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herfacechair -> RE: An example of why our military loves the press .... (11/3/2007 3:45:33 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Sinergy
I am aware of how FEMA works, herfacechair, in terms of managing levels of response. What happened with Katrina was an enormous clusterfuck since the infrastructure (read: national guard) was not in place to handle anything approaching the problem.
Rather than federal aid being provided to assist people to rebuild their homes, FEMA decided to pull from a specific money pool in order to provide aid. The city immediately modified the zoning laws for all affected areas in order to "protect the people," except the insurance companies refused to provide funds to rebuild under the new standards. This translated into a bunch of toothless retirees on a fixed income being forced to choose between applying for small business loans (which have to be repaid) to rebuild, or selling their land to developers.
Have the people moved into limbo (read the FEMA cities) been able to move back home?
The general excuse for not doing anything by Dittoheads, FEMA, and AnencephalyBoy, generally follow the point of view you suggest; "nobody asked for aid." Clinton made FEMA a world class and effective organization because James Witt understood that when there is an "emergency" there is often a breakdown in communication. What this means is all the local agencies are, say, underwater or burning or smashed in a freeway, and may not have access to a phone or the internet to provide the proper paperwork required by FEMA. Therefore, it is the responsibility of FEMA to go in and fix the problem, settle the emergency, put out fires, rescue refugees, give water and food to the people stranded in the Astrodome, etc., and figure out who is supposed to be doing what and who pays for it all later.
Sinergy
I noticed that you failed to answer my question. Waiting for you to answer the first question that I asked you. Also.
WHERE, in MY post, does it EVEN SUGGEST that nobody asked for aid?
And my post was talking about the different levels of response. It wasn’t concentrating on FEMA.
The response order that I gave you, local first, state second, government third, DOESN’T communicate that “NO” aid was requested.
You try to talk about how “FEMA works”, while completely missing the point that I made about who responded first and so on. Then you mentioned the infrastructure with regards to the National Guard.
The reality is that FEMA ISN’T meant to be a first responder, and the idea that the local first response organizations would be underwater (always as you imply) is completely asinine.
What happened with Katrina was a human planning disaster that resulted from a massive logistics and planning level failure at the local and state level. The National Guard is a state asset.
New Orleans had an evacuation plan on the books BEFORE Katrina hit.
Using my city’s emergency planning as an example, they should’ve activated their local command and control centers as soon as the first estimates had the hurricane trending away from Mexico and towards the United States.
This is something that SHOULD happen when there’s a Hurricane in the area, and there’s a slight possibility that it could turn and hit the city. The idea that the levies would be breached isn’t something new, or something they just discovered when the Hurricane hit.
People were warning about that for decades, this wasn’t seriously factored in before the storm, as evidenced by the feet dragging that went on.
But as soon as they set their command centers up, and they were in the Hurricane’s projected path, they should’ve already got to work relocating what they needed to get things moving. For example, the school buses that got flooded out shouldn’t have remained in New Orleans when the flooding threat was there.
The Mayor, or his representative, should’ve got on the horn and called the Governor up and asked her to put the National Guard on alert. Also, pending flooding and damage projections, the Mayor should’ve asked the governor to contact surrounding State governors for possible assistance.
Or contacted other cities in areas not in the Hurricane path for permission to store their logistics assets in those cities.
As soon as New Orleans came under the “cone” of the Hurricane’s projected path, the City Should’ve ordered a mandatory evacuation. Then instruct those that wanted to remain behind to put their own identifications, and phone numbers for next of kin, on their person so that their bodies could be identified. (Driving the urgency sense in).
Then they should’ve requested to have the National Guard activated and placed in staging areas in the state so that they could come in and augment the police during the Hurricane aftermath.
The National Guard, in turn, would pave the way for federal assistance, as well as Non Governmental Organizations entry to assist with the rebuilding.
Had something like this played out, they would’ve had allot more city assets available to move the survivors out of the flooded out areas.
This idea that Clinton turned FEMA into a world Class and effective organization doesn’t fit in with my state’s experience during the 90s. Back then, it wasn’t uncommon for us to get hit by one Hurricane after another, usually separated by two weeks. The western part of our state, and other areas east of the Mid Atlantic region, had survivors that complained about FEMA’s ineffectiveness.
Again, during the mid 1990s.
It’s not FEMA’s responsibility to be the first responder and do things the locals should have assets for doing. Now, there are exceptions to that, when the first two response levels would be decimated.
But New Orleans WASN’T one of those exceptions. Their assets got neutralized because of a failure in leadership on the Mayor’s and Governor’s part. There’s NO excuse for the loss of much of the city assets needed for the recovery, NONE.
Also, you speak about FEMA drawing funds from a specific money pool. The way it works is that each agency has an account witch receives money from the government. FEMA is one of them. If they run short on funds, they have to get more funding from the agency that they fall under. This isn’t something where you could go to the other government agencies, and take money from them so that they could be funneled to FEMA.
On the retirees being forced to chose between one thing or another. This is something that’s considered “an act of God”. Crap happens, now we have a bunch of people who are stuck with the decision to borrow money and rebuild, or sell their property.
I don’t find anything wrong with that. They shouldn’t have built in a flood prone area. They should’ve known the risk for starting a business in an area that could get hit by hurricanes, and that could get flooded out.
Now, when these people took on their insurance, they should’ve been aware of the insurance terms. These terms were applicable at the time they took these insurance. Meaning, it doesn’t matter if the city decided to change their zoning laws. These new zoning laws weren’t part of the original insurance agreement. These companies aren’t obligated to issue money on terms they didn’t agree on.
Which leaves the original people with the option to borrow money, or sell their property and move on. That’s life. Constructive lesson learned, don’t start a business, or build a home, in an area that’s both Hurricane and flood prone. Especially in a city where the idea that the levies would be flooded over wasn’t some figment of an imagination, but something people have been warning about for years.
Business owners know that there are risks to starting a business. The environment contributes to that risk. They knew that they’re gambling the chances when they build in an area where their business could get destroyed.
As for people living in temporary locations. Again, they have an option. They could move back to New Orleans, or go elsewhere and start. Nobody is forcing them to stay in those cities.
Those who have relatives in other cities have a chance. For those who don’t, other states have programs designed to incorporate these people into their population and economy. For those who are still there, they have no other choice but to be patient.
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