FEMA not the master of disaster

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) submitted a strategy plan which was a year overdue to the Disaster Recovery Subcommittee, according to Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.). Landrieu added that not only was the strategy late but key annexes of the report, required by Congress, were nothing but blank pages.

In a hearing to discuss FEMA’s lack of an effective strategy for housing large numbers of citizens displaced by disaster, Landrieu said that FEMA’s failure to meet strategy needs was “absolutely unacceptable.” Landrieu noted that, after Hurricane Katrina and Rita, FEMA ordered travel trailers for people to live in. She cited reports that the trailers were full of formaldehyde and this caused great concern.

When asked why the strategy report was late and incomplete, Admiral Harvey Johnson Jr., Deputy Administrator of FEMA, said that FEMA would not have produced such a good report a few days ago. Johnson also said that the strategy report was late because of FEMA’s desire to produce a quality product, to be thoughtful in how the strategy could be accomplished and to be “truly collaborative” with agencies such as the National Advisory Council, Federal Departments and Agencies and the general public. Johnson would offer no definite deadline for the submission for the finalized strategy other than “early fall.”

Johnson explained the blank pages in the report were present because Landrieu was looking at a draft of the strategy and promised that the final publication would have all the blank pages filled in. Johnson said that the several other pages in the draft strategy offered a good foundation and compensated for the blank pages of the annex. In what seemed to be a rhetorical question, Landrieu asked why the 325 witnesses called, 22 public hearings and 833,000 pages of information gathered by the Congress were not good enough a foundation to allow for a complete strategy.

Recent disasters challenging and improving FEMA

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery held a hearing on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) performance in handling disasters since Katrina. Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said there have been 169 major disasters and 250 federal emergencies since Katrina.

David Maxwell, Director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, said he was very pleased with FEMA’s creativity in responding to storms in his state, but said the Administration took fourteen days to respond to a request for assistance. James Bassham, Director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, said that after several tornadoes hit in his state, a FEMA liaison arrived in two hours and a response team arrived the next morning. Stephen Sellers, Deputy Director in the Regional Operations Division for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said local responders worked side by side with FEMA to provide assistance after wildfires.

Admiral Harvey E. Johnson, Deputy Administrator at FEMA, said the Administration took a lot of criticism and scrutiny after Katrina, but has improved greatly since then. FEMA has increased cooperation and collaboration with local and state responses, creating a national response framework that dictates how each level works together. Regarding recent disasters, Johnson said FEMA worked with local responders after tornadoes in Tennessee to reach rural areas and register victims. Now, FEMA is responding to flooding in the Midwest. Johnson said FEMA is working hard to build a response system free of bureaucratic red tape that may impede response times.

U.S. takes threat of nuclear terrorism very seriously

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing on “Nuclear Terrorism: Providing Medical Care and Meeting Basic Needs in the Aftermath – The Federal Response.” Chairman of the Committee, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), said that although preventing a nuclear terrorist attack is the top priority, the is risk is so real that serious preparations must be made for an attack on an American city.

Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) said that the majority of medical responders and general practitioners do not know how to handle a nuclear attack. She added that inaction would lead to enormous consequences.

David Paulison, an administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that although there is very little probability that a nuclear attack will occur, the impact would be very high. Preparation for a nuclear terrorist attack is one of FEMA’s greatest concerns. Craig Vanderwagen, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that his department learned many lessons from events in Tel Aviv, London, and Madrid. Since those attacks, the department made many improvements in their response plans. He said that 87 percent of hospitals now participate in mass care programs to handle the influx of injured people in the case of an attack. James H. Schwartz, Chief of the Arlington Country Fire Department, an example from a local level, said that a mutual aid system between cities is necessary because no city can deal with a nuclear attack alone. He expressed a need for more information sharing, collaboration, and cooperation between cities and also between the local, state and federal levels.

Rice may be subpoenaed by Congress

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) , chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, discussed the influence his committee has on public policy in the United States at the National Press Club. Waxman discussed a number of topics including proceedings involving tobacco executives, steroids in Major League Baseball, Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina. Waxman said his committee is able to enact changes without passing laws due to its visible role in many aspects of American life.

Waxman emphasized the importance of congressional oversight and criticized Republicans for taking a partisan position on the topic. He said the Republican controlled committee investigated numerous trivial topics during the Clinton administration and failed to analyze large profile events during the first six years of Pres. George W. Bush’s administration. Waxman said the committee’s purpose is to monitor government decisions and to make government work for people, not to enhance party politics.

An example given by Waxman of the committee’s failure to better the lives of Americans involved the presence of formaldehyde in the FEMA trailers provided to those without homes following Hurricane Katrina. Waxman accused FEMA of “sitting on its hands” and ignoring its obligations to help those in need while criticizing the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for allowing such events to occur. He stated that FEMA failed to help those in need and that the committee’s indifference allowed FEMA to be run inefficiently.

When asked if Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be subpoenaed by the committee to discuss when the Bush administration realized that Iraq had no nuclear weapons prior to invasion, Waxman said “maybe” and that the idea is under discussion. Waxman also suggested that the success of the Iraqi insurgency can be attributed in part to the American ambassador’s decision to distribute $8.8 billion to Iraqis without any form of accountability.

Hurricane Katrina still ruining lives

Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) testified in a hearing for the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. He said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs to get its priorities in order and produce the National Disaster Housing Strategy, which was due in July 2007 as part of the Post-Katrina Reform Act of 2006. He said that 5,741 families still living in temporary housing units provided by FEMA.

He said that The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been diverting funds that were necessary for reconstruction in Mississippi. Thompson said that the Governor of Mississippi redistributed $600 Million of HUD money that was appropriated for building low to middle income housing and diverted it towards a project towards port expansion. Thompson said that this is one of the major problems facing Mississippi, along with the fact that there are only 1,500 available rental properties statewide.

He said that we must hold federal agencies accountable for their mistakes, especially when they endanger the health of disaster victims.