Breakdown in Louisiana

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IT IS incredible, the government had no evacuation plan ... the first power in the world and it left its own population adrift.’’ It will be particularly galling that the man voicing those thoughts, echoed by many across the United States and around the world, was Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, and one of the Bush administration’s main hate figures.

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At the heart of the failure seems to be a breakdown in the relationship between national and local agencies. The authorities in the Louisiana state capital are increasingly at loggerheads with federal disaster relief officials over what to do with the thousands of people still trapped in New Orleans. The authorities in Baton Rouge say they have tried to raise such problems with Fema representatives deployed to the city but were told all decisions had to be relayed to Washington. "They sent down Mike Brown (the head of Fema) for television interviews, but everyone else is really low-level,’’ an official said.

Federal officials have defended their response. Michael Chertoff, head of the homeland security department, which has responsibility for Fema, said: "We are extremely pleased with the response of every element of the federal government, all of our federal partners, to this terrible tragedy. For those who wonder why it is that it is difficult to get these supplies and these medical teams into place, the answer is they are battling an ongoing dynamic problem with the water.’’

Most disconcerting for those responsible for the relief effort is that it is not just Hugo Chavez who is expressing his amazement. Jack Cafferty, the CNN anchor known for his straight-talking, declared: "I remember the riots in Watts. I remember the earthquake in San Francisco. I remember a lot of things. I have never seen anything as badly handled as this situation in New Orleans. Where the hell is the water for these people? Why can’t sandwiches be dropped to those people in that Superdome down there? It’s a disgrace. And don’t think the world isn’t watching.’’

Manila Bulletin Online