Engineering Ethics - Effect of Hurricane Katrina

This article discusses the effect of Hurricane Katrina on engineering ethics and the impacts it had on various sectors. It also explores the ethical decisions made by engineers and the challenges faced in the aftermath of the hurricane.

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Engineering ethics – Effect of Hurricane Katrina
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Table of Contents
BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION OF THE TOPIC.............................................2
DISCUSSION......................................................................................................................3
Outline of Hurricane Katrina...........................................................................................3
Explanation of focus........................................................................................................3
ANALYSIS OF IMPACTS.................................................................................................4
Industrial Impact..............................................................................................................4
Environmental Impact.....................................................................................................5
Public Health...................................................................................................................6
Ethical Decision of Engineers.........................................................................................7
Problem Faced and challenges identified........................................................................7
Lesson learned.................................................................................................................8
Applying the Australian EU Codes of Ethics and recommendation...............................8
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................10

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BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION OF THE TOPIC
Ethics is the practice of moral codes and principles which is supposed to be followed by
people in any field of work that they are working in. These moral codes and principles help them
and guide them while working (Bauschpies et al., 2018). The codes and principles are designed
so that no immoral activities are conducted while performing and providing services to the
people.
The whole world is dependent on engineering marvels and innovations. According to
Mitcham & Englehardt (2016), roads, bridges, cars, buildings, dams, floodwalls and many more
are designed and built by engineers to provide a safe and comfortable life for people. Thus, the
study of ethics is very important in the engineering field. Ethics related to engineering is a
confined system of principles that includes morality, honesty practice of safe work. The field is
responsible for examining and setting different kinds of obligations that is supposed to be
followed by the engineers while providing service to the society, their client and as an engineer
by profession. The engineering ethics also closely related to the philosophy of science,
engineering philosophy and technological ethics.
Around the globe, there have been many cases of accidents that have occurred due the
failure of not following the ethical codes while providing service to the peoples. Some of the
worst cases of engineering failures have also occurred due to not following the ethics (Trabia,
Longo & Wainscott, 2016). Cases like the collapse of Charles De Gauelle Airport, Tacoma
Narrow Bridge, Banqiao Dam Failure, collapse Tacoma Bridge and many more are in the list.
One of the major disaster that is counts in the list is the failure of levees and floodwalls at New
Orleans that could not stop the devastating effect of Hurricane Katrina. The following report

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would be discussing the effect, impacts and how engineering ethics could have stopped it from
occurring.
DISCUSSION
Outline of Hurricane Katrina
A cyclone could be classified to be a hurricane when the flow of wind reaches and
exceeds 79 miles per hour of speed. Basically, these hurricanes tends to originate in the Atlantic
basin. Hurricanes range a height of 50,000 feet and the cyclone have a ground span of 125 miles.
As discussed by Deryugina, Kawano & Levitt (2018), the hurricanes are divided into 5
categories, 5 being the maximum where wind flows at a speed of 170 miles per hour.
Explanation of focus
According to McCanlies et al. (2018), one of the deadliest that have hit the United States
of America was Hurricane Katrina. Katrina was one of the most violent hurricane that have been
recorded in the climatic devastation at the United States of America. The hurricane was a
category 5 that have hit Florida and Louisiana; two most important cities of New Orleans. It
occurred on August of 2005. The catastrophic damages of the hurricane have nearly destroyed
Florida. Louisiana and parts of Texas. Dated on August 23rd, 2005; Bahamas saw the origin of
one of the dangerous category 5 hurricane. As the winds stared to blow, the hurricane started
merge with the tropical winds. The after effects of the hurricane was fatal, counting a death of
1836 people and countless people were left homeless.
There were reportedly 50 failures in the levees and the flood walls that were constructed
by the United States Army Corp of Engineers. The faulty design of the levees system and the
leaks in the floodwalls were responsible for the devastating effects of the hurricane. After the

