Fema During Hurricane Katrina Essay

In Katrina’s Wake: National Guidance Throughout the history of the United States Military, historians recorded the heroic actions of Soldiers, Airman, Sailors, and Marines that won countless battles in various conflicts around the world. In modern times, the role of the military changed drastically, especially in regards to the military’s role within natural disasters. Therefore, a National Guidance of Preparedness was developed, which reinforces response readiness and provides guidelines for the sharing of responsibility between all levels of government. After a review of the actions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2006, federal, state, and local governments aided in the development of the guidelines, which shape and support preparedness

To what extent do you agree with President Bush´s description of Hurricane Katrina as a natural disaster?

There were two class action lawsuits involving overcrowding in state prisons and as a result the South Carolina Department of Corrections began efforts to eliminate overcrowding and make other improvements in the 1990’s. Beginning in the early 2000’s there was a large decline in state revenues and as a result the South Carolina Department of Corrections budget was drastically cut. A 21% reduction, the largest correction reduction of any system in the country, caused the department to cut staff and also cut several non-security personnel form the prison system. Today the South Carolina Department of Corrections reports directly to the Governor. The Department of Corrections currently has approximately 5,700 employees and 22,000 incarcerated inmates in 26 facilities in the state.

Approximately 135 billion dollars was needed after the total damages. According to the article called ‘’HURRICANE KATRINA’’ ‘’In all, Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 2,000 people and affected some 90,000 square miles of the United States. ‘’(author unknown). Around 70% (134,000) of all housing units that were occupied had damage done to them. The population of New Orleans dropped to almost half of the people.

Since 80% of the city was flooded, tens of thousands of people went to the Convention Center and Louisiana Superdome for shelter. But help arrived extremely slowly and soon conditions became unsanitary and endangered the people. People suffered from hunger, the heat, and the lack of medical attention. The city was in shreds and there was nowhere to go for most people as the majority of New Orleans was just above the poverty line before the hurricane

Being somewhat curious, I asked Cousin John how he survived Katriana. With a big smile on his face, he said, “If I have survived Mardi Gras festivities for all these years, then Katrina was a cakewalk” (Personal Interview). According to the mayor of New Orleans, it is estimated that about 100,000 people had returned, of the 485,000 who lived in New Orleans before the storm. Forty percent of the homes were still without electricity and — again, according to the mayor — half the small businesses, 57,000, may have been lost for good (New Orleans Jazz Funeral).

As stated here “The more money a state spends on building and running prisons, the less there is for everything else, from roads and bridges to health care and public

A CASE STUDY ON HURRICANE KATRINA by Sushant Bhatt. Id- 170624. Table of contents Overview The tropical depression that became Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and meteorologists were soon able to warn people in the Gulf Coast states that a major storm was on its way.

As I was awakened from a deep sleep, my aunt was yelling “get all your stuff we have to leave.” I didn’t fully understand what was going on by the way I was awakened. It was five o’clock in the morning when I heard my cousin on the other end of the phone saying “we have to leave New Orleans now, the hurricane is going to hit and we will not be safe here.” I never thought I would have to pack up and leave my home because of a natural disaster. As I gather the things that would fit in the small purple suitcase I was still in disbelief of what was going to take place. One by one we loaded up her red Pontiac and headed for the Texas border with my cousin following in the car behind us.

The State does not have the resources that the federal government has as they don’t have have any access to the money. The plan was nonexistent to evacuate those without transportation. An evacuation order could have been sent out a day sooner. This is a disaster that no local government can handle alone. This is a national emergency and all taxpayers in the U.S. should have help.

When the Levees Broke by Spike Lee is a documentary based on the remembrance of hurricane Katrina that sabotaged the victims mainly in New Orleans, Gulf State of Louisiana; and other US states including Mississippi; Alabama and Florida. This documentary briefly summarizes on a fight or flight struggle of many citizens in New Orleans had to challenge in their lives. To start off, in the beginning of the documentary the mayor highly suggested the citizens evacuate their home country. Some residents were in denial and refused to leave their home country while others decided to leave because they wanted to survive and protect their family. Some of the citizens were prideful and strong about their city so they were in denial of evacuating.

Following the tragic event, the Water and Sewage Board in New Orleans ordered taller levees to be constructed. Hurricane Betsy in 1965 caused leaders to redesign the levee system and the responsibility of levee construction was placed under the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Once again citizens of New Orleans started to reconstruct their city after another natural disaster. Only forty years later Hurricane Katrina, the unfortunate event that was due to the failure of levees to withhold water, left many homeless, dead and looting for survival. Not only did the levees fail the people of New Orleans, but their government also fell short of supplying the desperate citizens of the city with aid and support.

Their bails were set between $250,000 and $300,000. Their is a serious issue when a country values property more than the lives of it’s citizens. Even worse is the policy towards felons. During the Clinton administration, there were plans in legislation to enact policies that would cut off past and known drug felons(no matter how minor), from all forms of government support. No public housing or basic benefits for life.

With the failure of the rehabilitation programs, the United States had to turn to the retribution model of punishment. Also at the turn of the decade into the 80’s, The War on Drugs kick started the epidemic of prison overcrowding, and launched America into a downward plunge of economic and political turmoil. The mandatory minimum sentencing policy that was in place did not help the situation either, giving long incarceration sentences to prisoners who didn’t deserve it. Criminals were given the minimum sentences for crimes, and judges carried them out precisely. Race and poverty were also side contributors that contributed to the bigger picture of the issue.

Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration–The Problem of the United States In America, the private prison industry was made for necessary profit based off of the management of prisons by large, private companies. In David Shapiro’s insightful report “Banking on Bondage”, he discusses the logistics of the United States prison system, saying “In America, our criminal justice system should keep us safe, operate fairly, and be cost-effective”. Today, the United States imprisons more people than any other nation in the world, including Russia, China, and Iran.