FEMA under fire again after Ike snafus

Source: MSNBC/AP

Hurricane Katrina made them worthless feds in windbreakers, a four-letter agency for which some couldn't find enough four-letter words. And in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, FEMA is again the easy target for displaced residents and frustrated local authorities.

"Where's FEMA?" some evacuees have asked. Houston Mayor Bill White complained FEMA wasn't bringing ice, water and meals fast enough, while the county administrator personally took over the coordination of efforts to hand out relief supplies.

But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is quick to defend the agency he started reforming after its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina. He knows full well that it's far too easy to shout "It's FEMA's fault!" whenever anything goes wrong on the ground.

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For days, hot, hungry and thirsty victims of Ike's strike have waited hours for handouts and scrounged for fuel. Phone lines were overburdened as evacuees tried, unsuccessfully, to register for help. Others denounced the suggestion to go to a Web site, impossible when they still had no power.

"They're still screwed up. They haven't remedied their problem," said Galveston nurse Reginald Cleveland, one of thousands of evacuees stuck at a shelter in San Antonio. He signed up with FEMA when he checked into the shelter, but then was told to call a number at which no one answered. "I say, put the people out. They obviously don't know what they're doing."



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26762567/

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Heckuva job Skeletor!

about disaster relief. Or maybe they have no common sense? Text-messaging was our only way of communicating with the outside world after Katrina, but that's not an option for applying for help.

Hello, this is Rajiv, and I am happily to be assistating you in your emergency relief making...

:rofl:

Oh boy, brace yourselves when they catch on to text messaging! "Assistating", my @ss.

under reported.

I saw the signs at the convention. Oh, but wait, that was a different storm and a different day. The next day, they were against community organizers and the day after that, Ike hit. I sense inconsistencies in the force.

...of a bureaucracy "The Office Of Homeland Security"

And gutted it and packed it with his unqualified cronies.

FEMA USED to work when we had national disasters. We could count on them.

Not anymore.

FEMA is YARF - Yet Another Republican Failure

James Lee Witt in charge. Witt had disaster management experience. The rest of the time it has been FUBAR.

FEMA is a synonym for worthless.

Keith Olberman said he had a report from one of the 18-wheeler driver who is simply sitting around getting paid $800 a day to just sit there in Carville. Along with several other loaded trucks.

After Katrina we sat in a holding area for days waiting for them to tell us where to go. It's ridiculous the way they run things. I would be willing to bet half of the cargo on those trucks never make it to Houston.

FEMA=Travesty

I've heard a lot of people calling into the radio stations saying the exact same thing, and this is just the beginning. As for me, Day 6 No electricity =/ this is fun.

Are there any people there who stashed away a solar panel and a car battery for such an emergency? I would think that having a little electricity would be better than none at all. Or is that absent from the recommended list of things to stock in case of a hurricane?

At least, it was in Louisiana when they had a Democratic governor. I wonder why things get so different when you move just a little to the west along the Gulf Coast? I'm sure it's nothing so crass as the fact that Texas has a Republican governor. Hurricanes aren't political, after all. There must be some other explanation for why the major media aren't slamming Texas' governor for this limp-dick response.