OPINION & EDITORIAL
Disaster readiness needs top priority
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Also by Jeff Carnes:
- Gay frat diversifies Greeks (May 4, 2007)
- Problems in city's environment vast (April 26, 2007)
- State budget must keep UW in mind (April 19, 2007)
- Students should take responsiblity for credit card debts (April 12, 2007)
- State must confront brain drain issue (March 29, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Wisconsin's helping hands (September 7, 2005)
- Public bickering demeans tragedy (September 13, 2005)
- Additional aid from students needed (September 19, 2005)
- Wisconsin deserves FEMA relief funds (September 29, 2005)
- Help for hurricane victims stuck in Iraq (September 15, 2005)
by Jeff Carnes
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Hurricane Katrina brought forth an outpouring of generosity. Badger football fans donated $60,000 for the relief effort at its home opener. As of Sept. 17, there have been $762.5 million pledges and donations to the American Red Cross for Katrina assistance. From inviting evacuees into their homes to volunteering at the Astrodome, Americans are showing a compassion not seen since Sept. 11.
Along with this compassion and generosity, there has been an outpouring of anger and demands to find out who is at fault for the insufficient planning for this disaster. President Bush accepted blame Sept. 13 for the federal government's failure to act effectively in leading the evacuation and the relief effort. The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agenda, Michael Brown, resigned Sept. 12 due to harsh criticism of FEMA's ineffectiveness.
Both conservatives and liberals, however, are pointing the finger of blame. The Associated Press reported that conservative websites are criticizing Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco for the lack of readiness in dealing with the impending crisis. On the other hand, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., blames the federal government for not providing the necessary support to state and local agencies.
Both sides agree, however, on one fact: the government somehow failed in planning for the evacuation and in the lack of control in the Katrina relief effort. Now both sides are making sure that the other takes the political heat for the failure.
What is actually important, though, is that our government showed the world it still cannot respond effectively to a major disaster, despite forewarnings of the hurricane. Instead of placing blame, both sides need to figure out how to respond effectively to a major disaster.
The members of the Sept. 11 Commission — both Republicans and Democrats — have voiced a unanimous opinion that the government on all levels still cannot react to a major crisis, whether hurricane or terrorist attack. Reuters reported that the Sept. 11 Commission cited serious problems with incompatible radio frequencies of local agencies (resulting in confusion on the ground), an unclear understanding of who is in charge and serious security and critical infrastructure risks. All these recommendations made well before Katrina struck have not been addressed sufficiently by the government. As a result, the evacuation effort was spotty, and many were stranded on rooftops struggling to survive instead of moved safely out of danger.
The government had ample time to obtain supplies, alert advance-relief teams and plan how to get citizens out of the hurricane's path. Government on all levels failed miserably.
What will we do if there is a terrorist attack with no warning? As John Lehman, one of the Sept. 11 commissioners, stated, "The Katrina disaster and the failure of leadership at so many levels … has had to have encouraged terrorists." Our government's inaction may have accelerated the planning for the next terrorist act instead of discouraging it. Government needs to enact the lessons learned from both Sept. 11 and Katrina before the next disaster strikes.
On a state level, Wisconsin is taking the initiative to assess and rethink reacting to a major crisis. On Sept. 15, Gov. Jim Doyle ordered the commander of the Wisconsin National Guard to evaluate how the state would respond to a disaster, including evaluating Madison's evacuation plans.
All levels of government need to take into account all types of disasters and plan accordingly. From Bascom Hall to the Capitol, we must all plan for the worst now instead of playing the blame game after the fact.
Blaming the other side may score political points and bring solace to those whom the government failed, but this should not be the top priority. The most pressing issue is helping the victims of the Gulf Coast recover and rebuild. We must then enact necessary measures to ensure that all levels of government work together in a time of crisis. Sept. 11 showed the world our vulnerabilities. Katrina should not have shown the world that we did not learn from Sept. 11. Instead of playing politics, our government must learn the lessons to truly plan ahead for the next crisis before it is too late.
Jeff Carnes (jcarnes@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in linguistics.
Anonymous (September 21, 2005 @ 9:53am):
"Instead of playing politics, our government must learn the lessons to truly plan ahead for the next crisis before it is too late."
What - no jokes about duct tape? What kind of nanny state are you looking for? Do you want some bureaucrat deciding what should go into your 3-day disaster kit, procuring it thru government channels and strapping it to your back whenever it decides there's a possible threat?
What, too much hassle to get a few bottles of water and some granola bars together? Do you want the government to wipe your bum too?
Do you think that the federal government should immediately seize power from incompetent local officials and send in troops to force march the population out of harms way? For myself, I don't think that getting the feds accustomed to using combat troops for police actions within the US is a good idea.
When Ridge suggested that people be prepared for disaster the liberals and MSM made it into a big joke because his "readiness kit" included duct tape. Too bad they didn't support the idea - it might have saved lives.
There were certainly those playing politics with disaster preparations.
http://coldfury.com/index.php/?p=5742
You know, it never occurred to any of our leftist friends in the blogosphere or the MSM, that maybe Secretary Ridge went to the trouble of preparing a readiness web site with emergency kit lists, in the public interest. It never occurred to them that it could be anything other than partisan fear mongering.
Well, shame on them. Do you think anybody might have taken Ridge's pronouncements and urging to be prepared, had his every comment not been met with mockery, allegations of political dirty tricks, and the relentless cry of "duct tape duct tape"?
Matter of fact, here's some icing on the cake. Here's a spectacularly ill-informed lefty mocking out DHS for not taking seriously it's duty to tell people to prepare for disasters. You're shitting me, right? When a cabinet secretary puts out a 12 page list of simple things to do to prep for disasters, and you spend two years mocking it as a fear mongering, politically motivated directive to buy duct tape, it seems to me you have few grounds to accuse others of having not taken the threats seriously.
