Posted on August 28, 2006

Looking Back, Lessons Learned From Hurricane Katrina

A year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, experts are taking a hard look at how well relief operations functioned, including those backed by charities and other nonprofit organizations, the Associated Press reports.

Understanding what went right — and what didn't — will enable relief groups to put changes in place and assure donors they can deal with future disaster efforts. One area in which Americans succeeded was to give generously to relief groups, with some $4.2 billion contributed after Katrina hit, followed by hurricanes Rita and Wilma. At least a quarter of that money went to fledgling charities that sprang up in the aftermath of the hurricanes, though experienced groups like the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army were hardly overlooked.

According to a new study by the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government people moved to action by the devastation helped "fill a tremendous gap left in the response by the state, local, and federal governments." Volunteers from local churches and charities were often among the first to reach devastated areas, the report noted, though lack of coordination with government officials and other nonprofit agencies slowed progress, and many small organizations took on more than they could effectively handle.

Patrick Rooney, director of research for the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, praised the media and government agencies for referring people to the Web sites and toll-free telephone numbers of bona fide relief agencies, which helped minimize problems with fraudulent groups. He also pointed out that many major relief agencies had developed better operating procedures after dealing with the fallout from 9/11 and the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004. But one of the lessons learned for the future, Rooney said, was that "clearly, neither FEMA nor the relief organizations were prepared for a disaster of this order of magnitude."