Memorable Events: Great Recession and Hurricane Katrina's Lasting Effects - Essay Sample

Introduction

In life, certain events remain fresh in the victims' minds based on the relationship and effects it has on their personal lives. The events can be either devastating or happiest moments that leave a memorable mark forever. For instance, the instance of the great recession period and world deadliest Hurricane Katrina have remained un-erasable in American history. The victims still experience the impacts and effects today as a result of psychological trauma, among other factors. Currently, the implications and consequences of coronavirus pandemic will remain in the mind of the current generation forever since it has brought most activities at a standstill while opening an opportunity to other business platforms such as online business operations. This personal reflective paper's primary purpose is to describe one of the most memorable day in my life that happened within 24 hours but has remained fresh in my mind.

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The events transpired on December 31st has remained entrenched in my memory forever since every day am ask to flashback memorable occasion in life; it becomes as fresh as if it has happened today. It was on the eve of end year when everyone within the society and globally preparing to welcome the year in joy and happiness glorifying the creator for the good things had done throughout the year when it started raining around 10:45 PM. Slowly by slowly as its intensity increases. Our family resides far away from one of the devastation Hurricane Katrina occurred. Therefore, we always feel safe and secure regardless of the amount of rain that fells. As time goes by, the rainfall becomes more intense and stormy, creating fears worries among the people with temporally and semi-permanent homes and those residing a few meters from the rivers and those on the flatlands.Our family did not lose loved ones, houses, or anything meaningful and precious. Still, the event transformed the way we live and associated today because of those devastating losses experienced in the society within 24 hours. The rain that was initially received as a blessing as we usher into the new year becomes a disaster and a catastrophe within the community displacing hundreds of families and destroy lots of properties. The new year in American history and across the world is perceived as the most important day for business activities in sectors such as the travel and tourism industries. During a day like that, business booms extraordinarily. Unfortunately, it was the opposite as some family lost their properties and loved ones, and business remained at a standstill. The most devastating scenario was watching the news. Seeing the lack of adequate response to rescue the victims and try to normalize the situation from our region was one of the horrible experiences in my life. There were floods in people's residential homes, and the houses in the low lying area were submerged entirely, making it difficult to access the scene and rescue helpless people.

Lifeless bodies were flooding, but we can do nothing unless you have a boat to sail on it. Most of the household utensils and valuable items such as piano were at the centre of the fields. Staircases that once were essential leading into the houses were leading nowhere. To make it worse, the cemetery sites had coffins, and most of the mausoleums spawn across the graveyards. It was a devastating moment watching the news, and it was also dangerous to go to the scene during the night since it was difficult to determine the flow of water and its intensity. The only thing we had to do is to wait until dawn. At around 6.00 AM of the prosperous new, as people termed it, we managed to get out and pay a visit to the affected area mingled with other people to plan how we can help the survivors and take the bodies of the deceased to a central safe place. For three hours, we had a moment had some realizations; we had not done anything substantial either.

For anything meaningful to happen, people need to participate and get involved. As a community, we resolved to provide basic needs such as shelters, food, and clothing to the victims as we wait for the national government and concerned ministry to intervene. Everybody had to pull out resources and skills regardless of trained or untrained as long as we save lives and reduces the impacts and effects of floods and storms. During that moment, nursing practitioner skills and the experience was highly needed to provide first aid and any medical assistance for individual who has sustained injuries, and it was testing and challenging since at our midst we had only few nursing and medical professionals. Regardless of the lack of medical professionals, we had no otherwise but to step and offer any help. Luckily, one of us was a member of a volunteer organization with a competent and proficient human resource in disaster management.

The volunteer group was called upon; it a sigh of relief to the society towards the rescue mission. We worked collaboratively under the directives of the professional volunteer group that comprised of paramedics to provides help victims, especially those traumatic stress and pediatrics conditions, as a result of exposure to the disaster. We also contracted sleeping tents for the families that did not receive accommodations from the residents as a result of a lack of space. At around 10:PM, the rescue mission stopped after successfully managing to contain the situation, and it marked exactly 24 hours normalize the situation. It was the time I returned home to rest to enable me to decompress from the situational stress. For me, the effects and impacts were temporary, but the victim was a lifetime consequence and did need more psycho-traumatic therapy to recover.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the event that took place on December 31st was phenomenal has remained fresh in mind and memory of the victims and those experienced. It was a testing and challenging period within the society that called for cooperation and standing with one another to outstand and contain the catastrophe as much as we could. We managed to provide any help, such as health care and relieving rural workers who needed to be with their families or to grieve with their loved ones. Regardless of being a devastating moment, it was also an opportune moment to show the spirit of solidarity among the people within society.

Personally, that catastrophic moment marked the beginning of developing a more robust and well-established commitment to charity and volunteer work. The occasion was also an inspiration since I realized that there is a phenomenal amount of work and responsibilities that are needed to be done in our society to create a better world. It is not necessary to done so by professionals who get pay-check for their services and efforts but through commitment and volunteering. The occasion has remained fresh making it “a memorable day in my life that happens in 24 hours”.