Summary: Effective Communication During Hurricane Katrina

The whole world observed as the administration responders appeared incapable to provide essential protection from the effects of nature. The deprived response results from a failure to accomplish a number of risk factors (Moynihan, 2009). The dangers of a major hurricane striking New Orleans had been measured, and there was sufficient warning of the threat of Katrina that announcements of emergency were made days in advance of landfall (Moynihan, 2009). Nonetheless, the responders were unsuccessful to change this information into a level of preparation suitable with the possibility of the approaching disaster. Federal responders failed to recognize the need to more actively engage (Moynihan, 2009). These improvements include improved ability to provide support to states and tribes ahead of a disaster; developed a national disaster recovery strategy to guide recovery efforts after major disasters and emergencies; and the Establishment of Incident Management Assistance Teams in which these full time, rapid response teams are able to deploy within two hours and arrive at an incident within 12 hours to support the local incident commander (FEMA,

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would become the central point-of-contact within the national government in responding to incidents. Since formation in 1979, FEMA’s core missions were to enhance the government’s ability to survive a foreign attack, and to assist state and local authorities in disaster response (Carafano, 2005). And while the two core missions seem heterogenous in scope at times from an outside perspective, the biggest difference between the two tasks is duration. A man-made disaster may be over in a matter of minutes as compared to a hurricane lasting several days, but in both instances the road to recovery is long. In order to streamline response and recovery in either scenario, FEMA was reorganized with new directives to support comprehensive emergency management practices (CRS, 2006). Today, FEMA provides the standard approach and guidance that many local communities may not have due to funding, training, and

Due the rapid flooding, whole neighborhoods were engulfed in water, numerous residents became stranded, and could be seen on the roofs of buildings across the city. A neighborhood TV channel reported New Orleans was encountering broad flooding due to levee damage, clean water was scarce, and the city was electrically deficient and was estimated to last for weeks. At day’s end, the Mayor of New Orleans described the considerable death toll with reports of bodies floating on the water throughout the city. The National Guard set up morgues all throughout the city. Coordination of rescue efforts days to come were hard due to lack of communication. Telephones and internet access became nonfunctional due to line breaks or power failures. Often, reporters were asked to brief public officials on the conditions in areas where information wasn’t reaching them. All local television stations and newspapers were quickly relocated, as broadcasting and internet became an essential method of distributing information to evacuees and the rest of the world for reports of what was occurring in the city. (Silverman)

Crisis information during Hurricane Katrina was immediately available through mass media; television, radio, the emergency broadcast system, and social media. During emergencies, the importance of our country’s communications systems becomes clear. These

September 11, 2001 is commonly thought of as the next major disaster in the United States. So I prefer to choose this real incident. The event that shook the world like a thunderstorm, thousands of people died in the terrorist attacks they did not resemble the catastrophic disasters previously discussed. Unlike all of the natural disasters previously detailed, the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC did not completely overwhelm the emergency response capabilities of entire regions. The attacks caused brief mass confusion and overwhelmed individual emergency response agencies but did not paralyze the entire emergency response network. The primary first responders were the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD. While federal officials participated in rescue operations and helped provide security after the attacks, the immediate rescue efforts were orchestrated by local responders. The local response networks were overwhelmed and resources were strained, but there was no system-wide breakdown in organization or authority. Nonetheless, emergency responders encountered many of the same problems that responders experience during catastrophic disasters. Communication systems

Supplies could be needed in one area, but without communication that area might not be able to reach out for those supplies. Communication amongst first responders is important for information sharing, so that information can flow between different jurisdictions and agencies. When looking at the efforts of first responders, communication is the one constant variable, which without communication all efforts would be in vain. (Newman & Clarke, 2008) The National Incident Management System (NIMS) places an emphasis on the importance of communication when dealing with response efforts. The National Incident Management System shows how having a unified command systems can benefit the response efforts to disaster. However, without proper and efficient communication, a unified command system cannot proceed efficiently.

