Although President Bush's administration has admitted to a slow response to Hurricane Katrina, it still needs to work a few things out.
More criticism of the federal government's response to the hurricane that decimated New Orleans and parts of the Gulf Coast region has been voiced this week as the House of Representatives and Senate held hearings about the slow government response to the disaster.
Admitting that mistakes were made in how the hurricane was handled, government officials said they plan on making more than 100 recommendations to improve government response to disasters.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff admitted the government waited too long to send aid to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.
Although it's shocking the Bush administration is continuing to admit it could have handled the disaster better, the experience should influence the changes it makes.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, must overhaul how it handles natural disasters. Its slow response to the hurricane's devastation should never happen again. It also needs to appoint people to head the agency that are competent, and can do their jobs well enough to not become a scapegoat in case of disaster, such as Michael Brown, the former head of FEMA.
Although FEMA should have known how to handle the situation before the hurricane ever hit, it needs to act now to fix the mistakes made after Hurricane Katrina.
With the ever present threat of terrorists attacking and the possibility of more natural disasters in the future, it's important FEMA figures out what went wrong, why it went wrong and what to do in the future.
It's also important not to forget the people who are still in need of help. While government officials start thinking of the future, they should still be thinking of the present situation.
There are still evacuees without homes. Some are staying in hotels they can't pay for or with families. Their homes are still in ruins and they need help getting their lives back.
More federal aid needs to be devoted to these individuals. It's unfortunate the government is spending so much of the budget on the military and action abroad, while allowing so many here at home to suffer.
The victims of Katrina shouldn't be ignored while the government moves on to other issues.
Let's keep moving forward and making improvements and much needed changes to the system.
But let's also make sure we're not leaving the evacuees, or anyone else, behind.
