Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Lessons from Hurricane Katrina


  1. Preserve our environment especially wetland. Since the application of the levee system, the supply of the wetland was partly cutoff. Louisana acounts for 80% of the country's coastal loss. Other hydrologic projects modified the path of the freshwater, thus hindered the sediment needed by the wetland. Salt water intrusion from Gulf of Mexico becomes more and more severe and will move inland 30 miles by the year of 2050 (See Land Loss for more information). Continuous expansion and development, eating-out of grass and roots by foreign invader Nutria, underground pipelines, global warming also contribute to the damage of the environment (See Going Under for more explanation).
  2. Galveston, TX was hit the most in the history 105 yeas ago this month by category 4 hurricane. The "Wall" was built since to protect the city. The "Levees Only" policy already caused devastating disaster in 1927 to New Orleans. Tropical Storm Betsy in 1965 and Georges in 1998 also caused unprecedented disaster to the area. Even though floodways, channels, dams, reservoirs, and pumping plants were applied to handle excess water by The Army Corps of Engineers, the cut of funding requested by the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for holding back the waters of Lake Pontchartrain reached more than 80 percent. The further cut in funding caused hiring freeze(see Life Along the Levee for more information). The funding for maintaining levee was decreased 20% to $71 million (ABC news).
  3. The unpredictableness of the Hurricane Katrina might also play an important role in destroying the city's infrastructure. "The winds that are advertised for the tropical storm over water are never going to be sustained over land." said Josh Wurman, lead scientist for the Colorado-based Center for Severe Weather Research. Their research group also indicated that some of the tropical storms such as Hurricane Katrian might generate super-strong wind in the hurricane center of category 5 which is not shown in numbers collected by instruments.
  4. Dispatch enough man power such as guards, millitary personnel and volunteers in a timely fashion during huuricane. The 1700-person NOPD worked so hard on themselves trying to save lives and restore order. Only after National Guard and other millitary troops rolled into the city one week later could they be released from their around-the-clock tasks.
  5. Evacuating more people and resources efficiently before Hurricane Katrina hit. It is a human nature that they would not leave their home after they have habitated for a long time. In this case, emergency plan to evacuate these people should be set. Extra buses should be prepared.
  6. Set up reasonable amount of shelters at reasonable distances. Superdome could not provide enough utilities for housing that number of people. With thousands of people rushed in at almost the same time, people over there stated that it was a hellish environment filled with odorous human waste.
  7. There are no detailed emergency plan for handling disaster as severe as this one caused by Hurrican Katrina. "Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially."(Weblog by Times-Piscayune). Both Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FEMA Director Mike Brown were advised by Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center about the storm's potential devastating damage. There was even an excersise sponsored by FEMA and the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in July 2004 that simulated exact the disastrous effect that Hurricane Katrina would generate.
  8. Reconsider the building code of the levee which could protect the city against urricane stom category 3.
  9. Analysis of rebuilding the city upon the same site. As dissapearance of the wetland around the New Orleans area and ever-increasing subsidance of the city surface, the cost to rebuild the city will be extremely high. Rebuilding the levee could be an option, but how about other cities, other type of disasters?
  10. Controling of the rioting and looting at the disaster area. The widspread looting and crimes gave everyone a great shock. This was not even simulated in last year's exercise.
  11. Prevent large-scale disease after hurricaner. Contaminated by chemicals, rotten animal and human bodies, the water is most possible source for spreading of diseases. Mosquitos will also play a major role in the possible west nile deseases.
  12. Offer as much help and comfortness to children as possible. Community should also be utilized at the most to help people who lost properties, pets and especially those who lost family members during huracan seasons.


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