What Hurricane Effected the Presidents Image Stronger - Research Paper Example

The effects of Hurricane Isaac seven years after Hurricane Katrina “Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 28, New Orleans felt the first of Isaac’s high winds and heavy rains, which lasted for two days as the storm slowed to a snail’s pace after reaching land”(Hurricane Isaac tests Loyola's emergency response plans). However, only on 29 th of August, Isaac showed its destructive power. Isaac was a category one storm. On the other hand, “Hurricane Katrina made Gulf Coast landfall on August 29th, 2005, as a Category Four storm” (Understanding Katrina) Hurricane Isaac and Hurricane Katrina have caused huge damages to Americans. Plenty of people have lost their lives and destructions of wealth worth billions of dollars have been occurred as a result of these two natural catastrophe. These two natural catastrophes caused many changes in American society and politics. “Isaac clearly did not equal the magnitude of Katrina but the hurricane has destroyed some of the same homes that were destroyed seven years ago by Katrina” (Kim). However, many people believe that Obama’s way towards president’s office for the second time was smoothened by his handling of Hurricane Isaac. This paper analyses the effects of Hurricane Isaac seven years after Hurricane Katrina. The political dimensions of Hurricane Isaac and Hurricane Katrina seem to be interesting. Hurricane Isaac provided many opportunities to Obama whereas Hurricane Katrina damaged the image of president bush. According to Greg Kim (2012), staff writer of Chimes Calvin college, after all the criticism president George W. Bush received for how treated the importance of hurricane Katrina, president Obama visited the damaged regions in no time (Kim). Plenty of Americans believe that president Obama’s handling of hurricane Isaac was much better than the handling of hurricane Katrina by former president Bush. Obama stopped his political campaigns for presidential election immediately after the occurrence of Isaac. He has given more importance to the rescue operations than to his political gains. It should be noted that Mitt Romney was raising a strong challenge to Obama until the occurrence of Isaac. However, Isaac has given many opportunities to Obama to prove his superior leadership skills and the outcome was an easy walkover to Obama in the presidential election. Even though a seven years interval is there, one of the most astonishing facts about Katrina and Isaac is that both occurred on Aug. 29 (Nolan). However, the destructions caused by Katrina was much more than the destructions caused by Isaac. Timely interventions and rescue operations prevented the increased human casualties in the case of Isaac. On Friday, President Obama approved individual assistance as part of the disaster declaration for Louisiana. On Saturday night, he approved the same provisions for Mississippi. So far, more than 86,600 Louisianans and 3, 949 Mississippi residents have registered for assistance, and officials have approved roughly $4.14 million in requests. In both states, federal disaster teams have opened recovery centers where those affected by the storm can meet face to face with officials from nonprofits, state and local governments, FEMA, the Small Business Association, and other federal agencies to learn about the various types of assistance available to disaster survivors (Compton). In short, President Obama did everything possible to help the people who were suffering from the consequences of Isaac. However, same thing cannot be said about George W Bush when Katrina struck America in 2005. Even though Bush was particular in saving the lives of Americans from the threats of terrorists, he was not so in the case of natural disasters like Katrina. This is because of the fact that majority of the vulnerable areas of hurricane are black dominated. Being a republican, Bush is not much keen in helping the working class or black people. He seems to be interested only in the protection of Whites or the elite class. “In 2005, the racism and priorities of capitalism were revealed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The government provided no coordination or assistance in helping people evacuate New Orleans, a city that is nearly 70 percent African American”(Ellis). But in 2012, the situation has changed immensely because of Obama administration. It should not be forgotten that Republicans are still keeping the elements of racism in their minds and that is why former president Bush was not much sincere in his efforts to help black people dominated New Orleans. Being a person from the black community, Obama had no such reservations and that is why the governmental machineries combined well in dealing with the consequences of Isaac. No thinking human being can honestly believe it is impossible for the “richest country on earth” to protect its people from a Category 1 hurricane. And from the point of view of the vast majority in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, there has been no “recovery” since 2005. Entrepreneur-vultures took advantage of the crisis to rake in fortunes while large numbers of poor, mostly black residents were permanently driven out of New Orleans. The “reinvented” city has 125,000 less people than it did in 2000. Meanwhile, more than 20 percent of its addresses are blighted or abandoned. New Orleans ranks second among US cities in both income inequality and rate of homelessness. Forty-two percent of the city’s children live in poverty (Hurricane Isaac … and the seven years since Hurricane Katrina). The above facts clearly point towards the social inequalities prevailing in America even though America is believed to be the most civilized country in the world. It should not be forgotten that the Bush administration and the current Obama administration have no reluctance in spending billions of dollars in war on terror even though America’s financial capabilities were destroyed by recent recession. At the same time, the administrations citing lack of funds for the development of infrastructure facilities in hurricane hit areas. This is because of the fact that 9/11 raised threat to all the Americans whereas hurricane and floods are raising threat to black people dominated areas. According to