Elayne Clift: Why is disaster relief so disastrous?

Editor’s note: This commentary is by Elayne Clift,writes about women, health, politics and social issues from Saxtons River.
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with a vengeance. In the aftermath, criticism of the government’s response was swift and decisive: America had learned nothing from prior failures in relief efforts. The Bush administration had not paid ample attention to the threat in Louisiana and had neglected to put emergency plans in place or to share inf