What lessons should be learned from the government’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina?

Hurricane Katrina has been one of the most catastrophic and the most costly natural disasters in the history of United States. There’s been report of more than 1300 deaths and estimated property damage of $75 billion. The local, state, and federal government failed to respond properly to this disaster, making American people more doubtful about whether the emergency system can protect them when needed. From the government’s botched response we should learn how to conduct proper risk assessment research, plan in a timely manner, communicate effectively, and use our evaluation skills to learn from mistakes.

New Orleans is a Gulf Coast city that lies below sea level for the most part. Obviously the protective levee system was not capable of resisting a 125mph storm. Maybe we should do more research about the vulnerabilities of our urban protective systems and improve it to prepare for the worst.

A huge bureaucratic system can sometimes act like a dinosaur that can’t move in the mud. The leadership failed to lead, and no one knew who was in charge! Maybe we need to plan for the worst ahead of time. Maybe there should be leaner bodies within our system independent from the government to be ready to act fast in these situations.   

 “If you can’t or don’t communicate, the frustration and anger will get out of control.” Joe Trahan a noted New Orleans educator stated. The government was unable to communicate with people adequately and communication between public safety forces was disastrous. After the September 11 attacks, the 9/11 Commission report called for improved connectivity in public safety communication. Failure to execute this call also depicts the failure to evaluate properly after the incident. Maybe we should evaluate incidents more carefully, and maybe we should come up with better communication services among our public safety forces and within our government body.   

Katrina has showed us how fragile our system can be facing a huge natural disaster. Obviously no system is perfect and invulnerable but with better research, planning, execution, communication, and evaluation we can reduce botched actions. Remember what made this country great is the attitude of wanting to improve and learning from mistakes.

Resource: Guth David W, Marsh Charles. Public Relations A value-driven approach, Pearson: 4^th Edition.