Evacuated Populations — Lessons from Foreign Refugee Crises

The terms “malfeasance” and “negligence” have been bandied about by many who are frustrated by the official response to Hurricane Katrina. Beginning with the evacuation orders before the hurricane's landfall, some public officials appeared to be trying hard to take the right steps. It appeared to us, however, that without any experience with crises of similar severity, and lacking guidelines and preparation for dealing with large displaced populations, such officials did not know what those right steps might be. For them, the experience must have been the uncomfortable public-policy equivalent of suddenly having to care for a critically ill patient . . .