Why did it take the US government a long time to react on the hurricane Katrina Incident?
144533
Reaction was not slow. Implementation and action was slow. Politics got in the way of many things when it should not have.\n\nMistakes were made, but the good thing is that change will result because of it. It must be remembered though that mistakes happen in dealing with ANY crisis. I don't care if it is government, business, or personal. Nothing can be predicted 100%. Influence and control within organizations is also never 100%.\n\nI do not think that there was any conspiracy though. Nothing against African Americans, or New Orleans itself. There was no ill will by Bush, nor by the administration, nor by FEMA, nor by local authorities. Stuff just went wrong.
107225
There are alot of questions here so I'll try to answer them all.\n\n"When New Orleans was hit with the hurricane and wiped off the map, in my heart I felt I should give money to help the people. That was just common nature for a U. S. citizen to naturally do for our country or other country's around the world no mater what type of government they have in place." \n\nI feel two ways about this matter.  One is this Country gives to much monney to other Countrys and not enoth to this one.  But at the same time the people in Orleans where asked to leve and did not they had two weeks to pack up and leve but they did not.  What could we have done when so many people picked not to leve?\n\n"What I am concerned with is if the money I gave, got to a PERSON from that specific state or other country I sent the money to?"\n\nQuestion?  Who did you give you're money to?\nJust waching MSNBC and they said that there was alot of "fraud and abuse" that people where doing over there.  (check out url for more info.)  Makes you feel just a tad less sorry for these people.\n\n"Why is it that our government can't take responsibility and pay up, for there mistake in the first place. From what I have read, it was known that those levies could not hold a category 4 or 5 hurricane years or decades ago, but failed to strengthen them back when it was first discovered? \n\nI don't think any mistakes where made.  The truth is that  New Orleans is sinking as it stands now New Orleans is lower then sea level.  The reasons that thoes levies have not been fixed are one the cost is to grate for a city that is sinking and two they don't even know if it's posablem to fix them.  Even if they are fixed and we get another "Katrina" it's posable for this to happen again and again.  "IF" we do fix these levies we are putting peoples lives at risk.\n\n"Do you think it was rude of the two presidents to ask us to give more money when it is our nature to give, even until it hurts?"\n\nDo I think it's rude?  No, I don't.  \n\n"Did you help when 911 happened ?"\nYes, but I feel as if it was not enoth\n\n"or Live Aid?\nor Live8?"\n\nLive Aid, No.  Or Live8 don't know what that is.
339733
Gees...another "blame it on Bush" answer.  Fact is the death toll on Katrina lies squarely on the shoulder of the state gov't of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans and it's residents.  It was their responsibility, not the federal government's, to ensure they were prepared for a natural disaster.  Those who could have left should have when they had the chance and let's not mention all the misappropriated funds by one of the most corrupt state and local governments in the history of the U.S.
939631
You have a good point. I just returned from a trip to the Mississippi coast. There is still a lot of storm damage yet to be fixed. Insurance companies have refused to pay settlements claiming the storm surge flooding caused all the damage. People are still living in campers in the driveways of their destroyed homes. More than half of the businesses haven't reopened, and lots of people are without jobs.\nIt was hard for me to believe I was still in America.
381474
Are you talking ablout situations like the tsunami, where we went to there aid immediatly but when katrina hit no one lifted a finger? its because the world needs us but they do not appreciate are us, when they don't need us thay talk shi* but something bad happens and they want us to help there asses
280909
I don't think Bush has ever taken full responsibility for anything. Like you said it was a "photo-op" speech. The problem with Katrina goes far deeper than a few bad appointments. Since Bush has been president, his administration has systematically decimated federal agencies. They have put 1000s of dedicated professional public servants out of work and replaced them with for profit contractors. Now the Federal government does not work just like the big corporations like Enron, the Airlines, and GM. Problem is more than stockholders,  employees, and consumers lose when the Federal government doesn't work. In times of crisis, it's the American people who lose from mismanagement of the Federal government. Unfortunately it is the poor and lower income people who lose the most. Bush really doesn't care about these people, he has stated that his base is the rich, who profit off of the suffering of the poor.\nWhen Clinton admitted that he was wrong and apologized in a private matter that really had no effect on anyone other than his own family, people still held his mistakes against him.
582947
FEMAs failure in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was a lack of leadership.
233566
In short, because anything of significance required unanimous agreement, it was becoming unwieldy to act as a general government.  Two areas where this stood out.  One was acting as the singular contact with foreign sovereignties.  The other was in collecting funds from the States to pay for the general government.
