Hurricane Katrina Information:
Local and state officials failed to plan. The military waited too long and Fema was poorly led. When one of the world’s most famous natural disasters hit, no one was ready.
Victims of the storm had lost their houses, food, and belongings. They had nothing. Everyone assumed that the government would send troops to come help them, but no one came. The soldiers headquarters were flooded and they lost power and communication. They spent next 24 hours saving themselves. Only ¾ of police corps reported for duty, since station was flooded. Few citizens were lucky enough to make a 911 call if they were trapped or hurt. Failure of communication systems cost many lives in the first days.
People needed basic necessities like food and water. It was the mayor’s responsibility to take care of these things. When President Bush flew over area on the third day, he thought that it just looked super flooded, because he didn’t see the mayhem below. People in press conferences, including Fema director Michael Brown, lied to the public to quell the panic.
To make matters worse, federal government learned about the Katrina sufferers four to five days later. Brown then lied again, saying that it hadn’t really been that long. Brown also said that Fema couldn’t help people in Louisiana because he didn’t know exactly what they needed. A 40 + page list was then provided that listed hundreds of specific requests for help that were sent to Fema.
The moral of the story is that communication is vital in running a successful government. None of the victims cared which government official had not done their job, they only wanted help and supplies. They didn’t care about who would lose their job, or get blamed, or whatever. No one stepped in to get the dirty work done, they just passed on the blame to one another. The local government in Louisiana thought that the situation was too big for them to handle, so the State Government must be covering it. But, the State thought that the problem was big enough for the Federal Government to handle. But, the Federal Government wasn’t in position to help at the time, so they thought that one of the other governments would be helping in the meantime. In order to avoid all of the mayhem that followed the hurricane, the government should have been prepared to handle a situation like this. Officials should have been aware of their responsibilities and been prepared to jump into action.
Victims of the storm had lost their houses, food, and belongings. They had nothing. Everyone assumed that the government would send troops to come help them, but no one came. The soldiers headquarters were flooded and they lost power and communication. They spent next 24 hours saving themselves. Only ¾ of police corps reported for duty, since station was flooded. Few citizens were lucky enough to make a 911 call if they were trapped or hurt. Failure of communication systems cost many lives in the first days.
People needed basic necessities like food and water. It was the mayor’s responsibility to take care of these things. When President Bush flew over area on the third day, he thought that it just looked super flooded, because he didn’t see the mayhem below. People in press conferences, including Fema director Michael Brown, lied to the public to quell the panic.
To make matters worse, federal government learned about the Katrina sufferers four to five days later. Brown then lied again, saying that it hadn’t really been that long. Brown also said that Fema couldn’t help people in Louisiana because he didn’t know exactly what they needed. A 40 + page list was then provided that listed hundreds of specific requests for help that were sent to Fema.
The moral of the story is that communication is vital in running a successful government. None of the victims cared which government official had not done their job, they only wanted help and supplies. They didn’t care about who would lose their job, or get blamed, or whatever. No one stepped in to get the dirty work done, they just passed on the blame to one another. The local government in Louisiana thought that the situation was too big for them to handle, so the State Government must be covering it. But, the State thought that the problem was big enough for the Federal Government to handle. But, the Federal Government wasn’t in position to help at the time, so they thought that one of the other governments would be helping in the meantime. In order to avoid all of the mayhem that followed the hurricane, the government should have been prepared to handle a situation like this. Officials should have been aware of their responsibilities and been prepared to jump into action.