Hurricane Katrina Disaster - Research Proposal Example

Swarna1 Word count: 1578 (excluding tables) P.Swarnalatha ID # 5448 Order#170137 d 13th May 2007 Hurricane Katrina research paper What is Katrina? Katrina was the eleventh named storm of the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season and it has been replaced by Katia recently. At the same time, hurricane Katrina was considered as the most vulnerable and one of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States which resulted in severe economic and environmental damage. It was the third-strongest hurricane on record that made landfall in the United States. The storm is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 billion in damage, and hence it is considerd as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. If one analyzes the history of Katrina, it developed on August 23 during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and caused severe damage along Gulf Coast of the United States. It was formed initially in Bahamas on August 23, 2005, and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there, later consolidated rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico and becameone of the strongest hurricanes on record while at sea. Gradually the storm reduced its intensity before making its second and third landfalls as a Category 3 storm on August 29 2005. It affected the cities like St. Louis, Gulfport,Waveland, Ocean Springs, Biloxi, and Pascagoula. Need for the present study: As different types of views built up over a period of time like the poor government response and role of media, one has to thoroughly analyze the actual response of the government when this disaster happened and to review the role of media reports in terms of accuracy. Keeping this in view, the results of Katrina graffiti and media report have been analyzed with the following objectives: 1. Whether the response of the government is adequate or not? 2. Whether the media acted genuinely and reported accurately regarding the Katrina? The Katrina graffiti reflects the original status of hurricane Katrina and its severe effect that took several lives n 2005 in United States of America. However it has not been tackled or managed well by the government agencies according to several researchers. It is unfrotunate to find the lukewarm response of the federal, state and local governments as an immediate response to the storm which resulted in an investigation by the United States Congress. It was also felt that some bias has been shown by the government as far as the protection of the people is concerned in terms of racial discrimination. Some reporters felt that it was not only a natural disaster rather it was a political disaster (Eric Klinenberg, 2002). Most notable in media coverage was the effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans due to failure of the flood protection system and in coastal Mississippi. For example, in Louisiana, the flood protection system in New Orleans failed in as many as 53 different places. Almost every levee in metro New Orleans breached as Hurricane Katrina passed east of the city which resulted in flooding of 80% of the city. At least 1,800 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods and it is regarded as the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. It was also felt that media has responded more than required according to the government. One should also keep in mind the fact that even though the Americans of other territories were not affected by the Hurricane Katrina in 2005, their happiness index dipped severely as suggested by the survey conducted in the first week of September, 2005 (Matt Nevisky, 2005). This is due to the media reports on government response to extend the help for the victims of Katrina during last week of August 2005. They were stunned at the way in which the American citizens were neglected during the post Katrina period. They believed strongly that the government agencies should work more effectively and hence felt unhappy over the developments. The poor response of government to crisis management during Katrina incidence was also reported Eric Klinenberg (2005). It was reported that the government of America committed the same mistakes which it encountered in 1995 during Chicago heat wave and it is unfortunate that it could not learn any lessons from the past event. As far as the accuracy of the media is concerned following items have to be analyzed in comparison to that of graffiti reports. The media (Times Picayune) reports on political and social commentary has been found to be higher (9.7%) (table 2) than that of graffiti reports (6.5%) (table 1). The media certainly acted actively which made public aware about not only the extent of damage the public suffered but also about the poor response of government to the hurricane Katrina. However there was no mentioning as far as the memorial is concerned in media reports which was noticed in graffiti reports (3.3%). As the memorial graffiti has the characteristic of reflecting on the passing of somebody or a group of people, expressing optimism or hope for the future, expressing spiritual or religious qualities, or offering gratitude, it may be inferred that public were not having any element of hope in terms of Katrina management from the government side. In case of disorder which refers to any message about crime, looting, or