incompetence? indifference? "just" mistakes? red tape?

[piranha]

i'm keeping a tally of things i'm coming across that look severely fucked up. reorganised into several sections:

political grandstanding and lies
how deep goes the rot
delays, rejection of aid

i dropped the section on looting; i am just not interested enough in it.

i'll be adding dates now as i go along, filling in missing ones later. LJ format is not the best for doing this sort of thing. i'll probably break this out into 3 separate posts later.


political grandstanding and lies
this section is mostly atrophying right now, and i'll probably remove it because there will be more and more of it as time goes on, and i can't be bothered to listen to politicians slam each other. i do want to leave in what i have so far, but will likely break it out as a separate post.

2005-09-06 general myers (jt chief of staff) lies:
I think we responded as -- not only was there no delay, I think we anticipated, in most cases, not in all cases, but in most cases, the support that was required, and we were pushing support before we were formally asked for it. -- http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050906-secdef3862.html -- he talks about how most newspaper headlines on tuesday said NOLA had dodged a bullet, which is demonstrably not true; the levees broke on monday (and what do newspapers have to do with it? is he running the military regresponse according to CNN?). he also prevaricates when asked why there were no food and water drops for the superdome.

2005-09-06 fire fighters as props:
But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas. -- http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3004197

ARD reporter christine adelhardt on the staging of the president's visit to biloxi (in german):
bulldozers appeared and cleared areas that didn't need clearing because nobody was living there anymore, and when the President disappeared, so did the bulldozers and workers. http://www.tagesschau.de/sendungen/0,1196,OID4700678_VID4700904_OIT4700684_RESms120_PLYinternal_NAV,00.html. there is another report similar to this, from ZDFs claudia rueggeberg: http://www.heute.de/ZDFmediathek/inhalt/23/0,4070,2370903-5,00.html (also in german) -- it confirms the special cleanup along the route the president took, but contrary to the story in the blogosphere, there is no mention of fake food dispensaries set up, only a report of a woman who is upset at the president being a "phony samaritan" because his entourage doesn't bring food and water, but only body guards. i guess the originator's german wasn't good enough to catch that distinction.

DHS secretary michael chertoff outright lies that nobody expected this:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/ when in fact precisely this scenario was simulated in an exercise last year: http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=13051. this year unresolved problems were to be addressed, such as evacuating sick and injured people from the superdome and housing tens of thousands of stranded citizens. but funding was cut. and there's more: Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, told the Times-Picayune Sunday afternoon that officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA Director Mike Brown and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, listened in on electronic briefings given by his staff in advance of Hurricane Katrina. Mayfield said the strength of the storm and the potential disaster it could bring were made clear during both the briefings and in formal advisories, which warned of a storm surge capable of overtopping levees in New Orleans and winds strong enough to blow out windows of high-rise buildings. The briefings included information on expected wind speed, storm surge, rainfall and the potential for tornados to accompany the storm as it came ashore. -- http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076926

2005-08-26/27 allegations from the right wing that "local government didn't ask for help" -- governor blanco declares state of emergency: http://gov.louisiana.gov/2005%20%20proclamations/48pro2005-Emergency-HurricaneKatrina.pdf and asks for help from DHS on sunday: http://gov.louisiana.gov/Disaster%20Relief%20Request.pdf (this letter is dated the 28th but was published on lexis nexis on the 27th). note that there is a specific request for help with evacuation included.

2005-09-02 FEMA's michael brown displays complete lack of knowledge about the situation:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/02/katrina.response/index.html

chertoff claims it's a rumour that there are people in dire need at the convention center, while a reporter with them is on the other line:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4836328 -- this link is just feedback with a pull quote; original is here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4828771

how deep goes the rot
this will also become a separate post, and i am doing a lot of research on it right now. there seems to be rot at every level of the political hierarchy in this case.

senate investigation into misallocation of FEMA funds in florida:
FEMA relied on inspectors with only a few hours of training, some of whom had criminal records that included convictions for theft, robbery and fraud -- http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-fema06aug06,0,4565879.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

