Who's To Blame?

[poppy]

I know this subject can create quite a stir, but I felt I would share it anyway.

In the aftermath of Katrina, we all started hearing about the "blame game". Would you like to know who is to blame?

A little background first though. My father has been prominent in the Republican Party for a long time. Today, he forwarded me an email with an attachment from the Republican Party.

First of all, I personally am neither Republican or Democrat. I do not hold any party lines and I vote for individuals based on their record and not party affiliation.

Want to know what the Republican "spin" is now? Want a hint? It's not the President and it is not Michael Chertoff, Director of Homeland Security. So who does that leave?

According to the email attachment that would leave the Mayor, the New Orleans Director of Homeland Security, the Governor, and the levees that broke were the responsibility of the local landowners and the local levee board to maintain, not the Federal Government.

[hockey man]

Ah, nice politics. Don't you love spin? I know you aren't trying to start anything, but this is a pretty sensitive subject. My view is that there are multiple people who did not make good decision. Those who turned N.O. into a "civilized" city should not have built it under sea level. Those who saw it was under sea level should have hired dutch folk to biuld an impervious leeve system. So there's "blame" for everyone-including those who decided to live under sea level!

[Jason1971]

Well I want this to be civil. This is just my humble option.

I feel that this was a failure on all levels of government. From local to state to federal.

At the state and local level, well they should have been better prepared for this. They knew that if a major hurricane was to hit New Orleans that it would have flooded. At the local level they are lucky that the Super Dome did not become a tomb. It was very poor planning.... The state should have asked for help from the feds sooner with regards to using the military and other resources.

I thought the Army corp. of engineers were, in part, responsible for the levee systems. If so does that not fall back into the federal government? I think the biggest mistake that was made at the federal level was inability to make decisions. From the president on down. I am a republican and have been all of my life, but I have to call it like I see it....

The response of the federal government was pathetic. I had mentioned in the Hurricane Katrina thread (page 1) that a very dear friend had gone down there as the storm hit. As part of a level 1 DMAT team under FEMA. Well she got back yesterday and to listening to her tell what went wrong is very sad. She feels so guilty that they did not do enough to help people down there. It took them 3 days go get a hospital set up and start seeing patients. This process should take less than 24 hours from time of the activation of the team. This is something that they have done many times in the past and are quite good at it

I am not a spokes person for DMAT these are just my personal observations. I want to go into more details but I feel like I am bad mouthing a very good team. It's was not their fault it was a poor leadership under FEMA not with their team. But I am having a hard time trying to convincing my friend of that. All she can think of is not being able to help people. Maybe this is why I feel that the federal government failed.

There is a lot to be learned from this disaster.....

To learn more about what the Oklahoma DMAT teams have done please click here (http://ok1dmat.org/photogallery.htm) . To learn about what DMAT teams do please click here (http://teams.fema.gov/dmat/about/ndms.html#dmat)

Jason

[poppy]

Jason1971, personally I feel there is enough blame to go around from the very top down to the lowest level.

I had mentioned in the Hurricane Katrina thread (page 1) that a very dear friend had gone down there as the storm hit.
Tell her that her and her team's work is very much appreciated as I have many friends who live in New Orleans and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
It took them 3 days go get a hospital set up and start seeing patients. This process should take less than 24 hours from time of the activation of the team. This is something that they have done many times in the past and are quite good at it
It is disheartening to hear these stories in the aftermath. I spent 22½ years in the medical field while serving in the Air Force. During this time I was often on a disaster team or rapid deployment team and always took pride in our response capabilities. Sitting on the outside now and looking in, let your friend know that no matter how inconsequential she feels about their contribution there were forces at work beyond their control. Their work as a team was no less important. They can be proud of what they did!

[PrntRhd]

Today the head of FEMA resigned.
They got a couple more big pumps up and running total is 41, now they think it will take 30 days or so to get the water out of New Orleans depending on whether another tropical storm comes in, as hurricane season is still active it is possible more damage can be done with the levees so weakened.

[tommy]

There obviously is much to be learned from the Katrina fiasco. I would hope that objective (i.e., non-political) analysis of the situations lead to better planning for the next disaster - whether it is flood, fire or terror related. If we don't learn then we have gained nothing.