Katrina Communications Failures in Public

Katrina Communications Failures in Public Communication Responses to Emergency Situations: A Return to Hurricane Katrina Though Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States more than half a decade ago, the nation, its populations, and the many agencies and organizations involved in responding to emergency situations are all still learning from the lessons of this major natural disaster.

Heavy criticisms have been levied against the federal government, certain specific individual leaders, and the organizations involved in providing disaster relief for this affected by Hurricane Katrina, and the emergency response and disaster preparedness structures and systems that were implemented in the wake of the hurricane have been cited as needing major adjustments. A variety of problems, from a lack of adequate resources to their inefficient deployment, have been cited as specific problems with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other agencies involved in disaster response and relief.

One of the specific problems that has been noted when it comes to the response to Hurricane Katrina is the lack of effective communication that occurred following the disaster. Better communication would have resulted in a more accurate initial assessment of the situation and a better coordination of available resources once the extent of the disaster was known.

The following pages will examine the communications systems that were in place during the response to Hurricane Katrina and the failures and successes of these communications systems and their utilization in order to determine how better public communications systems can be developed. Communications Failures and Infrastructure Issues Communications are extremely important during disaster response and relief efforts for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is ensuring that the right resources are deployed and implemented in the most effective manner possible.

Many specific instances of communications failures in this regard have been cited in the response to Hurricane Katrina that might seem simple and rather mundane but that truly have profound and far-reaching effects.

Generators that had been requested to restore function to pipelines, for instance, were diverted by FEMA agents to power hospitals, and while this represents a proper assessment of need it did not reflect the most efficient use of resources -- FEMA agents should have been aware that there were plentiful generators available, and that other business infrastructure could have been maintained and supported while emergency measures were implemented (U.S. Congress 2006).

Ineffective resource use at this basic level contributed to further miscommunication and mis-assessments of the situation, making relief and response efforts far less prevalent and effective than they could have been. Other large scale communication deficiencies contributed to making Hurricane Katrina a bigger disaster than necessary; lack of solid and comprehensive local, regional, and federal communications systems as well as a lack of integration between the various communications systems and protocols that did exist were noted as specific and widespread communication failures during the entire disaster response (Mountjoy 2005).

Had local resources been able to communicate with federal agencies more easily, the response could have been much more effective. Failures in communication were not limited to the direct response of the various federal, state, and local agencies involved in the response to Hurricane Katrina and the resultant destruction.

It has also been noted that the communication plans and protocols that were in place had not been properly communicated to all necessary parties, such that even the preparations and infrastructure that existed for the express purpose of dealing with emergency events were not properly utilized (White House 2007). Not only were better public safety communications systems as well as interagency communications systems necessary, then, but these systems needed to be more clearly outlined and presented to the right individuals.

Response to Noted Problems The issues that arose during the response to Hurricane Katrina did not go unnoticed by the media, the public, or the officials involved in responding to disasters and coordinating relief efforts. Through the reactions of these officials and the legislation that was proposed and/or enacted in the wake of the hurricane, other specific communications problems that occurred during Katrina as well as more general public safety communications concerns can be identified.

Direct technological inadequacies and a lack of physical infrastructure within the state of Louisiana were among the earliest problems identified, and legislation was introduced almost immediately after the hurricane to improve communications infrastructure and to ensure greater interoperability between existing and expanding/newly constructed communications systems and procedures (Moore 2005). Another issue that has been noted is the emphasis placed on federal communications and military agencies in the wake of the September 11th attacks (Perini 2007).

While it is true that the intensity of these attacks and of several subsequent scares requires the ability to quickly accumulate and communicate information, many of the systems and protocols that have been put into place have focused on military and security communications at the expense of communications systems for other non-militaristic threats (Perini 2007). The development of such an exclusive and narrowly-focused communications schema has been detrimental to overall public safety communications (Perini 2007). Responses to Hurricane Katrina have included broadening.