Human Services

Human Services

University Affiliation

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

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COMMUNITY CONTEXT OF PRACTICE

In my narration as a human services professional, I want to admit that this particular job requires a lot of passion and determination as it majorly seek to assist others in several dimensions that ranges from simple cases to very complicated cases. As a human service professional, I have served in various disaster prone areas within the USA and in this assignment, I would majorly base my narration to the recent disaster of hurricane Harvey that struck the gulf coast constituting Texas and Louisiana in USA on august 25th, 2017 (Dickerson, 2017)

Narrative Analysis of demographic changes in the selected community

In reaction to the disaster of hurricane Harvey, as a human services worker attached to the American Red Cross, I led a team of social workers in restoring the condition of the area affected and w equally assisted people who required assistance during and after the aftermath of the hurricane. We first got information that the gulf coast that constituted of Texas and Louisiana were under hurricane and I immediately assembled a team and all the materials that could assist in the residents of the gulf coast. Hurricane Harvey had really caused a lot of damage and to some extent quite a large number of people had been affected.

According to the CBS news, (2017) the population of people who had inhabited the gulf coast consisting of the state of Louisiana and Texas were estimated to be 320,000. After hurricane Harvey, a total of 63 people lost their lives as a result of the cyclone. Most deaths were caused as a result of the contaminated air that had affected people who were offshore of the gulf coast. Many of those deaths confirmed in 11 Texas counties happened when people were caught in quickly rising floodwaters or lost control on water-logged roads, emergency management officials said. A specific causality involved a family consisting of six members whose van were swept away by the flood waters.(CBS news, 2017) as we continued assisting the people who had been affected by the hurricane, we established that more than 30,000 people were displaced as we set up temporary homes to assist them alongside other organizations. Furthermore, the infrastructure was worst hit that made about 200,000 customers of the gulf coast be cut away from electricity supply. At the end of the rescue and relief operation we established that our efforts and other 60 organizations assisted about 246,000 residents of the gulf coast

Narrative assessment of the historical issues that impact community relations currently and in future planning

In my own opinion, I’m of the view that hurricane Harvey had historical issues in references to the residents of the gulf coast. The occurrence of hurricane disaster is not a new thing in the United States of America and it seems it is a disaster that may not be stopped but may actually be managed. The occurrence of hurricane Katrina in 2005 was still fresh in people’s minds and it can actually be concluded that hurricane Harvey occurred in the same dimension.

The occurrence of hurricane Harvey can be attributed to the geographical location of the gulf coast. The gulf coast lies to the southern hemispheres of the continent. According to Federal Emergency Management Agency, (2017) areas that lie to the southern hemisphere are always at high risk of being hit by cyclones. This is one historical issue that really contributed to the hurricane impact on the residents who were staying round the gulf coast. During our rescue mission, I also established that the climatic condition also had an impact on the community leaving around the gulf coast. Further research studies have equally indicated that high sea temperatures of at least 27 degrees have acted as risk factors for hurricanes.

This findings indicate that the residents of the gulf coast in the states of Texas and Louisiana are likely to continue being affected by disasters taking into consideration their geographical setting and climatic conditions. This revelation attributes the fact that the residents of the gulf coast equally need to be quite prepared in any case a disaster of the same nature strikes again. The onset of hurricane Harvey started on august 25th 2017 and the devastating impacts could be attributed to the fact that many people responded slowly to the warnings of the meteorology department. (Moravec, 2017)

Critique narrative of the utility of existing community Web sites in meeting the information needs of stakeholders

According to West, (2001), there existed community websites that were meant to address and give notification of any emergency within the two states. The community websites were run separately by the state governments of Louisiana and Texas State. In examinations of the websites, the particular one which was majorly visited by residents of the gulf coast was the Texas disaster preparedness website.

This website was created by the state government of Texas to give any update that relate to any disaster and emergency. During the period of hurricane Harvey, as the lead team in providing emergency services to the residents of the gulf coast, I majorly gave attention the Texas disaster preparedness website to get updates about hurricane Harvey.

As social worker, I’m of the opinion that the website equally needs to be improved to capture even disaster that may occur in neighboring states. The main reason why am highlighting this point is the act that some disasters are cross states which means they may equally affect other residents of the neighboring states.

Proposal of improvements in communication and information available through community Web sites

As a human service worker who have given humanitarian assistance and other services to the residents of the gulf coast, I’m of the opinion that communication channels need to be improved within and areas that borders the gulf coast to mitigate any future disaster that may emanate from cyclones of the same nature. The state meteorological department in conjunction with the national government needs to give constant updates to the residents along the gulf coast on any imminent hurricane or any disaster that is related to

Alternatively, I’m also of the opinion that the Texas website features need to be upgraded with the main intention of providing reliable emergency information to the residents of the gulf coast. Equally, there is also the need for creation of a provision whereby the residents of the gulf coast have the opportunity to post any emergency related happening, This would basically be critical in giving out the notifications that concerns the emergency condition of a particular area bordering the gulf coast.

References

CBS news (2017). Death toll bumps up to at least 63 amid Hurricane Harvey recovery retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-harvey-death-toll-flood-houston-recovery-harris-county/

Dickerson, A. M. (2017). Hurricane Harvey and the Houston Housing Market. Tex. L. Rev. Online, 96, 102.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. (2017). Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-frame Buildings: Fema 350. Fema.

Moravec, E. R. (2017). Texas Officials: Hurricane Harvey Death Toll at 82,‘Mass Casualties Have Absolutely Not Happened,’. The Washington Post, 14.

Texas disaster preparedness website.(2018).Hurricane Harvey visit.retrieved from https://emergency.portal.texas.gov/

West, D. M. (2001). State and federal e-government in the United States, 2001.