Sunday, February 26, 2006
Katrina: Blame, Kudos, And Missing The Obvious
When Hurricane Katrina slammed into NOLA, each and every level of Government - from Mayor Nagin to Governor Blanco all the way up to the White House - failed. Miserably. It took four days alone for a response from the Feds. Meanwhile, WalMart picked up some of the slack in a big way. While they may be an Evil Empire company, they certainly have better organizational skills than FEMA seemed to have. Within one week of Katrina obliterating the Gulf Coast, they had recovered 83% of their facilites directly affected by the storm. (Link -- via Fark)
But one thing the mainstream media always seems to miss is the part of the Katrina effort that was spearheaded by regular people. That's right, ordinary citizens sprang into action while George W. posed with a presidential gee-tar and Governor Blanco prayed. As Katrina made its way to NOLA, members of Fark scrambled, offering shelter to fellow Farkers and their families who would be affected by the storm. And the effort didn't end there.
After Katrina, a Geek Squad with ties to BoingBoing began efforts to establish a communications network inside several refugee "camps," including the Superdome. A Low Power FM network was proposed for inside the dome to broadcast news, updates, and information to people housed there. What happened? They were met with red tape put up by FEMA, who themselves were proven to have absolutely no organizational structure whatsoever. The LPFM team was told they would need so much equipment: They got it. Then they were told that they would need a temporary license from the FCC. They already had it. They were stonewalled at every turn, usually by FEMA staffers who were each as clueless as the others as to what exactly the command structure - or even basic proceedures, for that matter - was.
Yep, the Government hindered regular folks' efforts to help out with the post-Katrina mess.
People drove to the Gulf Coast in droves - some, to find family and friends; others because they simply wanted to lend a helping hand - and were met with chaos similar to the LPFM teams. A disorganized FEMA turned up the cranky yet again, and some of these folks were turned away.
Now, why in the hell would you turn away free help? Especially given the scope of the largest natural disaster in US history! And why hasn't the mainstream media covered this? Probably because FEMA and local governments didn't like the notion that the Civilian response was larger, faster, and more well-organized than their own. When regular people with little-to-no relative financing do a better job than a well-financed agency, it doesn't look good. It practically begs to give those departments a black eye. It would call their entire operation into question, and heads would of course roll big time.
Blog Prophyts wishes to recognize and commend the Civilian Katrina Effort. We're proud of all of you. Hopefully, we'll never have to deal with a disaster like Katrina ever again. But, if and when it does happen again, we know that we can count on all of you to give a repeat performance.
American People - 1, Government - 0, for those of you keeping score at home.
But one thing the mainstream media always seems to miss is the part of the Katrina effort that was spearheaded by regular people. That's right, ordinary citizens sprang into action while George W. posed with a presidential gee-tar and Governor Blanco prayed. As Katrina made its way to NOLA, members of Fark scrambled, offering shelter to fellow Farkers and their families who would be affected by the storm. And the effort didn't end there.
After Katrina, a Geek Squad with ties to BoingBoing began efforts to establish a communications network inside several refugee "camps," including the Superdome. A Low Power FM network was proposed for inside the dome to broadcast news, updates, and information to people housed there. What happened? They were met with red tape put up by FEMA, who themselves were proven to have absolutely no organizational structure whatsoever. The LPFM team was told they would need so much equipment: They got it. Then they were told that they would need a temporary license from the FCC. They already had it. They were stonewalled at every turn, usually by FEMA staffers who were each as clueless as the others as to what exactly the command structure - or even basic proceedures, for that matter - was.
Yep, the Government hindered regular folks' efforts to help out with the post-Katrina mess.
People drove to the Gulf Coast in droves - some, to find family and friends; others because they simply wanted to lend a helping hand - and were met with chaos similar to the LPFM teams. A disorganized FEMA turned up the cranky yet again, and some of these folks were turned away.
Now, why in the hell would you turn away free help? Especially given the scope of the largest natural disaster in US history! And why hasn't the mainstream media covered this? Probably because FEMA and local governments didn't like the notion that the Civilian response was larger, faster, and more well-organized than their own. When regular people with little-to-no relative financing do a better job than a well-financed agency, it doesn't look good. It practically begs to give those departments a black eye. It would call their entire operation into question, and heads would of course roll big time.
Blog Prophyts wishes to recognize and commend the Civilian Katrina Effort. We're proud of all of you. Hopefully, we'll never have to deal with a disaster like Katrina ever again. But, if and when it does happen again, we know that we can count on all of you to give a repeat performance.
American People - 1, Government - 0, for those of you keeping score at home.
