FEMA in Florida

[plazul]

Looks like the forecasters were really off the mark with Charley. I didn't expect this many deaths though I wasn't surprised at the devastation.

This will be a good opportunity to see if our new Homeland Security structure in conjunction with FEMA is better prepared than before to deliver disaster relief. Of course, short of a nuclear weapon, a terrorist attack could hardly match the infrastructure damage resulting from a natural disaster but emergency service coordination would be similar.

We'll see.

[Tombstone]

Originally Posted by plazul

Looks like the forecasters were really off the mark with Charley. I didn't expect this many deaths though I wasn't surprised at the devastation.

This will be a good opportunity to see if our new Homeland Security structure in conjunction with FEMA is better prepared than before to deliver disaster relief. Of course, short of a nuclear weapon, a terrorist attack could hardly match the infrastructure damage resulting from a natural disaster but emergency service coordination would be similar.

We'll see.

I used to be skeptical of FEMA. I used to listen to the conspiracy theorists rant about FEMA and worry that maybe they had some nuggets of truth.

What I learned is that FEMA depends greatly on volunteer organizations.
They depend on state and local authorities. They depend on independent charities, organizations, and clubs. There is some great work being done.

When disasters hit, it is often difficult to respond as quickly and efficiently as some armchair quarterbacks would like to see. But there are real women and men out in the field busting their arses. I've been liking what I've been seeing and being involved with.

[illuminati]

Originally Posted by Tombstone

I've been liking what I've been seeing and being involved with.

How so? Are you with FEMA?

[plazul]

Originally Posted by Tombstone

I used to be skeptical of FEMA. I used to listen to the conspiracy theorists rant about FEMA and worry that maybe they had some nuggets of truth.

What I learned is that FEMA depends greatly on volunteer organizations.
They depend on state and local authorities. They depend on independent charities, organizations, and clubs. There is some great work being done.

When disasters hit, it is often difficult to respond as quickly and efficiently as some armchair quarterbacks would like to see. But there are real women and men out in the field busting their arses. I've been liking what I've been seeing and being involved with.

The point of my post was that there's always confusion and miscommunication during a natural disaster. I was just curious to see if emergency response and triage of priorities was better with DHS in place as that will give us some indication that DHS has improved the system.

FEMA and it's Rocky Top headquarters was created to function, in part, as an emergency government that would handle national security and emergency services in the aftermath of a nuclear war. FEMA is, after all, the original DHS.