Preview

Hurricane Katrina Was a Man-Made and Natural Disaster

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
255 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hurricane Katrina Was a Man-Made and Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina was a man-made and natural disaster. The hurricane, of course, was a natural disaster. The after effects like the levees breaching, people starving and dieing in the streets, how the government handle the situation were all man made.

The reason being a man made were , The man-made part of the disaster is that the government knew the levees wouldn't hold up in a Category 3 hurricane, and they didn't shore them up anyway. What was also man-made was the fact that the government told people to go to the Superdome, and when they did, they were stranded and many died a painful death.

The reason being a natural disaster, New Orleans is below sea level, there wasn't much anyone could do to prevent it. A lot of people say that President Bush was lazy and uncaring about the problem and refused to help. However, the truth is he couldn't. In the case of a natural disaster, it's up to the Governor of said area to either fix the problem or call in for help. The Governor in charge of that 5 years ago failed to respond, putting our former president in a tough situation. Eventually the government stepped in when it was clear there was no other choice, but saying Katrina was Bush's fault is like saying the oil spill is Obama's. It was a terrible natural disaster that happened 5 years ago, I say we put the past in the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    When the Leeves Broke
    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages

    When the Leeves Broke

    It is nearly impossible to imagine that one day you can be safe in your home and with all of your belongings and the next day a hurricane leaves you with nothing. Unfortunately, the 484,000 people who lived in New Orleans had to experience those unimaginable thoughts first hand in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina. “An entire city was nearly wiped off the face of the earth” (Kellogg) and at least 1,833 people were killed during and after the storm. There are many theories and conspiracies of what happened with the levees and what could have been done better in order to help the residents of New Orleans. Director Spike Lee felt very strongly about the issue and decided to make a documentary in order to give the people of New Orleans justice. By directing When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee gives the audience his personal view on the entire situation dealing with Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath. With his use of video editing and choice of certain interviews, Lee gave not only emotional credibility to his movie but also a logical point of view.…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Compare And Contrast Hurricane Nargis
    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Compare And Contrast Hurricane Nargis

    Katrina didn’t expect a huge hurricane because when it hit Florida it was a category 1 killing 3 people. So they taught that they wouldn’t get hit hard and it was just another tropical hurricane. Well they guessed wrong, because once it had went over water it had picked up speed and had became category 3 hurricane. This had then caused over 80 percent of New orleans to be flooded. Katrina then became a category 1, once it had hit Mississippi. Floodwater did not recede for weeks. This had left them with no water and no…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Zeitoun: The Cause Of Hurricane Katrina
    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Zeitoun: The Cause Of Hurricane Katrina

    Hurricanes are not abnormal for the people of Louisiana. Thus, there are plans and precautions made by the government in case a hurricane, such as Hurricane Katrina, is to happen. So why is Hurricane Katrina so disastrous? In his book Zeitoun, Dave Eggers asserts that Congress, the Bush Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and are neglectful and incompetent before, during, and following Hurricane Katrina. Due to Zeitoun’s family experiences, outside cases and broadcasts, this assertion is proven to be true.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    9/11 Impact On America
    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages

    9/11 Impact On America

    Approximately 1,800 people died, and millions were left homeless (2). In the Superdome and the New Orleans convention Center, thousands of people sought refuge. Hurricane Katrina caused the largest displacement of a population since the Great Depression with more than a million people being displaces (4). Causing $108 billion in damage, Katrina is the most costly storm in United States history (2). Ten years later, the region was still recovering from Katrina. The New Orleans metro population ended up dropping significantly from 1.386 million in 2005 to 1.04 million in 2006 (6). Government officials have had to learn from the tragedy and implement better environmental, communication and evacuation policies. The Army Corps of Engineers has rebuilt the levee, making the barriers higher and supporting them with steel beams (5). The affects of Hurricane Katrine truly changed the lives of millions of people…

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Galveston Hurricane 1900
    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Galveston Hurricane 1900

    Natural Disasters have powerful forces , they affect the environment and the people because they destroy the areas where they hit .“The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was the deadliest hurricane to ever hit the United States and caused between 8000 and 12000 deaths. The storm reached the Texas coast south of Galveston on September 8 as a Category 4 hurricane with a storm surge of 8 to 15 feet.” All Natural Disasters can be formed in different ways but one of the examples are that hurricanes can be formed by the warm and moist air…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hurricane Katrina Evaluation
    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hurricane Katrina Evaluation

    Hurricane Katrina started a tropical depression on August 23rd, 2005. On August 27th, President George W. Bush declared a state of emergency for the states of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. By August 28th, Katrina become a Category 5 hurricane. However, when Katrina made landfall in Louisiana on August 29th, 2005, it was a weakened Category 3 hurricane. As Katrina made landfall, the levees in the greater New Orleans area began to fail causing large amounts of water to begin flooding the city. With the flooding of the city, came the communication failures causing a lack of communication throughout the city. As Katrina passed, the failure of the levees, caused many residents who did not evacuate to become strand waiting for help.. Many…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Levee and New Orleans
    • 3564 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Levee and New Orleans

    Although a considerable amount of the blame has been placed at the feet of FEMA, it should be understood that multiple factors contributed to the situation in New Orleans. Some sections of the levees had been poorly constructed, and were not properly maintained. Local agencies failed to adequately plan and prepare of such an event. Local officials waited too long to order an evacuation, and did not consider how to assist those citizens who lacked the financial resources evacuate on their own. (1,24)…

    • 3564 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    Hurricane Katrina: Levee Failure
    • 2081 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Hurricane Katrina: Levee Failure

