NGOs and Peacebuilding in the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina

In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States, bringing 140mph (225 kph) winds and storm surges as high as 12 feet (3.65 metres) to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Western Panhandle of Florida. The storm killed 1,833 people and caused over $100 billion worth of damage. The destruction continued as the storm broke the levees above the city of New Orleans; the National Weather Service reports that as much as 80% of the city was flooded in the days immediately following the storm [1]. Damage from wind, rain, and flooding prompted a severe humanitarian crisis as people were forced to evacuate their homes, while many others were trapped by floodwaters and unable to access necessities. Katrina forced the evacuation of well over 1 million people, around 500,000 of whom had still not returned home by January of 2006. In the New Orleans metropolitan area, half of hospitals and bus routes remained shut down, along with two-thirds of grocery stores six months after the storm. Many grocers, gas stations, and drug stores closed for good. In Orleans Parish, the centre of New Orleans, 85% of schools were still closed in January 2006 [2]. These consequences were only the beginning for the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, however. The massive destruction of the storm caused systemic damage that persists to this day.

In response to the crisis in New Orleans, the Governor of Louisiana requested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provide assistance. FEMA’s response, however, was sluggish and ineffective and put more civilians at risk because of the increased time it took the agency to respond. Though the government did ultimately provide a significant amount of assistance through search and rescue operations, evacuations, provisions of critical supplies and energy, among many other things, Katrina’s magnitude overwhelmed FEMA. An intergovernmental disaster preparedness plan was in place, yet the strains of the storm rendered it ineffective. FEMA was incapable of adapting to change or accepting help from abroad because of the amount of red tape in place in the federal bureaucracy [3]. Because of these shortcomings of the federal government, exacerbated by media coverage, American and international NGOs took action to aid of the Gulf Coast community. NGOs that work in a broad range of fields, not just in disaster response, participated in relief efforts. The impact of Katrina elicited an all-encompassing response similar to a violence conflict or other emergency, requiring support for those required medical care, mental health resources, or those whose homes were destroyed, among the many other disruptive elements of the disaster [4].

In the wake of the hurricane, NGOs sought out and were called to areas unreached by the American government. Groups sought to establish pockets of peace, reaching individuals communities to provide relief and security in a chaotic and uncertain environment [5]. Organisations like the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, and UNICEF were compelled to act as media coverage of the disaster increased. For the first time, people around the world could see the devastation happening with continuous television coverage, prompting a wave of global pressure on NGOs to step in given the scale of the tragedy [6]. Critical in the actions of NGOs was their engagement with local communities. By partnering with local charity groups, international NGOs were able to leverage their resources to provide immediate relief while also establishing structures to help communities build themselves up. Oxfam, as an example, partnered with a coalition of around 40 organisations in coastal Mississippi, creating a framework through which communities could more effectively advocate for their needs and build themselves up after the support from outside groups was no longer there. Oxfam America’s Regional Director put their approach this way:

“We… understood the value of capacity building and invested in it. This approach framed our relief and recovery efforts, especially through organizing at the grassroots level.”

– Minor Sinclair, regional director of US Regional Office – Oxfam America

This capacity building took place through Oxfam’s partner, the Steps Coalition, by equipping local NGOs with conflict resolution strategies, skills for organisation of power, and ways to construct action plans. Even 10 years removed from Oxfam’s initial response to Katrina, the Steps Coalition still empowered individuals in communities to take action to advocate for and protect themselves. In 2015, the coalition came together to oppose the development of a wetland that would have reduced environmental protection and water quality of a low-income African American community. The coalition successfully galvanised over 500 signatures for a petition which stopped the development, protecting the community and the environment [7].

Though the Gulf Coast community continues to struggle with the effects of Hurricane Katrina, now 18 years later, the effects of NGO peacebuilding in the region also live on. NGOs sought to provide pockets of peace to neglected communities in Katrina’s immediate aftermath, bringing communities together in ways that have developed impactful connections. These connections and the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina will become even more important in the future as storms like Katrina become more and more frequent due to climate change. Though, even though storm frequency and severity are increasing, prevention and response to these storms is improving [8]. Lessons learned by organisations from the response to Katrina have already been implemented to respond to similar disasters like Hurricane Harvey, which like Katrina brought devastating rain and floods to Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast in 2017. Organisations are recognising the importance of grassroots recovery efforts, which lays the foundations for communities to be able to create their own future peace [9]. 

What do you think?

• How does a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina disrupt peace? For individuals? For communities?
• What is the responsibility of government in providing support and restoring peace?
• How might NGOs respond differently to a disaster in the United States as compared to a nation without such a large central government?
• In what ways can NGOs build future peace beyond immediate disaster relief?
• What other groups can build peace after a crisis?

If you enjoyed this item in our museum…

You may also enjoy ‘Visualising Peace after Forced Displacement,’ ‘Place is the Path to Peace,’ ‘Visualizing Peace(ful Cities): The Invisible Urbicide Project,’ or items with the tag ‘Pockets of Peace.’

Samuel Huff, December 2023

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Further Reading

• The report requested by President Bush on the Federal response to Katrina: https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/public/hasl_get_blob.cfm?ID=4628
• This paper explores why NGOs reacted to Katina in the ways that they did: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00825.x
• A critical and analytical report on the Federal Government’s long-term reaction to Katrina. Published by Save the Children, an NGO that helped with the initial response to Katrina in 2005: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/pdf/disasterreport_2015.pdf/
• FEMA’s public presentation of its response to Katrina: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/historic
• A short article from Oxfam highlighting lessons learned from Katrina: https://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/what-did-we-learn-from-katrina/

Endnotes

1. US Department of Commerce, NOAA. ‘Hurricane Katrina – August 2005.’ NOAA’s National Weather Service, September 2022. https://www.weather.gov/mob/katrina.
2. Bureau, US Census. ‘Facts for Features: Hurricane Katrina 10th Anniversary: Aug. 29, 2015.’ Census.gov, 29 July 2015. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/facts-for-features/2015/cb15-ff16.html.
3. White House. ‘The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned.’ Washington, D.C.: Office of the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, 2006. 44-45. https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/public/hasl_get_blob.cfm?ID=4628.
4. Eikenberry, A.M., Arroyave, V. and Cooper, T. (2007), Administrative Failure and the International NGO Response to Hurricane Katrina. Public Administration Review, 67: 162, 164-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00825.x
5. See pockets of peace readings https://peacemuseum.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/tag/pockets-of-peace/
6. Eikenberry, A.M., Arroyave, V. and Cooper, T. (2007), Administrative Failure and the International NGO Response to Hurricane Katrina. Public Administration Review, 67: 164. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00825.x
7. Babic, Mary. ‘In the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, Investing in People Is a Chance to “Build Back Better”’. Oxfam America, 27 August 2015. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/a-chance-to-build-back-better-in-the-wake-of-katrina-investing-in-people/.
8. World Meteorological Association. ‘Weather-Related Disasters Increase over Past 50 Years, Causing More Damage but Fewer Deaths’, 31 August 2021. https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over-past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer.
9. Sinclair, Minor. ‘What Did We Learn from Katrina?,’ 28 August 2017. https://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/what-did-we-learn-from-katrina/.