Table of Contents
Abstract
After the September 11 attacks,the federal government did a policy change to influence emergency management United States, even though the thought of this program started 2001. With the new protocol on terrorism and emergency management it lead to the nations inability to address other causes of harm So when Hurricane Katrina hit it through the new federal policy for a loop. With the the failure of this natural disaster it helped Homeland security look for more ways to help people then just preventing terrorist attacks.
The Failure in Homeland Security When Natural Disasters Hit
Being able to predict the next natural disaster is a long stretch and no one can know everything that is going to happen percicily. “But they can strongly suspect how when and where things can happen,example based on existing terrorist group behavior cities like New York, Washington, and Los Angeles are more prone to terrorism then say, smaller towns and cities with less population”. But as the population grows so will the natural disasters and other catastrophes They also know how to prepare for natural disasters like hurricanes and other dangerous weather patterns.
Because, scientist have proven that the gulf coast is most likely to get hit by hurricanes from June 1 to December . But after predictions like this have been introduced to the government there’s not much else they can predict. But after 911 all the government really focused on were recovering from the attacks and helping the citizens come together to rebuild the county. Homeland Security didnt even think of Natural Disasters until it was to late. The storm flooded New Orleans, and “killed more than 1, 800 people, and caused $100 billion in property damage”.
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But this damage could’ve been lessened if it weren’t for the failures of the federal emergency management agency (FEMA). Sources say, weather forecasters warned government officials about Hurricane Katrina. But when it made landfall they were not FEMA wasn’t ready for one of the biggest storms in US history.
Confusion
When can Katrina hit most of the things FEMA did were not proactive and it lead people to confusion. Because,during the 1990s FEMA was routinely praised as being one of the best functioning federal agencies. It’s response to major disasters like the Midwest floods in 1993 and the Northridge earthquake of 94’s tested all of FEMA’s new approaches and they can out with only success;Those instances contradicts their performance during Katrina.
Days before Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast, the city of Chicago told FEMA that they were willing to send “100 Chicago police officers, 35 fire department personnel, eight emergency medical experts, more than 130 staff from Chicago Department of Public health, 140 staff from the department of street and sanitation, dozens of trucks and two boats. All this personal was to be sent to work in affected areas and that they would bring their own food water and other supplies with them.” But FEMA didn’t take their offer, just like all the other various local and state governments that wanted to help in the relief efforts.
Also The Red Cross was not allowed to enter New Orleans with food either because the department of Homeland Security barred the area because of security concerns. So with no Help from other states and organizations FEMA was left with a whole lot to deal with. Leaving the efforts of Katrina a failure. Since 2005 FEMA has changed its look on natural disasters, “it now works side-by-side with state, local, and tribal partners to finish the job of rebuilding communities”.
And with the support of Congress, “FEMA was provided additional authorities and tools to become a more effective and efficient agency, one that is focused on putting survivors first”. In 2006,one year after the hurricane the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) was passed, it gave FEMA “clear guidance on its mission and priorities, and provided the legislative authorities needed” to help with before, during,and the after of a disaster.
Communication, Supply, Indecision
There was a complete breakdown in communications that paralyzed command and control. Agencies had a hard time trying to communicate with each other due to equipment failures. Even though, “FEMA and other agencies have been giving grants to state and local governments for emergency communication systems since 1980”. Other problems where supply problems because FEMA didn’t really take donations. Some emergency supplies had been saved up and stationed outside of the evacuation zone waiting for the storm to die down before they went in, but there was not enough.
It took days for medical supplies to reach the worst areas of Louisiana , such as the New Orleans Superdome,which was complete chaos. The superdome had no plumbing, very little lighting and half a roof. With all of the other problems, FEMA also wasted huge amounts of supplies. They delivered a large amount of ice to holding centers in cities outside of the the Gulf Coast.
“FEMA sent truckers carrying ice on wild goose chases across the country. Two years after the storm, the agency ended up throwing out $100 million of unused ice. FEMA also paid for 25,000 mobile homes costing $900 million, but they went virtually unused because of FEMA’s own regulations said that such homes cannot be used on flood plains”, were most Katrina victims lived or where they were living at that time. All those decisions did not help the problem, if anything it made it worst. But no one in government wanted to make a decision on what to do in this situation; “Indecision plagued government leaders in the deployment of supplies, medical personnel decisions, and in other areas”. Even the task of body recovery after Katrina was slow and confused. Bodies went uncollected for days “as state and federal officials remained indecisive on a body recovery plan.”
FEMA waited for Louisiana to make decisions about bodies, this made the “governor of Louisiana blame FEMA’s tardiness in making a deal with a contractor. Similar problems occurred in areas, such as organizing evacuations and providing law enforcement resources to Louisiana.” With all of these things happening, the victims of the hurricane didn’t get the help the need.
Conclusion
With all the failures that Hurricane Katrina brought with it, like turning away doctors, volunteers, and donations . Or how the Red Cross was not allowed into the Superdome to deliver emergency supplies. All these things helped lead to a New way of doing things. With its failures in the past FEMA has learned how to help people in need. FEMA now puts experienced managers in charged of disasters.
Also with the help of technology growing, social media can help bring light to the conditions people are in with the help of Facebook and tweets. After Katrina “congress gave FEMA greater authority to move resources to a disaster zone before a storm rather than wait for formal requests from governors after the event. Before, truckloads of food, water and tents were positioned outside of the flood zone, waiting for rains to subside so they could be sent to the recovery zone.
Taking days to give relief to the people.Now supply’s from FEMA and the Department of Defense arrives within hours, not days, after the rains ended”. Being able to predict the next natural disaster is a long stretch and no one can know everything that is going to happen percicily. But when failures in a company or a community happen it will only help it grow stronger, and better.
References
- Roberts P. 5 things that have changed about FEMA since Katrina – and 5 that haven’t.The Conversation.http://theconversation.com/5-things-that-have-changed-about-fema-since-katrina-and-5-that-havent-83205. Published September 18, 2018. Accessed September 20, 2018.
- FEMA Outlines a Decade of Progress after Hurricane Katrina. Emergency Support Function Annexes FEMA.gov.https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2015/07/30/fema-outlines-decade-progress-after-hurricane-katrina. Accessed September 23, 2018.
- Edwards, C. (2015, August 27). Hurricane Katrina: Remembering the Federal Failures. Retrieved September 25, 2018, from https://www.cato.org/blog/hurricane-katrina-remembering-federal-failures
- How Many People Were Killed by Hurricane Katrina? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/how-many-people-killed-by-hurricane-katrina
- Rainey, R. (2016, August 27). 11 years after Katrina, FEMA has learned from its failures. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/08/11_years_after_katrina_fema_ha.html
