Emergency operations plan for New Orleans - Essay Example

United States had experienced a disaster of almost the same magnitude during the September 11 attacks, but the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that the country’s emergency response was focused mainly on mitigating terrorism disasters at the expense of public health emergencies. Several weaknesses were apparent in the response to the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. The response was so uncoordinated and thousands of victims starved waiting for help almost a week in the flooded city.

The National Response Plan provides firm guidelines for fighting terrorism and national leadership but it has three remarkable administrative weaknesses that jeopardized efficient response to the Katrina disaster (Haddow & Bullock, 2007 p31). The first weakness is that recommendations from the federal public health do not have the force of law. The federal public health agencies are charged with the responsibility of coordination and disaster preparedness while the state has overwhelming authority on public health matters (Haddow & Bullock, 2007, p 37-39).. health authorities’ dilemma on whether to enforce disaster preparedness measures on all hazards or to bioterrorism attacks still exist in the country (Haddow & Bullock, 2007 pp 69-70) Countering bioterrorism attacks in United States has been the government’s top priority resulting to biasness in distribution of funds and other resources on preparedness of other disasters (Haddow & Bullock, 2007 p127).

In the case of the Katrina disaster, the government was not prepared to address broader humanitarian disasters in the country. The aforementioned weaknesses caused several problems during Katrina disaster. Firstly, the victims were not well informed during evacuation and there were no adequate provisions to cater for people with special needs. Secondly, returning evacuated persons back to their home was problematic, there was weakness in application of reverse lane operations and finally, provision of care to animals was not adequately addressed.

Emergency operation plan for New Orleans should address the following pressing issues. They include saving lives, protecting property and restoring the community back to normal after the disaster. However, before the occurrence of a hurricane disaster, it is important to enhance the capacity of the residents and the emergency workers by putting in place adequate disaster preparedness measures. Disaster preparedness in New Orleans entails working closely with relevant departments of health and security in the state to enhance a coordinated response to the emergency.

The departments and other stakeholders would ensure that training, leadership, training, technical and financial support in addition to exercise support are provided to the communities and emergency workers as they prepare for disasters, mitigate their effects ,