physical geography - sustainable management of hurricanes essay
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Course
Physical Geography (9696)
Institution
OCR
A past paper essay question: For any one hazardous environment, describe some of the problems of sustainable management and evaluate attempted or possible solutions. [20] 18 out of 20 marks were received for this essay. The hazardous environment of hurricanes in Louisiana, the USA was assessed.
For any one hazardous environment, describe some of the problems of sustainable
management and evaluate attempted or possible solutions. [20]
Natural disasters have plagued people for ages, however some areas are more prone to
them than others. Because of this the authorities of those areas have tried to come up with
ways of managing those areas to benefit the current and future generations. One of those
frequent natural disasters are tropical storms, which are intense low pressure systems up to
800 km in diameter, with wind speeds up to 300 km/hr. This essay will describe some of the
problems of sustainably trying to manage the tropical storms in Louisiana, New Orleans, in
particular hurricane Katrina, and it will evaluate the attempted and possible solutions.
Hurricane Katrina is known to be the U.S.’s costliest storm, and its effects are still felt today
in New Orleans. It started forming as a tropical depression on the 23rd of August 2005, and
made landfall off Louisiana’s coast on the 29th of that month, as a Category 3 storm with
wind speeds as high as 190 km/hr. Relief efforts were hindered by the severe flooding - 80%
of the city was underwater. It caused approximately 1200 deaths - with 50% of the deaths
resulting from chronic disease which was exacerbated by the storm and 33% drowning
deaths - and $108 billion in property damage.
Although there was so much property damage and so many lives were lost, it could still be
said to be partially sustainably manageable. New Orleans was protected by 560 km of levee
and floodwall which reduced the damage to some extent. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
built a 8-metre-high surge gate known as the ‘Great Wall’. Not only that, but Congress has
given billions of dollars to build pumps, dikes and floodwalls for a system which can
withstand a ‘100 year storm’. After Katrina, the levees were rebuilt and planted with grass
and armored with cement, so that they are protected when overtopped by the floodwaters.
And although so much money was spent on protection, according to Andy Horowitz, a
specialist in natural disasters, the 14 million that was spent on levees has already repaid
itself multiple times in terms of the damage that has been prevented over the past few
storms. Therefore it can be said that it is possible, at least to a certain extent, to sustainably
manage New Orleans.
On the other hand, there are several reasons why it can be called unsustainable. Firstly,
Louisiana is hit frequently by hurricanes, every 2 in 3 years, and it was hit by 49 of the 273
hurricanes that hit the American Atlantic Coast between 1851 and 2004. Because of this, it is
a lot harder to renovate and rebuild the infrastructure as it gets damaged sooner. Secondly,
theft and looting in the areas that are evacuated made people more reluctant to move. Not
only this, but the evacuation plan was not followed by the mayor, Ray Nagin, of New Orleans
during Hurricane Katrina, which called for the use of school buses to transport
disadvantaged and elderly citizens out of the city. So it can be said that the evacuation,
which could have saved hundreds of lives, was definitely not effective enough. Thirdly, the
levees that were meant to protect New Orleans failed, due to engineering miscalculations.
This caused walls of water to surge into the low-lying city, which added to the death toll and
property damage. And although the levees can be fixed and for the next tropical storm, it is
still easier said than done, the smallest mistake could lead to the same consequences in the
next storm. Therefore, it can be argued that it is not possible to sustainably manage New
Orleans.
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