‘Unacceptable’: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina

Walter M. Brasch
BookSurge (2003)
ISBN 1419618393
Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (7/06)

 “ ‘Unacceptable’: The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina” gives a detailed and concise account of what went wrong in the planning for and response to what many people are calling the nation’s worst natural disaster ever.   

Dr. Brasch, an award-winning professor of journalism, a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and author of 16 books is more than qualified to analyze the governmental policies that led to the horribly botched response to Hurricane Katrina. This engrossing and well-researched book begins with an excerpt from Dr. Brasch and Rosemary R. Brasch’s 2003 article “An Ill Wind and American Policy”.   The article accurately outlined the problems that would happen if a natural disaster occurred at home while so many of our experienced National Guard forces are deployed in Iraq.  The article included a chillingly accurate prediction by the Brasch’s: “Our nation’s disaster preparedness doesn’t meet the needs that any sizeable disaster might bring.” 

I have to admit that the event details were hard to stomach at times as the full realization set in that with proper planning and repairs prior to the storm the massive extent of the damage did not have to happen.  And once the storm hit and the levies broke the lack of federal response due to incompetence and lack of experience by FEMA and Homeland Security caused unimaginable death and devastation to the victims.  “Unacceptable” gives a vivid portrayal of the short sighted political policies that led up to this tragedy such as:  not taking environmental reports seriously, allowing businesses to destroy wetlands that provide natural protection to the Gulf Coast, leaving the nation vulnerable by slashing budgets that fund natural disaster preparation to fund the war in Iraq and hiring inexperienced political friends in favor of experts at agencies this country looks to during a natural disaster.   The poor governmental response to this crisis was also attributed to the deeper issues of race and class relations in this country. 

“Unacceptable” was not all a negative account of Hurricane Katrina.  Dr. Brasch also recounted the many unsung heroes, corporations and countries that responded and were sometimes turned away (some justifiably) from helping with disaster relief.  Firemen, policemen and so many others took vacation time from their jobs to pitch in with rescue efforts before the delayed response by Federal Government of asking for help.  The Red Cross, Salvation Army and so many others proved to be invaluable, but were quickly at their maximum capacity.  The American Humane Society, Noah’s Wish, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and so many more took on the task of rescuing animals and trying to reunite them with their pets. 

This well-written book offers great insight into the Federal Response to Katrina.  I would not however recommend it to right wing Republicans, as they would probably find it very offensive.   

Make comment on weblog