If this happened, the city would be flooded, leaving all its citizens without the necessary transportation to leave. When Katrina approached, however, the government, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, took no action to help citizens evacuate the city before the hurricane struck. Instead, the clear warnings issues in this regard were simply ignored. Indeed, even after the hurricane struck and the danger became more than potential, government response was delayed for a further two days. In addition, Kay notes that the local government in the city also had no evacuation plan in place when the hurricane struck.

Kay and other critics blame presidential and government incompetence for the consequences of the disaster. Kay also names the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Iraq as evidence of this incompetence as well as lack of accountability for the disaster. The main reason for the government's lack of response, according to Kay, appears to be its incompetence and lack of preparation despite full knowledge of the impending disaster.

IV. SOCIAL ISSUES

Forman and Lewis (2006) identify Hurricane Katrina not only as a natural disaster, but also a social one. The authors estimate that at least one in five of the city's residents had no private vehicle to use as escape in the event of a hurricane. In addition to ignoring the lack of adequate infrastructure in the city, the specific plight of the poor was also not taken into account via an adequate evacuation plan. The authors emphasize that the documented lack of attention to these details is merely symptomatic of a deeper social ill: the long-term neglect and disenfranchisement of the poor throughout the United States. It is this long-term perpetuation of ignoring the plight of the poor that contributed to the death and suffering after hurricane Katrina. The authors however note that this should not be localized only to New Orleans, but rather that the disaster has exposed the hidden truth of countrywide poverty.

The extreme poverty of these communities throughout the country is the result of centuries of racial and ethnic inequality perpetuated...

Indeed, this ignorance and apathy exacerbated the effect of the disaster and subsequent living conditions of the poor.
V. CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS believe that the events and tragedies surrounding the Katrina disaster were unnecessary and can be mitigated in the future. The United States is one of the richest countries in the world. The true disaster is the prevalence of the extreme poverty levels in the country. In order to avoid a repetition of hurricane Katrina, the poverty issue should be the main focus of mitigation measures in terms of all four issues addressed above, namely the environmental, the economic, the governmental, and the social level. All these issues integrated to the cumulative events surrounding Katrina. The government should then focus on mitigating poverty by addressing it from an environmental and social perspective. The poor should be taught to use the environment in a sustainable way to create business and work opportunities for themselves. In this way, they can also be empowered, helped, and indeed help themselves whenever disaster strikes. The main problem was one of poverty; if poverty is addressed, the other issues will be mitigated.

Sources

Esworthy, Robert, Shierow, Linda-Jo, Copeland, Claudia, Luther Linda & Ramseur, Jonathan L. (2006, May 3). Cleanup After Hurricane Katrina: Environmental Considerations. CRS Report for Congress. http://ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/06may/RL33115.pdf

Forman, Tyrone a. & Lewis, Amanda E. (2006). Racial Apathy and Hurricane Katrina: The Social Anatomy of Prejudice in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Du Bois Review, 3:1, pp. 175-202. http://journals.cambridge.org/production/action/cjoGetFulltext?fulltextid=462994

Isidore, Chris. (2005, Sept. 6). Katrina's growing economic impact. New York: CNN/Money. http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/02/news/economy/katrina_widerimpact/index.htm?cnn=yes

Kay, Joe. (2006, Feb. 14). Congressional report condemns government response to Hurricane Katrina. World Socialist Web Site. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/katr-f14.shtml