This project is devoted to improving government performance by sharing information about Hurricane Katrina and highlighting Katrina’s lessons to drive forward-looking solutions. It is dedicated to those who have suffered and those working to help our communities recover.
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Event Update 
GAO: Lessons Learned
Press briefing with Comptroller General David Walker
Wednesday, September 6 at 8:30 a.m.
Continental C Room,
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C.
Event co-hosted by U.S. Newswire
GAO RELEASES NEW FINDINGS AND DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
AND RESPONSE RECOMMENDATIONS
CATASTROPHIC DISASTERS: Enhanced Leadership, Capabilities, and Accountability Controls Will Improve the Effectiveness of the Nation’s Preparedness, Response, and Recovery System
DOWNLOAD AN AUDIO FILE OF THE EVENT
GAO: Lessons Learned Press Briefing
Five Lessons for Responding to Disaster
What Hurricane Katrina Should Teach Us All
As we reflect on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, there is one lesson that stands above all the rest: effective federal government is absolutely essential. It was effective government that rescued hundreds of people from rooftops and fed, housed and treated thousands more. It was also the lack of effective government that contributed to the failure of the levees and left people stranded at the Superdome and Convention Center in unacceptable conditions.
We must learn from Hurricane Katrina and act now to ensure our government is prepared for the nation’s next major challenge – whatever it is. Outlined below are the critical lessons we should have learned and upon which we must now act:
- For good results, government needs good people.
- Coordination is king.
- We must learn from our mistakes, but also our successes.
- Long-term challenges require long-term solutions.
- We must pay now, or we will pay later.
