[Drakonix]

I'll make one last post on this subject. For me, beyond this point any more discussion is futile.

For those who think President Bush and/or the Federal Government is to blame for a poor relief effort in the wake of hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, this post is for you.

New Orleans Mayor Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of his city in advance of hurricane Katrina's landfall.

See the picture of the busses in the post by jcmd62 in this thread?
These are the busses that Mayor Nagin could have, but did not use to evacuate people from New Orleans. He could have used them to help evacuate people that had no other means to leave the city. They could have been taken to the superdome or convention center, or other shelters. Now, many of those people are DEAD.

As I understand it, chartered busses were used to evacuate people to places like the Astrodome.

The use of public transportation for such evacuations is in the emergency plan of every city with such resources available. I have been a volunteer disaster service worker in Alameda County, California for over 30 years. I also worked for a large public transit agency for 10 years and have first hand knowledge of how such emergency arrangements work, because I have been a part of them.

Now, look at the post by daddydirt above and see how Louisiana Governor Blanco refused to cooperate with the Federal Government. The Governor of a State has command of National Guard and Local Emergency Services - but not Federal Emergency Services. The Feds want to assume command of the overall effort so it can be uniformly coordinated. Governor Blanco has so far refused to allow that to happen.

Why is Governor Blanco doing this? According to reports I have read by MSNBC, Governor Blanco is afraid of Federally declared martial law and the fear of local officials being "blamed" for inadequate action by the Federal government. Hmmm... I thought the restoration of law and order is one of the things Blanco wanted. I would be willing to wager most of her population wants this as well.

As for the "blame" befalling local officials (such as herself) I think Blanco is doing a pretty good job at attracing blame without any assistance from the Federal Government.

Trying to avoid martial law where it may be necessary and avoiding blame do not sound to me like valid reasons to withold vital emergency services from the population after a major disaster.

So, while Governor Blanco "thinks" about what to do next, more of the people she has sworn to protect are dying. When people are dying it's usually not a good idea to get into a pissing contest about who gives the orders - especially when Louisiana State Emergency Services is not capable of handling a disaster of this magnatude by itself.

Emergency Services personnel are supposed to undergo training and familiarization with procedures so that when real disasters happen, they know what to do and can inter-operate with other agencies in an efficient and effective manner. Apparently, "key personnel" missed that type training.

I can excuse most of Mayor Nagin's unprofessional demenor and language. The guy is human like the rest of us, and he's going through unimaginable distress seeing his people dying and in need and not being able to help them. However, I find it considerably more difficult to excuse his failure to use resources available to him for getting everyone possible out of the city before the hurricane hit.

If Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco had done what they were supposed to do, many lives could have been saved, and the disaster relief efforts would have had better coordination from the start.

I would criticize President Bush if I felt he had done something wrong in this matter, but I prefer to place blame where it is due.