Successful and Unsuccessful Relief Operations - Essay Example

Hurricane Katrina - Successful and Unsuccessful Relief Operations The conflict between nature and man is lasting since the advent of human being on this earth. Not only human being but also all the living things have to struggle for their survival. Even if man is fighting for his survival and his existence, he is totally helpless and powerless before the nature which always shows its power in forms of natural disasters. The natural disasters come from sky above, from underground, and from the ocean. These natural disasters of course come suddenly and without any warning. But human technology has become so advanced that it is not at all difficult for man to predict the disasters in advance and take proper and immediate steps to avoid or at least lessen the losses and damages. But for this proper management is very necessary. If we take into consideration the recent years’ natural disasters we find that there was lack of management and administration and due to this the people had to suffer a lot and the damages and human loss was uncountable. Five years back on August 29, 2005 United States faced a dreadful natural disaster in form of hurricane Katrina. It was one of the dreadful disasters in the history of United States which took away the lives of more than 1836 people and the loss was more than $81 billion. The most affected region was New Orleans Louisiana. Sooner or later 80% of the city became flooded. The sufferings of the people were knew no bounds. Right from everything there was no proper coordination and communication. After the disaster the communication infrastructure was totally failed. Most of the phone lines including cell phones, internet access were not working. Television stations were also disrupted. The electricity supply broke down and the rescue workers found it difficult to reach to the affected people. As far as the relief efforts are concerned it has also two sides. These efforts were somewhat proved successful but besides there were also major mistakes done by the government and other agencies for which everybody had to pay a lot. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, State and local agencies, National and Federal guards, soldiers, NGOs, non governmental charities supported a contributed significantly in the relief operation. Even the individuals also were not behind in assisting the hurricane affected people. The monetary donation set a new record and United States received international aid and assistance from various countries. The American Red Cross was among those who quickly responded to give assistants to the survivors. The food water and shelters were provided by all of these organizations and individuals also. Medical Aid also was provided. Within 48 hours after Katrina happened, FEMA sent three Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, (DMAT) to provide the initial assistance to the affected people. The hospitals also were actively working during the disaster. According to figures assembled by the Louisiana Hospital Association (LHA) during the storm, 1,749 patients occupied the 11 hospitals surrounded by floodwaters. [1] Besides all these aids and assistance some mistakes happened for which the government and the agencies were taken responsible and they were blamed by media as well as the victims. The human loss was significant. Nobody can do anything before the natural disasters but at least in such situation it is necessary to lessen the losses and the sufferings of human beings. The mighty nation like United States was expected to handle the situation during the disaster with an appropriate planning. But the inability of the American Government to tackle the situation successfully came before the world. The initial rescue effort towards Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. in 2005 had been sluggish and lethargic. The then Bush Government were criticized by his failure in taking quick action for the relief efforts. Even Bush also admitted it by stating that the response had been too slow but he further said that the sheer size of the disaster had hampered the relief efforts While explaining the inability about the rescue efforts George Bush said, "Despite their (relief and rescue workers) best efforts, the magnitude of responding to a crisis over a disaster area that is larger than the size of Great Britain has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities.”The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable." [2] The relief efforts were so inadequate that it could not save the lives of the people and thus this hurricane proved the total failure of United States to face the natural disasters. But this delay proved to be expensive especially for the ordinary people who were living in New Orleans. Though the city was submerged in water the people had no food to eat and no water to drink. Why was the government failed in handling the situation? It is because of many reasons such as mismanagement and lack of coordination. Lack of leadership was another major factor responsible for this. There was no proper action taken by the leaders before during or after the hurricane. This disaster thus provoked the harsh debate about the leaders who were connected with this disaster and whose effective leadership was expected to sort out the situation. But unfortunately the leaders showed their incapability during the trial time. “Pictures of bemused President Bush caught like a rabbit between the lights, and disengaged local police force were brought into the living rooms of billions of people through TV reports and other news media.”[3] Thus this lack of leadership created a big problem of coordination. There was overall confusion and chaos about the responsibilities and duties. The coordination between the federal agencies, local agencies and the government was totally lacking. It is specifically seen at the time of hurricane operation. After the hurricane the relief operation started very late which should have actually done on a war footing basis. But there was no coordination between the government and other agencies such as FEMA. “The causes of breakdown have been identified as communication failures, information gaps, and lack of coordination across agencies and levels of government.” [4] The unlimited human sufferings due to hurricane Katrina was highlighted by the American media in a comprehensive way. One of the important issues raised at that time was that most of the victims were black people. The images of the sufferings of black people and the looters aggravated the people and they started getting suspicious about the public policy of the government. The common though prevailed among the black American people was that they were not assisted by the government in time because of the racial discrimination. “According to a recent Gallup poll, NBC News’ Kerry Sanders reported on Tuesday, six out of every 10 black New Orleans residents said if most of Katrina’s victims were white, relief would have arrived sooner.” [5] Another victim states, “"If the victims were white, theyd be gone. Theyd be sending in an army of helicopters, jets and boats," said Yvette Brown a black refugee from New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina is the natural catastrophe which disclosed the two sides of human beings. The humanity as well as the non human approach was also experienced by the people of New Orleans the inefficient administration in America and it has taught the lesson not only to the American Government but to the administration of the other countries also. It has given a lesson that natural catastrophe is not in our hands but minimizing the aftermath is definitely in our hands. Sources: 1. This information is from an Excel spreadsheet by the Louisiana Hospital Association, “Hurricane Katrina Evacuation Report,” compiled between August 31 and September 2, 2005. 2. BBC News, Bush boosts Katrina rescue force Sunday, 4 September 2005, 01:38 GMT 02:38 UK 3. pg 106, “Corporate Reputations, branding and people management: a strategic approach” by Graeme Martin, Susan Hetrick 4. Pg. 75 “Governance in dark times: practical philosophy of public service by Camilla Strivers” 5. Katrina Victims blame racism for slow aid, US news MSNBC,) Read More