Hurricane Katrina Aftermath; What We Have Here is a Failure to Communicate

As we see the rescue efforts from FEMA and the United States Military bring things under control in New Orleans, we see the rescue efforts turn to rebuilding tasks. We are also seeing information come out of the chaos, which ensued in the beginning phases immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

One FEMA director did suggest that the problem was in communication. No kidding? But chaos happens in times of war, large horse shows, Disaster Response and even during massive wildfire fighting. This is why first responders, War planners, large event planners and disaster assistance planners have fail safe systems in place to prevent or minimize the chaos in the fog of war or the early morning before the event when all the demanding and persnickety people start showing up.

California in fighting their wild fires came up with the mutual assistance program, to help agencies, contractors and non-profits work together. This model was also use in creation of the Interagency Wildfire Fighting Teams. These models were considered in the FEMA response plan as well and have been used over and over again, in the middle of Natural Disasters to cut thru the fog of war or the chaos of shear fear and catastrophe. We have had planning, we have studied what went wrong in nearly every disaster and event ever undertaken. The problem is not with the response of FEMA. Yes we should evaluate what went wrong and what went right as in any unfortunate event whether it a Wildfire, California Earthquake, Flood, Hurricane or the events like the OKC Bombing or 9-11; that goes without saying. We would be failing if we did not evaluate to make the system work better, faster and more efficient. But the real problem here was a failure to communicate. Think on this.