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Administrative Breakdowns in the Governmental Response to Hurricane Katrina
Title: Administrative Breakdowns in the Governmental Response to Hurricane Katrina
Date: September/October, 22, 2005
Author: Schneider, SK
Institution: Public Administration Review
Bibliographic Entry: Schneider, SK, Public Administration Review, Vol. 65(5), pp. 515-516, September/October, 22, 2005
Electronic Link: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2005.00478.x
Key Words: Hurricane Katrina; Federal; State; Local government; Response; Disaster; FEMA
Summary of Key Issues, Points, Conclusions:
This report presents a simplistic view of complex events. It purports that the roles of inexperience, partisan politics and struggle to gain or keep power among the various public figures from local, state, and federal governments have been presented in different ways in multiple emerging reports, not included here. The author’s important point is the statement that these political factors interfered with a unified, effective response.
For instance, there was widespread dissatisfaction with the early governmental response to Hurricane Katrina. This report addresses three problems: faltering mobilization, personal problems, and cloudy mission. During the hurricane, the city government was overwhelmed with the magnitude of the disaster and responded very slowly. Also, the state governor refused to declare a state of emergency and a proposal from the White House to put National Guard troops under control of the federal government. The delays, hesitation, and confusion by all levels of government increased the damage from the disaster. Many experts criticized top federal officials in the government’s crisis management system who were not qualified to manage this disaster. Also they did not express strong and decisive leadership in crisis management. Finally, FEMA shifted its focus from natural disaster to antiterrorism, which was fatal for effective management of natural disasters.
Name of Researcher: Jung Eun Kang, Jawad Ali, Rasa Silenas, and Janine C. Edwards
Institution: Health Science Center – Texas A&M University
Date: 01/05/2006