"During Katrina, virtually every system failed: Internet communications, radio transmissions, cell phones, even backup gear such as satellite phones handed out by federal relief workers after the storm. Even when the equipment worked, officials from different agencies and jurisdictions could not talk with one another. Their radios were simply not compatible."
-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/09/AR2005120902039.html
Not only did nearly every communication system fail, communication between agencies and officers on the ground were hardly cooperative towards each other because of bureaucracy. A lot of the damage caused by the Hurricane Katrina could have been avoided if bureaucracy was put aside for the betterment of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. One of the biggest things that bureaucracy stove piped was the need for improved technology in the area. There were the wrong type of cell phone towers located in New Orleans and in the surrounding areas. In addition to having the wrong type, they were not waterproof. The generators were also neglected in New Orleans in the same ways that the cell phone towers were. Those two areas alone led to having massive power outages when they were rendered useless by the hurricane that hit the coast.
After the attack on the twin towers on September 11, 2001, the NIMS system was created to help coordinate federal, state, and local agency’s emergency preparedness and incident management. When the National Incident Management System was created we thought that the communication crises and failures that we faced during and after the attacks on the twin towers would be a thing of the past. Hurricane Katrina undid that optimistic view of the NIMS system. When Katrina hit and caused mass devastation to the Gulf Coast Region, we had thought that the NIMS system would solve the problems we faced in the aftermath of 9/11, rather it showed us that NIMS was a band-aid but not a permanent fix to the communication failures that occurred again.
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteNice synopsis of the material we've read. I'm wondering what your critical analysis in all this is? Both of the examples above about Katrina and NIMS are displays of both a lack of coordination among groups and the lack of compatibility among communication systems. In other words, if one communication system fails for whatever reason, there are no back-ups because the system lacks redundancy. But as you mentioned, it seems like the lessons we should have learned from 9/11 and the resulting NIMS system didn't work out as well as we hoped for...no where near in fact. The very same article you provided mentions how, even before the hurricane hit, police barracks were already starting to lose internet connection and communication towers were going down. As an SRA major, what are your views about this? Was not enough done between the 9/11 event and the creation of NIMS? Is inadequacy of communication systems something that is even avoidable given the unpredictable natures of the disasters we're studying?
Jennifer, I believe that the main point of your blog hit me right away in the second paragraph, which was that Bureaucracy caused lack of communication between government agencies and relief efforts. It caused such a huge problem as we discussed multiple times in class because all of the separate agencies refused to share intelligence and resources with each other and tried to do it all on their own separately. All this did was lead to mass confusion among all of the different groups that were attempting to help in the relief efforts. This led to the victims of Hurricane Katrina to help both themselves and others giving them a major part to play in the relief efforts as well.
ReplyDeleteYou brought up another very interesting point that New Orleans was not at all prepared for this event to take place. Between the city being under see level and the backup generators not being water proof, New Orleans made many mistakes that could have been avoided if they would have just been better prepared and had a better crisis mitigation plans to get the city back on track after the hurricane. The massive power outages due to this made getting New Orleans back on track a very difficult thing to accomplish.
Another thing that I really liked about this blog post was how you explained NIMS. It actually made me chuckle when you said, “Rather it showed us that NIMS was a band-aid, but not a permanent fix to the communication failures that occurred “. Although I thought this was a funny comment it was actually completely true. I feel that you did a great job expressing this and you do a very good job keeping your reader interested in your blogs. Overall, this was a great blog post and I really enjoyed reading it.
Your introduction quote is exactly what happened and the problem with 9/11 and Katrina. I think the biggest problem that the quote talks about is the inability of communication between the officials from different agencies and jurisdictions.
ReplyDeleteI believe that if bureaucracy would get out of the way of some portions of the emergency response system for disasters in this country, I believe things would get done in an efficient way. In an area like New Orleans, that has a greater chance of having a large hurricane that can instill damage into the area you would think with all of the technology that the United States has, there would be technologies in place for certain types of damages (i.e., wind and water). I believe one of the biggest problems with a hurricane is the water issues because water can ruin generators that power the make shift cell phone towers. I would be nice to see generators that are built with water proof casings. I believe that bureaucracy should not have been stove piping the New Orleans areas for upgraded technology during an emergency situation like Hurricane Katrina caused because that is not something that people who take office swear to do. They are in Washington or in the state congresses to represent the needs of the people they are representing. If there is a need for new technology for disaster response and relief then you should try to always get that area better technology or sign bills that will devote money to help those efforts.
You bring up the NIMS (National Incident Management System), the one that was supposed to fix how our country responds to emergencies and disasters. I don’t know if it will work in the face of a hurricane but I wonder if it will work if there would ever be another event like 9/11 again. I hope there is no event like 9/11 again, but if there were I do not know if this system would work or not because it hasn’t proven itself yet. I think that there is one good part about the system and that it has standardization and has requirements for processes, procedures and systems designed to improve operability among jurisdictions and disciplines in various areas.