How Not to Respond to a Disaster

So it looks like the White House is cutting loose Michael Brown (as in “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job”), and in response, he’s going to testify before Congress on his conversations with the President et al as Hurricane Katrina made landfall back in August.

It’s a little late, but this might shed some light on why the government’s response to the disaster was so stunningly ineffective. The White House has consistently refused to cooperate fully with Congressional oversight committees trying to get to the bottom of the Hurricane Katrina debacle.

However, enough has come out to provide some lessons in how not to respond to a disaster. Some of the points made in today’s New York Times include the fact that federal officials knew well in advance that a 100,000 people in New Orleans had no way to escape on their own from a major hurricane; Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Department of Homeland Security did not appoint a principal official to oversee disaster response and coordinate activities of the different agencies involved; the Louisiana transportation secretary flatly admitted there were no plans in place to evacuate thousands in nursing homes and hospitals; city of New Orleans officials delayed in issuing an evacuation order; city search and rescue capabilities were inadequate despite many years warning about a catastrophic event; FEMA did not have food and water supplies waiting at the Convention Center, even though the city has designated it as an emergency shelter.

The National Weather Service worked effectively, accurately predicting the force of the storm. But noone heeded the warning. President Bush, on vacation in Texas during the disaster had announced that New Orleans had “dodged the bullet”. However, the previous evening, a federal emergency response official had sent a message to DHS (which made its way to the White House) that the levee had failed and that New Orleans was being flooded.

Hopefully, the Congressional committees investigating this debacle produce some useful lessons for the future. One wonders how much of a red-state American you have to be to feel comfortable leaving these guys, or anyone resembling them, in charge of this stuff. Do you think they're prepared any better now than last fall for something similar? This should be a wakeup call to any community, red, blue, purple or whatnot, that the Bush Administration just isn’t going to be there for you in the event of a disaster, natural or otherwise.