The Federal Emergency Management Agency

Katrina was a crisis primarily because of its scale and the mixture of challenges that it posed, not least the failure of the levees in New Orleans. Because of the novelty of a crisis, predetermined emergency plans and response behavior that may function quite well in dealing with routine emergencies are frequently grossly inadequate or even counterproductive. That proved true in New Orleans, for example, in terms of evacuation planning, law enforcement, rescue activities, sheltering, and provisions for the elderly and infirm.

A running theme throughout most of the literature on Katrina shows that the inability for the bureaucracy to effectively manage the crisis contributed to human suffering, needless death and disenfranchisement, and frankly, in excess and drawn out repairs. What should happen? Again, there are local issues as well as broader national issues. Certainly, though, the billions of dollars in funding that go to crisis management at the national level should be honed and made accountable for doing exactly what their mandate indicates: effectively handling disasters. The money and time spent on cleaning up the disaster, though, led to increased criminal activity in New Orleans, public calls from new leadership, and governmental criticisms. In July 2012,

On the morning of August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall bringing with it winds between 100-104 miles per hour. Upon landfall the storm stretched approximately 400 miles across and was rated a category 3 hurricane (History.com Staff, 2009). The aftermath of the storm left the areas of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana with flooding displacing hundreds of thousands of residents and caused more than $100 billion in damages (Townsend, 2006). The events of the hurricane and its aftermath including government response or rather the perceived lack of was widely broadcasted. Hurricane Katrina provoked an enormous response from all levels of government, the private sector, and foreign countries, however even with the vast resources the response

The word “crisis” can be defined as any of the following definitions; “an emotionally significant event or radical change of status in a person's life; the decisive moment during an event; or an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending, especially: one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome.” (Crisis).

The Department of Homeland Security was established in 2002 because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. FEMA was integrated into the DHS so that they could ensure there are effective plans in place to quickly resolve catastrophic events. In compliance with one another, they manage at government levels bioterrorism, chemical or radiation emergencies, natural disasters, and disease outbreaks.

Over the years of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA faced many criticisms. Not only FEMA, but “every level of government was roundly criticized”( Howellq ). 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 Storm”, PBS ). Many people asked FEMA for resources and help, but that turned down because they did not “ask the right way” ( Hale “The Storm”, PBS). During an interview with one of FEMA’s secretaries, “Michael Brown”, had claimed that FEMA could not help Louisiana because they didn’t tell them what they

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast at daybreak, “pummeling a region that included the fabled city of New Orleans and heaping damage on neighboring Mississippi. In all, more than 1,700 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced.” (Laforet, New York Times)

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

Guelas 1Armina GuelasAnthony PratoURST 241.100111 March 2018Midterm Assignment: Hurricane KatrinaThereis not much of an argument to be made against the idea that Hurricane Katrina was a complete political disaster in terms of intergovernmental relations; there is no hiding that no one was ready to handle the storm or its aftermathby way of everyone’s general lack of response. The federal, state, and local governments are all to be blamed for the political fallout of Katrina. Itis difficult to point a finger at any single government, person, or organization when almost all of them were at fault in some way. Everyone was waiting for someone else to take action, and when no one did, they (all of the agencies, governments, and people)

One dominant agency is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the United States Department of Homeland Security. FEMA was created on 1979 by the late President Jimmy Carter that signed the executive order to support the citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation, people work together to build, sustain and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards. Another program called National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) was developed to lead the federal government’s effort to reduce the fatalities, injuries, and property losses caused by earthquakes. This program was established in 1977 to coordinate their complementary activities with FEMA, the

The Hurricane Katrina disaster highly challenged the operations of FEMA thereby leading to great changes in the agency. The Storm that is ranked as the third most intense U.S. landfalling intense caught the FEMA and at large the Department of Homeland Security unprepared thereby leading to severe losses. The hurricane claimed more than 1200 individuals and a total property of around $108 billion, of which could have minimized if FEMA could have carried out its operations effectively (Bea, 2006).

There is no doubt that the government at all levels was unprepared for Hurricane Katrina’s disastrous impact. Some government officials blame each other for the slow response to Katrina. For instance, James Loy, Deputy Secretary of the department of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005, argued that it was the state responsibility to have address the importance of evacuating in a timely-manner when Hurricane Katrina struck (The Storm, 2005). Michael Brown, director of FEMA from 2003-2005, claimed that it was Congress and the president’s administration fault for not giving them enough equipment on better communication services (The Storm, 2005). Four days later after Katrina had struck, many army troops went out to help citizens that were in trouble

An emergency is a severe, sudden and sometimes risky circumstances requiring urgent action (Salman Sawalha, 2014). Escalation of an emergency situation can lead to disaster; which is an unusual event that can cause lost of life and property (Salman Sawalha, 2014). International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRRCS) define disaster as “unexpected devastating events that disrupts the operations of a population or public which leads to huge losses and overwhelmed the affected community 's ability to respond to the situation with the resources they have at hand”. There are two main types of disaster that can lead to emergency situations; these include natural and man-made disasters.

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.

Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic natural disaster in American history. The aftermath had substantial negative impact on New Orleans and it could have been avoided if proper disaster management practices were put in place. Therefore, it is important to determine the factors that caused the hurricane to be catastrophic. One factor that was responsible for the disaster was failure of the three levels of the government working cohesively (Thiede & Brown, 2013). The incoherent interaction between the three levels of government will be assessed. Another factor that will be examined is social and psychological refusal of Hurricane Katrina