Hurricane Sandy destroyed millions of homes, brought a bunch of sand onto the roads, and killed 209 people. Sandy caused $52.4 billion in damages. Another hurricane that has hit the US is Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina caused subsequent floods and caused $81 billion in damaged. Katrina also killed at least 1,833 people in the time that it took to cross most of eastern North America.
But on August 25, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, everything changed. The levees failed, over 75% of the city was submerged in water and over 1,800 lives were lost. By the time the storm passed, over $81 billion in physical damages had been done. It is estimated that Katrina has resulted in the loss of over 230,000 jobs in Louisiana alone. When the storm struck New Orleans and the levees failed, the low-lying lands flooded at record levels.
A further 5 million homes were left with no electricity and many houses were a victim of falling trees. A Holt in the Stock Market occurred, with many work employees opting for a few days off work due to not being able to travel. The fire brigade recorded over 6000 calls in a 24 hour period. London experienced the first blackout since the blitz and flights were cancelled in Gatwick and Heathrow with also Ports closing. After the storms had gone, the people of England tried in many ways to rejuvenate their land.
Many living in the city fled prior to the storm, but many believed the reminiscences of the storm wouldn’t be as bad as they thought and they stayed. As a result of New Orleans being below sea level, levees were placed around the city to keep the streets and homes from flooding. When the intensity of winds and mass flooding came from the storm, these levees broke, flooding nearly 80% of New Orleans communities. The Pre-Katrina preparations were a disaster for all communities. Following Hurricane Katrina, outrage was one of the many feelings that survivors experienced.
Because over 100,000 people died bodies had to be buried in mass graves. Communication systems and transport routes were damaged by the earthquake so emergency aid was extremely difficult. Workers and survivors alike became angry at this lack of aid and looting and riots broke out in many areas. Aftershocks are still occurring reaching up to 5.9 on the Richter scale. Even though the process is slow Haiti is recovering many charities have been set up to provide emergency housing, food and other areas of the recovery.
The secondary effects include the fires that broke out all over the city of Kobe, the congestion and chaos on the roads, the closure of businesses and the problem of homelessness. Many more people died in the fires that followed the earthquake. Problems were made worse by the large number of aftershocks (over 1,300). Many of the older, wooden houses completely collapsed. Fire, triggered by broken gas pipes and sparks from severed electrical cables, caused a huge amount of damage, destroying at least 7,500 wooden homes.
* 4,000 buildings were destroyed and 20,000 damaged * Roughly 50% of the Gazan population has no access to water * West Bank has damaged economy as some people have lost their jobs and it is difficult for farmers to get their produce across the border * West Bank only has 2,900 USD per capita and the Gaza Strip only has 3,100 USD per capita * In 2005, there were 3,900 factories employing 35,000 people, now there is only 195 factories employing only 1,700 people * 20 million litres of raw sewage and 40 million litres of partially treated water per day leak to the Mediterranean Sea * 714 impact craters from bombs | * 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict by 2008 due to war, famine and disease * By 2007, 2.7 million people had become refugees, many living in camps near Darfur’s main town * Many villages and refugee camps have suffered violent attacks, involving murder, rape and theft. * The murder of farmers has led to decreased food production * People living in refugee camps have limited access to clean water and health facilities. * Desertification is happening around refugee camps, refugees are stripping the land of vegetation to use as fuel. * Refugees are putting increased pressure on local resources. * Uncontrolled deforestation
| 1 in 5 people lost their jobs because many buildings were destroyed, Haiti’s large industry clothing was one of the worst affected, and were a lot of people lost their jobs. | 250,000 homes, 30,000 other building were either destroyed or badly damaged this included the presidents palace and around 60% of the government buildings. | Because of the large number of deaths the hospitals reached their capacity and bodies had to be piled up out on the streets. | Transport and communication links were badly damaged and destroyed, things like bridges. | The amount of bodies out on the street caused a lot of diseases to spread, diseases like, cholera.
It was the area that was closest to the earthquakes epicentre (around 60 miles northwest of Chengdu) and is the capital of the Sichuan province. Thousands of people were killed because eighty percent of the buildings there collapsed. The time the earthquake struck, in the middle of the afternoon, contributed to the high death toll. The collapse of a three-story building that was a high school in the Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, in Wenchuan County killed or trapped as many as 900 students. Also, there were five other schools that collapsed in Deyang city which left students buried under the rubble.
“The famous New Orleans city and surrounding areas were hit worst, as much of it sits some 6 feet below sea level. City defenses, such as levees, only designed for category 3 type hurricanes, gave way, leading to enormous flooding and associated damage, death and displacement of around 100,000 people who either chose to say the course, or could not afford to flee” (Shah, 2005). On that