Hurricane Katrina: Public Policy Environmental

Hurricane Katrina: Public Policy

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Hurricane Katrina represents one of the biggest natural disasters in history. As such, its impact on the environment was significant to the extreme. According to Esworthy et al. (2006), almost every aspect of the environment in the area was affected. Mitigation measures had to be implemented in terms of large-scale, visual impacts such as clearing away debris and rubble, to microscopic-scale impacts such as drinking water contamination.

According to Esworthy et al., the sheer scale of the cleaning effort affected all sectors of the government and the private sector. In terms of management, this presented a significant challenge. In addition to the question of whether federal and private sector institutions were adequate for the task at hand, a further concern was the adequacy of infrastructure such as landfill capacity, health and safety issues, and waste management.

The above issues also have an ecological impact on the environment. This concern manifests itself in two aspects: the effects of the hurricane itself, and the effects of the clean-up effort. In terms of the first, Katrina has caused contamination by means of hazardous materials and human remains. Because of the scale of the disaster, it was also difficult to separate hazardous from non-hazardous wastes. In terms of the second, the very measures taken to mitigate the immediate impacts of the hurricane could have long-term ecological impacts, which should also be estimated and mitigated.

A particularly important issue regarding the environment and the clean-up process was maintaining the flow of information to the public. The public needed not only to be informed, but also involved in the clean-up process. This would both relieve the authorities in charge of the process, and empower members of the public during a time of unmitigated loss of both property and lives. Taking action would mitigate the resulting emotions.

II ECONOMIC ISSUES

Like the environment, all aspects of the economy have also been influenced by the destruction of hurricane Katrina. Specifically, Chris Isidore (2005), mentions the areas of home construction, trade, agriculture and livestock in addition to energy price issues and the value of the dollar in this regard. Indeed, Isidore mentions the possibility of wider-scale economic impacts on the country as a whole resulting from the disaster.

Isidore mentions that the real estate market had been a major driver of the U.S. economy before the disaster. With the destruction and rebuilding costs after the disaster, there are several impacts. On the one hand, interests rates have fallen sharply, resulting in lower mortgage rates across the country. On the other hand, shortages resulting from an increased demand for building goods could spike prices, and the import of building materials could result in a further supply problem as a result of the closed Gulf ports.

The closed Gulf also significantly impacted trade, according to Isidore. At the time, the estimate by the American Farm Bureau Federation was a probable loss of $500 million in exports for U.S. producers. This could have more long-term results as well, with the possibility of buyers searching for other exporters. Along with the federal budget deficit created by emergency support for victims, the trade deficit could result in lowering the value of the dollar and concomitantly raising the price of imports to the country.

III. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

In few disasters have the government been criticized as widely as in their response to Katrina. A large amount of criticism was raised in terms of the government's preparedness and mitigation of suffering resulting from the hurricane. Indeed, according to Joe Kay (2006), an anticipated House of Representatives report presents the government not only as extraordinarily unprepared, but also as incompetent in responding to the disaster. In this, the government was widely criticized for its contribution to the deaths of more than 1,000 people in New Orleans, and the terrible living conditions of the survivors.

At the core of the problem was the ignored knowledge that a full-scale hurricane would have disastrous consequences as a result of the city's infrastructure. It was for example a known fact that the levee system was not sufficient to withstand the consequences of a major hurricane. If this happened, the city would be flooded, leaving all its citizens without the necessary transportation to leave.

When Katrina approached, however, the government, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, took no action to help citizens evacuate the city before the hurricane struck. Instead, the clear warnings issues in this regard were simply ignored. Indeed, even after the hurricane struck and the danger became more than potential, government response was delayed for a further two days. In addition, Kay notes that the local government in the city also had no evacuation plan in place when the hurricane struck.

Kay and other critics blame presidential and government incompetence for the consequences of the disaster. Kay also names the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq as evidence of this incompetence as well as lack of accountability for the disaster. The main reason for the government's lack of response, according to Kay, appears to be its incompetence and lack of preparation despite full knowledge of the impending disaster.

IV. SOCIAL ISSUES

Forman and Lewis (2006) identify Hurricane Katrina not only as a natural disaster, but also a social one. The authors estimate that at least one in five of the city's residents had no private vehicle to use as escape in the event of a hurricane. In addition to ignoring the lack of adequate infrastructure in the city, the specific plight of the poor was also not taken into account via an adequate evacuation plan. The authors emphasize that the documented lack of attention to these details is merely symptomatic of a deeper social ill: the long-term neglect and disenfranchisement of the poor throughout the United States. It is this long-term perpetuation of ignoring the plight of the poor that contributed to the death and suffering after hurricane Katrina. The authors however note that this should not be localized only to New Orleans, but rather that the disaster has exposed the hidden truth of countrywide poverty.

The extreme poverty of these communities throughout the country is the result of centuries of racial and ethnic inequality perpetuated by a social paradigm of ignorance and apathy. Indeed, this ignorance and apathy exacerbated the effect of the disaster and subsequent living conditions of the poor.