The Ongoing Bureaucratic Cock-Up, Part 3
A few snippets from the 'Poor Planning' LiveJournal community today:
The pissing contest threatens to drown us all!
FEMA continues to turn away aid:
Airboaters stalled by FEMA
Daley 'shocked' at federal snub of offers to help
Other nations offer aid, sympathy - and criticism
USA thanks Russia for offer of help, says it can handle crisis.
Firefighting gear stockpile unused
LA Homeland Security *confirms* [Red Cross] kept out!
Larry King on FEMA's turning down aid
Firsthand accounts of Emergency Mismanagement:
Holiday in Hell
The Real Heroes
Three Duke Students Tell of 'Disgraceful' Scene
Briton Slams US Rescue 'Shambles'
Of course, performing any helpful work must take a back seat to the President's photo op!
But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast - black and white, rich and poor, young annd old - deserve far better from their national governmeent.
Oh, and in case you've heard that this is excusable, or understandable, because Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco didn't declare a state of emergency: she did. Two days before Katrina made landfall.
The pissing contest threatens to drown us all!
FEMA continues to turn away aid:
Airboaters stalled by FEMA
Daley 'shocked' at federal snub of offers to help
Other nations offer aid, sympathy - and criticism
USA thanks Russia for offer of help, says it can handle crisis.
Firefighting gear stockpile unused
LA Homeland Security *confirms* [Red Cross] kept out!
Larry King on FEMA's turning down aid
Firsthand accounts of Emergency Mismanagement:
Holiday in Hell
The Real Heroes
Three Duke Students Tell of 'Disgraceful' Scene
Briton Slams US Rescue 'Shambles'
Of course, performing any helpful work must take a back seat to the President's photo op!
But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast - black and white, rich and poor, young annd old - deserve far better from their national governmeent.
Oh, and in case you've heard that this is excusable, or understandable, because Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco didn't declare a state of emergency: she did. Two days before Katrina made landfall.
posted by Management at 10:05 AM
3 Comments:
People need to know about this shit. Please distribute widely.
(Posted as a public post--which people know I never *ever* do on my LJ.)
Originally posted by myself in response to this Livejournal entry:
Trust me when I say Nagin is right and ops there are a complete and utter clusterfuck.
I have been listening to streaming feeds of police/National Guard scanners and ham radio nets since the disaster (very often you get news there that isn't reported widely).
FEMA is not letting groups in that aren't on their preferred contractor list, even turning away a Florida group with *500 floatboats* that could have been used in rescue ops. They have turned away people with buses who are willing to drive them et al.
FEMA attempted to shut down the one ops center in the NOLA area where the state and local authorities were coordinating rescue efforts--a member of the National Guard got into an angry shouting match telling them that they would have to shut down rescue efforts *indefinitely* if that area was closed.
FEMA is also promoting blatantly dominionist groups (including Pat Robertson's own "Operation Blessing"--which has been used, among other things, to ferry blood diamonds out of Africa under the name of "charity shipment") over known, reputable charities like Americares and Mercy Corps.
Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice were actually shopping and attending PLAYS while it was being widely broadcasted that the levees had failed andNew Orleans was under eight feet of water.
Shrub McChimpy actually was goofing off and playing guitar badly during a press conference where people were asking about things, as if he wasn't taking this seriously at all (then again, a lot of dominionists have literally been praying that New Orleans would be smited for *years*).
Trent Lott, known dominionist, even claimed that FEMA was doing a "great job" even though his house was in one of the areas of Mississippi that got smited (yes, Mississippi got it WORSE than New Orleans did) and there are entire *counties* in Mississippi who have asked for assistance for the past six days from FEMA and heard *NOTHING* above the county level regarding mutual aid or assistance.
Ham radio operators are *still* the main method of communication between stricken areas (even more so than the National Guard nets).
We won't go into how conditions have been allowed to deteriorate in both the Superdome and Convention Center to the point mass deaths and rapes are occuring. In the Convention Center, which (according to local NOLA media) has damn near turned to Thunderdome, there was a member of Spain's Parliament who was trapped on the second floor for *five days* and the US government claimed they were unaware of this till *yesterday*.
