About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

604 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 6 (2006)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0604 and id is 1 raw text is: Preface
By
WILLIAM L. WAUGH JR.

C learly there is plenty of blame to go around
for the poor response to Hurricane Katrina
and the problems that followed with Hurricanes
Rita and Wilma. The disasters were very differ-
ent in scale; the worst problems experienced
with Katrina were not repeated with Rita or
Wilma, but serious problems were experienced
in each. The Katrina disaster does provide clear
lessons on how not to deal with coastal, as well as
inland, hazards and how not to respond to cata-
strophic disasters. Indeed, watching the Katrina
disaster unfold was like watching a train wreck in
slow motion. Poor planning, poor execution, and
a fundamental ignorance of emergency manage-
ment and disaster behavior on the parts of many
policy makers at all levels cost lives and property.
The communities along the Louisiana, Missis-
sippi, and Alabama coasts were ill prepared for
high winds and storm surge and unprepared to
survive on their own while help was mobilized.
The media has certainly drawn attention to
the destruction of the nation's capacity to deal
with major disasters of all sorts since the attacks
on 9/11. The myopic focus of U.S. Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) officials on the
threat of terrorism led to the dismantling of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) and inattention to the more certain
threat of natural hazards. FEMA has become
the scapegoat for broader policy failures, and in
William L. Waugh Jr is a professor of public administra-
tion in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at
Georgia State University. He is the author of Living with
Hazards, Dealing with Disasters (2000), Terrorism and
Emergency Management (1990), and International Ter-
rorism (1982) and coeditor of Disaster Management in
the US and Canada (1996), Cities and Disaster (1990),
and Handbook of Emergency Management (1990). He
serves on the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM)
Commission that oversees the national credential for
professional emergency managers and on the Emer-
gency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP)
Commission that develops standards for and accredits
state and local emergency management programs.
DOI: 10.1177/0002716205286067

ANNALS, AAPSS, 604, March 2006

6

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most