Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Introduction
Catastrophes result to loss of human life, destruction of property, injuries and shifting of national economy. Despite the fact that little can be done to alter the weather, little can be done to prevent the eventualities brought about by hurricanes and other manmade disasters. Brevard et al, (2008) Stipulate that over the years, scientist have designed structures meant to make the living environment resilient to a hurricane occurrence. Moreover, some certain areas have been identified as prone to hurricane attacks resulting to establishment of levees. These leeves prevent the area from flooding and damage brought by strong winds. Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Moreover, some architects have recommended construction of some houses in a certain design in order to withstand the effects of a hurricane. However, the only safe way to ensure the lives of citizens is through evacuation. Hurricane Katrina defied the simple concept of evacuating people which entails moving away from danger. According to Stephens et al, (2007) the hurricane challenged the evacuation process due to its magnitude. Evacuating millions of people is such a herculean task as depicted by hurricane Katrina. The scale of the hurricane paralyzed the whole evacuation process which resulted to loss of more lives especially the elderly and little babies who were left for the dead by the hospital employees following the occurrence of the catastrophe.
Evacuations results to disruption and inconveniences which makes victims of the perils reluctant to move until the danger is in the offing. This results to traffic during evacuation process hindering translocation. The residents of New Orleans had the same notion which led to crippled evacuation mission. Numerous difficulties were encountered in the evacuation process which resulted to failures. However, the federal government collaborates with state government via agencies to ensure complete evacuation of stranded New Orleans citizens. This paper will analyze the Federal State Corporation, intergovernmental cooperation; challenges faced from Hurricane Katrina and detail some recommendation on how a similar future disaster can be handled. Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Hurricane Katrina
The department of weather had earlier stipulated that the winds surfing towards the Gulf coast of New Orleans had increased in magnitude signaling occurrence of a hurricane. Brevard et al, (2008) detail that National Weather Service had issued a warning that the areas near the coast were inhabitable in light with the occurring storms. The state and local government failed to communicate to the people about impending danger despite the weather department identifying the storm in category 4. The local authority failed to sensitize the issue to the citizens of New Orleans which escalated to a disaster.
Thousands of New Orleans citizens were trapped in roof tops, city and some waited for days before they could be assisted from Super dome and New Orleans convection center. In addition, a number of buses were trapped in the water which barred evacuation. The local government lacked volunteers and resources to move the stranded citizens out of the facilities. The New Orleans governor waited until the storm escalated in order to ask for federal assistance. The delay made by state officials to ask for assistance hampered the evacuation process. The 19 hours interval was insufficient to evacuate millions of people in New Orleans city (Burby 2010). Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Evacuation
The media spread the word that some of the residents were trapped in the city of New Orleans, others in building surrounded by water, rooftops , Superdome and New Orleans Convection Center on 30th Tuesday, 2005. The storm had interfered with connection cables and lines making communication impossible. Rodriguez et al, (2009) detail that no channels of communication functionedwhich made evacuation more problematic. The Louisiana governor sought assistance from the Texas mayor of evacuating residents from the Superdome. State, city and local agencies collaborated in the mission in order to rescue the suffering residents. Chua et al, (2011) stipulate that all partners were familiar with each other since they had collaborated in earlier missions concerning public security.
The team formulated a strategy which entailed evacuation of resident, provision of first aid to the evacuees, and reporting of rescued citizens in order to speed up rescue process of the trapped citizens in rooftops and city. Each member of the team was tasked with a role upon which no excuses could be accepted. The local agencies consisted of medical staffthat screened the evacueesand ensured food safety. The Superdome was the only fortress in which the evacuated residents could be sheltered in before they could be finally evacuated to safer areas. Stephens et al, (2007) detail that the Harris County Medical Society and Baylor College of Medicine collaborated effectively in ensuring the health of evacuees was maintained. In addition the group inspected food and, maintained the health of incident command group. Evacuation Process Sample Essay
In addition the medical staffconveyed information to the evacueesand public on the mission plan of the group which neutralized any false alarms created by unscrupulous media groups. The group was very pivotal and important in the whole rescue mission since they also contacted other organizations when the command system required additional efforts to the rescue process. The unavailability of resources and increasing number of evacuees in the facility made the command team to modify the rescue strategies. State of Alabama provided military troops to aid in the rescue process of the New Orleans citizens. Moreover, they provided medical aid and provided generators to the facility since power lines had been destroyed by the hurricane. Louisiana provided National Guard army which distributed water to the evacuees and provided medical support. Evacuation Process Sample Essay
The state collaborated in effectively in the evacuation process resulting to salvation of lives. Chua et al, (2011) stipulate that the state cooperation was very high since human life was more important than starting a blame game. The team operated from a focal point that required all parties to work from one central point. This enhanced accountability and enhanced team work. Also, the central command established a network which influenced the group activities through funding. However, some of the volunteered agencies operated outside the command of the central command which constituted deviousness.Such agencies operated contrarily to the mission of the team which led to subsequent elimination.
