Hurricane Katrina - Essay Example

Article 3 Read Anticipated Problems after a Disaster Read: Hurricane Katrina Executive Summary of Findings of the Congressional Report: “Failure of Initiative: The emergency management, in the affected areas was badly impaired in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This has been highlighted in the Report of the Select Committee of the Congress. Three drawbacks of the rescue effort highlighted by the Select Committee are: 1. The failure of complete evacuations led to preventable deaths, great suffering, and further delays in relief 2. Massive communications damage and a failure to adequately plan for alternatives impaired response efforts, command and control, and situational awareness 3. The military played an invaluable role, but coordination was lacking. A major cause of suffering in Hurricane Katrina was the late decision of Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin to evacuate the public from New Orleans. Though warned about imminent tragedy, 56 hours in advance, the local administration failed to respond by ordering emergency evacuations. After the hurricane had wreaked havoc a great effort went in for rescuing those stuck in it. This effort could have been well spent to provide relief to the affected. Thus we conclude, that key officers, especially those in decision making posts should be trained to handle emergency decision making. Special leadership programs should be initiated where officers and politicians holding key positions are trained to respond to emergency and take effective decisions in the minimum possible time. Alternately, the officers can be taught emergency decision making with the help of Department of Defense, in special camps, where they are acquainted with emergency response methods of the armed force. Decision to evacuate can also be practiced in simulated exercises and circumstances. The second major impairment occurred due to failure of communication channels and absence of command and control system. The authorities in all major cities especially the coastal areas should be networked through satellite wireless communication network. A satellite wireless network has minimum chances of damage in event of a natural calamity. Even in normal times, the wireless network should be put to use to check its efficacy. Alternately, a computer program of wireless network can be maintained at all the state capitals and the Headquarters. Such program can be used to materialize, an emergency network, in a particular area in the shortest possible time. The National Communication System should be strengthened with all the above suggestions. The third factor that affected the rescue work was the civil-military coordination. Though the army provided emergency help its prowess could not be put to full use due to lack of coordination. The civil-military coordination can be increased in by conducting emergency management drills during normal times. The military and civil officials can meet more often, discuss and plan out emergency situations. DOD, FEMA, and State and Federal Governments should create more coordination with each other in normal times. This will come in handy in times of calamity. Article 4 Emergency Management Assistance Compact Overview EMAC—is the Emergency Management Assistance Compact that coordinates cooperative assistance between different states in wake of disasters and emergencies. EMAC works on the principle that “capability of one state can be used by another state”. The Compact, developed in 1995, has been successfully deployed 88 times for emergencies like hurricanes and terrorist acts. EMAC is directly placed under National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). EMAC gets the full time administrative support of NEMA. Through EMAC, a state in distress can avail the resources of another, without entering into complicated paper work. EMAC provides immediate information and resources, logistics to the people in need and gets federal and state reimbursements for them later. In the case of disaster, EMAC tentatively assesses the damage, establishes the costs involved in disaster mitigation, identifies the state from where requisitions can be made, establishes liaison between the states and coordinates rescue and relief operations. EMAC trains and maintains a Team—A as the core group that is under the National Coordination Group, which is the state that chairs EMAC for a particular year. The EMAC Team—A further has National Coordinating Team (NCT) and Regional Coordinating Team (RCT) that are co-located with FEMA/DHS at the headquarters and the regional level. At the Operational Level the working of EMAC are defined as Levels 1, 2, and 3, which define the Coordination, Action and Control Functions in that order. EMAC has outlined procedural regulations for individuals, groups, and organizations under deployment. During the Hurricanes Rita and Hurricane Katrina emergencies alone 65,929 civilian and National Guard personnel were deployed by EMAC at an estimated cost of $830 million. In the health sector, 2,000 healthcare professionals from 28 states treated more than 160,000 patients in emergency conditions. More than 6,880 sheriff’s deputies and police officers from 35 states were deployed across the affected places for policing and maintenance of law and order. EMAC uses its experiences and increases its database to train the personnel for future contingencies. Through its unique model, EMAC encourages neighbor to neighbor, inter-municipal and inter-state cooperation. In fact, for a large country like the US, a resource base spread out in an area extending three time zones, and 51 states, a federal level agency is required to make available resources, personnel and logistics from one state to another. The task is being done with utmost dedication by EMAC. Article 5 Read: The Logic of Suicide Terrorism Amongst the countries that have borne the brunt of ‘suicide terrorism’, perhaps, Israel is the most affected. A ‘suicide bomber’ is a living bomb that can detonate at the time and place of its choice. Unlike, timer activated bombs, the ‘living bomb’ can withdraw, change tacks, pre-pone, postpone and strategize to the last moment of detonation. This makes reactive response to the bomb blast almost impossible. However, we can learn a lot from the operational strategies adopted by the Israelis and other victims of suicide terrorism and frame a pro-active policy to tackle the menace. The foremost important thing to know is that a ‘suicide bomber’ is not alone the mission. The bomber is supported by a string of terrorists that includes strategists, the ‘handlers’, the bomb makers, and reconnaissance members. The operational intelligence of US should be so strong to track down the source of terrorism from slightest clue. There needs to be greater coordination between the Police, the DOD, state and Federal Administrations to share information about probable terrorist acts. Terrorists always leave clues before and after an attack. The second important