Originally posted by Kevin Bowman
You are also entitled to your opinon. I know enough about emergency managment that you shouldnt expect the federal government to act extremely quickly. Even on 9/11 most of the people doing the work were local emergency workers and not the feds.
9/11 was a completely different logistical situation. There was sufficient local (local being within a 100 mile perimiter) to handle the situation. On 9/11, while there was a horrific number of deaths, it was, for operational purposes, an extremely localized event. There was also no need for humanitarian relief efforts, other than on an extremely small scale. Note: this is not meant to be a slight to the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, but it is not a comparable event to this one.
We are now entering day 5 of this event. We have a FEMA director that does not even aknowledge that there is a problem
FEMA administrator Mike Brown said there is no truth to reports food is scarce in New Orleans.
We have people that are dying from lack of basic needs. We have a President that stated that looting, even to gain those items that are needed to sustain life, is not acceptable (people stealing televisions and jewelry is another matter). We have survivors that will die days after the storm. People from Biloxi to Metarie feel like they have been abandoned. And why shouldn't they? I'm sorry, but the response to this event is pathetic at best, and hinges on criminal negligence.
If you can drive a bunch of buses out of the CBD, you can drive tractor trailers loaded with supplies in. You can escort them with police and National Guard forces. You can use heavy lift helicopters carrying Intermodal trailer containers full of supplies to get much needed resources to individuals (places like Gulfport, where large gangs are not a problem). You could provide communications teams and/or equipment so that at least some type of communication is possible (the Northshore is a perfect example...completely cut off, even from other public safety agencies).
Everybody from amateur radio emergency communications teams, police and fire volunteers (not individuals, but teams from departments), to private citizens with resources that are desperately needed are being turned away. The party line is that it's not safe, but this just does not stand up. With the exception of individuals, the other groups are trained to operate in disaster situations.
Perfect example...a truckload of heavy duty generators was ordered from Houston by the Jefferson Parish Emergency Manager. These were to be used to get the wastewater plant back in operation. The police and National Guardsman on the interstate turned them away. This is not a rumor, this is a direct quote from the Emergency Manager during an interview on WWL. Now...am I the only one that see's the problem with this?
Four days...four days and people are still starving. Four days and Senior Cabinet Members are still denying that there even is a problem, let alone attempting to make a rapid and effective response.
Four days...think about all that you have been able to accomplish in that time. How much, if you were really under the gun, could you have accomplished in that time?
Four days...and for many, there will not be a day five.
