Case Study: Hurricane Katrina

No single disaster is more indicative of the need for emergency planning than when Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005. The response to this natural disaster has been used as an example of poor emergency planning that led to catastrophic mismanagement and subsequent loss of life and property.

Conduct an analysis of the Hurricane Katrina emergency plan that led to the failures to respond to this natural disaster. Use the general outline below to conduct your case study analysis:

1. Introduction
   1. Provide a summary of the dates and facts of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe and response.
   2. Identify those responsible for creating and maintaining an emergency plan.
2. Analyze Preparedness Activities for Hurricane Katrina
   1. Prior to Hurricane Katrina’s arrival, what entities were responsible for emergency response to a hurricane striking New Orleans and the Gulf Coast?
   2. What emergency plans were in place prior to the arrival of Hurricane Katrina?
   3. What training and exercises were conducted to prepare for a hurricane prior to Katrina?
   4. Did the populace know what the emergency plan was prior to the arrival of Hurricane Katrina?
3. Analyze Emergency Planning Lessons Learned from Katrina
   1. What were the major emergency planning failures that were uncovered by Hurricane Katrina?
   2. What organizational and policy factors led to the planning failures of Hurricane Katrina?
   3. What lessons learned from the Katrina disaster can now be used to improve the emergency planning for other natural and man-made disasters in the U.S.?
   4. What actions have been taken by the federal government to improve emergency planning?

Use a minimum of three sources, in addition to the course textbook, to support your analysis. Two of these sources must be:

• The White House. (2006). The federal response to Katrina: Lessons learned (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
  • Please click here (Links to an external site.) to view full PDF document.
• U.S. House of Representatives. (2006, Feb. 15).A failure of initiative: Final report of the select bipartisan committee to investigate the preparation for the response to Hurricane Katrina [PDF file]. 109th Cong., 2nd Sess. Washington, DC: U.S.Government Printing Office.

The paper must be three to five pages in length (excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Cite your sources in-text and on the reference page. For information regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center, located within the Learning Resources tab on the left navigation toolbar, in your online course.