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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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December
2005
Volume 9 - Number
3 |
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On 27 September 2005, Michael Brown, the outgoing head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, testified in front of Congress in regards to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Mr. Brown said it was not his job to take over the evacuation of New Orleans and rescue the drowning city, adding that local officials were mostly to blame for the failed relief. Brown laid the blame at the feet of Louisiana State and local officials for being confused, inefficient, and “dysfunctional” as Hurricane Katrina hit saying, "My biggest regret is not getting the governor (of Louisiana) and the mayor of New Orleans to sit down and iron out their differences." His role as federal coordinator was to talk to Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin and encourage them "to do their obligation to their citizens. I am not a dictator, and I . . . cannot go in there and force them to do that. " He also spread responsibility to a White House that he said was fully apprised before Katrina's landfall, to a Department of Homeland Security whose leaders cut money and staff for three years as they pursued the "emaciation of FEMA," and to a military Brown said was slow to react. He admitted that FEMA's ability to move life-sustaining supplies was flawed and "easily overwhelmed" by Katrina's scale. He said that emergency communications broke down because the country made little "real progress" in learning from the 2001 terrorist attacks, and he warned that if U.S. authorities remain focused on preparing for terrorism instead of natural disasters, "then we're going to fail." Brown said he is "happy to be a scapegoat” if it would return FEMA to its previous stature. He conceded that he should have set up regular media briefings instead of conducting numerous television interviews. He suggested much of the chaos in New Orleans could not have been anticipated. However, a draft of a comprehensive hurricane plan prepared for the U.S. government forecasted nearly everything that happened in Louisiana as a result of Katrina, including indications that local government would not be able to cope with a huge storm. "The response capabilities and resources of the local jurisdiction may be insufficient and quickly overwhelmed," the document reads. "I could not find out who was making decisions about what needed to be done," Brown testified. But FEMA's own plan advises the federal government that if lives are at stake it should not wait to be asked for help. "This may require mobilizing and deploying assets before they are requested," the plan says (President Bush declared a state of emergency in the region on 26 Aug). It warned that, "the State of Louisiana has identified a shortage in resources required to evacuate and support shelters, including the special needs populations." Brown said it was unclear what Louisiana officials needed. "You want me to be this superhero," Brown said. Needless to say, he was not. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700709.html http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1164307&page=1 |