Timely and accurate information is essential during a terrorist attack and a natural disaster. Therefore, the government must inform the public of all events. However, officials need to be mindful of the information that is released could expose intelligence in an ongoing investigation and put lives at risk. Crisis communication is a fine line of keeping the public informed and placing them harms

Getting a staff together to bring in useful information to plan for the release of the information to the news media is a great way to enhance communication to the public. The media will then get the information out to the public by ways of News releases, web sites, news conferences, newspapers and other social media (Hicks, 2012). The advantages of using these types of media are they quickly allows for the public to know what type of crisis has happened, and what kinds of precautions are being taken to ensure their safety. If there were to be any fatalities caused by the crisis event(s), these types of avenues also will give information on that. Some disadvantages can be unreliable technology of the citizens that will not allow for them to get access to the information that is being released by the media, such as no television, computer is not working properly, or they don’t received the local newspaper to be able to read it, etc.

Emergency managers’ response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was uncoordinated and went poorly. Survivors were left for several days without basic relief such as food, water, and sanitary items. This paper investigates what led to this major response failure. The conclusion is that preparedness was not a top priority for officials at the local, state, and federal levels. First, this paper describes the major response failures in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the reason that they failed using the National Preparedness Framework and the National Response Framework. Then, it identifies several instances in which preparedness efforts were postponed despite the well-known risk that New Orleans was well overdue for a major hurricane that could

The attacks of 9/11 in 2001 shed a light on many different weaknesses relevant to the security of the United States regarding communication, and disaster response. On every level of government— federal, state, and local— substandard communication methods contributed to the deaths of nearly 3000 people, as well as the growing number of people dying from illnesses that resulted from participating in the cleanup at Ground Zero. There were many communication challenges faced by agencies tasked with responding to the incident, and particularly in the case of law enforcement, these problems likely resulted in more fatalities than would have occurred had better systems been in place. This paper will discuss the communication problems that

(Sellnow & Segger 2013, 10). Over the years, communications developed and broader concepts were created, many from lessons learned over the years. Hurricane Katrina brought to light the deficiencies of emergency communication systems. In the Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned put out by the Bush administration in 2006, noted that the Department of Homeland Security reports described the emergency communications infrastructure as ‘non-existent’ and that Katrina devastated other communication infrastructures across the Gulf Coast, “incapacitating telephone and cell service, police and fire dispatch centers, and emergency radio systems”. (White House 2006).

Communication is widely regarded as one of the most essential elements in successfully managing an emergency situation. The dissemination of information, which is both timely as well as accurate, to the parties concerned goes a long way to lend a hand in ensuring that the recovery activities in an emergency situation, together with its management takes place effectively. For that reason, five critical assumptions are used to provide the basis of disaster management strategy.

This emergence of social media has also changed emergency management and disaster response. Emergency management as a whole is fairly new, only creating widely recognized, integrated emergency management systems beginning in the 1970s. Furthermore, at this same time people realized that the effects disasters have on the communities they strike can be mitigated by the creation of disaster plans ahead of time, proper disaster response training, and the efforts of human actions in these situations. Because social media has enabled mass amounts of instant information sharing, it allows not only locals and disaster response teams to help with the management of crises, but also many remote citizens.

Mobilization and Unity of Effort. As a result of the president authorizing disaster declaration to 11 states prior to Sandy’s landfall, FEMA was able to coordinate federal resources to combat the 8.5 million citizens without power, revitalize vital transportation services, and supplement east coast fuel shortages. The Energy Restoration Task Force provided “229 power-restoration vehicles and 487 personnel to help New York and New Jersey restore power“ and the USACE was able to restore 80% of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority Service by November 5. Despite the expedited response, the magnitude of the disaster elucidated areas for improvement for integrating and coordinating Federal operations (Fugate, 2013). In regards to unity of effort, WebEOC, an Internet based crisis management system, ensured the NRCC and various ESFs maintained a common operation picture. This helped to bolster a congruent Federal response by tracking resources, coordinating activities, and monitoring planned tasks.

On August 29, 2009, Hurricane Katrina struck the United States Gulf Coast. It was a Category 3 Hurricane, according to the Saffir Simpson Scale. Winds gusted to up to 140 miles per hour, and the hurricane was almost 400 miles wide . The storm itself did a tremendous amount of damage, but the storm’s aftermath was cataclysmic. Many claimed that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the storm. This paper will examine the four elements of disaster management – preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation – as well as an analysis on the data presented.