Flood took disaster agency's experts by surprise (The Observer)

[Up2Late]

Flood took disaster agency's experts by surprise

Julian Borger in Baton Rouge
Sunday September 4, 2005
The Observer

Since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last Monday, Americans have had a new way to spell failure: Fema. It stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency, but the drowning of New Orleans and the devastation of the Mississippi shore is one emergency it has clearly failed to manage.

Fema appeared to have been taken by surprise by the extent of the New Orleans flood. It took four days to begin a large-scale evacua tion of people stranded in the Superdome stadium and to bring in significant amounts of food and water to an American city easily accessible by motorway. Relief agencies took half that time to reach Indonesia after the Boxing Day tsunami. Fema has quickly become the scapegoat for what some American politicians are conceding is a 'national disgrace'.

Fema's director, Michael Brown, has done the rounds of television talk shows, where he has been duly savaged. He admitted that he had no idea before Thursday that there was anyone - let alone 20,000 desperate people - waiting to be evacuated by rescue teams from the New Orleans Convention Centre, whereupon the ABC newscaster Ted Koppel asked him incredulously: 'Don't you guys watch television? Don't you guys listen to the radio? Our reporters have been reporting it for more than just today.'

(clip)

Fema was established by President Jimmy Carter after criticism of the incoherent federal response to earlier natural disasters. Over the following two decades, it earned the reputation as an agile and effective organisation. All that appears to have changed after the 9/11 attacks. Fema was absorbed into the mammoth Department of Homeland Security, in the expectation that its expertise would be vital in the wake of another devastating attack.

<http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1562515,00.html?gusrc=rss>
(more at link above)

[ananda]

1. bullshit

FEMA knew. They were warned.

LSU's expert van Heerden has warned the fed and Bush for years. He said so on tv.

Sue

[glitch]

3. Bullshit infinity.

Isn't Borger usually better than this?

[Up2Late]

4. I don't know if you are only reading what I posted, but most of this...

...is back ground info, it gets better if you read the rest of the article, like:

...Most experts agree that the agency's failure also reflects bureaucratic sclerosis in Washington and a disproportionate emphasis on terrorism....

(clip)

...All that appears to have changed after the 9/11 attacks. FEMA was absorbed into the mammoth Department of Homeland Security, in the expectation that its expertise would be vital in the wake of another devastating attack.

The result, however, was that FEMA became part of the counter-terrorism apparatus and its preparedness for natural disaster atrophied. When the Louisiana state authorities appealed for medical aid from FEMA, the first delivery they received was a shipment of drugs and equipment for use in the event of a chemical weapon attack....

(clip)

...Brown himself has minimal experience of managing emergencies. In the Seventies, he oversaw the emergency services of Edmund, a town in Oklahoma. For the 10 years before he came to Fema, he was a lawyer for the business interests of a wealthy family in Colorado. He was also the head of the International Arabian Horse Association....

Their is still more at the link below:

<http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1562515,00.html?gusrc=rss>

[bemildred]

2. "Flood took disaster agency's political stooges by surprise"

Experts my ass.
:puke:

[POLEIS]

5. Don't be caught out! Here's something EVERYONE can do! NIMBY POPP!

It's about the Levees, stupid!
NIMBY POPP? Check it out:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4627788&mesg_id=4634399