The Mitigation Measures Necessary For Emergency Relief...

Introduction Imagine that your city had flooded with billons of dollars of damage done and close to a thousand lives lost. Now imagine that much of the outcomes of this disaster could have been averted if proper mitigation measures had been utilized. The mitigation measures necessary to prevent this disaster would have been a fraction of the cost spent on emergency relief measures. For many people in New Orleans this scenario was a reality when Hurricane Katrina happened. Hurricane Katrina caused one hundred and thirty five billon dollars in damage and the death of at least nine hundred and eighty six lives (Plyer, 2014). The city lost all government control and the city fell victim to anarchy. There was little food or fresh water to†¦show more content†¦Analysis The first action that could drastically reduce the damages and loss of life is educating the population in New Orleans. There needs to be several kinds of education provided for the residents of the city. The pre-dissemination of the evacuation and disaster plan could have made a drastic difference in the number of lives lost (Boyd, Wolshon, Heerden, 2009). This way the citizens of New Orleans would have known how to react and what to expect on the event of a hurricane. If those who could not self-evacuate would have known of the resources available to assist them in evacuating the death tolls could have been drastically reduced. Almost half of those who died due to hurricane Katrina were over the age of seventy-four (Plyer, 2014). It is tragic that those who were the least able to protect themselves were abandoned to the caprice of the storm. Through informing citizens of the plans and resources available to them in the event of disaster another tragedy like Hurricane Katrina can be prevented. Another form of education required mitigating the effects of another storm like Katrina would be to make citizens aware of the inherent danger with each hurricane. The biggest challenge in e ducating citizens in the danger of hurricanes is the complacency effect (Wang Kapucu, 2007). This means that citizens come to believe that because they were fine before that they will be fine this time. To overcome this, citizens need to understand the