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Hurricane Katrina

A natural disaster comes suddenly, sometimes with no warning leaving in its wake

destruction and death. Natural disasters include; Hurricane, earthquake, volcanic eruption, fires

among others. They are not subjected to a given area; thus each country should be prepared for

the disaster that is likely to affect that area. The effects of a natural disaster are adverse, for

instance, the environment gets littered with all manner of debris, houses get destroyed, streets

become impassable, and trees get uprooted among others. The advancement of technology and

mode of communication has made it easier to relay information such as warning alerts. People

can prepare for a natural disaster by finding safe zones to go to, pack food and water as well as

other essentials such as torches, batteries, ropes and flares, just to mention a few (Arcaya et al.

16246). The purpose of the paper is to analyze a natural disaster and establish how the victims

managed to survive the catastrophe.

Hurricane Katrina is regarded as one of the costliest disasters in the US history affecting

92,000, square miles, killing over 1500 people and leaving thousands homeless. The hurricane

struck several states such as Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, but the worst hit was New Orleans,

Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina began on 24th Aug 2005 as a tropical storm in the Bahamas and

gained strength in the Atlantic water; it hit the Florida coast becoming a category one hurricane

with wind speed estimated to be 119km/hr (Deryugina et al. 2).The storm moved through the

Gulf of Mexico where the atmosphere was conducive in fueling the storm. By the time it hit New
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Orleans, it had exploded to hurricane 5 with wind speeds of 282 km/hr. A combination of waves

and storm surge led to the failure of the levee system that was supposed to provide a barrier. The

failure caused a massive flooding that covered up to 80% of New Orleans (Kastenbaum 91).

The vast number of deaths and destruction would have been avoided if only proper

planning and the fast response had been done. There are four critical reasons as to why hurricane

Katrina was the worst tragedy to have hit the United States. The first one was that warning alerts

had been released early before the storm, but these warnings went unheeded. Moreover,

government officials who should have prepared in advance for the magnitude of the hurricane

neglected their duties. The second was that agents of the state made poor decisions following the

landfall showing the unpreparedness (Deryugina et al. 4). The third being that systems put in

place to support their efforts failed, causing massive property destruction.

The levees system were poorly built and could not withstand the storm. The engineers

underestimated the strength of the soil which turned to be weak to resist the pressure of the

water. The fourth reason is that government officials failed to provide adequate leadership to the

inhabitants of New Orleans. The federal government, the Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA) and President Bush administration was not effective in averting the disaster and

provided little help to New Orleans.

One cannot fathom the pain and anguish the victims felt in the wake of the hurricane until

they hear their ordeal. John was one of the paramedics called in to help victims after the storm.

The atmosphere was foul, and the area had scattered debris making roads impassable, but the

paramedics tried as much as they could to help. What is hard to forget are the cries for help that

came through each day, they were overwhelmed and did not know what to expect. He remembers

one couple that had been stuck in their attic with no food for two days; it took the help of the son
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to locate them and call for help. The image that he struggled to erase was that of dead bodies

floating in the floods. It consisted of children, men and women of all color and race who had not

been lucky to survive.

Terry and her two children were lucky to survive the catastrophe because she moved

away from her home and moved in with her parents in another state. The day she heard the

warning, she rushed to the airport, bought tickets, prepared her children and left. Julia had

implored her long-time friend Julia to follow suit who reluctantly refused to state that all would

be okay. It was the worst decision she ever made, her house was destroyed, and Julia who was

struggling to get to the higher ground got carried away by the high current of the floods. In the

hurricane she lost a friend, had to grapple with rebuilding her home and keeping away looters

from getting the little that was left after the storm.

Gift, a laborer worker, was not lucky in the tragedy as he lost everyone in his family, a

total of five people; his mother, father, wife and two sons. It was the most traumatic time of his

life more so since he was away from home when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. They were

missing for a week until a friend informed him that he had seen his wife among the dead. It was

tough to locate the rest of the family, he had to announce in the Superdome where thousands of

people had sheltered, but no one had any information. It was a week later when he found their

bodies among the pile of the deceased.

