Implications Of The Hurricane Katrina - Research Paper Example

Hurricane Katrina in the United States of America Abstract Background: This research study is aimed at examining the magnitude of the hurricane Katrina, the population affected, and the emergency operations of the hurricane in the New Orleans emergency response center. Specifically, this study seeks to determine what pre-disaster and post-disaster causal factors, alone or in combination, were important to recovery following Hurricane Katrina Methods: Qualitative research method was used in collecting data amongst affected people, of all age groups. This involved conducting interviews individually and in focus groups. Economist and government officers of all levels were interviewed. Results: Participants identified a number of mental health needs, as well as displacement-related challenges, including loss of social support, material loss, unemployment, and other stressful life events that were secondary to the hurricane. Communities facing the same disaster recover differently and determine pathways to successful disaster recovery in the research setting of New Orleans neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Katrina. Conclusion: This is a disaster that involved both the local and federal government, this suffered a lot of criticism from the public as majority think that the recovery program was politicized. Hurricane Katrina caused many individuals to evacuate to towns and cities throughout the United States. In future proper post disaster procedures should be put in place to deal with such problems. Key words: FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Authorities Introduction A hurricane is a tropical cyclone with violent wind of high force usually accompanied by rain thunder and lightning. Hurricane Katrina was among the worst natural disasters that humanity has suffered. It happened in the United States, New Orleans spilling over into Asia. It was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the US with winds of up to 175mph. it left over 2000 people dead and a large number of others were left missing some of whom are still missing to date. Hurricane Katrina had a huge aftermath effect on the global economy (Jordan , Javernick-will , Amadei , 2014). Generally it affected over 13 million people in various ways such as leaving some homeless, rising prices of gas and a strain in the economy. It didn’t only affect people but property was affected too, this was the costliest hurricane in the history of the US. Areas affected by the storm were home to many white collar jobs and this impacted on the employment of the citizens. Katrina led to flooding of areas such as Orleans and these flood waters did not recede for weeks later. About 90,000 square miles were affected by hurricane Katrina. Following this disaster many countries pledged monetary donations to the US (Jordan , Javernick-will , Amadei , 2014) Rescue and recovery efforts following this disaster were highly politicized, with leaders in the local and federal governments pointing out at each other instead of working together to alleviate the aftermath of the hurricane. Various organizations and well wishers joined in the recovery like the Red Cross organization. They managed to evacuate people from the flooded areas, and gave emotional support to individuals who were affected by enrolling them to mental health centers. Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the magnitude of hurricane Katrina, the affected population, how the population was affected and other effects of the disaster. It seeks to know the general emergency operations in New Orleans in which the federal local and state governments participated in. this paper also seeks to know the interaction between the private and public sectors in response to the disaster. Methods used We focus on the qualitative approach in this research paper as it is more detailed and delivers a lot of information but it covers both qualitative and quantitative forms of research. Interviews were conducted on many people in the affected areas on the pre and post disaster effects. Different people from different areas established common issues after the hurricane like a receding economy, homelessness, mental and health needs, unemployment and loss of property worth millions of dollars (Jordan , Javernick-will , Amadei , 2014). We interviewed practitioners working in the New Orleans mental health care community during and after Hurricane Katrina. Through qualitative data analysis, we developed a descriptive framework to help in the recovery process of the evacuees and different periods of disruption. We analyzed the actions participants took during this disaster period. Economists and investors from New Orleans were interviewed on their firms and investments. They were assembled as a focus group and all were given papers to note down what was discussed in the forum. Real estate owners were the most affected in this study (Jordan , Javernick-will , Amadei , 2014) Several focus groups were conducted in mental and health centers to a number of selected patients. When the results were sampled, there were many challenges the practitioners in the center faced such as post trauma in talking to the affected parties. Ground rules were dictated to the participants for the session, which included assuring the participants that the information disclosed was private and confidential and wasn’t going to be submitted to any authorities. The audio recording method which is considered the most effective was used, each participant was given a demographic sheet and consent forms alongside notepads to write through the session. This paper compares studies from different neighborhoods on the recovery levels. Data was collected in interviews of individuals and focus groups as well. Publically available sources such as US census, New Orleans community Data center were analyzed for damaged neighborhoods. Qualitative comparative analysis was used due to its power to analyze both qualitative and quantitative case studies for small cases. Results The majority of the affected population was the young adults who were actually working, investors in the New Orleans region lost property worth millions. The ones who survived this hurricane are left with major mental and post trauma problems. Mental health care providers adapted to disruptions by displaying flexibility. Their flexibility varied throughout the research period with the participants involved. The mental health care providers adapted to disruption by displaying two forms of flexibility: doing different tasks and doing tasks differently. How much and how they engaged in these forms of flexibility varied during the three periods. The economy of the US, both the private and public sectors suffered a great loss following the disaster but due to recovery measures put in place they would most definitely revive their establishments. The results of this study show that there are multiple ways of combining pre disaster actions and post disaster activities to establish the recovery. The economic capacity of the US is nearly enough for the recovery process but due to contingency measures such as stocking funds and those of well wishers like India and Chinese governments led to recovery. Participants identified a number of mental health needs, as well as displacement-related challenges, including loss of social support, material loss, unemployment, and other stressful life events that were secondary to the hurricane. Both the federal and local government