Mismanagement

A hot sunny day today in the city. The relief station on Airline is now closed down. That's unfortunate, but they stopped giving out MREs awhile ago, in favor of shrink-wrapped junk food, and with all the local businesses slowly starting to go back online, I guess it was time. Outback and Chevy's are open so there are finally places to sit down and eat, and probably in another week, things will be even more city-like.

Today Mayor Nagin cracked a good joke in his press conference. When asked about why he was making it difficult for people to enter the city, he responded, "We have the lowest crime rate we've ever had and I want to keep it that way." The audience of reporters erupted into laughter, at which point some lesser politician had to point out to everyone who was already aware it was a joke, that this is because the city is empty. Some people still don't get it. Nagin is much smarter than anyone else around.

There's still debris everywhere; no significant mail service (I seem to be getting new mail but more than a month's worth of old mail has DISAPPEARED), no trash pickup and problems here and there, but it's even worse further into New Orleans. As I drive around the city there are boats all over the place: on the edge of the interstate, in parking lots, and huge piles of debris, twisted metal and trees strewn about. Clean-up is coming along, but even a month later, the place still looks like a bomb went off.

However, the bigger bomb... Hurricane FEMA, continues to spread its devastation (and now) misinformation... check THIS OUT: This is a big story that the mainstream hasn't grabbed yet.


While everyone points fingers at state, local and federal authorities regarding how things went wrong in the Hurricane disaster planning, including claims by both FEMA and Bush that "nobody anticipated a disaster like this", truth is starting to seep out that this is complete BS. As the ex-FEMA director points fingers at the Louisiana Governor & others, insiders who were involved in the government's hurricane plan show who was really at fault.

The reality is, a company was contracted by FEMA to produce a new disaster-recovery plan for the almost exact situation presented by Hurricane Katrina. In their exercise, the now-infamous "Hurricane Pam" was the event which triggered deep analysis and logistical planning - a simulated storm which almost exactly took the path of Katrina. A project implemented by the federal government more than a year before Katrina hit involving dozens of agencies working together to figure out detailed, realistic plans on how to quickly rescue and restore the city. What went wrong? An insider posted a very revealing analysis of the project and points to FEMA as the main protagonist in making bold promises (and ultimately not delivering) during all stages, and even pulling funding in the final stages of the disaster recovery plans and causing things to potentially unravel after most of the hard work had been done.

Check it out here: The real deal...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/9/192848/9052

So: Louisiana did have a hurricane plan, but was devising a new one, to be based on recommendation from the people who would actually be doing the work. The need to evacuate people from impact areas, including those without transportation or the means to obtain it, was discussed, despite media assertions to the contrary. The possibility of levee overflow was discussed (levee breaching may have been discussed at some point, but I was in the dewatering room, and I never heard it mentioned. A rescue and evacuation plan, including sheltering, was reasonably firm. There were and are officials in Louisiana, including New Orleans Emergency Management, who know the limitations of current planning and who have been trying to come up with a better solution.

The problem is FEMA, and by extension the Department of Homeland Security, which gobbled FEMA up in 2003. FEMA promised more than they could deliver. They cut off deeper, perhaps more meaningful discussion and planning by handing out empty promises. The plans that were made -- which were not given any sort of stamp of authority -- were never distributed or otherwise made available to those who most needed stable guidance; they vanished into the maw of FEMA and LOSHEP (probably when Col. Brown was removed from his command due to financial "irregularities" -- the project was tainted after that). Adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) would have made most of the plans moot anyway -- FEMA's adherence to the untried NIMS is a primary reason for the chaos and ineptitude surrounding

their relief efforts.

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More FEMA debacles... Let's say you have people in need and you're FEMA. What do you do? You close down the aid center because, um, there are too many people who need help??? WTF?

Saying they were caught off-guard by the number of people in need, FEMA (search) officials closed a relief center early on Wednesday after some of the hundreds of hurricane victims in line began fainting in triple-digit heat.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170711,00.html

I really am not trying to beat up on FEMA but every time you turn around, this agency does something profoundly bone-headed. This administration is complete chaos when it comes to protecting its people.

FEMA = Federal Emergency MISMANAGEMENT Administration