My name is Gilda Reed, and I am running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Louisiana's 1st Congressional District.
In the Washington Post, Spencer Hsu wrote that the Bush administration ignored local and state emergency officials when recently revising the National Response Plan. Behind closed doors, with Bushesque secrecy, the plan's revision was formulated. If Katrina taught us anything, it is that waiting for a centralized "response" from Homeland Security is no more than a trickle down policy leading us down the path to needless death and suffering of our people.
Why were disaster officials, who are the first responders to any tragedy, not consulted?
The sickening answer may have reared its grotesque head in the testimony before a House panel by Albert Ashwood, president of the National Emergency Management Association:
Federal officials, Ashwood said, appear to be trying to create a legalistic document to shield themselves from responsibility for future disasters and to shift blame to states. "It seems that the Katrina federal legacy is one of minimizing exposure for the next event and ensuring future focus is centered on state and local preparedness," he said.
Before Katrina, my dearly loved state was left completely exposed to unprecedented destruction because Bush had previously neutered FEMA:
The pre-Katrina plan was developed shortly after FEMA was subsumed in the huge new homeland security bureaucracy, a shift that critics later concluded had put new bureaucratic layers between responders and decision makers.
My people were left to fend for themselves, without food or water, because "Washington produced an ill-advised response plan at the end of 2004 -- an unwieldy, 427-page document that emphasized stopping terrorism at the expense of safeguarding against natural disasters."
So many examples of criminal negligence abound. As homes burned to the ground, ironically with water surrounding them, pilots trained to douse the flames were refused permission to enter the air space from neighboring states. A medical team earmarked for New Orleans had to set up in a MS shopping center near another med unit because FEMA would not clear them to enter the city. Semi-trucks loaded with life-saving water and ice were turned back because of insufficient paperwork. At one point, a communications tower was commandeered by FEMA and then re-taken by angry parish police officials who were using it and maintaining it. That was then.
This is now. The death toll and suffering continue. 200,000 left Louisiana for 5,500 cities in every state of the union. (pdf) 40% want to return. Senior citizens and despondent citizens are dying at rates much higher than pre-Katrina days. A few months ago, I attended a funeral of one of these lifelong citizens who, after 86 years of living in his beloved city, died in another state as a displaced New Orleanian, and came back home for burial. Can you imagine the feelings engendered when President Bush’s entourage, on a token visit to New Orleans, passed by us on I-10 with what appeared to be machine guns mounted on top of vehicles?
Now! An elderly mayor of a town in LA 01, is being denied promised funds for disaster clean-up. His people rallied together and cleared debris. What they could not do themselves, they hired done for a fair price by a nearby contractor with machines. Because bids were not secured, FEMA refuses to pay. With every appeal come reams of pages with more irrelevant questions to answer. This town is hurting with more demand on services from added Katrina citizenry. Nestled far from New Orleans, this town was hit hard even in the absence of flood waters.
Now! An elderly constituent called me recently after having exhausted every elected official's number she could get her hands on. She still has a hole in her roof from Katrina and no one to help her fix it. She also has stage 4 carcinoma in both lungs.
Now! A local small businessman told me of his sad experience as he tried to get his business up and running again. Before Katrina, he had good credit and he also had set aside a rainy day fund in the event of something unexpected. This was fast exhausted after Katrina, and he was refused an SBA loan because he had good credit. While he struggles to pay a higher interest bank loan, nearby businesses with bad credit and SBA loans are rewarded.
Now! Another local business owner had her insurance on her commercial building canceled despite no damage or claims. Today, she faces the tough decision of telling all her shop tenants that they must move. The heck with wind and hail insurance; she cannot even get liability insurance.
Now! Residents are struggling under inflated insurance premiums that are 350% higher than pre-Katrina even in areas that did not sustain damage.
Our National Response Plan "is supposed to guide how federal, state and local governments, along with private and nonprofit groups, work together during emergencies." And yet, Bush is providing the multi-levels of state and local governments in charge of our safety, a mere 30-day review. Is this lip service to appear that all 50 states were given ample time to make suggestions and changes?
From Albert Ashwood’s testimony (pdf) before The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:
Also, consider the National Response Plan, excuse me, the now called National Response Framework, which will be released by DHS in the near future. You will be told this is a national document, developed over many hours of collaboration between all levels of government and all disciplines. Let me be the first to say you should have a shovel nearby when you hear this. I’ve queried my colleagues at both the state and local level and realize that no one knows what information this document contains and we won’t until we read it like everyone else in this room.
The Bush administration's handling of Katrina caused a man-made disaster which may happen to your community if the secret revision of the National Response Plan is implemented. When disaster strikes, natural or terrorist, you need immediate help—not miles of procrastinating paperwork and layers of bureaucratic delay.
If Bush’s Plan is allowed to stand, our people will be taking the fall.
TAKE ACTION
We must flood our state officials in charge of our safety with emails and demand, with absolute clarity, that Bush’s scheme to revise the National Response Plan must be stopped. State and local governments must not bend to Bush’s whim to provide them only 30 days to review a plan that will needlessly leave our people in harms way.
You can follow this link to find contact information for your state:
State Offices and Agencies of Emergency Management