People who were Bush supporters even through the clusterfuck of Eternal War are now wondering what sort of crack the government is smoking and wondering why they ever voted for the son of a bitch. :P
Anyways, it's rare that I actively pimp anything online. I'm going to pimp something here, namely, a list of good and bad charities to donate to for NOLA relief (sorted on "good guys" who pretty much give aid to anyone with no strings attached, and "bad guys" who actively support dominionism)
Here's the links:
http://nola-biglist.blogspot.com/
http://www.livejournal.com/community/dark_christian/245640.html (original)
I encourage you to mirror this widely and support the "good guys" on the list.
I also will be operating a new Livejournal community, [info]hurricane_fema, and will mirror both this post and the Big List to that community.
As noted, some press is reporting on this:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-caneboats0205sep02,0,4766048.story (on the caneboaters blocked by FEMA bureaucracy)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-mcanejim0205sep02,0,6532046.story (on general chaos with rescue efforts)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-katrina-hospitals-hk4,0,1849193.story
(on general chaos with rescue efforts with hospitals)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/chi-050902daley,0,7648200.story (on FEMA refusal of aid by the city of Chicago)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/la-me-littlesaigon3sep03,0,6493095.story (on concern for Vietnamese relatives)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.storm03sep03,0,215324.story
(on other countries offering aid and generally being spurned)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/chi-0509030218sep03,0,3308899.story
(on race being a possible issue with delivery of aid)
Multiple threads on fark.com detail the scanner traffic and the confusion thereof:
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1648778
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1649156
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1649139
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1649227
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1649711
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1649832
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1650126
http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1650403
A large number of scanner feeds and general info on scanner traffic is available at http://www.radioreference.com/wiki/index.php/Hurricane_Katrina
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=914&mode=&order=0&thold=0 details the communication problems occuring. (As it is, we are rather lucky that New Orleans' main radio station went down or we'd be unable to hear them at all. New Orleans used an EDACS ProVoice trunked system, which is a closed, closed-source digital trunked system; most places that use digital trunking use an open standard called APCO-25 that generally *is* receivable on scanners (albeit expensive ones). The NPSPAC channels are open and conventional.)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/alobar/1280191.html actually has a report on how people are being held back from rescue. (Further news on Alobar on his LJ, http://www.livejournal.com/users/alobar/)
http://www.horsesass.org/ also details this (and this ties into the following, below).
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/2/34622/68348 tells about how FEMA's director literally ran an Arabian horse registry into the ground to the point its owners had to eventually merge it with another Arabian registry (after having fired Brown). Other links here:
http://www.bridleandbit.com/story048.htm
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:64HpVqsWBccJ:www.awhitehorse.com/editorials/brown_resignation.html+IAHA+%22mike+brown%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a
http://www.nharab.org/november.htm#Letter
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=100857&format=text
(Did I mention they actually ended up *suing* Mike Brown thanks to his incompetence?)
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054151 details the reaction from the conservative press (even known dominionist asskisser rags like the Washington Times are flaming Bush over this)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/01/AR2005090101482.html posts on the senator who stated New Orleans should be abandoned and not rebuilt.
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=100937&format=text notes how people are dying thanks to the delay in getting aid and FEMA blocking aid.
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=100931&format=text also details this info.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html also details some of the general clusterfuckage.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=4900 notes how even the governor (whom, no offense, has also been less than helpful) is even now protesting the slowness of aid.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/30/katrina.lott/ notes how Lott's house got smited. http://www.livejournal.com/users/alobar/1281619.html#cutid1 shows the general reaction of the president to aforementioned smitagel
Further commentary here: http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/09/we-told-you-so.html
The sick thing is there WAS an emergency plan (that apparently got blown to hell): http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/newsrelated/incaseofemrgencyexercise.htm
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=2368706&PageNum=0 is news from Russia on how we've turned them down; according to Alobar's Livejournal (http://www.livejournal.com/users/alobar/1281401.html) the Canadians are sneaking over anyways.
http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=307287&lng=1&PHPSESSID=f0052ebd9afa331be41a7ba71e88416a details more on the mounting criticism over lack of help.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/opinion/01thu1.html flambes Shrub's general handling of the situation as does http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/national/nationalspecial/03assess.html and http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/03/opinion/03dowd.html
Other notes:
http://www.pacificviews.org/weblog/archives/001454.html
Contrary to presidential spin, the pissing contest in Iraq *is* hurting emergency preparedness: http://rempost.blogspot.com/2005/09/background-articles-on-iraq-war-new.html
More on FEMA's territorial pissing (and preventing aid from coming in from anywhere but their preferred contractors):
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/012104.html
Canadian press is reporting: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=aa7eaee1-ddaf-4784-846e-ec814c6b3649
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=97eeb058-920d-4d53-bf14-dc1d06e8ed65
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102257.html writes on concerns re preparedness.
