greenhouse gases presented in the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is worrisome:

The country has a high degree of vulnerability to the impacts of climate change on health, given its geographical characteristics, its territory of continental size, its climatic profile, its large population and its structural and social problems, says José Féres, one of the researchers responsible for the work. In addition, he said, the persistence of endemic infectious diseases sensitive to changes in climate, such as leptospirosis, malaria, dengue, contribute to intensify the vulnerability of the country, and even more problems arising from a weak public health system (American Red Cross, 2013).

The simulations presented in the study suggest that climate change can affect mortality rates. The impacts are quite different, according to age and geographical region. The most vulnerable age group is children under one year of age. This greater vulnerability stems from the fact that climate changes cause an increase in the incidence of infectious diseases, parasitic and respiratory system (Johnson, ...