Lessons from Katrina begin to emerge

NEW ORLEANS--Officials in charge of response and recovery operations say it may take years to fully learn the lessons from Hurricane Katrina, but some already are evident, such as the need to deal with evacuating hundreds of thousands of citizens and for federal agencies to pre-position critical resources.

Some officials now are questioning whether Hurricane Katrina will do for emergency management what the 9/11 attacks did for the intelligence community. Sept. 11 revealed major shortcomings and vulnerabilities within U.S. intelligence, leading to a major overhaul of agencies and processes.

Hurricane Katrina has raised numerous questions, such as what happens when first responders are themselves the victims of a catastrophe and local infrastructure is wiped out, and how should the federal government respond if a state is slow to ask for assistance or actually resists federal help.

"I'm not sure anybody but the far-out gamers had gamed or exercised a scenario where the entire infrastructure is gone. It's not just first responders, there's no government," said Coast Guard Cpt. Martin Hyman, chief of planning for the federal government's hurricane response organization.

The National Response Plan is the government's blueprint for responding to a disaster. Under it, local and state governments are supposed to be the first to respond, and ask the federal government for help when and where it's needed.

"The National Response Plan is based on a local community being able to respond," said Army Col. Jon Smart, operations officer for the commanders planning group with Joint Task Force Katrina, which is the military's organization for relief and recovery. "Local communities - cities, counties and then up to state - they are the first ones that have to respond to any crisis. It's only after that crisis becomes larger than those first responders can handle that the federal government is asked to come in."

Hyman and Smart agreed that the plan will have to be changed due to the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.

President Bush said in a speech to the nation Thursday night that every level of government "was not well coordinated, and was overwhelmed in the first few days" of the hurricane and subsequent flooding of New Orleans. He also said a catastrophe of that magnitude "requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces."

Bush has directed the Homeland Security Department to undertake an immediate review in conjunction with state and local officials of emergency plans in every major city in the country. He also directed every member of his Cabinet to undertake a review of the lessons from the hurricane.

Some issues that policymakers and legislators will have to face include planning for mass evacuations, developing mobile communications networks, creating better exercises and pre-positioning critical resources in advance of a crisis, say federal and local officials.

Hyman said, for example, that the government's Top Officials exercise - or TOPOFF -- needs to try out scenarios involving mass evacuations. The last TOPOFF exercise examined a biological and chemical attack in U.S. cities, but did not account for mass evacuations.

"I think future exercises, whether they be TOPOFF or otherwise, would have to sort of up the ante on things like that," Hyman said. "And there is no good answer to move a hundred thousand people or greater, and even the ability to notify the people that they need to come to a certain place to get evacuated."

Smart said the military's Northern Command already has started developing new exercises in response to the hurricane. "The more you practice something, the better you get at it," he said. Major work and decisions still need to be made about rebuilding New Orleans and the surrounding parishes.

"This is the most massive city planning or urban renewal project that's ever been undertaken anywhere in the world," Hyman said. "The pyramids probably weren't as difficult."

Bush said the federal government is committed to reconstruction, but city and state officials will have the primary role in making decisions. "We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives," he said. "The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be the largest reconstruction effort that the world has ever seen."

But it is not clear when the massive military presence here will be withdrawn. Rank and file military soldiers and federal law enforcement officers still patrol the lonely city streets, sweating from the humid, sticky air and drinking water or Gatorade whenever they can.

"The military will be here as long as it takes to complete the task that we're here to do," Smart said.

Hyman said the military patrols, at least, will most likely be ending soon. "The guys that are in the Humvees on the streets, I can't tell you what day they'll be gone, but I'd bet a lot of paychecks it's not going to be much longer. It's not going to be three months."

And progress is noted each day in restoring the city to some sense of normalcy. Mayor Ray Nagin said business owners will be allowed into certain locations starting Saturday, with some residents to follow on Monday or Tuesday. And a few local bars already have opened for business.