The "Right" Answer: The Governor, The Mayor, Ineffectiveness
Jami Furo
Issue date: 9/30/05 Section: Opinions
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People cannot help but feel that more could have been done and that rescue efforts could have gone smoother. Names have been flying and fingers have been pointing. The president has been near the top of the list, of course, as the commander in chief typically is. The director of FEMA was another source of concern, and he took it upon himself to correct that situation by resigning.
However it is perhaps the leadership of Louisiana that should receive some of the blame if it is to be given. Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans publicly and angrily criticized President Bush for not responding quickly enough. He was unpleased with the response that the city got from FEMA, the Red Cross, the police, the military, and others.
But what was Nagin doing in the meantime? He was telling 1500 police officers to stop their rescue efforts and to combat looters instead. While looting was a problem in trying to maintain order in the city, and the looters did become hostile as time passed, what was the priority? These people were lost and desperate. They were hungry, and they had lost everything that they had. The city was underwater, and the buildings were unsalvageable. Who and what was Nagin trying to protect from looters? And what is more important-stolen televisions or starving, dehydrated, frightened people stuck in their attics and on their roofs?
It was also Nagin who told New Orleans citizens that they could come back to the flooded, bacteria-infested, desolate city mere days before Hurricane Rita was projected to hit the Gulf coast. It took serious dissuasion from President Bush and others to convince the mayor otherwise. This man, who supposedly cares so much about his city and its residents, would allow them to reenter their already unsafe city with, as an added danger, a large hurricane approaching.
This is not even including what could have been done ahead of time. While the wind damage from Katrina was significant, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been. The absolute devastation of the city came from the flooding. It is already known that New Orleans is in a sensitive situation being positioned below sea level. Flooding was a major concern going into this catastrophic event. However, again, as the storm passed through, citizens and media personnel were hopeful, and so far, the city had remained relatively dry, or at least, not flooded.