The Political Costs of Failure in the Katrina and Rita Disasters

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 604, S. 10-25

Abstract

The Katrina & Rita disasters have raised serious questions about the capabilities of the national emergency management system to handle catastrophic disasters. The system is broken & must be repaired before the next major hurricane, earthquake, volcanic eruption, terrorist attack, or pandemic. The poor disaster responses may have serious political costs for those officials who failed to manage the hazards along the Gulf &/or failed to respond adequately to the storms -- or simply appeared to be ineffectual in very dire circumstances. There have already been political casualties among the administrators responsible for managing the responses, & there may well be casualties among the politicians when voters go to the polls. The recommendation to give the military a lead responsibility in catastrophic disaster responses has been met with strong opposition; the issue may broaden the rift between governors' offices & the White House over homeland security & emergency management & broaden the gap between local emergency management imperatives & federal policies. References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2006 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]