Washington, D.C. – The House Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina released its final report on February 15, entitled, A Failure of Initiative.
“The Select Committee identified failures at all levels of government that significantly undermined and detracted from the heroic efforts of first responders, private individuals and private organizations, faith-based groups and others,” the report stated. “There were problems with information getting sent to the right people at the right places and times.”
According to the report, there was failure locally to announce an evacuation promptly, which led to an incomplete evacuation at the time Katrina hit on August 29. State, local and federal agencies then were required to aid those stranded and evacuate them to safety. Many of the problems created by numerous agencies working together during the aftermath were categorized by the select committee as “information gaps.”
On February 23, the White House released its own report entitled, The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned. The report identifies 17 areas that were key failures in the federal response, with national preparedness at the top of the list. It goes on to attribute many of the difficulties on the way that the response system in place is activated.
“Our decades-old (response) system, built on the precepts of federalism, has been based on a model whereby local and State governments wait to reach their limits and exhaust their resources before requesting Federal assistance,” the report stated. “Federal agencies could and did take steps to prepare to extend support and assistance, but tended to provide little without a prior and specific request. In other words, the system was biased toward requests and the concept of ‘pull’ rather than toward anticipatory actions and the proactive ‘push’ of Federal resources.”
