Chapter five in the book Disaster by Christopher Cooper and Robert Block can teach us many lessons on how to prepare for unexpected disasters, such as an outbreak of avian influenza, in the future. Hurricane Katrina was not only a devastating natural disaster, but it also devastated the trust people had in the American government to take care of them during the times they need help most. One problem that was described in detail was the frustration employees of FEMA, such as Leo Bosner had, was communicating how serious of a problem this was to his superiors. Since he did not have any authority to take any action himself, he had to communicate what he knew to his boss and count on him to effectively communicate the risks to the public. The problem that ended up occurring here was that his superior, Michael Brown, put a positive spin on Bosner’s report when speaking on CNN. Bosner described it as pulling a lever and instead of having the firemen come and putting the fire out, the lever breaks off (Cooper 111). This type of miscommunication would be unacceptable in an outbreak of avian influenza as there would already be confusion in the severity of the situation and the public would have to be informed truthfully of the situation taking place.
Another interesting topic brought up in the article is the issue of contraflow. This brings up the issue of getting people where the government wants them to be, and in the case of an influenza pandemic, that would be containment. While this is a problem totally different than that of contraflow, it involves getting people in places they need to be, whether that may be out of their city, or keeping them where they already are. Either case is difficult both for the government to enforce and for people to be convinced that it is worth doing. People do not want to leave their homes because they are leaving behind all their belongings, relationships, and possibly pets. Alternatively, people do not want to be confined to their homes because they are then in effect breaking off relationships, are unable to make social contact, cannot get basic necessities, and may have a sense of helplessness. Once they are allowed to go out of their town or house, people may not know what to expect, which is a frightening thought for most people.
While Katrina was a vastly different disaster than an outbreak of avian influenza would be, much can be learned from the mistakes made. It shows the significance risk communication can have on the outcome on a situation and how careful planning must be made in advance for any disaster that has a chance of happening because it is impossible to tell if or when something may happen.
