Man behind Hurricane Katrina response warns over media void

A senior US official at the centre of the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina tonight warned of the dangers of leaving a media void.

The sight of hundreds of thousands of people without homes, food or water in the wake of the devastating hurricane last August led to severe criticism of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Its deputy regional director Joe Picciano said part of this had been due to the media void that FEMA had allowed to develop.

“You can’t leave any voids. It’s not the media’s responsibility if they’re filling that void the way they see it,” he said.

At the annual conference of the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) in Leitrim, Mr Picciano said the media coverage of the disaster had shown the crowds of people stranded in the Superdome in New Orleans but not the the 1,000 people who had been rescued from their houses in the flooded city.

“Yeah we made mistakes but we also didn’t honour those who worked their butts off. We didn’t demonstrate the wonderful work those people were doing,” he said.

Less than one week after the hurricane struck, FEMA stopped allowing journalists to accompany rescuers searching for victims, saying they would take up too much space.

Mr Piccano, who was also involved in the emergency response to the September 11 attacks, said there had been a far better use of the media there, mainly thanks to the leadership qualities of the New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani.

“He did not leave a media void. He told people what was happening and more importantly, he told them what he didn’t know,” he said.

Mr Piccano pointed out that while the September 11 attacks had been confined to downtown Manhattan, Hurricane Katrina had affected an area larger than the size of Britain.

He said FEMA had pre-deployed a record amount of resources and emergency supplies before Hurricane Katrina struck but it had been not enough.

“We were dealing with a catastrophic event that no-one really expected to occur.”

Hurricane Katrina led to the deaths of 1,300 people and left hundreds of thousands of people without homes.

Although US President George Bush initially praised FEMA director Michael D. Brown for his work, he quickly recalled him to Washington and Brown resigned soon afterwards.

Mr Piccano said the expectations the US people had for the state response to Hurricane Katrina had been unrealistic.

“There is a dramatic need to inform the general citizenry of the need for self and family preparedness. An understanding that in a catastrophic event, it will be days not hours before basic assistance is available.”