2008/01/30 by S. Schneider, Susan C. Schneider · 3 citations
Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Disaster Management and Resilience #Risk Perception and Management #Disaster Response and Management
paper · doi:10.1093/publius/pjn019
This analysis shows that the intergovernmental response to Hurricane Katrina collapsed because those involved in the process did not have a clear understanding of their own roles and responsibilities or how the entire governmental response system should operate. New data are presented which demonstrate that citizens’ attitudes about intergovernmental responsibilities coincide quite closely with how the disaster response system is designed to function, but they differ from the way public officials involved in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts thought the process should work. This mismatch between what various levels of government are expected to do and what activities they actually perform in emergency situations has contributed to extremely negative impressions within the American public about governmental performance during natural disasters.