DHS/FEMA - The Next Storm

[dhweather]

Planning for the storm next time

Bush administration works on revamping U.S.'s National Response Plan

By LARRY MARGASAK
Associated Press writer


http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/010 ... g001.shtml

[MiamiensisWx]

Means absolutely nothing. Also, the article talks WAY too much about New Orleans and mistakes.



Face it, folks. The same political disaster as Katrina will repeat very likely next year and over many, many, many years from now on. We can now only help ourselves, and not rely on the media. Sad but true.

[dhweather]

The two biggest things are:

1) If at all possible, evacuate.

2) If you stay, make sure you have at least one weeks worth of supplies
for each person that stays.

Personally, I enjoyed A/C and TV in my evacuation site. It was hot
and miserable at home for two weeks, six for cable, eight for phones.

[MiamiensisWx]

The two biggest things are:

1) If at all possible, evacuate.

2) If you stay, make sure you have at least one weeks worth of supplies
for each person that stays.

Personally, I enjoyed A/C and TV in my evacuation site. It was hot
and miserable at home for two weeks, six for cable, eight for phones.

That means you should be extremely thankful. You have been very fortunate. Really, don't count on things going well... especially when you request federal aid.

[MGC]

By Thursday after Katrina (Monday) distribution centers had been set up where you could get water and MRE's. Like DHWEAHTER said, have a week minium per person.....MGC

[MiamiensisWx]

By Thursday after Katrina (Monday) distribution centers had been set up where you could get water and MRE's. Like DHWEAHTER said, have a week minium per person.....MGC

Good advice. Good thing there are some decent distribution centers up.

[Agua]

The two biggest things are:

Personally, I enjoyed A/C and TV in my evacuation site. It was hot
and miserable at home for two weeks, six for cable, eight for phones.

Heh... that was my plan as well. Didn't work out that way, though - 120 miles north still without water for a week and power for 1.5 weeks.

Didn't imagine I should have brought a week's worth of food on the evacuation.

[JonathanBelles]

1 thing they should do is evacuate many more people at an earlier time

[terstorm1012]

I'm willing to believe that the lesson has been well learned from Katrina. However, any person in a "planning" type job will tell you ( I'm a "planner" for a state agency) , it can be a real mess getting coordination between different jurisdictions. And if you're in one of the states with massive municipal fragmentation (i.e. PA, MN, TX and I think IL), then coordination can be a real mess.

The big thing that's needed is not a new plan or a revamped plan...but a plan that gets coordination between different organizations. And if the Feds have to go out and write a standard for the locals and state-ies to base theirs from then so be it. Not that I see that happening...

So...those who say be prepared to be on your own for at least a week are absolutely correct. The first line of civil defense against these things be they man-made or natural is, well, civillians or us average joes.

[MSRobi911]

You know I learned a lesson with Katrina that I won't forget. I had all my supplies, I took a lot of "junk food" with us and some PB&J and bread and other sandwich meat but the majority of the stuff I left at my house. I didn't bring along all the tuna, the chili, hot dogs, apples, more extra batteries (I had some extra with me) nor all the water and Coke. To make a long story short, Katrina ate a lot of good food when she came through and drank a lot of bottled water as there was nothing left to my house except for the slab.

SO don't buy the stuff and then leave it at home thinking it will be there when you go back home and start cleaning up cause you think it will be easier just to leave it than to bring it with you and then bring it back home. No matter how high you put it up it might not be there when you go back.

Mary

[Downdraft]

I can say without a doubt or any hesitation that FEMA is without a doubt the worst possible example of an organization there is. FEMA is incompetent, inept and a living example of how stupid government can be when it really tries.
Now would anyone like to know how I really feel?

[mike815]

i agree somewhat they need work thats for sure.

[terstorm1012]

The Washington Post has an excellent ongoing series about the problems at FEMA. There's a lot of infighting going on relating to its folding into Homeland Security.

http://www.washingtonpost.com.

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

FEMA was not prepared for Katrina

[Ixolib]

FEMA was not prepared for Katrina

Who was?? Answer = nobody. And, in my opinion, that's completely understandable. Katrina was an event of epic proportions and for anyone to believe that any agency - government or otherwise - would have been "ready" for such an event is setting their expectations a little high...

[terstorm1012]

FEMA was not prepared for Katrina

Who was?? Answer = nobody. And, in my opinion, that's completely understandable. Katrina was an event of epic proportions and for anyone to believe that any agency - government or otherwise - would have been "ready" for such an event is setting their expectations a little high...

Totally agreed. You can only "manage" or "mitigate" or "plan for" so much.

Noone ever plans for chaos...by chaos I mean the unforseen things that noone could have thought of, or the random small occurances that build up to create one big mega-mess.