    In august 2005, the State of Louisiana was hit with one of the most devastating natural disasters the United States has ever seen. New Orleans specifically was among the cities who felt the full force of Hurricane Katrina. While the storm itself was very powerful the damage wasn’t caused necessarily by the hurricane but by the failure in the levee system. According to Jennifer Trevedi, In the book, Encyclopedia of Disaster, Jennifer Trevedi describes the extent of the damage through breaches of the levee. Trevedi says, the levees were breached in over fifty different spots flooding the St. Bernard and Plaquemine parish. Some of the most significant breaches occurred at the Industrial Canal, the 17th Street Canal, and the London canal (322-325). Once the initial shock of the situation subsided, people wanted answers. Why did the levees fail? Who was responsible for this catastrophic mistake? Initially the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) who was put in charge of the construction of the levee system took the blame. But, after further research on the topic I’ve found that yes, the Corps took part in the breaching of the levees but prior to Hurricane Katrina the corps dealt with a tremendous amount of local, state, and federal stipulations that affected them in their attempt to build a safe and secure levee system. With this in mind the Corps cannot be found completely responsible for the disaster that occurred in the city of New Orleans.…

    • 2081 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    New Orleans Levees
    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages

    New Orleans Levees

    Before and after the Hurricane people said they knew the disaster was going to eventually happen. They knew bad things were coming and nothing was done to prevent the tragedy. In the Civil Engineering Magazine, models have been made in the 1990's and a while before that that, if a category 4 or 5 hurricane hit New Orleans there would be a catastrophic flood and the city would be devastated. The magazine says that the flood could reach heights of 25 feet. "With Hurricane Katrina, some parts of New Orleans saw up to 20 feet of water" (12a). With all this information being known a while back, why wasn't anything being done to change and make New Orleans secure from all the risks from hurricanes? The answer to this is poor leaders and poor administrators in New Orleans and Louisiana. Plenty of hurricanes in the past have hit New Orleans. And plenty of them have…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Racism In Katrina
    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page

    Racism In Katrina

    "There are no natural disasters, but a Mismanagement of natural phenomena." Extreme natural phenomena has always existed and it is precisely when human beings should protect goods and services that may be affected by these natural phenomena when we have a disaster. The tragedy of Katrina was not, in a fundamental sense, the product of the forces of nature, but of the Bush administration and the capitalist system in general. The Bush administration was unfit to govern. Although a big cyclone was expected long ago, sufficient preventive measures were not taken to minimize damage. This catastrophic event also demonstrated that the institutions of white supremacy and racism ideas are deeply intertwined with the system of capitalism in America.…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hurricane Katrina Disaster Evaluation
    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Hurricane Katrina Disaster Evaluation

    Louisiana and Mississippi activated their emergency plan on 26, August, 2010, trying to evacuate everyone, but unfortunately not everyone could leave due to medical reason or had no access to transportation. In Hurricane Katrina there were more than 1,800 people that died. In Louisiana more than 1,500 lost their lives and in Mississippi 230 people lost their lives. In Florida 14 people lost their lives (University of Rhode Island. 2010-2015). Prior to Hurricane Katrina’s arrival, the state, local and federal were responsible for emergency response to a hurricane striking New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Along with Federal Emergency Management Agency. Hurricanes on average come through there about every three years, so plans were always being implemented in order to keep everyone safe. Information Please Database, (2007) states that, “The Department of Homeland security had come out with a plan in early 2005, which states that vastly improved coordination among federal, state, local, and tribal organizations . . . by increasing the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of incident management." However Michael Chertoff, the Department's Secretary, waited until two days after the hurricane hit before putting the plan into effect by declaring it an "incident of national significance." (Information Please Database, 2007). FEMA does training sessions but when it came down to it FEMA was not…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Multiple Governments and Intergovernmental Relationships
    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Multiple Governments and Intergovernmental Relationships

    Hurricane Katrina hit the golf coast on Monday August 29 2005, the eye of the storm hitting Sothern Louisiana, between New Orleans, and Gulfport Mississippi. This storm cause severer damage all along the cost, destroying homes, roads, and bridges as far as 12 miles in land ("Hurricane Katrina", 2013). This author lived in northern Mississippi, a five-hour drive from the gulf coast, and lost power for days, as well as severe damage to his home, and the loss of seven 100+ year old trees. The worst damage though was within New Orleans Louisiana, where most of the city is below sea level and protected by an intercut system of levees, and sea walls. These levees broke and flooded most of the city, mixing with raw sewage and underground gasoline stores making a lethal cocktail, not fit for human habitation. As a result of this and a lack of proper cooperation within our government many people died.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Portrayal of African American Citizens During Hurricane Katrina.
    • 2326 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The Portrayal of African American Citizens During Hurricane Katrina.

    New Orleans was possibly the worst effected city due to what is considered as the “worst civil engineering disaster in U.S history” 1…

    • 2326 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Response To Hurricane Katrina
    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Response To Hurricane Katrina

    Hurricane Katrina was one of the most destructive storms to ever hit the United States and left behind much devastation to the south coast, particularly New Orleans, Louisiana. However, there were many ways that some of this physical and emotional damage could have been prevented, particularly by the government systems and engineers. When the Levees Broke, a movie directed by Spike Lee, clearly showed this and the interviews of those who lived through the storm were truly heart wrenching. However, there were some strengths that came out of this event, such as the close bond the communities developed and/or sustained, as well as the heroic efforts of some politicians and military officers.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hurricane Katrina In New Orleans
    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page

    Hurricane Katrina In New Orleans

    Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes ever to hit to hit the United States. (Zimmerman, 2015). About 1,800 people died in the hurricane and the flooding that took place afterwards in late August 2005, and many people were left without a place…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics