Media And The Reporting Of Hurricane Katrina

In spite of all the different information collected by every agency, there was a failure to educate the American people about what could happen (Best, 2003). This failure led to the ill preparation of emergency services. If an advanced warning was issued, emergency services could have prepared for evacuations and called in mutual aid partners for assistance. There is no way to fully prepare for destruction as great as this attack, but if information was properly relayed in a timely fashion more lives could be

Editor’s Note: This Chapter is the continuation of an adaptation of a state plan for disaster preparation and response. In total, the original chapter comprises Chapters 1, 14, 16-18.

Another issue the was presented when Hurricane Katrina hit American soil revolved around the how the United States governments agencies at all levels approached the environment that was damaged. As was stated earlier the local government is always first to come to the rescue when disasters hit, but when has such as immense as Katrina would call for the likes of the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was among many of the agencies that would be called into questioning during this dreadful disaster.

The response to most issues that arise in the United states are evaluated based on the response that the parties and/or federal entities give in relativity to the problem at hand. More specifically, natural disasters amplify the public awareness and in turn put a larger importance on the responses to the destruction left behind. Hurricane Katrina was a major natural disaster in which the immediate efforts were highly criticized for the lack thereof. Particularly, the federal government was looked upon heavily to provide assistance and aid immediately after the disaster, but waited for an unprecedented amount of time to effectively help the people who were affected. This ultimately caused for precautionary measures to be taken to implement systems to efficiently provide the necessary support. Throughout the entirety of Hurricane

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans as well as the surrounding areas. It had a stunning “death toll of 1300 people and damage over $100 billion ”( Davlasheridze 94 ). The communication were taken down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were battered, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” ( Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS ).

This case summarizes events preceding the Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural catastrophes in the modern history of the USA. It raises questions about the lack of reasonable prevention and preparation actions due to flimsy structure and management of the responsible organizations and persons, invalidity and inconsistence of their actions and incapability of making the decisions in a timely manner. As a result of the unstructured and incoherent activities, we could observe several ineffective and costly attempts to mitigate floods and hurricanes. In the beginning the local officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and “White Houses past and present always seem penny-wise and pound-foolish” because of the chain of the wrong

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating disaster that has affected many people in New Orleans. The communication broke down hours after Katrina because of the unexpected fast winds and floods that broke down “3 million phone lines and 1,000 cellular towers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.”( Joch ). Because of the millions of phone lines that were broken down, contacting the government for help was difficult hours after hurricane Katrina. Not only that, the people of New Orleans underestimated the power of Hurricane Katrina causing many to be “ stranded with no food or water” (Narrator, “The Storm”,PBS).

The Washington Times opens with a statement describing the path of Hurricane Katrina and also shares the known death toll. This article gives the audience more of a general overview of the first known effects of the hurricane, without having too many newly revealed facts. The article has quotes from the governors of Mississippi, which gives the reader a feeling that

Hurricane Katrina took 1,833 lives, but this number could’ve been lower had the government respond in a proper manner. The failure of proper execution of the Mayor Ray Nagin, of New Orleans at the time, the failure of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to execute actions in a timely manner, and the failure of the President to actually visit the people in need to help all led to more destruction. Former FEMA director Michael Brown failed to address the request made by officials. The Lieutenant Governor was also criticized for making vague request and not communicating properly what she needed. Many of the officials in charge did not properly communicate what they needed. And those who did communicate request, were ignored.

The United States government was highly criticized during the late summer of 2005 of how they went about responding to the call to the hurricane. George W. Bush was the 43rd president at the time of the hurricane and unfortunately for the people down in New Orleans, his administration was not very active in the way they aided New Orleans. Debarshi Chaudhuri goes on to write it best in his article Government: Response to Katrina; “As the situation unfolded, it became clear that the government’s response was inadequate and inefficient. The federal government did not have adequate information concerning the true devastation that the hurricane had caused (White House). Despite the quantity of government workers in the area, the effects of the hurricane continued to wreak havoc on the city with people still stranded in New Orleans and looters robbing stores left and right.” Not even after the hurricane past was the U.S. government very active in restoring New Orleans to its old self. In Bill Mckibben’s New York Times Bestseller Eaarth he goes on to write “sometimes its hue and traumatic and obvious; after Hurricane Katrina the federal government ponied up $130 billion for repairs, which as anyone who has visited Louisiana can attest, was not enough…. if you wanted to keep that one city safe from a Category 5 hurricane, you’d need $80 billion and another twenty years of work.” Now I have no idea as to why the Bush administration was not helpful as should have been but it is truly sad to know that thousands of people lost their life to a disaster such as this one and with the government downplaying how the storm was affecting everyone living in the

Without the imagery of Hurricane Katrina, would there be such a vast improvement towards recovery that still progresses today? It is believed that some images may be considered too much for a person to take into consideration at face value. That the imagery of such devastation is almost unbearable to comprehend and should not be seen. Not many people would be able to accept seeing the country in such strife. That is not the portrayal people want to see. However, the images are needed for a better understanding that such devastations can occur and should not be ignored.

Louisiana was home to many individuals who simply loved their state and it’s people. Despite their overwhelming love, they were heartbroken by the individuals and system that was put in place to protect them; the government and politics. They were not protected or cared for during their time of distress instead they were watched and observed, rather than being top priority at the time when they were literally hanging on by a thread. The plans and policies that were in place during the hurricane, were not effective. The government 's fairly slow responses to the Hurricane created a large uproar among the city residents and throughout the world making the citizens feel as if they were refugees in their own country. "Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare," the report said. "At every level -- individual, corporate, philanthropic and governmental -- we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina. In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw."

(Sellnow & Segger 2013, 10). Over the years, communications developed and broader concepts were created, many from lessons learned over the years. Hurricane Katrina brought to light the deficiencies of emergency communication systems. In the Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned put out by the Bush administration in 2006, noted that the Department of Homeland Security reports described the emergency communications infrastructure as ‘non-existent’ and that Katrina devastated other communication infrastructures across the Gulf Coast, “incapacitating telephone and cell service, police and fire dispatch centers, and emergency radio systems”. (White House 2006).

For this discussion we were asked to answer a question in regards to Hurricane Katrina. The question that we were to answer was: After reading the article, what were our thoughts and opinions about the article?

When asked about the story behind the photo, photographer Robert Galbraith told International Business times that it made a major impact on him and while he had covered many disastrous events previously, Hurricane Katrina was “beyond category” in what he had ever seen before. Natural disasters are things that cannot be controlled, cannot be stopped, and sometimes cannot be prepared for. When you turn on the television you watch the reports discuss how much food and water is being provided to those who are safe and taking shelter in a gymnasium with hundreds of other people, crammed into the safe structure, away from the 100mph winds and floods. Ten years later the world still does not have an exact count of how many lives were taken from the storm. Each family in the storms’ radar had their lives changed forever, whether it was the death of a loved one or their home taken by the storm's fallout. What we need to see are those who don't have access to the donated food and water, those whose previous shelters were taken by the wind or water. Therefore living anywhere they can, whether it is a roof, a highway overpass, or atop a car without food, water, or a