So we are moments away from Hurricane Sandy making landfall
in Cape May, NJ and I cannot help but be reminded of Katrina. That disaster sits in all of our minds, but it was especially important to me as my first ever response to a true Type I Catastrophic incident. I am not recollecting that time in 2005 because of comparisons of NOLA and NYC or
because of the storm of the century titling’s but because I can’t help but
wonder if we have learned from the many lessons Katrina taught us.
Now, I am not calling to question government response
because I have a tremendous amount of respect of Craig Fugate and his
team. I am concerned by those that did
not heed the warnings of true experts that did not evacuate or take the
appropriate actions. James Lee Witt did
a good job of placing the focus on the individual to prepare for disasters and
Craig Fugate has returned to that mantra.
I am just not sure if it has worked.
As an emergency manager it is a struggle to convince
individuals to invest the time and resources to prepare. People truly believe that it will not happen
to them. Katrina served as a wake-up
call for our nation but the blessing that was a problem in disguise was that we
have not had a catastrophic incident since.
The nation has fallen back asleep and it looks like Sandy is our new
wake-up call.
My thoughts and prayers are with those that are in the path
of Sandy and my colleagues that will serve them. I hope Sandy will silence the critics that
want to eliminate disaster response funding or those that think their local
emergency manager is nicety not a necessity.
I would love to hear your thoughts, so leave me a comment.