I found this informative, with details and facts that I hadn't heard in all the blaming going on.
The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.
The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.
In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.
It's appalling, and all the more so because we're not likely to get this information on the news anytime soon. We'll just get more Nancy Pelosi demanding that the head of FEMA be fired.
Sigh. You'd think I'd be used to it by now.
1 comment:
Oh, it's starting to come out in bits & pieces, but, just like several articles on Salon, it's being touted as "See, Bush is blaming other people for his incompetence." So these people really, honestly believe that some schmuck in the depths of the FEMA office in Washington should decide how much water and what location to store it for every neighborhood in America? They really, honestly believe that, instead of relying on Mayors & Governors, the President should swoop in with the military 2-3 days before a hurricane and call for mandatory, forced evacuations with troops in the streets calling the shots BEFORE the storm hits? They really believe in that much, forceful, controlling action from Washington? No, of course they frigging don't.
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