A natural hazard is a naturally occurring event that might have a negative effect on people or the environment. Geophysical hazards encompass geological and meteorological events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruption, cyclonic storms, and drought. Other natural hazards such as floods and wildfires can result from a combination of geological, hydrological, and climatic factors. Rapid urbanisation and land degradation, globalisation and socio-economic poverty, global warming and climate change are among the global trends that are affecting the world at large and are resulting in the severity, if not the cause of natural disasters.
With geological processes and their relationship with humans, risk is a major factor. Risks from natural hazards which can’t be eliminated, can sometimes be understood in a way that we can minimise its hazards to humans, minimising the risk. For this to occur, we need to understand the requirements for the process. With this understanding, humans can develop an action to take to reduce the associated risk. This is known as hazard mitigation. Less developed countries are more susceptible to natural hazards than that of industrialised countries due to the lack of infrastructure and education. Poverty plays a major role
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It exposed major weaknesses in disaster risk management which are common to numerous hazard locations across the globe. New Orleans has transformed itself into a role model for disaster risk management and resilience. It invests highly in bettering its flood defences and efforts are been made to engage citizens in the renewal of the city. Nowadays there is better mapping of the city’s hazards and greater awareness has been made amongst the population regarding the importance of disaster risk management to ensure the sustainable social and economic development of the
Hurricane Katrina shift the position of the Department of Homeland Security from making natural disasters an equally as important as terrorism. This even showed that disaster planning requires a great deal of collaboration. The Department of Homeland Security who swallowed up FEMA where not quick to react to Hurricane Katrina because all their focus was spend on planning for a prevent terrorist attacks. The failure of the disaster response system resulted in over 1,200 lives lost in Louisiana and Mississippi. FEMA failed to work closely with its State and local counterparts and communications between these partners and the public were strained at best.
Reconstructing New Orleans after the hurricane Katrina is one of the most involving city-rebuilding projects that have been taken on in US history. The challenges in reconstruction and recreation of what used to be is the aspect of having to decide and agree on which areas should be rebuild first. The federal and state government have received different opinions on what should be done on different areas. For example, suggestions to utilize a 150-acre piece of land in New Orleans for an amusement park or use it to create a retail mall are some of the conflicting suggestions that have come up. Much of the land has been controlled by the city since the rebuilding efforts in 2009.
Although storms like Hurricane Katrina occur once in every one hundred years, being prepared and storing water, food, medicines, and other supplies keep families ready for any disaster. Natural disasters can leave communities without power for days and even for weeks. Being prepared in the event of severe weather and disasters like Hurricane Katrina, can reduce fear and anxiety that accompanies disasters. A crucial element of self-sufficient living is survival. Our government does not have all the resources to be totally prepared to take care of the vast numbers of people in a disaster.
Introduction This informational interview was conducted with Dr. Pamela Aaltonen, a Homeland Security instructor at Purdue University, and active member at the Tippecanoe Board of Health. Her role here is to frame issues in the concept of Homeland security and emergency management. Dr. Aaltonen holds a key role in Homeland Security, as many disasters contain human health issues, such as mass causalities, pandemic outbreaks, and sanitary issues following natural disasters. Dr. Aaltonen’s flavor of Homeland Security differs from the work that I normally see, but as displayed during the interview, Homeland Security is a multi-disciplinary field that requires cooperation across all fields.
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
New Orleans, a flourishing city sitting on the Gulf coast. The city thrived with life. But, on the morning of August 29th,2005 everything changed. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the gulf coast.
The Levee breaches led to massive flooding, hundred and thousands of the people affected from the storm from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage. (http://www.history.com/topics/hurricane-katrina) .The Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish were under so much water that people had to run to attics and rooftops for safety. And soon enough nearly 80 percent of the city was under some quantity of water. The government in particular was unprepared for a disaster like this.
In the wake of a dark time, Hurricane Katrina proved to America how crucial preparedness is. Three reasons Hurricane Katrina proved unpreparedness include; The New Orleans poorly built levee system, the prolonged displacement
On August 23, 2005, a tropical depression, over the Bahamas, morphed into Hurricane Katrina which would become known as “the single most catastrophic national disaster in U.S. history” (FEMA, 2006). As Hurricane Katrina developed, weather warnings followed, advising residents of the Gulf Coast States to leave their homes evacuate the region because the storm was predicted to leave the area uninhabitable for up to a week, possibly more. One week later, on August 29, Katrina struck the Gulf Coast states as a category three hurricane, stretching 400 miles and bringing sustained winds up to 100-140 mph and causing great damage to infrastructure, homes, and lives. Nevertheless, the worst was yet to come for this region of the United States (History,
Many people ignored warnings and lost their lives during Hurricane Katrina. It did not help that city employees were also not prepared. Eighteen hundred and thirty-six people were killed during the hurricane, and over seven hundred are still missing (dosomething.org). It is clear the city of New Orleans was unprepared before, during, and after the storm.
Marino makes it known that understanding this relationship is essential in distinguishing how Shishmaref citizens have become a vulnerable community. In fact, these relationships along with historical conditions, influenced how residents in that specific community experienced disasters. In this section, the differences between a hazard and vulnerability are also highlighted to determine their interconnection with disasters; for a disaster to take place both must be present. Marino strategically follows up with chapter three to show the link between climate change, vulnerability, and disasters. The purpose of this chapter was to demonstrate how ecological changes can be contributed to the vulnerability of Shishmaref.
The Stafford Act was enacted in 1988 and determines how and when the federal government is allowed to intervene in a natural disaster. It also defines the type of assistance to be provided as well as the distribution of funds among the federal, state and local governments. FEMA is responsible for coordinating the assistance identified in the Stafford Act. However, FEMA has to answer to the Secretary of Homeland Security rather than making their own decisions. The authors describe how our current governmental system isn’t well equipped to deal with major devastation such as Hurricane Katrina.
PBS Frontline Documentary, ‘The Storm In spite of decades of planning for disasters, federal, state, and local authorities still failed to cope with Hurricane Katrina. PBS Frontline’s documentary The Storm was produced following the destruction of human life and property by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and its environs. Co-produced by Martin Smith, the 60-minute documentary essentially conducts an investigation into the decisions and actions that resulted in poor and uncoordinated federal and state response to the catastrophe. Unlike common films that people like watching, The Storm is a remarkable film that helps people understand the role of state and federal authorities in crises.
FEMA’s mission and priorities were changed so that, “terrorism prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery became central to the emergency management mission” (Haddow 325). As a result of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 the country’s focus shifted completely from natural disasters to an outright major assault on all things terrorism with no second glance at the potential emergency’s natural disasters presented. There might be a possibility that because of the nation’s extreme obsession with terrorists and terrorism that Hurricane Katrina was not given full priority nor given as much thought as it should have been because the whole focus of the government was on terrorism. When an agency and governmental structure, such as the defense agencies, undergoes an extreme shift within the course of a few years brought on so suddenly, there are bound to be weaknesses. Hurricane Katrina was the most challenging threat that tested the DHS as well as FEMA’s preparation and mitigation of natural disasters since the shift of focus.
The Storm Lightning crashes overhead as I race back into the house, dripping wet. I was just returning back from an adventure in the woods. The storm was unexpected, even the forecasters had never expected it. Luckily, I managed to make it back inside safely.