Jamie Rhome, a storm surge specialist at the national hurricane centre in Miami, “people have got to stop thinking about hurricanes as simple numbers from 1 to 5” (Nolan). “People misuse the scale because they believe the weakest hurricanes are manageable from a risk perspective and don’t cause much damage”(Berger). The general perception among the people is such that category 1 and 2 storms are comparatively weaker than other categories and hence they may not take adequate precautionary measures. On the other hand, if the authorities warn the public about the possibilities of a category 3 or 4 hurricane, panic develop among the people. In short, disclosing the magnitude of the hurricane to the public is not a good idea. Katrina and Isaac proved beyond doubt that the magnitude of hurricanes is irrelevant if the authorities and the public combine well to prevent the destructions. The coordination between the governmental machineries and the public was not so good in the case of Katrina compared to Isaac and that is why the damages caused by Karina exceeded beyond the expectations. The destructive power of Katrina and Isaac varied not only in magnitude but also in the nature of attack. Katrina and Steven Apfelbaum, of the Huffinton Post, says that with slow-moving Hurricane Isaac with heavy rains and strong winds are the most damaging to a gulf coast that is stabilizing (Apfelbaum). According to Ed Hightower (2012), hundreds of thousands of New Orleans people lost power for days and “the surrounding region, which had no flood-control upgrades, continues to suffer from extensive flooding and power outages” (Hightower). On the other hand, Katrina’s destructive power was primarily based in the wind power and landfall rather than the rain (Hurricane Katrina). It should be noted that the wind speeds of Katrina was over 140 mph (Hurricane Katrina) whereas that of Isaac was around 70 mph (113 kph) (See the Wind: Beautiful Map of Isaac's Gusts). That is why the destructive power of Katrina exceeded that of Isaac. Both Katrina and Isaac succeeded in revealing New Orleans' shocking vulnerability to catastrophic flooding (Finn). Katrina occurred exactly 7 years before the occurrence of Isaac. However, the authorities seem to be not learning lessons from the past. They failed to prepare enough precautionary measures to deal with flood like situations even after 7 years. The funds allotted for the preventive measures were insufficient to deal with the destructive power of Katrina or Isaac. “Authorities cannot manage the water in the United States and protect people the way they need to with $2 billion of new construction money every year” (Finn). In short, the consequences of Katrina and Isaac clearly point towards the necessities of more funding for the risk reduction activities. “An estimated 13,000 homes were reported flooded in Louisiana, most just outside the $14.5 billion federal levee system rebuilt around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina” (Hennessy-Fiske). The above fact clearly questions the wisdom of authorities in allowing the people to construct houses without adequate measures to deal with flood like situations. “After the Isaac's initial landfall the week of August 28, the U.S. Coast Guard received reports of 158 oil spills and 171 hazardous material targets in the affected areas in Louisiana” (Weeks Later, Responders Still Dealing with Pollution Left in Hurricane Isaac's Wake). It should be noted that the number of oil spill incidents were less in the case of Katrina even though its destructive power was more. One of the major problem associated with Oil spills is its long lasting destructive power and after effects on eco system and the environment. To conclude, the destructive power of Hurricane Katrina was much more than that of Isaac. However, President Bush showed less interests in providing assistance to the black dominated people in New Orleans and Louisiana. On the other hand, president Obama did everything possible to help people in these areas when Isaac occurred. That is why he was successful in winning recent presidential election. Works Cited Apfelbaum, Steven. “The Gulf One Month After Hurricane Isaac”. Web. 27 November 2012. Berger, Eric. “Hurricane Scaling”. Web. 27 November 2012. Compton, Matt. President Obama Meets with Victims of Hurricane Isaac 2012. Ellis, Bryan. “Hurricane Isaac Shows: The System Has Not Changed”. Web. 27 November 2012. Finn, Cathy. “New Orleans Eyes More Levees After Passing Isaac's Test”. Web. 27 November 2012. “Hurricane Isaac … And The Seven Years Since Hurricane Katrina”. 2012. Web. 27 November 2012. “Hurricane Isaac Tests Loyola's Emergency Response Plans”. 2012. Web. 27 November 2012. Hightower, Ed. “Gulf region remains devastated one week after Hurricane Isaac”. Web. 27 November 2012. “Hurricane Katrina”. NOAA. National Climatic Data Center. Web. 27 November 2012. Hennessy-Fiske, Molly. “In Rural Areas Outside New Orleans Floodgates, 200,000 Remain At Risk”. 2012. Web. 27 November 2012. Kim, Greg. “Hurricane Isaac Leaves Mess”. Web. 27 November 2012. Nolan, Bruce. “Hurricane Isaac Was No Katrina, But The Stubborn Storm Is This Generation's Betsy”. 2012. Web. 27 November 2012.   “See the Wind: Beautiful Map of Isaac's Gusts”. 2012. Web. 27 November 2012. “Weeks Later, Responders Still Dealing with Pollution Left in Hurricane Isaac's Wake”. 2012. Web. 27 November 2012. “Understanding Katrina”. 2012. Web. 27 November 2012. Outline Introduction In the first and second paragraphs, Hurricane Katrina and Isaac introduced. The similarities, differences, political dimensions and the significance of date of occurrence were mentioned in the introduction paragraphs. Body The body of this essay starts from the third paragraph onwards. In the first and second body paragraph, political dimensions of these two disasters were discussed. In the third and fourth body paragraphs, social dimensions discussed. Magnitude, destructive powers of Katrina and Isaac compared in the following body paragraphs. Moreover the failure of the authorities in taking precautionary measures is also discussed at the end of the body. Conclusions Last paragraph of this research paper gives a brief conclusion of the findings. Works Cited All the references used in this paper were cited in MLA format at the end of the paper. Read More