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completion of the design, there were no maintenance of the flood walls. Local authorities were
responsible for maintaining the floodwalls after they were constructed, but log of responsibilities
were made it worse. Other engineering failure included the assumption of bearing capacity of
soil without testing them. Excessive load on the soil from the weight of the walls and the self-
weight of the soil made the walls collapsed.
ANALYSIS OF IMPACTS
Industrial Impact
As critically analyzed by Bleemer & Van der Klaauw (2017), the after effect of
Hurricane Katrina have impacted New Orleans in almost sectors and growth parameters of the
state. There have been huge losses in the employment scale at New Orleans. It has affected major
industry groups at New Orleans on September 2005. More than half of jobs have been lost in the
hospitality and leisure section. The transportation, trade and utilities have also loss a huge part
due to the hurricane. All these industries are the integral part of the tourism sector that have
composed most of the economic background of the state. By the end of September, there have
been a loss of 25.6 percent of jobs in the private industry sector in areas like Harrison County
and Jefferson Parish (Huang, Lindell & Prater, 2016).
There have a drop of 31.3 percent of employment in the leisure and hospitality sector by
the end of September 2005 (Lewis, 2018). The loss of this particular section was major at
Orleans Parish area. The parish, which includes a major of New Orleans have suffered the major
loss of industry of all the 11 heavily affected areas which accounted more than 17,030 jobs.
According to Allahdadi & Li (2017), in the Harrison County area, there have been a drop of
5,396 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector.

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Loss of jobs have also been reported in the trade, utilities and transportation sector, which
is as high as the leisure and hospitality sector. A total of 24 percent was loss in the trade, utilities
and transportation sector combined (O'Keefe, 2018). Among all these, 90 percent of the total loss
was suffered at the Louisiana parishes. The magnitude of the loss was highest in the retail trade
section, where there have been a loss of 25,120 jobs which sums up to 70 percent of drop in
employment in the sector. The Orleans and Jefferson parishes have seen a loss of 9600 and 9100
jobs.
The food and beverage stores have also been registered to suffer huge loss. A total of 36
percent was seen in the food and beverage retail stores. More than 9500 jobs were wiped out in
the food and beverage stores. According to Lin et al. (2018), Orleans parish have been reported
as being hit the major loss in this sector.
Clothing industries have also reported to loss huge amount of their retails due to the
hurricane. More than 27 of the factories and workshops were damaged completely and destroyed
due to Hurricane Katrina. Employment at the wholesale trade sector have accounted a loss of 27
percent. Total number of jobs that were lost in the sector is estimated to be around 4700.
Transportation and warehousing activities were also damaged severely. The sector have
seen a drop of 17.6 percent drop in the year of 2005. According to Weil, Rackin & Maddox
(2018), the support activities for transportation also reported to have a loss of 2300 jobs.
Environmental Impact
Hurricane Katrina have nearly destroyed the whole of New Orleans, leaving the state
with the aftermath of the devastating effects and debris from the severe storm and what was left
over of the structures. The hurricane have completely destroyed the natural coast of the New

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Orleans, that sums of the areas of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. From the rapid wind
speed of 170 miles per hour, continuous rainfall and storm have caused severe erosion to the
soils and the flood have destroyed the structural integrity of the soil. As discussed by Weil,
Rackin & Maddox (2018), the sediment that have been flowing form the erosion and the flood
water have been contaminated form the hazardous waste from industries and wastes from vehicle
also mixed along with it. This contamination and redistribution of soils have been producing
maximum consequences to the soil composition at the areas.
As the soil integrity was completely destroyed from the flood caused due to the
hurricane, landfall have increased in areas like Florida, Pensacola and the northern part of Texas.
According to Trabia, Longo & Wainscott (2016), more than 350,000 cars were washed
away from the flood water. Thus, this huge amount have produced a huge amount of gasoline
and other toxic fluids in the open and mixed with the soil. Many superfund hazardous waste sites
were affected from the storm and thus the wastes have been carried out to many places and
gathered around. In addition to all these impacts, oils and toxic wastes have been mixed with the
lakes and river waters, making it hard to use.
The government officials have also reported a huge amount of contamination to the air
from the toxic waste releases of industries and solid waste landfill sites. The toxic fluids and oil
emission have raised the toxicity the air too.
Public Health
There have been report of people falling ill after the storm have passed by. Due to the
accumulation of waste sewages, people have fallen sick from the pungent smell and toxic gases
that it have produced. According to Trabia, Longo & Wainscott (2016), people had been