More on the lack of response:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054581
Even CNN has reported on the general fuckups in disaster aid:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/03/katrina.unusedgear/index.html
The quote where Trent Lott thinks things are going swimmingly:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/trent-lott-thinks-bush-is-doing-dandy.html
International press has taken note:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article309938.ece
Apparently, despite the pissing match going on with FEMA doing the moral equivalent of waving its cock about, they STILL can't manage to keep enough security to keep from having FEMA uniforms stolen: http://www.wdsu.com/news/4932913/detail.html
And the criticism has started among the dominionist-friendly *themselves* (one wonders how much further this is going to get Frist on the shitlist of dominionists in general): http://www.wdsu.com/news/4933030/detail.html
As I noted, sadly, dominionists (aka "Avengelicals", aka the lovely asshats who want to turn the US into a theocracy) already are claiming New Orleans "deserved it":
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/9/22005b.asp (mirrored at http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/lead-religious-right-group-promotes.html should the original link be removed)
http://www.godhatesfags.com/featured/20050831_thank-god-for-katrina.html
http://www.repentamerica.com/pr_hurricanekatrina.html (mirrored at http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_9292.shtml in case the first link dies)
http://spudv.bravejournal.com/
http://www.christianlifeandliberty.net/ (reported on at http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html?blog=/politics/war_room/2005/08/30/hurricane/index.html (requires day pass) in case original link dies)
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=52375 (reported on at http://talk2action.blogspot.com/2005/09/antiabortion-militants-outraged.html should original link die)
(Oh, and yes, it's folks like that that not only are steering political policy but also directing policy in regards to Katrina relief in general: see http://www.livejournal.com/community/dark_christian/247009.html REMEMBER THIS IN 2006 AND 2008.)
EDIT:
Further links as follows:
Thanks much to all of you who have mirrored so far.
Oh, the clusterfuckage goes even deeper, as it turns out:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007042.php
It turns out that the feeding station photo op that Shrub McChimpy did in Missouri and LA...was *STAGED*, and they *TORE THE EMERGENCY FEEDING STATION DOWN AFTER HE LEFT*.
Larry King confirms the refusal of aid by agencies: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/02/lkl.01.html
Further confirmation that blocking of aid is FEMA's doing:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/02454/07418 (Also reported on in http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002485.html and presumably in the original German media as well)
It turns out they also faked attempts at levee repairs for the same photo op: http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/bush-faked-levee-repair-for-photo-op.html
More info on the general clusterfuckage:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/171718/0826
Contrary to FEMA and the government's claims, here's documentation Louisiana's government asked for help as early as *AUGUST 28th*: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/2/22509/76629
The president took his sweet fuckin' time giving the orders to give in as is: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/115611/4051 (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4605183 also reports on this)
Condi Rice goes shopping whilst New Orleans drowns:
http://www.gawker.com/news/condoleezza-rice/index.php#breaking-condi-rice-spends-salary-on-shoes-123467
The article detailing how Shrub McChimpy was fucking around whilst New Orleans drowns:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/31/1442/53877
Info on how the government claimed it didn't know about the mess in the convention center (where a goodly number of people have *DIED* due to lack of water and food): http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/01/pzn.01.html
Per the Department of Homeland Insecurity's own website, yes, it IS their own fault:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/3/134955/1356
A federal investigation may begin on this lovely series of fuckups: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/2/192916/4102 (One hopes sincerely that the present administration doesn't do what it's tended to do--either ignore the people responsible, or outright sack the people responsible and replace them with dominionists)
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/ gives LOTS of info as to how Michael Brown was (to put it mildly) amazingly unqualified for the job of being director of the agency that is supposed to be managing emergency management functions (including in the event of terrorist attack or nuclear war) for the entire country...
