Comparison between 2003 wild fire and hurricane katrina disaster

Comparison Paper – Summary 2003 wild fire and its effect on disabled people: During the year 2003, the Americans experienced the worst wild fire disaster in Southern California which resulted in major casaulities and life loss. This event destroyed acres of land, a major portion of residential facilities, live stocks and infrastructure of the effected region. The saddening fact is that, the wild fire hit hard on many disabled population of the region, and there were no real figures as to the extent of damage caused. Unfortunately, during the disaster it was noticeable that there was less preparation from the part of the government authorities as to the emergency response and rescue measures to save the disabled people. The Local fire authorities and police agencies were seen to be less alert towards this disastrous event and provided an inferior service to protect the disable people in that area Hurricane Katrina Disaster: The hurricane Katrina was one of the major disasters which brought about significant calamities to the Gulf coast region of the US. This storm created disastrous floods in the coastal areas of Mississippi inlands of Alabama and most regions of New Orleans. The storm took away the life of 1, 330 people and injured many and destroyed much of the infrastructure of the regions. (Bush)“ Mississippi suffered extensive damage in all counties south of Interstate 20 and east of Interstate 55. 11  The city of Biloxi was “ decimated,” according to municipal government spokesman Vincent Creel.  “ It looks like a bomb hit it”. However, the emergency responders were alert of the disaster as they had the weather statistics information from the National Weather Service body . Apart from that the Federal, local and state authorities were also vigilant to act on the disaster to arrive. Similarly, the law enforcement agencies, military and federal government were extremely active in providing maximum service to protect the people suffered and re- establish their security and living conditions. Comparison between these events The major comparison between the hurricane Katrina disaster and the wild fire effect on disable people is that, these both are emergency cases and requires high attention from the government authorities. In case of both these emergencies, there is a high volume of human life loss, damage to shelter and infrastructure, causalities, and economical and social irregularities. These disasters have a very common feature , which is both occurred due to natural causes and practically nothing could have been done to avoid them. Unfortunately, these natural calamities can be resisted to only a certain extent with the help of emergency services and other local, national and public safety measures. Another main common feature of hurricane and wild fire is that they can bring incredible amount of damage to the affected area and less can be done to anticipate the exact amount of risk and damage involved. Both hurricane and wild fire can create excessive amount of fear and panicking among the citizens and the government should educate the citizen about its aftermath and security measures to be taken . Moreover, the main concern during such disaster is of the safety measures to be taken to reduce the amount of life loss and causalities in order to protect the citizens from major suffering. These natural disaster demands high alert and services from all the departments of the local, national and federal authorities and these departments must be well educated as to the security measure to be taken during such calamities. Distinction between these events The main difference seen between the hurricane Katrina and California wild fire case study is, the former looks at the impact of the disaster generally, but the latter look at the impact of the wild fire specifically on disabled population. Moreover, the hurricane Katrina brought about causalities through air and water whereas the Southern California wild fire creates destruction by means of fire. The other difference about the hurricane case is that, it details about the safety measures taken to save the whole population whereas wild fire case study exclusively explains about how the disable suffered during the disaster in southern California. During the hurricane the notification of the calamity in advance stage was reached to majority of people but in case of wild fire many of the handicapped and disable were inaccessible to the media. During Katrina the helicopters were used to save the people from flood and during wild fire much of the disabled people were not rescued in a planned manner. (Schwarzenegger) “ The local Red Cross volunteers received praise for their efforts in this disaster, but in many cases the shelters were inaccessible to people with mobility disabilities and those who use service animals were not initially allowed to bring their animals with them into the shelters”. The disabled people during the wild fire disaster were provided inferior service as compared to the general population who suffered during Katrina hurricane. References Bush, G. W. ” Chapter Four: A Week of Crisis (August 29 – September 5).” www. georgewbush -white house. archives. gov . White house, 2005. Web. 19 Feb 2011. . Schwarzenegger, Arnold. ” The Impact of 2003 Wildfires on People with Disabilities.” www. publicsafety. fcc. gov. SILC, 2004. Web. 19 Feb 2011.