“While natural disasters capture headlines and national attention short-term, the work of recovery and rebuilding is long-term,” (Sylvia B). Thomas Hobbes, an English Philosopher, believed people were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish. However, in recent studies, researchers are saying otherwise. With natural disasters parading in our country and destroying our land, one would believe we would have lost hope and threw our hands in the air with a white flag. What does not get mentioned in the headlines of newspapers is that there is hope for the future, but it starts with us as citizens. Galveston, Texas was a thriving commercial city perched on a low-lying barrier island between the Gulf of Mexico and the Texas mainland. This town was economically …show more content…
Harvey brought massive flooding in Texas, Maria produced catastrophic high winds throughout Puerto Rico, and Irma arrived with deadly storm surges in Florida (CNN, 1). With homes ruined and lives lost, authorities were sent down to the unfortunate states to help give them hope for their future. “For Hurricane Harvey, FEMA had supplies and personnel positioned in Texas before the storm made landfall on August 25. Within days, the number of FEMA employees, other federal agencies, and the National Guard deployed topped 31,000…” (U.S. Military, 1). Even before the storm had hit Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency positioned supplies and a workforce within the state for preparation. In addition to the supplies, FEMA had also provided three million meals and liters of water to be distributed throughout the survivors of Texas (U.S. Military, 1). After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, it was more difficult to send reinforcement and supplies because of the vast ocean surrounding the island. However, president Trump still managed to send over more than 10,000 federal staff to help victims of the aftermath. In regards to Hurricane Irma, over 40,000 federal staff and more than 2,500 FEMA staff were in place on September 14th. FEMA had also supplied 6.6 million meals and 4.7 million liters of water to the states in the Southeast (CNN, 1). Not only were people rescued, but sea
Not only was it Texas's major port, but unfortunately it was the Unions major target resulting in a Federal Naval assault. during the first year of the Civil War. Knowing the importance of Galveston to Texas, Federal troops in 1862. took the port and surrounding areas thus making it one of only a handful of Union victories in the Lone Star state. Fearful of losing their "property", many slave owners in the areas surrounding Galveston, fled the area into the North of Texas to avoid any clashes with Union troops.
Eleven years ago Hurricane Katrina hit us, hard. The levees failed to do what they were made for. It was both a natural and man made disaster that was destined to happen and too late to stop. The damage has been done; the lives lost. But this storm, awful as it was, did more than destroy. The hurricane brought people closer as we cleaned up cleaned up after it’s mess. There were people donating, volunteering. It all just goes back to show our identity as Americans. It shows that even when we get knocked down, we always resurface, united as one, and if that isn’t our identity; I don’t know what is.
Hurricane Katrina was considered as the worst hurricane in the history of United States. The winds and the rain were shattering people’s homes which collapsed and flooded. Thousands of people were suffering and dying. People were starving, and becoming dehydrated. Many people were left on the street and became homeless. After the hurricane, so many questions were left regarding the widespread damage and loss of loved ones. This devastating disaster destroyed the city of New Orleans and nearby cities and was estimated to cost $80 billion dollars in damage. State and local emergency in the affected area were struggling to perform urgent response missions such as emergency medical services, search and rescue, firefighting, giving food and water,
Governments, the private sector, Non Governmental Organizations and Community Organizations play vital roles in recovery. The essence of a recovery effort is the resources captures to assist, the capability of assistance and other best practices for recovering from a disaster. Rubin and Popkin, (1990) in their report entitled Disaster Recovery after hurricane Hugo in South Carolina thoroughly outline many challenges to which organization and other bodies had face in Hurricane Hugo’s recovery effort. These inefficiencies cause a spiral of increase lost of life, property and livelihood for hundreds of people to which the hurricane affected.
The Coast Guard, for instance, rescued some 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and many ordinary citizens commandeered boats, offered food and shelter, and did whatever else they could to help their neighbors. Yet the government–particularly the federal government–seemed unprepared for the disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to establish operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem to have a sound plan of action. Officials, even including President George W. Bush, seemed unaware of just how bad things were in New Orleans and elsewhere: how many people were stranded or missing; how many homes and businesses had been damaged; how much food, water and aid was needed. Katrina had left in her wake what one reporter called a “total disaster zone” where people were “getting absolutely
Houston is the city that I used to live in on the outskirts of Houston; however, after I have blogged about Houston since day one I have learned a great deal in Houston and where it came from. Houston is a diverse city which is main up of all kinds of race, ethnic background, and religious. It is a great city to settle down and have a family in the suburban. It also a great city to start a career in the medical field, due to all the hospitals around the area. Houston is the “fourth most populous city in the nation” and “the largest in the southern U.S. and Texas.” Houston also has many places that you can go and explore and different attractions you can go to spend time with friends and family. Did you know Houston has “More than 90 languages
Disasters are often followed by reports of damages to the built environment—the cost of buildings, roads, bridges, electricity lines, stores, schools and hospitals. These of course follow the death toll and economic and social impacts of citizen’s lives. It was not different from Hurricane Ike, whose 20-foot surge left one of the biggest damage ever. The stories of how it impacted other things for the benefit do not make much of the well-known history. For Gene Straatmeyer, a resident of Bolivar Peninsula— which was most hit by the storm, the story is not just about how destructive it was.
