Trident University Module #1 – Case Assignment MHE 512 – Disaster Relief

Objectives:  For this case you are discuss the response by government, NGOs and volunteer groups to Hurricane Katrina. The question for you to answer is whether or not the organizational structure for disaster response for the City of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, and FEMA was adequate to effectively respond to a Cat. 3 - 5 hurricane on August 26th, 2005. As you respond to this question please complete the following: o Review the various reports concerning the Katrina response and relief efforts. Identify an example of a relief effort which was successful and one which was unsuccessful. o Discuss the reasons why the examples you cited above were or were not successful. Comment specifically on whether you believe that the organizational structure at the City of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, and the Federal government was adequate, including communications and command and control. (Please refer to the Organization Structure for incident management in the National Response Plan.) Focus on how coordinating structures, processes, and protocols were employed to manage the disaster response. Discuss the importance of social networks during the Katrina Disaster. Please review the following (referenced) article and comment on the importance of social networks during a disaster response.

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MHE 512- MOD 1 - Case

Introduction to Disaster Relief; Organizational Structure of Relief Organizations; and, The National Response Framework

Hurricane Katrina: Disaster Relief Efforts 1. What went right? Capturing lessons learned too often focuses on the negative, instead of similarly embracing what went right, and utilizing that data to train towards process improvement. Although Hurricane Katrina was devastating, and much media attention was given to what went wrong, there is a