Criticisms Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was a tropical cyclone that hit the southern coast of the United States in 2005. About 1,836 people lost their lives and another 700 people were missing. One of the deadliest recent natural disasters to occur in the United States, it cost about $81 billion in damage. The largest loss of life and damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, when the levee system designed to prevent floods in the city failed. Four years after the disaster, thousands of residents were still living in trailers. Many people believe that the way the United States government reacted to Hurricane Katrina was full of mismanagement and riddled with a lack of preparation to provide hurricane relief. There was also a major delay in the hurricane help response to the flooding. This has led many people to believe that it was due to the region’s large African American population, and the inadequate response was fueled by racism.

The Delayed Hurricane Relief Response:
One of the main claims in the hurricane help effort was the lack of assumed leadership. This was the biggest contributor to the delayed response that New Orleans experienced. Days after the levees broke and the flood waters raged through the city, visibly shaken politicians were shown on television as victims of the hurricane remained stranded without clean food and water. The lack of swiftness in the hurricane relief effort allowed deaths to continue to rise even after the hurricane passed, as people died from thirst and exhaustion. In addition, as tension within the city grew, so did the violence. Many people began looting homes and stores, and attacking each other in the process, adding to the death toll.

President George W. Bush assigned Michael Chertoff, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate a hurricane relief effort. Both the President and Chertoff came under fire for their slow effort to aid victims in the hurricane. As a result, many officials holding office in disaster relief operations resigned, such as Michael D. Brown resigning as director of FEMA.

Inadequate Shelter for Hurricane Victims:
As victims of the hurricane were left without homes and other forms of shelter, thousands of them were directed to large facilities, such as the Superdome (a football stadium designed to house 800 victims) and the New Orleans Civic Center. About 30,000 displaced victims were sent to the Superdome and 25,000 to the Civic Center, which is not designed to house victims of a disaster. This mismanagement was also deeply criticized in the hurricane relief effort.

International View:
On an international level, the criticized hurricane relief effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was widely reported. The United Kingdom expressed a great deal of concern over the racism claims and the UK Mirror stated that they believed that while there are many great things about the United States, the hurricane relief effort in Louisiana exposed a “vile underbelly [of the U.S.] which is usually kept well out of sight…”