Homeland Security's
Ready.gov website
leaves a little to be desired, according to the
Federation of American Scientists:
Today the Federation of American Scientists launched ReallyReady.org, a comprehensive emergency preparedness website that addresses the inaccuracies and incomplete information on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) preparedness site, Ready.gov. ReallyReady was developed in two months by FAS intern Emily Hesaltine for the price of a domain name. In comparison, it took millions of dollars and over five months to create Ready.gov.
How bad is it really? Really bad. Follow me on the flip for a taste...
When you read the press release and parse the dry, unemotional language, you might be forgiven for thinking that those darn scientists are just bickering over facts again. Of course, they are; that's what scientists do. Thing is, these facts can save lives - unless they're not presented properly:
ReallyReady.org also includes clear and accurate information for families, businesses, and individuals with disabilities. It is important to note that ready.gov does not contain sufficient information for people with disabilities despite being told that they might be in violation of Federal law.
Even then, you might consider this an infraction on the scale of a parking ticket, coming from a government that's proven itself capable of far worse than not giving adequate learning materials to the disabled. But it's worse than that.
Check out this nugget:
The visual guide for nuclear attacks understates the effects of a nuclear bomb, which would have a radius of destruction of at least a mile. A graphic, shown below, depicts "you are here" next to a nuclear blast, and recommends running around the corner.
I'd laugh if I didn't know that many, many people will actually rely on this information to make life or death decisions.