Effectiveness of Crisis Response for Hurricane Katrina - Essay Example

Assess the effectiveness of the crisis response for Hurricane Katrina Hypothesis: A more coordinated approach (at the individual, local, state, region and Federal) of crisis management, integrating concepts of ecological society with strong social structure can avert natural calamities.    In 2005 August 23 a tropical storm was formed off the cost of Bahamas which then amplified in about seven days and struck as the calamitous hurricane Katrina at Florida, followed by Coast in Mississippi, Alabama, New Orleans and Louisiana, causing distressing deaths, unprecedented destruction. It was categorized as the most disastrous of all natural calamities ever witnessed in the American history taking the death toll to 1,300. Reports of the heart wrenching calamity reached the citizens on the morning of August 29th 2005. Public frustration and helplessness was augmented by the utter lack of preparedness and failure of the government at all level to manage a disaster of this magnitude. The Katrina not only unveiled the ferocity and wrath of nature but also the flaws in the state and federal government to tackle and respond adequately through properly designed emergency plans and crisis management models. President Bush accepted the failings in the system of governance and planning when he addressed the nation at the Jackson Square and stated that “[f]our years after the frightening experience of September the 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I, as President, am responsible for the problem, and for the solution.” (The White House. (.Feb 23, 2006).The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, lessons learnt) The federal government laid down its shortcomings related to disaster management and crisis management in a report. There were important lessons to be learnt from the sour and disappointing experience as also the need for devising a more effective model of crisis management. The impact of Katrina Hurricane was not isolated to a small area. In fact wind traveling at the intensity of 115-130 mph along with a storm of twenty seven feet spat devastation in a vast area almost the size of United Kingdom. The various novel disaster management plans devised after the 9/11 attacks proved absolutely inadequate in the face of far-reaching and widescreen calamity as this. Every city stuck by the hurricane had specific and very urgent needs. Smaller cities like Mississippi required a low scale of operation yet the need for search , rescue and essential life saving items and commodities was extremely urgent .The hurricane was succeeded by floods that resulted in breaches. The devastation wrecked havoc for a duration of eighteen hour duration, submerging more than eighty percent of the cities in a six to about twenty feet of water. A devastation of this magnitude necessitates a rescue and search operation of a magnitude unforeseen and unprecedented in the country’s history. (The White House. (.Feb 23, 2006).The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, lessons learnt) In his visit to the Gulf Coast, President Bush summarized the response to Hurricane Katrina as so we learned some lessons about how to respond, and we’re going to change. But some of the lessons shouldn’t change, and that is the decency and character of the American people.” (The White House. (.Feb 23, 2006).The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, lessons learnt) The crisis of Hurricane Katrina was meted by immense and astonishing national response not from the private sectors, non-Gove mental organizations, and individual citizens apart from that of the various levels of government as also from foreign nations. In spite of this there was lack of coordination and proper planning and organization. But can humanity seek to survive calamities only through charities and can calamities only be managed and not deterred. The motto of the nation should not be merely crisis management but also crisis prevention. The local police and authorities were supposed to be better aware of the vulnerable points in their localities. They were responsible to a great extent for the extremely slow and ineffective response to the crisis. However it was FEMA was devised for the sole purpose of catering to such emergencies and it was responsibility altogether once a state of national emergency was declared by the president. A stupendous amount of responsibility for the crisis mismanagement lies on FEMA’s shoulder. In an article in Los Angels Times (confusion at crunch time) it was reported that "The Federal Emergency Management Agency, responsible for supervising relief and rescue operations, failed to position adequate equipment to carry out the dual assignments. FEMA was especially short of helicopters from the outset. It was forced to concentrate on rescue missions and gave short shrift to ferrying supplies to trapped evacuees." (Quoted in Kevin Drum. (September 12, 2005). Political Animal) It was also reported that civilian aircrafts numbering more than fifty were ready to respond to various distinct request for evacuation from hospitals, however their endeavors was stopped by FEMA. FEMA officials were unprepared for monitoring operations on field when there was a failure of communication service like telephones and radio’s. There was no alternative method for supervising efficient operation in the absence of communication with top officials. FEMA should have been prepared for this as communication