the protection of property, the media reports (9.1%) are almost nearer to that of graffiti reports (11.2%). It is interesting to note considerable frustration ( an emotional state of which people reject anger, hate or aggravation with either the disaster itself or the people aiding them) of the American public towards Katrina (11.2 %). The media reported the same in other forms like unhappiness of public and aging and isolation. Similarly, the official information (a government organization such as the city of new Orleans, the army engineer corps, FEMA etc.) regarding Katrina was reported higher in graffiti reports (31.8%) than that of media reports (26%). However one has to thoroughly verify the extent of positive attitude of government sources reported by the media. At the same time, if one looks at the informational sources (supply of non-official information) the graffiti has reported 10.3 %. In case of news papers, it has to be interpreted to developmental agencies other than government sources which account for 23.9 %. This also gives us a view that several functionaries helped significantly during management of hurricane Katrina. The reports on estimates of living animals, missing animals and dead animals in the form of pets also forms the crucial news coverage under natural disasters. The graffiti reports suggested the coverage of pets to be 3.7 % which was missing in media reports. It was also noticed that enough reports of humor relating to the hurricane Katrina (36%) were found in graffiti reports. These were classified under three sub codes i.e. Jocular, Sarcasm, and satirical humor which account for 25 %, 5 % and 6 % respectively. Even though the media reports relating to the same was not clearly reflected according to the table 2, there were specific examples which reflect the humor available as follows. "The first baby has been born in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Yeah, they named it FEMA because it finally showed up after nine months." 1. It reflects the poor performance of FEMA during management of Katrina in 2005 in humorous manner. "I dont think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." 2. As commented by President Bush, on "Good Morning America," on Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina. 1:http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/hurricanekatrina/a/neworleansjokes.htm. 2:http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/currentevents/a/katrinaquotes.htm. As far as the help or assistance was concerned the media reports (23.9%) dominated significantly over that of graffiti reports (7%). This reflects the positive attitude of media towards information relating to the assistance required during the natural disasters like hurricane Katrina. In the following areas, the media reports have given excusive coverage regarding which the information was absent in graffiti reports. Considerable reports (7.4%) have been published in media relating to the deaths due to the hurricane Katrina. More importantly the awareness of public about the weather in the form of meteorological conditions (11.6 %) was well reported in the media. Some of the crucial effects caused by the Katrina like aging (1.6%), isolation (3.3%) and poverty (5.2%) were also exclusively covered in the media reports. The isolation is mainly due to acute stress and poverty is resulted due to lack of sufficient support from the government schemes following natural disasters like Katrina. One more important aspect discussed by the media reports was in the form of ethno racial issues (2.1%). This mainly accounts to discrimination in terms of assistance to the black people in comparison to the white people during hurricane Katrina. Conclusion: The media reports relating to the hurricane Katrina were found to be almost close to the graffiti reports in several aspects. In some of the items like isolation, aging, poverty, help or assistance and ethnoracial issues media reports were the exclusive source of information relating to Katrina. Their reports were accurate and support the view that government response was insufficient during hurricane Katrina. References: Matt Nevisky. 2005. Unhappiness after Hurricane Katrina. NBER (national Bureau of Economic Research). http://www.nber.org/digest/may06/w12062.html. Eric Klinenberg. 2002. Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. University of Chicago press. P:328. ISBN-10: 0226443221. Eric Klinenberg. 2005. When Chicago baked. Unhealed lessons from another great urban catastrophe. Slate. Dated 2nd September 2005. http://www.slate.com/id/2125572/. Table 1: GRAFFITI CONTENT RESULTS 1PM CLASS . Table 2 : TIMES-PICAYUNE COVERAGE OF HURRICANE KATRINA HEADLINES 10AM 1PM AVERAGE % Deaths 15 13 14 5.6% City Gov. Responses 95 51 73 29.1% Indiv. And Coping Strategies 94 69 82 32.5% Meteorological Conditions 12 20 16 6.4% Political Scandal 19 26 23 9.0% Aging 0 1 1 0.2% Isolation 2 12 7 2.8% Poverty 3 21 12 4.8% Crime and Safety 22 15 19 7.4% Ethnoracial Issues 4 8 6 2.4% TOTAL 266 236 251       TEXT 10AM 1PM AVERAGE % Deaths 35 32 34 7.4% City Gov. Responses 116 118 117 26.0% Indiv. And Coping Strategies 104 111 108 23.9% Meteorological Conditions 25 79 52 11.6% Political Scandal 36 51 44 9.7% Aging 6 8 7 1.6% Isolation 5 25 15 3.3% Poverty 15 32 24 5.2% Crime and Safety 37 45 41 9.1% Ethnoracial Issues 6 13 10 2.1% TOTAL 385 514 450   Read More