HURRICANE KATRINA

Hurricane Katrina

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Discussion & Analysis5

Preparedness for Hurricane Katrina5

Emergency Planning Lessons Learned from Katrina6

Conclusion7

References8

Hurricane Katrina

Introduction

Hurricane Katrina was probably the most devastating and awakening moment the country has experienced. This paper will focus on how various agencies, including the U.S' government's emergency planning department, have been criticized in the way they dealt with citizens, foundation and overall communications in a time of dire need, through various sources and come up with a variety of solutions and justifications to the problems so that the enormity of problems faced still today, does not reoccur.

Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in late August 2005 that resulted in catastrophic incidents of wind damage, flooding, and massive dislocation of victims of the storm. The finishing death toll reached 1,836 people. It has been regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in the history of this nation. This caused overwhelming crowds of New Orleans citizens to seek help in any way possible. The Superdome sheltered more than 25,000 people. Turmoil rang out and things weren't in order as people started getting annoyed and alarmed as the situation deteriorated. Elderly were suffering from heatstroke, people were becoming hungrier and suicide even exposed its ugly self. Patients were dying as caregivers wept for help that never came.

There were about half a million refugees, a million without power, 30,000 soldiers and about $100 billion in damage, in an area where the suffering was no longer measurable. Those who survived turned to mercy, anguish, and mischief or surrendered to misery. Outside failing hospitals, dying patients had hand-held ventilators, looters took over city streets and many were left stranded. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was primarily responsible for creating and maintaining emergency and evacuation plans across New Orleans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was widely criticized for its slow response, incompetence and failure on their managerial part (Gibbs, 2005).

Discussion & Analysis

Preparedness for Hurricane Katrina

In the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was responsible for government action in preventing, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from Hurricane Katrina's arrival. Early attempts to prevent damage and loss of life from hurricane included the Flood Control Acts, which established and defined the government's role in flood control and authorized flood preparedness and emergency operations. The National Flood Insurance Program was also an effort to lessen the impact of flood hazards and prevent losses from Hurricane. The Civil Defense program was ...