From what I've seen on the news and with my own eyes. FEMA hasn't done anything to really help us out. Are you guys angry/pissed/outraged at the fact that FEMA isn't doing anything?
I heard on the radio that they had a setup by Katy Mills mall and they weren't giving out anything, just information. Katy wasn't even hit bad, mostly everyone there has power and is okay. Those FEMA pods should be in other areas.
I'm willing to bet Perry and White rewrote their emergency response plans after Katrina, with zero reliance on FEMA in the first week aftermath. They probably told them to stay out of the way...thanks but no thanks.
I think its a pretty telling thing when HEB, Kroger, and Clearchannel communications can all get trucks of supplies in well in advance of the federal government that were "staged" and ready to supply.
I'm just wanting to find out where the distribution points are...I tried to look on the website and couldn't get anywhere...
Yeah. FEMA is a bull**** agency. Doesn't do crap and apparently chose the wrong places to set up POD.
They should get somebody else to run the distribution. They need to hire Walmart, HEB and Kroger as consultants on to manage supply distribution.
I'd love to see Wal-Mart running the show with the Red Cross watching over their shoulder or something to that effect. In fact, I'd love to see the disaster response part of FEMA turned over to the Coast Guard... and the Financial/Housing/Reimbursement side completely revamped. If they still can't get it right, hand over the keys to the IRS or something.
People are blaming FEMA when the real blame lies in Bush putting FEMA under the control of Homeland Security. FEMA was actually good and worked before this. Anyone remember Allison? They did pretty well. If they were not handcuffed by HS they would be better.
FEMA sucked before bush and will suck long after It's a govt entity so it's inherently inefficient. It should be done away with and those funds would be better served being given to other agencies.
under homeland security it totally sucks though. I agree any private company could (and are eg. Shell, HEB, a freaking radio station!?!) destroy FEMA in efficiency and speed it used to actually work without stongarming by the local .gov.
This is factually untrue. Before FEMA was put under the Department of Homeland Security, it had a reputation for being an efficient and effective organization under James Lee Whitt during the 1990's in the Clinton Administration. A study by Lieutenant Colonel David R. Brown United States Army National Guard said, http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/ksil285.pdf "During the Clinton years, FEMA improved under the stewardship of Secretary JamesLee Whitt.3 Consequently, FEMA became known as an agency that could coordinate relief efforts fairly efficiently. With regard to larger scale natural disasters, however, recent history has shown that FEMA may not be the best organization for planning and managing these efforts. Only a few months prior to Katrina making landfall, Homeland Defense Secretary Michael Chertoff proposed that FEMA not prepare for natural disasters but instead only respond to them.4" So, the ineffectiveness of FEMA is due directly to decisions made by the Bush Administrations. It wasn't merely an incompetent person here, or there...it was a policy decision. Their sheer incompetence is a strategy.
Really not happy with FEMA. I filled out their online registration and at a point it asked me if my house was damaged- the answers were Yes, No, and Unknown, so of course, I checked unknown, because I don't know the extent of the damage. I call three hours later and the registration is processed and they have me down as no damage! WTH? I live in 77550- the East End of Galveston. EVERY HOUSE IS FLOOD DAMAGED. It goes on to tell me that I can submit a written letter to them try to change the status. Their number puts me on hold for 10 seconds then says their staff is busy, directs me to the website, then hangs up. A friend of my wife's had exactly the same issue. Freaking bullsh!t. I hope my insurance comes through. If I can't get to the bottom of it tomorrow I am going to call the Chronicle and see if they can run a story.
You guys got terrible advice. I even heard on the radio to check Yes even if you did not know. No matter what you are supposed to check Yes.
Then why is there an option for "unsure"? To say otherwise would put him at risk of some sort of fraud charge I would think, should his home be undamaged. Why should people have to play games when in a vulnerable position. To quote a 40 year old football coach "It's GARBAGE". I know people still going round and round with FEMA re Rita and I'm sure the same is true for Katrina.
I think I'd like to play Devil's Advocate here and say that if people, in Houston at least, perhaps better prepared themselves before the storm hit, they wouldn't need to be looking for supplies right now. Now my wife and I were lucky, our electricity came back on quickly...but if it hadn't, we had enough food to last 3-5 days if we rationed. We also filed up w/ gas and have stayed off the roads by and large. Maybe there wouldn't be a problem if those people that weren't in the mandatory evacuation zones prepared themselves before hand; that way FEMA could direct most of their resources to the hardest hit areas. I'll also add that, if I recall, by this time during Katrina, people were still trapped in the Superdome and FEMA hadn't even set foot in NOLA. So the response time seems to have been a lot better. Also keep in mind I'm just talking about the PODs here. I mean you're talking about a city of about 3-4 million and then another 1-2 million in surrounding areas that have been affected by this storm?