links are likely to be damaged in such a disaster scenario. Although manpower was pre positioned FEMA was unable to supply amenities like water, medical supplies food and transportation to stranded people. It was reported that "On the day the levees failed, the FEMA chief issued a news release urging fire and emergency services departments outside the area 'not to respond' to calls for help from counties and states affected by the hurricane 'without being requested and lawfully dispatched by state and local authorities under mutual aid agreements.” (Quoted in Kevin Drum. (September 12, 2005). Political Animal)When the National Radio questioned Chertoff about the thousands of people in the New Orleans’ convention Center devoid of water, and other basic amenities, he professed ignorance of that fact. In a Time article "Places Where the System Broke Down" it was reported that "While people were dying in New Orleans, the U.S.S. Bataan steamed offshore, its six operating rooms, beds for 600 patients and most of its 1,200 sailors idle. Foreign nations — responding to urgent calls from Washington — readied rescue supplies, then were told to stand by for days until FEMA could figure out what to do with them." ( Quoted in Kevin Drum. (September 12, 2005). Political Animal). The National Incident Management System (NIMS) and National Response Plan (NRP), were specifically formed for this purpose and formed the basis of the manner in which the federal and the state government responded to the hurricane crisis. Incident Command System (ICS) is the chief element of the NIMS. The size, organization and the structure of the ICS can be designed according to a specific incident or crisis. In this system all those involved are to report to a single individual. (The White House. (.Feb 23, 2006).The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, lessons learnt)However there is absence of lucidity as to when and how a particular incident has to be graduated to be handled by the federal government or how it is declared an INS (incident of national significance). On August 30 2005 there was a need for federal intervention existed however there was lack of clarity about the NRP provisions for declaring an INS. The Director of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric (NOA), on the 16th of May 2005, warned that there was probability of 70% above average activity. (The White House. (.Feb 23, 2006).The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, lessons learnt) Hurricane Liaison Team (HLT) was activated by FEMA and comprised of the, NWS, FEMA the State and local officials. The Katrina forecast had given the governments at all level about 56 hours of advance notice. Preparations were intensified by 26th August. Following the warning by the NOA a National Hurricane Preparedness Week for Atlantic Hurricane should have been kick started. The events that unfolded confirmed the predictions. The federal government got on to monitor the storm after the NWS report. Occurrence of storms in the Atlantic region is a common factor. Hence Planning workshops devised strategies for countering a hypothetical storm situation. Although these work shops were useful for unveiling the shortcoming s of the various strategies no subsequent workshops had been devised until about a few weeks before the Katrina. Moreover these workshops were not helpful for completing tasks in timely manner. Although Hurricane warnings had been aired over the weekend, very few people in Florida were aware or actually concerned about it. Officials were deployed for evacuating people but many people did not have their own vehicles. Evacuation was a major problem for the disabled and special need individuals. People were faced with the predicament of facing the various danger of evacuation or riding through the storm. Many people choose to stay despite evacuation announcement as they had no place to go. Churches had started out with a move to help people without car in evacuation but there were only few congregations and they lacked proper organization and order. In Orleans it was said that people did not evacuate the place even after the announcement because they were poor and many did not have many convenience. What is appalling is that the officials did not takes steps to provide transportation to these people and take them to a place where various basic amenities like food and shelter was available. Rescuing more then hundred’s thousand people with helicopters mercilessly exposes the utter lack of coordinated endeavour and emergency plan while rescuing people. In a natural calamity of this magnitude the a strategy for coordinated support of the army, navy, marine at all levels along with civilian cooperation should have been devised. Disposing thousands of people in sports stadium devoid of basic amenities like tents for shelter, food and proper drinking water, and portaloos is like squeezing in animals and leaving them in dehumanised conditions. The national guards meant for catering to emergencies of this type are deployed in double tour duties in Iraq. More ever one of the major problems is that even in a situation of emergency people do not do anything for free. At the local and regional level there was complete lack of preparedness. Shelters were opened in school. Further there was lack of coordination among the various operating government agencies. In many cases the responses from the private corporate were not properly utilized despite shortage of supplies. At times disproportionate