Hurricane Katrina, A Category Five Storm

Hurricane Katrina, A Category Five Storm
Hurricane Katrina, a category five storm was catastrophic and led to the death of more than 1,800 people. Indeed, it occurred in August 2005 in New Orleans and affected the surrounding areas. Hurricane Katrina caused damages of approximately $161 billion (Reid, 2019). Despite numerous challenges that the United States of America (USA) encountered to overcome the disaster, it succeeded, in the long run, to recover from Hurricane Katrina. The paper focuses on how communication, logistical supply chain, and media relations contributed to the success of Hurricane Katrina.
The occurrence of a disaster disrupts the communication and logistical supply chain channels. In particular, disasters usually disrupt the pre-existing networks, which makes it challenging to ensure that food, medical products, water, pharmaceutical, and other vital commodities reach the victims to facilitate recovery effort (Homeland Security, 2019). Despite the destruction of the communication infrastructure, which hindered first responders from accessing New Orleans and its neighborhood, the federal government intervened to provide relevant assistance. A logistical supply chain entails more than the delivery of goods and services to a specific destination. Notably, it involves the transportation and storage of all goods while minimizing the costs and serving as numerous people as possible (Comfort & Haase, 2006). As a result, the federal government helped the local and state government to reach the affected areas during Hurricane Katrina, enhancing communication and logistical supply chain.
Media relations significantly determine the time it will take to recover from a disaster. Although media coverage during Hurricane Katrina was interrupted by the destruction of the communication infrastructure, the information aired was accurate (Garnett & Kouzmin, 2007). The primary issue was the presence of numerous communication channels in the beginning, which brought confusion. However, the issue was resolved after the information broadcast came from one source. As such, communication facilitates emergency management by ensuring that the resources required are delivered to the disaster site and mobilizing appropriate stakeholders to take proper actions.
From logistics and supply chain considerations, media relations and preparedness play significant roles. Specifically, emergency management becomes extremely challenging when the logistical supply chain is disrupted (VanVactor, 2012). However, media relations and ...