Walter In Denver

Lessons?

What, you were surprised these organizations didn't provide a timely response to a major disaster? There's a lesson to be learned from all this, but I doubt many will heed.

For this reason I'm left cold by partisan attempts to smear the administration. So perhaps the head of FEMA is an incompetent political hack. I don't know why he's any worse than the incompetent political hacks on the other side. Go ahead and assign blame where it's deserved, and pillory the people who could have done better. Literally, if you like. But pay attention to the larger point.

The point? Keep control of your own destiny as much as possible. Don't farm out responsibility for your own life to government bureaucracies. In areas where that's not possible keep local government control, and keep a close eye on that government.

In practical terms this means keep a means of flight in case a disaster occurs in your town. Sometimes fleeing isn't possible, so keep a disaster kit handy. Have enough food and water to last a week or more on your own. It's not expensive to do so and you can manage it even if you're on government assistance. There may be someone near you who wouldn't manage well on their own in an emergency, so take care of them, too, if you can. If, like the people of New Orleans, you need extra protection from the elements, try to do that through local government, and fight to keep you tax dollars close to home so it can be done. Don't trust far away politicians and institutions to do it for you. (Don't trust the local ones, either, but at least you can keep a closer eye on them.)

I'm not hopeful that the Katrina disaster will change the way people think about government. Instead we'll elect different politicians to screw things up, and likely just ask the feds to do more to protect us. I fully expect a whole new layer of federal regulatory power to emerge. Perhaps we can call it the Department of Timely Response. Relief for the next disaster will have to be cleared throught this new agency in addition to the dozens of older ones.

Update - Perry de Havilland, along the same lines:

[...]I am rarely loath to heap scorn on the state for cocking things up, it does need to be kept in mind that this is the worst natural disaster in US history and any blame laying needs to keep a sense of proportion (ha, as if) as expecting the state to magically solve even the most unexpected problems with seamless efficiency is at best (and I do mean at best) rather like relying on a well meaning but hopelessly alcoholic uncle to be there for you when things go badly wrong. Well, he might come up trumps but it is probably not a good idea to expect him to be there when you need him.

Posted by Walter at September 4, 2005 04:25 PM