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/ asks how DHS could *not* have expected the levees to break in New Orleans (especially since quite literally *every* science magazine and television network has had a disaster special to the theme of "New Orleans Is Fucked Without Lube If It Gets Hit With Much More Than A Tropical Storm", and New Orleans' city government literally begged FEMA over a year ago for increased funding for levee shoreups; dear gods, my *mother in law* is not exactly a civil engineer, weather geek or emergency management geek and SHE still knew that New Orleans could flood if hit with a Cat4/Cat5 hurricane due to the levees failing)
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/09/omg-theyve-locked-everyone-in.html discusses how it is being reported that people are being locked in the Convention Center of Death and not being allowed to leave (on literal pain of being shot). (There is also video in multiple formats of this at http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/09/02.html#a4763 for perusal. Folks not using MacOS or Windows should be able to play it using Video Lan Player (do a search on Google).) (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/3/25746/97675 also reports on this.)
This is getting pretty goddamn vomitous at this point :P
Found a pic (including commentary on how aforementioned photo op delayed rescue efforts for upwards of twelve hours--yes, folks, Shrub may have caused people to DIE for the cameras):
http://mathewgross.com/community/node/331
Reportedly the photo op was played on WDSU-TV:
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2005/09/bush_caught_on.asp
More on what is actually going on (including photos at the airport where even Bill Frist admits "more than 8, 10" people are dying *daily*):
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16488142-23109,00.html
Further pointing up that they are going through preferred contractors only, it seems that rescue ops were privatised in 2004:
http://www.ieminc.com/Whats_New/Press_Releases/pressrelease052604_Manscen.htm
(from one of the companies that got the contracts)
In Governor Landreau's statement, it's also revealed that the US Forest Service offered to put out fires in New Orleans but FEMA (again waving its dick about) said no:
http://www.newschannel6.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=8695
Oh, and no less than the "Army Times" quite literally sees NOLA's citizens as The Enemy:
http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/03/alcajun_army_times_c.html
The original German article has a link to both images and text re the faked food kitchen (in German, of course):
http://www.heute.de/ZDFheute/inhalt/23/0,3672,2370967,00.html
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heute.de%2FZDFheute%2Finhalt%2F23%2F0%2C3672%2C2370967%2C00.html&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&c2coff=1&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools (Google-translated; those of you whom speak German, please feel free to comment here with full translation)
The Google-translated text of interest is as follows:
Clearing work only for Bush?
Where the US president visited the disaster area, auxiliary troops cleared up before properly - however only there. From Biloxi quoted Second Channel of German Television correspondent Claudia Rueggeberg desperate inhabitants, Bush is to bring auxiliary goods here in his sedans instead of loud Bodyguards and assistant dear.
Along its route clearing troops would have cleared before Bushs attendance debris and would have saved corpses. Then Bush left again "and with it", so Rueggeberg, "the whole auxiliary troops". At the situation in Biloxi otherwise nothing changed, it is missing at everything.
And again, more noises about possible Congressional investigation:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050903/ap_on_re_us/katrina_national_guard
Oh, as it turns out, the two women hugged in the photo op aren't from Biloxi at *all*:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4600320
Transcript of the photo op:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/02/asb.01.html
Official Press Release Regarding the Letter from Governor Blanco To President Bush Dated 8/27/2005:
Date: 8/27/2005
Contact:Denise Bottcher or Roderick Hawkins at 225-342-9037
Governor Blanco asks President to Declare an Emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina
BATON ROUGE—Today Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco forwarded a letter to President Bush requesting that he declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. The full text of the letter follows:
August 27, 2005
The President
The White House
Washington, D. C.
Through:
Regional Director
FEMA Region VI
800 North Loop 288
Denton, Texas 76209
Dear Mr. President:
Under the provisions of Section 501 (a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5121-5206 (Stafford Act), and implemented by 44 CFR § 206.35, I request that you declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina for the time period beginning August 26, 2005, and continuing. The affected areas are all the southeastern parishes including the New Orleans Metropolitan area and the mid state Interstate I-49 corridor and northern parishes along the I-20 corridor that are accepting the thousands of citizens evacuating from the areas expecting to be flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
In response to the situation I have taken appropriate action under State law and directed the execution of the State Emergency Plan on August 26, 2005 in accordance with Section 501 (a) of the Stafford Act. A State of Emergency has been issued for the State in order to support the evacuations of the coastal areas in accordance with our State Evacuation Plan and the remainder of the state to support the State Special Needs and Sheltering Plan.
