Research Paper on "Disaster Management Lessons Learned"

Research Paper 9 pages (2610 words) Sources: 7

[EXCERPT] . . . .

They did not sit first and develop a strategy on how to make these evacuations. The objectives of such a strategy are to identify the categories of individuals that must be evacuated first, on reducing the time required by these evacuations, and on reducing the level of resources they determined.

It seems that the authorities in this case were not able to identify the categories that needed to be evacuated first. They also did not have an efficient plan that was supposed to reduce the intervention time and the resources it required. Therefore, it is important that authorities develop such strategies during natural disasters. This is intended to increase the efficiency of rescue operations.

There are also other issues that are brought into discussion when addressing the authorities' response to the Katrina hurricane. Such issues are represented by accusations of racism. Most of the population of New Orleans is represented by African-Americans. Certain individuals consider that the authorities were not efficient in addressing the effects of the hurricane because most of the people affected by it were African-Americans.

However, these are accusations. It is difficult to determine their value of truth. In other words, it is difficult to find arguments that can identify how the authorities can be charged with racism in their efforts to address the hurricane's effects. This is also because when analyzing this situation, people think of authorities as systems, not as people. Therefore, it is difficult to accuse systems of being racist.

There are also other accusations made at the address of authorities. These accusations are oriented towards the fact that in certain situations authorities tend to focus more on properties in comparison with individuals when addressing the effects of the hurricane. This is because certain people consider that the authorities have invested more in recovering properties instead of investing in social and health care.

This is also another issue that is difficult to identify. This is because the effects of the hurricane required that authorities invest in people, but also in improving the properties that were significantly affected by the natural disaster. The authorities were not wrong about doing so. This is because properties determine incomes for the state budget. Therefore, by investing in improving these properties, the authorities have invested in their budget that is also used for the communities in case, and for their individuals.

Crisis management is an important lesson that the authorities should learn from the Katrina hurricane and its effects (Klein et al., 2008). The natural disaster has revealed the communication problems that must be addressed by authorities. The defective coordination between agencies has also been identified as an important factor that has reduced the efficiency of the strategies developed in order to address the effects of the hurricane.

In addition to this, the hurricane has revealed the fact that government was not able to allocate the necessary resources were they were needed. This refers to employees, to financial resources, and to technical resources. The law enforcement efforts made my de government were not correlated with the real needs of New Orleans after the hurricane. This means that New Orleans authorities did not communicate correctly their situation, or that the government did not understand it, or that it was not able to provide the necessary resources.

However, the law enforcement strategy must be developed in order to be applied to situations where natural disasters take place. The effects of such situations are numerous. Therefore, it is important to develop a flexible strategy that can be easily adapted to different types of situations (Niman, 2005). This is intended to help the authorities react faster and more efficiently to natural disasters. Therefore, their effects can be significantly reduced.

Emergency management is another issue that authorities must increase their efforts in improving (Samaan & Verneuil, 2006). This is because readiness in response is an important factor that can influence the effects of natural disasters. There are situations that cannot be anticipated, but that can be addressed with increased efficiency. This objective can be reached by increasing readiness in response.

The analysis of authorities' reaction to the Katrina hurricane has revealed the fact that they did not react as they should have in the areas affected by the hurricane. In certain areas they responded fast, but not in the most affected areas. In other words, their efforts were oriented in the direction that was less affected by the hurricane, instead of focusing in the areas were the effects were more prominent.

Another factor that the authorities must address in their attempt to improve their response to natural disasters is represented by multiagency coordination. This refers to the cooperation between different state agencies in order to address the effects of the hurricane. Such natural disasters require the joint efforts of numerous agencies. The problem in such cases is that it is difficult to coordinate them. This is because they have different objectives, different strategies, and different resources. Therefore, it is difficult to coordinate them.

However, it is important that the government identifies common factors that can help improve communication between these different agencies. It is important that communications strategies are developed before natural disasters take place. This is because this helps increase readiness to respond to their effects.

In addition to this, agencies should invest in training programs for their employees regarding communication issues. Such investments are necessary in situations where multiagency coordination is required. It is important that communication is improved because this leads to increased efficiency of public agencies that must focus on addressing the effects of such situations and on improving their performance.

Another important lesson that authorities had to learn was that of vulnerability assessment. In other words, it is important that authorities are able to properly assess the damage that hurricanes are likely to produce (Risk Management Solutions, 2005). The authorities' reaction to the damage produced by Katrina has revealed the fact that there were important differences between the modeled and the incurred damages. These differences are determined by several factors. Some of the most important factors that determine such differences in assessments are represented by footprint aspects, data quality, vulnerability, demand surge, damages that are not included in the assessment, replacement cost value, and others.

There are several improvements that have been made regarding authorities' response to natural disasters. Standby recycling contracts represent such an improvement. These contracts mostly refer to recycling activities like market identification and facilitation, but they can be expanded to other activities that are required by disaster management. Such activities include law enforcement, evacuation activities, and others.

In addition to this, the readiness of authorities' response in situations of natural disasters also depends READ MORE

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