Background
On August 28th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the eastern coast of New Orleans in United States. By August 31st, 2005, 80% of New Orleans was flooded with some parts under 15 feet (4.5 m) of water. More than 1,800 people lost their lives, and more than $81 billion dollars in damages occurred.
Hurricane Katrina was the sixth strongest recorded Atlantic hurricanes ever, and was amongst the five deadliest hurricanes that ever occurred in the US history.
Effects
Before the Katrina attack,
Max Mayfield, the director of the National Hurricane Center, telephoned New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, on the night of August 27th to express his extreme concern, and on the morning of August 28th, made a video call to U.S. President, George W. Bush, about the severity of the storm. Many New Orleans residents secured their belongings and prepared for evacuation immediately as Mayor Nagin issued the first ever mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.
About 1 million people managed to flee New Orleans and its surrounding suburbs by the second hit of Katrina the next morning.
After the Katrina attack,
Measures
- Non-governmental organizations like the American Red Cross rendered financial aid and helped raised US$4.25 billion to help the victims.
- US Army Corps of Engineers proceeded with the reconstruction of levees, with new considerations of the new levees locations and further modification to be made.
So,
a natural disaster could happen anytime and anywhere. It could possibly happen just where we live tomorrow. Hence, it is very important for the government to always take precautions and ensure the national facilities are working in good conditions so as to defend the country with preparedness when need be and the citizens should also be prepared to stay united in terms of a crisis. This is all we can control and we should make good use of this abilityto do so and this would minimize the impacts of a natural disaster.
1 comment:
Although Hurricane Katrina was the sixth strongest recorded Atlantic hurricanes ever, I believed that the damage it had caused could have been minimized had we, humans, taken care of our environment, specifically the mangrove forests.
In places like New Orleans, mangrove forests are key parts of the coastal ecosystem. One of the most important benefits of a heavily treed coastline is that the trees serve as buffers for the storm surge associated with hurricanes or tsunamis since their huge roots systems dissipate wave action. Mangrove forests stabilize the coastline, reducing erosion from storm surges, currents, waves and tides. However, as we learned after the tsunami a few years ago, many coastal areas in the tropics no longer feature mangrove forests: the trees have all been cut down in many coastal areas. Removing mangroves removes the first line of defense against hurricanes. Therefore, instead of destroying mangrove forests around the coastline for more physical space or natural resources, we should expand them.
I do agree that the government has a huge role to play in by taking precautions and ensuring that national facilities are in good order. However, the main thing still boils down to us taking care of our environment.
Puah Li Lin 10S16
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