Comparison of Hurricane Katrina and Greensburg Tornado Disasters

The Greensburg tornado of May of 2007 and the New Orleans Katrina hurricane of August of 2005 affected over a thousand people in Greensburg and roughly 350,000 people in New Orleans (Factfinder Census, 2005-2009). Responses to these two disasters were very different. This paper will examine similarities and differences between the New Orleans and Greensburg catastrophes and responses and also look at rebuilding processes in the two towns.

First we will examine how much money was raised in an effort to aid the victims in both cities. In Greensburg, FEMA designated a large amount of money to assist the town and the surrounding Kiowa County. "FEMA has obligated $30,638,070 for work in Greensburg and Kiowa County, of which the federal share is $23,184,598 for projects in all categories of Public Assistance" (FEMA, 2010). The majority of the money allotted went to the following areas: City Water Tower, The Big Well, The Adjutant General/Kansas Department of Emergency Management, School District USD #422, and the Electrical Distribution System (FEMA, 2010). More money has been given by FEMA and the government since 2007, for a total of 94.5 million. As of 2005 there were 1398 residents in Greensburg (Kake News, 2011) which would mean that roughly 68,000 dollars were given per capita.

However, for Katrina 2.2 billion dollars were raised through the Red Cross (Hurricane Katrina Five Year Anniversary, 2010), 2.3 billion from FEMA (Louisiana Katrina, 2009) and 62.3 billion dollars were approved through Congress, which equals out to roughly 160,000 dollars per capita (Katu, 2010). Most of the money funds education, public works, public safety and protection, health care, public infrastructure, debris removal and various projects (Louisiana Katrina, 2009). However, over 15 million people were affected by hurricane Katrina, either economically, through evacuations, drinking water or gas prices, so exact numbers are hard to estimate (Hurricane Katrina Relief, 2009).

The residents of both towns suffered a great deal through the loss of family, friends, and material losses, but the way America responded to each disaster varied. A disturbing fact I found about the Katrina disaster was FEMA declaring that it wanted to be repaid by residents for some emergency assistance funds it had doled out early in the disaster relief process. "In the wake of Katrina, FEMA released emergency funds to more than 700,000 households. Auditors later said the agency had overpaid by nearly a half-billion dollars, providing assistance to people who, they claim, didn't deserve it" (FEMA to Katrina, 2007). This was surprising news considering the stress residents were under in the process of rebuilding their lives. Response times to Katrina were also questioned. The Red Cross answered this accusation by stating "The response itself was larger and more complex than any organization could handle alone but ultimately we overcame the challenges and helped millions of people" (Hurricane Katrina Five Year Anniversary, 2010).

Responses to the Greensburg disaster were much quicker, FEMA was quick to provide assistance and so far have not given any residents a hard time about financial repayment (FEMA, 2009). Also volunteers and churches seemed to dive into assisting Greensburg and helping the residents get back on their feet, quicker than what occurred in New Orleans. Next I want to look at who helped aid the residents in the disasters.

One of the largest contributors in Greensburg was FEMA, who really helped in assisting the people to take care of them-selves and providing housing until they could rebuild (FEMA, 2009). Red Cross was also a major ally for Greensburg (Help Greensburg, 2007). Many Americans individually volunteered to come out and help the Greensburg people, along with church organizations. In New Orleans, FEMA and Red Cross were also the main supporters along with 12 other main organizations, including two Louisiana based foundations and several religious groups (How to Help, 2011), which is not that many organizations compared to the size of the disaster. I also want to study how many people were helped in each disaster. In Greensburg, FEMA assisted 243 families (FEMA, 2009). For Katrina, 1.4 million families (about 4.5 million people) were assisted by Red Cross (Hurricane Katrina Five Year Anniversary, 2010).

