While, I appreciate your insight, I have some thoughts on this issue. Does your comment above mean that FEMA has no helicopters or boats? CNN, Fox, etc were able to get in to downtown New Orleans, so why couldn't FEMA bring in some food and water for the people who "chose" to stay in New Orleans? How can anyone make a comment that it necessarily takes days to reach a disaster zone. People swarmed to the trade center in 2001 to conduct rescue efforts almost immediately. There were ways to get food and water and other necessities to the Superdome, but it still didn't happen. There appears to have been incompetence at all levels in the management of disaster relief efforts (not the people on the ground actually doing the rescuing, etc)- especially Brown of FEMA. He is qualified to run horse shows, not major disaster coordination
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FEMA does not have boats or helicopters. Traditionally, much of the water rescue has been done by local assets (fire departments) and the Coast Guard. It is foolish for FEMA to spend $$$ on redundant assets and deal with the logistical issues of getting those assets there (you just can't move hundreds of boats accross the country in one day). Air rescue (helicopters) is traditionally done by the Coast Guard and Military. If past practice held true, many of these helicopters would have been moved out of the region prior to the storm so they would not have been damaged and rendered unusable. Other air assets from other military installations were brought in, but you are looking at travel times of 12 to 24 hours for them to arrive on station (helicopters are not airplanes, it takes them longer to travel). Maybe if CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, etc wasn't so concerned about getting the best shots or the best live feed, maybe they could have used their resources to help with the rescues (and I am not talking about the "staged" rescues they made for ratings).
The focus of air rescue is just that...RESCUE. Air crews were not going to waste their time dropping food and water when they had their hands full rescuing people who wanted to leave and should have left in the first place. Food and water was offered by FEMA and the Red Cross for the people of the Superdome, the State of Louisiana denied it because they did not want people to stay there. That is a known fact. If you called today and ordered busses for 50,000 people and said that you needed them by tomorow, they would laugh you off the phone. You can't just snap your fingers and these things appear.
Our team deployed to NYC on 9/11. It took close to 48 hours to get all the assets there that they needed. Comparing the WTC collapse vs. Hurricane Katrina, you are comparing apples and oranges. Much of the infastructure of NYC was still in place and the disaster was concentrated on one small area. Katrina affected an area of hundreds of thousands of square miles and the infastructure of entire counties was wiped out BY THE STORM. We had triple the amount of assets for Katrina than was there for 9/11. It was just spread out over a much larger area because it effected a much larger area. The area of the WTC collapse and the Pentagon would only be a pin prick on a map of the area effected by Katrina.
Time will tell if Undersecretary Brown really had an effect either way on how the response turned out. Political department heads may change, but the folks that run the day to day operations at FEMA and DHS do not. These are the folks who make most of the operational decisions and are career employees. They do not change every time someone else is elected into power. Most of these folks have successfully handled many other disasters. I've yet to see the perfect disaster and in emergency management, you can only play with the cards you are delt.
People of America should be less concerned with what happened in New Orleans and more concerned with their local and state governments and wether or not they are prepared for a major disaster in your community. They will be your first line of defense and the decisions they make before, during, and after a disaster will effect your life. I encourage everyone to contact your local politicians and EMA and ask what they are doing to prepare for a major disaster.
Don't thank me....I'm just doing my job. Thank the good folks of Mississippi and Louisiana. They really need your support and prayers right now.
The next person that asks me to play "Amazing Grace" again will have a reason for me to play it !!!!!
