Responsibilities of Local government vs Federal government

[merwin]

Local Government:
1) Notify citizens of an emergency situation and where to evacuate to or go in-city/state to be safe
2) Contact federal government for assistance (considering local governments don't have funding to do airlifting or mass movement of people out of state)

Federal Government:
1) Prepare for ALL types of disasters (FEMA's responsibility)
2) Respond immediately to emergency requests from the local government (or respond immediately after a catastrophe if not notified by the local government)
3) Align support as close to the disaster as possible (without threat of harm to the support) as quickly as possible
4) Once the storm passes, move troops/support in to assist
5) In the event of a major catastrophe (ie: Levee breaking), IMMEDIATELY come to assistance in all ways possible (evacuations, food drops, directions, etc)

It sounds like the local government did everything they possibly could, and FEMA fucked up every step of the way. Am I completely out of line by saying this? Am I misunderstanding the responsibilities?

[jsamuel]

1. yep, people who say otherwise are in denial or have agendas that they dont

want to look bad...

I think that a lot of the people repeating the local thing really know that they are just repeating in over and over to make the Pres look better. They know what really happened... we all do...

[texpatriot2004]

2. I know it was the Feds fault & Chimpy too but I am curious now

what the state's responsiblities are. I know that the state did what it was supposed to do and the Feds failed. Just curious since you listed it all so well.

[merwin]

3. I'm curious as well

[texpatriot2004]

4. kick n/t