Hurricane Katrina Emergency Management: Response & Lessons

Introduction

All discussions regarding Hurricane Katrina must acknowledge that the primary reason for its enormous impact was the task's scope and size, rather than human failure alone. While effective management can mitigate disasters, one cannot expect it to eliminate them entirely. Nevertheless, it is evident that a greater sense of urgency, enhanced coordination among responder groups, and more efficient management of communication tools and information could have minimized the losses brought about by the disaster (Moynihan, 2009).

Nature and Extent of the Disaster

Hurricane Katrina represented a significant natural calamity that caused enormous loss of human life and material wealth. It stands as the most devastating natural catastrophe in U.S. history, wrecking no fewer than ninety thousand square miles of the nation — an area roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom. A powerful storm surge destroyed the coastal regions of Mississippi, leaving thousands of citizens homeless and destitute. The storm flooded the city of New Orleans, claiming over 1,500 lives. Several thousand individuals living along the Gulf Coast went without basic necessities for nearly seven days.

The suffering that continued for weeks following the storm did not pass quickly; rather, it persisted far longer than anticipated owing to governmental failure in aggressive planning, preparation, and response at every level. In some instances, governmental action — or the lack thereof — actually exacerbated the misery. Governmental failure was both obvious and pervasive. Four major factors were responsible for this failure: (1) long-standing warnings were disregarded and authorities neglected their duty of preparing for a disaster for which they had been forewarned; (2) governmental authorities made erroneous decisions or took inadequate action in the period immediately before and after the calamity; (3) systems that authorities depended upon to support their response failed; and (4) governmental authorities at every level were incapable of providing effective leadership. Furthermore, these individual failures occurred against a backdrop of a broader, long-term failure to develop the capacity for a nationwide, coordinated response to a major catastrophe — whether man-made or natural (U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs [Senate Report], 2006).

References

U.S. House of Representatives Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina. (2006). A failure of initiative. Government Printing Office.

U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. (2006). Hurricane Katrina: A nation still unprepared. Government Printing Office.

Litman, T. (2006). Lessons from Katrina and Rita: What major disasters can teach transportation planners. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 132, 11–18.

Moynihan, D. P. (2009). The response to Hurricane Katrina. International Risk Governance Council.

The White House. (2006, February). The federal response to Katrina: Lessons learned. Retrieved from http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/