Term Paper on "Fed State and Local Response to Katrina"

Term Paper 4 pages (1410 words) Sources: 0

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Federal, State, and Local Response to Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most significant and expensive natural disasters that has ever taken place in the United States. Despite the fact that it was something that the residents of Mississippi and Louisiana knew was coming, many of them did not evacuate, either because they could not realistically do so, or because they did not feel that the storm was going to be as strong as what the predictions stated. Regardless of their reasons, many people were left behind when the storm had passed. Quite a few people lost their lives in the storm, and many of those that survived were injured or trapped in their homes by the rising flood waters in New Orleans when the levees that surround the city failed to hold up to Katrina's wrath and the extra push of water that they received. Since New Orleans is mostly below sea level, it is not surprising that some of the city flooded with the heavy rains that inundated it. However, if the levees would have held, the flooding would not have been as deep or as wide-spread as what it ended up being, and many of the people in New Orleans would have been spared.

As catastrophic as Hurricane Katrina actually was, the problems that people in Louisiana and Mississippi had with the storm were compounded by the lack of a rapid response from Federal, State, and Local officials. All of these levels of government should have been there for these individuals that were suffering, and also for those that evacuated and had no homes left to go to. On a local level, there were several problems with the response to Katrina. New Orleans, especially, did not react well. Before the storm hit, there was almost an entire parking lot full of empty school buses with full gas tanks. They could have been used to transport many of the lower income people out of the city and save them and some of their belongings from the wind, rain, and flooding. However, nothing was done with these buses, and after the storm they were nothing but a crumbled heap of metal.

The local response after the storm was also not that good, and many of the police and other emergency workers that tried to help those that were trapped could not get to these people to help them. There were shootings in New Orleans, and gangs running in the streets, as well as much looting. Some of this could not be helped, but the police could not stop them as quickly as possible because they were not prepared for this kind of disaster. This lack of preparedness also included the fact that New Orleans had been told for years that its levees would not hold up to something like Katrina, but nothing was done to make them stronger. The chief complaint against fixing the levees was that it would cost too much, but New Orleans has a much more expensive problem now. A lot of the expense belongs to the residents, but there are many city buildings in New Orleans, as well as Biloxi, Mississippi and other surrounding communities, that also have to be repaired.

On a state level, there were also problems. In Alabama, which was not as hard-hit by Katrina but still had some damage, things seemed to go very smoothly, but Louisiana and Mississippi had many difficulties. The most serious problem seemed to be the fact that the people had trouble getting supplies, and many were not allowed to return to their homes to get the belongings that they had been unable to take when they left the area. There was much frustration, curfews were set, and a lot of people had nowhere to go. It is not so much that the states have not done anything for those displaced by Katrina, but more that the actual time that it took to respond was too slow. Many private citizens and private companies did more for evacuees and those that were trapped in the first few days after the storm than the states did, and this angered many people that felt that they needed the help right away,… READ MORE

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