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The federal government funded the evacuation process and provided the state government with troops to facilitate in the evacuation process. According to Rodriguez et al, (2009) some situations such as a catastrophe will overwhelm the state and local government resulting to seeking assistance from the federal government. In addition, FEMA partnered with the local transportation department in delivery of food supplies to the safe facilities and evacuation of the residents from the facility. The routes leading to New Orleans city was impassible due to traffic caused by vacating residents and vehicles providing food and other resources to the residents in the facilities.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
The goal of the rescue team was to move as many people as possible out of the city into a safer haven within the shortest time possible. Due to the few lanes available, veneration to the city was greatly hindered. Nevertheless, the state provided alternative routes for passage through the department of transport which led to successful evacuation of quite a number of residents despite communication barriers. Notably, AmeriCorps assisted FEMA to ferry the evacuated residents into safe havens. Moreover, Red Cross agency played a key part in providing residents with first aids and voluntary took part in rescue the citizens trapped in rooftops. Despite the evacuation process being termed as uncoordinated and slow, the stakeholders managed to safe the lives of many people.
Disaster situations call for cooperation and coordinated support in order to save the lives of the public which is the ultimate purpose of a rescue mission. Hurricane Katrina evacuation mission enhanced intergovernmental cooperation with many agencies coming forth to help the stranded citizens. Additionally, the federal and state government worked in handy to allocated food and shelter to the resident which is a display of cooperation. The evacuation mission however was not a smooth sail, FEMA and other state agencies encountered several challenges which impacted on the support provided.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Challenges
- Federal law and policy caused the duty of the military to be dependent upon requests for assistance. Burby (2010),stipulates that the law requires that the military will only act following an assistance call. This resulted to slowed evacuation response increasing the death toll of residents. In addition the military work and operate following a certain flow of command from top to bottom. They had to wait for the president’s signal and command in order to engage themselves in the evacuation process despite residents suffering. This procedure of waiting command and delegation from a top office costed more lives of the citizens. More so, the duties performed by the National Guard and military were much uncoordinated since both were directed by two distinct bosses. The president directed the military while the governor mandated the National Guard.
- Communication was greatly hindered following destruction of the lines by Hurricane Katrina. The storm destroyed a large portion core communication infrastructure along the Gulf Coast. Burby (2010),detailsthose 911 emergency lines were wrecked resulting to interruption of local emergency services.Radio and television station lost their connection leaving the public in the dark unawares of the proceedings and impact of the storm. Millions of people had no access to telephone services which made it more difficult trace them. In Mississippi, utility poles were wrecked by the storm leaving customers with connection even if the electricity lines were functioning. These communication challenges added more problems to the rescue process. Emergency responders and volunteers were left without a reliable network for coordination of evacuation mission.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Despite the fact that the federal, state and local governments had available assets in place, these resources were insufficient to integrate in order to respond effectively to the tragedy. Many resources within the federal jurisdiction were not fully utilized to aid in the mission since there lacked a plan of integrating the materials into the process. A strategic plan had not been instituted in place that could improve connection to the responders in times of crisis. The existing resources within the federal jurisdiction need to be integrated effectively in moments of crisis to foster coordination of operation.
