Posted on 08/20/2009 10:39:55 AM PDT by Kartographer
“We need to change behavior in this country,” he told about 400 emergency-management instructors at a conference in June, lambasting the “government-centric” approach to disasters. He learned a perverse lesson in Florida: the more the federal government does in routine emergencies, the greater the odds of catastrophic failure in a big disaster. “It’s like a Chinese finger trap,” he told me last spring, as a hailstorm fittingly raged outside his office. If the feds do more, the public, along with state and local officials, do less. They come to expect ice and water in 24 hours and full reimbursement for sodden carpets. But as part of a federal system, FEMA is designed to defer to state and local officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
The answer is easy....”Lock and load”.
The whole article is a profile of Mr. Fugate - the new FEMA head...
Wow...
Somebody with experience, ability, and common sense in a position of authority in the Federal Government...
How did that happen??
If this article is accurate, then I have no problem giving kudos to Obama for appointing this gentleman. Sounds like a perfect man for the job.
But my spidey sense tells me that either the article is inaccurate, or there’s more to the story. Time will tell, I suppose.
” Time will tell, I suppose. “
One thing I can guarantee — if, God forbid, we have a Katrina-scale disaster, the Media will crucify him....
Sad....
FEMA was always supposed to be a helping hand when a disaster would prove too overwhelming for local authorities to handle. According to the laws, local jurisdictions are supposed to try to handle the disaster. If it’s too big, they then ask for state help. The federal option is really meant for the biggest disasters.
With Katrina, it was the locals who fell down on the job. They weren’t prepared, and the mayor of New Orleans (D) and governor of LA (D) were yowling because the feds weren’t there immediately—when that was never the job of FEMA. If only we had an honest mainstream media—so eager to find the flimsiest reason to bash President Bush, so reluctant to report facts (especially where the dems in charge didn’t do their jobs).
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