america is so pathetic
The Department of Homeland Security has some 170,000 employees and last year had a budget of $40.2 billion. It seems to me that part of what they were supposed to be doing was preparing for managing and avoiding disasters. Am I just confused? Even without them, New Orleans was a terrible fiasco. And the evacuation of Houston was a joke. What the hell are they doing with all that money? (and people and resources).
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has just introduced legislation that would require states to prepare evacuation plans that consider our most “vulnerable members” http://obama.senate.gov/press/050912-obama_says_disaster_evacuation_plans_must_account_for_societys_most_vulnerable/
In a letter to Michael Chertoff he says, “[o]ne of the most striking aspects of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is that the majority of stranded victims were our society's most vulnerable members - low-income families, the elderly, the homeless, the disabled, or non-English speaking individuals.” If it is striking doesn’t that have to mean it was surprising or unexpected? Were they really expected these people to grow wings and fly away? It wasn’t striking. It was obvious to anyone who cared.
It took people in Houston 12-24 hours to get out of the city. It wasn’t even all of them. Nor was it a high panic situation. Whatever evacuation plans there might have been (which I doubt there were any) didn’t work. If there were plans or they now actually realize they should have one I will just about guarantee it won’t work. The plans are probably being developed by engineers and so they will work just fine as long as every person and car on the road behaves as it should. Which of course can never happen. Plus, how hard would it be to crater a road or to tip a semi across all 4 lanes of a highway? A twelve year-old could think of that idea and probably implement it. But, watch it happen and the government will say, “hmm…we never could have foreseen something like that.”
Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) has just introduced legislation that would require states to prepare evacuation plans that consider our most “vulnerable members” http://obama.senate.gov/press/050912-obama_says_disaster_evacuation_plans_must_account_for_societys_most_vulnerable/
In a letter to Michael Chertoff he says, “[o]ne of the most striking aspects of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina is that the majority of stranded victims were our society's most vulnerable members - low-income families, the elderly, the homeless, the disabled, or non-English speaking individuals.” If it is striking doesn’t that have to mean it was surprising or unexpected? Were they really expected these people to grow wings and fly away? It wasn’t striking. It was obvious to anyone who cared.
It took people in Houston 12-24 hours to get out of the city. It wasn’t even all of them. Nor was it a high panic situation. Whatever evacuation plans there might have been (which I doubt there were any) didn’t work. If there were plans or they now actually realize they should have one I will just about guarantee it won’t work. The plans are probably being developed by engineers and so they will work just fine as long as every person and car on the road behaves as it should. Which of course can never happen. Plus, how hard would it be to crater a road or to tip a semi across all 4 lanes of a highway? A twelve year-old could think of that idea and probably implement it. But, watch it happen and the government will say, “hmm…we never could have foreseen something like that.”