Hurricane Katrina
Background on Katrina and its Aftermath
Hurricane Katrina formed on 23 August 2005 and dissipated on 31 August 2005. In her nine day life Katrina would wreck devastation across several states and destroy the city of New Orleans. Overall Katrina would take at least 1836 lives and cause over $80 billion dollars in damage making it the most expensive disaster in US history. The after effects of Katrina continue to this day. The general perception is that the US disaster preparedness and response system including all levels of government and disaster non-governmental organizations failed in their initial response to Katrina. Thus governments and NGOs at all levels continue to study Katrina to prevent future debacles. The political fallout from Katrina also continues as New Orleans attempts to rebuild with a population that to this day is less than half of the pre-Katrina number.
Read the Wikipedia article on Hurricane Katrina for a basic understanding of the storm and its implications at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina
Frontline: "The Storm"
We begin our case study of Hurricane Katrina with a Frontline documentary available from the PBS website via streaming video. As an educator, I personally love Frontline as I believe it is fair, balanced, well researched, and hard hitting beyond anything on commercial television. I also love Frontline because they have over sixty of their best episodes available as streaming video for free. Here is a little background on Frontline from the PBS website.
Since January 1983, FRONTLINE has served as American public television's - PBS - flagship public affairs series. Hailed upon its television broadcast debut as "the last best hope for broadcast documentaries," FRONTLINE's stature over 25 years is reaffirmed each week through incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience.
When FRONTLINE was born, however, the prospects for television news documentaries looked grim. Pressure was on the network news departments to become profitable, and the spirit of outspoken journalistic inquiry established by programs like Edward R. Murrow's "See It Now" and "Harvest of Shame" had given way to entertainment values and feature-filled magazine shows. Therefore, it fell to public television to pick up the torch of public affairs and continue this well-established broadcast news tradition.
Since its inception, FRONTLINE has never shied away from tough, controversial issues or complex stories. In an age of anchor celebrities and snappy sound bites, FRONTLINE remains committed to providing a primetime venue for engaging documentaries that fully explore and illuminate the critical issues of our times. FRONTLINE remains the only regularly scheduled long-form public-affairs documentary series on American television, producing more hours of documentary programming than all the commercial networks combined.
"Television's last fully serious bastion of journalism."
Newsday
From producer Ofra Bikel's extraordinary investigations of America's criminal justice system including, most recently, The OJ Verdict, to Martin Smith and Lowell Bergman's sweeping chronicle of America's drug wars; from the 40+ reports to date produced by Smith, Michael Kirk, Greg Barker, Raney Aronson and others on Iraq and the war on terror to Helen Whitney's probing biography of Pope John Paul, FRONTLINE gives top-notch journalists the time needed to thoroughly research a story and the time on-air to tell their story in a compelling way.
Credible, thoughtful reporting combined with powerful narrative — a good story, well-told. That is the heart of FRONTLINE's commitment to its viewers.
Required Viewing
Access Frontline's "The Storm" at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/storm/ and watch the entire video. I also encourage you to review the website for this episode and examine the Interviews, Analysis, and Timeline sections for further information.
The Federal Response
President George Bush suffered severe criticism for the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. He charged his Assistant for Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism to oversee a study that determined what went right and wrong, and what changes should be made to prepare for the next Katrina.
Reading
Read the Foreword, Chapter 5, and Appendix A, and scan the rest of the material in "The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned" available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/index.html
A Failure of Initiative
The United States Congress initiated a series of investigations to determine what went wrong with the federal response to Katrina. A number of reports about Katrina are available from the U.S. House of Representatives at http://katrina.house.gov/.
Reading
Read the Executive Summary of "A Failure of Initiative" available at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/katrinareport/execsummary.pdf.
If you are interested, the full report is available at: http://katrina.house.gov/full_katrina_report.htm
NGO Responses to Katrina
Non-Governmental Organizations play a crucial role in disaster relief. Some NGOs spring up shortly after a major disaster as groups of concerned citizens who want to help their neighbors. Other NGOs are enduring charitable organizations such as the Salvation Army that bring resources to bear rapidly in an emergency. The premier NGO for disaster relief in the United States is the American Red Cross.
As you will learn in future lessons, the Red Cross Movement consists of the International Commission of the Red Cross/Red Crescent (ICRC), and The International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent (IFRC). The ICRC based in Geneva, Switzerland is mandated by international treaty to support several functions during armed conflict including emergency humanitarian relief, protection of human rights, detainee visits, etc. The ICRC is funded by contributions by all the signatory governments to the Geneva Conventions and has a one billion Swiss Frank budget per year. The IFRC is the umbrella organization for the national Red Cross movements. Each national movement has its own charter and often has a relationship and charter from their national government to provide certain services and capabilities.
Mission Statement
The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers and guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, will provide relief to victims of disaster and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
- Humanity
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield endeavours, in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace among all peoples.
- Impartiality
It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.
- Neutrality
In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.
- Independence
The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.
- Voluntary Service
It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire for gain.
- Unity
There can be only one Red Cross or one Red Crescent Society in any one country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.
- Universality
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other, is worldwide.
http://www.redcross.org/index.html
The American Red Cross plays a key role in American disaster preparedness and response. While ARC volunteers made significant contributions during Katrina, the organization acknowledged shortcomings within its operations. In an effort to improve and be prepared for future Katrinas, the ARC published "From Challenge to Action: American Red Cross Actions To Improve and Enhance Its Disaster Response and Related Capabilities For the 2006 Hurricane Season and Beyond" in June 2006.
Reading
Read the Executive Summary and scan the rest of "From Challenge to Action" for a sense of the challenges Katrina posed for a major American NGO and the ARC's plans for change.
The Worst is yet to Come
Katrina was a disaster but some would say the catastrophe was our response to the storm. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and Katrina caused serious consideration of the American ability to deal with the consequences of a serious natural or technological disaster. Political leaders, scholars, and citizens ask the legitimate question of what will America do as a nation to be prepared for the next Katrina, nuclear accident, or major terrorist attack?
Reading
Read the following research paper from Donald F. Kettl of the Fels Institute of Government of the University of Pennsylvania entitled "The Worst is yet to Come: Lessons from September 11 and Hurricane Katrina."
