Large-scale disasters have struck Boston in the past, and the city’s leaders must learn from past mistakes to prepare for the next hurricane, pandemic, terrorist attack or other catastrophe, said several professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who hosted a symposium Friday on the downfalls and triumphs of past disaster relief efforts.
Three MIT professors headlined the forum, called “How Can We Improve Disaster Response,” and discussed how local and federal governments can respond to disasters more quickly.
“Up-front planning” is the key element to disaster response, according to the speakers. To survive a catastrophe similar to Hurricane Katrina, cities should design an integrated response plan.
Cities need to prepare a plan for evacuating and relocating their lower-income populations, effectively treating the wounded and sick, organizing civilian volunteers and handling routine 911 calls and emergencies, the professors said, adding that the plans should be rehearsed ahead of time and must be flexible.
Kenneth Oye, professor of political science and engineering systems, dissected the triumphs and downfalls of the response to Hurricane Katrina. The most effective organizations planned in advance and had strong, experienced leadership.
When the National Weather Service warned that a powerful hurricane was headed for the Gulf Coast, Oye said, the Coast Guard took the warning seriously by evacuating dependents and moving their assets out of flood-prone areas. The Coast Guard learned from past disasters and created a core response plan that was on target, Oye said. But weak leadership and lack of planning made the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the hurricane inadequate, he added.
FEMA was once an independent and effective organization, but after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, FEMA became part of the Department of Homeland security and began to focus primarily on terrorism. As current government leaders attempted to privatize FEMA, experienced leaders left the organization and were replaced by unqualified businessmen, Oye said. He added that the government agency failed to learn from its past mistakes, suffering from “institutional amnesia.”
According to civil and environmental engineering systems professor Richard Larson, hospitals, local government, federal organizations, non-profits, businesses and the general population must cooperate with each other to implement an effective response plan.
Larson added that the media has manipulated footage and released inaccurate information about Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, which is confusing the American people.
Yossi Sheffi, professor of civil and environmental engineering systems, advised that Boston and the rest of the country “prepare for the next disaster, not the last one,” but should be careful not to overreact to Katrina.
In the long term, Sheffi said the United States needs to seek energy independence, improve science and technology education, and repair economic infrastructure to more effectively handle large-scale disasters.
About 50 members of the MIT community attended Friday’s symposium, which was part of the greater symposia series, “Big Questions After Big Hurricanes.”
According to The Boston Globe, in response to Hurricane Katrina, Boston’s Department of Homeland Security is currently developing a new disaster response plan for hurricanes. But as of Sept. 12, Boston officials had no plans on how to evacuate and house the thousands of lower-income residents that would be displaced if a hurricane hit.
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