CNN polls are showing that the American people do not blame their president for the horrible tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans due to a predicted natural disaster. It’s a Pundit writes that only 13% blame George Bush for the hurricane. New Orleans should have been the most prepared city in America to deal with a category five hurricane. It had a number of recent experiences that could have been as bad as Katrina and they had drills which revealed the necessary precautions to survive the onslaught of both natural disasters and terrorist hits. However, the leaders of the city of New Orleans and state of Louisiana did not take the warnings to heart.
As of January of this year, 2005, federal and local officials were studying the area to prepare for an almost certain hit, either environmental or terrorist: Katrina Was Predicted.
The were detailed plans written by the local governments and already in place to evacuate more than a million people, including the 300,000 projected to need transportation.
Local, state and federal officials held a hurricane drill in 2005, in which simulated flooding trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise studied the evacuation of more than one million residents, and gave a time frame of 72 hours to complete the evacuation.
Last hurricane season Ivan threatened New Orleans. An evacuation was ordered but those without transportation means, mostly the poor, were unable to get out. The hurricane changed course and New Orleans was saved. Both the governor and the mayor of New Orleans acknowledged the failure to evacuate, yet they took no corrective actions.
In 1998, when threatened by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the New Orleans Superdome and rampant theft and vandalism broke out due to inadequate security. Again, the government officials did not learn their lesson.
From The Wall Street Journal of today there is this on the editorial page: The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his emergency operations center.
The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people.
Check out Michelle Malkin’s blogging about FEMA Follies. Linked at WizBang’s Carnival of Trackbacks.
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Nonsense. The times are different, 1998 was 1998, 9/11/01 changed things … what if Ossama and his merry Saudis had placed a couple of sticks of dynamite on the levee?
How come Homeland Security (whatever that means) has not done an analysis of ALL our aging infrastructures’ vulnerabilities?
Comment by A. P. Duncan — September 7, 2005 @ 8:48 pm
I disagree. Hurricanes have not changed since 1998. Besides, most of the recent storm experiences I cited occurred in 2004 and 2005. The fact that terrorists had not destroyed the levees with “a couple of sticks of dynamite“, indicates that the Bush Administration and Homeland Security have been successful in keeping us safe in that regard. Although the federal government is charged by our constitution to defend its citizens with an army, there is no expectation among reasonable people that any government can prevent hurricanes and other natural disasters. Instead, everyone has to be prepared for the onslaughts of nature.
As for “aging infrastructures“, I have no knowledge of Homeland Security’s role. However, that should be a topic of concern to everyone and “we the people” need to pressure our governments, city, state and federal, to keep them on the ball and not forget. From what I have read of the New Orleans Levee Commissions, they were political patronage positions handed out by the city government. Most of the blame for failures of our government leaders rests upon us, the citizens who put them in office.
Comment by Neddy — September 7, 2005 @ 10:07 pm
All I know is that I heard, on the list held by the Federal Governement of places that were vulnerable for natural disasters was New Oreleans at #3 because of the levees and there was some funds that were suppose to be allocated to help correct this situation, that was inevitable with a hurricane of this magnitude.
Comment by Lenore — September 8, 2005 @ 6:28 pm
I think when hurricane katrina it show usa side it never seen coming and that how so many people lost or separted from their love one and how so much suffer had gone on down there. My school Jack Britt high School is helping out red cross by donated water and money and hadin blood drive if there other school out there who feel pain that went down their pleased do what ever you can help those people in New Orleans (SOS)
Comment by Sarah — September 10, 2005 @ 12:10 am