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Craftsman -> RE: Military response to National Emergency (9/4/2005 11:28:49 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster
I believe that, but it really doesn't change how I feel about FEMA and any of the other federal agencies that did not handle this as well as they could have and should have.
FEMA has known for years what the aftermath would be like if a hurricane hit N.O. They never had a plan, and when the whole thing unfolded EXACTLY as the models predicted, the head of FEMA, instead of acknowledging that his agency never had a plan, started blaming the victims for failing to cooperate. I don't know what's more offensive: the way his agency failed, or the way some people are trying to defend the way his agency handled this crisis.
FEMA had 3 'worst case scenarios' in its training arsenal. One was a nuclear attack on a city such as New York. A second was a magnitude 9 earthquake in a city such as San Francisco or Los Angeles. The third was a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans, with levee breaching.
From what I hear from my contacts at FEMA, the New Orleans model they had was far exceeded by this Category 4 near-miss, rather than the predicted C-5 direct hit. Therefore, it did not unfold exactly as the models predicted. The models are based on known conditions, and this storm is reported to have exceeded the strength, scope and breadth of what the models considered to be upper limits. So we learn. We learn by trying to figure out what was not known, and including those situations in a revision. We do not learn by saying how offended we were. When you crawl out from behind your computer and get the training and education to be a Disaster Responder, then perhaps you will understand what bothers me about your statement. I have been Incident Command in local fires, and have been trained in Swift Water, Confined Spaces, Hazardous Materials, and Trench and Cave rescue to the SAR-TECH II level. I do what I do so that I can save lives. What does your criticism accomplish to further the knowledge base and the responsiveness of the agencies under the Emergency Response umbrella?
quote:
I don't think anyone's attitude would have been the same if the hurricane had hit Wall Street or the Pentagon or some nice white place like Seattle.
I don't know about Wall Street or Pentagon, but I do know about Northridge Earthquake, Malibu Fires, and landslides and flooding, as well as desert rescue, air craft crashes, and a few other things. What I have observed that there are two kinds of people that we hear about. We hear about Emergency Response teams and groups and agencies who go out and put themselves in the path of danger to serve and protect. The other kind of people I see are the kind that sit in their dry, electrified, air conditioned houses and criticize the people out there getting their hands dirty.
And still we go out to search, to rescue, to save lives and property, to open shelters and provide food and clothing to those who need it, no matter what kind of people they are, from executives through bugger eating morons. Basic human needs are being met as quickly as the material can be gathered and transported. It doesn't matter what size, shape, color, sex, age, immigration status, or any other factor may be; relief is being provided everyone as fast as the trucks can bring it in. It will continue to be brought in no matter how many snipers shoot at the convoys. That part also needs to be addressed in the next scenarios. That people would shoot at medical people evacuating hospitals was probably not not in the scenarios either. We who do and we who teach this stuff are still learning. If you or anyone here can do a better job of teaching or modelling, please apply to your local disaster response agency. We need all the help we can get.
The logistics of bringing relief to that size area is rather mind boggling. Much more mind-boggling than taking military targets. Consider what the square miles involved are, and that there were no passable roads until someone cleared them. Consider that there is no convenient place to fuel up the trucks, the helicopters, the chainsaws. The refineries were halted and the gasoline and diesel fuel floated out of service station tanks and burned or evaporated. If you have experience in logistics or know a better way of responding, the American Red Cross can use you. They train shelter operators and administrators for free. Avail yourselves of this training so you can be a part of the solution rather than a part of the griping.
quote:
ORIGINAL: kc692
Everyone here in this town is truly committed to helping as much as they can, and never even among the locals has the issue of how many black vs white have been stranded. They are working together here to help.
In my experience, kc, the man who said, 'We all bleed red' was the most right. It doesn't matter to which social or economic group we belong, we all bleed red. And yes, we are our brother's hand and rescuer, no matter what outward differences there may be. The chimpanzee genome shares over 95% identity with the human genome. I think that makes any physical differences between any of us pretty small.
Edited to correct typos, of which there are probably still a few. Also to remove what I read afterward as comments which might appear to be personal attacks. Probably some still remain. Any appearance of personal attack is unintended.
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