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As I was lying in my bed on Tuesday morning thinking that the city should pass an ordinance prohibiting the use of powered nail guns and hammers before 8 a.m., it struck me as to how lucky I am. Sure I was lucky that I had enough self-control not to find a gun and start having target practice on my early morning noisemakers, but that was not it. I was thinking of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina and what has transpired since the storm.
Every one of us who has a roof over our heads and didn’t have the misfortune of watching our entire life’s belongs washed away in a flood of water and debris is lucky. Every one of us who didn’t lose the grip of a loved one’s hand to see them sucked into a current of raging water, never to be seen again, is lucky. And I know how lucky I am that I will never have to look out my door and see a dead body being eaten by dogs. All of these things happened during and after Katrina unleashed its horrors on the centuries old New Orleans. All of the news coverage in the world will never accurately depict what a nightmare it was for its citizens.
Soon I realized that I was not going to get back to sleep. One, because of the irritating symphony of pounding next door and second, my mind had kicked into gear and once that happens I’m awake. The first thing I saw when I turned on the morning news was the President doing what he should have done a week ago. He was taking full blame for the abysmal response of the federal government agencies that dropped the ball in the wake of this disaster.
President Harry S. Truman had a sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here” and that is true for anybody that takes on the responsibility of the highest office in the land. You are the boss, the big cheese, and the person who makes all of the tough decisions. Unfortunately now that the dust is clearing, or should I say the water residing, it appears that our current president needs a sign on his desk that reads “The Mistakes Start Here.”
Because now, as in all government snafus, once all of the facts start surfacing the true culprits come into sight. So with the help of the Internet I went on a little fact-finding journey, for my own edification, and to get a clear view on what went wrong and why. What I found deepened my sadness for the victims and made me angry at the same time.
What I am going to try to do here is whittle down what I found. Trust me when I tell you that the amount of information coming from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and people in the Bush Administration involved with disaster relief is absolutely mind-boggling. Hopefully this will give you enough of the facts to clear things up a bit and prevent some of the misconceptions I keep hearing from continuing to circulate. If you can, jump on the Internet yourself, but be prepared to spend some time if you want to get even close to the truth.
The first fallacy that needs to be addressed is the notion that the City of New Orleans and State of Louisiana were solely responsible for the repair of and maintenance of the levees that burst and caused the majority of devastation in the lower levels of the city. That responsibility would fall into the hands of the DHS, according to Clark Kent Ervin, the former Inspector General of the DHS.
This huge department of our government was put together after 9/11 with the directive of “being prepared for the next disaster, whether the disaster was wrought by nature or terrorists.” According to Ervin when asked about Katrina, “This is what the department was supposed to be all about. Instead, it obviously raises very serious, troubling questions about whether the government would be prepared if this were a terrorist attack. It’s a devastating indictment of this department’s performance four years after 9/11.”
Bush’s former campaign manger and his first head of FEMA, Joe M. Allbaugh, was quoted as saying “Beyond terrorism, this was the one event I was most concerned with always.” So why was Mr. Allbaugh so concerned about this? Did he and the Bush Administration have prior knowledge of this problem? Well I think you know the answer to that question.
Well of course they did. As a matter of fact, in 2001, prior to 9/11, FEMA presented the President with a list of the three highest potentially devastating disasters that could hit the United States. Those three were, in order of importance: 1) A terrorist attack on American soil, possibly a New York landmark; 2) A hurricane breeching the levees in New Orleans; and 3) A major earthquake hitting California.
This fact was not lost on the local and state authorities in Louisiana who for years had been asking the federal government for federal funding to help rebuild the levees. This is not unlike what LA Mayor Villaragosa did just this last Wednesday when he went to Washington to request federal funds. It is the same sort of federal funding we have been receiving for the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro, which at this point has reached $27 million this year alone. Our funding has increased every year, probably because we are one of the busiest and biggest ports in the nation. But then again so is New Orleans.
So what happened since the warning about the levees in 2001? First of all, unlike some of our funding here in California, Louisiana’s federal funding has been cut and not by a little, by a lot. Out of the 2005 budget for the Southeast Louisiana Flood Control Project, which was set at $100 million, the Bush administration cut it to $16.5 million, not nearly enough to address the levee problem. Sure, after an uproar from members of FEMA and the State of Louisiana, that amount was increased by Congress to $34 million but it took the better part of this year, unfortunately too little too late.
As with all projects of this ilk it is always done by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE). You should also know that the Bush Administration, once we went to war in Iraq, had reduced the budget requested by ACE for the levee repairs every year for the last three years. This year alone the ACE requested budget of $27.1 million was slashed by 80% to $3.9 million; once again Congress intervened and raised the amount to $5.7 million, but again, not enough to do the repairs.
There is one other small problem. Had there been the funding, who would do the work? In this case, the money issue doesn’t really matter because the majority of ACE has gradually been pulled off of this assignment for a different one. You get three guesses where and the first two don’t count. To me this comes under the heading of take care of your own back yard first and deal with the rest of the world second.
So after all of these financial slaps in the face had been dealt to Louisiana it is understandable that the state’s Governor and the Mayor of New Orleans would be a tad testy. Especially when after three days they had residents still standing on their roofs waiting for help. And who were the guys who were supposed to be rendering that help? Why that would be who it is in every state, the National Guard. After all, that is the duty they signed up for, to help with national and local disasters. So where were they? Oh that’s right the majority are in Iraq, along with most of the helicopters that are usually used for this type of rescue operation.
And where was our illustrious leader during the greatest national disaster in American history? Why, on vacation at his ranch in Crawford Texas. I’m sure he figured things were under control in the able hands of Michael Brown, the guy he appointed as the head of FEMA. He had to look long and hard to find somebody with his qualifications. What were Mr. Brown’s qualifications for the job? He was a horse runner. Emergency preparedness I guess wasn’t on the application, but horse runner was close enough. But surely the president would get there immediately if not sooner to survey the situation. Well, four days is pretty quick I guess. When he did show up it was to tell Brown, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job!” I think he was just kidding because a week later “Brownie” was back running horses.
As far as why so many people “chose” not to evacuate New Orleans on their own, here are a couple of facts you may not be aware of. 30% of the population lives in poverty and tens of thousands of people had no transportation to get out on their own. Under normal circumstances the National Guard would have assisted them in an evacuation, but we’ve already covered that problem.
The one bright spot in this gloomy tale of woe is the unbelievable generosity of the American people. Not since 9/11 has the country come together to help a group of our fellow citizens in such a dramatic and financial way. It has been overwhelming to watch the American people fill the void left by our current administration. Please continue to give to any one of the numerous charities out there giving a helping hand, most importantly the Red Cross. They can be reached at
http://www.redcross.org
I hope this helps all of you who I’ve talked to over the last week about what happened and why. None of us had it completely right, hence my little fact-finding journey to help clear the air and get the facts straight. Hopefully when this is all over it will be a learning experience and we can come away with some valuable lessons on how to deal with natural disasters before and after the fact.
I certainly hope so. We’re next on the list.
The Shrub’s Mom Speaks (about the Evacuees in Texas): “And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them." Houston, Texas
B.D.’s Response: Oh, so that’s where he gets it from!
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