In Greensburg the Nazarene Disaster Response enlisted volunteers to assist, ending in 410 hours of volunteer assistance from this organization alone (Greensburg, Kansas Disaster, 2007). It doesn't end there though; the Mennonites were a large supporter for the assistance in Greensburg. "Within hours [of the catastrophe], teams from Mennonite Disaster Service's Kansas Unit were in the area doing cleanup" (Greensburg, Kansas, 2007). The Mennonite Disaster Service worked on a total of 32 repair jobs and four rebuilds and scheduled volunteers for months after these completed projects (Greensburg, Kansas, 2007). "Thousands of volunteers poured into Greensburg after the [tornado]" (Moyer, 2007). A head of the volunteer coordination declared that they were not even two months out from the disaster and the clean up was over 85 percent finished (Moyer, 2007).

Lockton Incorporated, allowed 80 of their associates to assist in the Greensburg clean up (Rebuilding Greensburg, 2011). However "the Lockton team did more than help with clean up and construction of buildings.
They also met with residents and listened to their accounts surviving the tornado, heard residents' memories of their town, and their plans for the future" (Rebuilding Greensburg, 2011). LSI, Corp also assisted with a variety of jobs in Greensburg. In 2007, a group of firefighters from New York's 9/11 went to Texas to assist a family. That family decided to pay it forward and help Greensburg after the tornado hit. They cut out 220 stars and brought them to Greensburg for the kids to paint. Two 9/11 firefighters attended in the painting and hanging of the stars around Greensburg. Some time was also spent cleaning up debris and talking to residents (LSI, Corp, 2009). All of these accounts show how much thought was put in by Americans to spend time helping Greensburg recover.

The same can be said for New Orleans as they also experienced an onslaught of volunteers. Through the Red Cross alone, 245,000 volunteers helped in the Katrina disaster (Katrina Five Year Anniversary, 2010). The Food Not Bombs organization had an average of "200 to 250 volunteers gutting houses and working in various areas daily" (Food Not Bombs, 2010). Celebrities have also volunteered their time and money including Oprah and George Clooney. If they couldn't give their time, they donated money, "celebrities who donated $1 million to help the cause include The Rolling Stones, George Clooney, Celine Dion, Nicolas Cage, Jerry Lewis, and Jay-Z" (Mimon, 2011).

"Since Katrina hit, more than 1 million volunteers have flooded the Gulf Coast - people giving up weekends, holidays and vacations to do their part in the rebuilding effort" (Lopez, 2008). Amazingly, some of the volunteers have decided to make New Orleans a permanent residence, around 3,000 people in fact (Lopez, 2008). The effect throughout the world was greater for Katrina than Greensburg, with more international countries taking notice. " More than 70 countries pledged monetary donations or other assistance. Kuwait made the largest single pledge of $500 million, but Qatar, India, China, Pakistan and Bangladesh made very large donations as well" (11 Facts, 2011).

We will now examine the demographics of the two cities, which are quite different from one another, with New Orleans being a large diverse city and Greensburg a small mainly Caucasian town. For the next paragraph all of the information is collected from the census website (Factfinder, Census, 2005-2009). As of 2005, 32% of the New Orleans population was Caucasian and 63% African American while Greensburg was 98.5% Caucasian and .8% Native American or Alaska Native. Those statistics are a stark contrast in racial demographics, with minorities largely representing New Orleans. As far as gender, Greensburg has an even population of males to females, with 51% female and 49% male. New Orleans on the other hand has a 53% female and 47% male population. Income for both cities varies as well; New Orleans has a median family income of 36,000 dollars while Greensburg has a median family income of 43,000 dollars. As far as poverty levels, Greensburg has a low number of 4.1% of families under the poverty level and New Orleans has a startling 20% of families under the poverty level. These numbers are blatant differences, as New Orleans shows a much higher poverty level.