[Downdraft]

That's total b.s. It's FEMA's job to be prepared! But, in typical government fashion they'd rather throw money at the problem then find a solution to the risk. They stunk after Andrew and putting them into the Department of Homeland Secuity run by a bungling beauracat like Chernoff is not the answer either. They had 2004's hurricanes in Florida to come up with something, Charley, Francis, Ivan, Jeanne and all they could do was give a ton of money to the ONE county that didn't have any damage (DADE!) You say they weren't prepared for Katrina well folks we've known for 30 years that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen. You think someone would have gotten off their fat rear-ends and come up with a plan. FEMA is a national disgrace and the facts speak for themselves.

FEMA was not prepared for Katrina

Who was?? Answer = nobody. And, in my opinion, that's completely understandable. Katrina was an event of epic proportions and for anyone to believe that any agency - government or otherwise - would have been "ready" for such an event is setting their expectations a little high...

Totally agreed. You can only "manage" or "mitigate" or "plan for" so much.

Noone ever plans for chaos...by chaos I mean the unforseen things that noone could have thought of, or the random small occurances that build up to create one big mega-mess.

[MiamiensisWx]

That's total b.s. It's FEMA's job to be prepared! But, in typical government fashion they'd rather throw money at the problem then find a solution to the risk. They stunk after Andrew and putting them into the Department of Homeland Secuity run by a bungling beauracat like Chernoff is not the answer either. They had 2004's hurricanes in Florida to come up with something, Charley, Francis, Ivan, Jeanne and all they could do was give a ton of money to the ONE county that didn't have any damage (DADE!) You say they weren't prepared for Katrina well folks we've known for 30 years that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen. You think someone would have gotten off their fat rear-ends and come up with a plan. FEMA is a national disgrace and the facts speak for themselves.

True... but does blaming FEMA solve anything? NOPE!

[Ixolib]

That's total b.s. It's FEMA's job to be prepared! But, in typical government fashion they'd rather throw money at the problem then find a solution to the risk. They stunk after Andrew and putting them into the Department of Homeland Secuity run by a bungling beauracat like Chernoff is not the answer either. They had 2004's hurricanes in Florida to come up with something, Charley, Francis, Ivan, Jeanne and all they could do was give a ton of money to the ONE county that didn't have any damage (DADE!) You say they weren't prepared for Katrina well folks we've known for 30 years that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen. You think someone would have gotten off their fat rear-ends and come up with a plan. FEMA is a national disgrace and the facts speak for themselves.

FEMA was not prepared for Katrina

Who was?? Answer = nobody. And, in my opinion, that's completely understandable. Katrina was an event of epic proportions and for anyone to believe that any agency - government or otherwise - would have been "ready" for such an event is setting their expectations a little high...

Totally agreed. You can only "manage" or "mitigate" or "plan for" so much.

Noone ever plans for chaos...by chaos I mean the unforseen things that noone could have thought of, or the random small occurances that build up to create one big mega-mess.

Total BS is most probably a tad bit off the mark. In many cases post-Katrina, FEMA has done a pretty remarkable job - especially considering the enormity of their mission. As for New Orleans being a disaster waiting to happen - of course it was, and always will be. The city is below the level of the surrounding water. How anyone expects this city to NOT become a significant victim to a hit from a major cane is beyond me. Considering the situation with Katrina, no agency - private, city, state, or federal - was equipped to deal with the result. And I doubt any agency will EVER be equipped to do so when the "next" big one hits. That's just the way it is. The resulting problem simply overwhelms any recovery effort from the get-go. This is why it is SO important for the coastal citizens to be ready to handle their own needs just before, during, and just after such a calamity.

BTW - "the facts" in my case with FEMA have been quite positive. Without them, I would NOT be nearly as well on the road to recovery as I am. Of course, if I did not pursue the relief with every ounce of effort, I would not have benefited to the degree I did. But again, it is MY responsibility to keep my ball rolling - not the government's!!

Total BS; national disgrace - I think not...

[Downdraft]

The fact of the matter is disaster management has four distinct phases; preparedness, response, recovery and MITIGATON. FEMA's role in recovery and mitigation leave something to be desired. Besides the threat of landfalling hurricanes stop and think about other major disasters waiting to happen. Seattle is the modern day Pompeii only waiting for Mt. Rainier to wake up again. California sits on top of the most active earthquake area in the world. The Atlantic coast has absolutely no tsunami warning system. We've blocked flood control projects on the Mississippi for years. We won't even discuss Yellowstone if that goes no one except God could handle it. My point with FEMA is simply this. Mitigation means doing something that prevents the same thing from happening again. The Levee boards in Louisana are corrupt. Everyone knows they are corrupt. Heck, I doubt Louisana politics have changed much since the days of Huey Long. No offense meant to the people of Louisana it's a great state and I love visiting it. FEMA should withhold recovery funds to the state until the state demonstrates a significant portion of those funds will be for mitigation. You can say the Corps of Engineers is responsible for the levees and that is true, however, they don't dig a shovel full of dirt without state permission. Let's quit giving OUR money to people to rebuild if they plan on rebuliding the same way as before. If you can't make it better don't make it anything at all. The country can always use more parks. I see no rational reason for FEMA to continue to be little more then "daddy deep pockets" after events like this occur.