Good day everyone, for today were going to discuss the 2005 hurricane Katrina in

Louisiana.

To start, unting background lang po dun sa disaster.

Hurricane Katrina happened morning of august 29, 2005. And considered to be one
of the strongest and largest hurricane ever with 175 miles per hour that caused a
massive destruction along the coast of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama. and it was
proved to be a overwhelming disaster to the people of Louisiana because of an
estimated 1,833 people died during the hurricane.

Next po, The responder is Gerald McCleery who is a consultant , psychologist ,

disater mental health worker and ceo of link2 health solutions. And was also
administering call center related programs like 211 and 311 board work. This call
center number 211 and 311 po is used to access number of people who need
essential services.

Next po, for characteristic of community. Yung organization po ni Gerald mccleery na

la receive po sila ng call from the united way asking po volunteer to help support the
211 and 311 call center in Monroe Louisiana. Pag punta po nila sa community nakita
po nila na severely damaged na po lahat - even yung mga houses, churches ,
hospitals and centers are na demolished or nawash away na po nung disaster. At
kung meron naman daw po mga houses pa is di na po sya talaga pwede ng Tirhan. In
terms naman po ng pag rescue ng mga survivor na mention po sa article na may mga
survivor po na di naka evacuate agad sa given shelter kasi nag exceed na po sa
capacity yung shelter kaya naman po yung ibang survivor nilipat sila sa emergency
facilities ng Houston and Texas. And since di naman po nag subside yung water agad
yung mga tao is na rescued with the use of boat and helicopter.

For pre-disaster thought naman po. After makareceive call from the united way yung
oragnization po nung responder which is gerald asking for volunter to help support
the 211 call center in monroe Louisiana. Ang initial thought nya is kung magiging
helpful ba sya to help the 211 operations at kung pano sya makakpunta sa louisiansa
since di possible na maka travel sa airport ng new orleans. Pero despite po nung mga
questions nya kung makakatulong ba or hindi nag commit parin sya na punta sa
lousiana.

Also po, nung maka rating na sya dun sinabi nung responder na memorable yung
first impression nya because yung conference na kung saan dun sila mag aanswer ng
mga call from the survivors is puno daw ng almost 40 call station desk and mga
printed newspaper na nakadikit sa wall. And the fcat daw po na mostly ng mga
volunteer is not a united way staff but rather mga local volunteer like mothers and
teenage children na nag wowork non-stop to provide assistance sa mga survivors.
kaya naman nasabi po nung responder na “ no one is really in charge in here at the
moment”,

Next po for responder response and experience. Since yung responder po is naka
assign po sya sa 211 disaster phone nakakareceiver po sya non-stop call until evening
asking for basic satples like food and water , evacuation , information about sa
nawawalang tao or call galing sa isang tao sa shelter na gusto lang I-share yung
naexperince nya.

May na eencounter din syang mag difficult calls na minsan he found troublin. For
example dun sa article na mentioned dun na may tumawag na truck driver asking
kung saan nya ilalagay yung mga idodonate nya ng mga kabaong kasi tingin need
nung community. The second call is from a man sa shelter na nasa situation na nasa
near - death na yung wife nya sinabi nung lalaki sa responder he starter to collect
things from her wife so meaning po inuunti unting kinocollect nung lalaki yung
buhok, kuko, pilik mata ng asawa nya para lang mag karoon sya ng “ pieces ng asawa
nya. This call nagkaroon sya ng impact sa responder na kung saan tumatayo sa sa
sation nya , uumiyak uncontrollably.

Non-stop sya nakakareceive ng mga difficult calls. Kaya sabi nung responder while
hindi nya pa kayang iresolve agad yung problem nung caller na kausap nya ang kaay
nya lang maoffer is to listen and communicate with them.

Nung third day na. the responder was asked by his center director na mag set up ng
support group for the volunteer staff. With that, si gerald nag set sya ng on the spot
group sa mga volunteers. They talked about and practice power of supportive
listening. And he extarordinary yung volunteer na sira na rin yung property nila na na
destroyed na yung home nila pero they still volunterr to help other while coping with
their own disaster response issue.

Next. For post - response naman po. Nung umuwi na si gerald he experince range of
emotions. He mentioned that sobrang stressful mag work sa isang disaster phone.
Na kung saan minsan yung mga self- care nya is di na nagiging effective sa kanaya at
ang gusto nya lang is to sleep. After everything , sobrang life -altering yung nangyari
sa louisiana. Hardly funtioning lahat simula sa basic staples were difficult to find that
most of the survivor were in pain. Being able to head is very sad for gerald because
thet no magic na mag rereverse , maguundo or mag fifix ng pinagdadaan ng mga
survivor. But he is somehow happy that atleast he had a contribution to the people
of louisiana listening , answer every questions everytime the phone rang.

After reading this article po. Weve learned that 211 and 311 disaster help station is a
big help during and after disaster because they provide information for the survivors,
shelter, and basic staples. And also po we learned that as a responder working on a
disaster phone it is true na di mo kaya ma cater lahat ng concerns nung mga caller
but ang kaya mo lang maoofer is to listen and communicate with them.

And for our suggestions naman po,