Response to Hurricane Katrina - Research Paper Example

The findings of Quarantelli also deserve special attention as his observations clearly show how communities, organizations, and individuals may respond to disaster preparedness. The paper also throws light on the lessons that Hurricane Katrina brought to the Federal disaster preparedness plans.

Findings of Quarantelli
It is worthwhile to analyze Quarantelli’s findings on how individuals would respond to disaster preparedness. He holds that even though “individuals tend to have little interest in disaster preparedness in advance of disasters” they tend to help each other once disasters occur; similarly, individuals are likely to respond rationally to any serious ‘explicit warnings of impending hazards’ (Brunschot and Kennedy 151). It is thus evident that individuals actively take part in initial search and rescue efforts after a disaster occurs. However, evacuation seems to be problematic in many cases where people are uncertain about the safety of their loved ones.

Similarly, Quarantelli’s findings about community preparedness are also noteworthy. He observes that even though mass media and reporting of disasters have considerably increased community-level mitigation plans “preparedness at the community level is often uneven and problematic” (Brunschot and Kennedy 151). Quarantelli also points out that there is a lack of coordination of various agencies at the community level preparedness. He also pinpoints how community issues such as poverty still haunt the victims in the aftermath of disasters which make their conditions worse. His findings also show how unprepared and unplanned are most organizations towards disaster mitigation plans. None of the findings of Quarantelli seems to be surprising as they go in tune with the recent disaster management experience of the nation.

Stages of the emergency management cycle
The emergency management cycle consists of four distinctive stages- mitigation stage, preparedness stage, response stage, and recovery stage each of which addresses specific disaster preparedness issues before, during, and after the actual occurrence of the disaster. The mitigation stage deals with measures taken well in advance of disasters; the preparedness stage addresses immediate pending hazards; the response stage consists of prompt actions during and immediately after the hazard; and, the recovery stage includes restorative actions after the crisis period (Brunschot and Kennedy 152). Thus, one can see that measures such as training and educational campaigns characterize the mitigation stage followed by evacuations and warnings in the preparedness stage, whereas rescue efforts in the response stage are duly followed by restoration and rebuilding in the recovery stage. Each of these stages is equally significant as flaws or vulnerabilities in any of these stages can enhance the depth and severity of the disaster.

Lessons Learned after Hurricane Katrina
Americans indeed displayed great professionalism, courage, and compassion while facing Hurricane Katrina. However, the hurricane also showed critical challenges and vulnerabilities in the disaster preparedness plan that prevented a more efficient and effective Federal response. The Federal disaster preparedness plans to tackle Hurricane Katrina were inadequate and inefficient. It has been pointed out that “individual local and State plans, as well as relatively new plans created by the Federal government since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, failed to adequately account for widespread or simultaneous catastrophes” (The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned 1). While the hurricane completely devastated smaller cities like Waveland and Mississippi its vicious impacts on New Orleans were quite unprecedented and beyond all expectations. Almost 80 percent of the city was under water making rescue and search operations extremely difficult. Hurricane Katrina exposed many of the vulnerabilities of the national preparedness efforts. As such the hurricane offers a number of lessons for the future of the federal national preparedness efforts. To conclude, it can be pointed out that the hurricane revealed a lack of proper collaboration between the various governmental agencies, failures in public communication systems, improper coordination of transportation systems for mass evacuation operations, delay in medical support and housing of evacuees, and barriers in rapid restoration of critical infrastructure. Read More