Some theories have been brought about that New Orleans experienced discrimination in the assistance they received, due to the fact that it is a largely minority city with a high poverty level. The assistance for New Orleans was slower, taking up to five days for some people to get any help. Work in New Orleans also continues at a slow rate, with many buildings still uninhabitable. Compare this to Greensburg who started receiving the majority of their assistance within hours of the tornado. Cleanup was nearly finished in a matter of months and the rebuilding was very quick. Could this be because Greensburg is a mainly white town with low poverty levels? Maybe, but this is just a theory. Other factors that may play into the differences in assistance include the size of the disasters and the amount of people they affected.

Now we will discuss the rebuilding process for both cities. There are many aspects to examine when looking at rebuilding an entire city so we will focus on rebuilding green and residential rebuilding. With the vast amount of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, the rebuilding so far has been expansive. However many people are feeling the direct effect of the hurricane as "6,500 people are living in abandoned properities...[and] more than 11,000 individuals are homeless (five years later)" (Rebuilding in Post, 2010). The idea to rebuild quickly seems to be lost on politicians, who have ulterior motives in the reconstruction of New Orleans, as they chose to zone out several previous residential districts in favor of commercial zoning (Plans to rebuild, 2006).

New Orleans has made an effort to rebuild in a sustainable way, especially with the help of Global Green, USA. This organization made a commitment to assist New Orleans with eco friendly building (Rebuilding New Orleans, 2011). Through Global Green's "affordable housing community the Holy Cross Project, Build it Back Green initiative, educating residents on how to rebuild in a healthy green way, and work on greening schools throughout the area, Global Green is committed to creating a green model for the development and rebuilding of New Orleans" (Rebuilding New Orleans, 2011). An interesting fact the Rebuilding New Orleans, 2011 article states is that if "50,000 homes were rebuilt to the standards applied to Global Green USA's Holy Cross Project, residents of New Orleans would save $38 million to $56 million each year."

Alternatively, the people of Greensburg seem to have a more cohesive plan to help all of the residents right from the beginning of the disaster. Understandably they had nowhere close as many residents as New Orleans, but they showed more communication between members which helped them rebuild more efficiently. Their main idea was to rebuild in a sustainable manner. SunChips brand took a personal interest in Greensburg and decided to help "re-green Greensburg" by donating $1 "for the replanting of trees for each person who adds a new SunChips/Greensburg widget to their Facebook profile" (Ken, 2008). Greensburg proceeded to announce that they wanted to be considered the first LEED platinum city. In order to accomplish this, they made plans to complete an array of environmentally sustainable buildings. This includes Greensburg's downtown "business incubator" which uses rain recycling and geothermal cooling and heating (Greensburg, Kansas: Rebuilding, 2008). Another green success in Greensburg is Studio 5-4-7 and the schools. These buildings are extremely efficient and harness natural resources for power such as wind turbines and geothermal heating and cooling (Greensburg, Kansas: Rebuilding, 2008). The last major sections of Greensburg's rebuilding green are the residential homes. Many residents decided to rebuild in a sustainable manner, using iso blocks, solar panels and energy efficient appliances (Greensburg, Kansas: Rebuilding 2008).

Reactions to disasters are never perfect but Red Cross stated two main lessons they learned through the hurricane Katrina experience, the first is "increase capacity to respond to disasters by having more supplies, equipment and volunteers on hand...[the second is to] expand the reach into more communities by improving partnerships with other organizations (Hurricane Katrina Five Year Anniversary, 2010). Greensburg also learned that they need to be better prepared and built several tornado proof "sheds" in which to wait in if a tornado were to pass through again (Koeber, 2010, April 12). Before May 4,2007 Greensburg residents had to hide in their basements or their neighbors, now they know they have somewhere extremely safe to go.

Overall, Greensburg and New Orleans have experienced many hardships as the consequence of the natural disasters that occurred in their areas. Greensburg turned the downfall into a positive by rebuilding the town in a sustainable manner and in the process bonding the residents. New Orleans has also attempted to build some areas in an eco friendly way but have not achieved the harmony that Greensburg has. Hopefully Greensburg will set an example for other disaster struck towns on how to recover.

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