There are multiple natural disasters that occur around the world every year. Hurricanes/typhoons, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, and floods devastate thousands of people and communities. They are all feared by the citizens they threaten in the regions in which they reign supreme. They're specific territories may sometimes interweave, but with the exception of one, they mainly just terrorize their own domains. When one of these miraculous terrors unleashes its power on sometimes unsuspecting citizens, there are people there that will help you and make sure that the thing and people you care about the most are protected and taken care of.
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) is in place to help with these disasters and to make sure that things do not get too chaotic.The American Red Cross provides places to live, warm meals, water and a place for you to register so if someone is trying to find you all they have to do is go to the website, type in your name and they can make sure you're safe and find a way they'll get a hold you.
In order for these two companies to work thoroughly and efficiently however, there needs to be proper lines of communication. Sometimes, this isn't the case and mass chaos is unavoidable.
Such was the case when Hurricane Katrina struck the southern coast of the United States of America in August of 2005. It is said to have been the most destructive hurricane every to strike the coast of the USA. More than 1,800 people lost their lives to that storm and more than $81 worth of damages were accumulated. The reason those numbers are so high is because the levies broke which released all of the water that was being contained behind them. They did not suspect the storm had that kind of power or capabilities and therefore they did not communicate any back-up plans or make any preperations for if something major did happen. The city also did not evacuate people soon enough so not as many members of the city were able to evacuate as should've been able to. They could've saved many lives and many homes and businesses if they had planned for the worst instead of just hoping for the best.
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The communication crisis I noticed the most during Katrina was that the government, including the president, did not do enough to demonstrate and communicate their empathy for the people. Even if they said they felt for them, it came across that they didn't because the response was slow and mangled. Then to have comments made about worrying about getting a very wealthy man his home back just sort of poured salt on the wounds of those who really did lose everything. Not just one of their many homes. It was bungled on so many levels, I'm sure books have been written about the mess.
ReplyDeleteHurrican Katrina was devastating and our government's response was not too great either. It is so hard to understand why more action wasn't taken before the storm hit. I know they weren't expecting it to be so bad, but I would rather be safe than sorry.
ReplyDeleteThe news doesn't report too much about how the conditions are down there now. I think all of the volunteers who went down there did a great job. It would be nice to see how they are rebuilding, etc.
I think it is amazing what FEMA and the American Red Cross do to help out. FEMA gives out lots and lots of money to people and places that get damaged during a natural disaster. I think Hurricane Katrina would have been almost just as bad if they had started to evacuate even sooner. The damages would have been the same, but the good thing would have been all of the people that could have gotten out of there before the storm hit. But that’s the way it goes with Mother Nature, no one can predict exactly what is going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI think its great what FEMA and the American Red Cross do for people that have been through a natural disaster. Without these two organizations many people would suffer after these disaters.
ReplyDeleteHurricane Katrina is a very good exmple of crisis communication. More people should have been worried about the hurricane and made sure that those levies would do their job. It's hard to say if anyone is at fault but its a very sad story and one that we should all learn from.