...Hurricanes are one of the most catastrophic events resulting in severe consequences including loss of life and property damage. The magnitude of devastation was evident in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf coast. Emergency management teams play a huge role in safeguarding the lives of people in endangered areas by evacuating them to safer locations as efficiently as possible. An evacuation plan is an essential component of an emergency plan. The evacuation plan for the state of Virginia has been developed after thorough analyses of the consequences of all the strategies but, as with most states, the operational characteristics of the plan at a microscopic level had never been evaluated in a comprehensive manner. The evacuation planning documents previously developed by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) adequately describe the numbers of evacuating vehicles, their origin and route taken at a macroscopic level. The current study was undertaken to evaluate the traffic control plan (TCP) and the performance of all the evacuation routes - interstate routes (I-64, I-264, and I-664) and arterial routes (Rt. 58, Rt. 460, Rt. 60, Rt. 17, and Rt. 10) using large-scale traffic simulation models. Road network is coded in a state-of-the-art microscopic simulation program, VISSIM. The study area comprised of the following nine evacuation areas – cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport ...
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...morning, 29 August 2005, this is a day most New Orleans residents will never forget. This was the day a category 5 hurricane named Katrina made its catastrophic debut to the Gulf Coast region and killed over 1,300 people. (The White House, 2006, p. 1) After it was all said and done, the nation was shocked at the events that unfolded in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and people were left wondering, “What went wrong?” National Geographic reported that the storm originated about a week earlier, 23 August, in the Caribbean and worked its up from the Bahamas making landfall Thursday, 25 August, in Miami. Winds at this time were 75-80 mph making it a category 1 hurricane causing some tree damage and killing two people. (Drye, 2005) The storm lost strength for a little while but once it hit the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it rapidly gained momentum and before long reached wind speeds up to 175 mph making it a category 5 hurricane. On Sunday, 28 August, New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, issued a mandatory evacuation order. Roughly 24 hrs later, the full strength of Katrina slammed into New Orleans and Biloxi. (Drye, 2005) Local and state emergency managers are responsible for coming up with a plan of action for different hazardous situations. Once a situation gets overwhelming for those levels of management, federal assistance is then requested. Prior to Hurricane Katrina’s arrival, various local emergency management agencies (LEMAs), such as local fire, police, and emergency...
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...Preparedness and Resilience Planning during Hurricane Sandy: Hurricane Sandy Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina University of Maryland University College Homeland Security Management: Resilience Planning and Preparedness for Disaster Response and Recovery (2152), Spring 2015 Written By: Brittany Wiley Introduction: Major Hurricane disasters along the coastlines have affected many cities and communities which have forced them to take into action and adopt the conception of emergency management, such as resilience planning, disaster preparedness, response and recovery planning. Mitigation preparedness plays an effective part in the emergency management plan. Many cities and communities must explore strategies to reduce the major impact these disasters have and implement resilience planning that will allow communities to rebuild. According to the National Disaster Recovery Framework (2011), “a successful recovery process promotes practices that minimize the community’s risk to all hazards and strengthens it’s ability to withstand and recover from future disasters, which constitute a community’s resiliency” (p. 11). Furthermore, Hurricane disaster’s not only expose community’s vulnerabilities but it gives them the opportunity to rebuild with more resiliency. When comparing two devastating Hurricane disasters that have impacted many cities, communities and lives; it’s important to consider Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey and New York. Both...
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...Racism and Hurricane Katrina Matt DePalma Geography 1000 Assignment 1 October 4, 2013 Under the presidency of George W. Bush, Hurricane Katrina was deemed as a national, political, and racial disaster. From preparations of the hurricane, rescue efforts provided, and money funded for the storm, Hurricane Katrina represented a nationwide failure and the casualties and emotional scars it left on the people of New Orleans is evidence. Monday, August 29, 2005 will forever live on as a day of infamy in New Orleans, a day where not only poor planning was obvious but racial inequalities also became even more apparent to the people. In the aftermath of its destruction, Katrina showed the world just how racist New Orleans was, and how corrupt and slowly the government acted towards saving lives. Unfortunately, New Orleans the the United States government left the black, poverty stricken population for dead, exposing a city still full of racism for had they not been, more lives could have been rescued. For starters, Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans during the storm had issued a mandatory evacuation of the city in preparation of the storm (Trouble the Water). This is a seemingly righteous and smart political move on Nagin’s part except that he also provided no transportation for those without cars or money. As a mayor, Nagin had to know that not every single person in his city could afford the luxury of travel for evacuation of Katrina. Nagin left 100,000 people, most of...