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reporting of having skin diseases, rashes and blisters after coming in contact with the
contaminated flood water. People have been vomiting from the pungent smells of the waste and
sewage that have been gathered in many places. People have been admitted to the remaining
hospitals due to having trouble in breathing from the fumes that have mixed in the air from the
industrial wastes. Heath hazards have been reported the government official due to the increase
in toxicity in the flood water and land. /issues like skin diseases, stomach problem and breathing
problem have increased after the hurricane (Weil, Rackin & Maddox, 2018).
Ethical Decision of Engineers
Hurricane Katrina was a major failure due to engineering defects in the levees and the
flood walls that have been created by the United States Army Corp of Engineers. As critically
analyzed by Han (2015), it was found that the neglected nature of the engineers that have made
such faulty works in the flood protection walls and levees or the effect would not have been such
devastating. The faults and cracks in the levees and the floodwalls have caused the water from
the flood to leach inside to the permeable nature of water. The engineers have neglected their
work to the great extent that have led in such engineering failure. The engineers have completely
ignored in testing the bearing capacity of the soil. Without testing the load carrying capacity the
soil, it is impossible to estimate how much load could be carried by the soil. The engineers have
ignored there ethical code and based their work on pure assumptions that does not have any solid
explanation (Tolich, 2016). Thus, the engineers have taken up a decision that have not only
effected their work but also have led to the devastating consequences of the hurricane.
Problem Faced and challenges identified
There have been a devastating aftermath of the hurricane which have opened the gates of
New Orleans to many problems. There have been rise of many controversies and null hypothesis

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regarding to measure the effects and problems of the hurricane. Countless people have been left
homeless and many have lost their lives. There have been a scarcity of sustainable food source
and proper medical treatment to offer the people. Numerous jobs have been lost and the people
are left with nothing but the leftover of their belongings. According to Trabia, Longo &
Wainscott (2016), thus it have been a dark time for the people at New Orleans.
Lesson learned
Hurricane Katrina have taught a lot to the authorities and government bodies of New
Orleans. Now, they would be more caution regarding the construction of safety works of the
state. As discussed by Eyer et al. 2018), the engineers would enacting more plans and
technologies in building more sustainable floodwalls and levees that would actually help them in
stopping the effects of flood. People would be more caution about their waste generation as it
was initially returned to them.
Applying the Australian EU Codes of Ethics
According to Tolich (2016), the Australian EU code of Ethics is the professional conduct
that promotes the professional conduct and guides the engineers of Australia while working. As
the code promotes integrity, competent, leadership and sustainability, engineers have to show
sincerity and honesty in their service as the service and product they produces, would be used by
people only.
Recommendation
Thus, taking account of the effects of Hurricane Katrina, engineers could make
betterment in their work by producing integrity and sustainability in their work. This would
eventually help them in building a better environment in their country. By practicing the code,

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the engineers could take leadership and practice competently in their work. Thus, the code could
be applied for avoiding such situation in Australia before even happening.
CONCLUSION
Thus, the final report could be concluded by providing a brief insight about the effects
and impact of Hurricane Katrina and describing the ethical dilemma that was the cause of the
devastating effect of the cyclone. The study provides a thorough discussion regarding the impact
of the cyclone on industry, health and environment of New Orleans. It also discussed about the
ethical draw backs of the engineers and how the EU code of ethic could be applied in
Australia for avoiding this situation. Thus, the study could be used for understanding the after
math of the cyclone and how Australia could be saved from such scenarios.

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REFERENCES
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Katrina on its victims: evidence from individual tax returns. American Economic Journal:
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McCanlies, E. C., Gu, J. K., Andrew, M. E., & Violanti, J. M. (2018). The effect of social
support, gratitude, resilience and satisfaction with life on depressive symptoms among police
officers following Hurricane Katrina. International journal of social psychiatry, 64(1), 63-72.
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