There are three levels of government in the United States, state, local and federal. Local governments handle activities at their level, which are specifically limited to their communities like police building codes, local courts etc. Citizens of the United States are in contact more with the local and state governments rather than the federal government. Libraries, police departments, etc. all fall under the oversight of local and state governments. Local governments generally have two tiers, municipalities and counties. However in case of natural disaster situations, other big calamities and things of that nature, the three levels of government all pull together to provide relief to the citizens.

If such an event or issue does come about, the intergovernmental cooperation becomes most important. It is frequently known that there are significant communication and coordination problems between the different levels of government. The most memorable natural disaster where all of the governments worked together, was hurricane Katrina. This national event brought forth to everyone’s view, the complete breakdown of intergovernmental cooperation. Authority and autonomy come amid these things.

The Federal Governments role in case of disaster management and response is still growing over time. In 1950, the federal government brought the Federal Civil Defense Act to formalize the intergovernmental responsibilities and roles. Some state and local governments have the ability to deal with disasters such as Katrina where others may succumb to it a bit easier. With this it is very important that key players of all three governments should never not know what to do during such disasters. But there are loopholes in the planning and coordination, which during the disasters the response is not as fast and effective as it should be. Hurricane Katrina exposed the inadequacies and flaws of the federal, state and local governments. The flaws in this case were due to lack of communication and solid relationships that delayed the response and in turn the price was paid in the form of many lost lives. Several other flaws came to light with this disaster, delayed decision making, bureaucratic tie-ups, lack of preparation and political infighting. In this situation, a better route to this would be if the Federal Emergency Management system was made independent of The Department of Homeland Security and led by experienced professionals instead of the political appointees. You must develop solid relationships between state and federal officials to improve the communication between the different levels of government. The problems related to control and funding in relation to readiness and response should be discussed and reviewed so future problems if a disaster strikes the intergovernmental chain doesn’t fail.

Reference:
Kettl, D. F., & Walters, J. (2005, December). The Katrina Breakdown. In Governing The States and Localities. Retrieved June 28, 2013, from http://www.governing.com/topics/economic-dev/The-Katrina-Breakdown.html
State & Local Government (n.d.). In Our Government. Retrieved June 28, 2013, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/state-and-local-government