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Author
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Topic: Hurricane Katrina
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Jim Ziegler
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 753
From: West Hollywood, CA
Registered: Jul 99
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posted 09-06-2005 04:50 PM
quote:
Here's a good, well-reasoned article which appears today on the New York Times' site:
Excellent article!
I hope - but I know it is in vain - that the after action review that Congress wants will focus on what the problems are and how to fix them - and not who to point the finger at. Government officials do make themselves look bad when everyone is pointing the finger at each other.
The U.S. has really gotten away from civil defense and disaster prep. It sounds like the disaster guy in VA has found a very good way to get the message across. There is a lot of pressure right now to make FEMA a seperate agency. I don't know if that is needed persay, but DHS needs to focus FEMA on natural disasters - which are a much larger threat than terrorism.
A lot of people forget that government is made up of the same fallabel people that make up the rest of society. People make mistakes, things get overlooked. In this case, a lot of things got overlooked. Hopefully this will be a wake up call to all local and state governments to get serious about emergency planning. While no one expects a mayor or a governor to be an expert in disaster relief, the citizens can, and should, expect that they have disaster relief experts advising them on what needs to be done.
Basically, we, as a nation, got caught sleeping. People died that should not have. Its tragic. Not learning the lessions, or not applying the lessions from this, will be much more tragic.
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William Hooper
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1879
From: Mobile, AL USA
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-07-2005 03:53 AM
Brad, i shouldn't be a problem because I read just the first two replies from Zeigler's subsequent post & decided to read no more of his posts because they're just sh*tstorms of fabrication & misdirection.
The last references I'll make to them, in case someone's curious about the last 2 items of his I'll read are:
quote:
Because they're all being kept out by FEMA, for reasons nobody can get out of them. FEMA is now under the Department of Homeland Security.
Who is being kept out by FEMA (government wise)? Not buses, as tens of thousands have been evacuated by bus already... What took so log was finding the buses and getting them there, as the mayor and the state did not have the forsight to use the ones they had - rather they were destroyed in the storm.
This is a blatant shifting of time in your reference. The tens of thousands were evacuated AFTER the period of buses being kept out by FEMA in the 3 days prior to the mayor of NOLA telling the gov't to "get off their asses". Those three days of keeping rescue assistance out resulted in 3 days of people dying from dehydration, lack of medication, injuries, etc. With this misdirection, it's plain that facts aren't as important as spin. Why, I don't know.
There is considerable misunderstanding about the deployment of guard units & other military during a time of emergency. Before the hurricane's landfall , the governor declared a state of emergency for LA on 8/26 & asked the president to declare a national state of emergency so that the guard could be called out. Bush declared a state of emergency on 8/27.
In a state of emergency, FEMA (under DHS) *pre-empts* & coordinates state & local efforts. It is the *co-ordinator*, & in this case the bottleneck or destructive agent.
The president's emergency declaration authorizes the FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts and to provide appropriate assistance in a number of Louisiana parishes, or counties.
The Louisiana Guard is under the direction of the governor of LA, but deployment of other states' units to another state must be authorized through the Pentagon:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Several states ready and willing to send National Guard troops to the rescue in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans didn't get the go-ahead until days after the storm struck — a delay nearly certain to be investigated by Congress. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco help from his state's National Guard on Sunday, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana. Blanco accepted, but paperwork needed to get the troops en route didn't come from Washington until late Thursday.
Additionally, it is the RESPONSIBILITY OF FEMA to "act pro-actively" putting in place & deploy national resources of material & personnel in emergencies: "The NRP establishes policies, procedures, and mechanisms for proactive Federal response to catastrophic events. A catastrophic event is any natural or manmade incident, including terrorism, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the population, infrastructure, environment, economy, national morale, and/or government functions."
FEMA pre-positions resources for preparation during non-emergency periods, & for predictied events such as this one pre-positioned additional neccessary resources. However, they weren't deployed:
"There is a tremendous amount of frustration here, that we have assets stacked up ready to go and we don't have the requests for them," said an officer who asked not to be identified. "All we can do is nudge the folks at FEMA and say, `How about if we do this or that?"
Pre-positioning these federal resources such as troops, etc. were done before landfall in reccommendations during conferences which included DHS, FEMA, & state & local authorities. These are standard briefings with federal, state, local EMA's before hurricanes
The Bataan was put in place for emergency ops, but unused, as well as other federal troops & resources.
Just for additional examples of FEMA keeping resources out after the hurricane, Wal-Mart sent bottled water into Jefferson Parish & was turned back by FEMA agents.
Add airboats to the list of transport including buses ,trains, & flatbottom boats for evacuation turned back by FEMA.
In the meantime, FEMA is recruiting firefighters from other states...to hand out fliers for FEMA..
I think reading yesterday that I was getting too livid being baited by BS to point out the ridiculousness of an argument against the inefficiency of the response being swung to "these things take time" when the point was that that time (during which people were dying & property being destroyed) was being burned up by FEMA's interference; and the deflection of "these posts are mostly bureaucratic" to defend putting in place someone with no experience in emergency management.
Also I think there was some reference to "that's why things went more smoothly in Mississippi", which is not the case. It's been & is still a sh*tball over there, too.
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Joseph L. Kleiman
Master Film Handler
Posts: 380
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 09-09-2005 04:31 PM
I just wanted to share this tidbit of information about New Orleans' other residents from the American Zoological Association:
quote:
While the aquarium survived Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed, its life support system did not; most of the animals in its aquatic exhibits were lost. However, the sea otters, penguins, macaws and raptors, leafy and weedy sea dragons, some fishes, and Midas, a 250 lb. green sea turtle all survived thanks to the care of staff who remained at the aquarium through the hurricane, flooding and civil unrest.
The Aquarium has power again as of yesterday. In addition, a new staff team staff arrived yesterday as replacements for those who have been at the Aquarium.
The Aquarium has relocated the surviving animals from its marine life collection to four colleague institutions in Monterey, California; and Dallas, Galveston, and Houston, Texas.
On the film side, the Entergy IMAX theater, adjacent to the aquarium is also run by the Audubon Institute. The interior of the theater suffered no damage and we've been able to locate a couple of projectionists, including the CP, in Florida. No word yet on the rest of the staff.
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Editing in to add this interesting tidbit from NPR:
quote:
Officials have put together a makeshift jail in New Orleans' bus and train terminal. "Without a jail, [there would be] no reconstruction," says the warden of the city's newest holding facility for criminals. An Amtrak locomotive is providing power to the facility. Chain-link pens hold the prisoners. And the Orleans Parish district attorney has set up a temporary office in the gift shop.
[ 09-09-2005, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: Joseph L. Kleiman ]
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