2005 Facts Learn All About The Year Marred By Hurricane Katrina

2005 was a roller coaster ride, with incredible ups and terrible downs.Quite often, all that we remember from 2005 is Hurricane Katrina which killed so many people in the United States of America, and we forget the good things that also happened during this year! Did you know that 2005 was a year of many changes?The world saw the death of Pope John Paul II, the beginning of Hurricane Katrina, and the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States. 2005 was also a year of technological advancement. Google released Gmail, YouTube was created, and Facebook was founded. Continue reading to learn more about the interesting events surrounding the year 20052005 Pop Culture HistoryIf we look at pop culture history today, we will find that many exciting things happened in 2005. This was the year for many fashion icons, many successful movies, and songs, and this year also marked the beginning of some things which would eventually create a legacy of their own.Let’s start with Harry Potter. One of the most famous books and movies series in the children’s entertainment genre history. It is interesting to note that the first Harry Potter movie, ‘Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone,’ was released in 2005. This movie started a very precious legacy, which would be taken forward by many actors and changing directors for seven more films.‘The Office,’ a very famous TV series and a long-running one, was first aired in 2005. Even though the show was not received in the best possible way, NBC decided to bet on Steve Carrell. This trust came from the fact that Carrell had just starred in a hit movie named ‘The 40-year Old Virgin’. Later, the show became very famous, and Steve Carrell also bought many awards for his acting as Michael Scott.Facebook, which was to become a significant company in the 21st century, was started in 2004. However, most people do not know that MySpace was the most popular social media platform at that time. Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg tried to sell his company to MySpace in 2005. However, MySpace turned the offer down, and Facebook eventually became more profitable and quite literally made MySpace irrelevant.The National Toy Hall of Fame also did something pretty amusing this year. They added a mere cardboard box to their Hall of Fame. The reasons behind this still remain unknown.The most popular TV shows during 2005 were ‘American Idol,’ ‘CSI,’ ‘Desperate Housewives,’ ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Without A Trace,’ and ‘Dancing With The Stars!’ Other popular shows were ‘Monday Night Football,’ ‘House, MD,’ and ‘Survivor.‘In 2005, an Oscar award was given to ‘Million Dollar Baby’ for the best movie. Some of the most frequently searched keywords on Google were ‘MySpace,’ ‘Ares,’ ‘Baidu,’ ‘Orkut,’ ‘World Of Warcraft,’ and ‘Leonardo da Vinci.‘At the same time, we cannot forget to mention the natural disaster that forced its way into global conversations. Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc along the Gulf Coast of America and brought the world together as people tried to help those affected. World Vision responded to the calamity with relief, cash aid, and building material support wherever possible.Many entries were made to the National Film Registry in 2005, including ‘The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man,’ ‘South Carolina, North Carolina,’ ‘Toy Story,’ and ‘San Francisco Earthquake.‘The movies that made it big in 2005 were ‘Star Wars Episode III,’ ‘The Chronicles Of Narnia’ and ‘Harry Potter.‘Miss USA 2005 was Chelsea Cooley from North Carolina.People such as Jennifer Aniston and Paris Hilton quickly rose to the limelight and enjoyed such attention for a long time to come.Some of the Nobel Prize winners of 2005 were Robert J. Auman, Thomas Schelling, John L. Hall, and Yves Chauvin.Gwen Stefani won a Platinum Digital Singles Award in 2005 for her ‘Hollaback Girl!‘2005 Hurricane Katrina TimelineHurricane Katrina was a 2005 Atlantic hurricane that is considered one of the deadliest in US history. It caused over 1800 deaths and resulted in damage totaling over $100 billion. Hence, it is also called the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States of America. The hurricane affected a total of 24 states, with New Orleans taking the brunt of the storm. Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes in US history and one of the most expensive natural disasters ever to hit America.This hurricane was the single most devastating event to take place in the entire world in 2005, and hence, it became global news. The devastation and damage were widespread and could hardly be anticipated when the hurricane first started out as a category 1 storm that developed over the Atlantic ocean. However, the costliest hurricane took its actual shape in a couple of days. It turned into a Category 5 storm and wrecked through many places in the United States of America before finally coming to a halt.This tropical storm started as a depression around the Caribbean waters of the Bahamas. This tropical storm was spotted on August 23, 2005, and in a matter of two days, Hurricane Katrina had gathered the winds to become a Category 1 storm that hit Miami. Hurricane Katrina caused landfall in Miami on the very first day, even though it had not even reached its full potential. This happened on August 25, 2005.As the storm progressed, it started moving in the northwest direction. By August 26the storm had moved over the Gulf of Mexico and had become a Category 2 storm. By August 28, the storm had become extremely powerful. It moved from a Category 2 to Category 5 hurricane quite quickly and gave the people of America very little time to prepare.At this time, the speed of the hurricane winds was around 160 mph (257.495 kph), which is why the people of New Orleans were commanded to evacuate the areas quickly. At this time, the eye of the storm was around 170 mi (273.5 km) away from the mouth of the Mississippi River. On August 29Hurricane Katrina caused two landfalls in Louisiana and the Mississippi-Louisiana border area. On this day, a levee was also breached in New Orleans, risking the lives of many. By the next day, however, Hurricane Katrina had come down to the status of depression over the Tennessee Valley.However, New Orleans took a long time to recover from the destruction that this storm had caused. On August 3, around 80% of the total area of New Orleans was still flooded, and many people were stranded. These people were given aid from many