Twenty years on, the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina is still being felt.
The category three hurricane made landfall on August 29, 2005, devastating parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, with New Orleans suffering catastrophic flooding due to levee failures.
About 80% of the city was inundated with water, and while a mandatory evacuation order was made just one day before landfall, many people – up to 150,000 – did not or simply could not leave.
The official death toll is believed to be nearly 1400.
University of Albany professor of political science Eric Stern told The Front Page that Hurricane Katrina is a pivotal event in the history of emergency management in the United States.
“When it comes to emergency response in these very large and complex disasters, the chain of the emergency response is only as strong as the weakest link.
“In fact, by definition, you’re going to have to work together across these levels of government, also across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and increasingly bringing in volunteers as well,” he said.
Stern said the US learned that a “whole community” approach is better when facing such a disaster.
“We learned some things about the power of the private sector ... Big box stores, like Walmart, were more effective at moving vital supplies quickly. And some of the things that they did turned out to be very important, and were built into that whole community idea.
“We also need to draw on the resources of the whole society, including volunteers. Another legacy of Katrina is our volunteer groups, like the so-called ‘Cajun Navy’. These are folks with boats that go to major disasters, not just in Louisiana, and help to rescue people when the public sector services are completely overwhelmed.
“Actually, that was the case during the Christchurch Earthquakes as well. At the time, the dominant mindset was if you have a big disaster, put yellow tape around it and let the professionals do their job. But, if you have a disaster like what happened in Christchurch, there’s just not enough official responders ... It was the Student Volunteer Army and the Farmy Army which spontaneously brought volunteers and farmers with heavy equipment that could be used for debris and other tasks to get Christchurch on its feet again.
“Actually, the New Zealand story there has been well documented, and it’s something that other parts of the world have learned from,” he said.
From earthquakes and eruptions to flooding and cyclones, New Zealand has dealt with its fair share of natural disasters.
Senior Lecturer of Emergency Management, Joint Centre for Disaster Research, Massey University, Dr Lauren Vinnell, told The Front Page that they are eagerly awaiting more details of the Emergency Management Bill.
The reforms aim to ensure there is a whole-of-society approach to emergency management.
“One of the main points there is to help clarify some of the roles and responsibilities at different levels, to help streamline some of that communication.
“Communication during crises or emergencies in New Zealand has improved over time. It varies a little bit depending on the nature ot the natural hazard event,” she said.
An advantage that New Zealand has, Vinnell said, is that it’s smaller and has fewer levels of bureaucracy.
“We can be a bit more agile. It can be easier to get resources around where they need to be, including people.
“One issue is that we do have so many events because we are prone to a lot of different natural hazards, and we see quite a lot of turnover and a lot of burnout amongst our emergency management personnel.
“I think more support for the people doing this work, including training and psychological support, helping them cope with the challenges and difficulties of responding to these events, so that after one major event, we don’t lose everyone because they’re too tired and burned out,” she said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about what the world could learn from Hurricane Katrina.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.