Recently, three top officials of Louisiana's emergency management office were indicted in an investigation into the misuse of hurricane funds from last year's Ivan. from knight-ridder; original evidence: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/law/news/wdl20041129.html

parts of FEMA dismantled without replacement:
This year it was announced that FEMA is to "officially" lose the disaster preparedness function that it has had since its creation. The move is a death blow to an agency that was already on life support. In fact, FEMA employees have been directed not to become involved in disaster preparedness functions, since a new directorate (yet to be established) will have that mission. -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082901445_pf.html

the mainstream media are now picking up on FEMA head michael brown's crappy record:
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=100857

keep an eye on "Innovative Emergency Management" (privatisation of disaster management for NOLA):
http://leninology.blogspot.com/2005/09/politics-of-weather-3-shyness-of.html

a company by the name of dewberry is also involved:
Louisiana Plans for Major Hurricane Disasters
Had one of the devastating hurricanes targeted New Orleans and southeast Louisiana, state and local officials would have been ready. In July, Dewberry teamed with IEM, Inc., of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to conduct a seven-day emergency planning exercise that gauged the region's readiness for a catastrophic hurricane. The FEMA-sponsored exercise enabled participating agencies to evaluate and fine-tune their preparation, response, and recovery plans for a wide range of emergency conditions. -- http://www.dewberry.com/news.asp?id=639#Louisiana_Plans_for_


delays, rejection of aid

2005-08-27 these school buses were not used in the evacuation on New Orleans?
http://gooroos.net/gallery/data/media/16/flpc211.jpg (there are several similar images) -- why not?

2005-08-27 NOLA superdome and convention center not prepared with water/food/extra sanitation/ and aid personnel -- why not? that the superdome would have to be used was well known from both ivan and simulated hurricane pam.
   on 2005-09-07 http://www.radioblogger.com/#000967 claims that the red cross had materials ready immediately after the storm passed, but was told by LA state homeland security to not come in, that they wanted people to evacuate, not stay.

2005-08-29 FEMA standdown order for first responders:
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=18470 -- this is perfectly understandable, since one doesn't want everyone and his buddies just going in there without any organisation. what i want to know is when did offers of help get accepted, and from whom? there are several examples below of highly trained personnel left sitting around.

2005-08-30 USS bataan, ready for action: http://www.emilitary.org/article.php?aid=4316
2005-09-04 USS bataan, completely underused: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/nation/12554907.htm

2005-08-30/31 people prevented from leaving NOLA via gretna, lied to by police and sheriff:
http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-2/556/556_04_RealHeroes.shtml
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/93EB4BF112FE926C862570710012D2D2?OpenDocument
confirmed by gretna police chief: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/16/AR2005091602224.html

2005-08-31 NOLA police communication system breaks down; lack of fuel for generators and flooding:
the police department’s citywide 800 MHz radio system functioned well during and immediately after the hurricane hit New Orleans, but since then natural gas service to the prime downtown transmitter site was disrupted and the generator was out. Transmitter sites for the police radio system are also underwater with the rising water and are now disabled. -- http://www.fcw.com/article90541-08-31-05-Web

there are a lot of stories about NOLA cops, contradictory as regards how many stayed on the job, how many deserted, some allegedly looted (are we talking about handing out water and food from groceries, or helping themselves to luxury goods -- sort through those separately.

2005-08-31 canadian USAR team and other canadian aid delayed:
ready and waiting
finally there, 5 days later

2005-09-02 FEMA only calling on career firefighters:
http://www.gazette.net/stories/090205/montcou165700_31903.shtml -- allegedly this is because of reimbursement for salaries, but when asked how that then would be handled during a possible 2nd wave of calling on volunteers, FEMA spokesperson Debbie Wing had no reply. also, firefighters need allegedly background checks? hm.

2005-09-03 fire fighters left sitting around in gonzales by FEMA:
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2005/9/5/16455/30830/45#45 -- find original by RedRover on WWL-TV message boards.

2005-09-03 Angel Flight South Central floatplanes and pilots given the runaround by FEMA:
FEMA called back late Friday and referred SPA staff to yet another dead-end call center. -- http://www.seaplanes.org/cgi-bin/briefs/index.cgi titled "Katrina Update: Saturday, 9/3".

former LA senator john breaux in an interview with CNN:
I had an example of an ambulance, American Ambulance Association said, look, we have 300 ambulances three days ago they wanted to send down there from a Florida area. They said, well, we were told we had to have GSA's permission. GSA said they had to have FEMA ask for it. As a result they weren't sent.
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/03/ltm.05.html -- need separate verification. very indirect only: Although many of us are used to an immediate timed response, and notwithstanding the obvious sense of urgency we all feel, the need for resources will only escalate over time. from http://www.the-aaa.org/Katrina/Katrina.htm on 2005-09-01; no later communication published.

