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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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March
2006
Volume
10 - Number 2 |
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The Hurricane Katrina disaster touched me very deeply, just as when I was teenager in my country, Colombia. Some years ago, back on Nov. 13, 1985 in Armero, Colombia, a violent eruption of the Nevado Del Ruiz volcano killed twenty-three thousand townspeople in a few short minutes and the village was buried by mud and rocks. Natural disasters happen and there is no way that we can stop natural phenomena from occurring. I believe that people need to educate themselves to be prepared for, respond to and protect against natural disasters. Experts and people in charge of disaster management need to find ways to allow everyone to participate. For instance, they can help local officials, citizens and private organizations to respond appropriately to emergencies by developing courses, workshops and training programs. When Hurricane Katrina happened, it became one of the most costly and destructive events in The United States history. This time, we were not prepared for it. The local capacity was not enough to manage the size of the damages. Lack of coordination, authority and communication made it uncontrollable. Helping to build that local capacity is the biggest contribution that can be made and everyone needs to be involved in the process. I think that the government was very slow to respond to reports from weather people, was not prepared, and managed the situation and response inadequately. Instead of looking for people who have experience, knowledge and skills to handle the situation, the head of the nation and the leaders of institutions were overwhelmed and confused. One positive impact that I can observe is the lesson that we all have learned from this horrible experience. Now the government took responsibility for the poor performance and is making sure that this is not going to happen again. Being in this Crisis and Emergency class gives me another perspective of the situation. I have been reading about Preparedness Directorate, acts, opinions, and articles that show me the interest of the government to do things better. This is a sad time for people everywhere, with the destruction, loss of life, and continuing consequences left over from this disaster that directly affected Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. It is certainly not a time to blame people for their mistakes. Instead, we have to educate ourselves in what we can do to help, how as a community we can help, and how as a region, state or nation we can contribute to a better response and learn from the mistakes to avoid them in the future. On the government side, there are people already in charge with the authority to step forward and coordinate activities as well as act faster. There are also developing plans to set down capabilities. Reports have been written analyzing what actually occurred and offering ways to improve the preparedness and response. I can only hope that these reports do not stay as just mere words but are turned into actions. The Federal government and other institutions such as the American Red Cross are still assisting people who were victims of this disaster. For instance, thousand of people are living in hotels and are receiving assistance from government. There are thousands of people restoring the cities working many hours a day. Not all but some of the assistance that has been done since Hurricane Katrina has made landfall: financial assistance to approximately 1.2 million families, more than 3.7 million hurricane survivors, nearly 3.42 million overnight stays in nearly 1,100 shelters across 27 states and the District of Columbia and served more than 27.4 million hot meals and 25.2 million snacks to hurricane survivors to date, among others. There are many things that have to be done to improve response on disasters like Hurricane Katrina. I believe the United States is working toward a better response so we all will be prepared and ready. Help is there, we just have to be organized and learn more about emergency management, and I have started doing my part by taking this class. |