MHE599 - Culminating Project Module 5 - Case - Essay Example

however in other cases their response to the disaster will be inadequate without proper steps and this will to lead to views that Federal government bodies could have done a better job. This scenario of inadequate response was visible during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina in the geographical region of Louisiana. U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment states that, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

” (gpoaccess.gov). That is, through this amendment, the constitution entrusts the responsibility of public health and safety of the people in a particular state to the respective states itself. This means the emergency management of disasters and other tragedies as well as law enforcement is also the responsibility of the state government and local bodies. Critics of this amendment and ones who are against further autonomy for the local governments state that giving the responsibility of public health and safety particularly during emergencies would be too much for the local bodies.

The 10th Amendment provides significant responsibility on the states; however Hurricane Katrina because of certain shortfalls has proved that the amendment wrongly places too much responsibility on the states. Although, in course of our history, several state and local governments have done an adequate and commendable job in aiding the public in times of natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, Tsunami, etc, it is not the case all the time. Hurricane Katrina is one such case of inadequate response because the first responders, Louisianan government and New Orleans City council themselves became the victims of the catastrophe, as their local infrastructure was maximally wiped out.

Along with this shortfall, the local bodies performed inadequately raising questions regarding the 10th Amendment and how the Federal bodies if involved maximally could have