Stafford Act Essay

In August of 2005, the eye of Hurricane Katrina hit the area near Buras, Louisiana, with winds reaching over 140mph. Hurricane Katrina was a Category 4 hurricane that caused destruction and chaos across the regions of southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama (Starling, 2011). The Katrina hurricane was one of the worst disasters to hit the United States and occurred unfortunately, despite the warnings of experts of the “flood dangers faced by New Orleans” much of which is under sea-level (p. 149). The aftermath of Katrina caused blame and finger pointing among the state and federal governments and had many questioning who was responsible for the thousands of people, who were left stranded after the hurricane.

In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency were incorporated in the Department of Homeland Security with the hope of improving emergency responses in the country. However, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina exposed many failed in the organization. FEMA failed to provide emergency relief, including food and medical attention to those affected. According to the FEMA director Michael Brown, “they had loaded trucks ready to release aid as soon as it was possible, but FEMA blamed the infrastructure for the failed rescue and recovery mission.” (Pao, 2015). Such excuses raised question about the role of the first responders. In the event of a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina, first responders include the police, rescue teams, emergency medical personnel, sanitation and communication engineers and other management teams. It is crucial for various agencies of first responders to work together to help people in the aftermath of a natural disaster. The role of the first responders during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was supposed to be directing, protecting, treating, and securing those affected by the storm. Instead, victims were forced to live in crowded conditions inside of the Superdome, while awaiting the help of the first responders. The first responders failed to deliver their services in a timely manner. Health needs of children and elderly were

In 2005 the world was shaken by a horrible storm that hit our coast. Hurricane Katrina was a category five storm that tore through the Gulf Coast. The storm occurred August 23rd, 2005 until August 31st, 2005. Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes to ever hit the United States. An estimated 1,833 people died in the hurricane and the flooding that followed in late August 2005, and millions of others were left homeless along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans (Zimmerman). Hurricane Katrina in the end had done about $100 billion dollars in damage. The government was not prepared for the impact of the hurricane. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to establish operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem

It was August 29, 2005. A massive hurricane hit the gulf coast of the United States. There were 1,836 people killed. At least 70,000 people were rescued. The people of Louisiana needed hope that their lives would be rebuilt, so as governor, Kathleen Blanco gave an inspirational speech called the “Address to a Joint Session of the Louisiana State Legislature. This speech was presented to the Legislation to demand that New Orleans would be rebuilt and to prove that the people affected by the tragedy would fight through the challenge. Blanco thanked the assistance of everyone during the horrific event, such as, law enforcement and first responders. The speech was very powerful because of Blanco’s use of rhetorical devices, ethos, pathos, and logos.

In your opinion, is federal funding better spent on all-hazards first responder preparedness, or on R&D efforts to find new emergency management solutions for terrorist hazards?

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. The federal government was not prepared to handle this national emergency.There should have been more of an outcry to strengthen the levee. Many citizens assumed incorrectly that the government would fully pay for people to live safely below sea level. The population was increasing, the city was sinking and most of the city is below sea level. It is a recipe for disaster to live in such a place. Lastly even though people blame here and there, I think it also the responsibility of state-trained the entire citizen and tell them the evacuate route in the case of emergency. Only if victims had some emergency equipment and resources for them at home they would not have to suffer as they did suffer in Katrina. Personally I always have emergency kit and the first aid box, food and stuff for the emergency at home , even

Furthermore, Fema focused more of their financial resources toward massive incarceration during hurricane Katrina. Fema priorities on how the handle funding resource during the after math of Karina, they focused more on crimes rather than helping victims. Fema overseen and run by homeland security directed there attention towards crimes and terrorist, instead of quickly making funds accessible to resident with no place live. Fema paid for this prison system to operate and covered inmates cost of living during the time spent in prison. Fema sent law officials to arrest New Orleans residents. Some of the arrest would falsely made by the agency. One arrest documented was a man name Zeitoun who was falsely arrested for theft and suspicion of being a terrorist. He

