| May 2012 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Contrary to nonsensical efforts to pin slow FEMA response times on GWB, FEMA response to previous devastating hurricanes was also criticized for being slow:
FEMA has been criticized for its response to Hurricane Katrina because of the time it took to assist storm victims stranded at the Superdome and Morial Convention Center in New Orleans and to others in surrounding parishes.
Many of the problems FEMA is being criticized for now occurred in similar relief efforts in 1989 for Hurricane Hugo, in 1992 for Hurricane Iniki and in 1993 for Hurricane Andrew.
...Hurricane Andrew caused $30 billion in damages, considered then to be the largest economic loss from a natural disaster in U.S. history, according to the General Accounting Office.
..In July 1993, the GAO released a report titled, "Disaster Management: Improving the Nation's Response to Catastrophic Disasters."
"The nation's management of catastrophic disasters was intensely criticized after Hurricane Andrew leveled much of South Florida and Hurricane Iniki destroyed much of the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1992," the GAO wrote.
"Prior to these storms, other major disasters, such as Hurricane Hugo and the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, also generated intense criticism of the federal response effort."
It added that "catastrophic disasters overwhelm the ability of state, local and voluntary agencies to adequately provide victims with essential services, such as food and water" within a day after the storm has hit.
In previous cases, there was no widespread attempt to seek political gain from the suffering of fellow Americans, by seeking to pin the blame for slow FEMA response on a sitting President.
The Democrat party deserves better leadership.
#1
Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, not 1993. All of the disasters cited occurred during the first Bush administration.
Thankfully, President Clinton did a better job than either President Bush of picking a FEMA head, and as a result FEMA was much more effective during his presidency.
But don't take my word for it. Ask George W. Bush, who said in 2000: "I have to pay the administration a compliment. James Lee Witt of FEMA has done a really good job of working with governors during times of crisis."