This from the Nov. 9th issue of the Galveston, Texas, Daily News on FEMA's incompetence following the destruction of Hurricane Ike in mid-September:
The reputation for a slow and incomplete response the government got in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has only grown in Galveston.
Even high-ranking federal and state officials have heaped criticism on the agency for its missteps.
More ineptitude below the fold.
According to the article, of the 489,000 or so state residents who registered for housing assistance, only about 1 in 7 - 14 percent - have received such assistance from the federal government. One FEMA official explained "it is not the government's job to meet every need."
As far as I know, few expect the government to meet every need. However, if our country can find the money to send on pampered retreats the same inept insurance executives who have visited devastation on the entire world economy, I wonder why we can't also come up with the cash to help ordinary joes recover from the devastation of losing everything they own, including their homes, at the hands of a natural disaster.
Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson did admit FEMA had failed the residents of Galveston. Again from the article:
But federal officials also had unrealistic expectations when they arrived in Galveston.
Because of the island’s proximity to other communities with empty hotel rooms and vacant apartments, officials initially said housing would not be a problem.
They did not realize in the weeks immediately following Ike that so many of the island’s rental units were damaged.
That fundamental misunderstanding of post-storm housing options stalled the agency’s efforts to send mobile homes to the area.
Johnson acknowledged the agency dropped the ball.
“We were slower than we would like to be in providing sufficient housing units,” he said. “We have recommitted FEMA to meet the housing needs in Galveston County.”
Despite the rhetoric, the newspaper reports FEMA has sent only 50 mobile homes to the area.
The Bush administration's handling of emergency response is pathetic. It appears that in the more than three years since Katrina the GOP has yet to learn even the basic elements of governmental service.
President-elect Obama should place a high priority on fixing our nation's ability to efficiently and effectively help those who have been left homeless and penniless by natural disasters.
That's what good government's about.