Katrina Response Mismanagement

[Motorboat Cruiser]

That truly boggles the mind. Did anyone think about any of this beforehand?

[scaeagles]

Oh my.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

While the debate is certainly valid about national guardsmen being in Iraq, Louisiana has 11,700 National guardsmen, and 8,000 are still there. It isn't an issue of all of the guardsmen not knowing the area at all.

My understanding is that the ones sent to Iraq were ones specifically with fire/police training. I could be wrong though. Lots of unverifiable info floating around these days. If true though, the ones over there might have been especially helpful.

[SacTown Chronic]

God bless Barbara Bush. It just burns her ass that those poor folks aren't more grateful for all the free food and blankets.


She's gonna be livid when she sees them bunking on those cruise ships. Shhhhh.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Oops...

(CNN) -- Add geography to the growing list of FEMA fumbles.

A South Carolina health official said his colleagues scrambled Tuesday when FEMA gave only a half-hour notice to prepare for the arrival of a plane carrying as many as 180 evacuees to Charleston.

But the plane, instead, landed in Charleston, West Virginia, 400 miles away.

It was not known whether arrangements have been made to care for the evacuees or transport them to the correct destination.

A call seeking comment from FEMA was not immediately returned.

"We called in all the available resources," said Dr. John Simkovich, director of public health for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

"They responded within 30 minutes, which is phenomenal, to meet the needs of the citizens coming in from Louisiana," he said.

Simkovich said that the agency had described some of the evacuees as needing "some minor treatment ... possibly some major treatment."

"Unfortunately, the plane did not come in," Simkovich said. "There was a mistake in the system, coming out through FEMA, that we did not receive the aircraft this afternoon. It went to Charleston, West Virginia."

A line of buses and ambulances idled behind him at Charleston International Airport as he described what happened.

"This is a 'no event' for today," Simkovich said.

Failure to Effectively Manage Anything.

[Gemini Cricket]

I this sums it up...

[Cadaverous Pallor]

FEMA had better be completely reorganized after this. They may have to change the name...

I don't know if I posted this earlier, but....We put out a collection box at the library. A lady asked where the money went, and we told her that the city is working with the Red Cross. She said, "oh, ok, as long as it's not FEMA!" I put a little Red Cross logo on the box after that. Our little box has made a few bucks and it's nice to think that we're helping out a tiny bit.

<heartwarming moment>
Over the past weekend there was a street fair at our city and they set up a Red Cross booth. They raised over $48,000! From a little street fair over Labor Day weekend! Every time I hear about the worst from the coast, be it about the humanity or the bureaucracy, I think of all the wonderful people that are helping in any way they can.

Now back to the anger.

As to the debate going on here - I think everyone fvcked up, and I'm sure there's no one involved that is without guilt. Just because the mayor is yelling doesn't mean that he's blameless, but anyone who actually comes out and is honest about the state of things gets kudos from me.

[Name]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Here's a fine example of the well thought-out recover process by FEMA:

http://katrinablog.msnbc.com/2005/09...tml#below-fold

[emphasis mine]

Brought to you by the finest MBAs our institutions of higher learning can produce.

[/sarcasm]
any resemblance to any actual MBAs is purely coincidental. This is not a well researched post, just a poke at MBAs of our finest corporations.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Sigh. FEMA responded so damned well to the Northridge Quake too.

[Ghoulish Delight]

The Mayor has ordered forced evacuations, though they have not begun yet.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9156612/