Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis

• Started off as a tropical depression SE of bahamas on 23rd aug
• Made landfall in Florida on the 25th as a catagory 1 hurricane
• Strengthened as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico 
• Catagory 5 Hurricane made landfall in New Orleans on 29th August 
• 193km wide with maximum winds of 282kph 

PRIMARY IMPACTS:

• More than 1800 people killed
• 300,000 houses were destroyed
• 3 million people were left without electricity 
• One of the main routes out of NO was closed as a bridge collapsed
• The levees and floodwalls that protected NO were breached in 53 different places which allowed the city to flood up to 3m deep 
• 80% of the city was underwater
• coastal habitats such as the sea turtle breeding beaches were destroyed 

SECONDARY IMPACTS:

• 10,000 people made homeless
• 230,000 people lost their jobs from businesses that were destroyed
• water supplies were polluted with sewage, chemicals and dead bodies
• shortage of food
• overall damage cost $300 billion 

REASONS FOR THE SEVERITY OF THE IMPACTS:

• USA has sophisticated monitoring system to predict hurricanes- people were warned
• 70%-80% of New Orleans were evacuated- reduced death toll 
• President Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisianna and Mississippi on 26th but didnt include Louisianna coastal parishes (New Orleans)
• Control centres were set up with stockpiled supplies and the superdome was used to house people who could not evacuate - reduced impacts
• emergency services rescued 50,000 people- reduced no of deaths
• National Weather Bulletin predicted that the flood defences would be breached which was correct and increased death toll and cost of damage by significantly higher

• On the 2nd May low pressure in bay of Bonga
• Hawaiin and American Typhoon Centre forcasted that it would make landfall in Bangladesh
• But due to changes in sea water temp it flowed towards Burma 

PRIMARY IMPACTS:

• more than 140,000 people died
• 450,000 houses were destroyed 
• 200,000 farm animals were killed as well as crops
• over 40% of food stores destroyed
• Coastal Habitats eg Mangrove Forests were destroyed but 83% of them were destroyed prior to the storm to make income and these could have acted as the flood defences 

SECONDARY SOURCES:

• 2-3 million people were made homeless 
• Millions lost their livelihoods
• Over 70% of households were left without access to clean water 

REASONS FOR SEVERITY OF IMPACTS:

• Burma is a politically unstable LEDC with a population of 55 million 
• One of the poorest countries in the world- 32nd on top 50 poorest
• Indian and Thai weather agencies warned Burmese government about the approaching Cyclone but they replied saying there was 'little' risk- this increased no. of deaths as no one was evacuated or prepared
• No emergency or evacuation plans
• Burma's government refused to accept aid- only 3 weeks after the Cyclone it accepted aid but only from certain countries. This reduced no. of deaths as people couldnt get the right care
• India donated 32 million tonnes of blankets, tents etc as well as doctors. Reduced no of people that died from starvation.