1) What role did the National, State and Local Governments have in preventing, mitigating and reacting to Hurricane Katrina?
The National governments knew that a super storm was coming, and they had started to prepare for it (Hurricane Sam), which was a preparedness program for the worst possible situation, that could’ve saved many peoples lives by giving the National Government a sense of what to do. Instead of continuing with Hurricane Sam, the National Government had cut the funding to the project, which in turn made the government unprepared for which was about to happen. The State government knew that a hurricane was going to hit Louisiana, but they had put forth almost no effort to prevent or prepare the people of the state. Instead the governor had blamed the federal government for not participating in relief efforts, but themselves as a state, didn’t do much to help as well. The mayor and his council had attempted to warn the people about the natural disaster, and told the city to evacuate, but didn’t do much himself to actually participate in helping the people leave the city of New Orleans to head towards a safer environment. After the Hurricane had hit, the people that were affected by the tragedy had cried and pleaded for some help of any kind, but instead of doing what was needed by the people, the governments of all levels had not coincided with each other, but instead, had blamed each other for not collaborating with the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.
2) Evaluate how each level of government performed its duties. Be specific and back up your points with facts and logic.
Like what was stated in my answer to the first question, the national, state, and local governments had not lived up to their expectations. On a national level, the government (FEMA) was coming to be prepared for the worst possible outcome with the project “Hurricane Sam”, they had eventually stopped the funding for the project. This was the worst possible decision that the National Government could’ve made, because after they had refused to continue with the preparedness project, they basically had said that they didn’t care for what happened to the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. The State government knew that a hurricane was going to hit Louisiana, but they had put forth almost no effort to prevent or prepare the people of the state. The governor didn’t even put forth the effort to warn the people of Louisiana of the possible outcome of the hurricane. Also, at a local level, the city of New Orleans along with the mayor should’ve performed preparedness and relief exercises to aid the survivors of Hurricane Katrina, along with finding places for the people to evacuate to before the hurricane. The levies that surrounded New Orleans should’ve been reinforced to help minimize as much damage as possible. Reinforcing them is something that the mayor could’ve instructed to do.
3) After reading the "FEMA and federalism" article, take a stand about the role of the federal government in natural disasters.
After reading the article, I support the fact that FEMA should focus primarily on preparing to respond to catastrophes, not routine emergencies. This would make them more prepared for disaster such as Hurricane Katrina and for disasters which are in the future. The article had stated that “Raising rather than lowering the bar for federal intervention during emergencies will increase FEMA's capacity to respond effectively to large-scale disasters that would overwhelm state and local governments-- the kinds of catastrophes that demand a national response.” This would help FEMA because they wouldn’t have to participate in nationwide non-catastrophic disasters. FEMA, state, and local governments should be smart about it and work together. If FEMA is needed, the state government should seek help if they feel like the problem at hand is too much to handle.