Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters in United States history. It was also in the top 5 for most deadly hurricanes to ever take place. People lost everything they knew when Katrina hit. Homes, cars, buildings, were destroyed and were under water. People were fighting to survive during this horrible time and barely had the essentials to do so. Dead bodies were unattended to and just lying in the streets because of the amount of chaos this hurricane created. In my opinion Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster, but certain things like the levees breaking, that caused the total flooding and destruction of New Orleans wasn’t.
I couldn’t believe the lack of urgency to step in and help, the U.S. government displayed after Katrina. People were fighting for their lives and were pleading for help, yet it took the government five days to actually get over there and take control of a situation that desperately needed it. The government had no excuse to why they weren’t their immediately following the hurricane to provide food, water, and aid to the people that needed it. They could have saved many more lives, but yet thousands died because of the lack of help they got from their own government.
In the Spike Lee documentary it shows government officials being interviewed saying they weren’t aware of the situation until days after it happened. There is something wrong about their lack of awareness to a state in their own country. It has also been brought to light that this situation might not have been treated with the amount of importance it should have been, because places the hurricane effected were cities like New Orleans, where they were predominately races other than white. The government continues to cover up and deny any wrong doings during this disaster, but it seems that they dropped the ball on this and in turn it cost many more deaths that could have been prevented.
The youtube clip shows live footage of New Orleans after the hurricane hit and the effects of it. It shows the destruction of a community and has interviews of people discussing this terrible disaster. One interview that caught my attention was when this lady talks about how many people are living pay check to pay check and don't have the means to just pick up and evacuate. It makes me wonder why their was not more thought put into evacuating all these people that can't afford to do it themselves. After seeing this video, it really made me think about how the government was so oblivious to the situation at hand and wasnt there to help these people right when it happened, that live in their own country.
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