American Intergovernmental Relations - System Failure

American Intergovernmental Relations

Leigh Gileno

PPA307: Intergovernmental Relations & Issues

Instructor Rian Williams

December 4, 2017

American Intergovernmental Relations

There is always a threat of a natural or a human-made disaster which can strike and affect American citizens. There are different levels of government which are supposed to ensure that their main aim is to protect the lives and property of their citizens. Disasters might strike at any moment, and they might cause havoc, misunderstandings, and loss of lives. The different government systems that are in place are supposed to cooperate and work together during major disasters like the Hurricane Katrina. It is only through effective and efficient intergovernmental relationships which can lead to saving more lives during a disaster. The different levels and agencies of government should be ready to work together to deal when disasters occur.

Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest disasters to hit the United States. Most people were affected, their properties destroyed and lives were also lost. The Federal Government’s response was highly criticized during Hurricane Katrina and the aid that failed to help the people. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is a department of homeland security which is supposed to deal with cases of national disasters. FEMA is supposed to respond quickly in cases where the Federal Government has declared a state emergency and has announced a disaster. It is FEMAS responsibility to coordinate with the state and local governments in dealing with these disasters. The private sector and the non-governmental organizations are supposed to offer their help to ensure that the American people have been assisted and they have been saved from such disasters (Augustin, Kapucu, Garayev, 2009).

Efficiency and effectiveness during a national disaster are very important. The units which are supposed to help in the evacuation, planning, food distribution, and other forms of aid are supposed to ensure that they are effective in their work. The response is expected to be faster, and their decisions are supposed to be informed to ensure that they help save people. In cases where there is no effective coordination and communication, confusion kicks in and the rescuers was not sure what they are supposed to do. This makes the disaster worse and more people are affected. The effectiveness of the response team is also determined by how many lives they can save and how fast they can make decisions and implement those decisions.

The State Aid Provided During Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina was lethal, and it was a dangerous disaster which affected various areas which included Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Orleans. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco tried to be proactive by declaring a state of emergency because of the impending danger of the Hurricane. Then the state government requested that the Bush Administration declare an emergency in order to provide additional resources to help to the people affected.

The states which were affected offered help to their citizens as best they could with the instate resources they had. The state aid which was offered during this time was the state personnel which were supposed to coordinate with the Federal Government and the local governments to help the victims in these areas. This kind of help was crucial since more people were needed during the disaster. The state aid also included offering food and toiletries which were required in order to sustain life of the affected people and maintain a level of sanitation. The Hurricane affected a hundreds of thousands of people who not only needed help from their government but relied on it.

The state aid also included emergency evacuation from the areas which were severely affected in order to save lives. For example, the Mayor of New Orleans ordered a voluntary evacuation of the city to reduce the potential loss of life or extraneous burden on emergency response personnel. This meant that any person or family which felt threatened and saw the necessity of leaving was given an opportunity of evacuation before it became too difficult to render aid. However, before the voluntary order was put into place, the threat of Hurricane Katrina grew a day before it happened. Therefore, the Mayor made a mandatory evacuation order of the city. The state aid also included the all available services and funds which were given by the National Guard. For example, the Louisiana National Guard offered buses which evacuated people from the Superdome and the Convention Center when things became dire. In addition, the Louisiana National Guard was also able to restore order due to chaos and unrest within the City.

Federal Aid Provided

The Federal Government provided aid to the areas which were most affected by the disaster in the form of money and emergency resources. One of the ways through which the government assisted these people coordinates the response to this disaster which occurred and overwhelmed the resources of local and state authorities. The Bush Administration ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate with the local and state governments to help deal with the disaster to monitor the situation and make decisions to save lives in the affected areas. Availability of personnel was the most critical issue for the people within these areas. Through the provision of Federal Government personnel, they were able to render aid to these areas.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency released funds which were supposed to help support the budget of the local and state governments in order to deal with this emergency situation. When there is a major disaster like Katrina, there are a lot of households which are affected. This means that People will need food, they will require clothing and also shelter. The funding is therefore critical when it comes to disaster management and response. The Federal Government was also able to assist in the evacuation of people in some areas. Some people were trapped by water in New Orleans, and the Federal Government offered resources which helped in their evacuation (Stephens, Wikstrom, 2007).

The Federal Government was also very instrumental before the disaster occurred. There was a drill which had been carried out before the disaster occurred. That drill was meant to ensure that the state and the Federal Government was ready for a disaster. The preparations which were made during the drill assisted in dealing with the real Hurricane Katrina. There were various issues which were noticed after the drill, and the management and response units were improved.

The Federal Government aid was also realized after the Hurricane Katrina. Most people needed help since they had lost their property and others had lost their loved ones. The government provided counselors who helped People deal with their losses and the horrors they experienced During the Hurricane. The government also offered to return people to their homes after the disaster. The Federal Government also funded the reconstruction of the levees in the New Orleans city. The Federal Government also assisted people with food, clothing and other personal needs after the disaster.

The aid provided by the Federal Government through its agency FEMA cannot be ignored. The Federal Government assisted through finances, goods, and workforce during and after the disaster. However, most of its decisions and its responses were questioned throughout the disaster. This is because the aid was delayed, there was lack of coordination, and there was also poor communication which affected the Federal Government response to the disaster. FEMA helped largely during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, but it could have done much Better.