amount of supplies were sent to various areas. The Department of Homeland Security, along with the Environmental Protection Agency needs to monitor the endeavors taken by Federal governments. This will ensure speedy gathering of data so that emergency responders can respond efficiently. There should be coordinated effort to remove debris so that the emergency responders are able to operate safely apart from providing equipments for their safe operation. The FEMA person eels in Mississippi were not able to adequately meet the needs and requirements. The unfamiliarity of the FEMA person eels with the USDP program disabled them from making optimum use of the recourses available with them. Policies, procedures and plans for foreign disaster management assistances has to be clearly marked as this posed as a difficulty in the response to the Katrina crisis       Typhoons have continued to hit Korea during the summer and early monsoon seasons. (The White House. (.Feb 23, 2006).The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, lessons learnt)        Korea has been visited recently by two major typhoons namely, Typhoon Rusa in 2002 and Super Typhoon Maemi in 2003. Korea has suffered great human and economic loss as a result of this but steps have been taken to overcome such disaster in the future. Korea has learnt a lesson from its experience that its policy makers, scientific communities as the general public has to take steps to prepare for the high intensity impact of the climatic and weather events. The number of torrential rain events in Korea in a year has risen from eight to thirty. This implies there has been a great shift in the global and regional climate. However while climatic changes have occurred there has not been adequate reforms at the policy level to counter these. An effort is made to transfer information quickly and effectively to the general public and especially to the decision makers. A dense observation network is sort to be integrated for more accurate prediction. The KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration) plans to empower and improve its observation networks in three years. Another lesson learnt is that relief material doesn’t reach on time, relief measure is slow, apart from the, and evacuation effort is not very effective. The Korean government is now making a move to undertake several improving in its disaster management. Under the Office of Prime Minister a task force has been set up for planning comprehensive flood alleviation strategies. Rapid and unplanned urbanization and industrialization without adequate infrastructure has been the main culprit behind the enormous loss of life and property. Warning systems are not effectives as they lack any backup. The absence of a social structure where there is Mutual Corporation among various sectors and greater public participation and involvement in averting disaster and countering was also felt. The Media has a significant role in enhancing public awareness about disaster and its management. An urgent need for a more effective and structured flood endurance was felt acutely. Land use in flood prone areas should not be encouraged.  (Ye Qian. (November 2004). Typhoon Rusa and Super Typhoon Maemi in Korea.NCAR/ESIG)     Moments of crisis bring out the best as well as the worst in individuals. In the hurricane Katrina individuals in New Orleans came out to help fellow humans despite their troubles. They were branded by disaster management officials as resorting to shameless acts of opportunistic looting of private property. Various reports document how these individuals took goods from destroyed departmental stores and distributed them equally among those otherwise deserted and neglected by disaster management official inspire of threats of being shot by police officials. At the same time there were reports of brutality, looting, and shameless acts of inhumanity by small organized groups of delinquents. These groups of people had perpetrated crime even before the disaster struck the town and the extent of lawlessness that they could perpetrate in the face of this calamity should have been foreseen and adequately deterrent steps should have been taken by officials. Despite reports of individual heroism another thing that came out was the hurricane Katrina was a disaster of class in many ways. The Coast Guards rescued thousands of black people abandoned on the apartments and rooftops. What is startling is that these black people were deserted during the evacuation operations by police and local officials. In New Orleans these people did not dislocate because of an exercise of choice but due to absence of any options. They had no place to go to even in the event of evacuation so to the best of their knowledge sticking around was the safest choice. This disaster brings into forefront the insensitive and crass attitude of people in the face of crisis needs to be analyzed at a more Marco level. The current socioeconomic market scenario provides no governance support or backing to the people and each individual is left to sustain and support him/her self. More ever the present socioeconomic structure puts unbearable strain on nature putting the ecology out of balance and thus preparing the ground for greater and more horrifying calamities. A capitalistic society which commodifies and rationalizes each entity of nature creates imbalances in the ecology and threaten the every existence of these ecological communities and along with them the human