news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050907/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/katrina_disaster_response
Federal Emergency Management Agency , sought the approval from Homeland Security Secretary Mike Chertoff roug hly five hours after Katrina made landfall on Aug. Brown said that a mong duties of these employees was to "convey a positive image" about th e government's response for victims. Before then, FEMA had positioned smaller rescue and communications teams across the Gulf Coast. But officials acknowledged Tuesday the first depa rtment-wide appeal for help came only as the storm raged. Brown's memo to Chertoff described Katrina as "this near catastrophic eve nt" but otherwise lacked any urgent language. The memo politely ended, " Thank you for your consideration in helping us to meet our responsibilit ies." The initial responses of the government and Brown came under escalating c riticism as the breadth of destruction and death grew.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said Brown had positioned front-l ine rescue teams and Coast Guard helicopters before the storm. Instead of rescuing people or recovering bodies, these employees would fo cus on helping victims find the help they needed, he said. "There will be plenty of time to assess what worked and what didn't work, " Knocke said. "Clearly there will be time for blame to be assigned and to learn from some of the successful efforts." Brown's memo told employees that among their duties, they would be expect ed to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government offi cials, community organizations and the general public." "FEMA response and recovery operations are a top priority of the departme nt and as we know, one of yours," Brown wrote Chertoff. He proposed send ing 1,000 Homeland Security Department employees within 48 hours and 2,0 00 within seven days. Knocke said the 48-hour period suggested for the Homeland employees was t o ensure they had adequate training. "They were training to help the lif e-savers," Knocke said. Employees required a supervisor's approval and at least 24 hours of disas ter training in Maryland, Florida or Georgia. "You must be physically ab le to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day," Brown wrote. The same day Brown wrote Chertoff, Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send truc ks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it was vital to coo rdinate fire and rescue efforts.
voting record) said lawmakers weren't getting their questions answered . "What people up there want to know, Democrats and Republicans, is what is the challenge ahead, how are you handling that and what did you do wron g in the past," said Schumer, D-NY Sen.
voting record), R-Alaska, said t he administration is "getting a bad rap" for the emergency response. "Pe ople have to understand this is a big, big problem." Meanwhile, the airline industry said the government's request for help ev acuating storm victims didn't come until late Thursday afternoon. The pr esident of the Air Transport Association, James May, said the Homeland S ecurity Department called then to ask if the group could participate in an airlift for refugees.
Relief materials for the victims of Hurricane Katrina from the Chines e government are put into an aeroplane in Beijing airport September 7, 2 005. China has offered $5 million in aid for victims and Beijing said th e government was prepared to send rescue workers including medical exper ts if needed.
The informati on contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewr itten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associ ated Press.
|
http://csua.com/feed/