Federal state cooperation

During the period of Hurricane Katrina, the Federal-state cooperation was in existence, but it was in low key. This is because a lot of mistakes were made and there was poor coordination between the state and the Federal Government. The first cooperation was declaring a state of emergency and asking the Federal Government to do the same. The Federal Government also declared an emergency in the areas which were under threat. The state and Federal Government, therefore, cooperated in acknowledging the existence of an impending disaster.

Another cooperation which can be sited is the evacuation of victims of the Hurricane. The FEMA personnel and the state government personnel worked for hand in hand to assist the people who were trapped in water. The two governments also worked together to provide healthcare services to people who needed medical attention. There were different instances where the state and Federal Government collaborated.

The Federal-state cooperation also occurred after the Hurricane. This was through rebuilding the affected areas. The Federal Government offered funds which were supposed to add on a budget of the state government and help in construction and rebuilding of affected places. The state and Federal cooperation were witnessed during giving financial and food supported to affected people after the disaster. Cooperation Between the state and the Federal Government is supposed to ensure that the welfare of the victims has been improved.

Challenges faced by state and Federal agencies

The state and the Federal Government agencies faced numerous challenges during the Hurricane Katrina disaster. One of the major challenges is lack of coordination. There was no coordination between the state and the Federal agencies. Coordination and cooperation are highly needed to ensure that the disaster has been handled effectively and efficiently. During this period, the agencies were confused, and there was no clear line of responsibility. For example, it was not clear which agency was supposed to evacuate people from Superdome. These incidences affected the response of the team.

Another problem was the high number of victims. Some too many people were affected by the Hurricane. These people were mixed since there were youths, children, males, and females. There were also those people who had special needs. The state and the Federal agencies were therefore overwhelmed by a large number of victims. A large number of people also resulted in a scarcity of resources (McGuire, Silvia, 2010). The state and Federal agencies were supposed to provide food, medical services, clothing, shelter and security to the affected and evacuated people. The food and toiletries become scarce, and this was a great challenge.

There was a challenge of communication. The Federal Government was unaware of what was happening on the ground. This resulted in delays while making decisions. The FEMA officials were highly accused of these delays, and they were blamed for the slow response from their side (Stephens, Wikstrom, 2007). The lack of a clear response plan was also a challenge. This is because the agencies did not know what they were supposed to do when. This created more confusion, and it was a major challenge. Communication is an important tool for crisis management, and effective communication was lacking during this period.

It was also a challenge to evacuate some people who did not want to be evacuated. In some areas, most people did not want to leave their homes, and they were reluctant to be evacuated, the agencies, therefore, faced problems in convincing these people. There was also a challenge of flooding and rescuing people who had been trapped in their homes. The agencies, however, tried to do their best. These challenges which were faced by the state and Federal Government during the Hurricane Katrina affected their response to the disaster, and it also affected disaster management. It also led to an increased number of deaths and casualties of the Hurricane.

Lessons learned during Hurricane Katrina

There are various lessons which were learned during this disaster. One of the lessons is the importance of communication during crisis management. The lack of effective communication between those people who were on the grounds of the FEMA officials resulted in slow decision making. The officials had no information which they could use to make decisions during the period of the Hurricane. For example, if the FEMA officials were able to receive effective communication when the flooding exceeded in New Orleans, they could have acted faster which could have saved more lives (Kapucu, Arslan, Collins, 2010).

Another lesson which was learned is that leadership of FEMA is critical, and that qualified leaders should be appointed to head the agency. This is because Michael Brown was blamed for lack of experience in disaster management. The decisions that he made were questionable, and he acted so slowly. Leaders determine how their followers will be able to act and respond. It was, therefore, a lesson to ensure that people are appointed on merit. Another lesson is that there needs to be a clear plan of how intergovernmental relations should be improved. This is because the state, local and Federal Government coordination and cooperation were poor which resulted in poor performance.

Recommendation

A similar disaster could be handled differently by the agencies which are involved. The disaster can be handled by developing and creating a clear response plan which should involve the state, Federal and other agencies. This would ensure that there is effective communication, coordination and quick response to save lives and reduce casualties.

In conclusion. Effectiveness and efficiency of the American intergovernmental relations are important. This is because the government should be ready to use all of its resources to respond to disasters which threaten its people.

References

Augustin, M. E., Kapucu, N., & Garayev, V. (2009). Interstate partnerships in emergency management: Emergency management assistance compact in response to catastrophic disasters. Public Administration Review, 69(2), 297-313.

Kapucu, N., Arslan, T., & Collins, M. L. (2010). Examining intergovernmental and inter-organizational response to catastrophic disasters: Toward a network-centered approach. Administration & Society, 42(2), 222-247.

McGuire, M., & Silvia, C. (2010). The effect of problem severity, managerial and organizational capacity, and agency structure on intergovernmental collaboration: Evidence from local emergency management. Public Administration Review, 70(2), 279-288.

Stephens, G. R., & Wikstrom, N. (2007). American intergovernmental relations: A fragmented Federal polity. Oxford University Press, USA.