The Storm
The documentary of ‘The Storm’ covers the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina, which is a major blow to the American history. It also demonstrates the level of preparedness of America and the disaster management organizations in times such as the Katrina. Additionally, the documentary shows the different shortfalls of the organizations instituted to prepare the country for disasters. It starts by highlighting the occurrence of the hurricane, the affected persons of the disaster and its effect on the victims both in the present and long term. From the start, of the documentary, a blame game is portrayed with the state. The local and national governments failing to show responsibility for the poor planning before and the execution of management measures even after the occurrence of the disaster. After the occurrence of the disaster, the report presented to the Congress on February 15 of 2005 still showed a lack of immediate and future planning systems that could help provide support to the victims of the disaster (Ink 803). The coverage of the story in the documentary focuses on the previous planning processes that the state, local and national governments with regard to preventing the occurrence of a disaster in the country.
The documentary is a representation of the many truths that have never been let out to the public. Many would want to know the things that led to the occurrence of the Katrina hurricane and ways through which it could have been avoided. Its coverage combines different researchers that have been done by other researchers on the same topic. As a result, a combination of these facts of the disaster provides an insight into knowing the shortfalls that could be avoided the next time such a disaster strikes.
The documentary also covers the victims of the disaster and ways they were affected by the disaster. Covering such instances helps bring out the picture of the disaster and the extent to which it affected the people living in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (Schmidlin 755). The extent of the coverage is done with an extensive inclusion of the support provided to the victims and the duration it took these regions to regain their normal status. Combining the research works from all the different sources, the producers identified some of the issues that were a major factor leading to the huge number of victims. One factor mentioned is the communications breakdown, a situation that would never have occurred owing to the most recent major attack on America, the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The breakdown of communications reduced the chances of the disaster management teams to respond to the place on time leading to a great impact on victims.
A second factor mentioned is the poor leadership and coordination of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), which also led to the escalation of the impact. Since the formation of the organization, many loopholes had been suspected that would lead to the failure of the organization (Rodriguez, Trainor and Quarantelli 84). In the event of the Katrina, poor response and ineffective cooperation of response to the region is assumed as the cause of the huge number of disaster during the Katrina. The inclusions of these factors in the documentary are indicators in the documentary have a significant impact in increasing the authenticity of the materials covered. In general, it presents details about the Katrina hurricane with an appealing force of how, why, and the aftermath of the disaster. It is both educational and eye-opening to the disaster management organizations on how to prepare for similar occasions in future.
Works Cited
Ink, Dwight. “An Analysis of the House Select Committee and White House Reports on Hurricane Katrina.” Public administration review 66.6 (2006): 800-807.
Rodriguez, H., J. Trainor and E. L. Quarantelli. “Rising to the Challenges of a Catastrophe: The Emergent and Prosocial Behavior following Hurricane Katrina.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 604.1 (2006): 82-87.
Schmidlin, T. W. “On Evacuation and Deaths from Hurricane Katrina.” Bulletin Of The American Meteorological Society 87.6 (2006): 754-756.