Feds to restrict volunteers at disasters

[donsu]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070901/ap_on_re_us/disaster_ids;_ylt=AtnVuh.q5n5uVbBL6aQPoA2s0NUE


-snip-

In an effort to provide better control and coordination, the federal government is launching an ambitious ID program for rescue workers to keep everyday people from swarming to a disaster scene. A prototype of the new first responder identification card is already being issued to fire and police personnel in the Washington, D.C., area.

Proponents say the system will get professionals on scene quicker and keep untrained volunteers from making tough work more difficult.

-snip-

Similar frustrations arose after Katrina, when people were shocked that the government struggled to take basic supplies such as water to the worst areas.

"They're more worried about keeping volunteers out than doing an analysis of what really went wrong," Shearer said. "Independent citizens need to be involved, where we have no ax to grind or cross to bear. But we will tell the truth, and we will tell what we see and bear witness to the incompetence."

-snip-

For reasons ranging from general safety to protection from lawsuits, construction and demolition companies want to see a disaster ID card program succeed.

Mike Taylor, executive director of the National Demolition Association, said his industry is talking with aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about putting it in place in his state.

"If California goes ahead and does that, it will flow across the country. This is a really smart idea by someone in the Bush administration to be able to control access to the site and frankly, make sure there are no untrained people," Taylor said. "If somebody goes running down to the site, you have to stop and ask them, wait, are they certified to do this work?"
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horsecrap

[rocktivity]

1. TRANSLATION: Feds to restrict EYEWITNESSES at disasters

ensure that they don't tell anyone about what they're NOT doing!

:headbang:
rocknation

[donsu]

2. yes indeed

nt

[Subdivisions]

12. Yep. Too many people on 9/11 seeing the

diagonally-cut and molten steel columns, betraying the secrets of an evil administation.



Don't want anyone to see the evidence of their next crime.

[villager]

3. do they really imagine they'll be able to enforce this, during large-scale disasters?

Kind of like their government fantasies about orderly evacuations of large cities, etc.

[tanyev]

4. "Are they certified to do this work?"

Immediately after Katrina, the people who were certified to do the work were NOWHERE to be found. If it hadn't been for legions of untrained people doing whatever they could, the disaster would have been even worse.

[Der Blaue Engel]

5. Imagine if this had been in place during 9/11 nt

[Retrograde]

8. "Do not try to save your co-workers. Please wait for an authorized volunteer."

Not to denigrate the efforts of the NY police and fire departments, but most of the people who survived the fires and collapse of the World Trade Centers did so because John and Jane Q. OfficeWorker took matters into their own hands and got themselves and others out of the building. I'm also thinking of the immediate response to the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, where ordinary people helped people get down from a collapsed freeway, directed traffic, and hauled firehoses.

It would be nice to have cadres of trained, efficient emergency crews when needed. But emergencies tend to happen unexpectedly (duh!) and "certified" help may not be available for quite some time.

[Subdivisions]

13. Fuck that shit! They can all fucking die

while they wait for an officially credentialed disaster worker to arrive on-scene! Gummint says so!

[LiberalFighter]

6. Aren't we a nation of volunteers? Don't politicians expect people to volunteer to their community?

[donsu]

7. only if properly trained beforehand

nt

[FormerOstrich]

9. There is another thread with this being discussed....

I seem to be very drawn into this topic for some reason....


Here is a link to the discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2974765

[ljm2002]

10. Fuck these people!

Seriously that is warped. Katrina was marred when "authorized" "rescue" workers kept volunteers out, sometimes at gunpoint. The same "authorized" "rescue" workers sometimes pointed their guns at those who needed rescuing -- because, doncha know, the Katrina "rescue" operation had been turned into a policing operation by the "authorities".

I hate what our society has become at so many levels it is hard to express sometimes. We are allowing our whole ethos to be defined by profit-making entities, to the point where someone's willingness to be a good samaritan is being overridden by corporate considerations ("For reasons ranging from general safety to protection from lawsuits").

So the same people who voted Bush and cronies into office because of their vaunted "values", would now like to make it impossible to be a good samaritan. Because whenever disaster strikes, the first thing that happens, is there are too many people trying to help. And we don't want that now, do we?

For some reason this story pisses me off more than most. And that is saying something...

[merh]

11. It was the volunteers that cleared the roadways of the downed

limbs and trees that in turn allowed more volunteers to come south to help us after Katrina. The national guard barely had a presence and was no where to be seen by many.

In many of the hardest hit cities, the first responders needed the volunteers as their stations were destroyed by Katrinas winds and storm surge.

This is horsecrap of the highest order.

It was my neighbors that got a hold of a bull dozer who pushed my house out of the middle of the street so vehicles could get through the neighborhood and help those who were living in the remnants of their homes. That took at least a week. There are not enough first responders to help folks, volunteers, such as those that helped after 9/11, are needed to give the first responders the time they need to rest and to recharge.

I hate this administration, they are totally clueless. Control is their goal, not effective management and response to a crisis.

:argh: