Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Introduction

Hurricane Katrina is considered to be one of the strongest and most devastating hurricanes to have ever impacted the US coast in the last century. With destructive wind speeds of up to 125 miles per hour, the hurricane literally wreaked havoc along the central Gulf Coast states of the United States, causing widespread devastation of settlements (Levitt & Whitaker, 2009). The main recipients of the wrath of the hurricane were cities like Los Angeles, New Orleans, Gulf Port, AL, and Mobile. There has been much debate and even more criticism over the disorganized and uncoordinated manner in which rehabilitation and recovery efforts were carried out in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina (Levitt & Whitaker, 2009). The emergency response to the hurricane was slow and uncoordinated and the survivors in the affected areas were left stranded for several days before help was delivered to them. After the landfall of August 29, 2005, there was widespread public debate about the role of the federal, state and local governments in preparing for emergency aid for the affected and their mismanagement and ill-preparedness of relief efforts (United States, 2006).

Discussion

There was widespread criticism among the leading media channels about how political leaders were frustrated and shaken by the calamitous event. One point that was particularly criticized by the media was the delayed in response to the devastating flooding that occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana (United States, 2006). Additionally, media also splashed images of the New Orleans residents who were deprived of food, water, shelter. Moreover, the media also reported the deaths of numerous citizens as a result of exhaustion, dehydration and starvation, and violence long after the calamity had ended (Granetto & Department of Defense, 2007). The treatment offered to the residents who were evacuated to the Superdome was also strongly lambasted by leading media channels.

Resources from state and federal agencies

Just four days after Katrina devastated New Orleans, President Bush signed a relief package worth more than 10 billion dollars and also ordered around 7,200 active-duty troops in a bid to help in the relief efforts (Pickup, 2006). However, certain members of the US Congress claimed that the federal government was deliberately slow-walking the relief efforts because the area affected by the catastrophe was poor. Another major concern was regarding the shortage of National Guard units in surrounding areas. This was mainly due to the fact that some units had overseas commitments to meet while local efforts for recruiting community members were also hampered (Granetto & Department of Defense, 2007).

The slow response to the hurricane prompted those in-charge of top management of emergency to call efforts a national disgrace. He also demanded an exact time when the troops would be able to make their way into the city (United States, 2006). Blame was also placed over the FEMA for mismanagement of the Agency and reacting slowly to the event. Even with the presence of FEMA, there was no significant effort being carried out in terms of checking of relief operations and making sure that ...