Pursuant to 44 CFR § 206.35, I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster. I am specifically requesting emergency protective measures, direct Federal Assistance, Individual and Household Program (IHP) assistance, Special Needs Program assistance, and debris removal.
Preliminary estimates of the types and amount of emergency assistance needed under the Stafford Act, and emergency assistance from certain Federal agencies under other statutory authorities are tabulated in Enclosure A.
The following information is furnished on the nature and amount of State and local resources that have been or will be used to alleviate the conditions of this emergency:
• Department of Social Services (DSS): Opening (3) Special Need Shelters (SNS) and establishing (3) on Standby.
• Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH): Opening (3) Shelters and establishing (3) on Standby.
• Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP): Providing generators and support staff for SNS and Public Shelters.
• Louisiana State Police (LSP): Providing support for the phased evacuation of the coastal areas.
• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (WLF): Supporting the evacuation of the affected population and preparing for Search and Rescue Missions.
Mr. President
Page Two
August 27, 2005
• Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD): Coordinating traffic flow and management of the evacuations routes with local officials and the State of Mississippi.
The following information is furnished on efforts and resources of other Federal agencies, which have been or will be used in responding to this incident:
• FEMA ERT-A Team en-route.
I certify that for this emergency, the State and local governments will assume all applicable non-Federal share of costs required by the Stafford Act.
I request Direct Federal assistance for work and services to save lives and protect property.
(a) List any reasons State and local government cannot perform or contract for performance, (if applicable).
(b) Specify the type of assistance requested.
In accordance with 44 CFR § 206.208, the State of Louisiana agrees that it will, with respect to Direct Federal assistance:
1. Provide without cost to the United States all lands, easement, and rights-of-ways necessary to accomplish the approved work.
2. Hold and save the United States free from damages due to the requested work, and shall indemnify the Federal Government against any claims arising from such work;
3. Provide reimbursement to FEMA for the non-Federal share of the cost of such work in accordance with the provisions of the FEMA-State Agreement; and
4. Assist the performing Federal agency in all support and local jurisdictional matters.
In addition, I anticipate the need for debris removal, which poses an immediate threat to lives, public health, and safety.
Pursuant to Sections 502 and 407 of the Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 5192 & 5173, the State agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the United States of America for any claims arising from the removal of debris or wreckage for this disaster. The State agrees that debris removal from public and private property will not occur until the landowner signs an unconditional authorization for the removal of debris.
I have designated Mr. Art Jones as the State Coordinating Officer for this request. He will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in damage assessments and may provide further information or justification on my behalf.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
Governor
Enclosure
ENCLOSURE A TO EMERGENCY REQUEST
Estimated requirements for other Federal agency programs:
• Department of Social Services (DSS): Opening (3) Special Need Shelters (SNS) and establishing (3) on Standby. Costs estimated at $500,000 per week for each in operation.
• Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH): Opening (3) Shelters and establishing (3) on Standby. Costs estimated at $500,000 per week for each in operation.
• Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (OHSEP): Providing generators and support staff for SNS and Public Shelters. Costs estimated to range from $250,000-$500,000 to support (6) Shelter generator operations.
• Louisiana State Police (LSP): Costs to support evacuations - $300,000 for a non-direct landfall.
• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (WLF): Costs to support evacuations - $200,000 for a non-direct landfall.
• Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD): Costs to support evacuations - $2,000,000 for a non-direct landfall.
Totals: $ 9,000,000
Estimated Requirements for assistance under the Stafford Act:
Coordination: $0
Technical and advisory assistance: $0
Debris removal: $0
Emergency protective measures: $ 9,000,000
Individuals and Households Program (IHP): $0
Distribution of emergency supplies: $0
Other (specify): $0
Totals: $ 9,000,000
Grand Total: $ 9,000,000
Well, the President was busy, doing something in Crawford, no doubt, but he's apparently not the inattentive slug that many believe him to be, as his response to Governor Blanco's request was prompt and affirmative. He declared a state of emergency in Louisiana that very same day, and even made the state of emergency retroactive to August 26th! Good work, George! The statement released by the White House Press Office said in part:
"The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn."
The entire press release is on line at the White House web site.
White House Press Release Regarding Presidential Declaration of a State of Emergency in Louisiana, Dated August 27th:
Statement on Federal Emergency Assistance for Louisiana
The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.
The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn.
Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.
