WHY is it that FEMA cannot get it together???

I am sitting here watching coverage of the afflicted areas from TX to OH and I am just getting angrier and angrier.

The lessons learned from Katrina should have created SOME change in the way FEMA acts during disasters. Yet, even now, they cannot seem to get it together.

Did we forget already? Is it because our National Guard is dispersed to other countries fighting wars instead of being here doing what they were designed to do? Is it because of the politics? Is it because of the new structure where they answer to Homeland Security?

Whatever it is, it ISN'T working! I know WHO I blame.

I have worked in Emergency Services for a very long time and even I could do a better job than the current administration as far as assisting my friends and neighbors with their basic needs during a disaster.

It's not like the hurricane was a total surprise. They could have been mobilized to an area outside of the possible landfalls, ready to go right in. The supplies could have been there in hours, instead of days and weeks.

No area should have to wait any more than a few days for HELP. Part of the burden lies on the shoulders of the people. You should have supplies to keep yourself until help arrives but 7 days is the MAX anyone should have to plan on.

I'm soooo ready to go to Washington and start kicking some butt!!
Changes should have been instituted after Katrina and I for one, see too many things that have remained the same.

I am ashamed and disgusted with my government for allowing Americans to suffer for weeks.

I'm not sure what "FEMA" means (being a Canadian ) but I agree, it's sad to see folks still without power and basic necessities following such disasters

Careful there, cowboy, I agree that the mobilization is staggered and slow-moving and disorganized. However, I also agree that each individual is responsible to be prepared for their own care during that interim between disaster and rescue.

Further, I believe that if a person chooses to live in a location that revisits chronic disasters on an annual basis and then complains that "no one is helping them", they have themselves to thank. If one moves to live in the desert, one should not expect a magic oasis of abundant water.

Why is everything always the fault of the "government" with a lower-case "g"?

*stepping down, never to return*

i have family there rw. they were smart and got out with the first warnings. they were also proactive and protected as much of their belongings before leaving. they stay stocked up in huge rubbermaid containers.

those who stayed and were not prepared, well, i don't think the government has an obligation to put people in danger to get them out or help.

there were people who said they didn't have food the next day.

but i do think the government should allow the residents to help with the cleanup and give them what is available. why truck in workers and keep residents out? they want the tools, give it to them.

with so much power out, there are huge sanitation issues.

my relatives are home now, because they were needed.

i also don't think blaming the current administration does any good. we, the people of the usa need to stand up and help. give to the red cross instead of indulging on going out to eat or the cup of starbucks and stop thinking someone else is going to help. we need to be that someone.

With the current economy, all non-profit organizations are hurting--not just the Red Cross. And food banks routinely need donations, especially during the summer when people don't think about it. This year, I've given over $300 in food to a local food bank. I can't really afford that at times, but it helps so many people that I'm glad to do it. Having once been the recipient of cheese giveaways and WIC I know what it's like to be on the receiving end. It's humbling.

I work for a non-profit. We're down almost 1 million in funding right now. We assist people who are poverty level. It's a tough situation. The economy gets worse, more people need help, and we're stretching as far as we can go.

Many times we see just what the media wants us to see and not the actuality of what's going on in a disaster area. Anyone who has dealt with the news media understands how stories can be slanted to fit what meets that particular media's definition of newsworthy.

FEMA has been mobilized since Gustav hit in August, so keep that in mind. There have been 3, count them, 3 disasters (publicized) that have hit so FEMA volunteers are spread a little thin. Want to know about some others?

That National Guard cannot do everything nor are they allowed. They have a mission but only when mobiilzed by the Governor of the State. If the Governor does not activate or mobilize, the state's National Guard cannot do anything (that's what happened in Louisiana during Katrina. The Governor failed to mobilize.)

FEMA is a FEDERAL agency and each state is sovereign. They call FEMA, FEMA does not automatically step in until asked.

FEMA was revamped after 9-11 and the authority was given back to each STATE to decide what and how to run their own disasters. Each state has their own department of Homeland Security and each state may have a different type of administration for Homeland Security. In Idaho all Emergency Services are under one Department, one point of contact. In other states they may be under different departments and lots of communication between agencies is required.