communities. Following the Hurricane Katrina is massive effort at recovery and growth to restore back the societies as they were before destruction. These endeavors requires enormous consumption of commodities like petrol which again put great strain on the global climate and ecology, causing further global warming, melting of glacial ice, followed by rising level of water. Oceanic warming further magnifies the intensity as well as the period of hurricanes that have the probability of. Cities like New Orleans are built at a sub-sea level and thus are always vulnerable to treats of hurricane. Urbanization and development should be done with better planning and comprehension of the ecological factors in order to avert such dangers. In the capitalist societies the ecological factors are relegated to the background and ascribed least amount of priority. In New Orleans dangerous industrial chemicals were causing deaths to people even before the Hurricane and the subsequent spills it was dubbed as the “cancer alley”. A hurricane further aggravated the condition. Officials should have been aware of these potential threats especially in the face of calamity and should have taken steps to prevent unnecessary seepages and spills which damaged the environment and made the place unsuitable for dwelling latter. It has to be understood that a capitalist society cannot function as an ecological society. Hurricane Katrina should be taken as an eye washer for the fact that a dehumanized capitalist society should be replaced by an ecological friendly society. (Grosscup.Ben (September 04, 2005). Crisis and Crisis Management in Hurricane Katrina: A Radical Critique Free society collective) Form the above essay it can be concluded that there are important lessons to be learnt from the mistakes committed in the response to the Katrina Hurricane. There is greater need for coordination among all levels of the government, namely the Federal, state and local. More effective strategy development for combating crisis and managing it is required. Frequent work shops in order to polish the skills of emergency responders is requiring along with better facility and equipment for disaster management. Active role of media in spreading awareness, information retarding crisis along with better prediction and warming system is required. Devising policies, plans and strategies relevant to the current global climatic shifts is required. An important lesson is that prevention is always better then cures. Planned urbanization and industrialization, which emphasis on an eco-friendly society with stronger social structures, is very essential. Thus the hypothesis that a more coordinated approach (at the individual, local, state, region and Federal) of crisis management, integrating concepts of ecological society with strong social structure can avert natural calamities. Reference Disaster Recovery: Best Practices White Paper. Sept 14, 2004. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at http://www.imc-la.com/pdf/best_practices.pdf#search=%22best%20disaster%20management%20model%22 Drum Kevin. (September 12, 2005)Political Animal). Washington Monthly. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007104.php Enterprise IT Planet. (March 14, 2006). Proving Your Disaster Recovery Plan Works Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at. http://www.enterpriseitplanet.com/security/features/article.php/3591336 Grosscup.Ben (September 04, 2005). Crisis and Crisis Management in Hurricane Katrina: A Radical Critique Free society collective. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at .http://www.freesocietycollective.org/archives/001466.html 12 Manage. (2006). Crisis Management. 12manage, International Medical Corps, Practices in Crisis management. IMC. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at . http://www.12manage.com/methods_crisis_management_advice.html Naranjo Laura. (July 28, 2006). Handel on Hot Spots, Mitigating Disaster risks, NASA. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at .http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/articles/2006/2006_hotspots.html Reid E Ken. Disaster Management Testing Murphy's Law, A contingency plan is only as good as the company's last drill.CPP. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at .http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000252.html Sandalow Marc. (Wednesday, September 14, 2005)'I take responsibility' Bush accepts blame for federal failures in hurricane response. . San Fransisco Chronicle. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at .http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/14/BUSH.TMP The White House. (.Feb 23, 2006).The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, lessons learnt. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at. www.Whitehouse.gov/reports/lessons_learnt.pdf#search The White House .Fact Sheet: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned. Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at . http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060223.html Ye Qian. (November 2004). Typhoon Rusa and Super Typhoon Maemi in Korea.NCAR/ESIG.  Online data retrieved on 6th Sep 2006, available at http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:d0kZmsEOqHcJ:www.ccb.ucar.edu/superstorm/ss-korea- please, make ARGUMENTS before each paragraph and do not make any advice in the middle of paragraph. advices make in the conclusion of the paragraph. 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