prong of the security would be to make the borders totally impervious to disruptive elements. This may require deputing more security personnel at the airports, but the job done by them would be worth it. After making the borders totally impermeable to terrorist movement, the security forces will be left to deal with the nurseries of terrorism within the country. Such communities who lend moral and physical support to terrorism should be identified. The support mechanism of terrorists should be destroyed in the first instance itself. A strict watch on fiscal movement in the communities supporting terrorism will help to stop funding of terrorism. A strong movement in academics and social sphere should be started to educate people about the evils of terrorism. Such a movement will dissuade potential elements from joining the rank and file of terrorist organization. It will also make the people more morally strong and committed to fight terrorism. Besides, a feeling should be inculcated in the society that fight against terrorism is theirs and not Administration’s alone. People should be asked to adopt a friendlier approach towards each other in day to day living. This way they can share any social aberration, they come across, with the security forces, who can then take prompt action to defuse a potential suicide bomb. The entrances to public places, modes of public transport, parks, entertainment sites, markets, malls and busy streets should be manned or monitored through closed circuit cameras. In case of suspicious behavior of any person in public, the forces should immediately swing into action. The US Administration should as always, stay informed about the internal affairs of the countries that serve as breeding grounds of potential terrorists and maintain better links with their governments. This way the government might be nipping the evil in the bud. The propaganda machinery of terrorists should be destroyed and media dissuaded from creating ‘hypes’ out of their adventurism. A multi-pronged strategy combining political, civil and military will can protect our country against suicide bombers effectively. Article 6 Read Leadership View Slide Presentation: A Changing Risk Environment: Lessons In 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, the people and the Administration of the US, faced an unprecedented situation in loss of life and property. Since the response strategies were not geared to meet such a situation the disaster management was an exercise in improvisations. The Disaster management strategies required many improvisations. Although the sociological literature often uses the concept of improvisation broadly to describe unplanned-for novel actions, a closer examination points to variations in forms, objectives, and outcomes of improvisation(Wachtendorf, 2002). One of the chief improvisations was ‘identifying and credentialing procedures’. In the pell-mell of rescue operations carried out by government and non-government bodies, procedures needed to be authenticated and carried out to mitigate disaster immediately. The rescue operations were hampered for fear of further attacks and the security of rescue teams. The access to ‘Ground Zero’ was monitored and all equipment, gear, and rescue staff were screened for presence of deadly chemicals. Food, drinks and medicines for the affected that were pouring from the all sides needed to be screened. Their screening, forwarding and distribution also needed hectic improvisation. Since all emergency services control head were paralyzed, alternate emergency centers were set up to lead and control rescue operations. In the wake of threat perception of more attacks public places had to securitized and sanitized. This was in addition to the rescue efforts being carried out at ‘Ground Zero.’ Due to the sheer nature and enormity of tragedy, the public, the world community at large and the near relatives had to be informed of the developments. But this presented a problem in information dissemination because it was hard to decide as to which information meant putting the public to a greater risk. Handling an anxious media and public demanded a lot of improvisations. In nutshell, ‘identifying and credentialing procedures’, giving the rescue workers access to Ground Zero, setting up emergency centers, and public information dissemination, and monitoring food donations were exercises in improvisation. Article 7 Read Future Trends and Issues The article Future Trends and Needs tries to elucidate the changing needs of emergency and disaster management scenario in the US. On the one hand is the reality of emergence of terrorism as the deadliest curse of the current times and on the other hand is the administrative issues regarding tackling of terrorist threat and natural disasters. The most important issue that the article tends to highlight is the merger of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) with DHS (Directorate of Homeland Security). As this merger is taking shape, the new organizational hierarchy with responsibilities has not emerged. All eyes are focusing upon terror made disaster, and the natural disaster mitigation program is suffering at its cost. FEMA was body that took care of all emergency management issues since 1969 in the country. Now the ground realities are different and it is becoming a part of a bigger department, the DHS. The DHS is also working towards involving the state, people, and the local community in emergency management program. Since the merger is not complete, there prevails confusion as to who actually is responsible for disaster management. This confusion came to fore in tackling the destruction by Hurricane Katrina. In the absence of a strong command line, chaos prevailed and the loss caused by hurricane could have been prevented and mitigated. It is important that the Administration completes the merger quickly and decide the new responsibilities and duties. The second issue the article serves to highlight is the involvement of non-government bodies, business community and banks in the disaster management plan. Earlier the role of non-government institutions and individuals was to provide post-disaster care, distribution of essential items, and handle logistics. Now these groups are being increasingly involved in preparedness and capacity management. In coming times, business organizations will be asked to invest significantly in this area. Such a trend should be encouraged because 85 percent of tangible assets in the country are in private hands. The third point that the articles moots is the emergence of bureaucracy of a new kind at the local level that will be solely responsible for disaster management. The disaster management bureaucracy, run with private-government participation, will be autonomous in nature and will be able to make quick decisions, and coordinate relief work at the local level. This kind of body is surely futuristic in outlook and will make disaster management a truly people’s issue than government’s responsibility. Read More