Galveston, first visited by French and Spanish explorers in the 16th and 17th centuries, is located on Galveston Island, a 29-mile strip of land about two miles off the Texas coast and about 50 miles southeast of Houston. The city was named in the late 18th century for the Spanish governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Galvez. Galveston is a commercial shipping port and, with its warm weather and miles of beaches, has also long been a popular resort. Galveston’s nickname at the time was Oleander City, which was filled with tourist at the time of the disaster.
This may be a common trend in every large city if more hurricanes strike. Urban development in almost all cities in America has made flooding worse than it should be. The creation of buildings, asphalt, concrete, and other things have eliminated much of the grass in the cities, which will cause less rainwater to be absorbed into the ground. Although most major cities have rain drainage channels, Houston may not have had enough of them, which caused them to fill up with water. The water had nowhere to go except on the streets. The city of Houston avoided floodplains. The floodplains that were present in Houston were often ignored by construction companies. These companies chose to build houses on the floodplains. This is discussed in this quote by Sean Breslin, “In the months following Hurricane Harvey, Houstonians face an important decision: respect the floodplain and stop building homes wherever, or continue to ignore the lessons taught by countless flood events and build more homes in the most vulnerable areas of town” (Breslin n. pag). I feel that if the civilians and building companies in Houston would have respected the floodplains years earlier, fewer lives would have been lost in this hurricane. Coral reefs provide excellent coastline protection which slows the hurricane just before landfall. The death of coral reefs also could have played a large role in why the hurricane was so
Hurricane Katrina left a devastating scar on the citizens of the southern coast of the U.S., especially New Orleans, Louisiana. The category 5 hurricane was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the most deadly. Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29th, 2005 and after that day, 66,000 people were displaced from their homes. Of those who decided to ride out the storm with hopes of success and survival as they had experienced with other storms, they were found on their rooftops, in their attics, hoping for boat or helicopter rescue, relying on others for help to survive. The storm had reached 28,000 square feet inward to Louisiana, which was 60 percent of the state. 1,100 Louisianans lost their lives, and 200,000 were displaced and/or lost their homes (Davis 8). It was a devastating time of despair and suffering. People were put through experiences that would scar them for a long time. While preparing for evacuation, people left most of their belongings at home to flee to a safer city or to find shelter in the Superdome and Convention Center. Some even decided to remain in their boarded up homes. After the hurricane had past, a few hours went by and a levee located near the Mississippi River canal broke leaving New Orleans flooded (Delisi). After the disaster, the state and federal governments were pointing fingers at each other as to who was to blame for the poorly planned evacuation and rescue efforts for the victims. The state government promised to help evacuate those who could not transport themselves. Citizens were told to go to the Superdome and convention center for evacuation, but the supplies needed for survi...
More than a dozen deaths, billions of dollars in damages and thousands of families that lost their entire lives in just over seven days. By the last week of the month of August, 39 counties in Texas were stripped of their valuables due to the massive flooding. The great cause of the damage was Hurricane Harvey, a category four storm making it one of the biggest hurricanes to ever make landfall in Texas. People from all over the country reached out and became one to aid victims of this natural disaster. Only month after the storm Texas still battles to surpass the emotional and physical damage that this storm created for our people.
The Texas City Disaster of 1947 was a disaster that really left a impact to the world. The Texas City Disaster of 1947 was one of the world's worst industrial disasters.
August 29, 2005 was one of the darkest days for the residents of the State of Louisiana. Katrina, a category 3 hurricane, ripped through New Orleans and the surrounding areas causing catastrophic loss of life and property. The federal government’s disaster response team, which was formed in 1978, titled the Federal Emergency Management Agency, (commonly referred to as FEMA) responded to the needs of the survivors. Unfortunately the Bush administration through FEMA showed gross ineptitude in its response to the disaster. Pre-Katrina the lack of response resulted in a largely unsuccessful evacuation. After the storm, aid to the citizens of New Orleans was slow and inadequate. When we look back at the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, it appears that Bush’s FEMA botched much of the handling of the crisis and that overall, our “administration” could have responded to the situation much better.
Hurricane Maria was destructive and caused a large amount of damage to the entire island of Puerto Rico. Maria hit on September 20 and was a category four hurricane, nearly a category five. Hurricane Maria has had a tremendous impact on the lives of Puerto Ricans and even the world.
On early morning of August 29th, 2005 on the Gulf Shore near New Orleans, a devastating hurricane struck. It wrecked havoc, demolishing anything in its path. Leaving nothing but mounds of trash. The surviving people were forced to leave due to massive flooding and the destruction of their homes. New Orleans was not the only place hit by Katrina but it was one of the areas that was hit the hardest. Millions of people were affected by this tragedy and the cost range was up in the billions. Crime rates went up, no one had a place to stay and water was polluted. The damage done by Katrina affected New Orleans and the other areas hit years after it struck. Restoration for the areas hit was going to need support from all of America and support groups across the country. No one was ready for this tragedy or could ever predict the horrible outcome.