Surviving a catastrophe is only the first step, a lot must be done to heal and forget the

tragedy. The survivors shared how they overcame the tragedy, what they did and how they look

at life after Katrina. Terry joined a support group to try and overcome the tragedy of losing a

longtime friend. It was helpful to meet other people who were going through painful memories,

and their stories gave her strength to overcome the loss. She became more spiritual, believing
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that everything happens for a reason. She offered financial assistance to victims who lost their

homes and could not restructure their lives. She occupied her time with a hobby so as to forget

the tragedy and it helped. Terry is grateful that she heeded the warning and calls upon individuals

to listen to warning alerts as they are predictors of a disaster.

Gift, on the other hand, decided to move to another state so as to be able to forget the loss

of his family, he was an only child, so there was no one he could look up to offer support. He

was always in the hospital with depression and was referred by a doctor to attend sessions of

counseling which were instrumental in his recovery. Finally; John left his line of the profession

since he could not handle the blood and the dead bodies he saw during Hurricane Katrina. He

decided to start a business as a way of surviving the tragedy, to distract him from the trauma. He

volunteered to help out for charitable work since it gave him a purpose, but once a while he

would look back, and the memory would be back. It is hard to overcome the tragedy entirely, but

advice victims of any disaster to seek professional help.

To survive in a natural disaster one needs to be prepared and well informed on what to

do, where to go, what to carry and how to stay alive. One would think that when a tragedy

happens, people will scramble to safety but this is not always the case. It is over ten years since

Katrina struck New Orleans and the lessons have been immense. The city that lost more than

1500 of its people is struggling to rebuild its infrastructure (Fussell 1232). The blame game has

not stopped as to who should be held responsible for the deaths to a disaster that could have been

prevented. However, there have been increased efforts to prevent future disasters in New

Orleans. Before Katrina, the healthcare and emergency systems were poorly integrated, but this

has changed with the introduction of National Health Security Strategy that coordinates

disaster response with the government, communities and the stakeholders. It recognizes that
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the emergency care system are the backbone of effective disaster response. Hospitals that

were overwhelmed due to a large number of injured persons have been equipped to sustain a

large number of individuals. The levee systems have been rebuilt and are constantly being

monitored to ensure that they protect New Orleans in the case of another hurricane. The

advancement of technology has made communication easy between the government and the

citizens. Individuals have been advised to listen to warning alerts and have surviving supplies

at hand in the case of a disaster (Shrum 6).

The victims of Hurricane Katrina have struggled to move on with their lives, but support

systems have enabled individuals to carry on with their lives. Therefore, there should be

increased efforts by the government to ensure its citizens are well prepared for a disaster by

ensuring effective systems are put in place. Individuals should recognize the different institutions

that can help in recovery from the trauma such as counseling centers, homeless centers among

others. For those with anxiety and depression, they can be prescribed drugs that can help in

alleviate their suffering and pain. Surviving a catastrophe might be good news to so many

people, but recovering from it determines what kind of an individual one becomes.
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Works cited

Arcaya, Mariana C., et al. "Role of health in predicting moves to poor neighborhoods among

Hurricane Katrina survivors." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.46

(2014): 16246-16253.

Deryugina, Tatyana, Laura Kawano, and Steven Levitt. The economic impact of hurricane

katrina on its victims: evidence from individual tax returns. No. w20713. National Bureau

of Economic Research, 2014.

Fussell, Elizabeth. "The long-term recovery of New Orleans population after Hurricane

Katrina." American behavioral scientist 59.10 (2015): 1231-1245.

Kastenbaum, Robert. Death, society, and human experience. Routledge, 2015.

Shrum, Wesley. "What caused the flood? Controversy and closure in the Hurricane Katrina

disaster." Social Studies of Science 44.1 (2014): 3-33.