Thursday, February 23, 2006

Now that Congress And The White House

Have both put out reports outlining why the government failed so badly in the Katrina response, I wonder if they will actually start to do anything about the ongoing failures in the recovery.







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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Who in the administration knew what and when that would have helped out in an Emergency Response? There is so much talk now about how FEMA and DHS could have responded better to Katrina and Rita. Much less on how they they are going to do in this next season. What if the public knew that the administration, FEMA and DHS had a plan that would have helped in the response and training of local and state agencies while improving communications, response times and capabilities, supplies and giving a quicker and more enhanced response capabilities but failed to act upon it? They would go NUTS!!! But that is just what happened.

Since OCT 2000 FEMA and then 2001 – 2003 DHS has had a proposal, called Impact Centers, on its desk. In fact the committee that came up with the National Response Plan had a copy of it while they discussed the NRP. The Impact Center Proposal utilizes FEMA and National Guard response units that are already in place. Putting everything into one response center and under one roof allows everyone to be on the same page and bolsters communication within those units and with local and state agencies. In the times of non-emergencies, they would train and promote training and drills for their state. And the whole program would only take 5 years to put into place.

The whole proposal would work with local, state and the federal systems. Utilizing the systems that are already in place and putting them into one unit would reduce not only the total cost but enhance their response capabilities. What does it take to get the administration to act on the behalf of the public? But so far the response has been “Great plan, just not for us right now.” What does it take to get the government start looking at and taking serious the ideas of the people that it is suppose to be representing and looking out for? All of the official channels have been used and still no real response has been given. What does it take – besides money, to be heard from by the government? That to me is a more serious question than “Are we ready for the next hurricane season?” or “Who screwed up and how are we going to punish them?” Does anyone have any suggestions? All I know to do is resubmit all the paper work and try again.