2006-09-03 northern command was ready for 5 days, waiting for bush's ok:
Northcom started planning before the storm even hit... We had the USS Bataan sailing almost behind the hurricane so once the hurricane made landfall, its search and rescue helicopters could be available almost immediately So, we had things ready.

The only caveat is: we have to wait until the president authorizes us to do so. The laws of the United States say that the military can't just act in this fashion; we have to wait for the president to give us permission. -- http://news.globalfreepress.com/movs/katrina/BBC_Katrina.mpg and http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4605183
2005-09-06 commander sean kelly issues a clarification: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007054.php, which sounds odd to me. why didn't he say the storm prevented them in his first statement, if that's what it was? instead he was very clear that he was waiting for authorisation, and didn't say anything about difficulties getting in. i am flagging this as potential CYA.

louisiana homeland security does not allow red cross into NOLA:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/9/3/02454/07418
http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.html
was this directed by DHS in order to mass troops first?

fire and rescue gear sits around unused; not been requested (who needs to request?):
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/03/katrina.unusedgear/index.html

new mexico national guard delayed, waiting for "paperwork from washington":
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050903/ap_on_re_us/katrina_national_guard

In addition to Guard help, the federal government could have activated, but did not, a major air support plan under a pre-existing contract with airlines. The program, called Civilian Reserve Air Fleet, lets the government quickly put private cargo and passenger planes into service. this has since been started, but it took until friday (2005-09-02) morning.

airboaters stalled by FEMA:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-caneboats0205sep02,0,4766048.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

chicago aid rejected by FEMA:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/hurricane/cst-nws-daley03.html

2005-09-02 air drops delayed by FEMA:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090200670_2.html

2005-09-02 plaquemines parish levee draining delayed by FEMA:
After waiting two days for permission to open the levee in Plaquemines, parish officials dug openings in the levee without permission to drain the standing water
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050904/NEWS01/509040332

2005-09-03 jefferson parish refuses to help neighbours:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/03/the_bus/ -- they're headed to England Air Force Base ear alexandria, LA. hm. that's not gonna work, since that's where part of the national guard seems to be staging: http://timesheraldonline.com/ci_2998912. they ended up in a shelter in alexandria.

2005-09-04 broussard's allegations on "meet the press":
We had Wal-Mart deliver three trucks of water, trailer trucks of water. FEMA turned them back. They said we didn´t need them. This was a week ago. FEMA--we had 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on a Coast Guard vessel docked in my parish. The Coast Guard said, "Come get the fuel right away." When we got there with our trucks, they got a word. "FEMA says don´t give you the fuel." Yesterday--yesterday--FEMA comes in and cuts all of our emergency communication lines. They cut them without notice. -- http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=4912; cannot find separate verification.
counter claim: Sharon Weber of Wal-Mart called back. She said that last week, FEMA diverted those water trucks to "another location, which [FEMA] felt was in greater need than where they were headed." -- http://mikewas.redstate.org/story/2005/9/6/114926/3369. i note she didn't name the other location, and maybe she doesn't know. even if nothing else, FEMA communication with local officials sucked in this case.

2005-09-04 no federal help at all in st. bernard parish:
local officials are angry at the slow pace of the federal government's relief efforts. "We never had any communication from anybody," said Parish President Henry 'Junior' Rodriguez. "Anything that has been done in St. Bernard has been done by local people. We never had any goddamned help." -- http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076829

2005-09-04 no federal help in slidell either; private enterprise is doing the job:
Slidell Mayor Ben Morris was the most blunt. “FEMA has been seizing private fuel trucks and a Cleco helicopter, but you know, I haven’t seen a single person I can talk to,” he almost spat in a profanity-laced tirade. "If they don’t open the fuel supply chain soon, we’re going to lose everything we’ve gained since the storm." -- http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#076932

2005-09-04 red tape ties up medical deployment:
Among the doctors stymied from helping out are 100 surgeons and paramedics in a state-of-the-art mobile hospital, developed with millions of tax dollars for just such emergencies, marooned in rural Mississippi. -- http://edition.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/09/04/katrina.sick.redtape.ap/index.html; LA officials are the ones accused here.

