Efforts at mitigation for Hurricane Katrina
There were a great number of challenges that the federal government faced when dealing with Hurricane Katrina in terms of mitigation efforts. Before we get to that, however, let's just look at what mitigation means in a environmental context.
_WHAT IS MITIGATION?
Mitigation is defined by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction as "the lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters."
There are two parts to mitigation: engineering and policy. Engineering refers to the actual physical mitigation efforts of building dams, levees, and other structures designed to prevent an environmental disaster from happening. Policy refers to the policies that try to promote awareness and set laws and rules in place in order to lower the risk of damages, both to people and to buildings.
With this knowledge, let us analyze the efforts at mitigation employed for Hurricane Katrina.
Mitigation is defined by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction as "the lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters."
There are two parts to mitigation: engineering and policy. Engineering refers to the actual physical mitigation efforts of building dams, levees, and other structures designed to prevent an environmental disaster from happening. Policy refers to the policies that try to promote awareness and set laws and rules in place in order to lower the risk of damages, both to people and to buildings.
With this knowledge, let us analyze the efforts at mitigation employed for Hurricane Katrina.
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MITIGATION EFFORTS
1. As soon as Hurricane Katrina hit, a widespread evacuation of New Orleans began.
2. Throughout the Katrina crisis, active non-duty military members, along with the National Guard, provided additional support. A Joint Task Force was created, called JTF-Katrina, in order to better consolidate and organize the military section of support.
3. The Federal Government sent a great deal of supplies and resources when it became clear that FEMA could not properly handle the number of survivors needing medical support.
4. Hurricane Katrina destroyed most methods of traditional communication; FEMA sent multiple Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) detachments to the Gulf Coast region in order to try and re-establish communications. This proved relatively effective.
Despite these efforts at mitigation, Hurricane Katrina caught the nation off-guard and proved that the various organizations and even the government were not prepared for the daunting endeavor of providing necessary support quickly. Here's what could have been done differently, and what the government learned.
MITIGATION EFFORTS
1. As soon as Hurricane Katrina hit, a widespread evacuation of New Orleans began.
2. Throughout the Katrina crisis, active non-duty military members, along with the National Guard, provided additional support. A Joint Task Force was created, called JTF-Katrina, in order to better consolidate and organize the military section of support.
3. The Federal Government sent a great deal of supplies and resources when it became clear that FEMA could not properly handle the number of survivors needing medical support.
4. Hurricane Katrina destroyed most methods of traditional communication; FEMA sent multiple Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) detachments to the Gulf Coast region in order to try and re-establish communications. This proved relatively effective.
Despite these efforts at mitigation, Hurricane Katrina caught the nation off-guard and proved that the various organizations and even the government were not prepared for the daunting endeavor of providing necessary support quickly. Here's what could have been done differently, and what the government learned.
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ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS AND WHAT WAS LEARNED
1. While the MERS detachments proved helpful, there simply was not enough of the units to truly be effective. This was particularly apparent during the beginning of the clean-up process, when the lack of communication caused there to be no awareness on the status of New Orleans. An overall faster response, with more effort at establishing proper communications quickly, would have made the clean-up much easier.
2. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) in an effort to properly address the issues that were present during the clean-up of Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans hurricane protection system, as well as identifying the risks posed to New Orleans should another hurricane hit the region.
3. While the military and the Department of Defense played a big role in responding to Hurricane Katrina, the lack of cohesion between the DoD and the nation's various other response plans made it difficult for both of them to be as effective as possible.
4. Similar to #3, the various departments involved in the response to Hurricane Katrina, such as Homeland Security, Defense, Health and Public Safety, etc. would have all been much more effective had they been communicating with each other on a more extensive level.
Therefore, while Hurricane Katrina was proof that the United States was simply not prepared for the wide-scale effects that the natural disaster caused, there were many things that all the organizations and the government managed to take away from it. Hopefully, the next time something similar happens, the nation will be ready for it.
ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS AND WHAT WAS LEARNED
1. While the MERS detachments proved helpful, there simply was not enough of the units to truly be effective. This was particularly apparent during the beginning of the clean-up process, when the lack of communication caused there to be no awareness on the status of New Orleans. An overall faster response, with more effort at establishing proper communications quickly, would have made the clean-up much easier.
2. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (IPET) in an effort to properly address the issues that were present during the clean-up of Hurricane Katrina and the New Orleans hurricane protection system, as well as identifying the risks posed to New Orleans should another hurricane hit the region.
3. While the military and the Department of Defense played a big role in responding to Hurricane Katrina, the lack of cohesion between the DoD and the nation's various other response plans made it difficult for both of them to be as effective as possible.
4. Similar to #3, the various departments involved in the response to Hurricane Katrina, such as Homeland Security, Defense, Health and Public Safety, etc. would have all been much more effective had they been communicating with each other on a more extensive level.
Therefore, while Hurricane Katrina was proof that the United States was simply not prepared for the wide-scale effects that the natural disaster caused, there were many things that all the organizations and the government managed to take away from it. Hopefully, the next time something similar happens, the nation will be ready for it.