Katrina/9-11

Victoria Bean
Mod 3
AP History
September 11, 2005
Current Events

Chronology of errors: how a disaster spread - The Boston Globe

The government’s preparation and the reaction to hurricane Katrina was unacceptable for the Untied States. The U.S. government was unable to properly coordinate and organize a relief force to go to Louisiana before, during, and after the storm. The National Weather Bureau was fully aware of the intensity and the dangers of the storm and properly tracked, and communicated its progress. Even with early notification of the hurricane, the government did not react quickly with the information, allowing bureaucratic processes to delay their response. For days, police, fire fighters and the U.S. Coast Guard were left alone to deal with the catastrophe in the Gulf Coast. It was due to the uncoordinated effort, slow decision making and lack of leadership by officials on all levels, local, state, and federal, that relief for the thousands in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama was not received until days after Katrina had wreaked its havoc.

What is so disturbing about the poor reaction to Katrina was that the government was aware of the magnitude of the devastation, yet still did little to aid the situation until days later. The government knew an event such as this could occur in the Gulf Coast and had years to prepare for the inevitable disaster. Even with this knowledge, they failed to provide the citizens with a sufficient evacuation and relief effort. In comparison, on September 11, the United States government had thousands of reinforcements, ambulances, fire departments, and police, in New York within hours. They had no warning of the attack on the World Trade Center, yet the government was able to assemble federal, state, and local forces to come to the aid of their citizens quickly and effectively, just as should have been done for those in the Gulf Coast.