We decided to focus this week's attention on Hurricane Katrina. The blog selected for this week is "Deadly Katrina" which tracked the aftermath caused by the hurricane shortly after the event. "Deadly Katrina" can be accessed via this web address: http://deadlykatrina.com/
Overview of the Blog
"Deadly Katrina" is a collection of articles obtained from various well-known news centers such as CNN or NBC. Unfortunately, some of these articles have disappeared over time only leaving a few readings left. However, the ones that are left provide a very insightful take on the disaster. The aspect that draws the most viewers for this site is the wide variety on the different articles posted. None of the stories are the same, which makes it refreshing and keeps the reader engaged as well. This made it the prime candidate to be featured as this week's blog.
Featured Articles
"Sean Penn accuses Bush of "criminal negligence""
http://www.deadlykatrina.com/?p=115
This post talks about the experiences of the Oscar winning actor Sean Penn in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Sean Penn went to New Orleans to help out as many people as he could. Sean said that everyone around him seemed to be suffering or dying. In addition, he also comments that in the days that he was there, he saw only three government boats. He claims that President Bush has committed “criminal negligence”. Additionally, the policemen were incredibly degrading to the general populous according to Ged Scott another man featured in the article. This article provides a very different view of the disaster. People of higher status usually do not get involved in such projects and Penn's experiences gives us another lens to look through.
"Horrific Stories of Rapes, killings and Terror"
http://www.deadlykatrina.com/?p=102
In this post, the blog tells about the atrocities of Hurricane Katrina through accounts of rape and murder. Since police and all other forms of law enforcement were absent, criminals could commit virtually any crime without any sort of punishment. Many accounts of rape and murder involve law enforcement, but the police officers do not act upon protocol. This blog post describes the terrors that those in and around New Orleans faced daily which makes it easier to relate to the desperation of those in city.
"Somebody's coming to get ya"
http://www.deadlykatrina.com/?p=111
This post features a tragedy event that happened after Hurricane Katrina in which a woman died of drowning because the promised rescue did not arrive on time. It was also mentioned that many people died during the aftermath of Katrina Hurricane due to the delay of rescue. This post shows the significance of the aftermath actions after a disaster. If the aftermath rescue is conducted properly and effectively, it will greatly reduce the number of victims in a disaster. This article shows the importance to performing rescue operations quickly and efficiently.
Conclusion
The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is devastating. This blog does a great job in portraying what the people of Louisiana went through as a result of a true disaster. What made Hurricane Katrina one of the largest disasters the world had ever seen was the lack of help from the American government. Acting upon the wreckage that Hurricane Katrina left behind came way too late for some people. It also prolonged the suffering of the inhabitants of New Orleans a few days later than it could have been.
However, there is also a problem with the blog itself. Most of the articles that are featured seem to be very anti-government. There are none or barely any that actually tries to back up the government during the situation. Another problem with the blog is that due to it not being updated in such a long time (the 'newest' article is from September 10th, 2005) which means many of the featured posts have disappeared. Which makes it difficult to get the full story just from this single blog.
Looking at a blog talking about an event that happens many years ago truly make one see how life changing it really was. It destroyed homes, tore families apart and lowered the morale of the people living there. The articles on the aftermath only builds upon our perception of this event. It provides for a very frightening but dare we say insightful read.
*****
We would encourage everyone not only to read the posts that we summarized but to read the other posts as well. We would like to get your input on this tragedy as well by commenting on this week's blog.
Written by: Dan, Kyle, Nate, and Peter
It was obvious that the blog focused a lot on the “criminal negligence” charge to the Bush Administration. Despite the argument that whether Bush Administration is guilty or not, I do not think the evidences in the blog are good enough to convince people that the Bush Administration did not handle the rescue well. One of the evidences was that, the police officer refused to save the young women who rejected to show their breasts. The issue itself deserves to be denounced for sure. However, it is more like an individual moral problem, the official’s problem, but not necessarily a government issue. Suppose there was one victim who did not follow the evacuation order and drowned at his/her house, should the public say it was all the victims’ fault that this person did not survive? Another evidence was that, the authorities took pictures for victims who were asking for help. If it was just for the authorities’ own album, again, it could be a personal issue. If it was a way to connect the disaster area with outside, then the issue itself was not so inappropriate, after all, they saved the victims and the pictures might be helpful to get aid from outside. There was another evidence about how a woman was abandoned and eventually drowned after repeated promises she will be rescued. The first idea came up with me was the there should be so many people like this woman that were waiting for the help, the promise was just a way to placate the victims and let them wait with hope. Hope is crucial to the victims as it might help to overcome the fear caused from unknown, and it was possible that the officials did try to rescue the victims as much as they could, but they did not make their way to this woman.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that hope is crucial to help keep panic down. Without hope keeping people occupied it would have made the rescue missions much harder to be accomplished. Although there is not nearly enough evidence to justify the legitimacy of the "witnesses" I would like to believe what the common people have to say. However, I do agree that the site is biased and it does seem to lean more on attacking the Bush Administration instead of reporting the conditions of the people. We found this to be one of the main problems of the blog as stated in our conclusion.