Don't blame FEMA. There are also a lot of other agencies involved including the Red Cross, Salvation Army, United Way (to name just 3) and these agencies do not communicate/coordinate with one another.

*backing out of the room now*

i want to add:

you do see the stories about people in the shleters. what you don't see is stories like mine, where family is helping out. we not only had people here at home, but also set up and had people staying at our business.

i aggree gazelle, not just the red cross need our help.

Part of the reason for the delay in getting power back to Ohio was that the energy companies had deployed a chunk of their workforce to help with Gustav. They never expected that they would be needed so badly this far north after a hurricane. Plus our infrastructure around here is not really used to sustained tropical force winds, making it double hard. They had to recall the teams heading for TX and pull in what help they could in between.

But people around here have been kind to the power guys. We have lots of stories about people making lemonade, etc for those who have been trying to get us back online.

I do agree that people need to be prepared! Everyone should have at the very least a basic disaster kit, that includes water, food first aid supplies, gasoline in their vehicles and medications they will need. The first responsibility lies with the individual...

BUT

There are people who live day to day, who have no money to live more than a few days, in inner cities and urban areas, who have no idea how to care for themselves without a grocery store nearby, a taxicab to transport them, and a few days worth of meds. They don't know HOW to get water anywhere besides a tap, how to purify it, how to cook anything that does not come out of a box with directions on it, and even if they do, they don't have the money to purchase the necessary supplies.

I am saying preparation needs to happen BEFORE a disaster, not after. It needs to be a combination of neighborly respect and looking out for each other, a town/city/county/state/federal/charitable effort TOGETHER, not a jumble where one hand doesn't know what the other is doing.

I realize the news channels report mostly gloom and doom, but I have to tell you, we went through a major ice storm ten years ago, power was lost for a month in some cases, roads nearly all impassable, stores closed, collapsing roofs, etc. and we didn't leave anyone who needed help out in the cold.

We went out with chain saws and cut up the trees to clear roads, we got our skidders and dragged cars out of the way, we brought generators from house to house to ensure people had safe food, we fed people with food that needed to be eaten before it spoiled, we had radio call in shows where people called in and told what they needed and someone got to them and did what they could to help, and evacuated them when needed, tips were given as to how to prevent food spoilage, how to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, people took in neighbors, etc.

I understand that the government is NOT going to save everyone, but there still exists a fundamental responsibility by the government to be fully prepared in a disaster, and ours isn't. The lessons learned from the Katrina disaster haven't been implemented as they should have been.

I've got no beef with the Red Cross or any of the charitable organizations. I've seen them squeeze supplies out of thin air. I've seen the people who come from everywhere to help out.

I've also heard the bitterness of the displaced people from LA who are still living here in Maine, who tell stories of how bodies were left to rot on sidewalks, how they went days without food or water, how they lost everything and people acted like it was their own fault for "not being prepared" when they did everything right and still....waited and waited for someone to come.

I have to agree, and this is why I believe that where I live, we do so 'well' in situations of 'crisis'. Take for example ice storms for us, or 100CM (sorry don't know the inch conversion!) of snow. Power goes out. Power CAN stay out for several days in some cases, but... neighbors band together, workplaces adapt to these 'situations'. My neighbor made it well aware when I moved in, "I have a generator, if you lose power, come to my house". He also had a poured concrete basement. "If there is ever a tornado, come to our house".

I had folks come over when I was sick last winter, knowing I was sick (limbo period again) and offer me help getting out of my place when we got dumped on by snowfall, or help in shoveling. I'd do the same for them if I had the energy on any given day. Often you see the guy 5 houses down at another neighbor's spot with their electric snow blower clearing driveways and walkways.

Heck, I don't have a car, so when we had over 100CM on the ground last winter, I told my neighbor "Feel free to toss your snow from your driveway on mine, it won't be used or plowed till the snow melts in the spring". We managed a nice little mountain!

My workplace has a 7 day generator should power go out. When it did, they let those without power stay at work, provided them meals and use of the showers in the gym. Many businesses followed suit.

So many easy and 'small' things can be done to prevent situations of being left with the lights out and hungry, cold, roofless.. you name it.