Hurricane Andrew - sounds like Katrina

[FloridaPat]

" The fury of Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Iniki, Hurricane Hugo, the Los Angeles Riots, and the San Francisco earthquake can not be equaled by the feelings some devastated disaster victims have towards our nation's lead emergency management agency. Pointed criticism and tales of ineptitude, insensitively, and "foot-dragging" continue to plague the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and it's leadership.

"One of the most basic problems, and most frequent criticisms of FEMA is that they aren't prepared for those critical first, few, days after a major disaster occurs", according to Clark Staten of the Chicago-based Emergency Response & Research Institute. "This was particularly true of Hurricane Andrew, where local emergency response agencies were unable to provide even the very rudimentary rescue/medical care services that were required", Staten continued. "Unfortunately, people seem to have developed an attitude that FEMA and the U.S. Military can come and `rescue' them within a moments' notice...when that doesn't happen they are disappointed, hurt, and angry", the veteran emergency manager added. "

http://www.emergency.com/femafurr.htm

250,000 people were left homeless.


"The evacuation of people from low-lying areas before Hurricane Andrew struck had been highly successful. During the first hundred hours after the storm, however, relief efforts proved inadequate. There were many reasons for this. A major storm had not hit South Florida since the mid-1960s, and an entire generation had grown up with no experience of hurricanes. In addition, the exceptional force of the storm and the fact that it covered an area of twenty-five to thirty miles, from downtown Miami south to Homestead, created special logistical problems.

Many of the problems that related to mounting the initial relief effort after the storm had to do with jurisdictional disputes and administrative incompetence. Metro Dade mayor Steve Clark failed to provide leadership. The relief efforts of volunteer agencies such as the American Red Cross were not coordinated with the efforts being made by the military. There were also questions over federal versus state and local jurisdiction. All these issues contributed to the confusion and lack of effective response in the first week after Andrew. "
http://www.upf.com/mkt/samples/provenzo.html

[xray s]

1. Reagan / Bush screwed up FEMA

Clinton fixed it. W dismanted it.