Natural Disasters

Natural disasters tend to leave a path of destruction. We normally think about homes and roads being destroyed but we normally don't think about the economical affects of these events. The micro-economics of the affected areas is normally still unstable long affect the brick and mortar repairs are done. Take for example Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in both Japan and Chile. Each of these natural disasters had an affect on micro economics and global markets. Hurricane Katrina increased gas prices and affected the fishing industry, while the earthquakes in Japan and Chile had and is still affecting the price of agricultural goods.

Government plays a vital roll in the rehabilitation of a country or region when it gets paralyzed by a natural disaster. It is in the best interest of the country to get people back up and running. Our paper will analyze how government, through its fiscal powers assist in the recovery process. We have determined that government has three ways in controlling and stabilizing the micro-economics.

1. Safety (Making sure people feel safe a secure)

2. Monetary (making money accessible)

3. Regulatory (passing laws to correct and prevent issues from reoccurring)

We will seek to give a better understand on how each of these events affect a specific industry and how government was either successful or unsuccessful in reviving the affected industry. We are choosing Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Chile and Japan.

I. United States - Jesus Padilla

a. Country: PEST Analysis

b. Industry: Porter Industry Competitive Analysis of Country's Major Industry

c. Company: Value Chain Assessment of Country's Major Industry

d. Project: SWOT Analysis of Company

The PEST analysis brings to light how the political, economic, social and technology were affected during Hurricane Katrina. Politically, the United States implementation of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), was considered a failure to many, though it did help out the citizens of the regions. Economically, the Gulf has a heavy fishing and tourist industry which were affected. The impact Katrina cost both industries billions of dollars and although the fishing industry was able to rebound tourism is still lagging behind. A lot has been said about the social factors during Hurricane Katrina. The hardest places hit by the storm were very poor. The United States was criticized for taking to long to support these areas. Many said that they spent months without working because the government failed to provide basic needs. Technologically, several companies such as Amazon and Travelocity had been impacted as packages were being held back from the impacted areas. Cancellations from hotels, airfares and car rentals spelled lost revenues for both companies.

II. Chile - David Alfaro

a. Country: PEST Analysis

b. Industry: Porter Industry Competitive Analysis of Country's Maj

Chile is a strong driver of economic liberalization and therefore free trade. Is the country in the world with as many free trade agreements signed with economic areas that represent about 90% of the world's population (including with NAFTA, European Union, EFTA, South Korea, China) that gives preferential access to a big portion of the global market for goods and services. The result is one of the most globalized and competitive economies in the world, thanks to a political consensus around this area for over 15 years.Chile's economy is characterized by being export-oriented: The export profile is composed by 45% industrial, 45% mining and 10% agricultural exports, approximately. These figures are modified circumstantially due to copper price changes (of which Chile relies 35% on foreign sales.) Within the industrial sector highlights the export of pulp, wood, methanol, agricultural products such as horticulture, dairy and fisheries (Chile projected for 2010 to become one of the 15 largest suppliers of food to the world.) The forest industry, furniture, salmon and wine of international renown, have become important in the last decade.

The 2010 Chile earthquake occurred off the coast of the Maule Region on February 27, 2010, rating a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking lasting for about three minutes.It ranks as the sixth largest earthquake ever to be recorded by a seismograph. It was felt strongly in six Chilean regions (from Valparaíso in the north to Araucanía