Essay on How the Government Failed the Victims of...

Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a†¦show more content†¦The responsibility for maintaining existing levees and building new ones falls to the federal, state and local governments. In reality, the costs of most infrastructure projects are in the hundreds-of-millions to bi llions of dollars. This means that the cost burden must fall on the federal government (Webster). The federal government, however, failed to provide the necessary resources to build protective infrastructure for U.S. citizens since, â€Å"Under the Bush administration there was little money for nor interest in internal improvements, as the federal dollar was spent mainly on the military while the nations infrastructure continued to deteriorate† (George). Had more money been spent on internal improvements, more levees could have been built and the impact of the storm lessened. The failure to adequately prepare for the storm led to increased and more widespread devastation, which in many cases harmed those living in the affected areas. An independent analysis of the reason for such massive chaos was performed and determined that â€Å"Most of the damage was due to the failure of the levee system that surrounds the city to protect it from ï ¬â€šooding† (Ubilla). Had these levees been properly built, and had there been more of them protecting the city of New Orleans, major flooding could have potentially been lessened. A simple feature of the levee structure which engineers neglected to include is the concreteShow MoreRelatedUnited States Government Response to Hurricane Katrina: Where Does the Blame Belong?1645 Words   |  7 PagesBusiness Dictionary, government involvement is considered any â€Å"regulatory action taken by a government in order to affect or interfere with decisions.† Many accuse the United States’ national governmen t of minimal and slow actions taken after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, while others share the blame of this response. 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