Background Information
The federal government is charged with responding to the nation's disasters — both natural and man-made—at the request of state and local officials. In the case of a natural or man-made disaster, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) organizes emergency services, provides medical supplies, coordinates food and water relief efforts, search and rescue operations and transportation assistance with the help of 28 federal partners, the Red Cross and local emergency management crews 8. In the case of Katrina, Mayor Nagin ordered a complete evacuation from the city just days before the Hurricane hit. This did not give many residents in St. Bernard's parish and the Lower 9 th Ward enough time to prepare to flee. Also, over 100,000 people in New Orleans didn't have cars and they relied on public transportation. An evacuate plan was not in place for these persons and this perspective is beautifully illuminated in both "When the Levees Broke" and in A.D.: After the Deluge In addition, the lagging responses by state and federal officials only exacerbated the suffering of the Katrina survivors as they waited for help to arrive. The city's neediest residents were in essence abandoned by governmental agencies on both sides of the political landscape.
According to Michael Eric Dyson in Come Hell or High Water, the Lower 9 th Ward grew from cypress swamps to a series of plantations where poor blacks and poor European immigrants settled in search of affordable housing. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy created a storm surge that killed 81 people and left flood waters that covered over 80% of the Ward. Until Katrina, this had been the worst natural disaster in American history. Further, the average income for residents in the Ward in 2005 was $10,000 a year, nearly 40% less than those earned by whites in Louisiana. The poverty level in New Orleans was nearly 25%, and 69% of the cities black children were living in poverty. These economic factors made evacuation nearly impossible for those living in impoverished conditions. Those living in concentrated areas of poverty could not have evacuated without assistance from the federal, state, and local governmental agencies whose mission is to respond to the nation's disasters.
On August 30, 2004, I experienced the devastating affects of Tropical Storm Gaston as it flooded Richmond, Virginia. Many areas throughout the Richmond metropolitan area were completely flooded, as the cities drainage system could not handle the 12 inches of rain that fell within hours. The entire downtown area, much like New Orleans, sits alongside a river and floodwall. However, it was not the James River that caused the flooding; it was the ineffective drainage system that lay beneath the city's cobble stoned streets. Afterward, a state of emergency was declared in Virginia, five people lost their lives, and $12.5 million dollars worth of damage had been done 9. In each instance, it was the failures of the man-made protections that failed us. In New Orleans, the levees gave and in Richmond, the drainage system failed. The human costs and economic costs were devastating and neither city has fully recovered.
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