From Deseret News archives:
Where are the leaders?
The sheer size of Katrina's footprint, a lack of communication and the fear of armed thugs have unquestionably hobbled emergency response along the Gulf Coast. Worse yet, the recovery operation has been rudderless. Unlike the Sept. 11 attacks, when New York Mayor Giuliani took charge and deftly handled the aftermath of that catastrophe, one gets the distinct impression that from President Bush on down, no single person has risen to the occasion.
This raises other questions: Why did it take Bush so long to personally visit the Gulf Coast region? Why, after the 9/11 attacks on America, isn't the United States government better poised to handle mass disaster? Why weren't the affected cities secured before looters turned them into free-for-alls? Why has it been possible for television news crews to reach the afflicted, but emergency crews have not been able to supply food, water and medicine to people waiting in designated shelters? If emergency personnel and police were truly afraid to enter the affected cities from the ground, why weren't supplies being dropped by helicopter? Lastly, how can something like this happen in the richest, most powerful nation on Earth?
Bush, who has been appropriately criticized for the federal government's laggardly response to Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding, has admitted that the "the results are not acceptable." He has pledged to get on top of the situation and help people in need. Not a moment too soon.
This is not to denigrate the efforts of government and nonprofit agency rescuers who have been on the ground since Day 1. The Coast Guard has been especially effective in plucking some 5,000 stranded people off rooftops and other structures. Doctors and nurses who have cared for very ill people in hospitals with no electrical power and no medical supplies are heroes in their own right. They've attempted to maintain business-as-usual in the midst of utter chaos.
That raises another issue: What's become of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Americans rely upon to orchestrate mass recovery efforts? Has the nation become so focused on the terrorist threat that it has taken its eye off forces of nature that are generally far more deadly to substantially larger numbers of people?
Individuals share some of the blame. It's unfathomable that some people who had the means to leave their respective cities refused to obey evacuation orders. What can be said about brazen looters who lifted everything from guns and other weaponry to sports jerseys? Their actions, unquestionably, contributed to the delays in emergency response.
Others, mostly poor people who rely on public transportation, traveled as far as they could go when the evacuation orders were handed down. They went to assigned shelters where they believed they would receive the basics — food, water and shelter. They have literally gone days without the basics. People who desperately need medical care or maintenance medications for diabetes or heart disease, have floundered. Countless have been left for dead.
Katrina paints a very sobering picture of the United States' state of preparedness. Congress must conduct a full review of this incident and demand changes. The lingering lesson from this ordeal is the absolute need for individuals to prepare for emergencies on their own. The government's response, as it has been in the case of Katrina, may be too little too late. Knowing this, Americans need to act accordingly.
