Premium
Preventable Catastrophe? The Hurricane Katrina Disaster Revisited
Author(s) -
Parker Charles F.,
Stern Eric K.,
Paglia Eric,
Brown Christer
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of contingencies and crisis management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.007
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5973
pISSN - 0966-0879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5973.2009.00588.x
Subject(s) - hurricane katrina , preparedness , political science , disaster response , state (computer science) , emergency response , politics , emergency management , warning system , natural disaster , disaster preparedness , public administration , geography , engineering , medical emergency , law , medicine , meteorology , algorithm , aerospace engineering , computer science
This article probes the warning‐response failures that left the city of New Orleans vulnerable to catastrophic hurricanes and the inability of local, state, and federal authorities to mount an adequate response to the consequences unleashed by Hurricane Katrina. Through an empirical exploration with the help of three broad explanatory ‘cuts’ derived from the relevant interdisciplinary literature – psychological, bureau‐organizational, and agenda‐political – the authors seek to shed light on the sources of failure that contributed to the various levels of governments' lack of preparedness and the inadequate collective response to a long‐predicted, upper‐category hurricane. The article concludes by addressing the question of whether the vulnerabilities and problems that contributed to the Katrina failure are amenable to reform.