Why didn't anyone mention EMAC after nobody showed up after Katrina?

[preciousdove]

Far from home when they were needed most
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usguar304448249sep30,0,4195596.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines
BY DANIEL WAGNER
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- On Aug. 1, weeks before anyone had heard of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana National Guard Lt. Col. Pete Schneider complained to a local TV reporter that Guardsmen had been deployed to Iraq with "dozens of high water vehicles, humvees, refuelers and generators."

"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," he said, adding that if a hurricane hit, Louisiana's only recourse would be to request additional resources from neighboring states....

But in the crucial first days of rescue and recovery, the Louisiana National Guard was limited to the 5,700 troops who were not in Iraq or otherwise unavailable. Other states' Guard resources had been placed at the ready, but it took days in many cases before they had the instructions and approvals necessary to deploy to the Gulf Coast...

The Louisiana Guard expected outside help to be organized through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, or EMAC, which states created to facilitate sharing of resources in emergency situations. But many states that offered their help through the EMAC system waited for instructions to arrive, the normal procedure....

(and waited, and waited and waited...)

[preciousdove]

1. California Joins Emergency Management Assistance Compact Sep 20 2005

http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php/96695

Last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he signed legislation that makes California party to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), already in place in the 47 other contiguous states. AB 823 by Assemblymembers Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) and Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster) allows states to share emergency response resources immediately during a disaster without having to use valuable time reaching aid agreements

"When my administration sponsored the Emergency Management Assistance Compact bill earlier this year, it was so that California could join its fellow states in an agreement that facilitates mutual aid in times of disaster. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I renewed my call for swift passage of this legislation and today I am pleased to sign it into law. This mutual aid compact will allow California to receive help from other states more quickly during a disaster," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "EMAC will also allow us to send aid to Gulf Coast states with greater efficiency as they recover from Hurricane Katrina."

[preciousdove]

2. FEMA criticized for bypassing call-up procedure September 9, 2005

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=60185
By SCOTT BROOKS
Union Leader Staff

MANCHESTER — New Hampshire's deputy fire marshal criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency yesterday for failing to go through proper channels when requesting firefighter assistance after Hurricane Katrina.

Rob Farley said FEMA's methods prompted fire departments from Manchester and other communities to send firefighters to mostly clerical missions, which diminished the state's ability to deploy teams for actual firefighting work.

Also, he said, the agency's failure to follow procedure made it difficult for state emergency coordinators to know where its people were....

Earlier this week, Farley said, the state of Louisiana used EMAC to request teams of 100 or more firefighters for actual firefighting missions. Farley said he started to assemble a New Hampshire team for the job, but the request was soon cancelled....

[preciousdove]

3. DHS says this about EMAC requests on Sep 2 2005

Update: United States Government Response to the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=4781

National Guard...

The affected states are assessing the situation and requesting equipment and personnel to respond to the immediate needs through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC).

Through EMAC agreements more than 320,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen and their equipment from all states are available to support emergency operations....

[preciousdove]

4. A Dem who wants to get to the bottom of the EMAC-FEMA problem

Katrina response can provide big lessons
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/OPINION/510020302/1166

Indiana lawmaker, group see improvement possibilities firsthand
By U.S. Rep. Roger Wicker (R)
Special to The Clarion-Ledger

...One unique perspective comes from a Mississippi native who returned home as part of a 200-member team of volunteers from Indiana. Rep. Peggy McDaniel Welch of Bloomington, Ind., grew up in Clinton and graduated from Mississippi College. She is a nurse and is serving her fourth term as a Democrat in the Indiana House of Representatives...

While the team waited for clearance to act, I worked with local, state and federal authorities to find opportunities for the team's volunteer efforts. After a frustrating couple of days, we received help from the Mississippi State Department of Health, which enabled them to get out into areas where their abilities could be utilized effectively.

Peggy reported there were lots of supplies and human resources on the ground in the early days, but there seemed to be a flaw in the process of getting those assets to places they were needed....

The experience will also enable her to work with legislators to strengthen EMAC procedures to help assistance teams operate smarter and more efficiently.

[jody]

5. EMAC was activated when Blanco declared a state of emergency

on 26 Aug 05 when Katrina was still a class 2 hurricane. See, §733. Interstate Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Compact

[preciousdove]

6. Thanks, I searched DU before I googled and only found 1 mention

on a thread discussing debunking the school bus talking point in the Katrina Research thread.

Possible that it was omitted from most of the blurbed text in messages from other sources.

on edit for spelling; Should quit now my eyes are really going wonky.

[seabeyond]

7. my father said blanco didnt call up her la guards. know when she

called them up? i searched in google for a while a couple nights ago, but never saw when she called up the LA guards.

[jody]

8. Blanco activated LA's emergency response and recovery program on 26 Aug.

that was on Friday when Katrina was category 2 and before it hit land on Monday, 29 Aug as category 4.

Blanco's executive order said,
QUOTE
SECTION 2: The state of Louisiana's emergency response and recovery program is activated under the command of the director of the state office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to prepare for and provide emergency support services and/or to minimize the effects of the storm's damage.
UNQUOTE

That activation included LA's guard.

[seabeyond]

9. thank you jody. i was jsut sure. just couldnt find it

i will save this and let father know. a couple months ago he told me the only thing that really bothered him about clinton was them trashing the whitehouse before they left. nu uh, i said. that isnt true. of course it is dad said, otherwise i would have seen it on the news. nu uh i said. lol lol. went on internet pulled up the stuff and he was amazed amazed i tell you the news didnt correct that.

i have been telling him not to believe what he is hearing nad reading. this will jsut be another to chip away at his trust of media. he told me once, what are yous aying, what i am reading isnt the truth. yup i say. he didnt believe me.