Editorials
September 15, 2006
Government Lessons from Katrina Impact Flu Emergency Preparedness
Issues of coordination with respect to disaster emergencies have been seen critical post-
Katrina. Experts declare that Hurricane Katrina taught government at all levels needs to be
networked and prepared. This is now important for flu preparation.
The first test of the bio-threat system in the post-9/11 world is the potential of an
influenza pandemic. It has, according to public administrator Donald Kettl, who is the
incoming public policy dean at the University of Maryland, brought about so far a rapid,
coordinated response in public health sectors. He goes on to say that with Katrina the
Department of Homeland Security didn’t properly connect the dots and that now there is a
better level of preparedness to deal with national and international emergencies.
Furthermore the anthrax attacks and SARS added to the lessons for public health officials
Kettl says.
Kettl, who wrote the text “The Next Government of the United States,” maintains that all
levels of government have to make changes to take care of challenges on a global scale
that affect various public sectors that include finance, security and public health. He
maintains, "We’ve long known that a genuine pandemic could strike fast and hit hard,”
Kettl says. “Especially in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks and SARS, the
government has spent a lot of time and energy quietly preparing for the possibility of
biothreats, either from nature or from terrorists. From all indications, the preparations
were thorough and the nation is ready. But this could prove the first real acid test.
What Obama needs to do, according to Kettl in response to disaster challenges, is to
develop integrated partnerships throughout different levels of government. The need for
that was demonstrated during Hurricane Katrina, Kettl maintains. He underlines that
planning and coordinating appropriately will require reconfiguring certain government
entities and how they relate to one another in order to deal with the massive needs of
people that result from global challenges.
Transforming government is Kettl’s special passion. At the school of public policy at the
University of Maryland the goal is to help government understand how it needs to change,
adapt, restructure and reorganize to meet 21st century challenges. Kettl says this about
meeting those challenges: "Government must change the way it does business or risk
failure. We're finding out all too clearly that there are no governance structures in place
to handle problems on the scale of the banking crisis. The United States must get real
smart, real fast or the U.S.'s leadership role in the world will be at risk."
Although government failed at all levels during Hurricane Katrina, experts maintain the
government can learn important lessons for dealing with an influenza pandemic.
Coordination and recognizing the importance of the demographics of a given area in that
coordination would seem critical, as noted by Kettl and others like him who are trying to
assist in making government more responsive in the event of a major disaster again.
In Louisiana vigilance is of particular importance, both for hurricane preparedness as well
as for epidemics. After making so many mistakes about Hurricane Katrina, perhaps doing
some demographic evaluation and planning and coordination will be demanded from
citizenry so Louisiana isn't shown as the worst example of emergency preparedness and
instead the best.
Issues of coordination with respect to disaster emergencies have been seen critical post-
Katrina. Experts declare that Hurricane Katrina taught government at all levels needs to be
networked and prepared. This is now important for flu preparation.
The first test of the bio-threat system in the post-9/11 world is the potential of an
influenza pandemic. It has, according to public administrator Donald Kettl, who is the
incoming public policy dean at the University of Maryland, brought about so far a rapid,
coordinated response in public health sectors. He goes on to say that with Katrina the
Department of Homeland Security didn’t properly connect the dots and that now there is a
better level of preparedness to deal with national and international emergencies.
Furthermore the anthrax attacks and SARS added to the lessons for public health officials
Kettl says.
Kettl, who wrote the text “The Next Government of the United States,” maintains that all
levels of government have to make changes to take care of challenges on a global scale
that affect various public sectors that include finance, security and public health. He
maintains, "We’ve long known that a genuine pandemic could strike fast and hit hard,”
Kettl says. “Especially in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks and SARS, the
government has spent a lot of time and energy quietly preparing for the possibility of
biothreats, either from nature or from terrorists. From all indications, the preparations
were thorough and the nation is ready. But this could prove the first real acid test.
What Obama needs to do, according to Kettl in response to disaster challenges, is to
develop integrated partnerships throughout different levels of government. The need for
that was demonstrated during Hurricane Katrina, Kettl maintains. He underlines that
planning and coordinating appropriately will require reconfiguring certain government
entities and how they relate to one another in order to deal with the massive needs of
people that result from global challenges.
Transforming government is Kettl’s special passion. At the school of public policy at the
University of Maryland the goal is to help government understand how it needs to change,
adapt, restructure and reorganize to meet 21st century challenges. Kettl says this about
meeting those challenges: "Government must change the way it does business or risk
failure. We're finding out all too clearly that there are no governance structures in place
to handle problems on the scale of the banking crisis. The United States must get real
smart, real fast or the U.S.'s leadership role in the world will be at risk."
Although government failed at all levels during Hurricane Katrina, experts maintain the
government can learn important lessons for dealing with an influenza pandemic.
Coordination and recognizing the importance of the demographics of a given area in that
coordination would seem critical, as noted by Kettl and others like him who are trying to
assist in making government more responsive in the event of a major disaster again.
In Louisiana vigilance is of particular importance, both for hurricane preparedness as well
as for epidemics. After making so many mistakes about Hurricane Katrina, perhaps doing
some demographic evaluation and planning and coordination will be demanded from
citizenry so Louisiana isn't shown as the worst example of emergency preparedness and
instead the best.