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September 02, 2005
Hurricane or Terrorism. There Is No Plan ... To Act
Hurricane Katrina, in its strike on New Orleans, has proven - convincingly - that the US is in no way prepared for a terrorist strike on its soil.
It doesn't help that our leadership - for the second time in a row, the first being on 9/11 - just isn't serious:
George W. Bush As Hurricane Katrina Arrives In New Orleans
New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina
Actually, we have a plan. Turns out FEMA ran a five-day exercise in preparation for just such a disaster (or "attack" if you prefer):
Release Date: July 23, 2004 Release number: R6-04-093BATON ROUGE, La. -- Hurricane Pam brought sustained winds of 120 mph, up to 20 inches of rain in parts of southeast Louisiana and storm surge that topped levees in the New Orleans area. More than one million residents evacuated and Hurricane Pam destroyed 500,000-600,000 buildings. Emergency officials from 50 parish, state, federal and volunteer organizations faced this scenario during a five-day exercise held this week at the State Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge.
The exercise used realistic weather and damage information developed by the National Weather Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the LSU Hurricane Center and other state and federal agencies to help officials develop joint response plans for a catastrophic hurricane in Louisiana.
"We made great progress this week in our preparedness efforts," said Ron Castleman, FEMA Regional Director. "Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management. These plans are essential for quick response to a hurricane but will also help in other emergencies."
"Hurricane planning in Louisiana will continue," said Colonel Michael L. Brown, Deputy Director for Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. "Over the next 60 days, we will polish the action plans developed during the Hurricane Pam exercise. We have also determined where to focus our efforts in the future."
So there you have it. A plan. Now, why was nothing done about it? Reminds me of the 9/11 Commission's Report: deja vu all over again.
Posted by Mark at September 2, 2005 07:01 AM
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