WASHINGTON - The federal government so far has bungled the job of quickly helping the multitudes of hungry, thirsty and desperate victims of Hurricane Katrina, former top federal, state and local disaster chiefs said Wednesday.
The experts, including a former Bush administration disaster response manager, told Knight Ridder that the government wasn't prepared, scrimped on storm spending and shifted its attention from dealing with natural disasters to fighting the global war on terrorism.
The disaster preparedness agency at the center of the relief effort is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was enveloped by the new Department of Homeland Security with a new mission aimed at responding to the attacks of al-Qaida.
"What you're seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels," said Eric Tolbert, who until February was FEMA's disaster response chief. "All three levels have been weakened. They've been weakened by diversion into terrorism."
In interviews on Wednesday, several men and women who've led relief efforts for dozens of killer hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes over the years chastised current disaster leaders for forgetting the simple Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.
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"We're not getting any help yet," said Biloxi Fire Department Battalion Chief Joe Boney. "We need water. We need ice. I've been told it's coming, but we've got people in shelters who haven't had a drink since the storm."
It's the budget cuts that just boggle my mind:
Last year, FEMA spent $250,000 to conduct an eight-day hurricane drill for a mock killer storm hitting New Orleans. Some 250 emergency officials attended. Many of the scenarios now playing out, including a helicopter evacuation of the Superdome, were discussed in that drill for a fictional storm named Pam.
This year, the group was to design a plan to fix such unresolved problems as evacuating sick and injured people from the Superdome and housing tens of thousands of stranded citizens.
Funding for that planning was cut, said Tolbert, the former FEMA disaster response director.
Well sure, funding was cut. After all, we have to have tax cuts for the rich now, don't we?
Federal flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana has been chopped from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005, according to budget documents. Federal hurricane protection for the Lake Pontchartrain vicinity in the Army Corps of Engineers' budget dropped from $14.25 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year. Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu requested $27 million this year.
Both the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper and a local business magazine reported that the effects of the budget cuts at the Army Corps of Engineers were severe.
In 2004, the Corps essentially stopped major work on the now-breached levee system that had protected New Orleans from flooding. It was the first such stoppage in 37 years, the Times-Picayune reported.
Much of the devastation experienced by New Orleans could have been prevented if the levees had just been maintained.
We really ought to be taking to the streets over this. Aside from the untold human suffering involved, this is a national security issue. New Orleans is one of our major ports. The local oil refineries supply a significant percentage of our fuel. The effects of this disaster are already being felt all over the nation.
Is anybody going to hold the Bush administration accountable??? Is the mainstream news media going to emphasize this information so that the people are informed about the poor planning and the budget cuts? Or will they give Bush a free pass on this too?
I have a friend who has always referred to Bush as the Antichrist. Although I have never agreed with his policies, actions, or words; I have thought that description was a little extreme. Until tonight when in an interview he was asked if people who are just trying to find shoes, water, and food should be considered looters and his response was there should be zero tolerance for looting. The government has not gotten supplies to the disaster victims in anything even remotely resembling a timely basis, nor have they evacuated them in a timely fashion. I have to wonder if it were his family who had gone without food and water for three to four days if he would stand outside a store and choose not to take what they needed. My friend just may be right. But then, what does that make the media and all U.S. citizens who have not held him accountable for his actions (or lack of actions) and demanded his impeachment long ago? Carolyn L.
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