KatrinaGATE: The New Orleans Files

[ruperupe]

many sources and interesting stuff in it. though i still need to digest a lot of it. thought i'll share it with you. check out:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/09/324381.shtml

[ruperupe]

1. Hurricane Pam Exercise

just had a bit of time reading closer through this.
i have never heard of this before.
FEMA and homeland security exercised the new orleans disaster with almost exact same similar details last year

read for yourself:
Hurricane Pam brought sustained winds of 120 mph, up to 20 inches of rain in parts of southeast Louisiana and storm surge that topped levees in the New Orleans area. More than one million residents evacuated and Hurricane Pam destroyed 500,000-600,000 buildings. Emergency officials from 50 parish, state, federal and volunteer organizations faced this scenario during a five-day exercise held this week at the State Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge.

The exercise used realistic weather and damage information developed by the National Weather Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the LSU Hurricane Center and other state and federal agencies to help officials develop joint response plans for a catastrophic hurricane in Louisiana.

"We made great progress this week in our preparedness efforts," said Ron Castleman, FEMA Regional Director. "Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management. These plans are essential for quick response to a hurricane but will also help in other emergencies."

"Hurricane planning in Louisiana will continue," said Colonel Michael L. Brown, Deputy Director for Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. "Over the next 60 days, we will polish the action plans developed during the Hurricane Pam exercise. We have also determined where to focus our efforts in the future."
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=13051

is this known??

[John Doe II]

3. Interesting

Haven't heard of that before.
someone else?
Mabye you should open a special thread on this topic.

[ruperupe]

2. Excercise

Virtually everything that has happened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck was predicted by experts and in computer models, so emergency management specialists wonder why authorities were so unprepared.

"The scenario of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans was well anticipated, predicted and drilled around," said Clare Rubin, an emergency management consultant who also teaches at the Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management at George Washington University.

Computer models developed at Louisiana State University and other institutions made detailed projections of what would happen if water flowed over the levees protecting the city or if they failed.

In July 2004, more than 40 federal, state, local and volunteer organizations practiced this very scenario in a five-day simulation code-named "Hurricane Pam", where they had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed over half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02521178.htm

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. It's called Floodgate

Floodgate is to Bush as Watergate is to Nixon.

[John Doe II]

5. I think I'll start a special thread on

the FEMA excercise. I haven't seen this nowhere and think it's important.