FEMA Response
I've been hearing a lot about the woefully inadequate response by FEMA or other federal agencies to the New Orleans situation. This all seems about right, but I'm left wondering: What about Mississippi and Alabama? They didn't have the flooding that New Orleans experienced, but they did have many towns -- with lots of poor people -- that were just obliterated. Why aren't there any complaints about FEMA there? I can think of several possibilities:
1. There are in fact complaints about FEMA's response to Mississippi and Alabama, but I haven't heard about it because no one is paying any attention.
2. FEMA performed wonderfully in those states, for some unknown reason.
3. FEMA's response was inadequate, but either (a) the MS/AL officials were not as completely incompetent to handle the situation, or (b) the MS/AL residents were more self-reliant and responsible.
4. The flooding in New Orleans affected more people in one concentrated location than the destruction in MS or AL, thereby magnifying the difficulties aggravated by the lack of an adequate federal response.
1. There are in fact complaints about FEMA's response to Mississippi and Alabama, but I haven't heard about it because no one is paying any attention.
2. FEMA performed wonderfully in those states, for some unknown reason.
3. FEMA's response was inadequate, but either (a) the MS/AL officials were not as completely incompetent to handle the situation, or (b) the MS/AL residents were more self-reliant and responsible.
4. The flooding in New Orleans affected more people in one concentrated location than the destruction in MS or AL, thereby magnifying the difficulties aggravated by the lack of an adequate federal response.
posted by Stuart Buck at
8:22 AM
2 Comments:
Well, yes, but what does that have to do with the lack of a federal response? Whether a city or town was flooded or simply wiped out by the wind, the residents would then be displaced and would need food/water/shelter.
In places that don't have the massive confluence of nasty factors (below sea level, high density, lots of carless people, few routes out, etc.) of New Orleans, a three day delay for FEMA can be easily handled. It's frankly standard in other places-- Charleston had to wait nine days for help after Hugo, but it was manageable.
In New Orleans, response had to be faster than it ever was before in any disaster in order to prevent deaths.
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