I too think that the pre-storm response was inadequate, and the post-storm response has been inadequate so far. There will be plenty of time for finger pointing.
But consider this: a disaster of this magnitude could (and will again) happen in any American city, for many reasons. With terrorist attacks and earthquakes, we'll have no warning so only the post-event plan means anything. With hurricanes, at least we have a few days warning to get ready and get people out of harm's way.
There should be at least two lessons learned from this, both of which will save lives and suffering in future disasters. The first is that when you have warning, as we did with Katrina, HAVE AN EVACUATION PLAN and USE IT. This is no easy task, to evacuate a large city in a few days, especially when some don't want to go. But it must be done.
Second, for the disasters which cannot be predicted, learn from this how difficult it is to render aid, evacuate the wounded, pacify the looters. It will be even moreso when we're dealing with earthquake-shattered roads or nuclear radiation. Learn from New Orleans and rewrite all the plans.
And as another poster pointed out, COMMUNICATIONS MEANS EVERYTHING. There is NO EXCUSE for having "no communications" when I can get a perfectly good set of radios at Target or Radio Shack which can talk all over NO. You cannot depend on telephone infrastructure. Witness the BellSouth switch building that is overheating; if that goes down, so goes a bunch of the Southeastern phone network, and I will probably not be able to access FR either.
Notice who wasn't with Barbour and Riley with Bush.
Gov. Blanco.
She is in the doghouse bigtime.
Terrorists have just put on their checklist: Look for levees to destroy.
That was me, I think -
Yes, communications means everything in an emergency. Where to go, where not to go, whether you really are on your own, what you need to do - all of that requires communications.
And since radios have come so far down in price, there's no excuse for not having them. Crank powered AM/FM for starters, handheld CB, and FRS/GMRS at *least* should be in everyone's go bag or kit.
Target recently had a set of four Motorola FRS/GMRS radios for $20 - two conventional sized, two about the size of a Zippo, all in one package! For $20!!!!