...Orleans, Katrina pushed on ward flooding at least 80% of New Orleans with 3-10 feet of water (Getis, Pg. 81) Hurricane Katrina moved on land and vanished into the Ohio Valley and Northeast causing a major rainfall event for them. The real reality was just beginning to unfold as residence of the Gulf Coast were watch and seeing firsthand what devastation was left behind. Lives changed forever and areas left to nothing but water and debris. The damage left behind from Katrina was something the U.S. wasn’t prepared for. From death to flooding to the oil industry it was an event we just thought of now it was reality. Over a thousand people lost their life. The flooding caused death destroyed everything in its path and Katrina left storm surges that reached up to more...
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...The country is one of the worst sufferers of all cyclonic casualties in the world. Its geographic location is the biggest contributing factor for the proneness to disasters. Due to the funnel shaped coast, Bangladesh often becomes the landing ground and breeding place of catastrophic cyclones formed in the Bay of Bengal. The high number of casualties is due to the fact that cyclones are always associated with storm surges. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) is being a joint venture with the Government of Bangladesh, The CPP is an organic component of the nation’s institutional early warning system as clearly defined in the “Standing Order on Disasters”. The BDRCS CPP program is the most successful and an effective model program of its kind in the South-East Asian region. CPP is an effective, grass-root oriented, disciplined and tightly knits organization which is dedicated to the task of protecting the population along with community capacity build up activities. This programme based on the voluntary service of community people and their technical skills and commitment to ensure sufficient warning dissemination, shelter management, search & rescue and first aid services enabling them to cope with the approaching cyclone. This study has been Vol. 2 No. 2 December 2009 u 15 carried out to find the communities perspective about the volunteers performance in time of disaster event. Keywords: Preparedness, warning dissemination, rescue, first...
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...Jason Coleman 06-11-12 New Orleans Recommendation Paper The Case For, or Against, New Orleans Management Decision Models B6025 Dr. Usha Dasari We will look at many factors in our case for rebuilding or not rebuilding New Orleans. This recommendation will be reviewed by state and local governments for their decision. We will perform a Cost-Benefit Analysis which will represent the residents of New Orleans, the residents of the surrounding floods plains, the Mayor of New Orleans, and the federal government represented by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and the taxpayers. We will look at scenario models, risk management, and decision trees to support our decisions and analysis. This natural disaster took an enormous toll on the residents of New Orleans. Over 1200 lives were lost and countless injuries were suffered. The loss of revenue from the shutdown of businesses, loss of homes and possessions of residents caused much pain and human suffering. We will conclude with an executive summary which will summarize our decision for or against rebuilding of New Orleans. Prior to the hurricane New Orleans was a tourism magnet. The city offered many restaurants, festivals, and great weather. These positives made tourism a thriving market. Other boons for the economy of New Orleans were the mining, transportation, and warehousing along its waterways. More products came through this port than any other port in the world. There are many colleges in the area than add...
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...To what extent can preparedness and planning mitigate the effects of tropical revolving storms? [40] Tropical revolving storms are also known as hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones. They occur in the tropics and sub-tropics and form over the oceans where sea surface temperatures are above 27 degrees C. The impact of tropical revolving storms can be devastating. Examples of major natural disasters caused by these storms are Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Tropical Cyclone Nargis in 2008. The main hazards associated with tropical revolving storms are hurricane force winds, torrential rainfall (leading to river flooding), and storm surges flooding low-lying coasts. The impacts however can vary in severity due to a range of human and physical factors. The human factors include how urbanised the area affected is, as built up cities tend to have impermeable surfaces which increases run-off and worsens the floods that occur. These impermeable surfaces replace trees and vegetation via deforestation which would intercept the rain and store it in the soil, allowing it to be released over a period of time and avoid severe flooding. Other human factors include warning systems put in place to predict incoming storms and inform the public about them. This can be linked in with the effectiveness of the government, as governments in developed and stable countries often deal with disasters more effectively than governments in less developed countries. However, regardless of the human factors...