Representing FEMA, Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Department of Homeland Security, named William Lokey as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-4600.
Now, it may be noted that the White House press release specifically mentions several parishes in southern Louisiana, but that New Orleans Parish and several of its neighboring parishes are not mentioned. An oversight, perhaps? Governor Blanco must have noticed these omissions, because on August 28th, she sent another letter to President Bush, available as a PDF file here, repeating the earlier request, and specifically mentioning Orleans Parish and its neighbors as being among the areas most likely to suffer extreme damage from the hurricane. As even the President now knows, she was right about that.
I have been unable to find a Presidential response to this second letter. But by August 28th, the President may have been much busier than he had been earlier in his vacation. After all, he had golf to play, John McCain's birthday party to attend, and an important public appearance complete with photo-op scheduled in San Diego. Who have they been saying dithered?
But these official press releases speak clearly about the order and timing of events in those days when Katrina was bearing down on the gulf coast, and there was still time to do something. Now, the Bush administration and its admirers and dependents, such as the ballerina boys Limbaugh and Hannity and O'Reilly, and Faux News, and the Blagues for Bush, are whirling madly, dismissing it away. They ought to be careful, spinning about like that. The facts might trip them and send them spinning into their political graves.
Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses'
Transcript of radio interview with New Orleans' Nagin
Friday, September 2, 2005 Posted: 1859 GMT (0259 HKT)
(CNN) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin blasted the slow pace of federal and state relief efforts in an expletive-laced interview with local radio station WWL-AM.
The following is a transcript of WWL correspondent Garland Robinette's interview with Nagin on Thursday night. Robinette asked the mayor about his conversation with President Bush:
NAGIN: I told him we had an incredible crisis here and that his flying over in Air Force One does not do it justice. And that I have been all around this city, and I am very frustrated because we are not able to marshal resources and we're outmanned in just about every respect. (Listen to the mayor express his frustration in this video -- 12:09)
You know the reason why the looters got out of control? Because we had most of our resources saving people, thousands of people that were stuck in attics, man, old ladies. ... You pull off the doggone ventilator vent and you look down there and they're standing in there in water up to their freaking necks.
And they don't have a clue what's going on down here. They flew down here one time two days after the doggone event was over with TV cameras, AP reporters, all kind of goddamn -- excuse my French everybody in America, but I am pissed.
WWL: Did you say to the president of the United States, "I need the military in here"?
NAGIN: I said, "I need everything."
Now, I will tell you this -- and I give the president some credit on this -- he sent one John Wayne dude down here that can get some stuff done, and his name is [Lt.] Gen. [Russel] Honore.
And he came off the doggone chopper, and he started cussing and people started moving. And he's getting some stuff done.
They ought to give that guy -- if they don't want to give it to me, give him full authority to get the job done, and we can save some people.
WWL: What do you need right now to get control of this situation?
NAGIN: I need reinforcements, I need troops, man. I need 500 buses, man. We ain't talking about -- you know, one of the briefings we had, they were talking about getting public school bus drivers to come down here and bus people out here.
I'm like, "You got to be kidding me. This is a national disaster. Get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans."
That's -- they're thinking small, man. And this is a major, major, major deal. And I can't emphasize it enough, man. This is crazy.
I've got 15,000 to 20,000 people over at the convention center. It's bursting at the seams. The poor people in Plaquemines Parish. ... We don't have anything, and we're sharing with our brothers in Plaquemines Parish.
It's awful down here, man.
WWL: Do you believe that the president is seeing this, holding a news conference on it but can't do anything until [Louisiana Gov.] Kathleen Blanco requested him to do it? And do you know whether or not she has made that request?
NAGIN: I have no idea what they're doing. But I will tell you this: You know, God is looking down on all this, and if they are not doing everything in their power to save people, they are going to pay the price. Because every day that we delay, people are dying and they're dying by the hundreds, I'm willing to bet you.
We're getting reports and calls that are breaking my heart, from people saying, "I've been in my attic. I can't take it anymore. The water is up to my neck. I don't think I can hold out." And that's happening as we speak.
You know what really upsets me, Garland? We told everybody the importance of the 17th Street Canal issue. We said, "Please, please take care of this. We don't care what you do. Figure it out."
WWL: Who'd you say that to?
NAGIN: Everybody: the governor, Homeland Security, FEMA. You name it, we said it.
