Whatever the next disaster, no one’s ready!
The vast majority of America’s states,
cities, and territories are far from ready for terror attacks, huge natural
disasters, or other wide-reaching emergencies.
We’re on a road to nowhere…
New Orleans still is unprepared for catastrophes 10 months after Hurricane Katrina, and the two cities attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, don’t meet all guidelines for responding to major disasters, a federal security analysis concluded…
Ten states were rated in a Homeland Security Department scorecard as having sufficient disaster response plans. But the analysis found that the vast majority of America’s states, cities, and territories are far from ready for terror attacks, huge natural disasters, or other wide-reaching emergencies.
“Frankly, we just have not in this country put the premium on our level of catastrophe planning that is necessary to be ready for those wide-scale events,” Homeland Security Undersecretary George Foresman told reporters.
Foresman said the results highlight disparate and disconnected emergency plans in the absence of national preparedness standards. “This is not something that is a grand surprise; it has simply put documented numbers on what we intuitively knew in the post-9/11 era,” he said.
The usual analysis from the Feds, of course, is that all’s right with the world because “we” are in office.
Not that I’m being extra cynical; but, I wonder if a note of reality was finally requested by the guys in charge of PR — just to cover their buns before the next disaster rolls into town?
Posted: Tue - June 20, 2006 at 06:18 AM