Unheeded warnings, poor planning and apathy in recognising the scope of Hurricane Katrina's destruction led to the slow emergency response, a US investigation has reported.
The 600-page report by a Republican-dominated House of Representatives inquiry into one of the worst natural disasters in America's history concluded that late state and local evacuation orders added to the problem of an untrained and inexperienced force of emergency responders.
It also said President George W. Bush received poor and incomplete advice about the crisis unfolding in the Gulf Coast.
House of Representatives report into Hurricane Katrina
A report summary said: "Our investigation revealed that Katrina was a national failure, an abdication of the most solemn obligation to provide for the common welfare.
"At every level - individual, corporate, philanthropic, and governmental - we failed to meet the challenge that was Katrina," the report concluded. "In this cautionary tale, all the little pigs built houses of straw."
The House findings mark the first of two congressional inquiries and a White House review of the storm response expected over the next six weeks.
Today, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will continue its investigation into the August 29th storm response by examining potentially widespread abuse in government emergency cash assistance programmes for disaster victims.
Up to 900,000 of 2.5 million applicants received aid based on duplicate or invalid social security numbers, or false addresses and names, congressional investigators found.
Excerpts released from the House report, which issued a total of 90 separate findings, spreads the blame through all levels of government.
The report says:
- Late decisions by New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco to issue mandatory evacuations in the New Orleans area led to deaths and prolonged suffering;
- The White House was unable to effectively sort through conflicting reports about levee breaches and other disaster developments, preventing rapid relief;
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency suffered from a lack of trained and experienced staff;
- Military assistance was invaluable, but the military failed to co-ordinate with state, local and other federal assistance organisations;
- Government officials at all levels failed to take into account lessons learned from a 2004 fictional storm exercise.
The House investigation criticised Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's actions, saying his overall responsibilities for the federal disaster relief were fulfilled "either late, ineffectively or not at all".
The special House panel was boycotted by Democratic leaders who called for an independent inquiry of the government's failings similar to that of the 9/11 Commission.
AP