Disaster Relief - Case Study Example

Taking into concern the significance of social networking, the discussion will aim at identifying the causes behind such failures as well as successes. Successful and unsuccessful efforts in response to Hurricane Katrina Analyzing the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, various measures were considered by governmental, non-governmental as well as volunteer groups which were either allied with military convoys or operated independently. In this regard, where on one hand, the efforts made by the volunteers and the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were observed to be quite effective, the strategies implemented by governmental bodies such as Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and similar other institutions had been criticized on the basis that the applied measures lacked in immediate and controlled as well as coordinated mechanisms which further hampered the degree of efficiency of the disaster relief programs (Sobel & Leeson, 2006).

Illustratively, the evacuation program in New Orleans was required to be conducted with immense rapidity in order to minimize the danger on human lives owing to the augmenting severity of Hurricane Katrina approaching from the southern Bahamas which certainly required the assistance of numerous volunteer groups, charitable organizations and governmental groups in a coordinated and cumulative way. With this concern, the American Red Cross (ARC) initiated the strategy to facilitate as much of the population as possible with housing amenities in its neighboring regional shelters.

Consequentially, ARC was able to shelter 146,292 people within a short period of time (Moynihan, 2009). However, the lacunas of FEMA in offering efficient disaster relief had been alleged to cause an adverse impact on the relief program designed by ARC. As was mentioned by Sobel & Leeson (2006), “the Red Cross “begged to be allowed to go in [New Orleans] to do the distribution” of essential relief supplies, but were prevented by government officials from doing so” (pp. 67). It is worth mentioning in this regard that FEMA’s decision-making process and likewise its responsive flexibility caused an adverse effect not only on the operations of the allied volunteer and charity groups but also on its independent measures in relation to its disaster relief programs concerning Hurricane Katrina (Samaan & Verneuil, n.d.).

Therefore, the strategies applied by ARC to serve the affected communities, immediately with housing and other basic amenities can be regarded as a successful relief effort which was able to secure a majority of the victims. On the other hand, the strategies applied by FEMA which had been following its rigid institutional policies to serve the communities in the post-disaster period can be identified as an unsuccessful effort as it was unable to serve the needful communities in a timely and efficient manner.

Justifications In relation to disaster relief programs, communication, and immediate response have often been argued as the most effective and needful measures.