Hurricanes, FEMA, and the Gulf Coast

Here is a direct quote, taken from a news article off of the Yahoo site.

Though the White House called for tighter coordination among all levels of government, state directors said they remain confused about the new role of a federal disaster oversight commander — or how it fits into the chain of command.

"I don't know what that person's real job is," said South Carolina emergency director Ron Osborne. "It's still nebulous if he's going to slow down the response efforts, or if there is going to be a conflict. ... As long as you've got more people involved, it seems like coordination would take longer."

In an interview Monday, Homeland Security Undersecretary George Foresman said the department and FEMA have gone far beyond the 11 fixes that the White House ordered by June 1, the hurricane season's start, to plug federal preparedness gaps that Katrina exposed.

Aside from creating or revamping systems to track supplies, alert the public to approaching storms and register evacuated victims in shelters and hotels, Foresman said the department has been working closely with state and local officials to make sure they are in sync with Washington long before disaster hits. But, he said, many of the federal changes are largely designed to back up state and local responders whose efforts have failed.

"I understand the concerns that are expressed, but we have to recognize that the federal government is not the responder of the first resort," Foresman said. "It's a responder of last resort. There are a lot of things the state and locals need to be doing as well."

Hello!
Have we (as people) learned nothing at all from this disaster!
With "more people involved" coordination "would take longer."
At last, somebody speaks with sense!
And this - "federal changes are largely designed to back up state" responders "whose efforts have failed."
Yes, yes, YES!
We, as people, have become blame-shifters and finger-pointers. We want to be mollycoddled and taken care of, and when things go sour we want to blame somebody, then elect somebody who will give us handouts.
Now, i am the first to say that last hurricane season was awful. I was glued to the tv - i wept over the damage and the loss of life.
But i was sickened as everybody rushed to blame the federal government.
Why was more blame not put on the state governments, the local city governments, and the people themselves?
Who has the responsibility, in times of disaster? The government? Or the people?
The federal government...it isn't there job to bail people out in every disaster that happens. That falls, firstly, to the local community, then it falls on the city or county, then on the state. Lastly, and very lastly, when all those levels have failed and have been exhausted, THEN the federal government moves in and helps out.
It is a simple system.
And it works.
Unless, all those lower levels fail because of poor planning of their own and poor and inadequate response, and then turns around and cries about how the federal government let the people down
It's sickening, it really is sickening...