Causes
There were a lot of factors that contributed to poor health following Hurricane Katrina. Since about 90% of the city was flooded, it limited the amount of clean drinking water as well as became a breading ground of mosquitoes. The excess amount of water also caused outbreaks of Wes Nile, Mold, and rising endotoxin levels. Not only that, but the storm caused severe power outages throughout the entire city. This caused food to go bad as well, and thus the concern of people getting sick due to contaminated food became a concern. Another cause would be the fact that many homes were flooded as well as the city's water pumps were not working during the storm thus causing many people to become homeless and many homes and buildings to collapse.
Other things that lead to health discrepancies could also be contributed to the poor living conditions of those who stayed during the hurricane. The Superdome held about 10 to 12 thousand people prior to the storm and then an additional 23000 people during the storm. This lead to horrendous conditions which contributed to the living conditions of those who stayed in the Superdome. People were having to defecate in areas not mt for it, due to over crowding and no pluming in bathrooms. This caused a toxic smell throughout the entire facility, as well as the spread of other bodily fluids. Its already known that living in close quarters with others, more easily spreads illness and communicable diseases.Another cause would be due to the lack of medical help and supplies.
Other things that lead to health discrepancies could also be contributed to the poor living conditions of those who stayed during the hurricane. The Superdome held about 10 to 12 thousand people prior to the storm and then an additional 23000 people during the storm. This lead to horrendous conditions which contributed to the living conditions of those who stayed in the Superdome. People were having to defecate in areas not mt for it, due to over crowding and no pluming in bathrooms. This caused a toxic smell throughout the entire facility, as well as the spread of other bodily fluids. Its already known that living in close quarters with others, more easily spreads illness and communicable diseases.Another cause would be due to the lack of medical help and supplies.
Image 1 (This is an image of Hurricane Katrina victims in the Superdome, and the American Red Cross helping)
Katrina Cough
Katrina Cough
Katrina cough is something that a lot of people came down with right after the catastrophe. It is said that the Katrina cough was caused by allergies in response to the mold and dust that arose from the storm. Symptoms of this included a sore throat and scratchy eyes that latter developed into a cough. This is just one of the series of health problems that were caused simply from this problem. People were advised to wear masks and gloves when entering homes due to the fact that black mold could be hidden under the surface.
(This image is a photo of how much mold could be found in a home after the water was drained out) Image
The Clean Up
According to Frank, some of New Orleans is still under construction. In fact, some parts of the city that could not get rid of the water just became lakes. Unfortunately it took quite a while to fix the city water pumps, thus the city stayed in dirty water longer due to that problem. However, once the city got rid of the excess water, and power was restored, the human health concerns went down.
Image 2 (This image show's a man walking through the water along with all the other debris that has gotten into it.)
Reference link:
Reference 1
Reference 2
(Done by Kimberly Carson)
No comments:
Post a Comment