Unit 4 Assignment: Hurricane Katrina Response
Hurricane Katrina Response
Unit 4 Assignment
January 7th, 2013
The emergency responders that responded to Hurricane Katrina saved thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars in property. These men and women brought hope to a region devastated by one of the worst disasters in the history of the United States. However, the response to Hurricane Katrina was unsatisfactory by most people’s standards. This meager response greatly overshadowed the high-quality work that the emergency responders performed. The inadequate response can be attributed to each of the four different elements of an effective emergency response. To begin with, the initial response from local emergency responders showed signs of weakness from the beginning. Almost immediately command and control of the situation was inadequate. Command and control was lost for a variety of …show more content…
. . in each case they come up to me and say ‘we are here to serve.’ They have this angelic look on their face and want to be of help, but the first thing they ask is ‘where can we eat, sleep . . .’ and I say, ‘you know we are in the middle of a major disaster, right?’ I mean, I wanted to appreciate their offer, but they only added to my problems. I needed people and supplies, not people to take care of, as I already had that.” (Fischer, Gregoire, Scala, Letukas, Mellon, Romine & Turner, 2006) The emergency response at all levels of the response could have been better.
However, these lessons have saved thousands of lives following disasters. Hopefully, these lessons are passed down for years to come. If we can continue to build off of these lessons, our response to crisis events will be the best in the
Unit 4 Assignment
January 7th, 2013
The emergency responders that responded to Hurricane Katrina saved thousands of lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars in property. These men and women brought hope to a region devastated by one of the worst disasters in the history of the United States. However, the response to Hurricane Katrina was unsatisfactory by most people’s standards. This meager response greatly overshadowed the high-quality work that the emergency responders performed. The inadequate response can be attributed to each of the four different elements of an effective emergency response. To begin with, the initial response from local emergency responders showed signs of weakness from the beginning. Almost immediately command and control of the situation was inadequate. Command and control was lost for a variety of …show more content…
. . in each case they come up to me and say ‘we are here to serve.’ They have this angelic look on their face and want to be of help, but the first thing they ask is ‘where can we eat, sleep . . .’ and I say, ‘you know we are in the middle of a major disaster, right?’ I mean, I wanted to appreciate their offer, but they only added to my problems. I needed people and supplies, not people to take care of, as I already had that.” (Fischer, Gregoire, Scala, Letukas, Mellon, Romine & Turner, 2006) The emergency response at all levels of the response could have been better.
However, these lessons have saved thousands of lives following disasters. Hopefully, these lessons are passed down for years to come. If we can continue to build off of these lessons, our response to crisis events will be the best in the