- The Federal director had a hard time in knowing which resources were available and which ones were neededwhere in the evacuation mission. Brevard et al, (2008) detail that even when the director was away of the needed resources, he was faced with the challenge of determining whether the government had the required resources in order to fulfill that need.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Moreover, there wasn’t an alternative of fulfilling the need if the federal government lacked the resources. The agencies would approach FEMA with a list of resources required which they deemed important during the rescue mission but FEMA lacked an appropriate way of integrating the resource and arraying to the agency. This challenge had a significant impact to the rescue process. In addition, FEMA lacked a mechanism for noticing the availed resources once they were shipped which incapacity the functioning of the organizations.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
- The incident command established by the agencies lacked integrity which greatly affected the mission. Integrity issues resulted to incoordination which resulted to incidences of many teams being sent to the same place. Such a big mission requires that all involved stakeholders coordinate and cooperate optimally in order to establish a common goal. Kapucu et al, (2010) add that some of the agencies started malpracticebehaviors which destabilized the unity initially established. Moreover, many liberationteams were sent to the same spot unknowingly and when evacuation was made to residents, some of the joining agencies lacked a direction on where to take the evacuees often leaving them at some landing zones due to lack of logistics. This was a major problem brought by uncoordinated rescue mission.
Amid all these challenges, the intergovernmental cooperation lead to salvation many residents trapped in the claws of Hurricane Katrina. National disaster situation often fosters volunteerism and collaboration of different parties and organization which are important virtues during that process.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Lessons learnt
Nevertheless, the hurricane managed to teach the governments some few lessons in order to mitigate on future occurrence of such a danger.
- Catastrophic events call for harmonization of various organizations and agencies both public and private. The current structure mandates the Federal government with the responsibility ofallocation resources to the state government upon request during a crisis. The existing National Incident Management System is not sufficient enough to ensure response and provision of required resources to affected areas with a magnitude similar to that of Hurricane Katrina. This calls for more private agencies to chip in to provide required resources in order to save citizens in disaster.
- Local Incident Command centers are vital organs of the local governments. For example, the State government realized that the storms were escalating and needed assistance from other states. But due to the interfered communication networks, a response was not coordinated. Even the federal government encountered problems in rescuing the stranded citizens a function that could be carried out by the state governments.
- The federal government should allocate more resources to the State governments and train the local governments on ways to respond to such a catastrophe without rely on the help from Federal government first. Stephens et al, (2007) depicts that severity of Katrina overwhelmed the local government making them look upon the central government. Therefore, the Federal government should equip the local governments with skills on how to effectively carry out such a disaster response.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Recommendation
The local authority should ensure sensitization of disaster information to the public. Leaders are the important guides and roadmaps to the public. They should ensure that all information about a disaster is conveyed and acted upon by the public. New Orleans authority had information and was away that a disaster was in the offing. However, they failed to enforce the information to the public and castigate a reaction which resulted to loss of life and properties.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Conclusion
Inarguably, the rescue process was collaborative effort from different stakeholders of the economy. Such situations test the cooperation level of different organizations within the government. Hurricane Katrina unearthed some areas within the local government that require assistance from the Federal government. Empowering the local government with resources will results to a faster disaster response. The intergovernmental relationship that existed during evacuation process led to success.In matters of public concern, the differences between the Federal and state government are left aside in order to focus on the disaster.
Reference list
Brevard, S. B., Weintraub, S. L., Aiken, J. B., Halton, E. B., Duchesne, J. C., McSwainJr, N. E., … & Marr, A. B. (2008). Analysis of disaster response plans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: lessons learned from a level I trauma center. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 65(5), 1126-1132.
Burby, R. J. (2010). Hurricane Katrina and the paradoxes of government disaster policy: Bringing about wise governmental decisions for hazardous areas. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 604(1), 171-191
Chua, A. Y., Kaynak, S., & Foo, S. S. (2011). An analysis of the delayed response to Hurricane Katrina through the lens of knowledge management.Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 58(3), 391-403.
Kapucu, N., Arslan, T., &Demiroz, F. (2010).Collaborative emergency management and national emergency management network.Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, 19(4), 452-468.Evacuation Process Sample Essay
Rodriguez, H., Trainor, J., &Quarantelli, E. L. (2009).Rising to the challenges of a catastrophe: The emergent and prosocial behavior following Hurricane Katrina.The annals of the American academy of political and social science, 604(1), 82-101.
Stephens, G. Ross &Wikstrom, Nelson (2007).American intergovernmental relations: a fragmented federal polity. Oxford University Press, New York. Evacuation Process Sample Essay
