Katrina Response Mismanagement

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

Edited to add: Oops...Upon reviewing this thread, I see that I made this point previously. Still, it bears repeating.

It does. That is inexcusable. Bush should answer for that. The director of FEMA should be fired, no doubt.

I will hold back judgement on any inhabitant of the affected areas. That lady might not have slept for days.

However, as far as where the buck stops, the first two places it should stop are with the local government - specifically the mayor of NOLA and the governor. I believe these two points bear repeating - the mayor had days to evacuate and yet didn't even abide by the written plan. Hundreds of busses that could and should have been used to evacuate well over 10,000 people who had no transportation sit in a flooded parking lot. The governor did not declare martial law, and made no use of the national guard because she did not request them, and as GD points out, they can't just come storming in.

The local officials had the responsibility of predisaster execution and did nothing. Yes, there was gross mismanagement by FEMA and the feds in the first three days after Katrina passed, but the amount of human suffering would have been greatly reduced if the local officials had done something to get those people out or get the national guard in there to keep order in the first couple of days afterward.