Local Response Terrorism the City Essay

A lack of local understanding by FEMA and & #8230;. Caused a clear inability for these agencies to exercise their logistics plan during such a catastrophic event.

The first clear weakness was experienced by FEMA, the national organization appointed to deal with supplementing local relief efforts and providing extended services to those in need in an event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. FEMA is supposed to work as a supplement to local emergency service efforts, and as such it is supposed to be in tune with the capabilities and procedures of the local agencies that were on the front line of Katrina disaster relief. However, the research shows that "there was nobody that even knew FEMA's history, much less understood the profession and the dynamics and the roles and responsibilities of that states and local governments" (University Transportation Centers Program, 2007, p 22). Essentially, FEMA operatives were not familiar with local response strategies, a situation which caused a delay in major response services. Being better prepared and cooperative with local response plans could have increased FEMA's logistical ability tremendously.

Secondly, there was a complete lack of appropriate disaster relief funds available from local resources. Despite being in a major hurricane zone, local city and municipal budgets failed to be prepared to have to spend so much on one single disaster. As such, "as of November 30, 2005, almost $19 billion had been obligated by the federal government to relieve the immediate suffering of the victims, to remove debris, and to reimburse federal agencies" (University Transportation Centers Program, 2007, p 24). With so little funding available in local resources, there was limitations on what emergency response agencies could do on their own in the crucial hours before outside federal help arrived. Moreover, this placed a great strain on federal resources. Better budget appropriation measures on the local level could help provide more on a local level.

References

City of Hampton. (2012). Emergency operations plan: Abstract. Emergency Management. The City of Hampton Virginia. Retrieved September 5, 2012 from http://hampton.gov/eoc/iframe.html?linkfrom=main&bc=Emergency%20Operations%20Plan%20%28abstract%29&url=./pdf/eop_abstract_2011.pdf

National Response Team. (2004). National Incident Management System. Productions. Retrieved September 5, 2012 from www.nrt.org/Production/NRT/...385aNIMS.../NIMS-90-web.pdf?

University Transportation Centers Program. (2007). Comparison of Disaster Logistics Planning and Execution for 2005 Hurricane Season. Midwest Transportation Consortium. Retrieved September 5, 2012 from http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/reports/disaster-management.pdf