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Hurricane Andrew
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Institutional Affiliation
Event description
Hurricane Andrew is one of the devastating events that took place in 1992 and originated from the tropical wave of the Atlantic Ocean. The hurricane hit Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana. It was said to be a category five hurricane with winds of 270km/h. The hurricane led to the death of 65 individuals and the destruction of property worth $26billion. Hurricane Andrew is said to have destroyed more than 63000 houses in the affected area. The strongest impact was felt in south Florida while Bahamas and Louisiana received the less catastrophic impact. the hurricane began in 16th August as a tropical depression in the eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. The hurricane spent a week having less strong winds towards the central Atlantic Ocean. However, on 23rd, the hurricane escalated into very strong winds towards the western part of the ocean hence making landfall in the Bahamas. Before crossing the Bahamas, the hurricane had weakened into a category four but it regained its strength as it headed towards Florida. In addition, the hurricane made landfall in the Gulf of Mexico as a category four hurricane six hours later. It reached the shores of Louisiana as a category three hurricane hence causing minimal destruction. Hurricane Andrew is the sixth most devastating hurricanes to have occurred in the history of the united states of America. However, it resulted in minimal destruction due to the evacuation measures that had been implemented after the devastating impacts of hurricane Katrina (Selvaretnam, Thampanishvong, & Ulph, 2012).
The ethical issues involved in the actions of the people and organizational leaders
The initial step in dealing with the tragedy of hurricane Andrew was to provide relief to the affected individuals. This was carried out by both the people living in the affected areas and relief organizations. The offering of such relief was brought about by the care and ethics concern. In regard to care ethics, people have the obligation of minding about the wellbeing of other people whenever they are in trouble. Therefore, in this case, this kind of ethics was practiced through the provision of material things in order to facilitate the wellbeing of those affected by the hurricane. People lost homes, and they needed shelter. Various organizations were thus involved directly or indirectly to ensure that such people got shelter and food and other basic needs. In addition, the concern ethic was the key driving force for those who were directly affected by the event to provide rescue missions. An example is the Bahamas National Disaster Coordinator which played a substantial role in the motivation of their employees to ensure that they offered timely rescue to the survivors. They also mobilized the locals into helping with the situation whenever possible. It is the nature of human beings to provide help whenever they are faced by situations that require them to do so. The hurricane Andrew was a devastating event to the people of Bahamas and Louisiana, and hence, the care and concern ethics had to drive the locals and various organizations into providing the possible help. Although there was massive destruction of property, following such ethics helped a lot in reducing g the number of casualties.
As well, the federal and state personnel responded to the situation by offering the necessary material help. An example is a case whereby the state government made a timely delivery of ambulances to help the injured seek medical attention as soon as possible. The local, federal and state personnel were directly involved in the rescue mission since warnings about the hurricane had been issued (Perilla, Norris & Lavizzo, 2002). This means that the government was making plans on how to ensure minimal casualties during the event. Nurses were deployed in strategic places to provide first aid to the injured individuals. In addition, an evacuation mission was carried out by the state and the federal before and after the hurricane.
Strategies of the involved organizations
The intensive approach was the key strategy used by the concerned organizations to provide help to the affected individuals. According to this strategy, the all...