In what ways does katrina have a silver lining?

Question

I have to do a report for school. what ways did the affected cities as a whole benefit from the hurricane katrina. please help me by giving long drawn out ideas.

Answer 1

I learned that the world really did care.

You may say "Sappy!", but really, it's true.

There's talk in the media today that kids are lazy and uncaring, and adults whine at doing the slightest labor. However, I witnessed out of towners getting our school prepared for us moving in, and we received so many donations... clothes, shoes, entertainment of all sorts... we also met a lot of young people in church groups, some fresh out of high school, that had come from all corners of the country and some even from around the world to do what they could to help.

I regained faith in the human race thanks to a hurricane.

Answer 2

I gave my thoughts on New Orleans in the question:
Should they just bulldoze New Orleans?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvL5.wvlotVrtXroMtdkenLsy6IX?qid=20070208204647AAAa8zI&show=7#profile-info-AA11864592

We learned a lesson that our government officials are not always doing their jobs. But New Orleans re-elected Nagin, so they obviously didn't learn the lesson. Maybe next election the light will dawn.

We have learned that the Federal Government can make money available along with other resources, but cannot force a city government to use the money to rebuild. Nor can it legally take over the preparations for pending disaster.

We learned that the Governor of a state has to activate the National Guard, not the President. The President cannot activate troops, move troops across state lines, etc. without the express written request of the Governor. Thank God for that! But the Govenor didn't want to scare the people by having troops on the streets, so she didn't request them until too late.

Even though people were told to leave N.O., and even though the City officials announced that they should bring to the shelters enough food, water, medicine, and clothing to last four days, almost all of the people still showed up with nothing but what they were wearing. They didn't even bring diapers or formula for their babies. When interviewed, they said they heard the announcements, but didn't want to waste the diapers from home because they would need those when they went back home. They thought the government would have stuff there for the people that didn't bring anything. So hopefully, the silverlining is that We learned you should not assume that someone else will take care of you. Certainly not the government. Plan for your own needs because you can depend on you.

The people in the affected cities learned too late that they should have had flood insurance. Homeowners policies, it seems, all have a clause in them that excludes damage from any "surface water" which includes anything from heavy rain accumulating in a low yard to a flood or storm surge. So a lot of people were made aware of that problem and have bought the separate flood policy so they won't have future problems.

Another silver lining is that a court has ruled that the storm surge in Mississippi was a direct result of blowing wind. Since damage from windstorm is covered by most policies, the court said the damage must be paid and could not be excluded as surface water. Rather than fight the ruling in appeals court, State Farm has agreed that they will pay. I was told that a lot of the claim people really wanted to pay for the damage, who wouldn't? But all of the legal precedent said that it was not covered. If they paid for something not covered, the company would be sued by other policyholders when their rates went up. So the court eliminated the company from being stuck obeying bad legal precedent.

Hopefully some people have learned that when the government agencies order an evacuation for a category 5 hurricane, perhaps it should be taken seriously, and they should "get the fat out of Dodge." If so, in the next bad storm, maybe there won't be so many people injured and killed.

We have also observed that a catastrophic storm can be devastating to the point that no one can prepare for it sufficiently to prevent people from suffering. We have also observed that it takes a long time to clean up the mess and recover. So if you don't want to live through that, perhaps it would be best to move a little further inland. There are people in my community who have decided not to go back.

Answer 3

Really, nothing good happened from Katrina or Rita. Yes New Orleans got the most coverage...but Mississippi got a lot more damage...and they are like the red headed step child of this hurricane.

And We (the United States as a whole) will be paying the taxes of FEMA's mistakes. Because there were so many technicallities and abuse of this program...we are going to be paying for it for a very long time. But I guess, the only good thing that came out of Katrina or Rita is that it made everyone quesiton the Levy systems in every city...And repairs have gone under way as we speak to fix Levy's everywhere. I don't know where people got the idea that a structure that is over 100 years old would still be stable..but whatever..

Answer 4

Many of the deplorable , awful housing projects where people once lived were destroyed and will be rebuilt with nicer housing units that will be affordable.

Many people who were living on welfare were forced to other cities, like Houston, where they quickly found they would need a job and that the handouts were not so generous. So, some people are employed for the first time in other cities.

It caused several states to look long and hard at their own mass evacuation plans in case a similar disaster should occur in their own states. Texas quickly drew up an evacuation plan after Hurricane Rita.

It showed the human face of this nation. Thousands of volunteers from other states came to help. A young man from California pulled his boat to New Orleans so he could help with the rescue. He was just one of many who interruped his own life to help strangers in need.

It shows what strength , courage, and creativity can come from within when peoplke are desperate. When an 18 year old boy didn't know what to do, he took a school bus and headed for Texas. Along the way he rescued 32 other people. Among them all, theyv had enough money for gas along the way. They all arrived safely at the Astrodome in Houston.

When people in Houston saw all of these people at the Astrodome, they emptied their closets of clothes no longer needed. They filled grocery bags with food. And off they went to the Astrodome. There was a traffic jam. Doctors and nurses who were not working went to the Astrodome , too. The goodness and generosity of ordinary people became extraordinary.. and none expected anything in return.

Answer 5

It flushed all the vermin out of New Orleans.

Answer 6

it moved a lot of riffraff to houston tx.