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...After the recent disaster of Hurricane Katrina, there have been many opportunities to examine the multiple sides of the story. Many of these sides have been released to the public, but told with conflicting viewpoints. The most common conflict brought up again and again is between FEMA and the relief victims. Relief victims and FEMA argue over humanitarian aid issues such as evacuation, supplies, and housing. Evacuation was the most important humanitarian effort that FEMA could provide. Getting residents out of the disaster area was the primary goal of FEMA. Evacuation by bus was the initial form of evacuation. The bus evacuation plan that FEMA provided allowed the whole city to evacuate in a reasonable amount of time. Then evacuation by plane was added as another way for FEMA to get relief victims out of the city in large numbers. The plane evacuation was very efficient once it got under way. The conditions at the airport allowed only outbound aircraft. The last form of humanitarian aid shown through evacuation was the creation of emergency shelters. FEMA, in conjunction with surrounding states, had set up shelters where the evacuees could go. Then states further away volunteered to house evacuees. The shelters provided a place for evacuees to stay after the hurricane and provided time for them to look for more permanent housing. FEMA provided basic humanitarian aid by evacuating Katrina survivors. Supplies were a form of humanitarian aid that FEMA provided. The most basic...
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...Popul Res Policy Rev (2010) 29:127–141 DOI 10.1007/s11113-009-9133-x The Role of Community in Disaster Response: Conceptual Models Olivia Patterson • Frederick Weil • Kavita Patel Received: 1 May 2007 / Accepted: 15 October 2008 / Published online: 5 November 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract We focus on the role that community plays in the continuum of disaster preparedness, response and recovery, and we explore where community fits in conceptual frameworks concerning disaster decision-making. We offer an overview of models developed in the literature as well as insights drawn from research related to Hurricane Katrina. Each model illustrates some aspect of the spectrum of disaster preparedness and recovery, beginning with risk perception and vulnerability assessments, and proceeding to notions of resiliency and capacity building. Concepts like social resilience are related to theories of ‘‘social capital,’’ which stress the importance of social networks, reciprocity, and interpersonal trust. These allow individuals and groups to accomplish greater things than they could by their isolated efforts. We trace two contrasting notions of community to Tocqueville. On the one hand, community is simply an aggregation of individual persons, that is, a population. As individuals, they have only limited capacity to act effectively or make decisions for themselves, and they are strongly subject to administrative decisions that authorities impose on them....
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...The initial response to the extensive disaster in the Gulf Coast area of New Orleans, resulted from Hurricane Katrina, showed high levels of ineptitude and disorganization by government officials. The world was shocked by images of distressed individuals awaiting salvage on their rooftops, and the masses of people packed together in unpardonable conditions, in the Super Dome. There was no hiding from the painful reality and obvious inaction or inability of those responsible for caring for the residents in the wake of this catastrophe. Although, a substantial amount of the blame has been placed on FEMA, it should be understood that various aspects contributed to the circumstances in New Orleans. Some of the levees had been unsuccessfully built and were not properly maintained. Local agencies failed to plan and prepare of such a large event, even though they have been getting hit by hurricanes since the late 1800's. Government officials delayed ordering an evacuation, and did not take into account how to assist those citizens who lacked the monetary resources or had health risks that prevented them from evacuating the area. An 8.3 magnitude earthquake in San Francisco in 1906 that left over 250,000 people homeless and killed 478 people began the Federal involvement in the aftermath of natural disasters. While the disaster itself was obviously inescapable, the fires that burned throughout the city were the result of thoughtless planning. In an effort to improve the nation’s...
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...A plethora of natural disasters have occurred in the past twenty years, but very few compare to the social and economic impact Hurricane Katrina had on the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina formed on August 23, 2005 over the Gulf of Mexico and strengthened to a category five hurricane. The places that were affected by this hurricane ranged from the Bahamas, Louisiana, Alabama, and other parts of the southeastern region of North America. The estimated count of fatalities was about 1,800 and more than seventy percent of the fatalities occurred in Louisiana. Prior to landfall, the hurricane had decreased to a category three hurricane, which caused some people to underestimate the strength and effect that the hurricane could inflict. More specifically, Hurricane Katrina reached high winds of up to 175 miles per hour and moved cars and boats from the coast about seven to ten miles inland. As most cities and states caught wind of the news from the National Weather Services, several mandatory evacuation protocols were placed into effect for the first time ever. Hurricane Katrina affected the United States politically, economically, and socially due to the ill advised decision making and faults within local...
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...Governmental Fumble: Hurricane Katrina Things that occur naturally such as tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes are unpreventable and are considered to be natural disasters. However, when man knowingly aids in the destructive power of naturally occurring events to inflect more damage, it is unquestionably a manmade disaster. For many years, both in the past and present, the United States has experienced some of the most devastating natural and artificial catastrophes such as The Dust Bowl of the 1930’s and the September 11 terror attack by the Al-Qaida terror network among others. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, the human factor contributed to both the deadliest and costliest hurricane to impact the city of New Orleans. A city that is known to be the birth place of Jazz and the yearly celebration of Mardi Gras has unfortunately inherited a new chain of thought as the city that went underwater. Hurricane Katrina was the third strongest land hurricane and the sixth-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. The hurricane is approximated to have affected more than 1.5 million individuals in the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, which contributed to the loss of billions of dollars in damages and job losses caused by the hurricane. The city of New Orleans was the most affected because it stood directly in Katrina’s path and although it is impossible to stop a naturally occurring event from occurring, it is not impossible to limit the damage that it inflicts...
