Katrina...tragedy or mistake??

Question

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-cWwSZoc7bqoWHcLlmDLx0Q--?cq=1&p=5

Is the government to blame...i think not....read the blog and tell me what you think.....

Answer 1

it's a tragedy and yes the Louisiana Govt is to blame. the monies that could have been spend on the levees was spent on a convention center, Nagin should have had a real plan in place for evacuation, the Mayor is to take care of their city and sometimes that means calling the Governor and saying -- we're outta control, lost or whatever, we need help. AT which point the Governor is to call the Feds and say - LA is in a state of emergency. THEN AND ONLY THEN is the federal government to step in. had bush stepped in and told nagin what to do people would be pissed about him stepping in where he wasn't needed. hind sight is 20/20.
The gov of Florida told nagin to get moving, offered assistance -- BEFORE and had his first responders there for 5 days waiting on him to get the state of emergency declared.
Once a hurricane is predicted to hit Florida, the gov declares that region a state of emergency. at that time FEMA, Red Cross and the National Guard are on stand by.
we are also told for 2 months before hurricane season the evacuation routes, given time to stock up, ideas on what works for supplies -- everything imaginable. we do NOT expect the govt to do everything for us -- we have to take responsibility for ourselves!!!

Answer 2

By admission from several key people in Louisiana / Mississippi and US Government, NO "textbook" was ever planned or written to allow for effective handling of a man-made OR natural weather disaster affecting the Gulf Of Mexico / US coast.

Psst: None of the other 48 US states ever gave thought of drafting their own "disaster textbooks", either. You'd think at this current stage of social events and concerns cloaking the USA, they'd get busy with some dam good manuals on the subject(s).

Katrina is a TRAGEDY that EXPOSED governmental INEPTNESS on all levels on up to FEMA and Washington D.C..

Private insurance companies, mired in their own business ineptness, add an ingredient to the soupy mess.

Also blame the ineptness of coastal levee engineers, both Louisiana AND U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: they NEVER monitored the structural integrity of those levee walls.

And yes: Katrina affected residents, bound by hurricane tradition to "ride out" the storm made a fatal mistake, as noted by the scores of dead human bodies strewn across floodwater drained land, streets...and blighted homes.

So, all facets of mistakes from all these INEPT people snared up one helluva mess that, unless en masse help from people across the US visit these areas and help clean-up / rebuild, Katrina's hellish wrath will be prevalent for years yet to come.

Answer 3

I think it was a tragedy because so many lives were taken unnecessarily. It was also a mistake because many people believed that the storm wouldn't be that bad and decided to "ride it out" Also most of our damage was water damage due to the levees breaking which I believe could have been prevented.
Me being a Louisiana resident is dreading this years hurricane season. (storm out there as we speak)
Headless_Teddy=New Orleans Resident from 1984~~~I evacuated! :)

Answer 4

I think its both, the government is partially to blame . The response time was way to long for the people in need

Answer 5

Somehow, I think if Katrina had hit a wealthy and posh suburb of Houston, the government might have responded a bit more efficiently.

Answer 6

it is both, the gov. should have taken a step to put a plan of "escape" in place .
economicaly speaking, the gov. should have done somethi ng to try and evade the huricain, because it does hurt the economy. i was talking to an american yesterday and he told me "I belive that the gov. works for me, i pay the gov. salaries... i pay all my taxes" when u have hundreds of homes destroyed, and people lost all their assests, no jobs, the American economy would drop, and may create another black hole in the US's "life"

Answer 7

Natural Disaster.

Anyone remeber the tsunami's that killed hudreds of thousands? Why arent we "remembering" those people? Why is it just NO? NO had plenty of warning to get the heck out of dodge and refused to do so.....its their own fault, noone owes them a dam thing

Answer 8

Both, tragedy it happened, tragedy we have a loser President, tragedy America has to suffer for such poor leadership from top to bottom. Mistake we elected a President like this and same for the officials elected in Louisiana.

Answer 9

while it was a tragedy that lives were lost and property destroyed, it didnt have to be as bad, had ray nagin not been in the chocolate factory brewing up get rich schemes, he might have been able to think clearly and actually saved lives...

Answer 10

It's the fault of the people who refused to evacuate