Japan & Katrina DP / SS

Taking a moment to compare and contrast Hurricane Katrina with the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami ...

There is a great deal of blame to be placed in numerous directions concerning Katrina.  But one of the largest initial screw ups (just after Katerina hit) is that Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco were doing ostrich impressions.  Each had his / her head stuck in the sand and was refusing to admit that the devastation was as widespread and intense as it actually was.

In the United States, local government traditionally takes care of the first 24 hours of a natural disaster.  State government is then mobilised and ready to handle days 2, 3 and possibly 4.  And Uncle Sam is ready to move in about the beginning of 4 or 5.  In the Katrina situation, there were several situations where the national government did not move in sooner because the Mayor and the Governor were insisting that they had established initial control.

Nagin essentially spent the first 72 hours pretending that the New Orleans City Government had not been totally sidelined by the hurricane.  Blanco spent about the same amount of time refusing to admit that the Louisiana Government was effectively functioning only in the Northern half of the state.

In a lot of ways, we're currently seeing the same thing happening in Japan.  Other nations are standing by and offering to assist the Japanese.  But the local and national officials are refusing to admit that the problem is as large as it actually is.  They are consistently demonstrating an inability to confess that the earthquake and tsunami have overwhelmed their ability to deal with the situation.  Painting a picture of normalcy is more important to them than admitting that help is needed.

"We can't admit that this has happened.  We can't allow people to know that infrastructure is badly damaged and certain safety systems are in danger of failing.  It would cause us to look bad."

Different Problem / Same Stupidity