of the US took part in the recovery process, but they politicized the problem hindering effective recovery process. The leaders took it in their best interests other than facilitating the process of recovery like working on stabilizing the economy and offering land and homes to the displaced individuals. Discussion Previous research works show that the recovery process could have been more successful if both the local and federal governments worked together without politicizing the situation. The public and private sectors having been affected by the post hurricane effects would have joined hands together as well. Various factors that hindered the interface of the sectors include, distrust of each other’s activities, inability to understand how the other party functions, also lack of effective and efficient communication between the parties (Weisler, Barbee, & Townsend, 2006) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), partnered with communities in the nation to meet the goal of recovery and prepare the nationalities against natural disasters. The role of the public and private sectors was to focus on alleviating the damage caused by the hurricane and the after actions (Weisler, Barbee, & Townsend, 2006). They should have formed disaster recovery alliances of different forums to deal with the aftermath of the recovery. This would have involved public and private sector collaboration, based upon a risk assessment programme. 700,000 or more people may have been seriously affected by Hurricane Katrina, as they lived in areas that flooded or sustained significant damages such as the New Orleans parish. This is according to the 2000 census data, although these statistics may differ depending on the method of data collection used and the informants who participated in the study. Katrina caused the worst effects compared to other hurricanes as represented by the results of my research. It had a massive effect on property, people, and the economy at large. The economy was brutally bruised leaving many economic resources damaged and unutilized therefore impacting on the employment levels of New Orleans and the country as a whole. It compares effects of Katrina, Andrew, Ivan and Camille hurricanes and their effects on homes, property and lives lost. Limitations The method used was sampling which might have sampled out very relevant information. The informants too could have provided biased information considering they were still clouded by mixed emotions from the post hurricane effects. methods of data collection used, the interviews may not be as effective as using quantitative research approach which would have provided accurate figures as opposed to personal reactions and reviews of the event. Also dishonesty of the participants could have crippled down my research on the effects of the hurricane Summary In general the recovery process was carried out successfully despite the challenges faced by different bodies that attempted to facilitate the process. This hurricane left the US economically handicapped as it destroyed properties and investments worth millions of dollars. Many people lost their jobs as a result of this hurricane and this was a major slash of the country’s income and county governments too like the New Orleans where this research is based suffered the most as it the floods badly hit the region. This reduced productivity and wasted economic space in the parish. Recovering employment levels that were accomplished before the hurricane was a slow process, most of who have not secured jobs up to date but ended up self employed. Oil production was stalled for weeks as both the labor force and refining operations were affected. Majority of the population from New Orleans were forced to relocate to other cities to restart homes and businesses. Gas prices went extremely high and this as a result left thousands without power as they couldn’t afford energy bills anymore. Shipping industry was among the worst hit by this disaster as the port of New Orleans was damaged. This had an effect in international trade and a major blow to the national government as their incomes were reduced by a great percentage. Many homes were lost which rendered thousands of the population homeless. Tourism was crippled much as tourists took time to get over the effects of the hurricane. Travel bans were for a while issued by travel advisories in various countries as they wanted to protect their nationalities and help them get over the post hurricane effects. The public and private sectors were injured by the aftermath of the hurricane as not only homes but industries too were affected. Both parties shifted blame on each and waiting upon the US government to facilitate their recovery process. In the end however they join hand to grow back the economy as it has an effect on the employment levels hence income generation for the US government. Conclusion Although the United States government was badly criticized for slow response in getting recovery efforts ongoing in New Orleans, the government installed several rescue operations. People were evacuated from New Orleans to other cities by different bodies such as the Red Cross society and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Rescue operations included mental and health therapy for the affected population. This among other operations helped in rehabilitating people from the county and they also provided information to data centers that were used in analysis of the Katrina hurricane. Despite the political war between the federal, state and local governments, according to my study, the response to the emergency was done successfully considering the extensive damage caused by hurricane Katrina that left US government crippled. Sensitization of disaster and crisis management policies should be incorporated in school curriculums and should be reviewed frequently. Disaster affects everyone in the stricken area so such formal education is essential. Post disaster management practices such as support mechanisms should be developed for all in preparation for mental health concerns such as trauma. Informants' actions helped to create system resilience by adjusting the extent to which they were doing multiple and differently during the post disaster management period. Their flexibility allowed them to provide basic care and adapt to changed circumstances. Their flexibility also contributed to maintaining a skilled workforce in the New Orleans. References Baker N. D., Feldman M. S., Lowerson V. (2013). Working Through Disaster: Re-establishing Mental Health Care after Hurricane Katrina. Pub Med Journal, 7(3) 222-31 Chamlee W., Emily. & Storr V. H. (2009). There’s No Place Like New Orleans Sense of Place and Community Recovery in the Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Urban Affairs, 31(5) 615-634 Jordan E., Javernick-will A., Amadei B., (2014). A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Neighborhood Recovery Following Hurricane Katrina, International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 5(4) 391-412 Weems, C. F., Taylor, L. K., Canon, M. F., Marks, A. B., Romano, D.M. et al. (2008). Post Traumatic Stress Symptoms among New Orleans Public School Youth Exposed to Hurricane Katrina at Two Years and Half Years Post Land Fall: a report on community need. Louisiana: University of New Orleans Weisler, R.H., Barbee, J. G., & Townsend, M.H. (2006). Mental Health and Recovery in the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Journal of the American medical association, 296, 585-588 . Read More