New Orleans Response To Hurricane Katrina

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

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. The results were catastrophic. Katrina and storm-related flooding took more than 1,800 lives and caused an estimated $81 billion in damages. In the storm’s aftermath, there was widespread debate over government response to the disaster. I believe that the bulk of the responsibility lay with the state and local governments. They should have been better prepared ahead of time and had more comprehensive plans in place to minimize danger to citizens. The national government has traditionally only sent its military into a state at the request of that state’s governor. The governors of Louisiana and Mississippi did not immediately request that action (Fraga, L.

time of crisis by R. David Paulison, who unlike Brown, has had a career focused on disaster

Throughout its history, FEMA has had two main missions. First, FEMA’s mission is to enhance the federal government 's capacity to deal with and survive foreign attacks. The main types of foreign attacks that FEMA is tasked to respond to relate to terrorist attacks and nuclear war. The second mission of FEMA is to assist state and local authori¬ties to respond to man-made and natural disasters that are to enormous for the local and state resources to respond to efficiently. While national security focuses more on civil defense, state and local authorities are more focused on natural disasters such as hurricanes, storms, floods and potential nuclear power accidents. These divergent focuses really presents FEMA with huge challenges since federal security authorities’ main objective is quite different from state or local authorities’ focus. Considering that FEMA designed the Federal Response Plan, the agency has the challenge of balancing these interests while working on its two key missions.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most and extraordinary disasters which rocked the part of New Orleans in the United States of America. The disaster left dozens of people dead, rendering thousands of them homeless. The public were shocked after the extreme hurricane because millions of dollars were recorded all as losses given that there was not enough money that for repairing all the damages. Hurricane Katrina had a great negative impact on the public health causing psychological trauma that resulted in a sizeable burden of different diseases. The data collected showed that several people were attacked with a cute stress disorder (ASD) among sheltered evacuees (Zimmermann, 2012). The paper will analyze the sources and impact of power and influence in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina including the impact of power and influence on public administration and public policy. In every government states, there must be set of measures that are taken to achieve the set objectives and public policies are renowned to be the government-driven course of actions. Every stakeholder get satisfied if only there are policies which are made that can integrate their input. The citizens are therefore important when involved in the policy making process and administration to shun conflicts. Failure to do so, the outcome often results to huge conflicts and misunderstandings because they may feel left out from the issues that affect them.

As Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma successively lashed the gulf coast starting in late August 2005, nature’s fury exposed serious weaknesses in the United States’ emergency response capabilities. Not all emergencies pose this magnitude of challenge. In the United States, the initial—and usually major—responsibility for disaster response rests with local authorities. This “bottom-up” system of emergency management has a long history and continues to make sense in most circumstances. Core Challenges for Large-Scale Disaster

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).

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

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

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.

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.

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).

FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was creates in 1978. It's purpose is to respond to disasters that overwhelm state and local authorities. Disasters such as hurricanes, terrorists attacks, bombing and etcetera. President Bush appointed Micheal D. Brown as FEMAs' director. However in the past few years FEMA has had its' issues. Issues such as being inneffective and having an uncoordinated response.

Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana was detrimental and had a major impact in the emergency management field. The implementation pattern in this occasion was confusing due to split views of who should be in charge of the disaster and the way it should be handled. At a state and local level, various officials felt that they would be overwhelmed and that the federal government should have been the one to take charge of the disaster, especially after the secretary of homeland security called it an “incident of national significance”. Unfortunately, every level of government failed to take charge, which led to miscommunication and a poor handle on the situation. In New Orleans mayor Ray Naign delayed the mandatory evacuations, sent citizens to shelters

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.