MARS - George Mason University

D. The Crisis Period and Key Parties
If you respect the dead
And recall where they died
By this time tomorrow
There will be no place to walk (K. Ford 13).
The seven-day period spanning two days before and five days after landfall is the
most critical for this work. On the Saturday before landfall, it was clear that a serious
hurricane was inevitable. By the Friday afterward, the Superdome and Convention
Center had been evacuated, and the military was in charge of the city. A second
mandatory evacuation ensued, leaving New Orleans virtually empty. The pressing issue
of saving human lives was over.
The three levels of government responsible for preparing for and responding to
Hurricane Katrina--the local, state, and federal government--make up my levels of
analysis. Indeed, the iconic civil defense triangle (Figure 1) symbolizes the three parts of
government working together equally to prepare for and protect people from disaster
(Kuntz).
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