Disaster management assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Disaster management assignment - Essay Example Why was there such a deficiency in the aid provided? Was there any effect on the extent of Hurricane Katrina of the human activities? Was the catastrophe prompted by the land use practices along the Gulf Coast? Can Global Warming be considered as one of the factors that impelled the storm to such appalling proportions? What effect would it have on the over all nation’s economy? These are just some of the questions that started arising in the utter confusion after the disaster. Since the time that Katrina hit, the tropical storms and hurricane activity in the Atlantic have been well above normal. The arrival of Katrina actually signified a continuation of the trend in 1995 (Hurricane Katrina: A Scientist’s Response). The development of hurricanes had an average of 7.7 hurricanes and 3.6 major hurricanes yearly between 1995 and 2005, while in the previous 25 years the average had been 5 hurricanes and 1.5 major hurricanes. (Hurricane Katrina: A Scientist’s Response 2005) New Orleans, which was directly in the eye of the hurricane, sits in the middle of the flood plain of the Mississippi river. This mighty river like most rivers of such a scale overflowed its banks inundating the surrounding area which threatened the wellbeing of the communities surrounding that area. Katrina arrived in the busiest hurricane seasons of the Atlantic Ocean by the end of which 24 tropical storms had formed. Out of these thirteen became hurricanes including seven classified as being category-3 and higher. (Hurricane Katrina: Possible Causes 2005) Hurricane Katrina was one of the most calamitous hurricanes to have ever hit the American soil. It completely devastated New Orleans, Louisiana and other communities settled on the Gulf Coast when it came ashore on August 29, 2005 (Hurricane Katrina: Possible Causes 2005). It made landfall on Louisiana after crossing South Florida and gaining strength over the Gulf of Mexico at 6:10 A.M local time. At 9:45 A.M, the Katrina centre