Beyond Katrina (Crisis Management)

This case summarizes events preceding the Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural catastrophes in the modern history of the USA. It raises questions about the lack of reasonable prevention and preparation actions due to flimsy structure and management of the responsible organizations and persons, invalidity and inconsistence of their actions and incapability of making the decisions in a timely manner. As a result of the unstructured and incoherent activities, we could observe several ineffective and costly attempts to mitigate floods and hurricanes. In the beginning the local officials, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and “White Houses past and present always seem penny-wise and pound-foolish” because of the chain of the wrong

Hurricane Katrina is a historical storm that hit the United States on August 29, 2005. The country experienced the storm exactly four years after the occurrence of the terrorist attack on 9/11/2001. This was three years after the establishment of a crucial department of Homeland Security. However, regardless of the intensified concentration to homeland security, response to Hurricane Katrina was a huge failure. The unfortunate response was due to lack of adequate planning and ability to take care of the risks. The possibility of New Orleans experiencing the effects of Hurricane had been put into consideration for quite a long time. There were enough warning signs of the hurricane. Declarations and deliberations were made days before the landfall. However, responders did not transfigure this information into the extent of preparedness suitable with the range of the imminent disaster.

The connection between the trigger and the problems – Emotion from the media detailing the after effects of Hurricane Katrina has led to assumptions/presumptions at all levels (attendees, event coordinator, and senior management), without relevant data/information which may be the deciding factor to proceed. The event coordinator is thus faced with a risk environment that requires a crisis response within a timely manner.

There has been a great development in the way the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responds to natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, and wildfires in California are three major disasters that required a large FEMA response and recovery effort. These three natural disasters stressed the resources and abilities FEMA has in their arsenal. As any good organization does, FEMA learned from their experiences and mistakes in order to handle the next challenge they have to face accordingly. Hurricane Katrina affected over 15 million people, caused $81 billion in property damages, and 90,000 square miles (11 Facts About Hurricane Katrina). There was much controversy over the response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Hurricane Katrina resulted in massive loss of life and billions of dollars in property damage. There are many lessons worth learning from this event. Finger pointing started before the event was over. Most of the focus on Hurricane Katrina was on its impact on New Orleans; however, the storm ravaged a much wider area than that. This paper will briefly summarize the event, the impact on the city of New Orleans and the lessons learned to ensure preparedness today.

As the state of our currently understood weather patterns and global climate become more understood, in context, with great concern, the federal government has placed an ever larger portion of its national focus on promoting a more efficient response to such concern via disaster mitigation and management with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A historical extension of the federal government for which is principle utilized for disaster aid and response, this agency is as much a direct extension of the current presidential administration as it is a crisis agency for social good. This simple description clearly suggests a detailed understanding following the Hurricane Katrina disaster that left the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, in particular, as a study in social failure. But as an agency emboldened by an administration concerned with climate change, FEMA has shown as an agent for change in how it addresses and refocuses states in preparation for the inevitable future climate change.

When a natural disaster comes to mind you think many resources are utilized. You think many agencies from around the world must have come to help one of the biggest disasters the country has seen. Although that is not exactly what happened in New Orleans many agencies did come to help. Local, State, and Federal agencies were present during and after the hurricane. Governor Katherine Babineaux Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin called a state of emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation, shortly after, President Bush to issue a state of emergency and mandatory evacuation on a federal level to ensure assistance from agencies like FEMA and the America Red Cross (Kamp). Mayor Ray Nagin also

Often, the government responds to natural disasters with thorough preparation and planning. The federal, state, and local levels of government do this in an effort to help reduce injury and property damage as well as ensure the overall safety of the general population. The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season saw the costliest and one of the deadliest storms in United States history. This storm was Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina displaced of an estimated 645,000 Louisiana citizens (Cepeda, Valdez, Kaplan, & Hill, 2010). This paper will examine…

(Thiede & Brown, 2013). Lastly, the improper constriction levees and floodwalls will be addressed (Thiede & Brown, 2013). By narrowing down the substantial factors, the government and public can learn from the disaster management mistakes of Hurricane Katrina so aftermath effects can be prevented/alleviated in the future. Recommendations for improving disaster management practices can also be provided and would be beneficial in saving many lives.

Another challenge was the evacuation process. This hurricane experience shows that the federal government should next time be prepared to fulfill the duty if local and/or state efforts should fail. The lack of planning mixed with bad operational coordination made a weak federal performance in supporting the evacuation of the people in New Orleans. The government lacked elements of previous planning such as the evacuations routes, transportation assets, communications and coordination with governmental officials of receiving and shelters the rescued

The burden of emergency management has grown great deal in the last few decades. We have seen an increase in natural disasters, a new threat of terrorism on our front door and an increase in manmade disasters. All of these have tested emergency management in a number of cities and towns across the nation. It is not always disasters that present problems for emergency managers. We have to look beyond our traditional view of emergency management of helping us during times of disasters and view what issues they consider may affect their emergency response. Issues that emergency management see that are moving into the critical area are issues of urbanization and hazard exposure, the rising costs of disaster recovery, and low priority of emergency management.

The liberation behind Mother Nature’s persona, has demonstrated to be at times overwhelming. Accidents that causes destruction, violence or even bereavement can be callous and merciless. The understanding that we have no control over what happens in life is kind of hard to fathom, simply because there are professions that are trained to make a positive influence within the society. Agencies across America are not trained to hurt people, there trained to make a difference. So why is it that there has been many failures when it comes to a response time, such as the effects of Hurricane Katrina? Well the answer is simple it could narrow down to leadership, complacency, communication, vision, untrained responders, and unappreciative individuals. What are the key success factors in managing large, multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional response programs? How can we determine or measure “success” in response? How can we design drills and tests that specifically evaluate the key success factors for response? All of these questions can be directed to the statement above, and will correlate with each other. Leadership, communication, and vision is the key to triumph.

Hurricane Katrina exposed huge issues in the United States disaster preparedness and response programs. In 2005, the structure for homeland security was unable to manage catastrophic events like Hurricane Katrina. Unified management of national response

In today’s world, there has been one disaster or another, and hurricanes are one of those disasters that always happens. But, for one reason or another we are never prepared or understand the danger of any type of hurricane over a category one. Most of us have been through many hurricanes, like this learner who has lived in Miami, Fla. for over 30 years, and experienced her last hurricane which was Hurricane Andrew. Warnings are always given, first responders are trained to all ways be on alert, and FEMA is supposed to be ready to jump in once the storm has done its damage. But we can never be prepared, because hurricanes are unpredictable, and can become deadly for citizens and create millions of dollars in damages. Within this post we will discuss Hurricane Katrina, preparedness and Emergency management before and after the disaster.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, is responsible for coordinating the government’s role in preparation, prevention, response and recovery from domestic disaster, whether they be natural or man-made. FEMA.gov lists 1849 total disasters declared since 1953, with an average of 32 each year (13). This particular agency has generated a lot of praise and but just as much criticism. Over the course of FEMA’s history, there are many lessons to be learned and FEMA is always looking for ways to be more effective. This paper will examine the history of FEMA, evaluate its performance over the years and pinpoint lessons to be learned and actions to be taken.