In the aftermath of the accusations and counter-accusations regarding FEMA and Katrina, I tried to look up what happened in former disasters. I was really looking to see if FEMA really does require a formal request from the governor of the affected area, and if it has to be in the proper form. There’s nothing that helps on this – Jeb Bush evidently declared an emergency in the case of hurricane Charley in 2004, but so apparently did Louisiana in 2005.
What struck me was the congratualotory tone over how well FEMA (This same FEMA, with Brown in charge) responded to Charley in 2004, and how much better it was than the slow response to Andrew, when it took three days to get supplies in. Here’s only one article on this:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/26/fema_learned_from_hurricane_andrew_in_1992?mode=PF
It notes how supplies were poised to go in , and stressed the importancve of getting in right away, as soon as possible.
So what happened between Charley and Katrina? In an ideal world Charley would have been the test case that proved FEMA was ready to handle a problem like Katrina (which showed signs of being more serious), having improved their capabuilities since Andrew. But that’s not how it worked out.
I realize that situations are invariably different – Florida has to be more accessible that Louisiana – but the common complaint is that supplies and manpower were available but underutilized – which is exactly what Charley was supposed to demonstrate wouldn’t happen. I realize, as well, that everyone is saying that the state and city were supposed to request aid, and that the federal government couldn’t supply it until they did. But, even if true (and the governor and mayor are vehemently denying this), it conjures up an image of Brown , the President, and the commander of the Bataan sitting anxiously by their telephones, saying, “Gee, i wish they’d call, so I can halp.” This is patently absurd – surely, in a crisis like this, communcation is two-way. Surely someone at FEMA was trying to get through to available authority in Louisiana to get the rubber-stamp authority necessary to send in desperately needed aid.
So what’s the real story? And why isn’t anyone else bringing Charley up?