1063017
Actually, right after WWII, the government spent a lot of money on projects to try and either destroy or control hurricanes. For instance, an idea was made to set off a nuclear bomb in a hurricane to destroy it, but that would be ridiculous. Though, a hurricane did hit Savanna GA, that the government was experimenting with. Supposedly, they were trying to control a hurricane's movement and its intensity. This hurricane intensified before making landfall, unexpectedly. Did the government cause this, or did it get out of their control and hit the city? No one will say, and there are no documents of the experiment, but after the event, the government stopped the research.
182994
Forget FEMA, ... the debacle was that people in the gulf-coast actually thought that government would rescue them.   We will know better next time.  The government is completely broken.
1117923
It has been almost a year since Katrina hit.  There is no reason you shouldn't be working to get these things that you need.  The American people were VERY sympathetic when Katrina struck,  donating MILLIONS and MILLIONS worth of dollars and goods.  That time is up.  It's time for you "victims" to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and stop expecting the rest of the US to make it all better for you.  While I am sorry for the devistation that you and so many others suffered,  I am also very tired of working my a$$ into the ground to make ends meet just so my tax dollars can continue being spent to keep you guys up.  Get a job,  put money back and go from there.
493820
People need to elect leaders that actually want to do a job, not just pose for photo opportunities.  Katrina would have been bad, but resources could have and SHOULD have been placed so that they could have been brought in immediately after the hurricane passed.  Lives and billions of dollars in property could have been saved.  Also, people need to get a realistic appreciation of money--it is good for what its spent on.  Saving money by not reinforcing levees at New Orleans, or at Sacramento, Ca., is equivalent to a homeowner saving money by not putting on a roof.  OK, you saved a billion dollars by not fixing the N.O. levees, and now you get to pay 200 times that much to repair the damage.  It is not that hard to figure out. Voters are propagandized by the republican media but they better figure things out fast.
650034
There isn't much you can do to prevent a huricane. It's a force of nature.\n\nAs far as the damage, several things could have been done. For starters, smarter costal management would have prevented the dredging of shipping lanes into New Orleans which provided a clear path for flood waters to sweep into the city. Furthermore, had they reinforced the levies in a timely manner, they would have been able to withstand the flooding and protect the city.\n\nHaving failed that, there should have been much better organization to evacuate and provide for the residents. Immediately following the disaster, there was utter chaos. There was a lot being offered but no guidance as to where that aide would be beneficial.
541173
I think maybe it was some kind of "you don't change horses in the middle of the stream" mentality...kind of like why we kept re-electing FDR during WWII. It's too bad Katrina didn't hit in 2004 so everyone could see what a bunch of incompetent ninnies his administration was made up of BEFORE the election.
759866
the gove of the state declares a state of emergency, at which time the feds can step in -- until that time - the feds are hands off.  this is pretty much what happened in new orleans.  the mayor was told as was the govenor in advance to declare a state of emergency - they would not and thus didn't do so until days after the landfall of katrina.  when florida is poised to get a direct hit - we've had the state of emergency called a good 3 days in advance.  this readies the state emergency agengies and pull national gaurds and the first responders and has them ready and waiting in the wings!\n\nif this was not the case - then the feds could step in for every little thing. this is not the way American gov't is run.  people would scream if the feds stepped in and made the decisions and yet, when the locals screw up they expect the feds to take care of it -- it can't be both ways!
43442
None of us know what he would really think inside.  He's a politician.  But to blame the Katrina situation on any kind of racism isn't right.  There's no way a politician would do that in this country any more, the end result would be his destruction.  The statements made were spontaneous and pretty ignorant.  There's just no possible way anyone in the government was holding off help simply because black people were involved.  The plain as day simple answer is that no one knew how to deal with a situation like that, it was unprecedented and the "government" up there does not have all the answers all the time.  We just expect perfection.  Then there were reports of rescuers being shot at and violence, looting etc. everywhere.  What we saw on the news was cameramen showing looting while claims that they were only showing black people doing bad things while white people were looking for food.  Well, what we saw were "people" carrying TV's away.  White or Black I'd bet my life they weren't selected because of their race to be shown on TV.\n\nWhatever George Bush supports in his heart will not show anyway, so the end result is the same as if he had no prejudice.  We'll never know.
508994
(1) US does have over 300 million citizens, so its hard to supply enough oil for them alone.\n(2) US mainly has oil in the southern states near the coastline. Hardly anywhere else. With Katrina, things took a HUGE hit, and a oil deficiency was created.