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Lecture 1

Hurricane Katrina

1- Medical care facility

  • No electricity - medical equipment

  • No AC or sanitation

  • Evacuation = difficult

  • Many deaths

    • Emmette Everett: paraplegic + heavy. He had to be carried to the roof but died → evidence of toxic drugs

  • Dr. Anna Pou: charged with homicide for euthanizing patients

2- Example of organizational failure

  • Communication = inadequate. Population was not properly informed

  • Failure to provide resources necessary for evacuation (buses, gasoline, lists of contacts for those who couldn't evacuate)

  • Personnel management issues: First responders didn’t show up for work (families to take care of)

    • Solution: provide resources for first responders’ families and monitor where they are going

  • Failure to use federal resources (National Guard): they must be requested by the state but Louisiana was slow to request their help

3- Michael Brown

  • Chief executive of FEMA

  • Didn’t manage FEMA’s role very well in the aftermath of the hurricane

  • Not qualified so no effective leadership

4- Lessons

Organization matters!

  • Michael Brown: importance of recruitment and matching talents to jobs

  • Importance of communication

  • Importance of resource provision

  • Hierarchy needs to be effective

  • Importance of assigning responsibilities before tasks need performing

→ Poor organization killed people and it could have been avoided

Lecture 1

Hurricane Katrina

1- Medical care facility

  • No electricity - medical equipment

  • No AC or sanitation

  • Evacuation = difficult

  • Many deaths

    • Emmette Everett: paraplegic + heavy. He had to be carried to the roof but died → evidence of toxic drugs

  • Dr. Anna Pou: charged with homicide for euthanizing patients

2- Example of organizational failure

  • Communication = inadequate. Population was not properly informed

  • Failure to provide resources necessary for evacuation (buses, gasoline, lists of contacts for those who couldn't evacuate)

  • Personnel management issues: First responders didn’t show up for work (families to take care of)

    • Solution: provide resources for first responders’ families and monitor where they are going

  • Failure to use federal resources (National Guard): they must be requested by the state but Louisiana was slow to request their help

3- Michael Brown

  • Chief executive of FEMA

  • Didn’t manage FEMA’s role very well in the aftermath of the hurricane

  • Not qualified so no effective leadership

4- Lessons

Organization matters!

  • Michael Brown: importance of recruitment and matching talents to jobs

  • Importance of communication

  • Importance of resource provision

  • Hierarchy needs to be effective

  • Importance of assigning responsibilities before tasks need performing

→ Poor organization killed people and it could have been avoided

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