1. The national, state, and local government each had individual roles. However, they also shared roles. In the video, it was kind of hard to identify the different roles since roles kept getting blamed on others. Although it is a chain reaction, each government does has its own roles. It is the local government’s job to supply resources that they have available to them. They must then alert the state government when there are not enough resources. The state government then steps in. If troops are needed, they must report to the federal government. If resources are also needed, they must notify the federal government. Once the resources have been supplied, the state must then evaluate the locations which need most help and ration the resources. The federal government’s job is to assist the state and local government. They must provide them with what they need. Those are their roles when a disaster occurs. When it comes to planning natural disasters, their roles change. It is the federal government’s job to provide the state government with money. The state must use the money to come with ways of making the state more prepared for natural disasters. The local must follow the state plans and make sure all citizens are aware of what to do.
2. The video really opened my eyes to the many mistakes that could have and should have been avoided. I feel the blame should go to the federal government. The local and state government did make a few mistakes, but I feel their mistakes were not as costly as the federal governments’. First off, FEMA, tries to say that the state and local did not ask for help. FEMA tries to claim that they would’ve helped more if they had known what state and local governments needed. This is a proven lie. There have been documents found of state government specific requests that have been filed. However, the state government has messed up too. The federal government did provide them with money for evacuation and preparedness plans. The state government just chose to use that money on bullet proof vests for dogs and air conditioned garbage trucks. Lastly, local government made terrible choices also. Their job is to try to help out all citizens. But there has been recorded footage of people getting turned away who really needed help. There is also that incident when workers at a nursing abandoned most if not all the patients leaving them to die. I wouldn’t give high grades to each government. They all made mistakes. They all participated in this long chain reaction in which responsibilities where passed on and mistakes were blamed on others.