Hurricane Katrina

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Please see response attached. I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

1. Why you think the response to Hurricane Katrina was so slow - at least 4 paragraphs describing?

"The aftermath of Katrina will go down in history as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U.S. history." ~ Louisiana official, Aaron Broussard as he broke down while being interviewed by Tim Russ (1).

Everyone seems to agree that the government's response to Hurricane Katrina was shameful, they just don't agree on who was to blame for it. During the first two weeks after the hurricane, Americans were encouraged not to play "the blame game" by the Bush administration and others, but if we don't pointedly address what went wrong, how can we expect to prevent another such failure?

Although many people blame the President for the slow response, it seems that the initial call from Governor Kathleen Blanco perhaps lacked the preciseness that might have warranted a different response. For example, two days before the hurricane, the White House declared a Federal State of Emergency in Louisiana, as requested by Governor Kathleen Blanco. I would think that if she had been more clear on the first phone call, the White House might have declared it a Federal State of Emergency earlier, at the time of the governor's first phone call.

So due to the lack of preciseness in her demands, two days passed. Why did she wait two days to call again? Part of the statement posted on the White House website reads: "Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency." Considering that, coupled with the magnitude of the storm, and the fact that the Louisiana National Guard was already stretched by the deployment of more than 3,000 troops to Iraq, it's understandable that Louisiana officials expected more of an immediate physical response from the federal government. In the crucial two days following Hurricane Katrina, when it would have mattered most, President Bush ...