Ten years ago Hurricane Katrine made history by being one of the worst hurricanes to make landfall. It was ranked as one of the deadliest hurricanes in the US history causing over $100 billion dollars in damages. There were over 1,800 confirmed deaths due to Katrina. Hurricane Katrina destroyed over 1 million acres throughout the Gulf Coast and over 80% of New Orleans was flooded. Most of New Orleans was below water for days and many other areas were under water for weeks. Since then recovery in New Orleans has been challenging. Part of the recovery phase were to strengthen and replace 220 miles of floodwalls and levees. Congress provided $16.7 billion dollars to rebuild damaged housing and infrastructure. There

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. The reaction to Hurricane Katrina to me is shockingly similar to events that have happened both in the past and today in New Orleans. In the weeks after Katrina, the people of New Orleans were devastated by the death of family members, and the loss of their businesses, but eventually they began to rebuild the city just like they did after Hurricane Betsy. Since the construction of the levees

This news article implies that FEMA should be disbanded. The author states that when the federal government gets involved in natural disasters, especially hurricanes, more harm may be caused than good. The federal government has been involved in responses at a much higher rate than in the past due to an increase in declared federal disasters averaging 139 a year. There are an abundance of federal guidelines that must be followed when a disaster occurs that often makes it difficult for officials to make clear and concise decisions. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina FEMA spent an excess of money that was not allocated correctly so much of the money was wasted. Also, during Hurricane Katrina FEMA didn’t allow for volunteer agencies to aide in the

More and more authorities continue to be taken away and have been spread across many agencies within DHS. “FEMA no longer manages a comprehensive emergency management program of mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and the agency function that President Carter and the Governors envisioned in 1979 no longer exists” (FEMA, 2013). The sole focus has turned to terrorism disaster preparedness and FEMA has become somewhat dismantled and lost its ability to provide the command and control that it had prior to the move to DHS. This will prove to be a major flaw and will again, show the failure of FEMA in the next occurrence of natural disaster the United States faces. There are other agencies within the DHS that need to be scrutinized as

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. It struck with winds up to 140 mph. Although the hurricane created substantial damage, the aftermath had fatal consequences. The levees that were supposed to withhold a Category 3 hurricane in turn failed and about 50 breaches were created. The 50 breaches were the result of failed construction, neglect of upkeep.The City of New Orleans local & federal legislation should supply the money in order to secure the well being of the city.

This deadly tornado destroyed the southwest side of Petersburg and quickly grew as it hit the historic district of Petersburg city. There were several very well maintained, multi-story brick buildings that were leveled to the ground as well as some parts of the historic decorative trains. A decorative caboose near the train station was ripped from its anchors and thrown over 20 feet. Damage in downtown Petersburg was rated as F4 at that location.

The response explains the faults that took place that delayed the ability to get victims in New Orleans health care and also shows the steps that should have taken place to help the citizens in New Orleans. It begins explaining the proposals that were suggested after hurricane Katrina. There were two different policy’s, one was a bipartisan proposal from congress that aimed to provide temporary, federally funded Medicaid coverage to low-income individuals affected by the hurricane, no matter where they sought care. It would also have 800 million dollars to help uninsured victims of the hurricane. While the estimated cost of this would only be 8.9 billion. While the other came directly from the President which had few major differences from

Finally on this note, the Federal Response Plan (FRP) has been revised into the National Response Plan (NRP). Many of the positive features of the FRP have been retained in the NRP but the focus has been shifted dramatically to responding to a terrorist attack and in doing so, the role of the Federal government has been altered dramatically. The NRP places the lead role in responding to major disasters, terrorist attack or natural disaster, in the hands of Federal officials. In fact, the Federal government now has the authority to respond to an event in a State without a request by the Governor. This alters the traditional role of the Federal government, through the FRP, supporting the actions of State and local government. This is a drastic