Enhancing Public Health Preparedness: Exercises, Exemplary Practices, and Lessons Learned, Phase III. Task G: Lessons Learned from the State and Local Public Health Response to Hurricane Katrina. Working Paper

摘要

Hurricane Katrina was one of the largest and most costly natural disasters in U.S. history, and its effects will be felt for many years to come. Though there were many compelling stories of individual acts of heroism in response to the disaster, it is widely agreed that most aspects of the response, including the public health and medical response, fell short of expectations. Hurricane Katrina tested the public health system in terms of its emergency response role; a number of problem areas were exposed in the process. It is important to examine the public health response to Hurricane Katrina to determine what worked well and what did not, so that public health agencies can learn from its experiences and improve its preparedness before another disaster (whether natural or manmade) strikes. This study seeks to contribute to this effort by collecting and synthesizing the public health lessons learned from the response to Hurricane Katrina.