Things that did go right….
With the heap of criticism that’s being leveled at FEMA right now, I think it’s important to point out that some things did go right.
Some examples from the public daily FEMA national situation report:
8/27:
State and Federal Preparedness for Hurricane KatrinaFEMA Headquarters:
The FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) remains at modified Level II operations with Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) 1 (with an Air Operations Element), 3, 4, 5, 7, 15, and a Military Liaison.
On Saturday, the NRCC will transition to a 24-hour Level I on Saturday, August 27 at 07:00 a.m. EDT. ESFs 2, 6, 8, 9, 10-15 and the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) are being activated.
FEMA Headquarters is conducting daily video-teleconferences with FEMA Region IV, the National Hurricane Center, Florida, and other potentially affected States.
FEMA Region IV:
The Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC) remains at Level II operations. In addition to ESFs 1, 3, 4, 7, 14, 15 and the Department of Defense (DOD), ESF 6 has been activated. ESFs 2, 8, 9, 11, 12 and Rapid Needs Assessment are being activated.
RRCC Level I will be established on Saturday, August 27 at 12 p.m. EDT. Beginning Sunday, August 28 the RRCC will go to 24-hour operations.
An Emergency Response Team-Advance Element (ERT-A) from Region IX has been activated and will arrive to pre-stage in the RRCC on Saturday.
8/28:
Federal Actions:The FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) Red Team is activated at Level I (Full Activation).
FEMA headquarters is conducting daily video-teleconferences at noon EDT with FEMA Region IV, the National Hurricane Center and the potentially affected States.
The FEMA ERT-N (Blue) team was activated and deployed to Baton Rouge, LA at noon August 27.
FEMA Region IV: The RRCC in Atlanta activated at Level I (full activation).
FEMA Region VI: The RRCC in Denton, TX activated at Level I (full activation).
8/29:
FEMA Headquarters: The FEMA National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) Red Team is activated at Level I (Full Activation).FEMA headquarters is conducting daily video-teleconferences at noon EDT with FEMA Region IV, the National Hurricane Center and the potentially affected States.
The Logistics Readiness Center is operational 24/7.
MERS Teams have been deployed to Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and Texas to support Hurricane Katrina response operations.
32 Disaster Medical Assistance Teams have been sent to staging areas in Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee in preparation for responding to Hurricane Katrina.
Seven Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces have been deployed to Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi in preparation for responding to Hurricane Katrina.
The ERT-N Blue is deployed to the Louisiana State Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rogue.
FEMA Region IV RRCC in Atlanta activated at Level I (full activation).
Four ERT-As are operational in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.
FEMA Region VI RRCC in Denton, TX activated at Level I (full activation).
It will be interesting down the road a bit to read the after-action reports and see what actually did happen - versus what is being sensationalized right now by the press and others. The failures of many will be clear and in the black and white… but so will the successes of many.
September 9th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
I have to say, this doesn’t tell me much…I’m not sure what Level I activation is as compared to Level II activation, for example. Or when ‘activated’ becomes ‘deployed’. Some explanation would be helpful. I can tell, though, from reading this, that it looks like no one was ’sent’ anywhere until the 28th, some communications and logistics people (MERS teams) were sent to various areas.
Where were the national guard driving buses to evacuate people who couldn’t get out otherwise — before the tragedy? Plenty of elderly, ill (physically and mentally), and otherwise stuck-in folks just didn’t have the means to get out. But FEMA folks were in ’staging areas’, and they were activating NRCC ‘red teams’ and ‘blue teams’ — folks trained to combat terrorism — “[Red teams are] experts in technology and operations related to terrorism who could identify likely threats and their consequences.” While the Blue Team “considers the responses that could be applied to a terrorist action identified by the Red Team, and helps provide a more realistic threat assessment.”
Why did we send terrorism experts to examine aspects of a natural disaster — from afar — when we needed bus drivers? No, honestly. I’m askin’.
September 9th, 2005 at 7:16 pm
My answer to your national guard question is to ask the Governor of Louisiana - not FEMA or the President that question. The Guard works for her and has not been federalized.
I’ll post a more detailed answer yet…
– Bryan
September 9th, 2005 at 7:17 pm
I mean later
September 10th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
So the guys from Louisiana who are in the National Guard stationed in Iraq take orders from the governor of Louisiana?
It’s my understanding that, when the Governor declared a state of emergency and the President approved it, the feds were in charge. Is this not the case?
September 10th, 2005 at 6:27 pm
Getting technical on me?
The guard units in Iraq were federalized and work for the President.
The guard units in Louisiana and the other states were not federalized and work for their respective governors. Had they been federalized, they could not have been used for law enforcement duties.
With that in mind, if you want to know why the other 6,000+ members of the Louisiana guard weren’t driving school buses, etc.. I suggest you look at the only person that could have them do so.. and that’s the Governor of Louisiana.
Bryan
September 10th, 2005 at 8:24 pm
That makes little sense to me. So, are the National Guard soldiers from Rhode Island who have been sent to Louisiana working for Don Carcieri? And the Florida ones, they’re working for Jeb?
There was a mandatory evacuation. If someone refuses to go, that leads to civil unrest, and the guard can take care of that. It’s not law enforcement. And since when are bus drivers ‘law enforcement’ anyway?
Also, when Gov. Blanco asked for help, both organizational help and manpower, it didn’t have to be the National Guard. In fact, one would think, if she was asking for help, the assets she had weren’t sufficient. So, I suppose I could rephrase my question and ask why FEMA didn’t snag a posse of active duty bus drivers. See, Blanco could have sent bus drivers in, but she DIDN’T HAVE ANY. Half the New Orleans cops took off. That’s not her fault. She asked for live bodies because she needed help, and she didn’t get them. Think Jeb would have gotten them if this had happened in Miami? Mmmhmmm.
September 10th, 2005 at 8:34 pm
No, Guard Units in Louisiana are under the command of the Louisiana Adjutant General.
See: http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050907-3864.html
The military considers forced evacuation a law enforcement function and thus active duty troops can’t be used.
Oh, so now it’s because it was Louisiana and not Florida that the people didn’t get there fast enough?
Bryan