Disaster Response

I’ve been following the news about Hurricane Katrina quite closely, and have noticed a large number of stories about how bureaucracy–generally people from the same offices that were created to aid in case of disaster–has been slowing down the response.

A good example of this is the CNN story Katrina medical help held up by red tape, that tells the story of a mobile hospital and medical personnel held up because they could not get permission to enter the disaster area.

Now I’m certain that the various people in the offices that have failed to find a way to allow these folks to get where they need to be have excellent reasons. They may be concerned about danger, or they may be wanting to make sure the hospital gets to the place where it’s most needed. But while they deal with those very good reasons, help is delayed.

I hope that we, as a nation, learn some important lessons from the fiasco of the response to hurricane Katrina. President Bush said that the results were not acceptable, but then he went on to praise all the people involved in producing those results. Somebody, probably many somebodies, must take the blame for the situation that resulted. If the results were not acceptable, then the system failed. When a system of this size fails, it means that people involved in it failed.

Various officials have complained that they did not anticipate that the disaster would be as bad as it was. But people prior to the event were talking about a disaster of even greater proportions! And this is a predictable disaster. No, we don’t know precisely where a hurricane will make landfall far ahead, but we do know the general area, and we do have an excellent idea before it hit. In this case, the predictions were quite accurate. The likely results could be known before it hit.

Yet our disaster response system failed.

We need to learn to think outside the box in terms of disaster preparedness and response. We are preparing for the likelihood of another terrorist attack. A terrorist attack could be more destructive, though likely in a smaller area, than Katrina. But more importantly, a successful terrorist attack would be predictable. We would not know in advance when it would happen, or where, or what the results would be. Unlike during the time that Katrina was approaching the coast, we would not be able to start prepositioning supplies.

What would our response be in that case?

Let me suggest some things that may be out of the box, but may be necessary in case of another disaster:

• Let rescue people enter the area before it’s perfectly safe.
  I know it’s standard wisdom to try not to lose rescue workers to the hazards of the disaster, but we may not have that luxury. There were and are people who are willing to risk their lives to help others. We should let them. The people in the area have no choice.
• Start moving toward the area immediately.
  In a hurricane, the supplies and rescue vehicles can follow behind the folks with the chain saws. It won’t be organized, but it will be fast. Organize the next phase, but get something started.
• Be willing to spend money on prevention.
  We should examine closely economies that were made in the budget for the New Orleans levee system. We should also look at our environmental policies. Some folks are saying that about 10 billion dollars might have been of substantial help in rebuilding the land area and wetlands in the Mississippi delta. If true, we’re definitely paying much more than that now!
• Plan for worse scenarios.
  Apparently the worst scenario that Homeland Security had for a hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast was category 3. Oops!
• Look at ourselves to see if we really do care less for the poor–the folks who couldn’t get out of New Orleans.
• Investigate thoroughly what went wrong, and implement the solutions.
  This can’t take another four or five years either. I’d be very surprised if we don’t have another natural disaster and terrorist attack both before that long. The government needs to change gears!
• Be personally prepared to act.

I’m not an expert on disaster, and I’m sure real experts could take me apart on some points, but those real experts had years to plan, and I think it is evident that they failed.

It’s up to us, the voters, to force a change!