The federal government must manage the National Preparedness System for measuring effectiveness and assessing preparedness at all levels of government. The hurricane hit on August 29 th. This would allow available funds to be used to build a national response system that supports state and local efforts and encourages communities to look after their own needs rather than wait on Washington. Their unemployment rate was just below 28 percent in November and over 20 percent in December. Perhaps the most important criticism of Nagin is that he delayed his order until less than a day before landfall, which led to hundreds of deaths of people who by that time could not find any way out of the city.
There didn't seem to be nearly enough buses, boats or helicopters. Significant levee failures occurred on the 17th Street Canal, the Industrial Canal, and the London Avenue Canal. The federal government has a unique and important role to play. Bush was told at 5 a. The light blue bars show the increasing amount of damage caused by these same natural disasters adjusted to third quarter 2005 dollars.
But experts say when natural disasters strike, it is the primary responsibility of state and local governments -- not the federal government -- to respond. Congressional investigations will take months to sort out who is to blame. They lacked adequate sitÂuational awareness of local needs and the means to deploy the right resources to the right place at the right time to do the right thing. Retrieved on July 15, 2006. The storm destroyed so many homes, buildings, forests, and green spaces that an extraordinary amount of debris was left behind—118 million cubic yards all told.
These teams provide communications support to local public safety. The Ready Campaign and its Spanish language version Listo asks individuals to do three things: build an emergency supply kit, make a family emergency plan and be informed about the different types of emergencies that can occur and how to respond. Katrina also damaged the emergency communications infrastructure needed to coordinate an effective and immediate response to the disaster. Coordinating all levels of government and directing aid to disaster victims requires an emergency communication system shared by all agencies. Retrieved on July 16, 2006. Declaring a state of emergency, upon Presidential approval, entitles a state to federal assistance.
Retrieved on July 15, 2006. Although public health and medical support efforts restored the capabilities of many of these facilities, the regionÂ’s health care infrastructure sustained extraordinary damage. Towns and cities, small and large, were destroyed or heavily damaged up and down the Gulf Coast and miles inland. The military mounted a massive response to Hurricane Katrina that saved many lives and greatly assisted recovery efforts but many lessons are emerging. Nearly all smaller health care facilities were shut down. Bush can be petulant about dissent; he equates disagreement with disloyalty.
The Constitution and Governance Embodied in the U. In the storm's wake, ordinary individuals, businesses and religious congregations have not left providing aid and comfort to the hurricane's victims solely to governments and aid organizations. But for this federalist system to work, all must understand, accept and be willing to fulfill their responsibilities. A discussion of each follows below. Though there will be tragedies we cannot prevent, we can improve our preparedness and response to reduce future loss and preserve life. Hurricane Katrina produced many thousands of both categories of victims.
Archived from on September 27, 2007. In fact, the Federal government created confusion by responding to individualized requests in an inconsistent manner. After crossing the tip of the Florida peninsula, Katrina followed a westward track across the Gulf of Mexico before turning to the northwest toward the Gulf Coast. Initial reports of leaked video footage of top-level briefings held before the storm claimed that this video contradicted Bush's earlier statements that no one anticipated the breach of the levees. This policy was met with much criticism by the media, and compared to censorship. Now-retired Corp engineer Claude Strauser says those structures were limited to the specifications that governments had requested.
Some say the levees and floodwalls should be made considerably higher to withstand major storms. The destruction wrought by Katrina, and the flooding thereafter, severely damaged the roads and other infrastructure needed to deliver relief. By the week after the storm, the military had mobilized some 70,000 troops and hundreds of helicopters--but it took at least two days and usually four and five to get them into the disaster area. Bad news rarely flows up in bureaucracies. In the meantime, our commitment to rebuild and help rebuild Mississippi and Louisiana is ongoing and robust.
Hurricane Katrina, its 115-130 mph winds, and the accompanying storm surge it created as high as 27 feet along a stretch of the Northern Gulf Coast from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans, impacted nearly 93,000 square miles of our Nation—roughly an area the size of Great Britain. This may make small government advocates cringe, but the truth is that Washington is essential to the immediate aftermath of a major disaster. At least 34 states have taken in thousands of evacuees. Blanco also failed to activate a compact with other states that would have allowed her to bypass the in a request for additional troops. Descent into Chaos The military can also restore order.