This excerpt features quotes of Mike Brown, the director of FEMA. Italicized words are my emphasis.
(CNN) — The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday those New Orleans residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for their fates.
Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands.
“Unfortunately, that’s going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings,” Brown told CNN.
“I don’t make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans,” he said.
“And to find people still there is just heart-wrenching to me because, you know, the mayor did everything he could to get them out of there.
Um, gee. He doesn’t make judgments? Well, blaming the victims is exactly that. Apparently it doesn’t occur to him that the majority of those who didn’t evacuate were poor or infirm, or people caring for the infirm, or tourists. Many did not have the means — whether it was money, transportation, a destination, or all of these reasons. Even tourists. Imagine having flown in and not rented a car. Do you think you would have been able to arrange a flight out of the city last minute?
And no, the mayor did not do all that could be done to evacuate people. It’s not him personally, though; anyone in that position probably would have fallen short. Resources exist that weren’t utilized, because evacuation planners simply have never considered them. For instance, there were many buses (city, school) that could have been used to transport people out. However, where would they go? Disaster planning has got to include strategies to transport and care for displaced persons without money or with special medical needs. What we have learned from Katrina (I hope) is that this “every man for himself” method of evacuation is unacceptable. And now, policymakers and planners need to apply their brainpower so it doesn’t happen again.
From what the media is saying (for what its worth), there are going to be huge political ramifications to this disaster. Moderate Giuliani will garner more support among republicans, Edwards who was poo pooed talking about “two” americas will be listened to….i really hope that people who are adversly affected by republican policies, actually register and get to the polls in greater numbers. its sad, but hindsight is 20-20
I agree w/ you completely. He’s a friend of Bush’s, completely unqualified for this position, and has his head up his ass about the resource people have. I heard the NO mayor in the days before telling people to go to the Superdome. They did. It’s FEMA that didn’t.