parts of the world; however, many of these people received no aid for a long time.The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina was such that many people are still listed as missing. The storm surge from this deadly disaster was around 20 ft (6 m) in height. The hurricane also caused a crash in the economy, and the people had to go through many hardships before they could bring their lives back on track. The truth is that many people lost their loved ones, many did not have any savings or funds, and still, others lost their homes to the hurricane. The price of building so many cities back up was immense, which is why Hurricane Katrina is rightly called the costliest one in the history of the country.Most Popular Websites in 20052005 was a year when much change was brought into the world of websites. At this time, MySpace was the social media platform that single-handedly ran the game. This platform was everyone’s favorite and was used relatively freely. However, it was also at this time that other websites started coming to the forefront. Mark Zuckerberg sure had his moment of weakness as he tried to sell the company to MySpace, but the fact that his offer was rejected was a huge boon. Over the next few years, Facebook became very successful and pushed other competing social media platforms out of the way.While Twitter may have entered the game in 2006, its idea was already in the pipeline in 2005. However, this is not the most surprising thing. The most visited website in 2005 was Yahoo! This website had a staggering 5.7-6.5 billion visits on a monthly basis, which is very impressive considering that we are talking about 2005!The following most visited website was Google, with 1.8-4.3 billion visits in a month. However, these numbers changed very quickly over the next few years, and they changed in favor of Google!MSN also maintained a pretty steady crowd on its website with 1.4-1.9 billion monthly visits. MySpace and AOL were next in line and maintained roughly over a billion visits monthly.Peace Mission 2005The Peace Mission of 2005 was a joint military exercise between China and Russia. This was a five to six-day mission that created simulation within combined elements of land, sea, and air. This simulation was designed in such a way that it would mimic the conditions that may arise in case either Russia or China was to be faced with any terrorist attack wherein a chunk of land was taken over by the enemy. This military exercise was a practice session to develop and understand new techniques that either Russia or China may have developed. It also allowed them to practice some techniques to capture land.A total of around 10,000 troops took part in this Peace Mission, the majority of which were from China. Around 8000 Chinese troops were involved in the practice sessions, with the rest being Russian.It was held in the Shandong Peninsula, which was a compromised middle ground that the two governments agreed on. Chinese wanted the Peace Mission to take place near the Taiwan Strait. This is also a part of the reason why it was initially assumed that this Peace Mission was a way of threatening Taiwan. At the same time, the Russians were inclined toward hosting the military exercise near Central Asia.As stated by China and Russia, the purpose of this military exercise was to create readiness against terrorism. However, this theory was not accepted by many. Moreover, the United States of America was not invited to be a member of or even watch the exercise, which raised many eyebrows.At the end of the day, the simple goal of this peace mission could have been to make sure that since China was such a large consumer of Russian weaponry, they knew the correct use of the weapons. This military exercise must have also been the perfect opportunity for more weaponry to be introduced.Furthermore, Russia and China happened to be the two most powerful countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at that point in time. Understandably, such powerful countries would have to work on further strengthening their military ties to come up as a stronger force.Another purpose of this military exercise may have been to make sure that the other powerful countries of the world were aware of the military prowess of Russia and China. It is assumed that the two countries which were mainly targeted were the United States of America and Taiwan.Hurricane Katrina AidIn times of need, the global response shows how much people care for each other. Hurricane Katrina was the worst hurricane that the United States of America had ever seen, and when it destroyed places such as New Orleans, the entire world poured its heart out with help in all shapes and forms.In New Orleans, the situation was so grave that entire areas had to be evacuated. Hurricane Katrina was predicted to take the status of a Category 4 storm, which it did. However, it also quickly escalated to become a Category 5 storm as well. The levees of New Orleans were not designed to be able to take such a storm, and hence, there was a big chance that the entire area would be flooded.A flood would also mean that the people would not have any means of communication, food, or shelter. Hence, when Hurricane Katrina did make landfall in Louisiana, the danger was neigh.At this time, President George W. Bush made swift decisions and mobilized money to ensure that everyone could be saved. The US Navy, US Coast Guard, and all other units combined their power in order to save people. However, this was not enough. Even after areas were ordered to be evacuated, the destruction was such that immense funds were required.While the government did allocate over $10 billion without any debate in the house, this would hardly be enough. People from all over the world started to send help in the form of funds. At the same time, organizations such as Red Cross made efforts by providing food to thousands of people every single day.Many of the people who lost their livelihoods due to the storm had no medical insurance. Hence, the local healthcare centers took care of them and gave them free medical assistance. By the end of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of people had died, thousands needed to rebuild their entire lives, and still, others required more monetary help.The first federal fund of $10.51 billion was granted by the US House of Representatives in September 2005. However, the president came up with another bill asking for over $51 billion on September 7, which was also passed in the matter of a day!

2005 was a roller coaster ride, with incredible ups and terrible downs.