20 years after Hurricane Katrina: How NZ can learn from disaster response

20 years on, and the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina is still being felt.

The category three hurricane made landfall on August 29, 2005 devastating parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama – with New Orleans suffering catastrophic flooding due to levee failures.

About 80% of the city was inundated with water, and while a mandatory evacuation order was made just one day before landfall, many people – up to 150,000 – did not or simply could not leave.

The official death toll is believed to be nearly 1,400.

University of Albany professor of political science, Eric Stern, is with us to examine some of the painful lessons learned from Katrina.

Then, later we speak to Dr Lauren Vinnell, Massey University Senior Lecturer of Emergency Management, about how New Zealand’s systems have evolved over the years.

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