USA - hurricanes Katrina & Rita, September 2005
The disaster
Hurricane Katrina stormed through Louisiana with a wind
speed of some 200km/h at 1000h local time (2100h Brussels
time) on 29 August, making landfall at Grand Isle, some 90km
south of New Orleans. A state of emergency was declared for
Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. Passing through New Orleans
it caused widespread damage all throughout the city, leaving
thousands homeless. Within 24 hours, some 80% of the city
was underwater, with a number of people not having evacuated
the place. The death toll stood at around 100 people. The
situation deteriorated due to poor sanitary conditions and
breakdown of the rule of law. Fires also broke out in various
parts of the city.
As the city was recovering from the effects of Hurricane
Katrina, a re-evacuation of the city started on 21 September
2005 due to the threat posed by Hurricane Rita. Its storm
surge flood once again parts of the city and some of the repair
work carried earlier was washed away.
Chronology
During the first few days of Hurricane Katrina, informal
contacts were established between the United States, the EC
Delegation in Washington and the then UK Presidency. Meanwhile,
at the Monitoring and Information
Centre (MIC) preparatory activities were underway. The
US made an official request for assistance to the MIC on Sunday
4 September 2005 at 0632h Brussels time. This request came
from the US authorities through the EC Delegation in Washington
and the Presidency. The European response was then channelled
through the Community Civil
Protection Mechanism.
Assistance provided
All
countries participating in the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism
offered assistance. The United States accepted 21 of these
offers. The MIC appointed two EU civil protection co-ordination
experts on site – one from the UK, the other from Denmark.
Some 150 European civil protection experts operated in the
New Orleans region together with 200 tents, 3000 beds, 77,000
blankets, 500,000 MREs (meals ready to eat) and many other
items of urgent assistance that were provided by the participating
states.
The situation improved by the end of September/beginning
of October, with Hurricane Rita not producing any major damage.
Part of the city had been re-opened and only 5% of the city
remained under water. After the departure of the EU co-ordination
experts, the MIC stayed in direct contact with the remaining
teams until the operation was closed on the 27 September 2005.
Added value
These hurricanes clearly manifested the truth that all countries
around the globe, irrespective of size, wealth or geographical
location can be hit by natural disasters of overwhelming force.
The added value of the MIC was widely acknowledged by partners
as well as the US authorities. The Mechanism’s response was
swift, once the request for assistance was launched by the
affected country. The regular reports from the on-site
EU experts on site allowed MIC to formulate a targeted request
for assistance such as in the provision of high capacity pumps.
MIC activity during the USA hurricanes emergency
- Some 500 emails and telephone calls handled during the
initial phase of the emergency
- A total of 24 information messages with detailed and
updated reports on the emergency broadcast to all participating
states
- EU co-ordination experts sent to different locations
of the emergency (Arlington and Baton Rouge)
- All participating states to the mechanism offered assistance
Lessons learnt
The Mechanism on the whole worked well during this emergency,
however it highlighted some issues which needed further improvement.
Following the south east Asian tsunami of 2004, proposals
were put forward in a Commission
Communication. These developed into a Commission proposal
for the
recast of the legislation governing the Mechanism.
In January 2006, the Commission also organised a lessons
learnt meeting on the USA hurricane emergency. A number of
points were raised by the participants including:
-
EU co-ordination teams
should be larger and should have a clearer mandate
-
Training of individuals
is crucial to the success of the intervention
- Katrina showed that catastrophic disasters can
happen anywhere - the EU must be prepared.
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