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...Case-In-Point: Hurricane Katrina Environmental Issues and Ethics February 18, 2011 Case-In-Point: Hurricane Katrina I remember hurricane Katrina like it just happened yesterday. I watched awe struck half horrified and half amazed by the power of this storm and the extent of the flooding that occurred. I watched as people were plucked from their roof tops as their houses were completely engulfed by the flooding. I watched as The United States was unprepared for this magnitude of flooding and unaware this was going to happen. My first thought as I was watching this unfold was how this could have happened and what caused this amount of flooding. Unintended Consequences According to According to Raven, Berg, and Hassenzahl (2010), there are a number of unintended consequences from humankind’s involvement in the development of New Orleans. In the development of the city of New Orleans, engineers constructed a system of canals and levees. In doing so, they have disrupted the delta building process and build-up of coastal wetland (Raven, Berg & Hassenzahl, 2010). The wetlands would have helped absorb some of water and provide a natural protection against flooding. In addition, the effects of global warming from changes to the carbon cycle and rise in CO2 levels have caused melting of the polar ice causing a rise in sea level, desalination of the oceans changing the currents, and an increase in ocean temperatures causing increase frequency...
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...To what extent can preparedness and planning mitigate the effects of tropical revolving storms? A tropical revolving storm is an intense low pressure weather system, that can last for days to weeks within the Tropical regions of the world. On their journey they are spun by the Coriolis force of the earths spin hence their name. The storms have three more commonly used names depending on their location.In North America they are known as hurricanes, cyclones in India and typhoons in Japan and East Asia. The link between these location is that they all lie in a band between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and occur where the seas temperature rises above 27°C and is heated to a sufficient depth. When these storms occur the damage they cause can be catastrophic and often fatal. An example is Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005 which hit New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and caused 1,830 deaths. Another tragic storm was Cyclone Nargis which hit Burma in April 2008 leading to over 130,000 deaths. The extent to the severity of the impact however is often down to a number of factors usually environmental and human. The planning carried out by a countries government can often be vital to reducing the damage caused by a tropical storm. The two key elements are to prepare for the ricks and then to act on those preparations when alerted to a incoming storm. The action taken by the country is critical and can be the difference between the loss of many lives and extremely high repair...
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...TITLE? Introduction? Every year, significant reports of death tolls and destruction caused by disasters, mostly brought by typhoons, are inscribed in the Philippine fact book. One of the reasons why reports on disasters are on the rise is due to the country’s geographical location in the Pacific seismic belt that makes it prone to severe tropical storms and earthquakes. Other contributing factors are the vulnerability of citizens including lack of technical materials and extensive trainings of the agencies, which should institute proper mitigation and response to catastrophes. The demands for government leadership and sound policies before, during and after disasters are vital to the preservation of human life and resources. The need to enhance people’s capacities to adapt to, reduce their defenselessness, and to avoid severe damage to their properties is a responsibility not just by the government and media but also by the society. The media’s role in reporting scenarios in all facets of devastation is very crucial for the audience’s understanding of what is happening in the areas ravaged by typhoons or calamities, to learn from the best as well as worst practices of those who are involved and, at the same time, to behold how the government performs the duties entrusted to them. A report of the Commission on Audit (COA) in 2014 offers a definition of disaster, which is “a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or society involving widespread human, material...
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...DAM Site Selection Using GIS Techniques and remote sensing to Minimize Flash Floods in East Nile Locality (Soba Valley)-Khartoum State Abdel Rahim Elhag1, Islam Hamad Eljack1 1School of Survey, Department of GIS, Faculty of Engineering, Sudan University of Sciences and Technology, SUDAN Abstract: In the last few year’s devastating flash floods descending downstream through valleys have occurred in East Nile Locality-Sudan. A flash flood can be caused by intense rain, particularly when it takes place in a saturated area where rain has previously fallen. Under these conditions the additional rain runs off over the surface and accumulates in streams and channels at a much accelerated pace. To determine earth dam’s locations multi criterion methods has been used after that the best dam location regarding the selection criterion has been achieved. The surface areas, volume of reservoirs, determined for every suggested location. Using ArcGIS. Major Landuse, landcover, stream order and location of water body were projected on the watershed area of the Soba valley to extract the residential areas, agriculture areas and grassland effected by suggested dams. A volume model has been designed to repeat the steps of procedures and report the analysis result automatically. Keywords: Flash flood, DAM and Model 1. INTRODUCTION Water is one of the main requirements for healthy plant growth. Most arid and semi-arid regions, suffer from insufficient and unreliable rainfall. A high rate of...
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...If you were told a hurricane was headed your way would you evacuate your city? 'Life-threatening' rainfall expected in Texas,” hurricane center says. Texas had warning of a hurricane on August 25. People are frantically looking for shelter and food, but they are also looting many items other than food from the stores in texas. Many people assume looting is okay because of a natural disaster but it is not because it is the law, they have recrosses and rescues, and they were told to evacuate their city and homes. The police in texas are telling the residents that they are cracking down hard on looting. "This is the state of Texas. We are a welcoming city, but we are not going to tolerate people victimizing others, I will push for the fullest...