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...Concept Paper: New Orleans Post-Katrina December 8, 2013 New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina, which hit the southeast United States in late August of 2005 was one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes in United States history. The city of New Orleans was arguably hit the hardest by the hurricane. The objective of this paper is to analyze the link between economic, political, and social conditions in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina and the conditions in New Orleans post-Katrina. Although natural disasters are an inevitability, the human suffering that citizens faced in New Orleans immediately following Katrina were largely avoidable, the result of a lack of adequate evacuation planning and massive governmental negligence. Furthermore, it was no accident which people suffered the most in the aftermath of Katrina. Financial, political, racial, and social disparities in New Orleans long before Katrina dictated who would be most affected after Katrina, both immediately and years after the hurricane. Rebuilding efforts, just like the evacuation, have tended to favor the rich and White and neglect the poor and Black. Pre-Katrina New Orleans was disproportionately Black and poor relative to the rest of the United States. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, Blacks made up 12.3% of the nation’s population while Whites made up 75.1% of the nation’s population (U.S. Census, 2000b). In contrast, the city of New Orleans was 28.1% White and 67.3% Black...
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...Page 1 of 2 Darius ColeProfessor Anthony Prato URST 241 –1001 March 11, 2018Hurricane KatrinaThere’s no secret that Hurricane Katrina caused a lot of controversy between intergovernmental relations. In a time of tragedy and despair, residents of New Orleanspaid the price for poor planning and communication between government leaders, agencies andofficials. From watching the PBS Frontline program, The Storm; it seems to be a continuing series of the “blame game” with no one taking responsibility for the role they played in the planning for and after math of Hurricane Katrina. It’s impossible toput one particular party at fault, but it is easy to highlight what went wrong. In my opinion, Clarence Ray Nagin Jr, who was the mayor of New Orleans...
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...9 RUNNING HEAD: LEADERSHIP FAILURES DURING KATRINA Leadership Failures of Hurricane Katrina Mark L. Perkins Webster University MNGT 6000 Professor Lee Trovas February27th2014 Abstract Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history, not only because of the severity of the storm, which couldn’t be prevented, but due to poor planning and the years it took to rebuild and allow the people of New Orleans to move on with their lives.Hurricane Katrina happened four (4) years after the September 11th terrorist attacks and three (3) years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and one (1) year after the DHS had created a National Response Plan. With the world watching the Federal Government failed the people of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The government failed to show initiative and the ability to provide for the basic needs for the people of New Orleans on many levels, including planning, logistics and communication during the natural disaster and the aftermath of the storm. . Introduction I’m going to discuss several failures of leadership and not just on the federal government but on the city and state as well. There are too many to fault that are identified later in this disaster ranging from pre-planning,...
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...1979, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was formed to help with state and local governments within the United States and the International Association of Emergency Managers was formed to help state, federal and governments ensure that their people have peace of mind. Table of Contents I. Introduction 3 II. Hurricane Katrina 4 III. Natural disasters in the United States 6 IV. Earthquake and tsunami in Japan 8 V. Natural disasters in the world 9 VI. Closing 11 VII. Reference 13 I. INTRODUCTIONS The environment is always changing and the people of the United States should always be aware of what could happen to them if they are not prepared for what Mother Nature do to their surroundings with no notice. There are several types of natural disasters that can maim and destroy communities and people lives. To name a few, they are hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, earthquakes, mudslides, flooding wildfires, tsunamis and volcanoes. Hurricanes are usually formed in the southern Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico. According to the Webster Dictionary, “hurricanes are a violent, tropical, cyclonic storm of the western North Atlantic, having wind...
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...As the response to Hurricane Katrina and relevant recovery operations required ethical decision-making, due attention should be paid to assessment of the validity and effectiveness of ethical decisions. There are many resources, both videos and articles, that provide detailed description of the tragic situations created by the impact of the natural disaster and some ethical dilemmas faced by responders. In all cases, the concepts of ethics, justice, equity, equality, and professional competence played an important role in decision-making processes. The storm caused “more than 1,800 fatalities and more than $100 billion in damage” (American Society of Civil Engineers, 2015). Policy makers’ decisions caused harm and completely destroyed the...
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...The initial response or lack thereof, to the widespread disaster in the Gulf Coast, caused by Hurricane Katrina, demonstrated high levels of incompetence and disorganization by government officials. Images of desperate individuals awaiting rescue on their rooftops, and masses of people packed together in deplorable conditions in the Super Dome, circulated the globe. There was no hiding from the painful reality and the obvious inaction or inability of those responsible to care for these individual in the wake of this catastrophe. Although a considerable amount of the blame has been placed at the feet of FEMA, it should be understood that multiple factors contributed to the situation in New Orleans. Some sections of the levees had been poorly constructed, and were not properly maintained. Local agencies failed to adequately plan and prepare of such an event. Local officials waited too long to order an evacuation, and did not consider how to assist those citizens who lacked the financial resources to evacuate on their own. Many of the obstacles and complications encountered during Hurricane Katrina may have been avoided if the training exercise labeled “Hurricane Pam” would have been completed in 2004. The fictional exercise was five-days long, and was intended to help prepare New Orleans for a category 4 hurricane. Over 50 officials from state, volunteer, and federal organizations participated, unfortunately FEMA caused an early termination of this event by pulling its funding...
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