Patricia Bird Communication
Communication and Crisis
Roland K Aidoo
HCS/320
5/26/13
Patricia Bird
Communication and Crisis
Hurricane Katrina was considered as one natural disaster. But in reality it was two disasters. The initial disaster was a natural disaster which ripped the coastlands of Louisiana and Mississippi to shreds and left New Orleans a wasteland. The second disaster was the lack of communication and response that took place between federal, regional, state, and local relief agencies and efforts after the hurricane. The two disasters combined have caused a lot of damages to a vast human population. The consequence of Katrina includes a record number of death tolls, injuries, refugees and expenses as well as the rebuilding of approximately 1,300,000 million people.
Our lack of preparation and communication took the lives of one thousand four hundred and twenty people, caused seventy million dollars in damages. Communication breakdown is expected in a time of any natural disaster. Katrina crippled the emergency response team set in place by taking down a four hundred foot antenna built to withstand a 150 mile per hour wind. Due to this some of the public safety systems put in place to serve the police and fire department in the gulf coast stopped working. Most emergency response teams were stranded in terms of communicating amongst each other during a time when coordination of rescue efforts was most important. All of these listed catastrophic events were due to the lack of planning. Katrina exposed a lot of weakness in our communication process. Our phone lines were very vulnerable with almost two million phone lines and cell phone service interrupted or being out of service. It took a while to minimally restore communication services.
One thing I have learned in the health care field is you should never lie to your client. If I was the director of a regional emergency office I will live by the same creed. It is very important not to scare or
Roland K Aidoo
HCS/320
5/26/13
Patricia Bird
Communication and Crisis
Hurricane Katrina was considered as one natural disaster. But in reality it was two disasters. The initial disaster was a natural disaster which ripped the coastlands of Louisiana and Mississippi to shreds and left New Orleans a wasteland. The second disaster was the lack of communication and response that took place between federal, regional, state, and local relief agencies and efforts after the hurricane. The two disasters combined have caused a lot of damages to a vast human population. The consequence of Katrina includes a record number of death tolls, injuries, refugees and expenses as well as the rebuilding of approximately 1,300,000 million people.
Our lack of preparation and communication took the lives of one thousand four hundred and twenty people, caused seventy million dollars in damages. Communication breakdown is expected in a time of any natural disaster. Katrina crippled the emergency response team set in place by taking down a four hundred foot antenna built to withstand a 150 mile per hour wind. Due to this some of the public safety systems put in place to serve the police and fire department in the gulf coast stopped working. Most emergency response teams were stranded in terms of communicating amongst each other during a time when coordination of rescue efforts was most important. All of these listed catastrophic events were due to the lack of planning. Katrina exposed a lot of weakness in our communication process. Our phone lines were very vulnerable with almost two million phone lines and cell phone service interrupted or being out of service. It took a while to minimally restore communication services.
One thing I have learned in the health care field is you should never lie to your client. If I was the director of a regional emergency office I will live by the same creed. It is very important not to scare or
References: Du Pré, A. (2005). Communicating about health: Current issues and perspectives (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. University of Phoenix. (2013). Week Five Read Me First. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HCS 320 website.