Hurricane Katrina- Interview with FEMA

I decided to read and focus on the interview shown on CNN on September 1, 2005 between Paula Zahn and (at that time) FEMA director Michael Brown.  Although their discussion was brief, it is easy to see some things that were appropriate to say, and others that should have not been said on public television.  

One of the positive things that I noticed from the interview was the honesty (in certain parts of the interview) displayed by the FEMA director.  When confronted about the conditions in the SuperDome and asked about why the conditions were so bad, he simply stated that FEMA or the Government did not know they were there.  It is surprising that the head of FEMA would be honest when faced with such a significant question, when the answer was very startling.  Wether he did or did not know they were there to begin with may or may not be the truth, but you must admire the courage to say that thousands of people were unaccounted for.  Secondly, I think he did (considering the time and the conditions) a nice job trying to cheerlead for the citizens of the New Orleans.  He insisted that help was on the way, they were doing everything they could, and relief wasn't far away.  This may not have been entirely true, but it sparked hope and possibly saved lives.

Among the negative aspects of the FEMA director was the inability to explain situations.  The lack of answers surely frustrated the American people and questioned the competence of FEMA and probably other Federal Government Agencies/Departments.  FEMA couldn't explain why help was not in place immediately after the storm, why FEMA personnel weren't compatible with the size of the storm, and why so many people were affected, misplaced, hurt, and killed by the storm.  FEMA, in many interviews, couldn't explain these answers and perhaps instead of repeatedly saying "this is a catastrophic disaster"  for every answer, he/they should have explained why things went so wrong and what was being done to fix it.

Ultimately, Katrina was in-fact a massive storm that effected a large area and many lives.  Sometimes it is hard to plan for certain events that took place during Katrina but it is no secret that FEMA, and the local, state, and Federal government all failed during this storm.  It is important that we are reminded of Katrina, learn from Katrina, and do our best in future situations so that no storm is ever as devastating as Katrina was.