Reflecting on his major role after Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill Disaster, Adm. Allen recommends “Unity of Effort.”  Allen says unity is key to tackling natural disasters such as Gulf spill, covered by Theday.com (CT).

Coordination not always easy, but it’s a must… The country needs an “agile and flexible” government to respond to disasters such as the Gulf oil spill and Hurricane Katrina… “The more we can create that unity of effort, the better off we’ll be,” said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen…  The problem is, Allen said, it is not easy to get officials in federal, state and local governments to work together, along with players in the private sector and non-governmental organizations. They are organized differently, with diverse responsibilities, jurisdictions and viewpoints.  “Even though it isn’t easy,” …”we have to get better at it.”

Allen said he thinks social media and the Internet can link the parties together to solve seemingly impossible problems.

It would be interesting to know more about his expectations for these new mechanisms to improve unity of effort. NOTE: The two authors of this blog also maintain a new blog on social media and disasters called iDisaster 2.0.