WHAT WENT WRONG????????

New Orleans geographical location points where natural phenomena’s happen. Its has been know for centuries that its not the best location for people to settle, but because of its great historic city that people cant seem to abandon. Ever since the 1800’s natural disasters have hit New Orleans some levees have broken, hurricanes killed a lot of people, floods etc. In Article Flirting with Disaster its mention that an Organizational bystander, is a person that fails to take necessary action when important threats or opportunities arise. People in New Orleans that constructed and settle been had knowledge of its geographical threats.

       On August of 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans killing over 1,300 people, putting millions out of homes, and leaving thousands without jobs or income. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed or drastically damaged. The few weeks after the disaster, many individuals were left ruined, without food, water or a roof over their heads. In disaster as devastating as Katrina the Government was not well equipped and not ready for this storm.   In City adrift they mention that the government said, “ They couldn't foresee, couldn’t anticipate”.  That was not the natural disaster, but rather the human disaster that followed.  

   The accessibility of insurance became a matter of life or death, especially the living expenses under “loss of use” clauses in homeowner’s policies. Many homeowners’ policyholders, who were hungry, worn out, shocked and on the streets, immediately looked to their insurance carrier to come to help with living expenses. What many of these residents found was not help, but rather conflict by their insurance carriers to pay anything at all. It was soon after Katrina hit that insurance companies began looking for ways to escape responsibility to their homeowner’s policyholders. They publicly declared that most of the damage was due to flooding. Only those who carried flood insurance which is underwritten by the federal government, would get any coverage, leaving insurers entirely off the hook for paying Katrina-related claims. This included payment of temporary living expenses, which flood insurance does not provide. This was despite the fact that neither the law nor the facts justified insurers’ behavior.

  FEMA monitor complaints, refer them to state insurance departments and keep records of hurricane-related insurance problems. This affected policyholders covered by several different insurance carriers. Insurance carriers were unreachable or simply refused to respond to their policyholders at all. With more than 1,000 lives lost in Katrina and the hundreds of thousands of people still in bad circumstances, and the insurance industry flush with money, the industry should pay these claims. The government needs to step in and help these victims of Katrina.