And they allowed that pumping station next to Pumping Station 6 to go under water. Our sewage and water board people ... stayed there and endangered their lives.
And what happened when that pumping station went down, the water started flowing again in the city, and it starting getting to levels that probably killed more people.
In addition to that, we had water flowing through the pipes in the city. That's a power station over there.
So there's no water flowing anywhere on the east bank of Orleans Parish. So our critical water supply was destroyed because of lack of action.
WWL: Why couldn't they drop the 3,000-pound sandbags or the containers that they were talking about earlier? Was it an engineering feat that just couldn't be done?
NAGIN: They said it was some pulleys that they had to manufacture. But, you know, in a state of emergency, man, you are creative, you figure out ways to get stuff done.
Then they told me that they went overnight, and they built 17 concrete structures and they had the pulleys on them and they were going to drop them.
I flew over that thing yesterday, and it's in the same shape that it was after the storm hit. There is nothing happening. And they're feeding the public a line of bull and they're spinning, and people are dying down here.
WWL: If some of the public called and they're right, that there's a law that the president, that the federal government can't do anything without local or state requests, would you request martial law?
NAGIN: I've already called for martial law in the city of New Orleans. We did that a few days ago.
WWL: Did the governor do that, too?
NAGIN: I don't know. I don't think so.
But we called for martial law when we realized that the looting was getting out of control. And we redirected all of our police officers back to patrolling the streets. They were dead-tired from saving people, but they worked all night because we thought this thing was going to blow wide open last night. And so we redirected all of our resources, and we hold it under check.
I'm not sure if we can do that another night with the current resources.
And I am telling you right now: They're showing all these reports of people looting and doing all that weird stuff, and they are doing that, but people are desperate and they're trying to find food and water, the majority of them.
Now you got some knuckleheads out there, and they are taking advantage of this lawless -- this situation where, you know, we can't really control it, and they're doing some awful, awful things. But that's a small majority of the people. Most people are looking to try and survive.
And one of the things people -- nobody's talked about this. Drugs flowed in and out of New Orleans and the surrounding metropolitan area so freely it was scary to me, and that's why we were having the escalation in murders. People don't want to talk about this, but I'm going to talk about it.
You have drug addicts that are now walking around this city looking for a fix, and that's the reason why they were breaking in hospitals and drugstores. They're looking for something to take the edge off of their jones, if you will.
And right now, they don't have anything to take the edge off. And they've probably found guns. So what you're seeing is drug-starving crazy addicts, drug addicts, that are wrecking havoc. And we don't have the manpower to adequately deal with it. We can only target certain sections of the city and form a perimeter around them and hope to God that we're not overrun.
WWL: Well, you and I must be in the minority. Because apparently there's a section of our citizenry out there that thinks because of a law that says the federal government can't come in unless requested by the proper people, that everything that's going on to this point has been done as good as it can possibly be.
NAGIN: Really?
WWL: I know you don't feel that way.
NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?
You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there? What is more important?
And I'll tell you, man, I'm probably going get in a whole bunch of trouble. I'm probably going to get in so much trouble it ain't even funny. You probably won't even want to deal with me after this interview is over.
WWL: You and I will be in the funny place together.
NAGIN: But we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.
Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.
You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.
And I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.
WWL: What can we do here?
NAGIN: Keep talking about it.
WWL: We'll do that. What else can we do?
NAGIN: Organize people to write letters and make calls to their congressmen, to the president, to the governor. Flood their doggone offices with requests to do something. This is ridiculous.
I don't want to see anybody do anymore goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city. And then come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops that we can't even count.
Don't tell me 40,000 people are coming here. They're not here. It's too doggone late. Now get off your asses and do something, and let's fix the biggest goddamn crisis in the history of this country.
WWL: I'll say it right now, you're the only politician that's called and called for arms like this. And if -- whatever it takes, the governor, president -- whatever law precedent it takes, whatever it takes, I bet that the people listening to you are on your side.
NAGIN: Well, I hope so, Garland. I am just -- I'm at the point now where it don't matter. People are dying. They don't have homes. They don't have jobs. The city of New Orleans will never be the same in this time.
WWL: We're both pretty speechless here.
NAGIN: Yeah, I don't know what to say. I got to go.
WWL: OK. Keep in touch. Keep in touch.
Post a Comment
<< Home