The 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina has gone into history as two of the most critical incidents to have ever occurred in the U.S. On 11th Sept 2001, AL Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners and crashed into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon (CBC, 2011). The incident became the most devastating terrorist attack on the U.S. soil. Four years later, Hurricane Katrina struck again. On 23rd August 2005, a category five storm hit U.S. Gulf Coast resulting in catastrophic destruction and loss of lives in New Orleans including other neighboring states (Player, 2016). The two national disasters changed the history of the U.S. entirely. While both the 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina involved the destruction of property and loss of lives, they also had some differences on the extent of the damage. Thus, it is essential to examine the parallels and distinctions between the two national disasters. Although both the Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 incident resulted in the loss of lives, damage to infrastructure, and environmental pollution, the number of deaths in the storm and the extent of environmental damage due to oil spills and contamination of water sources exceeded that of the terrorist attack.
Loss of Lives and Injury
Both Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 resulted in the deaths of many people as well as injuries to thousands. In both incidents, the civilians bore the highest brunt. Similar to the Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 resulted in the deaths of firefighters, law enforcers, and rescues as well. However, the total death toll for the two incidents differed. Although there are uncertainties on the death toll, the National Hurricane Centre gives a figure of 1836 people and a displacement of over 770,000 New Orleans residents. Unlike the Hurricane Katrina that damaged a wide area but with fewer casualties, the 9/11 was concentrated on significant structures in New York and killed more people. In it's after the match, nearly 3000 people lost their lives with another 6000 sustaining injuries (CBC, 2011). Most of the dead were ordinaty people in the WTC. Most of the people died of smoke inhalation, burns, or due to the falling debris.
Infrastructural Damage
Both the 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina resulted in significant infrastructural damage including roads, buildings, and train stations and railway lines. In particular, the storm and subsequent flooding damaged over a million housing units within the Gulf Coast. In New Orleans, about 70% of the occupied units were destroyed by the storm and the ensuing flooding (Player, 2016). It rendered over 300000 homes uninhabitable. It also destroyed over a hundred offshore oil platforms and damaged nearly 460 pipelines. The 9/11 incident destroyed the World Trade Centre and adjacent buildings. The South Tower, North Tower, 3WTC, and the 7WTC were damaged. The Pentagon got damaged severely due to the jetliner's impact and the fires that emerged. As a result, a section of the structure collapsed. The PATH train station was destroyed as it was situated at the WTC complex. Although the destruction of the two national disasters was enormous, the 9/11 attacks were concentrated and focused on the WTC in New York City and the Pentagon (CBC, 2011).
In contrast, Hurricane Katrina damaged the entire New Orleans. The storm devastated a large area equivalent to Great Britain. The extent of the damage was spread across New Orleans ranging from collapsed buildings, destroyed roads, and uninhabitable housing units.
Environmental Damage
Katrina hurt the environment. It devastated coastal areas. Nearly 20 percent of the local marshes were overrun by stormwater permanently. The storm also resulted in the closure of about 16 National Wildlife Refuges. The storm also resulted in the spillage of oil from dozens of facilities in Louisiana. Nearly 7 million U.S. gallons of fuel leaked into the water and land. The mix up of heavy metals, toxic chemicals, and raw sewage resulted in the pollution of water bodies in the affected region. Similar to Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 event led to environmental pollution. Toxic debris contaminated with carcinogens spread across Manhattan. Exposure to the toxins resulted contributed to the rise in fatal illness. The incident affected air quality considerably.
Conclusion
The 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina were two major incidents to have ever occurred in the history of the U.S. These national disasters are comparable in the extent of the damage. Although both of them left thousands of casualties, the number of deaths in the 9/11 were higher than those from the Hurricane Katrina. Unlike the storm that damaged an area equal to the United Kingdom, the terrorist attack was concentrated on the WTC and the Pentagon. The two disasters had a severe environmental impact. However, indifference to the 9/11 disaster whose significant environmental effect was toxic gas and exposure to carcinogenic substances, Hurricane Katrina resulted in massive oil spills and water pollution due to the mixing of raw sewage with water and chemicals. Nonetheless, both events have gone into the history books for their magnitude and extent of the damage.
References
CBC. (2011). 9/11 Anniversary: What was lost in the damage. Retrieved from
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/9-11-anniversary-what-was-lost-in-the-damage-1.1123528
Player, A. (2016). Facts for features: Katrina Impact. The Data Center. Retrieved from
www.datacenterresearch.org/data-resources/katrina/facts-for-impact/.
