Subsequent examinations of the government response to hurricane katrina highlights things that can go wrong when events demand responses that require the coordination of local, state and federal jurisdictions. Indentify at least three things that went awr

Running head : HURRICANE KATRINA

Government Response To Hurricane Katrina

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Government Response To Hurricane Katrina

The preparation and response to Katrina by the government exposed the its inability to adequately handle such disasters . The role of federal state and local government in preparation and responding to disasters was highly debated upon after the Katrina storm which claimed many of the American citizens ' lives . Scenes of citizens without basic needs death by starvation and thirst , shaken politicians- all was displayed in the media showing the

level of helplessness not only among the victims but also among the relevant authorities . The blame was entirely directed to the government for it was claimed by some sectors that its policies with regard to handling the disaster worsened instead of making things better . The measures that it adopted led to more casualties . The response by the government was not timely besides making it difficult for volunteers to step in and carry out rescue operations . There were three notable mistakes which the government made with regard to coordinating response to the disaster (Singer , Howell 2005

The area which was worst hit , New Orleans , already suffered from high level of poverty . More than 120 ,000 people could not access private transportation . When a compulsory of evacuation was made by the government 22 hours before the storm hit , provisions were not made to evacuate this population which could not access private transport . Even though FEMA offered to provide transport within 48 hours before the storm , the residents were left to struggle on their own after the storm The population of the state which has a poor majority could not make it without any assistance . This therefore made the casualty to be high due to the inability of the government to take adequate measures of ensuring that the majority of the population was evacuated (O 'Brien , 2005

The response by the federal government was slow . Requests for assistance through the relevant chains of command were not realized owing to the delays by the local and state authorities to engage FEMA for federal assistance . The response was also slow because of the amount of time taken by FEMA to put its force in place . It spent much time ensuring that its team was well coordinated besides waiting for commands from the government . The situation was traumatic for the workers and local police due to lack of sufficient reinforcement . Report shows that local entities exhibited a higher level of response than federal and national organization . The delay in response can be attributed to the level of bureaucracy which exists within the federal entities . In most instances , the national organization and federal staff lacked flexibility to deal with the situation on the ground (Tapper , 2005 ) The government thus overlooked the magnitude of the situation thus did not provide sufficient manpower within the required time thus making thus elevating the number of casualties

There was lack of coordination between federal agencies relief organization and FEMA . FEMA did not seek...