FEMA says *you* are responsible for 3 days

[underpants]

I was just talking with the ex-FEMA type employee that I posted about yesterday and he said that the standard is that you personally are responsible for taking care of yourself the first three days. They can't expect themselves to feed/water/etc. everyone the next day or the day after that.

This is of course the FIFTH day after the hurricane (on the political slant) so they have run out of that excuse.

I just thought that you should know and that you should be prepared*.

*there have been several dicussions here by people in different areas of the country about how that really is a no brainer (tornados/hurricanes/earthquakes/etc) and how they have always been prepared.

[Sabriel]

1. Absolutely

So, all you people on food stamps and living hand to mouth existences, make sure you lay in a three-day supply for yourselves and your families.

Give me a fucking break. How much more out of touch can these people be?

[Child_Of_Isis]

2. I think the folks in NO are being very responsible.

Looting Winn Dixie is what needed to be done. Most of the looters are distributing that stuff to others. Though I only heard Keith say it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. How can they be responsible when they were searched before

they entered the Superdome and many have had their personal effects stolen while inside there?
What fucking asshats.
How can they be responsible when their goods are on the first or second floor and they are neck deep in water in their fucking attic??

Really...fuck these assclowns.

[Richard D]

4. Um, well . . .

. . . how does a person persally prepare when their house is destroyed and/or they have no access to their emergency supplies?

[xultar]

5. I agree. BUT FUCKIN POOR PEOPLE LIVE DAY TO FUCKIN DAY!

[underpants]

6. I know I know

I just wanted to state a fact. You did too.

[xultar]

19. I wasn't aming it @ you UP. I'm just fuckin screaming now. I'm all

reasoned out. I gave it three days my damn-self and gave the Government time to get in. YESTERDAY I HIT THE FUCKING ROOF.

THEY ARE 2 fucking DAYS LATE!

I HATE THE FUCKIN BASTARDS.

[scarlett1]

15. And Pay day was at the End of the month

or the beginning of September. These People Couldn't get out. They didn't just refused they had no means to get out.

Why does Bush care More about the Iraqi's than the People, especially the poor, in the Gulf Coast and New Orleans? I don't know, but he does.

[xultar]

20. Good point. Banks were closed.

[FloridaPat]

7. Except during an election year. Then it's 24 hours.

Oh, yeah, helps if you like in Florida at the time.

[Sydnie]

Or your brother is the govenor of the state affected

He wasn't that fast in Ohio and PA last time they had problems (although he was faster with Ohio than he was with PA).

[paula777]

8. But even if they were 'prepared' thier stockpile of food and water

wouldn't have made it intact - I can see that theory during say an earthquake or something, but no amount of planning and stocking up on food would have mattered here.

[politicaholic]

9. It sounds better to prepare for three days of looting and shooting...

instead of surviving until help comes. At least you'd eat.

[Individualist]

10. Please ask that person

how people stranded on rooftops and in attics are supposed to get food and water for three days. I'd like to know his response.

[Corgigal]

11. When my neighborhood got hit by a tornado

Red Cross was here the next day. I guess FEMA didn't pass that 3 day delay memo to them. However we weren't under water and at that time my neighborhood was 80 percent white.

[musette_sf]

12. and last summer

before the alleged "election", weren't the sacks of FEMA money on the ground before Ivan and Jeanne hit (Florida) land?

As KKKarl Rove has said in the past, "Fuck 'em. They didn't vote for us."

[Mutley]

13. How can they take care of themselves?

Looting?

*ding ding ding*

[gratuitous]

14. Learn from others' misfortune

No, I'm not necessarily siding with the incompetent, but yes, right now, if you're able, start assembling a bucket of stuff that will tide you over for three or four days.

Include in your bucket (place it near a door in case you need to make a fast getaway) candles, matches, a flashlight with batteries, three liters of water per person who will depend on the bucket, a blanket, and some portable foodstuffs like Power Bars. Change the perishable items twice a year when you reset your clocks for daylight saving time. Consider getting one of those hand-crank emergency radios that don't require a battery.

If you get smacked directly by a natural disaster like the folks in New Orleans, then yes, you should be first in line for supplies and relief, and the first responders are there just for the people directly affected. But if you're on the periphery, where you're not clobbered by the flood or the storm or the earthquake, if you can be self-sufficient for three or four days, you will give the first responders some breathing room they will badly need.

Not counting the emergency radio, a survival bucket can be assembled for about $30-$35. By buying some stuff each month, most folks can have one assembled and ready by the end of November. It will cost between $15 and $20 annually to keep it current.

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. Hmmm. Then why did the tsunami victims have food and water in 2 days?

Just askin'. :( AND, how the HELL are people suppose to be expected to take of themselves for 3 days when everything they own is blown away and they have no food or water?

[Igel]

23. Some did.

Most did not. For many days after day 2 passed.

In addition, I think in many places the tsunami was easier to deal electricity, water treatment facilities (to the extent there were any in some of the places), or airports. Unless they were with a quarter mile to half mile of the beach.

[leftofthedial]

17. and here it is day 5

glad they have it all under control

[Lex]

18. EVEN AT THE SHELTERS?

Even at the places that you've been told are being opened to shelter you?

I call bullshit on that.

[Retrograde]

21. yes, but....

I have a week's worth of water stored in case of an earthquake. BUT, if I'm not at home when the Big One hits, or if my house happens to collapse in the wrong direction and make it inaccessible, I'm SOL.

For all I know, many of the people stranded in NO had a few days worth of liquids or canned goods. But if these got contaminated, or floated away, what are they going to do?

FEMA seems to have forgotten that their an "emergency" service. No, they're not expected to provide gourmet meals for an indefinite time.
Yes, they're expected to have *water* and basic rations stashed around the country with plans to distribute it as soon as possible when it's desperately needed.

[mondo joe]

22. But since they waited LONGER than 3 days, what difference does that

make?

The 3 day expectation might make some sense in that in many circumstances it might take that long for rescue workers to get you into a reasonable setting.

But since they didn't even START to help until now that is immaterial.

[Igel]

24. That's what they told us, routinely, when we lived in LA.

It came in handy in Rochester during a particularly bad icestorm.

Having some 5-gallon containers of water available, putting away $20-40 of canned stuff and other emergency supplies ... not a huge problem. Esp. when spread over *years*.

And, lest people point out how wonderful my life was in LA, I qualified nicely for subsidized phone service, and found Blue Bus fare to be a fiscal hassle.

The stuff was waterproof. And if the building collapsed in such a way (in a quake) that my stuff was destroyed, if everybody did this it's very likely that stores would not be emptied of foodstuffs so quickly.