There's so much more to this INCOMPETENCE than is being reported. Do you

[Blue_Roses]

remember hurricane Lili in 2002. Major differences in how these hurricanes were handled! For one, our troops weren't in Iraq which freed up the necessary help. Secondly, FEMA had more money and third it was a totally seperate department from Homeland Security. I think one of the reasons the Bush administration doesn't want to take the blame for their complete incompetence is that their dirty secret--Iraq--becomes front and center. Once the dust settles from this storm (it will be a long, long, time--if then) Americans are REALLY going to be PISSED because the realization that this war in Iraq was not necessary. This hurricane is just the tip of the iceberg as to what will unfold.

I went to NO after hurricane Lili. My spouse worked as a disaster housing inspector contracted through FEMA and the organization was unbelievably different.
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Good planning key to Hurricane Lili response

By Jim Pogue
Memphis District
For years, the employees of New Orleans District have known that they are sitting on a hurricane bulls-eye. It wasn't a matter of "if" but "when" a hurricane would put them out commission, so Mississippi Valley Division (MVD) made plans to deal with that eventuality.

"When" came in October, as Hurricane Lili seemed to take dead-aim at that bulls-eye. With two yearsof exercises and training under their belts, employees throughout MVD activated an operation plan on
Oct. 1 that, for the first time, transferred responsibility for executing Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) missions in Louisiana from New Orleans District to Memphis District.With the possibility of New Orleans becoming a "victim district" from the hurricane, initial preparation for the disaster response fell to Memphis District.

Steve Williamson is the National Emergency Preparedness Program Manager for Memphis District, and coordinated the district's hurricane response. "I think MVD made the right call in transferring execution to Memphis District as the responding district for Louisiana," he said. "We were able to bring in the Planning & Response Teams (PRTs) to Memphis and begin staging ice, water, and emergency generators at Camp Beauregard to respond to the storm. We were ready as soon as the storm passed."

snip...

Several Memphis District offices, including Human Resources, Security and Law Enforcement, and Safety all worked together to efficiently process nearly a dozen out-of-district employees as they arrived in, or transited through, Memphis.

Monitoring the increasingly severe weather reports, Vicksburg District directed the mat-sinking unit to move from Kenner, La., to Aben, La. There, they placed mat for one day, then proceeded to a protected area at White Castle, La., to wait out the hurricane. This "floating hotel" figures prominently in response plans to a catastrophic New Orleans hurricane to provide lodging for Corps people and other responders.

Back in Memphis again, the district's Information Management Office quickly put together a computer network to aid response teams operating from there. Working until after 9 p.m. Oct. 1 and 3, Memphis District's Resource Management Office also processed more than $4 million in emergency assistance funds for regional activation, water, ice, power, temporary housing, the Corps' Deployable Tactical Operations System (DTOS), logistics team, and for debris oversight.

more...


http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/nov02/story1.htm