Public Accountability Requires Citizen Action (disasteraccountability.org)
Hurricane Katrina is thought to have killed around 1,800 people, but it was not nearly the most deadly hurricane in terms of U.S. casualties. That “honor” belongs to the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which wiped out the city and killed an estimated 6-8,000 people.
The storm surge was about 16 feet, and the highest elevation in […]
Yesterday, the Washington Post timidly reported that floods in Iowa and other Midwestern states may not be “natural” disasters . However, scientists have long warned that worsening floods are the predictable result of human intervention - of floodplains covered with impermeable concrete and stripped of vegetation; of river channels forced up and out of their […]
Southern Mississippi leaders were just told, as Hurricane Season began, that FEMA would no longer deliver ice after disasters as it had in the past.
According to Mary Hudak, a regional FEMA spokesperson, free ice will only be available for medical emergencies and life saving reasons.
We want to make sure we’re providing ice as a life-saving […]
U.S. Special Counsel Ordered Investigation of Whistleblower Disclosure Still Pending As Hurricane Season Begins
In September of 2007 the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) ordered Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, to conduct an investigation into the allegation that defective pumping equipment was delivered and installed at the three new gated closure structures in New Orleans. […]
The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) is a proposed system that would allow the federal government to send emergency alerts via text messages to anyone with a wireless phone. It was requested by the 109th Congress in the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act, or WARN Act (Title VI of P.L. 109-347), as […]
The Government Accountability Office recently conducted an audit of the implementation of improved evacuation procedures for special needs populations by the DHS and DOT and found that four of the six major points had NOT been “substantially implemented” as of this spring. The audit found that the FEMA’s role was not sufficiently clarified in the […]
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that some major disasters can exceed the response/relief capacities of the American Red Cross (ARC) and other Emergency Support Function #6 (ESF-6) Mass Care Providers (described in the National Response Framework (NRF) Annex).In response to post-Katrina lessons realized, the NRF shifted primary ESF-6 Mass Care Responsibilities from the ARC to FEMA (Before/After […]
The Sierra Club recently tested five “Katrina cottages” being used in Mississippi and found all to contain higher levels of formaldehyde than is recommended for long-term exposure by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Normal levels of indoor formaldehyde run between 10-20 parts per billion but three of the five cottages contained over 100 […]
This is National Hurricane Preparedness Week, a time when federal, state and local government agencies traditionally urge citizens in coastal areas to make individual preparations for the start of hurricane season on June 1st. While it isn’t mentioned in official press releases, this is also a good time for citizens to check […]
In the past week, we have seen two nations, overwhelmed with disasters, refuse foreign offers to provide rescue teams and other emergency aid. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? Following Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. government also refused foreign aid. Reluctantly, it accepted some, but left much of it to rot in warehouses. […]
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