2005-09-05 houston area firefighters left to sit around by FEMA:
The fucking catch-22 -- they were needed in New Orleans, so they weren't allowed to go elsewhere, but they weren't allowed to go into New Orleans, so the upshot was that they did nothing except sit and wait, and then go home in frustration. -- http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/5/105538/7048

2005-09-06 FEMA's online claim form does not actually proceed to opening a claim:
it results in a package containing the claim form being mailed to the address of the evacuee. Since the evacuee is in a shelter, mail service has been suspended in many of the hardest hit areas and some of the homes are likely still under water, it seems clear that those claim forms won’t be mailed back any time soon. -- http://katrinablog.msnbc.com/2005/09/what_is_fema_th.html

2005-09-06 MEMA/FEMA red tape in MS:
Lott said he has been trying to get FEMA to send 20,000 trailers "sitting in Atlanta" to the Mississippi coast, and he urged President Bush during a meeting Monday to intervene. He said FEMA has refused to ship the trailers until contracts are secured. -- http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/09/05/katrina.lott/index.html

2005-09-06 fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA instead of doing emergency work:
They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet. -- http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3004197

2005-09-06 FEMA did nothing for st. tammany parish:
“Everything that was done in St. Tammany Parish was done without the help of the federal government,” Watkins said, while praising parish officials for leading the recovery effort. Eight days after the storm, FEMA officials can’t even tell the city what needs to be done to recoup some of the city’s costs for the disaster, she said. -- http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#077508

2006-09-06 FEMA prematurely halted flights:
Aviation Director Roy Williams said FEMA failed, however, when it prematurely halted "mercy flights" by airlines that flew donated supplies into Armstrong and flew refugees out. Williams said FEMA stopped flights by American, Southwest, Northwest and United airlines on Thursday, four days after the storm, when it was ramping up its own evacuation effort. -- http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_09.html#077482

2005-09-06 FEMA's website design limits access:
The Online registration requires Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 or above. -- http://www.fema.gov/register.shtm. yeah, i know, this is fiddly shit, but it's just one more sign of badly thought-out service.

2006-09-08 despite organisational efforts ahead of time, FEMA screwed up on the ground:
Five West Virginia Air National Guard C-130 transport aircraft sent to pick up displaced victims from Hurricane Katrina returned home empty early Wednesday, following a series of frustrating bureaucratic snafus. -- http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2005090727

2005-09-08 various; NOLA harbor police, trailers for MS, Georgia-3 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, and:
For nine days a mobile communications unit has been sitting in Germany with a chartered plane standing by, ready to provide desperately needed equipment for first responders. Company officials complain they’ve placed hundreds of calls and can still get no answer from FEMA. “This is the most frustrating exercise in futility I’ve had in my entire professional life,” says satellite services provider Uri Bar-Zemer. -- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9260412/

Comments

fuck-up

[quite-contrary.livejournal.com]

stupid idiotic fucks..that's it isn't it? My girlfriend thinks it's a conspiracy, but i think they are too *stupid* to conspire.

Re: fuck-up

[eagle]

I have a friend who frequently makes the comment that, in order to have an evil plan, you have to not only be evil. You also have to have a plan. I don't think that the Bush administration had any plan at all.

Re: fuck-up

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

of course if you're really evil, how much of a plan do you need? entropy works in your favour.

Re: fuck-up

[mayaknife.livejournal.com]

How does the saying go? "Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence."

[pameladean]

I keep thinking that it all comes back to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and its taking on the functions of FEMA, except that it didn't DO ANYTHING with the functions of FEMA except to take all its money and shove it in the direction of Iraq. There's a Times-Picayune article in which somebody local said that they were very unhappy about this and attempting to make to DHS the case that the levees WERE a matter of security to New Orleans. We can see how well that worked out.

P.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Not sure if this counts for your list: on Thursday, in an interview with NPR, Chertoff denied any knowledge of or plans to help the people trapped in the Convention Center - while the anchor interviewing him had a reporter on the other line who was there trying to tell him how bad it was. My memory says reports about that situation had been on the news for a day or so by then.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

thanks -- i thought i had that, but i didn't; i only have brown claiming he didn't know about the convention center.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Thank you for doing this, because I think it needs doing, and I couldn't, in fact I'm going to have more or less ignore this for a while for personal reasons.