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...What seemed to be just another morning for the people of Louisiana, suddenly changed as a surprise flood hit the state. Leaving thousands of people homeless or shelters, it continued its destruction throughout the day. By Monday afternoon, at least 11,000 people were in shelters and more than 20,000 people had evacuated from the flooded area. It has been confirmed that at least six residents have died in the flood. Two of the victims were in vehicles that have been swept off the road; one man was drowned after he slipped and fell into the waters during a rescue, and the fourth was a man who had been swept away on Friday. Mike Steele, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness stated that the floods...
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...A few months ago, our country was struck by the devastating typhoon Yolanda. Mostly, affecting the Visayas region and leaving the survivors no source of decent power and electricity that they can use to power-up their light source even in the evacuation center. Because of this, the ECE department decided to initiate in helping the said victims and provide them light source for their succeeding nights. Last Dec. 12, 2013, we were taught how to make the solar night light to be given to the Yolanda victims. There was the PCB etching part where we mostly participated. There was also a part where students are taught how to connect the components needed onto the PCB to become the main circuit of the said night light. PCB etching was not that easy though because we still have to check if we really made the correct connection design. I, together with my friends first have problems making the right etching design of the PCB but after a time or two, and by helping each other, we were successful in making the design of the PCB. We were not able to participate on the other part of the solar night light making because we still have class on that same day so we decided just to finish what we are doing then let the others do the other part of the said device. We were thinking of going back to the ECE-Lab A where the device making is taking place but we were not able to do so since we were overwhelmed by how many students want to help in making the said device. Students from different sections...
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...Hogtown Creek has encountered a heavy amount of rain since Wednesday afternoon. Many streets in the area are flooded. Hogtown Creek is the northern part of Gainesville. One-third of the northwest area north of 16th Avenue and west of Sixth Street is flooded because of the Hogtown Creek flooding. By Thursday, the flood begins to settle. Around 5 p.m. the rain has stopped, but the water in the Hogtown Creek area continues to rise until 7:30 p.m. and then starts to recede at 9 p.m. The flood entered some homes in the northwest area east of fourth Street, north of 23rd Avenue, west of 34th Street and south of eighth by 2 to 3 feet of water. Several homes northwest of Gainesville are underwater. The bridge on County Road 325, 3 miles southeast...
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...THE GREAT ALASKA EARTHQUAKE OF 1964 When it comes to earthquakes, the state of California has a well known reputation, in all of United States, but the fact is, Alaska hold the title as America’s number one state for most earthquakes, due to its seismic activity. In 1964, on a late friday afternoon, disaster struck, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake rattled the state of Alaska shortly after 5:30 p.m. on March 27. At the time, the largest earthquake ever recorded in U.S. history and the second-largest detected with the newest technology applied for earthquakes. The massive shocks were felt all across the state of Alaska, as far west as Dutch Harbor, heading down the pacific coastline including Seattle, Washington, more than 1,000 miles southeast...
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...Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season and also brought about the second-biggest financial cost in American history. Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29, flooding streets, tunnels and metro lines and cutting power in and around the city. F07-013 here! Figure 6 11 Subway stations merged New York city began taking precautions on October 26. Government ordered the closure of (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) MTA and its metro on October 28, and the MTA suspended all subways. Learned from Hurricane Irene which nearly submerged subways and tunnels in 2011, entrances and gates were covered just before Sandy hit, but some were still flooded. The MTA outlined a 3-stage...
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...Many natural disasters happen in America and around the world. One of the most common disaster is a fire. There are a variety of fires, including wildfires, liquid fires, gas fires, and material fires. Different types of fire do different damage as well. For example, the Great Boston Fire was a catastrophe to the city of Boston. The Great Boston Fire became one of the worst fires in Boston’s history due to the destruction and damage it did. The effects of the Great Boston Fire can be understood from the beginning of the fire, the destruction of the fire, and the future changes in the city. November 9, 1872, on a Saturday evening, a police officer noticed smoke coming from a building at the corner of Kingston and Summer streets (Boston Fire). In the building was flammable items and a boiler packed together in the basement. The boiler sparked a fuse onto the dry materials that caused the fire to erupt (History). There are a lot of reasons why the fire became so dangerous to the whole city. First, the tall wooden buildings that were designed to be fireproof was burned very quickly (Boston Fire). The roads were very narrow and because the building were built close together, the fire was capable of leaping across buildings burning them almost simultaneously (Homeless). The fire started to spread down the main streets of Boston including factories, banks, and businesses (Watts). During all of this commotion, there were two delays that kept the fire going on for so long. The fire alarms...
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