Report Card on Katrina: Administrative Progress Four Years Hence

Excerpt

With the benefit of four years’ distance from the initial shock of the disaster itself, and the emotional outrage of administrative failures in the wake of Katrina, we can now address the efficacy of both recovery programs and leadership efforts with greater objectivity. Ranked as the second worst natural disaster in U.S. history and one of the fifteen worst globally (LiveScience 2009), heightened attention is paid to the lessons learned from post-Katrina recovery efforts, with an eye toward what can be done to contain and mitigate damage resultant of future such events. With the U.S. heretofore positioned as the most successful industrialized nation in the world, the spotlight is on how well we have applied our resources, knowledge, technology, management and communication skills, and governmental and social networks to redress the consequences of Katrina on our citizenry, economics, and business sectors. From the key top scholars who contributed to a volume focusing on administrative failure in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina (Jurkiewicz 2007), those whose work included measurables that could be realistically reassessed within the four year period hence were invited to revisit their respective areas of study. They were asked to re-examine these aspects of administrative failure to assess progress as well as to analyze what, if progress has not occurred, were the factors inhibiting recovery. Their analysis and insights bring to light many dimensions of recovery that will be useful not only in furthering efforts to rectify the damage of this particular disaster, but for all those interested in emergency and disaster management and recovery worldwide. As is revealed through these series of articles, if hindsight is 20/20, the road ahead is long and replete with hurdles. Not only in resource allocation and infrastructure restoration can we identify clear needs for advancement, but what has become increasingly obvious is that the roadblocks to progress are more often political and cultural rather than resource-based. The implications for future recovery efforts, as well as for those still directed at the effects of Katrina, are a need to extend mitigation efforts beyond resource delivery and management to include political, cultural, and social intervention. The authors offer fresh perspectives on progress post-Katrina, concise analysis of what has been effective and what needs to be done, and suggestions on where we need to focus our efforts into the future. …