Disaster, readiness and sustainability

The New Orleans disaster has little to do with partisan rhetoric and more to do with action. The USA could not have asked for a better scenario to test the Department of Homeland Security and general disaster preparedness. We ignored the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), thirty plus years of warnings plus 10 days to prepare for this drill. The USA could not have had a more perfect pitch over home plate.


The problem is no one was even aware of the field of play. The subsequent failure to respond in any cohesive fashion clearly demonstrates we feel no threat internally or externally. The simple fact is that FEMA was absorbed by the DHS. Surely the motive was operational efficiency. The truth is that a natural disaster would be managed no differently than a terrorist event. This makes perfect sense. It could have been a bomb that destroyed the levees as easily as the hurricane. All systems and personnel required are the same players—by design. There is no question that the Governor and mayor of New Orleans were incompetent. However it was FEMAs responsibility to test all assumptions and abilities at the state level. Back up planning is not about letting the first lines of defense fail. It is about ensuring that all is in place and the plan exists. FEMA should have been talking with the Governor and going through a preparedness plan and identifying where the critical problems were located. You then create mitigation scenarios and advise all of the strategy to fall back on if things worsen in contrast to the existing plan.It all starts with a phone call, a checklist and alerting all responders that we have a problem. The implementation is initiated that easily. So where was the DHS?


This raises a very serious question for the Bush Administration. If terrorism were as serious a threat as stated, then why not use the best possible situation to test or demonstrate that the Department of Homeland Security was up to the task? Now we have to wait for the unknown to test US preparedness whether it be an earthquake that tumbles California or a bombing that threatens a part of our infrastructure and well being. We squandered one of the biggest opportunities to test our response and infrastructure systems and save lives. We had the opportunity to show the terrorist world that we have are act together. Now we look feeble and utterly disorganized. The problem is the systems were not there nor was Bush and team. It is also fair to state that the democrats failed as well. I know of no one from the democrat party that tried to alert all that the sky was falling on New Orleans.