Government Response to Hurricane Katrina
Levels of Government
In my opinion, all three levels of government failed the people of New Orleans in responding to Hurricane Katrina. There was plenty of pushing the blame on one another that ended up delaying responses and finding results. It seemed like one level of government would try saying the other level of government is responsible for that role. For example, The Director of FEMA, Michael Brown would say that the local and state are in charge of evacuation planning. There is some truth to that, but according to the U.S federal law governing homeland security it states that FEMA, “operations to save lives, through evacuating potential victims.” (Producers, 2005).
The national government, in particular the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was one of the culprits. FEMA director, Michael Brown was quick to point the blame to the local and state governments for not being prepared and not providing FEMA a specific request. The video points out that FEMA received a 48 page document requesting additional resources from the state. The federal government did not know what their own government was doing. According to Richard Falkenrath, Homeland Security Advisor (2001-20014), “There was a period of days and we weren’t sure who was directing the federal response, and were all the actions being taken.” (Producers, 2005.) It took the Bush Administration 6 days to notify the American people of the failures of the federal
Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest hurricanes that hit America. Federalism played a major role in the rescue missions for this natural disasters. It’s evident that the government failed in many ways during Hurricane Katrina. Federalism plays a huge part in preparing for natural disasters. The powers were not equally shared within the levels of government, which made the local government weak and had to completely rely on the federal government. The government of U.S. was not prepared enough for hurricane Katrina.
time of crisis by R. David Paulison, who unlike Brown, has had a career focused on disaster
Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a
As the Gulf States begin the massive task of reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, the nation is actively engaged in a dialogue concerning the lessons learned from this catastrophe, and the best options moving forward. Many are asking whether the aid package and policies proposed by President Bush are the right approach to rebuilding and restoring the region. While the hurricane shines a much needed spotlight on a number of societal issues, it is crucial that programs initiated in the storm¡¦s aftermath have the desired effect¡Xnot just regionally, but on a national scale. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina has raised other, more general public policy issues about emergency
Natural disasters always bring many property damages, casualty and countless people who lost their home and all their belongings. "On May 22, 2011, the city of Joplin, Missouri was impacted by an EF-5 tornado. There were 158 deaths with over a thousand injured as a result of the tornado". Hurricane Katrina has been a good example as a warning on how the agencies as FEMA should have been handling the disasters. There were complaints from the survivors to the government, FEMA and other organizations that were involved in the rescue. Throughout the years, FEMA, the government, and some non-profit organizations have been working on the solution from the lesson of Hurricane Katrina and trying to minimize the casualty and property damages in the
In a time of crisis, the government response to the situation at hand was poor and inefficient. There were numerous flaws and errors in the relief plan proposed to the government which in turn led to delayed relief to victims in need. The immediate response phase after Katrina lasted roughly 12 days. During this time, “victims were evacuated, rescued, sheltered, and received medical care from first responders, charities and other non-governmental organizations, and private citizens”(McNeill, 2011). The fact that the U.S. government organizations were not the first responders to the disaster is shameful for our country.
Jamaal X. NealMarch.06.2018Mr. PratoURST 241Hurricane KatrinaThe government agency to blame in this situation was FEMA which stands for “Federal Emergency Management Agency” and was created in 1979. Although since there was no major storms for decades the appointed leaders did not put as much planning as they should have. However the government leaders who were involved was MAJ.GEN. Bennett Landreneau, Mike Brown who is FEMA director, Michael Chertoff head of homeland security, Governor Blanco Kathleen, and Mayor Nagin. Although there were many things that went wrong that you can blame for Hurricane Katrina happening such as how FEMA was so poorly lead or how the local state officials failed to plan. Everyone is to blame because
Many argue that because of this change, the slow reaction of FEMA was expected, but considering a terrorist attack could lead to an evacuation, this idea is proven false. The first problem is really that the bureaucracies and government control in the United States have grown, slowing the reaction time of governmental agency aid.
Hurricane Katrina not only provided new response for natural disasters but also for terrorist response and mitigation. Hurricane Katrina helped the Department of Homeland Security to see the vulnerability of the nation and how bad a single storm could affect the communities. After Hurricane Katrina DHS started to plan and “imagine” the possibilities of future disasters both natural and manmade as if they were actually going to happen. After 9/11 FEMA was downsized and DHS replaced most of its disaster and planning operations. This became clear after seeing the poor response FEMA had with Hurricane Katrina and the thousands of people left stranded without help. The aftermath of Katrina showed how much we needed both counterterrorism along with
The reason the communication breakdown was because Citizens couldn't contact their government officers because their cell phones and land lines weren't working. Officers couldn't communicate with each other because of bad communication. Hurricane Katrina showed some of the government’s greatest mistakes. It gave teaching to focus on in the matter of politics, race, and society.
Over the years of Hurricane Katrina, Fema faced many criticisms. Back in 9/11, They acted fast and accordingly to the disaster. During hurricane Katrina, they were slow and had false promises that the locals of New orleans believed (Maestri, “The
Before watching the video titled Federalism: Lessons of Katrina, I expected it to be about how the government responded to hurricane Katrina. Not only was my assumption correct, I gained a better understanding of federalism by observing how the local, state, and national levels of government responded to one of the worst crises in American history. From my observation, it seemed that the government on all levels failed to prepare, and then aid, the victims of the disaster. I think this failure was caused by the lack of communication between the different levels of government and could have been prevented had the governments worked together. In addition, I think the government’s failure to respond effectively
On August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic damage and flooding in Mississippi, Louisiana, New Orleans and areas in between. It destructed the lives and homes of thousands of people, with a total of 1,883 fatalities (Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts, 2015). Hurricane Katrina left many homeless and hospitals unprepared for the challenges posed to the healthcare system as a whole. Some of these challenges included gaining access to healthcare facilities, providing expedited care to those most in need, and preventing spread of disease that commonly occurs during natural disasters. Many facilities did not evacuate in time and many were left stranded in flooded waters as patients conditions worsened and access to essential medications and treatments became limited.
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
Katrina traveled into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26 and started to expand. When the storm reached the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane however, deteriorated before making it to Louisiana to a Category 3 on August 29 with winds at 145mph. Due to the 20 to 30 foot storm surge and levee failure, it resulted with the infrastructure critically damaged from Florida to Texas. State and local agencies use the Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model to know whom and when to evacuate to include what routes people should take. There was argument on who failed the devastated areas, since the assistance needed could not get to the certain areas due to massive flooding and bridges destroyed. Even though there was no one agency to blame through the lack of coordination and communication from local agencies up through the Federal Government, the lessons learned where noticed within hours and days after the storm arrived, the local population felt as being neglected or forgotten.