ReplyDeleteNext,if a person was to ignore evacuation orders which in turn caused them to drown then no I do not believe the government should be blamed. That person chose to ignore the safest option that the government chose and it should not be used against the administration at that time. Like wise, decisions from individuals(such as you said a person deciding not to follow an evacuation order or the cop not saving someone) should not reflect the government.
It is very interesting that the blog writer portrays the events following Katrina as the fault of the Bush Administration. Obviously, as proved by quotations such as "They (the Bush administration) care more about Iraq and Afghanistan than here" (anonymous National Guard Soldier, source: http://www.deadlykatrina.com/?p=102), the blog writer is not the only one that shares this outlook on the situation. It is appalling the lack of justice surrounding the "rescue". The race issues, rapes, and murder--both from civilians and police--are not what I expected to read about. It's really sad that during this time of great need, the crime and injustice seem to be amplified. It is almost as if the vicitms are being taken advantage of in their time of need.
ReplyDeleteA few questions came to mind as I was reading this blog and one that I could not find answer to was: why did the victims have to stay in the city? It must have been a big issue if a man was gunned down and killed for trying to leave.
It truly is sad that in times of need there are still race issues and other terrible crimes. We always hear how during disasters that egoism (for the lack of a better work) seems to be intensified making only victims care for themselves. While it is important to take care of yourself you must also consider others. However, since I have never been involved in something to degree it is rather unfair of me to judge. As for why victims had to stay in New Orleans I could not find any actual answer. But if I had to take a guess it was either to prevent disease (possibly from the dirty water) or just to get a 'count of heads' to make sure there were not any missing people. A man being gunned downed for trying to leave (if this is true) definitely leaves a sour taste in one's mouth.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that the author of this blog is pretty negative. This blog only seems to focus on the bad things that came along with this disaster. I really do not like how the Bush administration is being bashed either. This was a natural disaster, and the administration did not really have an affect on how and when and where the hurricane hit. The government did a lot to help out the city of New Orleans and it seems as though those aspects are completely ignored.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, there were many other organizations that came to help the city. For example, The Red Cross. I wish that the author would have included some of the more positive and more hopeful things that come from the aftermath of Katrina. Its a shame that so much of this blog is focused on the crime that came after the hurricane. Even though this was a devastating event I prefer to "look on the bright side" and try to find the good rather than focusing on the bad.
Everyone who watched the news in the fall of 2005 knows about Katrina and how terrible it was. So I feel like this blog was just reiterating that. I would have preferred to read about and learn about the things that weren't so heavily covered in the news.
I am sure that there were some positive things to come out of New Orleans, however, this blog does not serve this purpose. The main reason that this blog was created was to raise awareness for the situation in New Orleans, not to pat the people on the back who were helping out. Although the Bush administration did not cause the hurricane, help was sent after a delay of about a week, which was way too much of a delay.
ReplyDeleteThere were many organizations such as the Red Cross helping out with the victims, but that does not make the situation resolved. There was simply not enough help available to all the victims of this tragedy. Crime and starvation plagued the people's lives of New Orleans. It is not the responsibility of the non profit organizations to help these people, it is the duty of the United States Government to do so.
Yeah, I think it definitely makes sense that way. It really depends on what your personal view is of the government's role. The people who saw the aftermath of Katrina as the government's fault probably firmly believed in a more involved government. Since, however, the role of the government and how involved they should get isn't specifically defined, it is difficult to square the blame solely on the government's shoulders.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I do wonder though is if the situation really brought out the worst in these cops and national guards or if the attention of the hurricane shed light on their pre-existing illegitimate behavior and conduct.
I personally believe that their illegitimate behaviour should exist even before the hurricane happened. It is very difficult for just a single event to change the behaviour of a group of people completely, despite how much impact the event might cause. Therefore, this behaviour should exist already but the public just didn't pay attention to it before the Katrina hurricane. However, this is just my personal opinion, and I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis hurricane brought tremendous negative influence to the American people. It not only led to financial loss and casualty, but also broke the hearts of a lot of Americans. From the event that Penn accuses President Bush, we may easily to find out that the rescue and assistance after disaster are disappointing for some local people. It provides a different angle for readers to understand the story and know the truth. I think it is impressive by showing claims from local people instead of the major media companies. That enables us to judge the event individually and make a conclusion less affected by the biased statements.
ReplyDeleteBy the look of this article, it appears as if nothing positive is trying to be evoked from Hurricane Katrina. Don't get me wrong, it was not a positive occurrence by any means, but this blog seems to only view the disaster in a negative light and it also seems to note all of the negative impacts that the hurricane had, mostly by the criticism of the governemnt and the inefficiencies of the government's rescue methods. A huge part of the blog also focuses on the protection factor which proved "highly ineffective". Taking a step back, I don't think it's possibly to have a police force or some sort of protection fully mobilized after a disaster. Take a look at what happened in Haiti. The same plagues of crime and looting took place after the earthquake in Haiti so it could happen anywhere.
ReplyDelete-Duane' Josey