Essay: Decision making in the face of disaster (Hurricane Katrina)

In addressing any problem or disaster, decision making is very essential as it advises on the actions to be taken. Hurricane Katrina was one of the high magnitude hurricanes and ranked among the deadliest hurricanes in history to ever hit the United States of America. The hurricane caused massive destruction along the Gulf Coast. The significance of Hurricane Katrina is not only noteworthy for the destruction it caused, but it also exposed ethical issues regarding decision making in response to disasters in the United States (Jennings, 2016). Public organizations are responsible for making such decisions. Their decisions have a major impact on the US citizens that live in areas affected by emergencies. On this disaster, the decisions are said to have negatively impacted the groups with low socioeconomic status.
There is a close link between good decision making and moral maturity. This means that for one to make a right decision, they need to have moral maturity. People with moral maturity are more likely to make better decisions as compared to people without moral maturity. Morally mature organizations or individuals are likely to take ethics into consideration when making their decisions, they will direct actions that will not have a negative effect on the people involved (Jennings, 2016). Ethical issues were exposed in the emergency response during Hurricane Katrina. This paper will argue that the decisions made by public organizations in response to the hurricane were not ethically deficient and partially contributed to the high magnitude of the disaster.
Response to Hurricane Katrina
As it has been mentioned earlier, this is one of the greatest disasters in history to have ever hit the United States of America. The magnitude of destruction was massive with over 1,800 lives lost and billions in property damage. Leaders from different departments and organizations launched debates regarding the disaster responsiveness of the United States during this emergency. One of the emerging issues in these debates is ethical decision making in times of disaster. It is the responsibility of the local and federal government to ensure that citizens are safe at all times, including during times of such disasters as hurricane Katrina. Officials are expected to make the right decisions that would save people and reduce the magnitude of property damage. As stated by panelist Susan Henry Crowe, “there are three stages involved in disaster response namely; emergency stage, relief stage and the long-term recovery stage” (Baust, 2005). Emergency stage is the most important as it plays an essential role in reducing the extent of a disaster. Crowe also stated that “for every day spent on emergency activities, there is usually about a month needed for relief”. Therefore, the longer the emergency takes, the longer the period of relief to be required.
In the words of James Buehler, who is a research professor of epidemiology and based in the Rollins School of Public Health, “The hurricane has exposed ethical problems related to social justice and raised questions of how emergency services should be used” (Baust, 2005). He insinuates that there was an issue in the disaster preparedness of the local government. The involved departments were not ready and for this reason, it took time before a response was launched. Ethically, the government should always be ready for a disaster. Whether there are signs in prior or not, it is important for the government to ensure that the right equipment and personnel are in place just in case a disaster strikes. In most cases, there are signs from the meteorological department indicating the possibility of such an occurrence. Although the magnitude may not be properly speculated, at least such an indication is enough to trigger the preparedness of the government (Baust, 2005). During the Hurricane Katrina, the local government failed to respond in time due to lack of proper preparedness. The use of emergency services is related to the needs of public health. When the government is not able to respond promptly to such disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in this case, it means that it has failed in addressing public health issues which is part of an ethical requirement. This is an area that the local government failed, and it led to the devastating effects of the hurricane, an issue that could have been controlled if the government was more prepared.
The other ethical issue that was involved in the response to Hurricane Katrina is the incompetence of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Mr. Michael Brown. During a panel held at Cox Ballroom, the director of the Ethics and Servant Leadership Program, Edward Queen stated that it is immoral for anyone to accept a job and they do not meet the competence requirements (Baust, 2005). He said that Michael Brown was unprepared for the role and for that reason; he could not lodge a quick response to the hurricane. Mr. Brown waited 5 hours to seek approval from Homeland Security after Katrina made landfall. Brown said that among duties of these employees was to “convey a positive image” about the government’s response for victims even though thousands were needing help on the ground. This is a point that was further emphasized by an assistant professor of environmental studies, Tracy Yandle who was also present in the panel meeting. According to Yandle, the leadership of Federal Emergency Management Agency at the time had failed to take the government role with the seriousness it deserved (Baust, 2005). The occupants of the office did not do enough to take the right action towards preventing the disaster from killing so many people. It is not ethical for people who hold such a sensitive office to fail on a very basic issue of seriousness. On the other hand, the local government had also failed in that it did not recognize the incompetence of FEMA leadership in advance to either change or take the necessary action. It can therefore be argued that the local government indirectly failed in taking a quick response to the Hurricane Katrina by not recognizing and acting towards the incompetence of FEMA leadership (Baust, 2005. If they were incompetent, this further exposes the ethical issues that were involved in the whole incidence.
Ensuring there are sufficient medical resources is also an ethical aspect that needs to be considered during disaster preparedness. With sufficient medical resources which are effective and efficient, it is possible to increase the chances of survival of the population affected by a disaster (Geale, 2012). Before the occurrence of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans hospitals had started the execution of some of their emergency plans but most of these hospitals had back- up generators that were located in the basement. When installing these generators, they did not consider the possibility of a flood and hence missed a contingency in the event of such occurrence. When the Hurricane Katrina occurred and the basements were flooded, the backup systems failed, rendering the hospitals technically non-functional (Danz, 2014). The hospitals were left with no power and hence their operations were greatly deterred. This forced physicians into a situation of ethical quandary. They could not efficiently respond to the patients who were being brought as survivors of the storm affectively.
The lack of quick response due to the power failure was one of the issues that contributed to the high number of deaths that were experienced at the time. Again, this was viewed as a failure on the ethical responsiveness of the local government. When hospitals were installing the generators in the basement, they ought to have sought consent and guidance from the government engineers and FEMA (Danz, 2014). The agency should have advised them on the best options in installing the generators regarding disaster preparedness. The fact that this information was not available and/or that the installations were allowed to be done in the basement and below the sea level, it contributed to the ethical challenges of the health organizations and hence hindered their abilities to respond to situations such as the Hurricane Katrina.
Conclusion
Disaster preparedness aids in increasing the efficiency of response when a disaster occurs. For better disaster preparedness, the right decisions must be made by the relevant organizations or parties. The local government as well as the federal government is responsible for ensuring safety for citizens at all times. The right measures should be put in place that can aid fast response when a disaster occurs. Proper decision making is usually linked to moral maturity. Therefore, the government should ensure that the people who hold public offices are able to make the right decisions, an assurance that could partially be gauged by the candidates’ moral maturity.