Public Opinion in Texas about the Evacuation Procedures Resorted to before and after Hurricane Ike - Essay Example

Ample measures are claimed to be taken by the Federal and State governments to evacuate the people in Texas, expected to reside on the path of Hurricane Ike, both before and after it made its landfall. The concerned authorities made all possible efforts to provide the local leaders with the resources required to aid their communities in weathering any eventuality (Tyler Morning Telegraph).

Mandatory evacuation guidelines were issued for the people residing in Jefferson, Brazoria, Orange, Galveston, and Chambers counties while voluntary evacuation guidelines were issued for Hardin, Jackson, and Victoria counties (Tyler Morning Telegraph). All the public and private resources were pressed into service and efforts were made to amass a maximum number of personnel to help in pre and post-landfall operations. Arrangements were made to manage the evacuation operations both by ground and air.

“The Emergency Management Council and State operations Center was fully activated (Tyler Morning Telegraph)”. Still, it remains an issue of debate, whether the affected populations in Texas consider the evacuation arrangements resorted to, to be sufficient and ample within the expected constraints and handicaps. The goal of this study is to gauge the public opinion in Texas pertaining to the evacuation procedures pressed into service, both before and after Hurricane Ike made its landfall.

 As per this study, nearly 65 percent of the participants were found to be satisfied with the evacuation procedures pressed into service, both before and after the hurricane struck. Five percent of the participants expressed an inability to evaluate the evacuation procedures whereas 30 percent considered the evacuation procedures to be less than satisfactory. 55 percent of the participants confessed to a heightened level of insecurity ensuing from their apprehensions about the efficacy of the evacuation procedures. 38 percent of the participants admitted that they felt quite secure so far as the reliability of the rescue procedures was concerned.